RISK REWARD LUCK UNLUCKY

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg said, "The only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks."

There is a stigma against risk taking; it is an inherent defense mechanism in the brain which governors people trying to hurt themselves. No one wants the pain of being hurt, whether physical or emotional. Rejection is a burning knife in the gut. Going outside one's "comfort zone" is a high anxiety experience. 

You can stop the risk by becoming a hermit living in one's personal shell of personal barriers, excuses, bad lonely habits and paralysis.

LOST was a case study of different types of risk takers.

You have the messiah-complex high level risk takers who really did not weigh any moral issues when they made their decisions. Ironically, Jack and Ben were on a similar plane. Jack took surgical risks on patients because he believed he was a miracle worker. It was an unrealistic belief that he could save everyone. But even with those giant risks, he got very little reward from his hospital, his staff or his father. Ben took a different path to putting in play his "big play," the banishment of Widmore from the island and the purge of killing the Dharma collective, including his own father, so he would become the island king. He risked everything for the power to control the island. He got nothing in return because the Others did not respect him (they feared him), he had no friends and his own self-grandeur amounted to nothing in the end.

Hurley was at the opposite end of the spectrum. He did not want to take any risks. So he hid himself in a shy exterior. He would only come to life once he got to know you well. He only had one or two friends, but those relationships ended when he failed to share his secret that he won the lottery. He believed himself cursed by fate, so he did very little to try to expand his reach. He would have been a fast food lackey his entire life; no ambition, no girlfriend, no family, no life. Once he landed on the island, he could have made more of his "new start." He became the likeable guy, but not a major player or decision maker.

Of the "lucky" survivors, many of the main characters' lives did not end well in the series. If they risked the perils of the island to reach their personal dream or goal, they failed. Sayid longed for his one true love, Nadia.  But he risked his own life to get her back, but in the end he wound up with Shannon, the exact opposite. Locke longed for acceptance and adventure, the hero jock. But he wound up conned and crippled by his own family and his own shortcomings. Their personal sacrifices did not result in reaching their dreams.

There is a relationship between risk and reward. One cannot exist without the other. It is like a reflection in a mirror: you have to see who you are in order to change yourself. "Bad luck" is more often the lack of effort to reach an opportunity. But if one takes failure as "proof" that one's fate is a sad, lonely, unfilled life - - - they are missing the great life lesson that experience comes through failure. Experience is necessary in order to take calculated risks for reasonable rewards. It is those people who understand this dynamic push forward (against the odds) to succeed; they make their own luck.

TROUBLED RELATIONSHIPS

As with the previous post on Jack and Kate's relationship, the other controversial pair ending was Shannon and Sayid.

To the vast majority of viewers, it made no sense.

Throughout the series, Sayid was shown pining for Nadia, a woman from his home land. A woman for whom Sayid tortured, then let escape - - -  turning himself into a cold blood killer (by taking out a superior officer to allow her to escape.) After the war, Sayid spent his entire life trying to find Nadia, considered by all to be "the love of his life." He went so far as to work for the CIA, a dirty deal to double cross a childhood friend in order to get a chance to meet Nadia. So, Sayid was deeply in love with Nadia.

But that is just one side of the story. Sayid's attraction and affection for Nadia was clear. But what was Nadia's true feelings toward Sayid. As a child, it would seem she had a crush on Sayid. Even in the school yard, Sayid was different: strong and a provider. But when there was political change in Iraq, Sayid would wind up on the other side: with the Guard, while Nadia and her family were in the rebel camp. This basic ideological divide would doom most couples.

But even when Sayid was ordered to torture her to get information about the rebels, Nadia seemed to forgive Sayid. As a result, Sayid's heart overwhelmed his training and rank to allow her freedom. However, some could argue that Nadia was using her past relationship to manipulate Sayid to grant her freedom - - - a ruse, a classic spy move - - - not out of love but necessity.

But the latter evidence seems to contradict this faux spy story. When Sayid was rescued as part of the O6, he was met at the airport by Nadia. They embraced. They began to start their new life together in LA. Now, various theorists don't understand how this even happened . . . why the airline would find a stranger, such as Nadia, to greet Sayid in Hawaii is a mystery. Perhaps the CIA knew her whereabouts under a protective custody program, but not an airline.

One theory has it that the O6 never made it to the awkward press conference in Honolulu. That when the freighter was blown up, the survivors were in bad shape. Penny's boat was actually a trailing shadow craft to pick up survivors for Widmore so as to reprogram the brains in a virtual reality "rescue" so as to have them volunteer to return to the island to fight Jacob/MIB. If Widmore could "fake" an underwater crash site including passenger bodies, then he could easily brain wash island survivors.

When Nadia was killed by a motor vehicle in a cross walk when Sayid was pulled by Jacob, Sayid was totally lost. He had lost his one, true love. He was a broken man. He could never love another woman. He turned into a zombie - - - easily manipulated to become Ben's assassin under the guise of getting revenge of those who killed Nadia. (This also shows a direct link between Jacob's influence to Ben's missions with Sayid.)

Even back on the island, Sayid never forgot about Nadia. So it was a shock to find Sayid winding up with Shannon in the End.  They only had a week long island affair. It was spurred by a matter of convenience and loneliness. Shannon's brother, her one protector, had died. Sayid was still seen as an outcast within the group. Shannon was in need of finding someone to take care of her since she was accustomed to the life of luxury. She used her one commodity, her beauty, as currency to find another man to be with her. But when she was killed in the jungle, Sayid was cut down to his core in emotional grief. Some think that Sayid's physical relationship with Shannon could have clouded his long term memories, or that he was actually re-living the terror of losing Nadia all over again.

Sayid was doomed at that point. Any woman he loved would die in his arms. He thought it was his fault. He could never love again because the pain was too great. In order to cut out the pain, he had to cut out his own heart - - - die and be reincarnated as an empty soul.

But when the cast was reunited in purgatory/heaven of the sideways world, the image-character of Nadia was present. But she was married to Sayid's brother, who was in trouble with the mob. Sayid had to "fix" it - - - to make Nadia happy. It was like the one woman he loved he could never have - - - but there was no evidence of that in the "real" world. So in that respect, Nadia's soul must have bonded with Sayid's brother while she waited for him to show up in the next level of existence. That must have paved the way for Sayid to release his feelings toward her, opening up the possibility of finding his second love, Shannon. But that is a weak appraisal of the overall Sayid-Nadia story line.

