Man in Black (Lost)
Encyclopedia
The entity referred to most frequently as the Man in Black (referred to as Samuel in the teleplays and referred to as The Smoke Monster by the main characters, finally given the name of "Barry" by the series' creators at Comic-Con 2011, though this was very likely a joke) is a fictional character
on the American ABC
television series Lost
, and is the main antagonist of the series. He appeared primarily as a cloud of black smoke ("the [smoke] monster") until the final episode of season five
, where he appeared as a middle-aged man dressed in black. In season six
, he primarily appeared in the physical form of John Locke
. He exhibited the ability to "scan" the minds and memories of others, allowing him to confront characters such as Mr. Eko and Ben, with "judgment" (a relay of their pasts), and to assume the forms and memories of the deceased, starting with the original Man in Black himself, being Jacob's brother, or Christian, Alex, and Locke. According to Jacob, who explains this to Richard Alpert
(Nestor Carbonell
), it is the incarnation of evil, and its primary goal, to escape from the island, would be the "end of everything good".
Various other characters have implied that his escape would be catastrophic and could even cause the destruction of reality. A long time resident of the island that serves as the main setting of Lost, the true nature of the Man in Black was long shrouded in mystery. It had been described by Lost producer Damon Lindelof as "one of the biggest secrets" of the mythology, and the producers have often hinted that the black cloud of smoke was not a monster in the traditional sense.
", which depicted his birth on the island to a woman named Claudia (Lela Loren), whose ship wrecked off-shore. An unnamed woman on the Island (Allison Janney
) delivered him and his twin brother Jacob but killed their mother and raised them herself. Jacob is swaddled in light cloth, while the Man in Black in dark. The woman raises the twins to be ignorant of a world beyond the island and of death itself. She also raises them to be distrustful of humanity, whom she regards as corrupt and dangerous. At age thirteen, the twins discover the other survivors of Claudia's ship on the island, and their adoptive mother takes them to a mysterious cave filled with light with a stream running into it. She tells them it is "the heart of the island", and one day they will be its caretakers. Soon after, Claudia's ghost appears to the young Man in Black, and tells him the truth. After he confronts his adoptive mother with this, he leaves to join Claudia's crew. Jacob visits his brother at the survivors' camp at various points over the course of the next 30 years, during which time the Man in Black comes to believe his mother was right in calling humanity inherently corrupt. Despite this, he stays with the crew, because they are a means to his finding a way off the island, which involves their use of the island's strange electromagnetic properties. When the woman learns this, she appoints Jacob as the new caretaker of "the heart of the Island." The woman then visits the Man in Black at the well where he is planning to install a wheel to enable his use of the energy to leave the island. She knocks him unconscious, and then apparently massacres the people in the camp and destroys the well. Enraged, the Man in Black kills her with a dagger. Jacob retaliates by beating his brother, and throwing him in the stream leading down the tunnel of light. A cloud of black smoke then emerges from the cave, suggesting it is the Man in Black's consciousness.
However after a while Jacob finds the real body of his brother in a pool nearby, at the exact same place that Jack
would find himself transported out of the cave in the last episode.
Jacob places the corpses of his brother and adoptive mother in a cave, along with a pouch containing the black and white stones they used in their game as children and says "Goodbye, brother", thus suggesting his brother is gone for good, and therefore that he knows the black smoke is now something else. It is consequently suggested that the black smoke's ability to take shape of dead people on the island led it to adopt the Man in Black's shape, as it would do later on with Locke
's corpse.
The next chronological appearance of the Man in Black, now supposedly the incarnation of evil as the smoke monster, and Jacob was in "The Incident
", in which they talk on the beach as the Black Rock ship approaches. The Man in Black states that he knows the ship was brought by Jacob, and expresses his disapproval of Jacob bringing people to the Island—stating that all they bring is corruption and destruction. The Man in Black tells Jacob he wishes to kill him, but their adoptive mother had prevented the Man in Black from hurting Jacob, so he sought a "loophole" to kill him. Soon after, the Black Rock crashes onto the island, the Man in Black appears as the smoke monster and kills everyone on board except Richard Alpert
(Nestor Carbonell
). He then returns in the form of Isabella, Richard's dead wife, telling him they are in hell, and tricks him into thinking the monster has taken her. Later, in the Man in Black's form, he frees Richard and gives him a knife to kill Jacob, whom the Man the in Black refers as "the devil." However, Jacob convinces Richard otherwise. Shortly after, Jacob visits the Man in Black and states that as long as he, Jacob, is alive, the Man in Black will never leave the Island. The Man in Black then vows to kill Jacob and his subsequent replacements.
In 1988, the Man in Black as the smoke monster, attacks Danielle Rousseau
(Melissa Farman
)'s crew who are joined by a time-traveling Jin (Daniel Dae Kim). The Man in Black drags Montand, the crew's leader, under the Temple wall and after the remaining crew attempts to rescue them, he infects them with "the Sickness", causing them to "change."
