Put them together, LOST's island adventure was serendipity.
Serendipity means an the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way. It was originally coined by Horace Walpole, suggested by The Three Princes of Serendip, the title of a fairy tale in which the heroes “were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things they were not in quest of.”
Sounds LOST-like.
The four characters each made strange discoveries, by accident and some shrewd bets, but often their main focus was skewed away from their central quest: rescue.
Hurley's quest was to find the source of his curse, The Numbers. Instead, he found friendship and love of his after life, which is kind of sad when put in that context.
Jack's quest was to get his father's approval. Instead, he had to go collect the remains of his lost father, knowing that he could never reconcile the past until after he died, which is kind of sad when put into that context.
Kate's quest was to run away from her problems and not get caught in being accountable for her actions. Instead, she found the one person, Jack, who could ground her in normal society, but could not be with him until after they were dead, which is kind of sad when you put in that context.
Sawyer's quest was to track down and kill the con man who caused his parents deaths. Sawyer actually fulfilled his quest by killing Cooper on the island. And he was rewarded with three years of time traveling happiness with Juliet in the Others camp. And he was reunited with her in the after life. So things actually worked out for Sawyer. Huh.
Of these main characters, Sawyer got it. Only a shrewd opportunist like Sawyer got what he was after on the island. He conned, manipulated, badgered, stole, and fought just about everyone around him. He was his own island on the island. Perhaps his narrow focus was his actual strength of powerful will, stronger than the other characters. Something that the island could not break through and seize control over.
And Sawyer was one who left the island on the Ajira plane without any lingering baggage. One could say of all the main characters, except for Rose and Bernard, Sawyer got the best island deal.
