ABC’s mind-bending seriesLostconcluded 15 years ago, but these 10 major questions about the show remain, over a decade later.Lostdebuted in 2004, and from the beginning, it was clear this show was going to be different. A plane crash and a group of strangers trying to survive may seem action-packed enough, butLostwent far beyond that.
Eventually, the show added smoke monsters, murderous ‘Others’ on the island, resurrections from the dead, and time jumps, to name just a few twists in the show. Ultimately,Lostconcluded with a controversial ending (although, to be clear: the idea that they were dead the whole time is a misconception), yetthese 10 questions aboutLostare still unanswered.
10What Was The Significance Of The Statue On The Island?
We Never Got To See The Origin Story For This Odd Statue
There were a number of oddities on the island inLost, but perhaps one of the creepiest was the huge foot of a broken statue. At first, viewers only saw the statue in this destroyed form. Eventually, though,Richard Alpert’s backstory revealed that the statue had once been a full-fledged depiction of Taweret, the Egyptian goddess of childbirth and fertility.
When the ship carrying Richard, called the Black Rock, smashed into the statue during an intense storm, only the foot was left standing. While that provided context for the statue’s destroyed state, it did not revealthe origins of the foot statue. In fact, still now, the creation of the statue remains a mystery.
Given what the show did reveal, it seems safe to assume this statue was tied to the ‘sickness’ that caused women on the island to die in childbirth, although the destruction of the statue significantly predates the Dharma Initiative’s presence on the island, and it’s not clear what the entire history of the ‘sickness’ is.
9Did Kate And Sawyer Have A Relationship After They Returned?
Among the most burning questions for fans ofLost, especially those who ‘shipped’ main characters Kate and Sawyer, is whether Kate and Sawyer had a relationship after leaving the island. Jack, Kate, and Sawyer were stuck in a love triangle for several seasons of the show, and audiences were largely divided on who they believed Kate should end up with.
However,the afterlife in theLostfinale seemed to cement that Sawyer and Juliet were together in the end, as were Jack and Kate. The reason this question remains is that Juliet and Jack both died before the end of the show, whereas Kate and Sawyer were two of the fewmain characters who survived inLost.
Given how intense Sawyer and Kate’s feelings for one another were at various points in the show, it’s reasonable that viewers would wonder whether anything ever happened once they made it back home, particularly because it’s possible they lived for decades after. Sadly, we may never know the answer (and some may argue it doesn’t matter).
8Why Was Walt So Special?
One of the most fascinating characters inLostwas Walt, who seemed to be the only child to survive the Oceanic 815 crash until additional survivors of the flight were discovered. Although Walt and his father, Michael, were some of the first survivors to make it off the island, Walt continued to be important to the show.
In part, that was because Walt had special abilities in the show (so much so that the so-called Others became obsessed with testing and understanding him). One of Walt’s abilities was seemingly being in places he wasn’t supposed to be, which included appearing before Shannon and whispering creepily.
Unfortunately,Walt’s powers were never really explained, and they actually made less and less sense with time. For example, towards the end of the show, we learned that these whispers were the voices of souls trapped on the island, yet Walt hadn’t died. For whatever reason, the mystery of Walt’s special abilities went largely unaddressed.
7Did Claire And Kate Both Parent Aaron?
One of the biggest arcs ofLostseason 1 had to do with Claire, a young pregnant woman who survived the plane crash. She eventually gave birth to Aaron on the island, after a series of harrowing events, but, sadly, when the Oceanic Six—Kate, Sayid, Hurley, Aaron, Jack, and Sun—made it off the island, Claire was missing.
For that reason, they came up with the story that Aaron was Kate’s son, and for four years, Kate raised Aaron as her own. However, when they eventually returned to the island, they found Claire, and Kate insisted upon Claire returning with her. In the end, Claire did exactly that.
Yet,theLostfinale doesn’t reveal what happened to the characters who returned that second and final time, Kate and Claire included. Claire was rightfully angry that Kate had left her behind and taken Aaron, but Aaron now also fully believed Kate was his mother. This raises questions about whether Kate and Claire then raised Aaron together.
This remains speculative, but it seems most likely that this is what happened. While Claire was unquestionably furious with Kate, she loved Aaron and would want to do what was best for him, which would presumably be a connection with the woman who raised him for four years. Unfortunately, we may never know if that is truly the case.
6How Was Claire And Sawyer’s Survival Explained When They Returned?
When Sayid, Kate, Aaron, Sun, Hurley, and Jack returned from the island, they needed to craft a story that would explain their survival but also protect the island and the people they’d left behind. Because of that, they agreed to lie and claim that everyone else had died on impact and they’d survived together.