A week of passion with a different stranger is more important than a life long longing over a love that you finally found after years of searching? Sayid and Nadia were together in LA. They were happy. They went to Hurley and Sun's parties. So why did that love and affection carry over into the next world?

Sayid and Nadia's relationship was troubled from the beginning. He was a soldier, she was a freedom fighter. He was a poor boy, she was from an upper class family. He was repressed by his emotions, she was outgoing in her beliefs. In a world where opposites attract, they would be a perfect pair. But in reality, opposites often cause conflict in their own relationship. Deep, lasting relationships have as a foundation core similar values, goals, beliefs and mutual dreams. Perhaps Sayid's feelings toward Nadia were a dreamer's lust for something that could have been instead of actual love.

And in that regard, Shannon was the only person Sayid knew who loved him for what he truly was - - - she knew his background, she knew about all the bad things he had done, but she still took him in and loved him. Even that short term bond between two troubled souls could have a lasting impact.

LEADERS

The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind him in other men the conviction and the will to carry on. - - Walter Lippman

If leadership was a central theme to the drama of the show, how did the characters pass "the final test?"

Jack did leave Hurley in charge of the island. A very, very, very reluctant Hurley in charge of the island. But it is inferred that Ben was very "beneficial" in Hurley's island reign, so much so that Hurley was rewarded with heavenly reunion with Libby. (In the succession plan, that would leave Ben in charge of the island and sideways view, with the dual knowledge that only Eloise had).

Locke was only briefly in charge of the group when the time skips happened after Ben screwed things up in the FDW. However, Locke was a pawn in Christian smoke monster's plot to get Jack back to the island in order to thwart, kill Jacob to find MIB's alleged loophole (which may be the same as everyone else on the island - - - get to the sideways plane of existence, the after life, from the way station island).

Flocke was a more successful faux leader, who ruled like Ben and Widmore  did the Others, by an iron fist and no mercy. But Flocke was not a real human being, and he wanted to leave no one behind (as his mental state, if any, was to destroy all human candidates in order to escape his prison.)

Sayid was only briefly in charge of his Iraqi torture unit. But when push came to shove, he betrayed his uniform, killed a superior, let a prisoner escape, then became a U.S, CIA operative. On the island, Sayid refused a full leadership role (except on a few rescue missions) because he could not trust himself.

Sawyer was in charge of the beach castaways ("by default," as Hurley said) but that time Sawyer tried to "act" like a leader, but as a lone wolf con-man it was impossible for him to adapt. However, in the time warp arc, Sawyer did become a leader of his castway time travelers by becoming the sheriff of the barracks, waiting for the time skip to send them back. It was during this three year period that Juliet apparently tamed the wild Sawyer beast.

Kate led a few rescue missions, but tried to avoid becoming the leader of either the beach castaways or the candidates forum. She always put her own self-interests above other people. Even when she claimed to have "saved" Claire in the end by getting her on the plane, Kate could have stayed and gone back to try to save Jack, but she did not. She only wanted to get off the island. There were no tears in her decision.

Jacob was the leader who hid in the statue. He commanded through his liaison, Alpert, who in turn, gave instructions to Ben (who would twist things so he had the power.)  Alpert led the quiet Other near revolt against Ben, when he gave the file to Locke to make Locke the leader (by killing Cooper, his father, by Sawyer's hand.) Jacob assumed the leadership of the island at the request of his Crazy Mother, and regretted his actions that led to his own brother's demise (by the hands of the smoke monster). A leader with such guilt, shame and regret was never a good leader.

Widmore was a born bully of a leader. He was exiled from the island, and made his sole mission in life to return to recapture it. He used his inner strength to gather a vast fortune to fund his quest. In a certain respect, he succeeded at the task as he returned to the island, and indirectly defeated Flocke. But as a leader, he got blindsided by the vengeful rage of Ben, who killed Widmore for killing Alex. Many leaders find it appropriate to lead with "an eye for an eye" mission statement.

In their own way, and collectively, no one person was a great leader. Each had terrible personal faults and lacked command of their people and circumstances (which led to many lives lost.)

SAD SAYID

He was put on the spot at an early age; the ability to do the dirty work like killing an animal on command. As a result of his upbringing, Sayid had a hardened exterior. He was not easy to know. His military service manipulated his skill set into an emotionless torturer. As such, he had no friends, merely comrades.

The only saving grace for our Iraqi character is that he clung to some form of personal honor to stave off the normal hatred of American eyes upon him. Those who mistrusted him did not know his back story (he never really shared the full extent of his deeds, and his own betrayal of his people by working with the American military). It was probably that guilt that led him into personal martyrdom. He could never be happy and he made it so. That is why he was obsessed with a woman he could never have, Nadia (and some would say that was because she was truly gone - - - tortured to death by his own hand.) That is why Sayid is the saddest character on the show.

He could have set a different path for himself. But he was consumed by his own personal wrought of having been controlled by so many other people that his actions became involuntary and sick. He hated himself for being himself. He knew what he was, and made that fact an excuse to keep other people at bay. When things got tough at the beginning of the castaways survival period, after confrontation, Sayid retreated to the jungle alone. He was captured by Rousseau, another bitter survivor of her own war with the island. The irony is that Rousseau's torture made Sayid realize how sad Rousseau was in clinging to a hope that she could never attain.

It seems fate had dealt Rousseau and Sayid the same conclusion: that if they were reunited with their true love (Alex and Nadia), those precious objects of affection would be cruelly taken away.

So it was his destiny to be a sad, lonely man.

On the island he gained the respect of a few people, including Jack, because Sayid had an unbelievable array of paramilitary talents. But he never really gained a strong friendship among the main characters. His cold demeanor probably influenced his time with the other castaways.

He knew he was a ticking time bomb. In the time flash arc, it was his savage state that burst on the scene when he shot (and presumably) killed young Ben. But that action had the unintended consequences of turning young, island reincarnated Ben into the monster that Sayid loathed and shot.

When Sayid himself was shot in the ironic island circle of life, he was taken to the temple just as Alpert had done with young Ben. In the temple waters, Sayid was reincarnated as an evil being. He struggled with it but knew it was his true self. He followed Flocke on his rampage of candidate murder, until Sayid decided to give up.

Sayid had a sad and useless ending on his island story. For a man with major military intelligence, taking the time bomb down the submarine corridor and NOT sealing the various hatch compartments was a serious lapse in common sense and the cause of his suicide. As a result, the entire ship was lost, including Sun and Jin.