(Matthew Fox
). Then the Man in Black, in the form of the smoke monster, rips the pilot from the cockpit of the plane and kills him, leaving his mangled body in a tree; the pilot's corpse is found by Jack, Kate Austen
(Evangeline Lily), and Charlie Pace
(Dominic Monaghan
). Later, the Man in Black as the smoke monster encounters John Locke
(Terry O'Quinn
) in the jungle, although he leaves Locke unharmed. John later tells Jack, "I looked into the eye of this island, and what I saw was beautiful." Later, the Man in Black attacks the survivors as the monster again; he attempts to drag Locke down a hole but is stopped by Jack and Kate, who throw dynamite at the monster.
The Man in Black then confronts Mr. Eko
(Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje
) as the monster. As Eko stares down the Man in Black, he sees flashing images of his past. In a second instance, the Man in Black takes the form of Yemi and demands Mr. Eko repents for his sins. When Eko refuses to repent, the Man in Black briefly disappears, only to return as the monster. He then kills Eko by slamming him repeatedly against nearby trees and the ground. The Man in Black also appears to Juliet Burke
(Elizabeth Mitchell
) and Kate as the monster; during the encounter, the monster releases a series of bright flashes. The Man in Black reappears later, and it is revealed it cannot penetrate the sonar fence that surrounds the Barracks.
After becoming enraged over the death of his adoptive daughter Alex Rousseau (Tania Raymonde
) at the hands of Charles Widmore
(Alan Dale
)'s mercenaries, Benjamin Linus (Michael Emerson
) rushes to a hidden room below his home at the barracks, which has an ancient stone door covered with hieroglyphs; in the room, he drains a small pool, which summons the Man in Black as the monster to attack the mercenaries. As some of the survivors are preparing to leave the island, the Man in Black keeps Claire Littleton
(Emilie de Ravin
) company in the form of her father Christian Shephard
(John Terry
), and he tells her the Others took her son Aaron. When John Locke enters a cabin Horace Goodspeed had built in the '70s, the Man in the form of Christian Shephard falsely tells John he is giving instructions from Jacob, and tells him that he needs to move the Island.
(Yunjin Kim), arrive at one of the Others' camps. The Man in Black then instructs Richard to find a time-traveling Locke, and tell him he must die to bring his friends back to the island. Later, The Man in Black demands Richard take him and the Others to see Jacob, to which Richard reluctantly complies. The next day, he tells Ben of his plan to kill Jacob. Later, Ben informs the Man in Black of Alex's threat, to which the Man in Black replies by telling Ben to kill Jacob. After arriving at Jacob's residence at the four-toed statue, the two enter and meet Jacob. Ben tells Jacob how he has sacrificed and suffered for the island but still had been ignored by Jacob. Ben then proceeds to stab Jacob, whom the Man in Black kicks into a fire.
Later, Jacob's protectors enter the statue and attempt to kill the Man in Black, who changes into the monster and kills them. After the men are all dead, the Man in Black reveals to Ben that his intention is to "go home." After exiting the statue, the Man in Black knocks out Richard and carries him into the jungle. Shortly after, the Man in Black offers Richard a second chance to join him, which Richard refuses. The Man in Black then tracks down a drunken Sawyer, who recently lost Juliet. Sawyer realizes the Man in Black is not John Locke, but agrees to follow him after he tells Sawyer why he is on the Island in the first place. Sawyer and the Man in Black eventually reach a cave near a ledge, which has writing all over its walls. The writings are all people's names with numbers beside them. The Man in Black reveals to Sawyer the names represent the candidates to replace Jacob. He then has Sawyer join him on a mission to leave the island.
Later, the Man in Black recruits Sayid
to his side by promising him his love Nadia back. He requests Sayid deliver a message to the Others, warning them to leave the Temple by sundown or they will be killed. He also requests he kill Dogen, since Dogen being alive keeps the Man in Black from entering the Temple. After Sayid kills Dogen, the Man in Black enters the Temple as the monster and kills all the Others remaining inside. After this, he gathers the Others that joined him, along with Sayid, Claire, and Kate.
Soon after, the Man in Black sends Sawyer on a recon mission to Hydra Island. Sawyer returns from Hydra Island and tells the Man in Black all the Ajira passengers are dead and Charles Widmore and his team are on the other Island, where they have set up a sonar fence. After Jin is taken from his camp by Widmore's men, the Man in Black takes Sayid with him to Hydra Island. He arrives on Hydra Island by himself, and confronts Widmore. After warning Widmore, the Man in Black returns to the main island, while Sayid spies on Widmore's team. After Sayid comes back, he shows the Man in Black Desmond Hume
(Henry Ian Cusick
). The Man in Black takes Desmond to an old well. After explaining its origins, the Man in Black throws Desmond down the well. On returning to his camp, Hurley's group arrives to join him.
