This article is a comprehensive guide to every notable question on Lost given per episode as well as its answer.

"Self-Implied" denotes that the episode that raised a question itself already implied the answer, though fans may have missed it and continue to ask about it.

For a more general breakdown of the mysteries, see Portal:Mysteries.

Episode Questions and Answers



6x02

"What Kate Does" Why does Dogen have a baseball? It belonged to his son. ("Sundown")

What was the nature of Dogen's test? Dogen states that the test told how the scale of good and evil is balanced in a person. ("Sundown") It's worth noting that Dogen was examining Sayid's facial expressions when torturing him, inspecting his feelings. Later on, Sayid exhibits "deadness" in his feelings at the height of his sickness. ("Recon") ("The Package")

Why didn't Dogen have Sayid killed directly? It seems Dogen does not emotionally like to deal in death personally or order it through his people, due to having almost killed his son. Therefore, he tries to manipulate Sayid to get killed on his own at the behest of outsiders. ("Sundown")

Is Kate really innocent in this reality? As this reality is a construct, it seems that her self-belief of her innocence is derived subconsciously from her belief that she did nothing wrong in murdering Wayne. (Inferred from revelations about the sideways from "The End") It's worth mentioning that supplementary material suggested that in this reality, the explosion Kate staged accidentally killed Wayne's apprentice, and Wayne himself survived. ("Comic Con 2009")

How has the sickness affected Claire's nature? It has turned her insane and murderous. ("Lighthouse")





6x04

"Lighthouse" Who is David's mother? Juliet. ("The End")

Who is coming to the Island? Widmore's group, on submarine. ("Dr. Linus")

Why did Christian and the Monster tell Claire that the Others had her baby? He claims to have been giving her "someone to hate" as a helpful way to cope with her separation from Aaron. ("Recon") However, as it is in fact he himself who separated her from Aaron, it seems was in fact claiming her for use against Jacob's forces.

What is the significance of Dogen's son? Dogen had gotten his son mortally wounded in a car accident. Jacob offered to heal his son, but in exchange, Dogen had to take his position on the Island, and would never see his son again. ("Sundown")

What is it that Jack has to do, according to Jacob? Jack must become the protector long enough to sacrifice himself, defeating the Monster and saving the Island from destruction. ("The End")

Self-Implied What is the nature of the lighthouse? Under Jacob's orders, it was built by the Egyptians (as indicated by the hieroglyphics), and was used to guide ships to the Island, and later repurposed by Jacob to watch the candidates in the mirror. Jacob seems to have endowed it with some electromagnetic or spacetime power, as the mirror is drawing light from around the world. Also, as Jack seems to suggest in the episode, it seems they had to be looking for it in order to find it, thereby keeping its existence long undiscovered.





6x05

"Sundown" Is the Monster "evil incarnate"? No. He, in fact, seems to have been a decent human being initially, but being turned into the Monster and being trapped for eons has eroded his moral character. ("Across the Sea")

Can Sayid and Claire be redeemed from the sickness? Yes. With the proper enlightenment or kindness, it seems they can be drawn back to their old selves. ("The Last Recruit")

How can the Monster be killed or stopped? The only known way is to transform him back into a mortal human. ("The End")

Did Sayid refer to Nadia or Shannon's death? Ambiguous. While he spent a lot of his flash-sideways life with Nadia, it seems that he ultimately needed Shannon to move on. ("The End")

How can the Monster enable Sayid to see her again? He can't. He is simply manipulating Sayid to his side, long enough so he can kill him himself. ("The Candidate")

Why was Keamy's group mobsters instead of soldiers? As the flash-sideways is created by the needs of the people's collective subconscious and brings together the people from the most important times of their lives, it seems that familiar antagonists from the original lives were orchestrated together, enabling Sayid to come to terms with his choice for murder, as well as for Sun and Jin to later overcome Mr. Paik's influence over their lives. ("The Package")

Why was Jin being held in the freezer? Keamy had been hired by Mr. Paik to kill Jin for his involvement with Sun, but first needed to get the money that had been taken at customs at LAX. ("The Package")

Will the spring raise Dogen and Lennon again with the sickness? It seems not. ("Season 6") It seems that the spring may be selective in who it does or doesn't raise, relative to the will of Jacob or the Island. (Retrospect: "Dead Is Dead") However, in the case of the tainted pool, it seems likely that the Monster controls it, and so didn't raise Dogen or Lennon, knowing he couldn't turn them to his side. (Inference)

Self-Implied Why did Dogen ask Sayid to kill the Man in Black before he spoke? There is no actual magical binding power here, but rather Dogen was hoping the Monster would kill Sayid in retaliation. When Sayid accused Dogen of this, he responded in silence, which seems to confirm this. The Man in Black had also previously attempted to trick Ricardo into killing Jacob in the same manner, stabbing him with the same knife before he could speak. As the Man in Black later conceded, Jacob is "very persuasive". ("Ab Aeterno")

How did Dogen's death make the Temple accessible for the Monster? This is likely another one of Jacob's rules. Interestingly, it seems that the Monster was able to cross over the ash into the Temple following Dogen's death, which may suggest that the ash can be crossed if the person or representative person inside is killed.