Even in the finale, Sayid comes across with a sad result. He is paired not with Nadia, but with Shannon, a rich bitch manipulator for whom he had only a short island affair. If that was Sayid's only true love with a real woman, than that is very sad indeed. And no man on Earth could stand spending any amount of real time with the selfish and petty Shannon - - - so it is also sad that Sayid was cast to live in eternity with her.

WORST COUPLE

PROBABLY the worst LOST couple was Sayid and Shannon. In just about every level, it made no sense.

Shannon was the stereotypical rich, white, affluent, trust fund bitch who had no drive, no vision and no goals except to make herself happy. Once her father died, she was cut off from the easy allowance, but had no skill sets to change. She went from one abusive boyfriend to another. It was only Boone who kept bailing her out. And despite that, Shannon was cold and unappreciative because that was her true character. Her self worth was tied to her material worth. She would have been brought up in a class system which looked down upon the common man who lacked the sophistication that only wealth and culture can bring.

Sayid was an troubled Iraqi soldier. He came from a large family, but it seemed he had to do his siblings' dirty work. He hated himself for becoming a torturer; but he could never change his tortured soul. He would have resented the manipulations of the American soldiers who captured him. He had nothing in common with a spoiled rich girl. Besides, for the entire series we were told that Sayid pined for his one and only true love, Nadia. Nadia, the woman he finally found after he thought he lost her forever when Flight 815 crashed, was killed in LA by Jacob stopping Sayid from crossing the street with her. Nadia's tragic death caused Sayid to revert in a cold blooded killer.

So when it came time for the "happy ending" to the series, one short island hook up trumps an entire life of long lost love?

It is totally unbelievable. Sayid should have wound up with Nadia.

Shannon should have wound up alone because she really did not have any strong connections to anyone. In the church, both Boone and Locke had no one to share the next stage of existence. Boone and Locke sat alone in the church, waiting while Shannon cuddled with Sayid.  It would have been better if Shannon and Boone sat together, and Sayid, the tortured soul who could never find happiness, sat alone in the back.  That would have made more sense.

To Shannon's personality, she would have been more apt to find a "sugar daddy" than a boyfriend - - - but lottery winner Hurley had Libby (but again, apparently you can take your wealth with you to the afterlife) or even an easily manipulated doctor in Jack.

The Sayid and Shannon thing was a major head scratcher. If Nadia was Sayid's true love, and if Sayid did actually get together with her in the O6 arc, then Sayid would have met her in heaven. Then this leads to the conclusion that many dislike: that Sayid never got together with Nadia, that she was figment of his imagination or dream. It disrupts the storytelling if major portions of the story cannot be proven to be real or an illusion. If it was an illusion, then Sayid's only physical love of his life was Shannon - - - then that is why they were together?

HURLEY'S ISLAND

Fifty years ago, American television debuted a new show called Gilligan's Island. The premise was simple: several passengers get on a charter boat for a three hour cruise. But the ship gets caught up in a violent storm. It is shipwrecked on an uncharted island. The survivors have to learn to make do with coconuts, palm leaves and goofy comedy.

Gilligan's Island represents the basic shipwreck story, but in a comedy as the first mate, Gilligan, is a hapless buffoon who keeps getting the group in trouble. In some ways, the success of this episodic series showed that this premise could work on prime time television.

It was never suggested that LOST should have been a reboot of Gilligan's Island. Until now.

The original cast featured the ship's captain, first mate Gilligan, a professor, a model Ginger, a farm girl Mary Ann and a rich couple, the Howells. We can re-cast the main characters of LOST into these roles.

There was only one married couple on the island. Rose and Bernard would be the Howells. However, they would not be the flamboyant multimillionaires, but a quiet retired couple searching for peace.

The farm girl would be played by Kate because she grew up in rural Iowa, and acts like a tomboy. She would probably be more aggressive than Mary Ann.

The model would be played by Shannon, because she grew up as a spoiled, jet set brat. She would probably be more snooty than Ginger.

The professor would be played by Sayid, since he had the encyclopedic knowledge of all things electrical and mechanical. He would mirror the professor's role of finding impossible ways to make machines out of nothing.

The goofy guy that always gets in trouble would fall to Charlie. Charlie never fit in with any group except with his best bud, Hurley. Charlie was never that strong, he never led on missions, and he had personal demons he needed to keep secret. He was insecure and lonely. He tried too hard to be a part of a group.

So this leads the heavyset skipper role to Hurley, which in some ways fits into LOST because Hurley winds up as the island guardian. As the skipper, Hurley would be a reluctant leader with a sense of humor. Like on the LOST island, Hurley would be the glue that keeps the group together because of his even demeanor and kind outlook.

Taking parts of LOST's cast to re-imagine Gilligan's Island is not that hard.

DREAMWEAVERS

“ Happy are those who dream dreams and are ready to pay the price to make them come true. ” - - - Leon J. Suenens

 If there was one Dream Master, for which the entire series was inside his/her head, who would it be?

First, there are several types of dreams. There are day dreams, where a person loses track of his/her conscious self in a real world/public setting. They go into sleep mode like a computer does; ready to wake up when some outside force interrupts their escape from reality.

Second, there are traditional REM sleep. Researchers have concluded that REM sleep is an important aspect of human health. Some believe that the brain needs to reconfigure the day's events into memory pathways so a person can problem solve in the future. Others believe that a human body needs to rest in order for its organs, tissues, blood supply and nerve endings can regenerate from a long and stressful daytime of activities. In order for the body to rest, the brain must "trick" the subject into having dreams (adventures and thoughts) so the rest of the body can heal.

Third, there are night terrors or nightmares. These are spawn from the subconscious fears every person has from their instinctive distrust of the darkness or wild animals, to interpersonal relationship problems caused by the social, moral or cultural pressures of daily life.

The entire LOST saga could fit into any one of those categories: escapism, rest or nightmares.

