CHARACTER OF ELOISE

If there was ever a title of the most mysterious woman on Lost, Eloise Hawking would probably take the crown. Even though she did not appear until Season 3, her presence and manipulations are fully interconnected in the character story arcs to conclude that she was an important pivot point to the entire series.

As I have indicated in previous posts (check the archive keyword under Eloise), Eloise Hawking has an unexplained puppet master role.

We know very little about her except she knows a lot about everyone.

We know she was a young woman on the island in the 1950s. During a time flash, she meets Daniel in a time skip. We know that in 1977 she was at odds with Charles Widmore over leadership of the Others. It would seem that the strong personalities of Eloise and Charles pushed Alpert's role into the background. It is during that time skip that she kills her own son, Daniel, in the episode, The Variable. As Daniel fell, he realized that he had been shot by Eloise, and whispered to her that she had "known it the whole time." Confused, she asked him who he was, and he revealed that he was her son, leaving her standing over him, shocked.

We can assume that as an Other, Eloise was fully informed about the Island's properties and the need for its protection. She also knew about its power. And it seems that she did not shy away from gaining power and control over other people. We must conclude that the 1977 time skip had a profound affect on Eloise and her relationship with her son. She forced him into advanced science including electromagnetism and theories of space time.

We know that Daniel Faraday was her son (by blood with Charles Widmore). We do not know why Daniel's surname is not Widmore (could it be Eloise's maiden name?) But we do know that Widmore was banished from the island because he had an off-island affair which led to the birth of Daniel's half sister, Penny Milton, who herself must have kept her mother's maiden name. It is an unusual convex of names: Faraday, a scientist renown for electromagnetic studies, and Milton, whose great work Paradise Lost about the story of the Fall of Man: the temptation of Adam and Eve by the fallen angel Satan and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Milton's purpose, stated in Book I, is to "justify the ways of God to men" is one of the main themes of the entire series.

In the sideways world (after life), Eloise is in complete control of her situation. She is married to a rich man (Widmore), and has a dolting musical son, Daniel. She has Widmore keeping Desmond occupied with global business meetings. In The End, Eloise met Desmond once again during the concert, aware that he had awakened several people to their former lives. She believed that if her son Daniel remembered his life, he would be able to finally move on, possibly departing from her. At Eloise's request, Desmond agreed not to awaken Daniel.

It is then have the full revelation that Eloise Hawking is the woman behind the LOST curtain.

She is the mastermind behind getting the 815ers “back” to the Island. She is the person who pushed her son, Daniel, into the complex physics of time travel. She convinced Widmore, her ex-husband, to fund the research and expedition back to the Island. She cajoled people to get back to the island to “save the world” or to complete their destiny. Was Jack’s destiny to replace her insane son’s plan to blow up the Swan station before the Incident (which, in theory would have killed Eloise before giving birth to him) in order to re-boot the time line of events where Daniel does not die by Eloise’s hand in 1977? It seems quite convoluted and complex.

Daniel’s Rube Goldberg trap explanation of how is is going to change the future by blowing up the past with members of the future at the event in the past fails to consider Ben’s terse statement “dead is dead” on the island. Daniel believes he can “fix things” and save Charlotte by stopping the Swan incident (massive EM release which would later be contained by the Hatch) by blowing up the pocket of energy with a hydrogen bomb. A bomb that would destroy the island and kill everyone on it - - - including himself, his mother and all the people who should have been on Flight 815. If the characters were truly “time traveling” in space time, they would only have one “life.”  If they are killed in 1977, would they be erased from the future itself? Or is this plan really the ultimate “course correction” of the paradox of time travelers meeting their parents and changing events that had already happened?

The real method to stop the release of energy that downed Flight 815 is found in the fact that Eloise pushed Desmond to the Island, “to save (her) world” meaning that she found a patsy in Desmond to push the button. If he had done his job, Flight 815 would have never crashed; the freighter would have never been launched to the Island; Daniel would have never been time shifted by the FDW, and she would have never killed him in 1977.

So which came first? Eloise’s plan or Daniel’s plan?

There was always a question of whether Eloise’s killing of her time traveling son, Daniel, on the Island in 1977, caused the Island to kill all pregnant women. It is also unclear as to the paternity of both Daniel and Penny. Was Penny a secondary dream to replace Daniel in Eloise’s own mental visions of her future? Was the imprisonment of Desmond on the Island the mental visions of Eloise to “save (her) world” i.e. Daniel from the fate of death at her own hands?

There is another aspect to consider: Lost in Reverse. Sideways is a purgatory wait station. The Island is the hell to test souls fears, sins through relationships, quests, tests, judgment or redemption. The flashbacks are not true memories, but the dream feedstock of the characters main fears and nightmares, because those mental conditions are repeated in Island events to see if the character can change, come to grip with those issues, in order to “move on.” Christian tells Jack that everything that has happened to him was “real.” But reality is a moving target concept. One can dream themselves into sweat filled horror which seems absolutely real. A psychopath can have “real illusions” and act them out in real life, like stabbing an individual who he thinks is a werewolf or zombie. The sideways world was “created” by Jack’s friends in order to wait for Jack’s death. How can you “interconnect” the minds, thoughts, memories and personality of a dozen people to create a whole new world. It sounds like a game platform. It sounds like an MMO. It sounds - - - like a crazy construct.  We know the sideways world is not real, but it had to be created by the memories or dreams of the characters, which differ from their flashback stories. An alternative dream world was created for Jack to return to the group who shared Island based adventures and breakthroughs like group therapy.

