"Charlotte" redirects here. For the flashback character from "?", see: "Charlotte Malkin".

Dr. Charlotte Staples Lewis was a gifted cultural anthropologist who had previously lived on the Island as a child, where her parents were members of the DHARMA Initiative. She eventually escaped with just her mother, leaving her father (and possibly two younger sisters) behind. She spent the rest of her life trying to find the Island again, partly because of her mother's insistence that she had made it all up, and partly for a chance to find her father again. She finally parachuted back onto the Island on day 91, as part of the freighter science team. After she was initially held hostage in Locke's group, Sayid traded her for Miles. She arrived at the beach camp with Daniel Faraday (who she reciprocated feelings for), where her presence aroused the suspicions of the survivors due to her secrecy and dishonesty about their mission, as well as her attitude to the others. She eventually gained trust when she and Daniel diffused deadly gas from a DHARMA station. Following Benjamin Linus's turning of the frozen wheel and the increasing frequency of the time flashes that ensued, Charlotte began suffering the effects of temporal displacement, because of her time on the island as a youth. Eventually, she became unable to travel with the other survivors, and succumbed to the illness, dying by Daniel Faraday's side.

In the afterlife, Charlotte and Daniel were reunited. Although they initially didn't remember one another, there was an instant attraction between the two, and it's highly possible that they eventually remembered their lives and moved on together.

Contents show]

On the Island

DHARMA Initiative



Charlotte waves at Daniel as a very young child in the Barracks. (" LaFleur ")

According to information provided by Ben that he received from Michael, Charlotte Staples Lewis was born on July 2, 1979, in Essex, England to parents David and Jeanette Lewis. She was raised in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, England, along with her two younger sisters. ("Confirmed Dead")

It has since been discovered that this information was, at least, partially incorrect. Charlotte was actually born in 1971 and she spent a great deal of her young childhood on the Island. Her parents were members of the DHARMA Initiative, with whom she lived at the Barracks. ("This Place Is Death")



Daniel Faraday tells young Charlotte in 1977 that she has to leave the Island. (" The Variable ")

In 1974, a much younger Charlotte was present on the same day that Sawyer's group arrived at the barracks with Amy and infiltrated the Initiative after the frequent time shifts. Giddily, she ran across the grounds with her mother following her and waved to Daniel. He gasped in shock upon seeing the young girl, whom her mother referred to as Charlotte, as this happened just after the adult Charlotte had died from the time flashes. ("LaFleur")

Three years later in 1977, after Daniel returned to the island, he came to her at the playground while she was on the swingset. She seemed apprehensive about talking at first because she was "eating chocolate before dinner" which was not allowed. She relaxed when Daniel informed her he wouldn't tell anyone. He told her that Dr. Pierre Chang would soon begin to evacuate people from the Island and she needed to go with her mother when that happened. He also told Charlotte if she ever returned to the Island, she would die. The conversation with Daniel left Charlotte upset, enough that she repressed the memory until the moments leading up to her death when Daniel was by her side. ("This Place Is Death") ("The Variable")

Charlotte was seen by Miles being helped out of a DHARMA van by her mother Jeanette. Her mother said something to her, and they headed for the submarines. It is presumed they evacuated the Island on the submarine that Kate, Sawyer, and Juliet boarded. Her father was not seen leaving with them, and was left behind, as she told Daniel later that she never saw her father again. It is also possible her sisters were left behind as well because they were not seen at the submarine docking. However, it is also equally possible Charlotte's mother remarried and bore them off the Island. ("Follow the Leader")

Off the Island

After leaving the Island, Charlotte and her mother settled in England. Charlotte claimed that whenever she asked her mother about the Island, her mother insisted it was all in Charlotte's imagination, but she was convinced it was a real place. ("This Place Is Death")

