Post by Hollywood Heidi on Jun 5, 2015 0:31:17 GMT -8
What's in a name? More than you realize! The Lost writers meticulously gave clues, hints, or just fun winks to whatever theories were popularly posted about.
Reply with any book titles you spot (feel free to include short synopsis or general idea of the story that links to Lost) or character names that you find that either make reference to a historical figure (the writers loved using names of philosophers of old) or names of characters or places you think may be important or you've figured out are anagrams. Let us know the episode number and/or name where you first spotted it!
Anthony Ashley Cooper - The first and last name of John's Locke's birth father is shared with the 1st Earl of Shaftesbury who, in 1666, was suffering from a serious liver infection and had persuaded the real John Locke (see his info below) to become his personal physician. John Locke moved into his home and when the infection became worse, he performed a risky but successful surgery to remove the cyst from Anthony's liver and Anthony proclaimed that John Locke had saved his life.
Charlotte Staples Lewis - Named after Clive Staples Lewis, better known as C.S. Lewis, author of the Narnia series.
Desmond David Hume - Desmond's middle and last name is a tribute to David Hume, who was a famous empiricist philosopher.
Edmund Burke - Juliet's ex-husband was named after a British Enlightenment thinker who was around during the same era as John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and David Hume.
Ethan Rom - anagram for Other Man
Daniel Faraday - Named after the British chemist and physicist, Michael Faraday, who conducted experiments in electromagnetism.
Gary Troup - anagram for Purgatory (Pilot: Part 1, man sucked into jet engine)
Henry Gale - Dorothy's uncle who flies in a hot air balloon in "The Wizard of Oz". it is also the name of an American astrophysicist.
John Locke - Shares his name with one of the most influential of the English Enlightenment thinkers, John Locke (1632-1704). Both have many of the same beliefs and ways of thinking. He believed that people had a right to use reason and common sense to search for truth, rather than just accept authoritarian rules. He states that at birth, we have no innate knowledge and are instead a blank slate (tabula rasa) upon which experience writes. All ideas are borne of experience, which can be divided into either sensation or reflection. Search him online for a more in depth look into his philosophies.
Judge Arthur Galzethron - His name is an anagram for "get thru jungle or hazard" (4x04 Eggtown)
George Minkowski - Named after Hermann Minkowski who is most famous for his concept of Minkowski spacetime.
Danielle Rousseau - Shares her last name with Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778), another of the most influential of the Enlightenment thinkers. He argued the only way to understand man is to picture him in a state of nature, stripped of society's trappings. He believed man would originate as a solitary being, working for his own self-preservation. He would occasionally join up with others to build a shelter or hunt for food, but there were no friendships or lasting attachments, and he would return to his solitary existence. That's just the surface and the beginning of his theory. Search him online to go more in depth.
Jack Shephard - As he is looked to as the leader, he is the shepherd over the flock
1984, by George Orwell (1948) - First seen 2x21 ?
Assassins, by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins (1999) - First seen in 3x16 One of Us
Bad Twin, by Gary Troup (2006) - First seen in 2x13 The Long Con as a transcript, this book was created for the show by the fictional character Gary Troup, who was the man that got sucked into the jet engine in the pilot episode. There are many references in the book that are crossovers to the show, such as Widmore Corporation, Hanso Foundation, Paik Industries, Oceanic Airlines, Mr. Cluck's Chicken Shack, and characters such as the Widmore family, Alvar Hanso, and the book is dedicated to Cindy Chandler, the flight attendant Tailie.
A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking (1988) - First seen 3x07 Not in Portland
Carrie by Stephen King (1974) - First seen 3x01 A Tale of Two Cities
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller (1961) - First seen 3x17 Catch-22
Deep River by Shusaku Endo (1993) - First seen 6x06 Sundown
Everything That Rises Must Converge by Flannery O'Connor (1965) - First seen 5x16 The Incident
Evil Under the Sun by Agatha Christie (1941)
The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand (1943)
Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie (1990) - First seen 6x01&02 LA X
Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad (1902) - In 1x04 Walkabout, Jack asks Kate "Tell me something, how come every time there's a hike into the 'heart of darkness' you sign up?" when Kate volunteers to go on the boar hunt with Locke and in 1x18 Numbers, Charlie says to Hurley, "One minute you're happy-go-lucky, good-time Hurley, and the next you're Colonel bloody Kurtz!" Kurtz is a character from the book who is thought to have gone mad.