Or it could be a layered effect of interlocking Time. The ancient Mayans had three interlocking calendars to keep Time. One was a 9 month “human” cycle. One was the 12 month “harvest” cycle. One was the “cosmic” cycle. High priests could interlock all three calendars to predict future star events or predict the meaning of births.

Lost could represent a layered of “after time” calendars. A character may be “living” in several different “realities” which may or may not overlap. More likely, one parallel life feeds off the memories of an alternative past “after time” cycle. Take Eloise as the prime example of this theory:

Those layered clocks on human consciousness can overlap. It could explain Desmond’s mind flashes to future events. It could explain how Eloise knows the future, and knows how the after life gears of time work. It is why Eloise was so upset that Desmond was "awakening" other Island people in the sideways world. Eloise feared that Daniel would wake up - - - realize what his mother did to him in alternative time lines - - -  and leave her forever.

The critical points in the End can be summarized as follows:

At the Sideways benefit concert, Eloise Widmore joins Desmond, saying that she thought she made it clear that Desmond should stop what he's been doing. Desmond says she did, but that he ignored her. She asks, "And once they know, what then?" and Desmond answers, "Then, we're leaving." With concern she asks if they are going to take her son. Desmond assures her, "Not with me, no."

Jack arrives at the concert after it has ended. Kate is there and he says he is looking for his son. He recognizes Kate and asks where he remembers her from. She tells him that she stole his pen on Oceanic 815. Jack is confused, he says "and that's how I know you?" Kate says that is not how he knows her. She goes up to him and takes his face in her hands telling him how much she has missed him. Jack flashes, seeing images of himself and Kate on the Island, but still resists. She tells him that if he comes with her he will understand.

She takes him to the church, the place Jack was going to have his father’s funeral. This is the same church that the O6 got their instructions from Eloise on how to "return to the Island." It would appear that the church is a nexus point between the sideways and island realms.

When sideways Kate says they are waiting for him “once he is ready.” Jack asks, “ready for what?” Kate responds, “to leave.”

At the sideways reunion with his dead father, Jack comes to the realization that he is dead. Everyone is dead. Christian explains to Jack that they aren't leaving; they're moving on. Jack asks where to, and his father tells him, "Let's go find out."


Once these Island visitors, including Desmond, leave the sideways existence, Eloise's long plan to safeguard her son from "remembering" or "leaving her" comes to her happy ending. It would appear that Eloise would have her son for all eternity so long as he does not remember his non-sideways past. The one element that could have dislodged those hidden memories was Desmond, who is now engulfed in the white light from the church.

If one objectively looks at the dynamic of the End as the solution of Six Seasons of LOST mysteries, only one key plot point was revealed and resolved: Eloise's demands to Desmond to stop what he was doing so Daniel would not be taken away from her. This puts Eloise in the position of the one person who had a major controlling influence on all the other main characters. She was the one pulling all the strings. She was the one that was truly manipulating the characters to reach not their goals, but her one objective: to be with her son in the sideways after life.

Eloise Hawking is the only character that had "full knowledge" of the Island events and the Sideways world consequences. It is quite the simple but straight forward explanation lacking in the convoluted plot twists of the series that everything could truly be explained through the actions, manipulations and motivations of Eloise. The only issue truly resolved in the End was that Eloise did not "lose" her son, Daniel, to the 815ers who were "moving on" into the light at the conclusion of church meeting.

Now some may complain that the show was really all about Jack. But did Jack finally resolve his father issues in the End? No. Did other characters resolve their issues? Sayid and Nadia: the opposite happened. Locke, who was abused in the island world, left without anyone. Michael did not get over his issues with Walt, so he is apparently left with the guilt of an island ghost. The island events were themed by significant "daddy issue" subplots. But in the mirror realm of the sideways world, there is only one clear "mommy issue" plot: Eloise and Daniel.

The simple bridge between the Island and the Sideways world was a simple, personal, introspective "awakening." In the End, the only thing the 815ers did was realize that they were dead and accepting their deaths. Knowing that someone would attempt to "awaken" Daniel (most likely Desmond since Daniel considered him his metaphysical "constant"), Eloise attempted to keep that knowledge from all the characters in the Island realm.

As previously posted, the story premise has to be the Island and Sideways worlds are spiritual planes of existence. After death, one has a reincarnated new life. And in this new life, you may not realize that your human existence is gone because everything seems so "real." Using the concepts of the split between the ba and ka from ancient Egyptian mythology, Eloise could craft or control two separate spiritual planes to stop the characters' ba and ka from reuniting ("awakening") and moving on to a different plane of existence in the after life.