Candidates for the LOST dreamer:  

1. Libby. When we saw her in the day room of the mental hospital, she was in a "blank stare" like she had zipped out on her meds. She seemed unaware of her surroundings, yet, she was staring at Hurley (who would later not recognize her on the island.)  This non-recognition is the building block for the thesis that Libby's escape from reality in a mental institution created the various "coincidental" characters that invariably got caught up on the island: Desmond and the boat; Jack as a hospital doctor she saw in passing; Locke, whose crazy mother was institutionalized  in the same facility; to even criminal psychological evaluations on people like Kate, Sawyer or Cooper. The main characters could have been composites of the people who would live and work at the mental hospital. They could have been the personality traps she wanted to release, such as motherhood (Claire), freedom (Kate), moral strength (Rose), intelligence (Juliet), leadership (Ana Lucia), or beauty (Shannon).

2. Sayid. He was the one who needed the most "rest," as his life was a turmoil. From a young child, he was dealt a rough hand. He had to step up to do the dirty deeds. He was trained to kill. It went beyond his religious beliefs, but he continued to do what he was told. He became a torturer, which led to mind torturing him. So when he went to sleep, he dreamed of a more idyllic paradise away from the war torn nation of Iraq. He would be the center of a noble journey to find his true love, happiness, acceptance and friendship with everyone in the world. But which each happy segment of island life, his memories of his real life would take over in violence, mistrust and self doubt. He tried to run away to protect the others in his dream world, but he could not - - - he would return to hurt them and himself over and over again. In a dream state, the mind can play simulator and go over problems to find different end games. In Sayid's case, the end to ease his pain would be death - - - which played out in several different ways in the island dream world (plane crash, being shot, tortured, and blown up by a bomb on the submarine.) To him, LOST was a series of stories on how he could possibly fit into a different world from his own.

3. Hurley. He was the one most open about his fears and concerns. He understood and accepted his weak mental state. He blamed himself for causing others pain. He acknowledged that he was "crazy," but that could have been a misdirection to deal with his constant nightmares. Hurley was a bundle of self doubt, lack of self-esteem, introverted neurosis, shyness, lack of social skills, and the inability to find acceptance in himself. He was a follower, not a leader. He was a wallflower, not a lover. He was person in the crowd, instead of the center of attention. As a result, he consumed the various aspect of escapism culture: television shows, comic books, movies. It was those aspects that fueled the improbable and disturbing island adventures that were Hurley's own night terrors. Hurley lacked the focus, will power and applied reasoning to follow through on things; that is why he was comfortable as a low wage fry cook. In the same way, that is why the LOST stories were a jumbled mess of half baked or incontinent conclusions because that is the way Hurley's real life was - - - a random smattering of thoughts and ideas that could mesh well brainstorming comic book hero plot lines that never would amount to any logical conclusion. Hurley felt hopeless in his real life situation. He had a single mother who pushed him from the nest but he resisted. He felt abandoned by his father. He believed he had no future. These thoughts would amplify his nightmares as these were real burdensome issues. He could only find happiness with people as "mixed up" as he was, his imaginary characters who we would come to know as the LOST cast.

THE CHARACTER SUMMATION OF SAYID

The 8th main character listed in the LOST writer's guide is the jack-of-all trades, whether it be electronics, communications, military tactics or survival, Sayid.

The concept of throwing a former enemy of Americans as being a necessary evil whose skills would be needed in order to survive is a formula for conflict, drama and acceptance against prejudice. And initially, that prejudice flared to the surface with accusations that Sayid caused the plane crash because he was a foreigner.

But one thing Sayid did do was stand his ground. Well, for the most part. Until his anger and emotions of his training of torture got the best of him, and he needed to get away from the group. It was that transformative side story where he became the victim to Rousseau's torture that balanced out his mental state.

In the guide, Sayid was described as follows:

A romantic forced into the guise of a soldier, Sayid was drafted into the Iraqi Republican Guard just shy of his twentieth birthday. Unable to stomach the moral ambiguity of his duties, Sayid deserted during the first Gulf War and defected to Australia. The most difficult part of Sayid's relocation has been his thirteen-year separation from the love of his life, Talia. Although they have corresponded by letter, the prospect of seeing each other did not seem possible until Talia's family fled to Los Angeles after Iraq's recent "liberation." The sad irony - Sayid was on his way to ask for her hand in marriage when the plane went down. On the island, Sayid's technological skills combined with his desire to - seek and present the truth will put him in an invaluable (and sometimes precarious) position. Of all the castaways, his desire to get off the island is the strongest because it is driven by the noblest cause- LOVE. 

The similar character traits in the guide and the actual story of Sayid were that he was a soldier with a moral center. However, a drastically different back story to Sayid was stated. Instead of a well trained and brutal Iraqi soldier who tortured enemies of the state, Sayid is painted as a deserter who fled to Australia. By fleeing Iraq, he left behind the love of his life, "Talia," who he kept in a long, long distance relationship until he boarded Flight 815 to LA to ask her to marry him.  It would seem that Sayid was going to play the moral barometer of the series.

But what was stated in the guide for Sayid is more the story of Desmond. Desmond was the person most motivated to get off the island because he wanted to return to his love, Penny. Sayid's actual story was one of confusion - - - he pined for a woman, Nadia, whom he tortured as a soldier in Iraq. In reality, Sayid had no real contact with her after leaving their country. It may have been more guilt than love that kept Sayid thinking about her. In all his technical skills and alleged strong desire to leave the island, guide book Sayid never became that man.  In the series, Sayid did not contribute to Michael's rescue boat or even Bernard's SOS sign. Sayid found the island as his own personal hell, a place where he would have to make amends for his past actions. When he tried to change, he reverted to his old self which frustrated him to no end.

The one truth was that Sayid did cut to the chase more often than not. The best scene for that was after Sayid returned to the Hatch to "confirm" Henry Gale's balloon story. Everything checked out - - - the balloon, the grave, but Sayid found clear evidence that Ben was lying to them. Sayid brutally got the truth from Ben, and as a result Sayid decided to leave the camp.

Again, Sayid fell into the theme of a loner trying to change his lot in life on the island, just as Locke tried to do. The writers guide had Sayid having a more tangible purpose and focus (to get to LA to marry the woman he loved) than what we finally saw unwind on the island. After Sayid was shot, we got the supernatural transgression of a "dead" Sayid returning to life hours after his demise. The evil Sayid would become a Flocke follower, a pawn, but do nothing but wallow in his own self-pity. In his final heroic act on the sub, Sayid would actually cause more harm than good by not closing the hatch doors between sub sections, which allowed the entire submarine to sink (and killing Jin and Sun in the process).

