What's the mystery behind Christian Shephard and the disappeared Claire?
Christian Shephard seems to be omnipresent in the world of LOST, yet remains one of the major characters that we seem to know the least about. We know he supposedly dies, hence Jack's trip to Australia, we know he is also the father of Claire, though Jack and Claire don't seem to know, and we know that he is eerie and mysterious. He appears all over the island, and off the island, all across the time-lines cross by our beloved characters. He was the last person that Michael saw before the bomb on the freighter exploded. We've seen him cross paths with several characters in what seemed like mere coincidences, including Sawyer and Anna Lucia. He even appeared on multiple occasions in Jacob's cabin. However, his most mysterious appearance was when he appeared to his daughter Claire, holding her baby, Aaron. Claire followed Christian, or the vision of Christian, into the woods and into Jacob's cabin, not to be seen again until Locke entered the cabin to speak with Christian. All of a sudden, there she was, sitting calmly in a rocking chair, claiming she was "fine." Christian warned Locke not to let anyone know about her whereabouts and stating that Arron was "where he needs to be." Christian's eeriness, appearances, and disappearances need to be justified, and we need to know where Claire fits into this puzzle.
What's the larger significance of the numbers (4,8,15,16,23,42)?
We know that they are the numbers of Hurley's winning lottery ticket. We know he originally heard them from Leonard in the mental hospital. Wee see them on the door of the hatch at the end of Season 1 and we see several characters enter the numbers into the hatch's seemingly primitive computer. We hear a worker constructing the Swan station claim that they are some kind of "serial number" for the hatch. The clues of the LOST Experience revealed that they are part of the "Valenzetti Equation" which puts environmental factors into numerical form to predict the end of the world. We see the numbers all throughout the series. They seem to follow the characters. The first crash was flight 815, we see the numbers in order on the back of the jerseys of a young soccer team in the airport, they were on the vial of medicine given to Claire, they were etched on Eko's stick, and so on and so forth. Viewers will not be satisfied if the appearance of the numbers throughout the entire series is not explained. WE NEED THIS!
Who are Adam and Eve? What do the black and white stones near their bodies mean? Why was the coffin near their bodies, supposedly belonging to Christian Shephard, empty?
This mystery has lingered since some of the earliest episodes of the first season. As the midsection survivors of Flight 815 venture into the jungle to find shelter away from the vulnerable beach, they stumble upon a cave. This cave contained one empty coffin, two decomposed bodies, and two polished stones located near those bodies, one white and one black. John Locke referred to the decomposed bodies, one male and one female, as Adam and Eve. Who do these bodies belong to? What is the significance of the stones. If the coffin was supposed to be carrying the body of Jack's deceased father, why was it empty. The writers can't possibly include such dramatic symbolism into the LOST equation without a reasonable conclusion. Who is on Jacob's list? Who isn't? What does it mean?
Being a fan of lists, I couldn't help but notice the number of lists compiled throughout the entirety of the series. Ben asks Ethan to make a list of the survivors of the midsection of the plane and asks Goodwin to make a list of the survivors from the tail section. Ben had a list of survivors that he was ordered to return to the Others' camp in Season 2. Ben also made a list for Sayid which contained the names of several Widmore employees that were to be killed. After looking on LOSTpedia, even more lists have come to my attention. Juliet makes a list of medical supplies for Ben's surgery, Charlie made a list of the top five moments of his life, and Ben tells Michael to compile a list of everybody on the freighter. Some of these lists may be significant, some may not. The main list that concerns me is Jacob's supposed list. Mikhail states that Kate is not on the list because she is flawed. One of the Others mentions that "Shephard wasn't even on the list." Ben asks Juliet, "Who are we to question who's on the list and who's not?" Finally, in the season 5 finale, Ben mentions that Jacob gave him "lists" on bits of paper? What are these lists? Who is on them? Who isn't? What do they mean? Did Jacob really write them?
What is the tie that binds all of the characters together? What is their ultimate destiny?
Finally, the most lofty question of all. The question that will define this series and linger in the minds of it's loyal followers long after the show is gone. When we started watching this remarkable series five years ago, we didn't even know half of the cast that we have come to know today. We met a small group of strangers, each with their own unique character traits and back-stories, and watched as they did what hundreds of television and movie characters had done before them: survive on a deserted island. It was a simple premise that would blossom into one of the most unique and complicated plot schemes in television history. We've seen hundreds of theories come and go. Everyone seemed to have their own answers to the endless mysteries of the world that surrounded the beloved characters. I can't even begin to list the sheer number of connections that each character has to one another, but in the back of our minds we hold on to that hope that they are all where they are for a reason. What is the ultimate fate of the characters? What was their ultimate destiny? What individual characteristics or abilities make these characters so unique as to warrant their participation in this journey?
When thinking about these questions to myself as I drafted this post, I came to a realization. Aren't these the questions that we wonder to ourselves every day of our lives? These are questions that man has attempted to answer since the dawn of time. Why are we here? What is our purpose? What makes me unique? In a way, the writers will play the role of God to the characters in this final season. They have created these men and women, and ultimately, they will decide their fate. In the end, just like in life, we might have to accept the fact that these answers to these questions may ultimately be out of our hands.
