What exactly is the monster? That question has to make any top 5 list of unanswered Lost questions. On a quick side note, I am still accepting submissions for my list of the top 5 answered Lost questions. I agree with those who assume that the smoke monster and Jacob’s adversary are the same entity, or that at least they are working very closely together. That assumption follows logically from several late season events. This post shows how the monster’s early appearances can be linked to Jacob’s adversary’s long con on Locke in thematically satisfying way.
For all the times characters run screaming from the monster, it has only killed a few people. Its first killing might the most interesting. Flight 815’s pilot Seth Norris is snatched up out of the plane’s cockpit back when we all assumed the monster was some sort of dinosaur.[1] Later developments about the monster indicate it is either an island security system or an instrument of judgment. What was the pilot’s crime or threat? I suppose it’s possible that pilot sold poisoned milk to school children, but he seems to have died simply for sticking his head out the window.
Jack, Kate and Claire are chased by it just after the pilot’s death.[2] They do not seem to see it; at least the audience certainly does not see anything except uprooted trees. But it sounds very scary. Most of the monster’s further appearances follow the same pattern: castaways feeling in terror followed by various scary noises and snapping tree branches. Each encounter involves a great visual on the monster, much like the slow reveal of the shark in Jaws or any other movie monster. Each encounter ends like the first, with the castaways’ survival attributed to their hiding in a nearby grove of roots or bushes.
In the original “Pilot” script Jack was supposed to be killed. When the network brass decided Jack was too likeable to be killed off, the producers added the pilot as a victim so the audience would still realize the island is a dangerous place. If the smoke monster is Jacob’s nemesis, perhaps killing the pilot serves the same purpose. It’s like the first day of prison. If you want everyone to think your some crazy badass, killing Greg Grunberg serves the purpose. A few episodes later, Locke runs into the monster while out hunting.[3] Kate and Jack assume Locke has been killed just because the monster was last seen heading towards Locke. When the monster spares him, it makes Locke feel even more like he has been chosen by the island.
The monster is first seen as the “smoke” monster in the first season finale when Jack, Kate, Locke, Hurley, Rousseau and Arzt are chased by the sound. Later, after Arzt is blown up, they encounter it again. Kate is the first to see a whiff of black smoke moving about. During this encounter, as in most of the first season, the monster still sounds very mechanical, like a hydraulic mechanism of some sort. Locke is almost pulled down the hole the monster creates. After Jack throws in the dynamite, we finally get a view of the black cloud of smoke as an entity, as it retreats following the explosion.[4] Locke refers to the encounter later that night, confirming that they aw him pulled by a cloud of black smoke.[5] So by the end of the first season only a few castaways have really seen the smoke monster: Jack, Kate, and Locke and to lesser extent Charlie and Hurley.
In between there is one episode that potentially involves the monster: “Hearts and Minds”. “Hearts and Minds” is a Boone (and Shannon) centric episode. Early in the episode Boone tells Locke that Boone does not want to lie to Shannon anymore and plans to tell her about the hatch. Locke responds by knocking out Boone, tying him up in the jungle, and putting some weird gunk on Boone’s head wound. Soon after Locke leaves, Boone hears Shannon scream and the usual monster scary noises. Boone finds the will to escape from Locke’s ropes, finds Shannon and two them get chased together by the monster for a while before Shannon disappears and Boone later finds her bloody corpse in a creek. Of course, Shannon is alive and it appears all the chasing a hallucination. The usual interpretation of this is that the island caused the hallucination partly inspired by the concoction Locke placed on Boone’s head.
When Boone returns ready to avenge Shannon’s “death”, Locke asks Boone, “is that what it made you see?” He repeats that he gave Boone an experience. But what if the “it” is the smoke monster. This interpretation starts with the Locke is always wrong law. Why does Locke know how to make an hallucinogen from random jungle plants? Even the idea that Locke thinks he knows how to make one is only confirmed circumstantially not directly. Boone refers to the whacky glue stuff as Locke mixes a concoction to help his own vision in opening the hatch.[6] Yet again, when Locke builds the sweat hut, he mixes a concoction that Charlie pointedly references as violating Locke’s no tolerance drug policy.[7] But again, always assume that Locke’s actual level of talent is much lower then he believes it to be.
If the smoke monster is Jacob’s nemesis, there is even more reason to believe the monster caused Boone’s visions of Shannon. In fact, the monster was Shannon just as it was later Yemi and a host of other people. It also supports the idea that many happenings on the island are part of the long con on Locke. Boone’s visions of Shannon bonded him to Locke and therefore directly lead to this death. Ultimately, Locke believed that Boone’s death was a sacrifice the island demanded and made him feel that more special. When Locke lost faith, Boone’s death was a source of tremendous guilt. Either way, Boone’s death was a powerful motivator for Locke’s behavior and a sore spot to be manipulated.
The monster’s next sighting is by Eko and Charlie.[8] Eko sees a whiff of smoke go by much like Kate did. Eko makes Charlie climb a tree, supposedly to get a better view of finding the Beechcraft, though possibly to protect him. Charlie and the audience get a full view of the smoke monster while Eko stares it down until it retreats.
The ability of the monster to appear in human form was confirmed by an unquestionably monster-centric episode: “The Cost of Living.” Eko is lured into the jungle by his brother Yemi. After refusing to confess his sins, Yemi says “You speak as if I was your brother”, confirming it is not actually Yemi brought to life. However, earlier in the episode Yemi’s body went missing from the burned out Beechcraft airplane, which leads many people to think the smoke monster requires the actual body in order to take human form. (There is considerable evidence against this theory, though.) Yemi then walks off and soon the smoke monster appears in full. It picks up Eko and drops him on the ground several times, killing him. Locke and Sayid hear the monster and come running, only to discover Eko’s battered body. According to Locke, Eko’s last words are “You’re next.”
Many theorize that the monster is a force of judgment and that Eko was killed for refusing to confess his sins. But again, it could be part of the long con. Eko behaves like Locke; he is a great believer in destiny, takes up Locke’s task of pushing the button, and is also seemingly protected from the monster. Eko is killed not for refusing to confess his sins, but for refusing the monster’s attempted manipulation of his guilt and faith. This interpretation probably depends on one’s own faith and sympathy to Eko. And Eko’s true level of righteousness is always lower than he believes. But that most of his actions were either in self-defense or protecting his brother, it is difficult to disagree.
[1] “The Pilot”
[2] Id.
[3] “Walkabout”
[4] “Exodus II”
[5] “Man of Science, Man of Faith”
[6] “Deus Ex Machina”
[7] “Further Instructions”
[8] “The 23rd Psalm”
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