Eloise's role in both realms could be considered the puppet master, a gatekeeper of souls, the wizard behind the curtain, the high priestess of death. Only she knew knew the awakening rule. She confused the lost souls into believing that they were still alive. They were told that their survival depended upon running through a maze of dangerous missions. The Island was really a place that Eloise created to contain any person who could lead Daniel to his awakening in the Sideways realm. Eloise was motivated by the fear that she would lose her son forever.

Eloise was close to Brother Campbell. She used that relationship to get Desmond into a monastery so he could be locked away from Penny, a connection to Daniel. But that plan was ruined when Penny came to pick up wine at the same time Desmond was being kicked out for ill behavior. Eloise used Widmore to continually throw a wrench into Desmond's relationship with Penny. She used Libby to get Desmond the boat that he thought he could use to win a sailing race to "prove" to Widmore he was worthy of Penny.

After Sarah's surgery, and after promising her a "miracle," Jack takes a jog in a stadium. He notices Desmond who is jogging up the staircase next to him. Jack races to catch up to him but rolls his ankle and falls. Desmond comes to Jack's aid. After Desmond asks why Jack was "running like the devil was chasing him," he discusses Sarah's procedure and how he made a promise he couldn't keep. Desmond wonders out loud whether he actually did save her, but Jack tells him it would be a miracle. Desmond also leaves with the foreshadowing quip, "See you in another life."

Desmond takes Libby's boat, but then becomes shipwrecked on the Island. He is put to work pressing the Numbers in order "to save the world." Eloise tells him that his fate is to press the Numbers. But in reality, Eloise sole purpose is to imprison Desmond so he stays out of the life of Penny which could cause the sideways Desmond to awaken and take Daniel to the next level of the after life. That Desmond was told that his sole destiny is to stay in the Hatch "to save the world" (which really meant save Eloise's fantasy world) and forget any notion of being with Penny was the biggest con of the entire series.  For three years, Desmond accepts that role. It is only after he begins to be aware that he is "being conned" by Kelvin, that he fails in pressing the buttons. In that moment, he is aware that he can leave the island and return to Penny. But what stops him? The sudden arrival of new characters, the Others and the 815 survivors, who again, occupy Desmond with obstacles on leaving the Island (and returning to Penny).

It is an elaborate "con" that Eloise attempts to maintain; the only problem is that Desmond and the other characters retain their personalities and "free will" to make choices. The critical choice for Desmond was to use the fail safe key to "die." Even with that sacrifice in his mind, Desmond really did not want to "die," but get back to Penny. The island realm does not "kill" spirits such as Desmond. They continue to live until they accept their death in the real world.

The events then lead Desmond to Penny in the Island world. In order to stop the bridge from forming, Desmond is still "pursued" by Widmore in an alleged attempt to keep Desmond and Penny a part. But Eloise knows where Dez is. She allows him the fantasy of a life with Penny and his "son" in order for him to keep the illusion of living forefront in his mind. By doing so, she risks flashes of the other realm and concepts of death to overwhelm Desmond so that he could awaken and spoil the critical balance Eloise is trying to maintain in the Sideways world.

In the Sideways world, Eloise is queen of the land. She has a doting son, totally under her control. She has got the wealth, status and privilege of society. Charles Widmore is a corralled provider of all her needs, including keeping SW Desmond in check as Widmore's respected, trusted number two man (which is the mirror opposite of Island Desmond whose focus was trying to get the respect and trust of evil Widmore.) She has to keep Penny away from Desmond in the Sideways world. It is too dangerous if they have a relationship in both planes. That is why Widmore has Desmond putting out corporate fires all over the world. It is unintended consequences that lead to Desmond to be in LA at the same time Charlie meets Daniel for the benefit concert.

Look at the constant from both ends of the spectrum: the flashbacks (pre 815) and the sideways world - - - Eloise. In Desmond's back story, she was the one who told Desmond about "course correction" that people cannot change what will occur to them. She also told Desmond that he should not be with Penny. Fans knew that Eloise had special powers and knowledge beyond normal comprehension. In the sideways world, Eloise scolds Desmond not to contact Penny. Why? Because she knows that if Desmond is awakened to his past purgatory cycle with Penny, he would awaken the others, including her son, Daniel and Widmore, which could lead to Daniel leaving her. The whole Eloise story arc could be considered as an after life guardian over-protecting her son for her own selfish purposes (maybe penance for killing him on the island during a time flash.)

If you believe that the show was all about lost souls from the very beginning, LOST makes more sense and all of the blatant inconsistencies, dead end story lines, continuity errors, and open ended questions fade away. Dharma, Jacob, the Smoke Monster, time travel and all the other prop story lines were all mere fantasy tools and props from the characters own imaginations and narcissistic view of themselves of how they thought their lives would be if they were not "dead." In the after life, their collective memories were used to create situations, interact with strangers, overcome adversity and personal fears, with the goal of individual enlightenment.

Eloise's master plan was to stop Daniel from remembering his past. She did everything in her power to make sure that Daniel's after life was a narrow, non-scientific focus that centered around herself. And in the end, Eloise's plan worked: Daniel did not go away with the other Lost characters. So, Eloise was the only character who truly got all she wanted in the end.