The Man in Black instructs Sawyer to get a sailboat and bring it to a meeting point. He also instructs Sayid to kill Desmond at the bottom of the well. Sawyer steals the boat and takes some of the survivors with him to the Hydra Island. Jack jumps off the boat since he doesn't think they should leave the Island, and washes up next to the Man in Black. Widmore uses artillery shells to bomb the Man in Black's group and they flee into the jungle. The Man in Black and Jack arrive at the Hydra Island with Sayid and rescue the survivors from Widmore. After the Man in Black then recovers C4 from the Ajira Flight 316, he and the survivors head to Widmore's submarine to leave the island. However, Sawyer steals the sub with all of the survivors and the candidates on it, except for Claire. Jack then discovers the Man in Black inserted the C4 into Jack's backpack with a timer attached to it. Sawyer tries to pull the wires out, but Jack tells him not to since he has figured out the Man in Black can't kill the candidates himself and wants them to kill each other. He asks Sawyer to let it run down to zero, but Sawyer pulls the wires out anyway. As a result, the timer speeds up and the bomb detonates. The aftermath results in the death of Jin, Sun and Sayid.
Later, The Man in Black arrives at the Barracks, and obtains information from Widmore that Desmond is immune to electromagnetism. After Ben kills Widmore, the Man in Black recruits him and reveals his plan to use Desmond to destroy the Island.
The Man in Black finds Desmond and meets up with Jack's group on the way to the "heart of the island." After having Desmond remove the cork from the center of the "heart of the island", the Island proceeds to crumble. However, with the cork being removed from the "heart of the Island", the Man in Black is mortal again. During an intense fight with Jack, the Man in Black stabs him, but before he can finish Jack off, Kate shoots him in the back. Despite this, the Man in Black thinks they're "too late" to save the island, but Jack makes him realize his defeat, then kicks him off the cliff.
". The producers' initial plan was for the monster to represent the id, in a manner similar to the "id monster" from the 1956 film Forbidden Planet
. This idea was changed by the end of season one, when the character Danielle Rousseau describes the monster as a "security system" that protects the island. This plan was continued into season five
, when Rousseau's husband, Robert, describes the monster as a security system that guards the island's temple. It was not until season six
that it was established that the monster was also the Man in Black.
The original appearance of the Man in Black as the monster was the first major plot twist of Lost and changed how the viewers and characters perceived the Island. In "Pilot", Rose comments: "I keep thinking, there was something familiar about it." The producers had difficulty finding the right sound for the monster to make, and eventually settled on the receipt printer from a New York City
taxi, which is why Rose, from The Bronx
, New York, finds it familiar.
Prior to the revelation of the monster as the Man in Black, one theory suggested that the monster was a cloud of nanobots
, similar to Michael Crichton
's novel Prey
. In the March 21, 2008 official Lost podcast, executive producer Damon Lindelof
said that manifestations of the monster included Yemi and the Medusa Spider that bit Nikki and Paulo.
In reference to Jacob and the Man in Black, Lindelof stated that, regarding the scene in "Pilot, Part 2
" where Locke explains to Walt the premise of backgammon using the concept of light and dark, he and fellow co-creator JJ Abrams had planned for those two sides to eventually be personified by two individuals. Originally, the name "Samuel" was used in scripts to refer to the Man in Black, but the writers ultimately decided not to use the name in dialogue, feeling that leaving the character unnamed was more interesting. In a comedic short shown at Comic Con 2011, the man in black is "revealed" to be named Barry.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
on the American ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
television series Lost
Lost (TV series)
Lost is an American television series that originally aired on ABC from September 22, 2004 to May 23, 2010, consisting of six seasons. Lost is a drama series that follows the survivors of the crash of a commercial passenger jet flying between Sydney and Los Angeles, on a mysterious tropical island...
, and is the main antagonist of the series. He appeared primarily as a cloud of black smoke ("the [smoke] monster") until the final episode of season five
The Incident (Lost)
"The Incident" is the season finale of the fifth season of ABC's Lost, consisting of its 16th and 17th episodes. Both parts of "The Incident", the show's 102nd and 103rd episodes overall, aired on May 13, 2009 on ABC in the United States. The episode was written by executive producers/showrunners...
, where he appeared as a middle-aged man dressed in black. In season six
Lost (season 6)
The sixth and final season of the American serial drama television series Lost commenced airing in the United States and Canada on February 2, 2010. The sixth-season premiere was the first to climb in the ratings year-over-year since the second season, drawing 12.1 million viewers. The season...
, he primarily appeared in the physical form of John Locke
John Locke (Lost)
John Locke is a fictional character played by Terry O'Quinn on the ABC television series Lost. He is named after English philosopher John Locke...
