CHARACTER OF SAYID

If there was a character more puzzling and disturbing, one could argue that Sayid was that person.

Sayid Jarrah was born in 1967 in Iraq. While in school, a rich girl named Nadia once pushed him into the mud. Buy Sayid did not realize that was affection, so he ignored her. At an early age, Sayid was unafraid to kill - - - he killed a chicken when his older brother balked at his father's request. So we assume that Sayid had a normal Iraqi childhood in a stable family.

As an adult, Sayid was a communications officer for the Republican guard.  After the US invasion, a US soldier, Kelvin Inman, showed Sayid a video that his commander's nerve gas attack on Sayid's village. Enraged, Sayid turned into a torturer against his commanding officer. Instead of being killed by the guard after the Americans left, Sayid was promoted to the intelligence division where his skills as a torturer were used against military and civilian prisoners, including Nadia, for whom he allowed to escape. She left him a photograph that stated "you will see me in the life, if not this one."

In 1997, Sayid left Iraq in search for Nadia. It is not known how an Iraqi military officer would be allowed to freely travel the world or enter the United States. It is also unknown how Nadia left Iraq since she was considered an enemy of the state under a dictator's rule.

Sayid bounced around Europe doing semi-skilled labor such as working at a restaurant. (Which is the exact opposite of his technical expertise in all things electronic or military while on the island.)

In 2004, Sayid was arrested in London and given to the CIA for an undercover operation. The unknown reason for such an arrest would be dubious on legal grounds.  In exchange for the address of Nadia, Sayid would betray a friend in Australia, who was accused of being a terrorist. His friend killed himself when Sayid confessed, and Sayid stayed an extra day to give him a proper burial. As a result, he was booked on Flight 815. In the airport, he asked Shannon to watch his bags. Instead, she called the police on him as a "suspicious Arab." Sayid was detained by the police, but released in time to make the flight.

CHARACTER TRAITS

Sayid is a cold character. He has a distant and suspicious defense mechanism around others. He is analytical and tactical in his thought process. He is blunt in his opinions. He is self reliant. He is willing to get "his hands dirty."  In some respects, he had deep mental flaws. He was unemotional when he tortured or killed people. He was overly obsessive in regard to Nadia, even though in his own back story he never had a relationship with her prior to the plane crash. It seems that even though he had friends and colleagues throughout his life, he never had a real, personal relationship with a woman. So he had a split personality: an outward strong military man and a painfully shy,  introverted social phobia around women. He was slow to trust other people. He was a good judge of character, and often saw through another person's lies. He was level headed under pressure.

SAYID'S JOURNEY

Sayid had the opportunity to make the most change, the most redemptive journey of all the main characters. He was a survivor. He survived the fall of the Iraqi guard. He survived the torture of his vengeful enemy in Paris. He survived an uncover CIA operation that went wrong. He survived the 815 plane crash. He "survived" being shot in the chest and "revived" after the temple water ceremony. (But as a result, he said that he felt nothing: no pain, no emotion, no anger.)

In one respect, he used his vast knowledge and skills to help the 815 passengers to survive on the island. He took responsibility for rescue specific missions like finding the radio tower. He had to overcome the initial distrust and discrimination by his fellow passengers. There was always an underlying tension between Sayid and Sawyer; and between Locke, who thought his outback skills paled in comparison to Sayid's infinite survival skills. The importance of Sayid was that he was the character for whom technology would be interpreted or utilized by the group.

Once he was accepted by the group, events changed to cause him to revert to his basic cold blooded self. It began with the torture of Sawyer for medical supplies. It continued to with capture of Ben at the Hatch. What he did to others did come back to him as he himself was a victim of torture by Rousseau. As a result, people around him could never really come to know him. People were uneasy around him because of his cold blooded killer ability.

Once he left the island as part of the O6, he found Nadia. But that relationship was short lived when Jacob "touched" Sayid, stopping him from crossing the street with Nadia, who was killed by an automobile. He was told that Widmore had killed her, so he he worked as an assassin for Ben. It was allegedly to keep the group left behind safe from Widmore.

He was opportunistic when it would give himself an advantage. In the return flash period, he tried to kill young Ben in order to reverse the future. But as a result, Ben was "saved" by Alpert which could have been tied to Ben's purge of Dharma. And Sayid himself was shot and allegedly killed because he was infected by "evil."  The reincarnated Sayid took the lives of Dogen and his temple assistant. He then went to follow Flocke as his personal enforcer.

Throughout Sayid's life, he never changed from the cold blooded killer that was trained by the Iraqi guard and honed with his interaction with Americans. In the submarine, he took the C4 bomb in his arms to flee the boat in an attempt to save his friends. However, he failed in the basic submarine protocol of closing the compartment hatches to avoid massive flooding and sinking of the ship. As a result, the bomb exploded killing Sayid, but also killing Sun and Jin. Sayid last moment of personal sacrifice resulted in two of his friends drowning in the submarine.

SIDEWAYS SAYID

In this fantasy world, Sayid does not have Nadia. She is with his brother. While she has feelings for him, he puts her off. When his brother is involved in criminal loan sharks, Sayid reverts to his military warrior mode to take out Keamy and his men. As a result, Sayid is arrested for murder. He was kept in a holding cell with Kate and awakened Desmond, who arranged Hurley to pay the Ana Lucia bribe in order to get their release. Hurley took Sayid to kidnap Charlie for the concert. During the trip back, they saw a fight in progress. Sayid ran to the woman who was pushed to the ground. When he touched Shannon, he remembered his short island romance with her. (In fact, Sayid's relationship with Shannon lasted less than 5 days when a startled Ana Lucia shot and killed Shannon in the jungle.)

Despite his strong personality, Sayid remained a follower throughout the series. He was used as a tool for destructive behavior. He had many opportunities to change his militaristic torture and cold blooded ways, but he always reverted to his torturer past. It would seem that even from an early age, evil found root within his soul.

And he failed within his self-professed faith. He drank alcohol, had premartial sex, and killed other people, all which are against Muslim teachings. He had a faux religious firewall in order to justify his actions. In the end, he had no religious conversion. For a character in which the theme of good versus evil could have been played out effectively, Sayid remained effectively unchanged in the disturbing evil camp.

There are a few major issues with Sayid's happy church reunion with Shannon. First, Sayid "chose" Shannon as his soul mate after a few nights of island passion over his life long obsession, search and connection with Nadia? Most viewers could not accept the shallowness of such plot wrap. Second, Sayid's was never punished for his massive criminal acts, including killing more than 15 people. His sacrifice on the submarine was diluted by the fact that he believed that he was already "dead" and the consequences of his action killed two more people. It is debatable whether this counts as a redemptive moment for Sayid since Sayid was used as a tool by MIB to round up the candidates for their demise.

And why was Sayid even a "candidate" in the first place? His personality was one of a destroyer of lives and not as a protector. Even in his sideways fantasy, he was a killer.  So there was never any major life change in Sayid. But he was rewarded with an after life with a spoiled blonde woman whom he had a four night affair. Maybe that life would be his future hell.