"I feel so unoriginal saying Watchmen changed everything for me... obviously that and Dark Knight Returns are two of the books that made me want to become a writer.” –
Extensive Interview with Damon Lindelof as his Ultimate Wolverine vs Hulk comic book series was about to debut.
"Watchmen is the greatest piece of popular fiction ever produced" - Damon in an Entertainment Weekly article about Watchmen
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I was going to title this The Watchmen Theory, but soon realized I wasn’t going to try to give concrete answers to Lost’s mysteries. Instead I want to propose a new, all-encompassing approach to solving those mysteries, one rooted in an appreciation of the comic book medium and perhaps the greatest comic book of all time, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons masterpiece The Watchmen. Elsewhere in The Fuselage, specifically in posts by others especially Dr Suds, comics and Watchmen have been referred to but I want to take the discussion in new directions.
The Structure
*Watchmen is essentially a murder mystery that leads to the biggest conspiracy ever. It stars six former superheroes, one of whom is murdered for unknown reasons. As the mystery unfolds, the story cuts between the present, where an investigation takes place, and the past, formatted as “origin” stories focusing on a single character. (Sound familiar?) Each hero’s “origin” chapter often intersects with the others’ revealing different perspectives to the same moment.
*Each chapter is named after a snatch of a song lyric or famous quote. More interestingly, each chapter ends with the whole song title or quote cited, revealing more of that quote’s meaning and serving as a resounding footnote to the just completed chapter.
*The entire series is littered with repeating motifs and images, specifically clocks (most set to the time of the Hiroshima atomic bomb detonation), mirrors and other allusions to reflections and dualities and smiley faces marred with blood. Of course we’re all aware of Lost’s motifs: the Numbers, black/white, dysfunctional families, eyes, etc. In Watchmen however these repeating motifs don’t have any significance to the plot. They serve instead to reinforce the overall theme of the book: that everything is destined, not by the hand of anyone, but simply because, if you step outside of time, the past, the present and the future all share one moment. This sounds like the fatalism of predestination, but Watchmen seems to suggest there’s actually comfort to be found in it. As Dr. Manhattan proclaims: “Nothing Ends, Adrian, Nothing EVER ends.” In their last podcast prior to "One of Them", Cuse and Lindelof said as much: the Numbers may have no specific meaning but they’re recurrence is a statement about the nature of the universe,
*The crossovers of characters from one flashback to the other spin out of predestination: that everyone on The Island is, has been and always will be connected. In a life where we may not control our own destiny, comfort is found in knowing there are others with you along for the ride. In the pre-One of Them podcast, Lindelof and Cuse talked about the appearance of Kate’s mother in Sawyer’s flashback as an example of the interconnectedness of the human family and did not discuss it as a major plot point.
*Each chapter concludes with historical documents that while not central to the story, add significant background dimension to it. The Oceanic-Air and Hanso Foundation sites act the same way.
*Lost is set-up to be a myth. Most comics (really, all the good ones) are modern myths, serving the same purposes tales of the Greek gods served millennia ago. They’re to guide us through the difficulties of our lives and are an intuitive means of passing on the previous generations’ wisdom to the up-and-coming one. Lost is the Myth for the 21st Century, a modern superhero origin story without the childish trappings. If the first superhero was invented in 2004 instead of the 1930s he would look like Jack instead of Superman. One of Lost’s many purposes is to help us cope in a Post-9/11 environment drowning in fear of the Unknown Threat of Terror.
The Archetypes
The six Watchmen superheroes each represented a specific type of hero. We’re seeing the same sort of thing on the Island. Each character is locked into a specific character type that comes with its own set of personality traits, destinies and powers. Every character appears to be one, these are the most glaring examples:
Jack - The Miracle Worker (named such in Man of Science, Man of Faith)
Kate - The Runner (“You run, I con.” - The Long Con)
Sawyer - The Con (“You run, I con” - The Long Con)
Sayid - The Torturer (self-proclaimed in “One of Them”)
Hurley - The Jinx (self-proclaimed in “Numbers”)
Locke - The Naturalist/Enkidu (more below)
Walt - The Summoner (more below)
Now of course one could say this is just consistency on the writers parts. Yet, what we’re seeing on Lost is a repeated cycle of characters trying to break their types and ultimately failing. Indeed, I propose the ending of the series will revolve around the Losties accepting their unique archetypes and using them for some advantage, to get off the Island or deal with what the Island is. For exmaple, anyone watching Numbers would’ve been shocked at how fearless Hurley seemed to be at times... all because he sort of understood his ability: he jumped the trap and crossed the bridge knowing in his gut his luck would hold. Except the bridge collapsed under Charlie – so Hurley's individually lucky but brings bad luck to those around him. (Luck in comics is a mutant power of the character Longshot.)
