LOST's Writing on the Wall: Who's a Candidate?

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February 17th, 2010 - (723 days ago)

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Last night's LOST was so packed full of information that it almost made my head explode. One of those wonderful bits (well, great big boulders) of information was the fact that Jacob had been seeking out "candidates" to replace him as the Island's guardian, and that he'd been keeping a great big list of these candidates on a cave wall. In addition to the apparently five remaining ones (Shephard, Ford, Kwon, Reyes, and Jarrah), there were a lot of names that had been written on the wall but crossed out. Conspicuously missing is Kate Austen, who had an encounter with Jacob off the Island (like all the others did), and was on Jacob's "list" in season three. Where is she on this massive wall of names? I don't know, but we've been able to find quite a few more names on this massive ledger.

Number 10 was the name "Mattingley," whose uniform we saw on an Other in "The Lie." The Other was killed by John Locke, but it seems that the real Mattingley was killed even before that.

The best one on the list is 50, Gary Troup, the writer of the admittedly awful Bad Twin and more commonly known as the guy who got sucked into the turbine in the "Pilot." Anyone still believe that the black flash over the turbine was just bad CGI?
Next on the list for "Worst Candidate Ever" is Sullivan, who you might remember as the rash guy from "Solitary" back in season one. Below is a table, (courtesy Lostpedia) which details every name seen on the table by the number listed next to their name.

Number > Crossed Out? > Name > Affiliation

4 Yes (by Nemesis) Locke (John) Flight 815 (Dead)
8 No Reyes (Hugo) Flight 815 (Alive)
10 Yes Mattingley US Army
15 No Ford (James) Flight 815 (Alive)
16 No Jarrah (Sayid) Flight 815 (Alive)
20 Yes Rousseau (Possibly Alex Rousseau or Danielle Rousseau) French Team / Others
23 No Shephard (Jack) Flight 815 (Alive)
27? Yes …? Undetermined (Partial)
30 Yes …la Undetermined (Partial)
31 Yes Rutherford (Shannon) Flight 815 (Dead)
33 Yes Martin (Karl) Others (Dead)
34 Yes C? Undetermined (Partial)
42 No Kwon (Jin? Sun? Ji Yeon?) Flight 815 (Alive)
49 Yes …chan Undetermined (Partial)
50 Yes Troup (Gary) Flight 815 (Dead)
55 Yes Burke (Juliet) Others (Dead)
62 Yes …? Undetermined (Partial)
64 Yes Goldstein Undetermined
70 Yes Faraday[1] (Daniel) Freighter
90 Yes Troup (Gary) Flight 815 (Dead)
115 Yes Bargas Undetermined
117 Yes Linus (Roger? Ben?) DHARMA/Others
119 Yes Almeida Undetermined
134 Yes Chang (Pierre) DHARMA
140 Yes Lewis[2] (Charlotte) Freighter
171 Yes Straume (Miles) Freighter
175 Yes Costa Undetermined
195 Yes Pace (Charlie) Flight 815 (Dead)
222 Yes O’Toole Undetermined
238 Yes Jones US Army
251 Yes Yaris Undetermined
269? Yes Garner Undetermined
272 Yes Oralingo Undetermined
282 Yes Aguella Undetermined
285 Yes Jenn… Undetermined (Partial)
291 Yes Domingo Undetermined
313 Yes Littleton (Claire? Aaron?) Flight 815 (Alive)
317 Yes Cunningham US Army
321 Yes Fernandez (Nikki) Flight 815 (Dead)
335 Yes Henderson (Possibly Rose's maiden name) Undetermined
337 Yes Martin (Karl) Others
346 Yes Grant Undetermined
…? Yes Sullivan Flight 815
…? Yes Goodspeed (Horace? Olivia? Ethan?) DHARMA
…? Yes Lacombe French Team
…? Yes Reyno(lds?) Undetermined (Partial)
…? Yes …zki (Radzinsky?) (Minkowski?) Undetermined (Partial) 0.
…? Yes Pickett (Danny or Colleen) Others
…? Yes Brennan French team
…? Yes Aguila Undetermined
About
Sam McPherson is a Contributing Editor at TVOvermind. He began writing for the site in July 2009. His favorite currently running shows are Fringe, Doctor Who, Game of Thrones, and the Ricky Gervais Show. His no-longer-airing favorites are LOST, Rubicon, Flight of the Conchords, and The Wire.
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(28) Comments - Add Yours!

  1. [...] Read the whole article here Stay LOST! Follow Us – Recently Intercepted Transmissions &bull&nbspLOST’s Writing on the Walls: Who’s A Candidate? &bull&nbspNew sneak peek for episode 6×05 &bull&nbspLOST 6.04 – Sawyer is the Son of a Nuclear A-Bomb (and so are the rest) &bull&nbspSoundbite : (Spoilers) Jorge Garcia and Matthew Fox about epi 6×05 &bull&nbspLost 6×05 soundbite : Matthew Fox and Terry O’quinn about the candidates &bull&nbspClip – LOST 6.05 “Lighthouse” &bull&nbspRate and Rant 6.04 – The Substitute &bull&nbspChat Live! LOST 6.04 – The Substitute &bull&nbspLost: Now and Then &bull&nbsp(Light Spoilers) Josh Holloway Talks Life After LOST [...]

  2. dharmadrama77 says:

    WOW! I'm impressed out how fast those Lostpedia guys work! I only noticed Straume!