It is unclear why the writers changed Sayid's back story so much. But even when they did harp and harp on the Nadia love story, Sayid wound up with Shannon in the end which made many fans frustrated and confused - - - how could Sayid wind up in heaven with a short island fling with spoiled Shannon when he proclaimed his love for Nadia for years on end - - -? A lot of the LOST story lines did not make sense, and Sayid's story arcs are prime examples of that trend.

THE BEN PROBLEM

There are many documented problems with the LOST story. These problems deal with story structure and the events viewers saw during the series. These go beyond continuity issues or shooting errors, but to major plot point questions.

One of the least discussed problems is with Ben.

And it deals with the traditional paradox of time travel.

A paradox a statement or proposition that, despite sound (or apparently sound) reasoning from acceptable premises, leads to a conclusion that seems senseless, logically unacceptable, or self-contradictory. As Issac Asimov explained the classic literary example is “What if you go back into the past and kill your grandfather when he was still a little boy?” This event would change the person's world so dramatically, that the killer would not be born. So complex and hopeless are the paradoxes…that the easiest way out of the irrational chaos that results is to suppose that true time-travel is, and forever will be, impossible, Asimov said.

The grandfather paradox is from time travel literature which states that a person who goes back in time can massively alter future events.

When a few of the 815 survivors time travel to Dharmaville in 1974, a young boy is already present on the island. His name was Ben Linus. He was an unhappy boy. His father was a drunk janitor who blamed his wife death on Ben. (She died during child birth). As a result, Ben and his father were never close. Ben was brought to the island by his father because he needed work. Ben became an introvert and apparently only had one friend in the island school. At some time, Ben began to see visions of his dead mother in the jungle. Ben became rebellious over the the Dharma rules, and he sought out to join the Others. He met Richard Alpert in the jungle, but Ben was told it was not time yet.

But whatever time line was supposed to happen, changed when the 815ers time traveled to 1974. During the encounter with Sayid in 1977, Ben was mortally wounded in the chest. Juliet could not do anything to save Ben. Jack refused to help, knowing what adult Ben would do to them after Flight 815 crashed on the island. So Juliet and Kate take it upon themselves to deliver bleeding Ben to Alpert. Alpert takes Ben, but tells them he would be "forever changed."  Ben is taken to the temple to be saved.

And here is begins the problem. Juliet, a medical doctor, could not save Ben from dying of his wounds. If Ben was taken to the temple, we have to assume that the same ceremony would have been performed by Dogen as he did on mortally wounded Sayid after the time skips stopped. When Sayid was treated in the temple pool, he died. But much later, he was reincarnated as a soul less Sayid who recognized his own internal darkness.

One has to assume that Ben also "died" in the temple, because medical science could not save him.  And if he died and then was "reincarnated," he also became evil. Now, some people will say that assumption is false. Ben was "saved" by the Others so he grew up as he normally did prior to the time skips. However, if as a boy being shot in 1977, Ben would have had to change his personality and outlook on life.

But another problem with the major time event is that Ben did not remember Sayid when Flight 815 crashed on the island. Would you not remember who shot you at point blank range? Now, some may argue that Ben would have not known of Sayid because the shooting did not take place until later in the series. But we are not talking about seasonal episode air dates as being relevant. The story stated Ben was shot in 1977. Then 30 years later, his killer returns to his island.

Ben knows just about everything about the island, so his boyhood memories would not have been erased. He began the Other's spy within the Dharma group. He rose up to take command of the Others by purging the Dharma people with poison gas. He should have known about Sayid.

Further, if Ben died in 1977, there would have been no Ben led Dharma group bent on kidnapping and terrorizing the 815 survivors.

Another problem is what did Ben become after the temple ritual. Clearly, if he followed Sayid's path, Ben was a soul less being - - - which could have been manipulated by Jacob or MIB. But then again, why did Ben get a second chance at life when the other people on the island did not? Or did the temple waters actually create a new smoke monster in the form of Ben?

It set into motion the same type of mass destruction we have seen other smoke monsters, like Crazy Mother, do to inhabitants on the island.

The writers cannot give us a grandfather paradox moment and not explain why there was no consequences in the future.

A KEY

How immortal beings such as Jacob or the smoke monster (MIB/Flocke) could have become moral (an apparent requirement in order to "leave" the island existence) is unknown.

But here is a new theory I thought may explain it. It merges a couple of given facts such as the Numbers and Jacob's authority over the island.

MIB was locked on the island's time and space. It could not escape. Jacob was the island guardian, which also could be called a jailor. Jailor's have the keys to the prisoner's cells. Jacob could be considered a jailor to MIB.

The importance of Jacob's numbering system should not be underestimated. It went through the entire series. It was the ultimate clue. Yes, it represented the candidates, but it had to represent more than that because there were more than one hundred prior candidates who did not achieve what either Jacob or MIB desired: escape. One would hope that the candidate numbers would have more meaning than just being numbers.

The numbered candidates could symbolically represent parts of a lock's tumblers, the pieces of metal that move when the proper key is inserted to open the mechanism. Now, if Jacob numbers his candidates, it is either Jacob or the island automatically sets the island's "locking mechanism." The island itself was described as a Magic Box. Magic Boxes would need to be secured from devious people. When the candidates arrive at the island, it is their destiny to "open" the lock in order for Jacob and/or MIB to escape.

The random order of the candidates selection to become island keys came from Jacob scouting them as children, then coming to them with his touch (marking them as elements of the island key). Once they arrived on the island, the game was to determine the order of the candidates in order to unlock the island. It would seem neither Jacob or MIB could control the order of the key, because they were frustrated by the lack of results over the centuries of people being brought to the island.

The only logical progression for the key cuts would be the order of when each candidate died. We know the order from the beginning: Locke (which could be considered a clue for this theory), then Sayid (even after reanimation), Jin, Jack, then most likely Sawyer (if the Ajira plane did not have enough fuel to get home) and then Hurley (who would have become immortal when he accepted the island guardianship).

One might realize a flaw in the theory which is that Jacob and MIB "died" (i.e. escaped) before Hurley would have died. But they could have been trapped like Michael as a whisper, a spirit attached to the island, until Hurley died which would release all the lost and trapped souls into the after life.

VICTIMS

There have been several recent national columnists treading carefully around the notion that the current American culture is melting into a society of whiners and victims.  A nation filled with whiners with little sense of responsibility or moral center is a festering boil. Commentators remark that  being seen as a victim can be useful or even profitable.  A person could claim the "moral high ground" by claiming the world, institutions, community or government is being unfair to him. Some people want to help you like lawyers, community activists and politicians who brag that they force others to help you.