Parallels to the show: It's about the deepest, darkest recesses of the earth and mind and how the heart of darkness is not just in the jungle but within everyone. Marlow, the main character of the book, as well as the survivors on the island, are haunted by things they've done in the past and are forced to look at the darkness within themselves and those around them. In both, the characters fear what may happen if they venture too far into the jungle as they believe there is something evil lurking there.
The Invention of Morel, by Adolfo Bioy Casares (1940) - First seen 4x04 Eggtown
Lancelot, by Walker Percy (1977) - First seen 2x15 Maternity Leave
Laughter in the Dark by Vladimir Nabokov (1932) - First seen 3x08 Flashes Before Your Eyes
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery (1943) - Episode title of 4x05 The Little Prince
Mystery Tales #40 (April 1956) - First seen 4x11 Cabin Fever. Comic book with various tales, many of which parallel themes on the show.
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, by Ambrose Bierce (1891) - First seen 2x13 The Long Con
Notes from Underground, by Fyodor Dostoevsky (1864) - First seen 6x12 Everybody Loves Hugo
Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck (1937) - First seen 3x04 Every Man for Himself
Our Mutual Friend, by Charles Dickens (1865) - First seen 2x23&24 Live Together, Die Alone
Pop Goes the Weasel, by James Patterson (1999) - First seen 3x16 One of Us
The Royals, by Kitty Kelley (1997) - First seen 3x16 One of Us
A Separate Reality: Further Conversations with Don Juan by Carlos Castaneda (1971) - First seen 5x10 He's Our You. The book young Ben gave to Sayid to read.
Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut (1969) - First referenced 4x05 The Constant with the use of the term "unstuck in time." About a man who is unstuck in time and describes his own death, which he claims to have seen and experienced many times, involves being blinded by a violet light that is accompanies by a loud hum. This is exactly what we saw when Desmond turned the key and the hatch imploded.
Stitches in Time, by Barbara Michaels (1995) - First seen 3x16 One of Us
A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens (1859) - Episode title of 3x01 A Tale of Two Cities
The Tempest, by William Shakespeare (1623) - Name of a station first seen in 4x06 The Other Woman
The Third Policeman, by Flann O'Brien (1967) - First seen 2x05 ...And Found
The Turn of the Screw, by Henry James (1898) - First seen 2x03 Orientation
Ulysses by James Joyce (1922) - First seen 5x06 316
Valis, by Philip K. Dick (1981) - First seen 4x04 Eggtown
Watership Down, by Richard Adams (1972) - First referenced 1x08 Confidence Man, read by Sawyer. Chronicling a group of rabbits' search for a new place to live after they narrowly escape the poisoning and excavation of their warren by men. They encounter a utopia where they are nurtured and fed into apathy by the local farmer. The rabbits come to realize it's a trap as the farmer has set snares around the area. Later, they find a suitable place to settle down.
Parallels to the show: 1. Establishing their new settlement. The rabbits reevaluate the rules by which they will chose to run their society. 2. Theme of feeling uprooted from home and trying to replant themselves in a distant land. 3. Additional themes of exile, survival, heroism, political responsibility, making of a hero, and making of a community.
Women Who Run with the Wolves, by Clarissa Pinkola Estes (1996) - Episode title of 3x16 One of Us
A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L'Engle (1962) - In 1x18 Numbers, we see Sawyer reading this book. It's about the universal war between light and dark, good and evil and how the only way to conquer evil is through individuality and love. It's about seeing things clearly and only when everyone can see past the obvious to find the truth that lies beneath can darkness be conquered. In the end, the main character realized that she can conquer the evil on an internal level through love.
Parallels to the show: There are characters in the book that can read people's minds like it seems Walt can. In the book, there is an evil known as the Dark Thing, which seems to be an external evil and could be compared to the "monster" inhabiting the island. There are more details which our island monster and this Dark Thing share but they are spoilers until we get to learn more about our island monster.
Y: The Last Man, by Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra (Sep 2002-Jan 2008) - First seen 5x06 316
Ajira Airways - First seen on water bottle in boat in 5x04 The Little Prince. Ajira is Hindi for island.
Canton-Rainier Carpet Cleaning - First seen on the van Ben is driving around in 5x04 The Little Prince. Canton-Rainier is an anagram for reincarnation.
Hararat Aviation - First mentioned in 3x16 One of Us. Hararat is an anagram for Earhart, as in Amelia Earhart.
Mittelos Laboratories - First mentioned in 3x07 Not in Portland. Mittelos is an anagram for Lost Time.
Hoffs/Drawler - First mentioned in 3x22 Through the Looking Glass. Funeral parlor's name is an anagram for Flashforward.
Half-Life (video game, 1x21 The Greater Good) - The player of the game is a scientist who has accidentally opened a portal to an alien dimension and is trapped in an underground testing facility and has to fight their way out using a series of weapons.