Charlotte did her undergraduate studies at the University of Kent. She also received a PhD (mistakenly referred to as a DPhil) in Cultural Anthropology from Oxford University. She stated her reason for becoming an anthropologist was to find her way back to the Island again. She also spoke fluent Korean and claimed, perhaps jokingly, she had the ability to speak Klingon. ("Confirmed Dead") ("Something Nice Back Home") ("This Place Is Death")

Tunisia

In 2004, around the time the faked wreckage of Oceanic Flight 815 was recovered (about which she had already expressed serious disbelief), Charlotte was at an excavation site in Tunisia. She bribed a man in charge to allow her into a dig-site. The excavation revealed the skeleton of a polar bear, and, around the bear's neck was a DHARMA collar, with the Hydra station logo emblazoned upon it. This discovery caused Charlotte evident pleasure as she began smiling. Charlotte recognized the DHARMA logo from her time on the island when she was a child. The emblem on the collar clearly proved the Island's existence and thus confirmed she had not simply imagined the story of the island and the tropical polar bear-like her mother had said. ("Confirmed Dead")



Recruitment

Charlotte was recruited by Matthew Abaddon to go to the Island in search of Benjamin Linus. Together with Miles Straume, Naomi, Daniel Faraday, and Frank Lapidus, she formed a five-member team for which it seemed every member was chosen for a specific reason. Also, at some point, before she was recruited by Abaddon for the mission aboard the freighter, she won an award. This was most likely for her outstanding work in anthropology during the archeological dig in Tunisia. ("Confirmed Dead")

Back on the Island

Days 91–100 (Season 4)

Charlotte Lewis arrived on the Island after parachuting from a helicopter which had taken off from the freighter. She showed great pleasure at arriving on the Island and finding inhabitants, smiling and laughing. She questioned Locke's group and seemed surprised when Locke announced that his group did not want to be rescued from the Island. Locke told Charlotte that he wanted her to come with his group, at which she looked shocked and apprehensive. Her transponder was later found attached to Vincent apparently to throw off anyone who may have been looking for her, as she had been taken hostage. ("Confirmed Dead")



Charlotte is shocked as Ben recites her entire history. (" Confirmed Dead ")

After Frank Lapidus let off a flare, Charlotte was told she couldn't leave. However, she defied Locke and attempted to leave Locke's group to meet up with the rest of her team anyway. Before she could leave them, she was shot twice in the chest by Ben. She survived, however, because she was wearing a cleverly concealed bullet-proof vest that had been provided by Miles before she jumped out of the helicopter. After this, Sawyer held a gun to Ben's head, but was talked out of killing him by Locke, who said it was his mess to clean up. Just as Locke was about to shoot him, Ben began to divulge extremely detailed information pertaining to Charlotte's personal history and background, as well as of the rest of her team.

This information, however, may or may not have been completely correct, according to Charlotte herself. Ben then bartered with them to keep himself alive, informing the group that he had a spy among the freighter people. ("Confirmed Dead")

Charlotte continued traveling with Locke's group unwillingly, and as she pointed out to Hurley, her status was basically that of a hostage. With the rest of the group, she reached the barracks, however, she wasn't there for long. Sayid arrived with Kate and Miles and proposed a deal to Locke. He wanted to exchange his hostage, Miles, in return for Charlotte. Locke accepted the exchange and Charlotte was released back to Jack and her other teammates. Frank asked her if she wanted to return to the freighter by helicopter, but she refused, explaining that she had work to do on the Island. ("The Economist")



Juliet commands Charlotte to call the "other number" to the freighter. (" Eggtown ")

Along with Jack, Juliet, and her fellow science team member, Daniel, Charlotte traveled to the beach camp, where she met some of the other Flight 815 survivors. That night she played a card game with Daniel to test his memory. After he only guessed two out of three cards correctly, Charlotte attempted to console Daniel by telling him he was making progress, showing a more compassionate side to her usually forceful personality. Their game was interrupted when Jack and Juliet questioned them about the satellite phone they had in their possession from the helicopter. They didn't believe there was only one contact number to get in touch with the freighter. Charlotte told them there was also another number, one but it was to be used only for emergencies. When Juliet asked her to dial it, Charlotte reluctantly called the number and Regina picked up. She informed Charlotte that the helicopter that left the previous night, carrying Sayid and Desmond, never arrived at the freighter. ("Eggtown")