. He exhibited the ability to "scan" the minds and memories of others, allowing him to confront characters such as Mr. Eko and Ben, with "judgment" (a relay of their pasts), and to assume the forms and memories of the deceased, starting with the original Man in Black himself, being Jacob's brother, or Christian, Alex, and Locke. According to Jacob, who explains this to Richard Alpert
Richard Alpert (Lost)
Ricardo "Richard" Alpert is a fictional character played by Nestor Carbonell in the American ABC television series Lost. Alpert is introduced in a flashback of the character Juliet Burke , where he claims to be a doctor for a bioscience company called Mittelos Bioscience; he is later revealed to...
(Nestor Carbonell
Nestor Carbonell
Nestor Gastón Carbonell is an American actor, known for portraying Richard Alpert in ABC's drama Lost and Mayor Anthony Garcia in the film The Dark Knight...
), it is the incarnation of evil, and its primary goal, to escape from the island, would be the "end of everything good".
Various other characters have implied that his escape would be catastrophic and could even cause the destruction of reality. A long time resident of the island that serves as the main setting of Lost, the true nature of the Man in Black was long shrouded in mystery. It had been described by Lost producer Damon Lindelof as "one of the biggest secrets" of the mythology, and the producers have often hinted that the black cloud of smoke was not a monster in the traditional sense.
Before the crash of Oceanic 815
The Man in Black's earliest chronological appearance occurs in the sixth season episode "Across the SeaAcross the Sea (Lost)
"Across the Sea" is the 15th episode of the American Broadcasting Company's sixth season of the serial drama television series Lost and 118th episode overall. The episode aired on May 11, 2010 on ABC in the United States. The episode was written by Carlton Cuse & Damon Lindelof and directed by...
", which depicted his birth on the island to a woman named Claudia (Lela Loren), whose ship wrecked off-shore. An unnamed woman on the Island (Allison Janney
Allison Janney
Allison Brooks Janney is an American actress, best known for her role as C.J. Cregg on the television series The West Wing.- Personal life :...
) delivered him and his twin brother Jacob but killed their mother and raised them herself. Jacob is swaddled in light cloth, while the Man in Black in dark. The woman raises the twins to be ignorant of a world beyond the island and of death itself. She also raises them to be distrustful of humanity, whom she regards as corrupt and dangerous. At age thirteen, the twins discover the other survivors of Claudia's ship on the island, and their adoptive mother takes them to a mysterious cave filled with light with a stream running into it. She tells them it is "the heart of the island", and one day they will be its caretakers. Soon after, Claudia's ghost appears to the young Man in Black, and tells him the truth. After he confronts his adoptive mother with this, he leaves to join Claudia's crew. Jacob visits his brother at the survivors' camp at various points over the course of the next 30 years, during which time the Man in Black comes to believe his mother was right in calling humanity inherently corrupt. Despite this, he stays with the crew, because they are a means to his finding a way off the island, which involves their use of the island's strange electromagnetic properties. When the woman learns this, she appoints Jacob as the new caretaker of "the heart of the Island." The woman then visits the Man in Black at the well where he is planning to install a wheel to enable his use of the energy to leave the island. She knocks him unconscious, and then apparently massacres the people in the camp and destroys the well. Enraged, the Man in Black kills her with a dagger. Jacob retaliates by beating his brother, and throwing him in the stream leading down the tunnel of light. A cloud of black smoke then emerges from the cave, suggesting it is the Man in Black's consciousness.
However after a while Jacob finds the real body of his brother in a pool nearby, at the exact same place that Jack
Jack Shephard
Dr. Jack Shephard is a fictional character and protagonist of the ABC television series Lost played by Matthew Fox. Lost follows the journey of the survivors of Oceanic Airlines flight 815 on a mysterious island and their attempts to survive and escape, slowly uncovering more of the much broader...
would find himself transported out of the cave in the last episode.
Jacob places the corpses of his brother and adoptive mother in a cave, along with a pouch containing the black and white stones they used in their game as children and says "Goodbye, brother", thus suggesting his brother is gone for good, and therefore that he knows the black smoke is now something else. It is consequently suggested that the black smoke's ability to take shape of dead people on the island led it to adopt the Man in Black's shape, as it would do later on with Locke
John Locke (Lost)
John Locke is a fictional character played by Terry O'Quinn on the ABC television series Lost. He is named after English philosopher John Locke...
's corpse.
The next chronological appearance of the Man in Black, now supposedly the incarnation of evil as the smoke monster, and Jacob was in "The Incident
The Incident (Lost)
"The Incident" is the season finale of the fifth season of ABC's Lost, consisting of its 16th and 17th episodes. Both parts of "The Incident", the show's 102nd and 103rd episodes overall, aired on May 13, 2009 on ABC in the United States. The episode was written by executive producers/showrunners...