Reply with any book titles you spot (feel free to include short synopsis or general idea of the story that links to Lost) or character names that you find that either make reference to a historical figure (the writers loved using names of philosophers of old) or names of characters or places you think may be important or you've figured out are anagrams. Let us know the episode number and/or name where you first spotted it!
Names
Anthony Ashley Cooper - The first and last name of John's Locke's birth father is shared with the 1st Earl of Shaftesbury who, in 1666, was suffering from a serious liver infection and had persuaded the real John Locke (see his info below) to become his personal physician. John Locke moved into his home and when the infection became worse, he performed a risky but successful surgery to remove the cyst from Anthony's liver and Anthony proclaimed that John Locke had saved his life.
Charlotte Staples Lewis - Named after Clive Staples Lewis, better known as C.S. Lewis, author of the Narnia series.
Desmond David Hume - Desmond's middle and last name is a tribute to David Hume, who was a famous empiricist philosopher.
Edmund Burke - Juliet's ex-husband was named after a British Enlightenment thinker who was around during the same era as John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and David Hume.
Ethan Rom - anagram for Other Man
Daniel Faraday - Named after the British chemist and physicist, Michael Faraday, who conducted experiments in electromagnetism.
Gary Troup - anagram for Purgatory (Pilot: Part 1, man sucked into jet engine)
Henry Gale - Dorothy's uncle who flies in a hot air balloon in "The Wizard of Oz". it is also the name of an American astrophysicist.
John Locke - Shares his name with one of the most influential of the English Enlightenment thinkers, John Locke (1632-1704). Both have many of the same beliefs and ways of thinking. He believed that people had a right to use reason and common sense to search for truth, rather than just accept authoritarian rules. He states that at birth, we have no innate knowledge and are instead a blank slate (tabula rasa) upon which experience writes. All ideas are borne of experience, which can be divided into either sensation or reflection. Search him online for a more in depth look into his philosophies.
Judge Arthur Galzethron - His name is an anagram for "get thru jungle or hazard" (4x04 Eggtown)
George Minkowski - Named after Hermann Minkowski who is most famous for his concept of Minkowski spacetime.
Danielle Rousseau - Shares her last name with Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778), another of the most influential of the Enlightenment thinkers. He argued the only way to understand man is to picture him in a state of nature, stripped of society's trappings. He believed man would originate as a solitary being, working for his own self-preservation. He would occasionally join up with others to build a shelter or hunt for food, but there were no friendships or lasting attachments, and he would return to his solitary existence. That's just the surface and the beginning of his theory. Search him online to go more in depth.
Jack Shephard - As he is looked to as the leader, he is the shepherd over the flock
Books
1984, by George Orwell (1948) - First seen 2x21 ?
Assassins, by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins (1999) - First seen in 3x16 One of Us
Bad Twin, by Gary Troup (2006) - First seen in 2x13 The Long Con as a transcript, this book was created for the show by the fictional character Gary Troup, who was the man that got sucked into the jet engine in the pilot episode. There are many references in the book that are crossovers to the show, such as Widmore Corporation, Hanso Foundation, Paik Industries, Oceanic Airlines, Mr. Cluck's Chicken Shack, and characters such as the Widmore family, Alvar Hanso, and the book is dedicated to Cindy Chandler, the flight attendant Tailie.
A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking (1988) - First seen 3x07 Not in Portland
Carrie by Stephen King (1974) - First seen 3x01 A Tale of Two Cities
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller (1961) - First seen 3x17 Catch-22
Deep River by Shusaku Endo (1993) - First seen 6x06 Sundown
Everything That Rises Must Converge by Flannery O'Connor (1965) - First seen 5x16 The Incident
Evil Under the Sun by Agatha Christie (1941)
The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand (1943)
Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie (1990) - First seen 6x01&02 LA X
Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad (1902) - In 1x04 Walkabout, Jack asks Kate "Tell me something, how come every time there's a hike into the 'heart of darkness' you sign up?" when Kate volunteers to go on the boar hunt with Locke and in 1x18 Numbers, Charlie says to Hurley, "One minute you're happy-go-lucky, good-time Hurley, and the next you're Colonel bloody Kurtz!" Kurtz is a character from the book who is thought to have gone mad.
Parallels to the show: It's about the deepest, darkest recesses of the earth and mind and how the heart of darkness is not just in the jungle but within everyone. Marlow, the main character of the book, as well as the survivors on the island, are haunted by things they've done in the past and are forced to look at the darkness within themselves and those around them. In both, the characters fear what may happen if they venture too far into the jungle as they believe there is something evil lurking there.