While being continuously questioned by Jack about the discrepancies of the helicopter flight, Charlotte repeatedly answered she didn't know what was going on and why it hadn't arrived at the freighter by now. Juliet then noted it was very peculiar and strange that Charlotte didn't seem to be at all worried about those who were on the helicopter. Daniel then asked Charlotte if they should "tell them", and Charlotte hinted to him that she did not want to do so. However, Daniel told them the Islanders' perception of time was not realistic, and the helicopter was fine. Daniel informed them their people would arrive on the freighter in due time, much to Charlotte's clear displeasure. ("The Constant")

Later that night, in secret, Charlotte and Daniel packed a bag full of gas masks and HAZMAT suits and set off for the Tempest, a DHARMA station on another side of the Island. During a rest-stop along the way, a somewhat anxious Daniel asked Charlotte what would happen to them if "he couldn't do it". Charlotte responded by giving him reassurance. Just as they were about to set off once more, Kate chanced upon them while running through the jungle. She quizzed them about what they were doing, and Charlotte lied to her, fabricating a false story that they were looking for the packs they threw away from the helicopter. When Kate searched in their bags and found their gas-masks, before she could question either of them, Charlotte whacked her on the back of the head with the butt of her gun, rendering her unconscious. ("The Other Woman")

The two journeyed on and eventually reached the Tempest. When they arrived there, they began working on the station's computer network to disable the lethal gas system that was installed there. They had nearly completed their mission when Juliet arrived and attempted to stop them, under the false impression that they were trying to destroy the island by switching the lethal gas system on instead. Juliet fought Charlotte for a while, before beating her into submission. But when Charlotte and Daniel told Juliet what they were actually doing there, she changed her mind and allowed them to continue their work. Later, an angry Kate arrived and held Charlotte at gunpoint outside the station. After Juliet explained that Charlotte was on their side, she relented, and Charlotte brought her into the Tempest to explain what had just happened. ("The Other Woman")

Charlotte was also one of the people present at the beach when the body of Ray, the Kahana's doctor, washed up on shore with his slit throat. When she was questioned by Jack, she denied having any knowledge about his death. As a result, Daniel later revealed it was never their objective to rescue any of the survivors from Oceanic 815. ("The Shape of Things to Come")

A day later, both Charlotte and Daniel were still being hassled by the survivors, most notably Bernard and Rose, about how much information they knew about the freighter and the intentions of the people still on board. The bickering was interrupted by Jack, who needed emergency surgery to remove his infected appendix. Charlotte, along with her teammate Daniel, and 815 survivors Jin and Sun, agreed to travel to the Staff station to collect medical supplies for Jack's treatment. When they reached the station, Daniel gallantly offered to enter inside first to make sure there wasn't any danger. Jin remarked to Sun in Korean that he wondered if Charlotte knew Daniel liked her and Sun replied, "She's a woman, she knows". Charlotte then smiled to herself at this interchange while looking at both of them, which Jin sees. Jin's suspicion that she could understand them was confirmed as it was obvious she was listening to their conversation about their doubts that Charlotte and her crew were ever going to help them. ("Something Nice Back Home")

After gathering the medical supplies for Jack's surgery, the group returned to the beach, where Jin confronted Charlotte. He revealed to her that he knew she could speak Korean, as he noticed her listening and reacting to several conversations he and Sun were having on the way to the station. Charlotte pretended she could not understand until Jin threatened to harm Daniel if she didn't admit her ability to understand and speak Korean. Charlotte replied to Jin in fluent Korean and asked him what he wanted from her. Jin instructed her that she was to make sure Sun was on the helicopter when it left the Island. Charlotte agreed to his proposal. ("Something Nice Back Home")