", in which they talk on the beach as the Black Rock ship approaches. The Man in Black states that he knows the ship was brought by Jacob, and expresses his disapproval of Jacob bringing people to the Island—stating that all they bring is corruption and destruction. The Man in Black tells Jacob he wishes to kill him, but their adoptive mother had prevented the Man in Black from hurting Jacob, so he sought a "loophole" to kill him. Soon after, the Black Rock crashes onto the island, the Man in Black appears as the smoke monster and kills everyone on board except Richard Alpert
Richard Alpert (Lost)
Ricardo "Richard" Alpert is a fictional character played by Nestor Carbonell in the American ABC television series Lost. Alpert is introduced in a flashback of the character Juliet Burke , where he claims to be a doctor for a bioscience company called Mittelos Bioscience; he is later revealed to...
(Nestor Carbonell
Nestor Carbonell
Nestor Gastón Carbonell is an American actor, known for portraying Richard Alpert in ABC's drama Lost and Mayor Anthony Garcia in the film The Dark Knight...
). He then returns in the form of Isabella, Richard's dead wife, telling him they are in hell, and tricks him into thinking the monster has taken her. Later, in the Man in Black's form, he frees Richard and gives him a knife to kill Jacob, whom the Man the in Black refers as "the devil." However, Jacob convinces Richard otherwise. Shortly after, Jacob visits the Man in Black and states that as long as he, Jacob, is alive, the Man in Black will never leave the Island. The Man in Black then vows to kill Jacob and his subsequent replacements.
In 1988, the Man in Black as the smoke monster, attacks Danielle Rousseau
Danielle Rousseau
Danielle Rousseau is a fictional character on the ABC drama television series Lost, which chronicles the lives of over forty people after their plane crashes on a remote island somewhere in the South Pacific. Croatian actress Mira Furlan plays the scientist who shipwrecks on the island sixteen...
(Melissa Farman
Melissa Farman
Melissa Farman is an American actress who has had roles in Cold Case, an HBO biopic of Temple Grandin, and most notably in Lost as a young Danielle Rousseau...
)'s crew who are joined by a time-traveling Jin (Daniel Dae Kim). The Man in Black drags Montand, the crew's leader, under the Temple wall and after the remaining crew attempts to rescue them, he infects them with "the Sickness", causing them to "change."
After the crash of Oceanic 815
Immediately after the crash of Oceanic 815, the Man takes the form of Christian Shephard and instructs the dog Vincent to go find Jack ShephardJack Shephard
Dr. Jack Shephard is a fictional character and protagonist of the ABC television series Lost played by Matthew Fox. Lost follows the journey of the survivors of Oceanic Airlines flight 815 on a mysterious island and their attempts to survive and escape, slowly uncovering more of the much broader...
(Matthew Fox
Matthew Fox (actor)
Matthew Chandler Fox is an American actor. He is mostly known for his role as Charlie Salinger on Party of Five, and for portraying Jack Shephard on the supernatural drama television series Lost.- Early life :...
). Then the Man in Black, in the form of the smoke monster, rips the pilot from the cockpit of the plane and kills him, leaving his mangled body in a tree; the pilot's corpse is found by Jack, Kate Austen
Kate Austen
Katherine Anne "Kate" Austen is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost, played by Canadian actress Evangeline Lilly. She is the de facto female lead...
(Evangeline Lily), and Charlie Pace
Charlie Pace
Charlie Hieronymus Pace is a fictional character on ABC's Lost, a television series chronicling the lives of plane crash survivors on a mysterious tropical island...
(Dominic Monaghan
Dominic Monaghan
Dominic Bernard Patrick Luke Monaghan is an English actor. He has received international attention from playing Merry in Peter Jackson's adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and for his role as Charlie Pace on the television show Lost....
). Later, the Man in Black as the smoke monster encounters John Locke
John Locke (Lost)
John Locke is a fictional character played by Terry O'Quinn on the ABC television series Lost. He is named after English philosopher John Locke...
(Terry O'Quinn
Terry O'Quinn
Terry O'Quinn is an American actor, most famous for playing John Locke on the TV series Lost. He made his debut in a 1980 television movie called F.D.R.: The Last Year. Since then, O'Quinn has had minor supporting roles in films and TV movies such as Young Guns, All the Right Moves, Silver Bullet,...
) in the jungle, although he leaves Locke unharmed. John later tells Jack, "I looked into the eye of this island, and what I saw was beautiful." Later, the Man in Black attacks the survivors as the monster again; he attempts to drag Locke down a hole but is stopped by Jack and Kate, who throw dynamite at the monster.