It seems strange that a country and continent founded upon the independence of people leaving Europe to take a huge life or death risk coming to  America are the exact opposite of the people who today play the victim card. Prior to government programs to help people, people had to make it on their own, use their grit, determination, skills to  overcome obstacles which led to prosperity and happy lives.

The LOST characters played their own "victim" cards but in a more sublime way.

Sayid began his island stay as pulling away from the main group. He blamed his upbringing and his years as a soldier to become anti-social. He knew others around him had bias against him because of his skin color, nationality and skills. He never allowed himself not to be controlled by authoritative figures. He kept believing his was a victim in his tragic relationship with his true love, Nadia.

Locke's tormented life branded him a victim at an early age. He had no parents. He was shuffled off from foster home to foster home. He was treated different because he had no family. He tried to rebel against how other people perceived him, but he really wasn't good at anything. He accepted his dead end lifestyle. He never grew up; he remained naive. So naive, that he was truly victimized by his own father who stole a kidney from him; and then later crippled him by pushing him out of a 8 story window.

Kate also played a victim role in order to manipulate people around her. She was the smiling tomboy as a child who was eager to get into trouble in order to get attention, especially from her mother. Her working mother did not put Kate into the Norman Rockwell family setting, so she felt hurt by her mother's need to work. When she blew up her (step)father, she claimed she did it to free her mother from abuse (a victim saving another victim), but her mother rejected that position and demanded Kate accept responsibility for her actions. But like most victims, Kate could never accept that - - - so she ran away.

Jack was a victim of his own success. As a boy, he wanted his father's acknowledgement and approval. He worked hard to become his father's equal. He became a miracle worker spinal surgeon, but still did not garner his father's respect. And when he found out that his drunken father killed a patient on the OR table, Jack was part of the cover-up. Then in a moment of conscious, he betrayed his father and told the truth (in essence becoming the victim in the family lie). With his relationship torn a part, Jack spiraled into the darkness of drug and alcohol addiction - - - a self imposed victimization.

Sawyer was also a victim as a child. His father killed his mother in a murder-suicide. That left Sawyer without a family. He was the innocent victim of a con-man's consequences. So, he vowed to avenge his family, but by doing so he turned his own situation to find victims of his own anger, greed, deceit and criminal behavior. He went from victim to victimizer.

Ben was also an anti-social personality whose core was developed by the victimization by his father. Ben's father blamed Ben daily for his mother's death during premature child birth. Ben was constantly mentally abused by the fact his father did not care for the young boy who killed the woman he had loved. As a result, Ben had no normal upbringing; he had difficulty relating to other people or authority. Like Sawyer, he turned his own plight into darkness - - - the person who enjoyed making victims of other people.

None of the characters in the series who had these victim cards ever really kept to terms with their inner demons that caused their victim status. Many used their internal victim belief as a crutch to explain the bad things that would happen to them. Perhaps that is why there was no overreaching moral tone to the series since it was focused upon so many self-absorbed victims that the good or evil environment was immaterial in how they perceived themselves on the island.

NADIA

One of the most puzzling aspects of the LOST saga was the final treatment of the Nadia story line.

For 6 seasons were told that Nadia, Sayid's childhood friend, was his long lost love of his life. As a child, Nadia teased him to get his attention. She was from a wealthy family and Sayid was not. After Sayid went into Republican Guard intelligence, he met Nadia when she was a prisoner. She had joined an anti-Saddam group. When it was Sayid's job to interrogate, torture her and finally execute her, Sayid led her to her escape. Before escaping, a panicked Nadia begged Sayid to come with her. When he refused, she left him her photo with the inscription,  " You will see me in the next life, if not this one."

Nadia fled to England at some point. She was saved by Charlie who stopped a mugging in progress. Charlie would never know the woman he helped was Sayid's girlfriend.

Later, Nadia moved the United States. In California, Locke inspected her house. Her whereabouts were later used as a lure by the CIA to get Sayid to betray one of his childhood friends who was a suspected terrorist. The government agents informed Sayid that Nadia was working in Irvine, California as "a lab tech in a medical testing company."

It was after this mission, which did not work out well for Sayid's friend, Sayid was expelled from Australia on Flight 815. The plane crashed on the island, thereby crushing Sayid's reunion plans with Nadia in America.

After Sayid was rescued as part of the Oceanic Six,  Nadia finally found him again after the group's first press conference. They tearfully embraced, overjoyed to see each other again. Sayid and Nadia later married. At some point before or after the wedding, she befriended the other members of the Oceanic Six, attending Hurley's  surprise party and Jack's father's  funeral service.

Their marriage came to an abrupt and tragic end, however, when she was killed in Los Angeles in late October 2005. She was hit by a car in a hit-and-run collision while Sayid was stopped by Jacob who asked him for directions.  Her last words to Sayid before she died were, "Take me home."

Her death in a hit-and-run incident used by Ben to manipulate Sayid into working for him as an assassin.  Believing Ben's story, Sayid followed and later killed Bakir in a fit of rage. Sayid, still bent on revenge for Nadia's death, came to work for Ben — tracking down other employees of Charles Widmore and assassinating them.

In the sideways purgatory world, Sayid's relationship with Nadia was that of a forbidden fruit. Sayid had encouraged her to marry his brother. She did so. They had two children.

When visiting them, Sayid gets caught up in his brother's business. She detects that Sayid is going to seek revenge for Omer and begs him not to do it. She pleadingly asks him to return to the house and look after the children. That evening Nadia returns home. Sayid is repairing a vase broken by the children playing with a boomerang. Nadia reports that Omer is recovering from surgery and is awake. She makes it clear that she knows about the loan, and she believes dealing with it is solely Omer's responsibility as he brought the trouble on himself. She confronts Sayid about the picture of her from his bag, asking him why he pushed her towards his brother if he has been carrying a picture of her for so long (an obvious indicator that Sayid has always had feelings for her). Sayid explains that he has spent twelve years dealing with his guilt for all the horrible things he did while a soldier. Finally, he explains that he cannot be with Nadia because he "does not deserve" her.

From the analysis of the two different worlds, the island and sideways purgatory, Sayid still has strong feelings about Nadia. And it appears that in both worlds, Nadia has mutual feelings for Sayid. If they were truly meant for each other, why in the made-up fantasy world of the dead souls is Nadia not with Sayid?  The vast majority of viewers could not get over the fact that Sayid wound up with Shannon in the end rather than Nadia.

