John Locke (Lost)

For other people named John Locke, see John Locke (disambiguation).

Johnathan Locke, or John, but most often referred to by his last name, "Locke," is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost played by Terry O'Quinn.

Character biography

Early life

It is revealed by John in the episode Outlaws, when John tries to tell Sawyer a story that he had a younger sister called Jeannie, whether she was his real sister by blood is unknown. But she died when Locke was young and still living with his foster mother. His sister fell off of the monkeybars and broke her neck. After Jeannie's death his foster mother suffered from depression. But then about six months after Jeannie's funeral a golden retriever came padded up their lawn, went inside and sat down on the floor and looked right into the eyes of Locke's foster mother. Then after the dog and his mother exchanged looks for over a minute his mother bursts into tears seeing the dog as a reincarnation of her deceased daughter. John tells Kate and Sawyer that the dog slept in Jeannie's old room and on her old bed but miraculously disappeared when Locke's foster mother passed away five years later.

Flashbacks in "Deus Ex Machina" reveal a younger Locke, with a full head of hair, working at a large retail store. His real mother, Emily Annabeth Locke (Swoosie Kurtz), makes a sudden appearance at his workplace, claiming that his birth was part of a greater plan, that he had no father and was "immaculately conceived". This leads to Locke hiring a private investigator to track down his biological father, who turns out to be a wealthy outdoorsman named Anthony Cooper (Kevin Tighe). Cooper seems to take his newfound son under his wing, teaching him to be a sportsman. However, he is actually laying the groundwork to con Locke into donating his kidney, which Cooper desperately needs. Once the operation is completed, Cooper leaves the hospital and orders his security guard not to admit Locke back into his estate. Locke is crushed when he discovers that he has been emotionally manipulated.

Following the deception by his father, Locke becomes a very angry and bitter person, even attending an anger-management group. He also loiters outside of his father's house early in the morning in his car every day, hoping to simply ask his father how he could con his own son. When Locke's father finally meets with him again, he shatters Locke by simply telling him to get over being conned, and that no one wants him around. Despite being told that, Locke still continues to loiter outside the house. Locke eventually begins a relationship with a woman named Helen (Katey Sagal), another member of the support group he attends. She successfully convinces him to stop loitering, and to "take a leap of faith" into the unknown. This is later paralleled in Locke's convincing Jack to "take a leap of faith" by pushing the button.

Locke and Helen eventually end up living together, and Locke wants to propose. Helen finds out in the obituaries that Anthony has died. Locke and Helen are the only people at the funeral, and during the event, Locke sees two mysterious men by another grave, as well as a car that drives away after Locke says that he forgives his father. After Locke, now working as a home inspector, leaves a house he has just inspected, the same car from the funeral appears. When Locke approaches it, he discovers that his father is in the car, alive and well. Anthony reveals that he faked his death because he is in trouble with the two men who Locke saw at the funeral, conning them out of $700,000. The money is in a safe deposit box (the number of the safe deposit box is 15.16, two of "the numbers"), but he does not want to risk getting it. He asks Locke to retrieve the money for him with a promise of $200,000 as payment. Locke grudgingly agrees. After he gets the money, the two men — one of them named Jimmy Bane — appear in Locke's house. They question Locke if Anthony is still alive and about the money. After they leave, Helen asks if Anthony is indeed still alive, but Locke denies it. Later, Locke goes to a hotel and gives Anthony the money. Anthony gives Locke his cut, but Locke does not take it because he only did the job to please his father. As Anthony walks out the door, Helen, who apparently has followed Locke, appears. Seeing Anthony and the money, she walks away, furious that Locke lied and seems to prefer his thieving father over her. Locke pleads for Helen to stay and finally proposes, but she says no.