The Man in Black then confronts Mr. Eko
Mr. Eko
Mr. Eko Tunde is a fictional character, played by Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje on the ABC television series Lost. He is introduced in the second season episode "Adrift" as one of the plane-crash survivors from the plane's tail section. Flashbacks reveal that he became the leader of a gang of guerrillas...
(Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje is a British actor, and former fashion model best known for his roles as Mr. Eko on Lost, Simon Adebisi on Oz and Nykwana Wombosi in The Bourne Identity.-Early life and career:...
) as the monster. As Eko stares down the Man in Black, he sees flashing images of his past. In a second instance, the Man in Black takes the form of Yemi and demands Mr. Eko repents for his sins. When Eko refuses to repent, the Man in Black briefly disappears, only to return as the monster. He then kills Eko by slamming him repeatedly against nearby trees and the ground. The Man in Black also appears to Juliet Burke
Juliet Burke
Dr. Juliet Burke is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost played by Elizabeth Mitchell. Her character was introduced in the third season premiere.- Prior to arrival on the island :...
(Elizabeth Mitchell
Elizabeth Mitchell
Elizabeth Mitchell , is an American actress/modelwho is known for her roles as Dr. Juliet Burke on ABC's TV series Lost and as FBI agent Erica Evans on V. She has starred in such films as The Santa Clause 2, The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause, and Gia.-Early life:Mitchell was born Elizabeth...
) and Kate as the monster; during the encounter, the monster releases a series of bright flashes. The Man in Black reappears later, and it is revealed it cannot penetrate the sonar fence that surrounds the Barracks.
After becoming enraged over the death of his adoptive daughter Alex Rousseau (Tania Raymonde
Tania Raymonde
Tania Raymonde is an American actress. Raymonde's first prominent casting role was the recurring character of Cynthia Sanders in TV series Malcolm in the Middle between 2000–2003, followed by a popular role as Alex Rousseau in ABC's Lost from 2006 to 2010.She can currently be seen as UTF officer...
) at the hands of Charles Widmore
Charles Widmore
Charles Widmore is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost, which chronicles the lives of over forty people after their plane crashes on a remote island somewhere in the south Pacific. He is primarily portrayed as an older man by Alan Dale; Tom Connolly and David S...
(Alan Dale
Alan Dale
Alan Hugh Dale is a New Zealand actor. As a child, Dale developed a love of theatre and also became a rugby player. After retiring from the sport he took on a number of professions to support his family, before deciding to become a professional actor at the age of 27. With work limited in New...
)'s mercenaries, Benjamin Linus (Michael Emerson
Michael Emerson
Michael Emerson is an American actor who is perhaps best known for his roles as Benjamin Linus on Lost and fictional serial killer William Hinks in The Practice.-Early life:...
) rushes to a hidden room below his home at the barracks, which has an ancient stone door covered with hieroglyphs; in the room, he drains a small pool, which summons the Man in Black as the monster to attack the mercenaries. As some of the survivors are preparing to leave the island, the Man in Black keeps Claire Littleton
Claire Littleton
Claire Littleton is a fictional character played by Emilie de Ravin on the ABC drama television series Lost, which chronicles the lives of the survivors of a plane crash in the South Pacific. Claire is introduced in the pilot episode as a pregnant crash survivor. She is a series regular until her...
(Emilie de Ravin
Emilie de Ravin
Emilie de Ravin born 27 December 1981)is an Australian actress. She is commonly associated with her roles as Tess Harding on Roswell and Claire Littleton on the ABC drama Lost....
) company in the form of her father Christian Shephard
Christian Shephard
Dr. Christian Shephard is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost played by John Terry. He is the father of lead characters Jack Shephard , who becomes the de facto leader of the survivors of Oceanic 815 after it crashes on an island, and Claire Littleton , another of the survivors...
(John Terry
John Terry (actor)
John Terry is an American film, television, and stage actor.-Early life:Terry was born in Florida, where he attended Vero Beach High School. He was also educated at the prestigious Loomis Chaffee prep school in Windsor, Connecticut, and began a career building original custom log homes in North...
), and he tells her the Others took her son Aaron. When John Locke enters a cabin Horace Goodspeed had built in the '70s, the Man in the form of Christian Shephard falsely tells John he is giving instructions from Jacob, and tells him that he needs to move the Island.
After the crash of Ajira 316
Following Ajira 316's crash on the Island, the Man in Black takes the form of the deceased Locke, whose body was on the plane, and tricks everyone into thinking Locke was brought back to life. Later, Ben tells the Man in Black, who he thinks is Locke, that he must travel to the monster's lair, which lies beneath the temple wall, to be judged for his complicity in his daughter's death. The Man in Black separates from Ben at the Temple and confronts Ben as the monster. After the Man in Black retreats back into a vent, he reappears to Ben as Alex's manifestation, warning Ben to follow "Locke's" every word, to which he complies. The Man in Black (in the form of John Locke), Ben, and Sun KwonSun Kwon
Sun-Hwa Kwon better known simply as "Sun", is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost played by Yunjin Kim.-Prior to the crash:...
