DARK MESSENGER

In various religions, messengers from the heavens can be considered good, bad, mischievous or indifferent. The character called Matthew Abaddon fits into all those categories by design or mistake.

He played a hospital orderly, an airline lawyer, a recruiter for the freighter mission, and a chauffeur for Locke in his quest to get the O6 back to the island. It is believed that he was an agent for Widmore who needed to move people "to where they needed to be" like pieces on a chess board.

Chronologically, he was first seen suggesting to Locke (after he was crippled by his father) that he take a "walkabout" in Australia (which he said he had once done) in order to find his "purpose in life." This advice ultimately led Locke to the Island aboard Flight 815.

Later, Abaddon was the recruiter who put together the "science team" for Widmore's freighter crew: Naomi would be the point person, along with pilot Frank, Daniel Faraday, Charlotte and Miles. The alleged purpose of the science mission was to find the wreckage of Flight 815. Abaddon told Naomi that there had been no survivors.

Sometime after the rescue of the O6, Abaddon posed as a representative for Oceanic Airlines when visited Hurley at the mental institution. Hurley had cut himself off from the world. Abaddon coyly asked Hurley if "they" were still alive.  This was done to start the "guilt" process to get Hurley to return to the island.

Sometime later, Abaddon was assigned by Widmore to take Locke around the world to convince the people who had escaped the island to return with him. While Locke's attempts to persuade Sayid, Hurley, Jack or Kate to return to the Island were unsuccessful, Locke remained persistent as they traveled to see  Walt and "to find" Helen his old girlfriend. Locke was taken to Helen's grave.  There,  Abaddon posited that Locke's fate, and his death, may be predestined. Locke argued that he didn't want to die, and if it was predestined then that would remove the choice. Abaddon, ending the conversation, simply remarked "Hey, I'm just your driver." As they were leaving the cemetery, Abaddon was in the midst of a pep speech that Locke should keep going when he was assassinated allegedly by Ben's operatives. Ben would later tell Locke that it was he who had shot Abaddon, who he claimed was "extremely dangerous" and would have tried to kill Locke in due time (but that makes no sense within the story since both Abaddon and Ben wanted Locke to succeed in bringing everyone back to the island.)

In all these situations, Abaddon is surrounded by pain, suffering and death. Many people quickly realized that Abaddon's names comes from the Bible as a reference to "the Angel of the Bottomless Pit, " whose job it is to take souls to their destination in the Last Judgment. Many viewers believe that was Abaddon's  role in the series.

Greek for "destruction" or "the destroyer,"  Abaddon the Angel is pictured as a human sized locust, and is known as the lord of pestilence. The root for "Matthew" in Hebrew is "Gift from God." Additionally, in Hebrew, Abaddon is synonymous for Hell or destruction. Very loosely translated "Matthew Abaddon" can be read as "Gift from the god of hell." Jesus refers to God the Father as "Abba" while "-don" is the first three letters of "donate," which comes from the Latin root for "give." The name of the character in the episode referred to by the press release using the spelling "Matthew Abbadon" might be interpreted "Gift of God/Father Gift."

Abaddon as a dark angel makes sense. His first appearance is after Locke should have been killed from the multiple story fall. If Locke had died, Abaddon may have been "collecting" his soul for a trip to the underworld playground called the Island. MIB called Jacob "the Devil." Dogen called MIB "evil incarnate."  The island was certainly a living hell for those taken to it.

There is a possibility that Abaddon was a version of the smoke monster as ghost Christian was a version of Jacob when Jack was back at the hospital after his rescue. There is no known rule that prohibits either Jacob or the smoke monster from materializing off the island. Jacob had been seen in many places, in LA, Korea and on the freighter. Immortal spirits such as the devil or his dark angels could haunt the living as well as the dead.

Abaddon's character is a strong clue that LOST was more about death than life. It was about dead souls attempting to cope with a journey to their after life reunion in the sideways realm.