The Powers
Everything supposedly mystical, supernatural or paranormal is all a result of being exposed to Island’s strong electromagnetic fields. They’re basically all accidents. This is no different than how most comic book superheroes (and of course the ones in Watchmen) acquired their powers or roles: the Fantastic Four, Plastic Man, the Hulk, Spider-Man, Daredevil and on and on all acquired their powers through accidental exposure to radiation or something radioactive. On the Island the Losties powers/abilities have been triggered by oversaturaturation of magnetic fields. Examples: Locke had a machine back home that stimulated his legs. The Island’s fields are superstimulating them allowing him to walk. Same goes with his affinity with nature... now he can virtually talk to the Island. Ethan became superstrong. Walt was able to summon the Polar Bears (from I'm assuming a Dharma bestiary) with what I suspect is a superstimulated ability to summon (he did so to the bird in Sydney). And here’s the big one: Jack’s ability to heal was superstimulated allowing him to save people during the crash. He had no knowledge of this so its effect was uncontrolled and likely random, though obviously there’s that predestination thing involved again. I think Eko is likely responsible for saving the Tailies. (How do Sawyer's and Kate’s archetypes concretely evince themselves: perhaps they have no abilities, theirs is purely character based.)
The Two Sides of the Game
As in all great myths and thus superhero comics, stories almost always come down to some binary conflict: good and evil/black and white/man and nature, etc. In the Watchmen, Ozymandias is a terrifically rich ex-superhero with a god complex. He funnels his money toward a multinational corporation that in turn produces the project which is the heart of the book’s bold conspiracy, The point of the project: to create world peace by unleashing an incredible (and fake) threat to the United States and the USSR. Ozymandias, whose name references ancient Egyptian culture, accomplished this by kidnaping artists, writers, scientists, etc. and bringing them to an Island in the Pacific and pretending they were working on a movie when in fact they were creating the threat. I believe Lost will end up being something similar: Alvar Hanso is Ozymandias believing he can control world events with what’s created on The Island. Here’s where it's different though:
I, along with many on The Fuselage, think the Others are ex-employees of the Dharma Initiative. They’ve quit, disillusioned by the Initiative’s weaponization of the special technolgies developed on the Island. Instead they shun civilization and have become naturalists, recognizing the Island is special, perhaps even alive and now live to serve it. They dress simply, walk barefoot and can supernaturally appear out of the forest and sea. Likely this is just because they’re more “one” with The Island and thus more aware of its underground tunnels. (Within these tunnels resides the immune system of The Island, Smoky, a former weapon now set free. As has been written on The Fuselage, it’s electromagnetic, but can also read into a person’s mind and determine if it is a potential friend or foe of the Island). The children (and more) were taken because they were the least tainted by civilization and were closer to nature, they were in the eyes of the naturalist Others, “the good ones.”
The Losties are indeed locked in a game between The Others and the Hanso Foundation: the two sides are the ones laid out in the Epic of Gilgamesh. It boils down to man choosing between the ever evolving, constantly civilizing society or the simplicity and freedom of nature. Locke and Eko are essentially Others, (which is why Smoky wanted Locke and will likely go after Eko at some point, but let him be for now.) How this plays out in relation to the Island is anyone’s guess. The Island could be alive, it could be a weapon, it could be a massive computer. It’s a tool, however, that in the hands of Hanso could wreak havoc, so is kept docile by The Others. What’s interesting is the Losties may come to see The Others point of view. Remember, we have at least three and half seasons left to go so there’s a lot of room for evolution.
Meanwhile, the Island, either through the way the Dharma stations are set up or as a conscious act on The Island’s part, regularly causes people to come to it to maintain it. (Remember there doesn’t have to be a logical explanation, it’s just destiny. In Watchmen, Dr. Manhattan and Laurie are floating around Mars. Laurie tells Dr. Manhattan to land and the Doctor looks at her with this face that seems to say “Really?” because he knows something:
As the “camera” pulls back we see they’ve landed in a crater formation that looks exactly like a smiley face.
Again this has no bearing on the plot, just reinforces the theme of predestination. Lindelof and Cuse said in pre-One of Them podcast, we’ll know what brought the plane down by the end of Season 2, so we can revisit this then.
The Ending
In Watchmen the resolution of the murder and the unveiling of the conspiracy comes virtually out of the blue and is so big and bold one of the characters questions if he’s being lied to when told the truth. I beleive the same thing will happen in Lost, whatever’s the final resolution of the mysteries will be insanely big and bold, so much so we don’t see it coming. Looking back we’ll be able to see all the pieces and realize we were paying attention to the wrong things the entire time. But the ending of Watchmen wasn’t the actual point of it... the murder mystery (much like I’m assuming the mystery of the Island) was just a means to keep the reader interested while he was taken through the pasts and presents of these heroes. At heart Damon, JJ and the whole gang are storytellers more interested in exploring these characters lives. In the "Genesis of Lost" featurette on Season 1, Disc 7, the producers say flat out they knew they needed an external force on the Losties to keep things interesting.
The real ending of the show will not involve the Island at all but the Losties each coming into their own, either becoming comfortable with who they are (their archetype) or rejecting it.. This may come in the form of a choice each Lostie must make between getting off the Island or becoming an Other. As of now, I predict the Losties will eventually figure out Walt could summon rescue and given the choice many will go off with Jack (or whoever) and many will stay with Locke and The Others to serve the Island and keep it out of Hanso’s hands. The final scene could be another summons by The Island, and another plane crashing with The New Others/Ex-Losties watching, starting the whole cycle up again, just as in The Watchmen.
For over two decades comic book fans have waited for what they called “The Next Watchmen” something that took mythic storytelling to the next level. Well, they got it, but in the medium of television: LOST.
Theory by CrimsonRabbit