(Yunjin Kim), arrive at one of the Others' camps. The Man in Black then instructs Richard to find a time-traveling Locke, and tell him he must die to bring his friends back to the island. Later, The Man in Black demands Richard take him and the Others to see Jacob, to which Richard reluctantly complies. The next day, he tells Ben of his plan to kill Jacob. Later, Ben informs the Man in Black of Alex's threat, to which the Man in Black replies by telling Ben to kill Jacob. After arriving at Jacob's residence at the four-toed statue, the two enter and meet Jacob. Ben tells Jacob how he has sacrificed and suffered for the island but still had been ignored by Jacob. Ben then proceeds to stab Jacob, whom the Man in Black kicks into a fire.
Later, Jacob's protectors enter the statue and attempt to kill the Man in Black, who changes into the monster and kills them. After the men are all dead, the Man in Black reveals to Ben that his intention is to "go home." After exiting the statue, the Man in Black knocks out Richard and carries him into the jungle. Shortly after, the Man in Black offers Richard a second chance to join him, which Richard refuses. The Man in Black then tracks down a drunken Sawyer, who recently lost Juliet. Sawyer realizes the Man in Black is not John Locke, but agrees to follow him after he tells Sawyer why he is on the Island in the first place. Sawyer and the Man in Black eventually reach a cave near a ledge, which has writing all over its walls. The writings are all people's names with numbers beside them. The Man in Black reveals to Sawyer the names represent the candidates to replace Jacob. He then has Sawyer join him on a mission to leave the island.
Later, the Man in Black recruits Sayid
Sayid Jarrah
Sayid Hassan Jarrah is a character from the ABC show Lost portrayed by Naveen Andrews.-Season 1:Sayid fixes the transceiver recovered from the cockpit, and leads a group into the jungle in order to send out a distress signal. Instead, he picks up a looping message . He tries to locate the...
to his side by promising him his love Nadia back. He requests Sayid deliver a message to the Others, warning them to leave the Temple by sundown or they will be killed. He also requests he kill Dogen, since Dogen being alive keeps the Man in Black from entering the Temple. After Sayid kills Dogen, the Man in Black enters the Temple as the monster and kills all the Others remaining inside. After this, he gathers the Others that joined him, along with Sayid, Claire, and Kate.
Soon after, the Man in Black sends Sawyer on a recon mission to Hydra Island. Sawyer returns from Hydra Island and tells the Man in Black all the Ajira passengers are dead and Charles Widmore and his team are on the other Island, where they have set up a sonar fence. After Jin is taken from his camp by Widmore's men, the Man in Black takes Sayid with him to Hydra Island. He arrives on Hydra Island by himself, and confronts Widmore. After warning Widmore, the Man in Black returns to the main island, while Sayid spies on Widmore's team. After Sayid comes back, he shows the Man in Black Desmond Hume
Desmond Hume
Desmond David Hume is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost portrayed by Henry Ian Cusick. Desmond's name is a tribute to David Hume, the famous empiricist author and philosopher. Desmond was not a passenger of Flight 815. He had been stranded on the island three years prior to...
(Henry Ian Cusick
Henry Ian Cusick
Henry Ian Cusick is a Scottish-Peruvian actor of stage, television, and film. He is well-known for his role as Desmond Hume on the United States television series Lost, for which he received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination....
). The Man in Black takes Desmond to an old well. After explaining its origins, the Man in Black throws Desmond down the well. On returning to his camp, Hurley's group arrives to join him.
The Man in Black instructs Sawyer to get a sailboat and bring it to a meeting point. He also instructs Sayid to kill Desmond at the bottom of the well. Sawyer steals the boat and takes some of the survivors with him to the Hydra Island. Jack jumps off the boat since he doesn't think they should leave the Island, and washes up next to the Man in Black. Widmore uses artillery shells to bomb the Man in Black's group and they flee into the jungle. The Man in Black and Jack arrive at the Hydra Island with Sayid and rescue the survivors from Widmore. After the Man in Black then recovers C4 from the Ajira Flight 316, he and the survivors head to Widmore's submarine to leave the island. However, Sawyer steals the sub with all of the survivors and the candidates on it, except for Claire. Jack then discovers the Man in Black inserted the C4 into Jack's backpack with a timer attached to it. Sawyer tries to pull the wires out, but Jack tells him not to since he has figured out the Man in Black can't kill the candidates himself and wants them to kill each other. He asks Sawyer to let it run down to zero, but Sawyer pulls the wires out anyway. As a result, the timer speeds up and the bomb detonates. The aftermath results in the death of Jin, Sun and Sayid.