The Invention of Morel, by Adolfo Bioy Casares (1940) - First seen 4x04 Eggtown
Lancelot, by Walker Percy (1977) - First seen 2x15 Maternity Leave
Laughter in the Dark by Vladimir Nabokov (1932) - First seen 3x08 Flashes Before Your Eyes
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery (1943) - Episode title of 4x05 The Little Prince
Mystery Tales #40 (April 1956) - First seen 4x11 Cabin Fever. Comic book with various tales, many of which parallel themes on the show.
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, by Ambrose Bierce (1891) - First seen 2x13 The Long Con
Notes from Underground, by Fyodor Dostoevsky (1864) - First seen 6x12 Everybody Loves Hugo
Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck (1937) - First seen 3x04 Every Man for Himself
Our Mutual Friend, by Charles Dickens (1865) - First seen 2x23&24 Live Together, Die Alone
Pop Goes the Weasel, by James Patterson (1999) - First seen 3x16 One of Us
The Royals, by Kitty Kelley (1997) - First seen 3x16 One of Us
A Separate Reality: Further Conversations with Don Juan by Carlos Castaneda (1971) - First seen 5x10 He's Our You. The book young Ben gave to Sayid to read.
Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut (1969) - First referenced 4x05 The Constant with the use of the term "unstuck in time." About a man who is unstuck in time and describes his own death, which he claims to have seen and experienced many times, involves being blinded by a violet light that is accompanies by a loud hum. This is exactly what we saw when Desmond turned the key and the hatch imploded.
Stitches in Time, by Barbara Michaels (1995) - First seen 3x16 One of Us
A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens (1859) - Episode title of 3x01 A Tale of Two Cities
The Tempest, by William Shakespeare (1623) - Name of a station first seen in 4x06 The Other Woman
The Third Policeman, by Flann O'Brien (1967) - First seen 2x05 ...And Found
The Turn of the Screw, by Henry James (1898) - First seen 2x03 Orientation
Ulysses by James Joyce (1922) - First seen 5x06 316
Valis, by Philip K. Dick (1981) - First seen 4x04 Eggtown
Watership Down, by Richard Adams (1972) - First referenced 1x08 Confidence Man, read by Sawyer. Chronicling a group of rabbits' search for a new place to live after they narrowly escape the poisoning and excavation of their warren by men. They encounter a utopia where they are nurtured and fed into apathy by the local farmer. The rabbits come to realize it's a trap as the farmer has set snares around the area. Later, they find a suitable place to settle down.
Parallels to the show: 1. Establishing their new settlement. The rabbits reevaluate the rules by which they will chose to run their society. 2. Theme of feeling uprooted from home and trying to replant themselves in a distant land. 3. Additional themes of exile, survival, heroism, political responsibility, making of a hero, and making of a community.
Women Who Run with the Wolves, by Clarissa Pinkola Estes (1996) - Episode title of 3x16 One of Us
A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L'Engle (1962) - In 1x18 Numbers, we see Sawyer reading this book. It's about the universal war between light and dark, good and evil and how the only way to conquer evil is through individuality and love. It's about seeing things clearly and only when everyone can see past the obvious to find the truth that lies beneath can darkness be conquered. In the end, the main character realized that she can conquer the evil on an internal level through love.
Parallels to the show: There are characters in the book that can read people's minds like it seems Walt can. In the book, there is an evil known as the Dark Thing, which seems to be an external evil and could be compared to the "monster" inhabiting the island. There are more details which our island monster and this Dark Thing share but they are spoilers until we get to learn more about our island monster.
Y: The Last Man, by Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra (Sep 2002-Jan 2008) - First seen 5x06 316
Places
Ajira Airways - First seen on water bottle in boat in 5x04 The Little Prince. Ajira is Hindi for island.
Canton-Rainier Carpet Cleaning - First seen on the van Ben is driving around in 5x04 The Little Prince. Canton-Rainier is an anagram for reincarnation.
Hararat Aviation - First mentioned in 3x16 One of Us. Hararat is an anagram for Earhart, as in Amelia Earhart.
Mittelos Laboratories - First mentioned in 3x07 Not in Portland. Mittelos is an anagram for Lost Time.
Hoffs/Drawler - First mentioned in 3x22 Through the Looking Glass. Funeral parlor's name is an anagram for Flashforward.
Etc.
Half-Life (video game, 1x21 The Greater Good) - The player of the game is a scientist who has accidentally opened a portal to an alien dimension and is trapped in an underground testing facility and has to fight their way out using a series of weapons.