The next day, Frank Lapidus, who was flying overhead in the chopper, threw a satellite phone onto the beach. The phone was tracking the helicopter, and Jack and Kate believed they should follow it inland. Before they did however, Daniel put a call through and listened to what was happening on the other end and he appeared to be very dismayed by what he heard. Charlotte, noticing that something wasn't right, asked Daniel, "What's wrong?" He told her, "They were using the secondary protocol" and they had to get everyone off the Island right away, due to extreme danger. A while later, Daniel began to ferry people from the Island to the freighter via the emergency raft, the Zodiac. Charlotte stood from the shore watching, looking somewhat anxious as he left with the first group of survivors. ("There's No Place Like Home, Part 1")

When Daniel returned to ferry a second group to the freighter, he told Charlotte and Miles they should be on the next trip. Charlotte was initially compliant with Daniel's request, until Miles asked her why she was willing to leave so soon, after trying hard to "get back" to the Island again. He was implying that she had been to the Island before. Charlotte was visibly surprised that Miles knew of this and she rethought her decision. Later, Charlotte told Daniel that she was not going to go back to the freighter quite yet, because she was still "looking for where she was born." She kissed Daniel tenderly on the cheek before they parted ways. ("There's No Place Like Home, Part 2")

Time flashes (Season 5)

Charlotte was at the beach camp when white light immersed the whole of the camp and the various makeshift structures disappeared from sight. When Daniel arrived back on the Zodiac she was overjoyed to see him alive and well, having thought he may have been on the freighter when it exploded, sank, and disappeared, and the two embraced each other. She then followed Daniel as their group headed to the Swan to try and analyze the events in progress. She displayed her anger and annoyance when Sawyer struck Daniel, becoming very protective. Later, while conversing with Daniel, her nose bled in a manner similar to that of Minkowski and Desmond when they were unstuck in time in "The Constant".

She made an off-hand comment that she had not had nosebleeds since she was a child. Daniel displayed serious concern and fear, but then managed to cover it up convincingly and effectively by saying it was just the sight of blood that was disturbing him. Daniel then told Charlotte to return to the beach while he recovered his backpack from the jungle. ("Because You Left")

Back on the beach, around two hours afterward, and after another timeshift, Charlotte hugged Daniel when he reappeared, claiming he had gotten lost while looking for his pack. Later that evening while he was doing calculations, Charlotte approached him and gave him some fruit she had found while they were in the jungle. She explained to him that her headache was consistent, was not going away, and was getting increasingly worse. ("The Lie")



Charlotte reveals she forgot her mother's maiden name. (" The Lie ")

Of more concern, she seemed to be suffering from severe and peculiar memory loss. She was unable to remember her mother's maiden name for a short time, which was obviously of great concern. Suddenly looking serious, revealing the true intent of why she had approached him, she asked Daniel if he knew why this was happening. Before he had time to answer, Miles approached the camp with a boar he had found dead. Soon after, the camp came under heavy attack from an unseen group firing flaming arrows from within the jungle. Charlotte and Daniel, sticking close together, fled into the jungle, with Daniel helping Charlotte when she fell over while running away. ("The Lie")



Charlotte is held captive with the 2 other freighter members, right before Faraday confesses his love for her. (" Jughead ")

However, soon after reaching the rendezvous point, Charlotte, Daniel, and Miles were captured by a group of Others, led by a young woman named Ellie. The three remaining members of the freighter crew were then taken back to a camp being occupied by the Others and led to a tent where they were held captive. Charlotte's headaches became worse as their journey towards the camp progressed. As leverage, Daniel offered to help deactivate the bomb, citing his love for Charlotte as the reason he would not detonate it instead, as he would "never do anything to harm her". Before he departed, he admitted to Charlotte that he was telling the truth and did love her. She expressed skepticism about him telling the truth to Richard Alpert, as she felt it was only so he would be more trusting. Daniel then departed with Ellie, going to the bomb. Charlotte remained in the tent with Miles, crying slightly to herself after he left, until the survivors time-traveled once again. When the flashing light of the time travel happened, the survivors were all reunited. Daniel ran over and embraced Charlotte, however when they let go, Charlotte's nose began bleeding profusely, and she collapsed onto the ground, unconscious. Daniel rushed to her aid and grabbed her in obvious distress and fear moments later. ("Jughead")