This is hard to take if one believes that the sideways world was secondary to the main island story arc. In other words, if the island time came first, then Sayid was married to Nadia. They had a short marriage together until the island cut it short (through an evil partnership of Jacob, Ben  and Widmore). But they had been in love for their entire lives. So if Nadia was taken away from Sayid at that moment in time, Sayid spent the rest of his days revenging her death.  That strong bond would have filtered into his soul in his after life in the sideways world.

But if the island world was actually the fantasy world of the lost souls in the sideways realm, where Nadia in real life was married to Omer, then Sayid's attraction to Nadia was not real. Sayid's dream was to take his brother's wife. But in working out that fantasy, it ends badly in Nadia's death and Sayid being thrown into evil darkness to punish his soul in guilt. This may be the only way to explain why Sayid wound up with Shannon, a person he had a short fling with on the island. But again, in this continuum, Shannon was merely a diversion, a prop, imagined in part by Sayid's dream fantasies.

So what was Nadia's role in the Sayid story? If the series was a fantasy inside a dream, then there was no relationship between young Sayid and young Nadia in Iraq. He made up a strong character of an independent, smart and charming woman in Nadia. He carried that dream woman with him throughout his life. There was no physical contact between them. It was only when his soul intersected with Shannon's spirit did he actually have a physical bonding moment with another being. This fantasy trumped his prior dream. Somehow Shannon turned into Sayid's soul mate.

Which is a odd development, even for LOST. If the island was a cosmic dating service where soul mates were found for the main characters, Sayid had more in common with Ilana, Naomi, Ana Lucia or even Kate than with Shannon. And even if the island was to sort soul mates, Sayid in that time sphere had contact and a relationship with Nadia. When Nadia died, she would have helped "create" the sideways world to wait for Sayid. But that did not happen. And this is the fundamental flaw in the Sayid and Nadia story.

THE CHILDREN

During the series, I had a long simmering question about the children on the island.

After the crash, there was Walt, who was a main character. He was "special." He had a troubled childhood. He was placed in the hands of a stranger, who was his natural father.

In the rear section, two children survived, Zach and Emma. But they were quickly kidnapped by the others (possibly with the help of Cindy who joined the Others).

During the Tailie story, those survivors were terrorized by the Others. During one trek in the jungle, while hiding in the brush, there was a shot of a group of Others passing by from the knee down - - - it looked like children (there was a teddy bear at the end). I thought at that point there may have been a second "group" of island natives, comprised of children like The Lord of the Flies who split off from the adults. This split could have been the reason why a) the adults could not conceive on the island because the renegade children's wish was to curse them; or b) why the Others kidnapped children.

Once Walt left the island, the story of the island children became a great mystery. What happened to them? Throughout the rest of the show, we don't see any children in the Others camp. Then, in a brief instance during MIB's clash at the Temple, we see Emma and Zach - - - but we also see a third child. It was very brief, but it registered as being out of the ordinary. Who was this other child?

Shaun Twiddy was the young actor playing this character. It is in the episode "Sundown," where Sayid returns to the Temple and publicly announces that Flocke has sent him with a message: that Jacob is dead so none of the Temple dwellers have to stay here anymore and that they are free. He says that Flocke (MIB/Smoke Monster) is leaving the Island forever and that those who want to go with him should join him before sundown and be saved, or stay and die. The ultimatum  seems to upset Cindy, Emma and Zach. Cindy leaves the Temple with Emma and Zach, but we do not see this third child.

Which begs several questions: who was this child? Why did he stay at the Temple to meet his death? Was his parents at the Temple? Or was he another kidnap victim? If so, why did not Cindy protect him like she did for Emma and Zach? And why was MIB so callous and indiscriminate in killing children?

Since this mystery child is still young, maybe around seven (7) years old, he came to the island after Ben's purge of Dharma. But only Jacob allowed people to come to the island (as his candidates). If the purge was the curse of the Others not being able to bear children, then this mystery child is not a native islander. He seems to be Middle Eastern. Could he have been a reincarnated child of Sayid's soul when he died in the Temple waters?

The one conclusion we are left is this mystery child more likely than not would have perished in the Temple massacre. It is another fact in the theme that ran through the entire series: the mistreatment of children.

BROTHERS

The closest bond a person will ever have in their life is with their spouse or significant other. The next closest bond is between brothers.

“ A brother may not be a friend, but a friend will always be a brother. ”
— Benjamin Franklin

But what is a brother? The word is defined as follows:

1.a man or boy in relation to other sons and daughters of his parents.
   
2. a male associate or fellow member of an organization: fraternity brothers.
   
3. (also brothaor bruthah ) informal  for a black man (slang)
4. a fellow human being.

5. a thing that resembles or is connected to another thing;
6. Christian Church a (male) fellow Christian.

7. a member of a religious order or congregation of men
8. used to express annoyance or surprise.

The main male characters were not related to each other by blood. Their only connection was living through a traumatic event on par with soldiers on a battle field.

The did not voluntarily join a club like fraternity brothers, who swear an allegiance to each other.   There time together was marked by disputes, leadership struggles and fights.

The one thing that connected them together was the fact that they were on some immortal and potentially crazy man’s “list of candidates.”  They had nothing in common, except a medical background of Jack and Bernard.

None of them had outspoken Christian values or grouped people in a congregation based upon those principles. In fact, most of the main male characters were generally annoyed by the personalities, traits and opinions of their fellow castaways.

So the only true connection between Jack, Sayid, Sawyer, and Locke were the survival of a plane crash and the mutual struggles on the island. Yes, they were fellow human beings but one contained a monster (Sayid's violent tendencies) and one became a monster (Locke).

Were Jack and Sayid close friends? No. They were colleagues who often agreed on strategy to survive. But Sayid was always looking to cover his own back first.

Were Jack and Sawyer close friends? No. They were rivals for materials on the island after the crash (medical supplies, weapons, food). They were rivals for Kate's affection. They never truly got along. Sawyer did not stay to help Jack fight MIB.

Were Jack and Locke friends? No. They never met eye to eye on their view point of science verus faith to explain the unnatural elements of the island. Locke was too trusting, and Jack was too stubborn in his personal views. They never truly got along.

Were Jack and Jin friends? No. They could not communicate because of a language barrier. Jin favored isolation away from Jack's main group. There was some respect for their skills, but Jin never fought for Jack's vision of the means to survive on the island.