6x06

"Dr. Linus" Why does the Monster want to leave Ben in charge of the Island? He doesn't. He only wants to get Ben on his side, but intends to destroy the Island. ("The End")

Why is the Monster leading his group to the Hydra? He intends to get everyone on the Ajira plane. ("Recon")

How did Widmore get back to the Island? Jacob gave him an invitation back to the Island, giving him the coordinates to find it. ("What They Died For")

What is Widmore's mission? Widmore is heading to dock to Hydra Island in orderto form a defensive against the Monster, ("Recon") and bring Desmond back for Jacob's purposes. ("The Package") ("What They Died For")





6x07

"Recon" Where is Anthony Cooper in the flash-sideways? He is in a nursing home, in a vegetative state. ("The Candidate")

Who killed the Ajira survivors? Ambiguous. According to disputed canon, Widmore's people slaughtered them. ("Lost Encyclopedia") The Monster may have done so, as per his previously hinted intentions. ("The Incident") Though it's not clear when he would have had an opportunity to do so.

Who was the Monster's mother? She was his surrogate mother, who took him after murdering his biological mother. She raised him to be fearful and avoiding of the outside world, though was very deceptive, secretive, and manipulative. When he later vowed to leave her behind, she destroyed his means of escape and destroyed the community of people he had begun to live with. ("Across the Sea")

What is Zoe's position among Widmore's group? She is a geophysicist brought to search for the Island's electromagnetic hotspots, and also Widmore's second in command. ("The Package")

Why is Widmore geared for conflict against the Monster? Widmore is securing the Ajira plane, trying to keep the Monster from escaping the Island. ("The Package")

Why doesn't Widmore's group appear to be as militarized as the freighter? Widmore claims that Jacob had "convinced him of the error of his ways" after the freighter's destruction. So Jacob's invitation to Widmore back to the Island likely entailed a group lighter on warfare. ("What They Died For")

What is inside the locked room in the submarine? Desmond. ("The Package")

Will Widmore really honor his agreement with Sawyer? No, he intends to capture Sawyer and the other candidates. ("The Last Recruit")





6x08

"Ab Aeterno" How did Ilana recover in the hospital so quickly? Unanswered. According to disputed canon, Jacob touched Ilana and healed her burns. ("ABC Recap: Ab Aeterno") This was not seen occurring in the episode on-screen, though it may have been in a cut scene.

What is it that Jacob said Richard would know to do next? As Richard realized through his flashback recollection and his conversation with Hurley and Isabella, the survivors must stop the Monster from leaving the Island in order to stop hell from breaking out against mankind. ("The Package") Of course, Richard's chosen choice of action to stop the Man in Black (the use of explosives) is quickly rejected by the group. ("Everybody Loves Hugo") Richard himself later changes his mind and decides to fly the plane off the Island with Lapidus's help instead. ("The End") While this does not seem to impact the Man in Black's final path of escape (via sailboat), Jacob nonetheless may have intended Richard to get the Ajira plane functioning so that the remaining candidates could fulfill their choice of leaving the Island.

How did Jacob betray the Monster and take his body and humanity? He threw him into the Heart of the Island, causing his consciousness to be stripped away from his body and fused with some of the Light, turning him into the Monster.

Why did Jacob want to prove mankind can be redeemed? This personal quest seems to have begun with his disagreements in his early life with both Mother and the Man in Black. The former, out of her own beliefs, tried to indoctrinate them both into fearing mankind. Jacob grew skeptical of her claims, and felt that humanity "didn't seem so bad" when watching them from afar. His personal quest to prove mankind's goodness was also likely influenced out of his own failings in turning the Man in Black into the Monster. ("Across the Sea")

Why is the Monster cynical about mankind? He came to agree with Mother's belief, out of his own personal experience living among humans. It was also likely influenced by his suffering experienced at the hands of Mother and later Jacob. ("Across the Sea")

How does the Island keep "hell" "corked"? This seems to be partly a symbolic metaphor for preventing mankind's universal death. The "cork" Jacob speaks of is a veiled reference to the cork-like drain plug at the Heart of the Island, which sustains the flow of the Light and contains destructive volcanic activity. ("The End") If the Light were to be extinguished and the Island destroyed, this would result in humanity's death. ("Across the Sea")

How will the Monster's escape unleash "hell" onto the world? The Monster is physically connected to the Light at the Heart of the Island. ("Across the Sea") His escape from the Island entails that he must uncork the Light in order to sever his connection and be free, with humanity soon dying as a consequence. ("The End") It seems that the writers at one time may have intended for the death of humanity to be brought on by a globally cataclysmic volcanic eruption, as hinted in their comments in an interview. For budgetary purposes, the volcano's presence had to be minimized in the finale, but this idea is still worth pondering in interpretation. | Lost Volcano Alternative Ending