It would therefore have thrown a massive wrench in this story for both Claire and Sawyer to turn up alive four years later. Sure, an easy explanation would be that they returned quietly, without any fanfare or publicity the way the Oceanic Six did. That doesn’t really hold up logically, though.
While neither Claire nor Sawyer was nearly as well-known as people like Charlie, a rock star, or Hurley, a lottery winner, they wouldn’t be able to suddenly return years later after being pronounced dead without making waves. Perhaps they simply crafted the story that they survived separately from the others, butLostnever gave an answer about that.
5Did The Psychic’s Warning To Claire Amount To Anything?
Claire Didn’t Raise Aaron Alone, Which The Psychic Warned Against
Before leaving on the fateful flight Oceanic 815, Claire met with a psychic who evidently was able to see (or at least sense) the future. After all, Claire eventually realized that the psychic had sent Claire on that plane on purpose, knowing that it would go down.
The psychic had done so because he was convinced that it could only be Claire who raised the baby, as any other possibility would be disastrous and even dangerous. While the psychic successfully got her on the plane,in the end, Claire did not raise Aaron alone; in fact, for four years, she wasn’t present at all.
This begs the question: Was the psychic right, and if so, what were the consequences of Claire not raising Aaron for years? Given the accuracy of the psychic’s other predictions, it stands to reason that this premonition was also correct, butLostended before this issue was ever addressed.
Was the psychic right, and if so, what were the consequences of Claire not raising Aaron for years?
There were a number of characters inLostwho had special abilities, in addition to Walt. Among them were Desmond,who could move through time, and Hurley, who was able to see dead people. In Desmond’s case, his abilities made a certain degree of sense, at least within the logic of the show.
Specifically, Desmond had been subjected to the intense electromagnetism of the island, and he was therefore moving through time and space in a way not all that dissimilar from the island itself. However,Hurley’s ability to see dead people made very little sense, and it was never really explained.
At the end ofLost, it was clear that, at a certain point, everyone was seeing dead people throughLost’sFlash Sideways. Hurley’s situation was quite different, however, as he was able to see and interact with dead people like Charlie long before the afterlife. This was a fascinating part of Hurley’s story, but an explanation was never given.
3Why Did Sayid End Up With Shannon, Not Nadia, In The Afterlife?
This Felt Like A Serious Betrayal Of Sayid’s (And Nadia’s) Character
Perhaps one of the most frustrating questions to come from theLostfinale was why Sayid would end up with Shannon, not Nadia, in the afterlife. It’s true that Sayid and Shannon had a romance on the island, however short-lived it may have been, and, yes, the afterlife in the show comprised those who had met on the island.
Yet,Losthad also consistently shown how important Nadia was to Sayid—so much so that, when Sayid got off the island, he married Nadia. She then tragically died in front of him. While Shannon and Sayid’s relationship had its cute moments, it made absolutely no sense for Sayid to end up with her, not Nadia, in the afterlife.
Christian Wasn’t Exactly A Great Guy While He Was Alive
The final season ofLostrevealed that Jack’s dad, Christian Shephard (yes, really), had a significant role to play for all survivors of Oceanic 815. Specifically, he was the one to lead them into the afterlife. However, this was a rather surprising revelation given the type of person Christian was.
Lostwas a show that clearly made room for forgiveness and redemption—even Benjamin Linus gets a redemption arc, in fact—butit hardly felt like Christian had been redeemed enough to be the one to lead everyone into the afterlife. Realistically, there were numerous other choices that would have made much more sense (such as John Locke, for one).
What’s more, Christian really only had significance to Jack and, shockingly, Claire, who was revealed to be Christian’s daughter and Jack’s half-sister. Some characters had other interactions with Christian, such as Sawyer meeting him at a bar, but beyond Claire and Jack, Christian didn’t have as much importance as one might think given his role in the finale.
1What Exactly Was The Nature Of The Island?
The Island Still Held So Many Mysteries By The End Of The Show
The biggest mystery of all inLostwas what exactly the nature of the island was. ThroughoutLost’ssix seasons, various details about the island were revealed, such as its role as a ‘cork,’ holding back evil from getting to the rest of the world. Yet, there were also suggestions that the island was the source of life itself.
Then there’s the fact that the island could move through space and time, effectively held the fate of the world, and needed to be protected and overseen by a leader. Ultimately, it just didn’t feel as though those threads came together (even as the final season presented some explanations), making this the most significant lingering question followingLost’sconclusion.