So none of the major male relationships have any hard element of brotherhood, a strong bond through thick and thin, the best of time or the worst of times. 


So the brotherhood angle of the LOST saga again falls on the realationship between Jacob and MIB. A relationship founded upon a kidnapping by a crazy woman, no father figure, parent constraints and child rebellion, and finally murder. Jacob and MIB's home was not the island but it was their living hell. Their crazy mother who killed their real mother raised them in secrecy of their true past. They lived in isolated place under rules that granted them a form of immortality under the pains of imprisonment.

One cannot say that Jacob and his brother were actual friends. They merely tolerated each other growing up as children. They did not have other humans to develop social skills or gain knowledge outside their adoptive mother's rules. When MIB broke away from his mother's dictatorship as a young adult to live with the survivors of the shipwreck, his one goal was to get away from the island. Jacob did the opposite. He stayed with Crazy Mother and broke the one family tie he had on the island.

THE HUMAN EQUATION

I stumbled across an interesting quotation:

"To solve the human equation, we need to add love, subtract hate, multiply good, and divide between truth and error." Janet Coleman

In a formula:

Human = ( Love - Hate) x Good/ (Truth + Error)

So the factors to quantify are:

Love
Hate
Good
Truth
Errors

Truth and errors are objective facts that could be proven by research into the character actions.
Love and Hate are emotional observations that could be analyzed by a character's actions.
Good is a subjective determination of a person's personality and deeds.

To test the hypothesis, let us use a standard zero to ten scale for the variables. Zero would be none and ten would be absolute positive.

Let us take a simple character like Rose. She had the devotion to her husband, Bernard. They were totally in love with each other. She loved her life, but hated her cancer. But she accepted its truth that it was terminal and she would die. She would make mistakes and follow the wrong people on the island. She cared for other people and worked well at the beach camp. But in the end, she decided that it was best for her to leave the group and go off with Bernard to live in their own camp. Rose never actually hurt anyone during her stay on the island.

It may be debatable and subjective to assign points to Rose's character, but let us try:
Love 8, Hate 3, Truth 8, Errors 5, Good 9  

Rose = (8-3) x 9 / 8 + 5
Rose = 5 x 9 /13
Rose = 1.0769
  
Let us now take a more complex character like Sayid. He was raised in a poor dictatorship of Iraq. At an early age, he learned to kill. He accepted it with cool detachment, He garnered favor with his father as a result. He went into the military which drew out the dark side of Sayid. He never had a true love growing up. His relationship with Nadia was at first as torturer, then as a crush. He let her go and killed a soldier to cover up his treason. He further went to work for the U.S. military, abandoning his family. His decision led him down the path of being a pawn, a hired killer and mercenary. He was given a new opportunity to change when he crashed on the island. He had more street savvy than the others; he could tell when people were lying to him. He could find the truth in their actions, or by torturing them. He worked to protect the beach camp from the Others. He risked his life to save his colleagues when they were captured and held hostage. He killed may people while he was on the island. He hated himself and the life that he led. When he was shot and re-born, it was as a dark ("infected')  person. He would side with Flocke in the final team alignment.

To assign numbers to Sayid is also debatable and subjective:
 Love 2, Hate 8, Truth 7, Errors 6, Good 3 

Sayid = (2 - 8) x 3 / (7 + 6)
Sayid = (-6) x 3/ 13
Sayid =  - 1.3846  

Rose had a positive number. She was a positive person. 
Sayid has a negative number. He was a troubled soul who landed on the evil ledger of life.

If you look at the equation, the tipping point comes down to two true variables.
If Hate is more than Love, you will be a negative human being.
If you have more Errors than Truths in life, you will be a negative human being.

A final example of the most complex of characters, Locke.   Locke was a miracle baby born premature in a rural town after his mother was hit by a car. He grew up in foster homes. He was a loner. He rejected his intelligence (he was good at science in school) because he wanted to be with the cool kids. He was awkward in social settings. As a result, he dealt with his problems by fantasy (games, imagination).  He was too trusting and got burned by co-workers and his father (who stole his kidney). He was bitter and resentful of his life. He could not accept his paralysis. His hate pushed away the only person in his life that truly cared for him, his girlfriend Helen. That mistake made Helen die alone. On the island, Locke was given another miracle, the ability to walk again. He tried to be a different person, a leader of the camp. But he made error after error in judgment. Those mistakes caused the island to time skip, and his friends to get hurt. He killed many people on the island. He was at first obsessive about the Hatch, which killed Boone. He then gave up on the Numbers thinking nothing would happen: it imploded and began the island path to destruction. He was a failure since he could not in life convince any of the O6 to return to the island. He trusted Ben, but in an instant Ben murdered him. Locke's life was terribly sad and meaningless. He remained a bitter man. He could not understand his past mistakes; he was a poor judge of character. He wanted to be good and be accepted in a group of friends. But he was easily manipulated and used for other purposes. It made him shameful and resentful. His social history was his personal down fall.

Locke's assigned factors:
Love 3, Hate 6, Truth 3, Errors 8, Good 5 

Human = ( Love - Hate) x Good/ (Truth + Error) 

Locke = (3 - 6) x 5 / ( 3 - 8)
Locke = (-9) x 5 / (-11)
Locke = 4.0909

Rose had a positive number, 1.0769.  We concluded she was a positive, good person. 
Sayid has a negative number, - 1.3846.  We concluded he was a negative, bad soul.
Locke has a higher positive number, 4.0909. Was Locke four times more positive than Rose? Was he happier, more content or more human than Rose?

Locke's role in the series was larger than Rose's, but not that much different than Sayid's. 

Locke had more hate and made more errors than most of the characters in the series. Those two negatives somehow created a large positive final human value. Was it his pain and misery that allowed his final friends to reach the sideways church? Locke himself was not present or a factor upon the O6's return to the island to fight MIB. The only aspect of Locke's off-island death was that it motivated Jack to return to the island. Jack's return allowed Jacob to give the island guardianship to Jack. Jack accepted the guardianship, reset the light stone, and helped defeat MIB. Jack then died giving his remaining survivors a chance for a new life by taking off on the Ajira plane. 

Was Locke's sacrifice, as foretold by Christian (smoke monster or possibly Jacob in disguise) at the FDW, the key to resolving Locke's pitiful life by changing Jack's?

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.