Later, The Man in Black arrives at the Barracks, and obtains information from Widmore that Desmond is immune to electromagnetism. After Ben kills Widmore, the Man in Black recruits him and reveals his plan to use Desmond to destroy the Island.
The Man in Black finds Desmond and meets up with Jack's group on the way to the "heart of the island." After having Desmond remove the cork from the center of the "heart of the island", the Island proceeds to crumble. However, with the cork being removed from the "heart of the Island", the Man in Black is mortal again. During an intense fight with Jack, the Man in Black stabs him, but before he can finish Jack off, Kate shoots him in the back. Despite this, the Man in Black thinks they're "too late" to save the island, but Jack makes him realize his defeat, then kicks him off the cliff.
Development
The smoke monster is established as an antagonist in Lost from the very first episode, "PilotPilot (Lost)
"Pilot" constitutes the first and second episodes of the first season of ABC television series Lost, with "Part 1" premiering on September 22, 2004 and Part 2 on September 29, 2004. The episodes were directed by J.J. Abrams, and written by him along with Damon Lindelof, based on a story by them and...
". The producers' initial plan was for the monster to represent the id, in a manner similar to the "id monster" from the 1956 film Forbidden Planet
Forbidden Planet
Forbidden Planet is a 1956 science fiction film directed by Fred M. Wilcox, with a screenplay by Cyril Hume. It stars Leslie Nielsen, Walter Pidgeon, and Anne Francis. The characters and its setting have been compared to those in William Shakespeare's The Tempest, and its plot contains certain...
. This idea was changed by the end of season one, when the character Danielle Rousseau describes the monster as a "security system" that protects the island. This plan was continued into season five
Lost (season 5)
The fifth season of the American serial drama television series Lost commenced airing on the ABC network in the United States and on A in Canada in January 2009, and concluded with a two-hour season finale on May 13, 2009...
, when Rousseau's husband, Robert, describes the monster as a security system that guards the island's temple. It was not until season six
Lost (season 6)
The sixth and final season of the American serial drama television series Lost commenced airing in the United States and Canada on February 2, 2010. The sixth-season premiere was the first to climb in the ratings year-over-year since the second season, drawing 12.1 million viewers. The season...
that it was established that the monster was also the Man in Black.
The original appearance of the Man in Black as the monster was the first major plot twist of Lost and changed how the viewers and characters perceived the Island. In "Pilot", Rose comments: "I keep thinking, there was something familiar about it." The producers had difficulty finding the right sound for the monster to make, and eventually settled on the receipt printer from a New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
taxi, which is why Rose, from The Bronx
The Bronx
The Bronx is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City. It is also known as Bronx County, the last of the 62 counties of New York State to be incorporated...
, New York, finds it familiar.
Prior to the revelation of the monster as the Man in Black, one theory suggested that the monster was a cloud of nanobots
Nanorobotics
Nanorobotics is the emerging technology field of creating machines or robots whose components are at or close to the scale of a nanometer . More specifically, nanorobotics refers to the nanotechnology engineering discipline of designing and building nanorobots, with devices ranging in size from...
, similar to Michael Crichton
Michael Crichton
John Michael Crichton , best known as Michael Crichton, was an American best-selling author, producer, director, and screenwriter, best known for his work in the science fiction, medical fiction, and thriller genres. His books have sold over 200 million copies worldwide, and many have been adapted...
's novel Prey
Prey (novel)
Prey is a novel by Michael Crichton based on a nano-robotic threat to human-kind, first published in hardcover in November 2002 and as a paperback in November 2003 by HarperCollins...
. In the March 21, 2008 official Lost podcast, executive producer Damon Lindelof
Damon Lindelof
Damon Laurence Lindelof is an American television writer and executive, most recently noted as the co-creator and executive producer for the television series Lost. He has written for and produced Crossing Jordan, and wrote for Nash Bridges, Wasteland, and the MTV anthology series Undressed...
said that manifestations of the monster included Yemi and the Medusa Spider that bit Nikki and Paulo.
In reference to Jacob and the Man in Black, Lindelof stated that, regarding the scene in "Pilot, Part 2
Pilot (Lost)
"Pilot" constitutes the first and second episodes of the first season of ABC television series Lost, with "Part 1" premiering on September 22, 2004 and Part 2 on September 29, 2004. The episodes were directed by J.J. Abrams, and written by him along with Damon Lindelof, based on a story by them and...
" where Locke explains to Walt the premise of backgammon using the concept of light and dark, he and fellow co-creator JJ Abrams had planned for those two sides to eventually be personified by two individuals. Originally, the name "Samuel" was used in scripts to refer to the Man in Black, but the writers ultimately decided not to use the name in dialogue, feeling that leaving the character unnamed was more interesting. In a comedic short shown at Comic Con 2011, the man in black is "revealed" to be named Barry.