  3. l82 says:

    I was wondering what the names were.why is Troup (Gary) on the list twice? – no. 50 & 90

  4. SamMcPherson says:

    I'm unsure if that's just the same number interpreted two ways or if he actually appears twice.

  5. SamMcPherson says:

    The massive LP editor base is very good at what they do. Best fan community ever? I think so.

  6. jackdavinci says:

    My biggest problem with this list is that we know that Jacob has been giving the Others lists of people to join the Others, and presumably these would correspond with the names in the cave. However, a great number of the people whose names are in the caves were killed by the Others! They would seem to be working at cross purposes to Jacob.

  7. Flavio says:

    50 and 90, maybe someone mistyped it and it appeared twice. Same as Karl with 33 and 337.

  8. AgentGraves says:

    Um… I believe I saw kates same on the wall WHERE JACKS NAME WAS!!1I like how there where names there too and yet I dont' see those names there. way to go basing the list off ONE screen cap.

  9. CHris says:

    Can you be more specific because I can't see Kates name anywhere (that should be "Austin" and not "Kate" of course). Plus, Roussau's name is just above Jack's (#20) and they seem to have included it. I can't see why you say it's from one screencap when it's from Lostpedia thus from more than one guy anyway and obviously not from a single screencap since there are already too many names…

  10. Charlotte K says:

    I think those Spanish names (possibly including Fernandez) will wind up being people from the Black Rock.My question is: WHO IS 108???

  11. Baronesss says:

    Danielle Rousseau was married I believe, & her husband was also on the island as part of her team. So the number linked to that name could possibly refer to him.

  12. dirkpitt says:

    If you think about it. Why would Kate even be a candidate? Her skill set is narrow and diametrically opposed to what this candidacy is supposedly about. Her skill set is to run. Kate runs away. Running is what Kate did and does. And supposedly this candidate should be all about staying. I wouldn't be surprised if she isn't on the candidate list. Nor would I be surprised of she was some other list. An injured reserve list or practice squad list or something else secondary. Best supporting lostie or something.

  13. LizJ says:

    Question: Miles (Straume) is on the list, his name is crossed out, yet he's still alive. Unless, his name isn't crossed out and there's some mistake, can we infer that you don't have to be dead to be crossed out as a candidate?

  14. LizJ says:

    Also, I think it's a possiblity that FLocke PURPOSEFULLY did not show Sawyer Kate's name. In fact, I felt that the fact that Kate wasn't mentioned at all during the exchange as very meaningful. How? I don't know. But when we're dealing with Sawyer and all the other main castaways are shown and Kate isn't there's got to be a MAJOR reason.

  15. kerri says:

    The numbers by the names that are left (until Not Locke crossed Locke off) are THE NUMBERS – interesting…

  16. l82 says:

    that must be it, thanks SamFlavio I didn't even notice Karl's name was also on the list twice, thanksI know kate's name isn't on it, but was she visited by Jacob, I can't remember.

  17. annie60 says:

    So now after seeing this list, I am thinking that smokey is lying and these are not names listed by Jacob, but maybe names listed by smokey as recruits in his overall scheme…over the years that he has been plotting??? There are names on here that i don't think Jacob would even consider being his replacement….

  18. annie60 says:

    Maybe its because straume refers to Pierre Chang his father…the guy changed his name about 6 times through the seasons…Maybe Miles last name is the true identity of Pierre Change, Haliwax etc…

  19. annie60 says:

    She wasn't married to robert…he was her lover…don't know what his last name was, but two others in the french team were on the wall.

  20. LizJ says:

    But Chang is on the list as well. So are we then to assume that both Straume and Chang refer to Miles' father? Unless this list was written up incorrectly I think Straume has got to be Miles. So, if it is Miles, why is he crossed off?

  21. Tribalkate says:

    175 Cortez is there too…Ana Lucia

  22. SamMcPherson says:

    Fernandez probably refers to Nikki, from season three. Her last name was Fernandez.

  23. SamMcPherson says:

    That's a good point. He could be "infected" and just not know it yet, or he could have been crossed off after he turned down Bram's offer to join the Jacob team in "Some Like It Hoth."

  24. SamMcPherson says:

    I don't think so. It's pretty late for such "Gotcha!" reveals to be happening. I think this is pretty much solid Jacob work.

  25. [...] have put together charts, to try and sort through this new information dump. I like the one at TVOvermind. It’s very complete. Just for reference, though, for anyone who wants a quick cheat sheet, [...]

  26. lostyza says:

    How could Juliet's (Burke) name be crossed out?Didn't she die after Jacob?If Burke is crossed out, then it could either refer to Juliet's late ex husband; or it could mean that MIB has been striking names off the list.

  27. lostyza says:

    Why was Burke crossed out?Juliet supposedly died after Jacob. Who crossed out her name?Or does the name refer to her late ex husband?

  28. Bri Bri says:

    Like a few others here I don't think it's Jacob's list – it's the Man In Black's list. The Man In Black is playing games and lying to Sawyer in order to gain recruitments. The fact that Juliette's name is cross off is a MAJOR indicator that this is not Jacob's list. She died after Jacob was killed – therefore how was it possible to cross her off the list? Also in regards to Kate's name not being shown – why is it so many other Losties, Dharma folk and Others names are on there, but yet one of the main characters of the show – a character that Jacob showed interest in (meeting her when she was younger) is missing? There is a reason for this and I have no doubt it will be revealed by TPTB and it is more than likely her name was deliberatly not shown to Sawyer.

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