Self-Implied What is the nature of Isabella's appearance to Richard on the Black Rock? It was the Monster projecting her figure into the ship, as Jacob himself later hints in his argument with Ricardo. ("Ab Aeterno-enhanced")





6x09

"The Package" Why does the Monster need all the candidates to leave together? While he implies in this episode that this was influenced by the same methodology that brought them on the Ajira plane in the first place, Retrospect: ("316") it seems that this is a lie. What he really needs is for the candidates to be together in a confined location where he can instigate their deaths without their escape. ("The Candidate")

Why is Widmore looking for electromagnetic pockets on the Island? He is looking for the Heart of the Island, knowing he must take Desmond there for his unique resistance to electromagnetism, in order to stop the Monster. ("What They Died For") ("The End")

Why did Widmore bring Desmond back to the Island? He was instructed to do so by Jacob, to use Desmond's electromagnetic resistance as a "failsafe", a last resort to stop the Monster. ("What They Died For")





6x10

"Happily Ever After" What was the nature of Desmond's experience following the electromagnetic blast? It seems that Desmond's consciousness was jolted through time again, as previously happened after turning the Swan's failsafe. This time, Desmond's consciousness randomly glimpsed into his future constructed life after dying, the flash-sideways world, possibly as a result of the normally-lethal level of energy blasted at his head. (Notably, Desmond does not experience a time jump later when entering the Heart of the Island, as only his feet stepped into the electromagnetism.) ("The End")

What is the nature of Charlie, Daniel, and Desmond's glimpses into the original reality? It seems that extreme emotion and life-altering experiences in the flash-sideways are a trigger for the sideways characters to remember their original lives and original the persons they made the closest connections to. It seems it's often a gradual process, which may require continued emotional exposure before a character has fully awakened. ("Everybody Loves Hugo") ("The End")

Is Eloise already aware of the original reality? Yes. She is trying to stop Desmond from waking the other characters up, out of fear that Desmond will take Daniel, who she is trying to hold onto her relationship to, because of what happened in their original lives. ("The End")

What happened to Desmond after he made contact with Penny? He awoke to his life and full memory from the original reality. ("Everybody Loves Hugo")

How much does Widmore know about the flash-sideways world? He knows nothing. He is not aware of Desmond's newly-formed connection to the sideways world. ("What They Died For")

What is the nature of Desmond's connection between the worlds? Desmond saw a glimpse into the sideways world, leading up to his sideways counterpart's awakening with Penny. This has invigorated the Island Desmond with a new serenity and optimism, though he is in fact not in sustained contact with the Sideways Desmond, and isn't any more clear on the nature of what's really going on than anyone else. On the flip side, the Sideways Desmond has now awakened and remembers what happened in the Island reality and what the nature of the sideways reality is, and so holds the key to getting the other 815 passengers' purpose fulfilled in that reality. ("The End")

Why did Sayid spare Zoe? Sayid later states that he didn't see the point in killing her more after finding what he came for. ("Everybody Loves Hugo") This is the first hint showing that some light still exists in Sayid's personality, not extinguished by the sickness. ("The Last Recruit")

What is it that Desmond needs to "show" to the other Oceanic passengers? He is going to bring them together, wake them up, and show them the original reality, so they can all move on together. ("Everybody Loves Hugo") ("The Last Recruit") ("What They Died For") ("The End")





6x11

"Everybody Loves Hugo" What will the Monster use the stick he's carving for? To smash the walkie-talkie Zoe will later give him. ("The Last Recruit")

Why did Desmond run down Locke? He wasn't trying to hurt Locke, but rather trying to help him let go. ("What They Died For")

Self-Implied Why did the Monster throw Desmond into the well? He felt threatened by Desmond, and threw him in to trap him there.





6x12

"The Last Recruit" In the flash-sideways, why did Sun seem distressed to see Locke? She was remembering the Man in Black in Locke's form, who caused the deaths of both herself and Jin. ("The Candidate")

Did the Monster speaking to Jack cause him to be recruited? No. Despite this being entertained throughout the season, it doesn't seem that letting the Monster speak to you has any particular persuasive enchantment. The characters all seem to resist the Monster fairly soon, including Claire herself. ("The Candidate") ("The End")

Did Sayid really kill Desmond? No, he spared him. ("The Candidate")





6x13

"The Candidate" Did Cindy, Zack, and Emma escape the mortar attack? According to disputed canon, they did, and later on continued to help Hugo in his caretaking of the Island. ("Lost Encyclopedia")

Who planted the C4 in the Ajira plane? Widmore did, in order to stop the Monster. Richard's group had not yet collected their C4. ("What They Died For")

Is there any more C4 in the plane? It seems not. ("The End")

Why does the Monster have to kill all the candidates to leave? According to the Monster himself, the rules are that he can't leave until the candidates are all dead. ("Season 6 deleted scenes") It seems that this was initially necessary for him in order to reach the Heart of the Island. ("The End")

What is Lapidus's fate? He survives, and later is found by Miles and Richard as he's floating in the ocean with a life vest. ("The End")