Charlotte was incapacitated for over ten minutes as a concerned Daniel and Juliet attempted to revive her. Eventually, she regained consciousness, but was initially slightly confused, not remembering Daniel, although, apart from a slight headache, she said she felt fine. Along with the rest of the group, she trekked back to the beach camp to collect the Zodiac so they could sail around the horn of the Island and reach the Orchid. Along the way, Daniel told Charlotte she would be able to rest when they reached the Zodiac, to which she replied, "You're sweet, but you don't have to baby me, I'm fine". Eventually, they reached the beach camp after enduring another time-shift. They found the camp deserted, the Zodiac missing and two canoes beached on shore. They took one of the canoes, and began sailing to another part of the Island, but along the way they were waylaid by unseen assailants firing guns at them from another canoe. They survived the attack when another timeshift brought them back in time to 1988. After landing on another shore of the Island during an extremely violent storm, Charlotte found some scattered items and the recent wreckage of a sailing vessel strewn about the beach. She immediately alerted the other survivors to her curious discovery. ("The Little Prince")

Charlotte and the others continued their lengthy trek to the Orchid, while experiencing increasingly frequent and more damaging time flashes along the way. After another double attack of flashes, Charlotte collapsed, bleeding profusely from her nose. As Daniel and the others tried to revive her, she spoke rapidly in Korean, not making much sense. Then, in English, she told Jin, "she" must not return to the Island because "this place is death." While the others discussed what to do with her, Charlotte's consciousness seemed to slip between time, much like that of Minkowski and Desmond. She referenced many past experiences in her life, speaking in a childlike voice, i.e. "You know what my mum would say about me marrying an American". She was unable to move by herself, but Locke refused to allow anyone to help Daniel with carrying Charlotte the rest of the way. She urged a reluctant Dan to leave her behind and accompany the rest of the group to the Orchid, which he refused to do. Before the others left, they discussed how they would find the station if it was at a point in time when it had not been built yet and, in a rare moment of lucidity, Charlotte mysteriously told them, "You will find it at the well". ("This Place Is Death")

A little while after the other survivors continued on to the Orchid and Charlotte's condition had dramatically worsened, she confessed to Dan that she remembered how she grew up on the Island as a child and had left it with her mother at an early age. She also mentioned the DHARMA Initiative, saying that she was on the Island while they were still functioning there. Despite her mother's assertion that she had merely invented the Island, Charlotte believed otherwise, and had been searching for it ever since. She was desperately trying to find her dad, which is why she became a cultural anthropologist. She also confided to Daniel that as a child, a "crazy man" told her that she must leave the Island and never return, or she would die. Realizing she was going to die on the Island as a result of the repeated time jumps, she finally recognized that man as Daniel warning her from the future. After telling him this, she experienced one more moment of madness due to her repeated time jumps. Smiling, she said she was "not allowed to eat chocolate before dinner", remembering when she met Daniel as a child, and then tragically died as he comforted her. ("This Place Is Death")

Post-death

When the final flash occurred and the living members of Sawyer's group were transported to the 1970s, Charlotte's body remained in the time in which she died. As the time flash occurred, her body disappeared in front of Daniel as he moved through time and left her behind. The rest of Sawyer's group came back for Charlotte and Dan, and Juliet consoled him over Charlotte's death. ("LaFleur")

When the rest of the survivors became part of the DHARMA Initiative, Daniel noticed a young Charlotte among the members with her mother. He quietly said her name and she waved at him, before running out of sight. Daniel, Sawyer, Juliet, Jin, and Miles would later witness key events from Charlotte's childhood, including her exodus from the Island. ("LaFleur") ("The Variable") ("Follow the Leader")

Just beyond the opening of the Cliffside cave was a room in which Jacob had written the last names of his candidates on the walls and ceiling, with a number preceding each one. Charlotte's surname Lewis was crossed out, presumably because she had died. In the cave, her number was 140. Her surname was also written on The Lighthouse Wheel. According to the wheel, her number was 104. ("The Substitute") ("Lighthouse") This however was confirmed by the producers to be a prop error and the number was supposed to match the cave wall.

Flash sideways



Charlotte shuts her door in James' face. (" Recon ")

Charlotte Lewis was an archeologist who worked with Dr. Pierre Chang at the Golden State Natural History Museum in Los Angeles.

A few weeks prior to the Oceanic 815 flight, Daniel Widmore saw Charlotte in the museum where she worked, eating a chocolate bar. He later told Desmond that he was instantly attracted to Charlotte and felt as if he had "already loved her". ("Happily Ever After")

After the Oceanic 815 flight had landed, Pierre Chang's son, Miles Straume, set her up on a blind date with James Ford. James approached Charlotte at the bar of a restaurant and introduced himself. They sat down to eat and got to know each other by discussing what they did for work. Charlotte asked James why he chose to become a cop. They ended up having sex at James' apartment, and afterward, Charlotte asked him if she could borrow a T-shirt to wear to bed. James told her she could find one in his dresser. When she looked in his dresser, she found a notebook labeled "Sawyer," and a picture of a young boy and his parents fell out. She recognized the young boy as James, and then opened up the notebook to replace the picture. Inside she discovered a newspaper article about James' father killing both himself and James' mother. When James saw Charlotte looking at the notebook, he became very angry and shouted at her to leave. Later, James went by her apartment in Santa Monica with a sunflower and some beer to apologize. Charlotte told him it was too late, that he had blown his chance with her and closed the door on him. ("Recon")

A few days later she attended the benefit concert, something that Miles mentioned to James and which made James refuse the invitation to the event. ("What They Died For") Once there, Charlotte entered the band room, where she woke up the passed out Charlie Pace and where she met Daniel Widmore. She was later seen watching the concert, sitting next to Miles. ("The End")

Trivia

Name

Like the Victorian author Charlotte Brontë, Charlotte Lewis is the eldest of three sisters.

The name Charlotte Lewis appeared as a Season 4 clue word for chapter 3 of the Find 815 ARG. it was initially thought to be the names of two separate characters, Charlotte and Lewis.

ARG. it was initially thought to be the names of two separate characters, Charlotte and Lewis. Charlotte Staples Lewis is a reference to the British writer and scholar, Clive Staples Lewis. Lewis is most famous for his works on medieval literature, Christian apologetics, literary criticism, and in fantasy literature ( The Chronicles of Narnia ). Both C.S. Lewises attended Oxford University.

). Both C.S. Lewises attended Oxford University. In connection to her name being a reference to C.S. Lewis, Charlotte's mother tries to convince her that the Island is imaginary, similar to the character Susan from Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia , who becomes convinced that Narnia is imaginary despite her time spent there.

, who becomes convinced that Narnia is imaginary despite her time spent there. In C.S. Lewis's Mere Christianity, he famously wrote, "If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world." He goes on to describe heaven as his "true country," a possible source for Charlotte's rationale for remaining on the island: "Would it make sense if I told you I'm still looking for where I was born?" (" There's No Place Like Home, Part 2 ")

Unanswered questions

Unanswered questions Do not answer the questions here. Keep the questions open-ended and neutral: do not suggest an answer. More details...

For fan theories about these unanswered questions, see: Charlotte Lewis/Theories

Why did her mother lie to her about growing up on the Island?

How did she know that the frozen wheel could be found at the well?

Where did she learn Korean and why?

Was she really born on the island, and if so, when?

References