An unknown amount of time later, Locke joins a commune which is secretly growing marijuana. He is treated very well there and considers its members his new family. One day Locke picks up a young man named Eddie who is hitchhiking. Eddie decides to join the commune as well, but six weeks pass and he is never told about the marijuana growing operation. He grows angry that he is kept out of secrets, so he asks Locke to convince commune leaders Mike and Jan to let him into the secret greenhouse so he can see what happens there. It is soon discovered by the commune that Eddie is actually an undercover police officer, gathering evidence on the illegal activities of the commune. Mike and Jan blame Locke for this and are in the midst of fleeing, but Locke promises to take care of everything. He takes Eddie hunting out in the forest, but turns his rifle on him. Eddie admits that he is indeed a cop, and that the police chose Locke to dupe because his troubled past would make him the easiest to trick. Eddie walks away, knowing that Locke will not shoot him because he is a good person. Locke attempts to shoot Eddie as he leaves, but cannot.

File:Locke falls.jpg

Locke falls eight stories

Sometime later, as he is watching Exposé, Locke is visited by a young man named Peter Talbot, who claims that his mother is set to marry Anthony Cooper (under a different alias), and realized through Cooper's medical records that Locke donated a kidney. Locke lied, saying that it was an anonymous donation. Locke, realizing that Cooper was back to his old conning habits, searched for him and found him. He confronted Cooper, making him swear to end the con with Ms. Talbot. Cooper vowed he would. When Peter ended up dead, Locke traveled to Cooper's penthouse. Cooper tricked him into going near the window and then defenestrated him. Locke fell eight stories to the ground, breaking his back. Cooper then disappeared. Locke was admitted to a hospital, where he is first placed in a wheelchair, to his great dismay. ("The Man from Tallahassee")

Left paraplegic, Locke leads a lonely existence as a middle manager at a box company, which is owned by Hurley, in Tustin, California, where he is constantly belittled by a snide (and younger) higher-up for his interests in wargaming and survivalism. He decides to go to Australia hoping to fulfill his dream of taking part in a walkabout. The evening before his trip, he has a conversation with a woman on the phone, whom he refers to as Helen (This is also the name of his ex-girlfriend), and implores her to join him. She declines, implying that he's been spending a lot of his time and money talking to her on a 1-900-like phone service, and demands that he not call her anymore. When he arrives in Australia for his walkabout, it's discovered that he is disabled and Locke is forced off the tour and sent back to the United States on the doomed flight. At the airport, in his wheelchair, he hands Rose her pills when she drops them on the floor. After Boone's death, this makes her the only 815 crash survivor that has seen Locke once in a wheelchair (Sawyer does find out through Cooper in The Brig that Locke was paralyzed and how it happened). However, shortly after the plane crashed on the island, Locke and Walter have a few discussions over the island's 'mysterious' properties. It was not revealed how much Locke revealed to Walt about his previous injuries at the time.

After the crash

Season One

After the crash, Locke miraculously recovers the use of his legs. On the island, Locke demonstrates his many essential skills: as well as being an extremely proficient hunter and tracker, he also has skills in carpentry, engineering and firearm use. Many on the island treat him as a sort of spiritual leader. He is the oldest of the principal characters. He appears to have a connection to the island, to which he believes has some form of sentience and mystical powers . In addition, he was the first survivor to have a direct encounter with the monster and survive, later saying, "I've looked into the eye of this island, and what I saw was beautiful." The monster we see is not beautiful at all, so John may have seen something else. For a number of episodes, he keeps secret his findings and revelations from nearly all, except for his apparent acolyte, Boone Carlyle, with whom he often explores the island's jungles. During one such expedition, the two come across a metal hatch with a glass window, which they unsuccessfully try to force open or break. While trying to open the hatch, their contraption, a makeshift trebuchet, breaks; a splinter is found in Locke's leg but it doesn't hurt. Later that evening, Locke holds a log from the fire to his foot. He feels nothing, no pain. Later, a seeming vision leads the two to a crashed Beechcraft airplane stuck in trees. Locke falls, slowly losing the use of his legs, and tells Boone to climb up into the Beechcraft. Boone asks what is happening to him, and he reveals his past spent in a wheelchair. When Boone climbs into the cockpit, the plane falls to the ground, crushing Boone and eventually leading to his death. Because Locke initially lies about how Boone's injuries were received, the death drives a wedge between some of the survivors and Locke — and both Jack Shephard and Boone's step-sister, Shannon, hold him responsible for Boone's demise. Shannon asks Sayid to find out if Locke did it, but when he tells her he thinks Locke is not responsible, Shannon gets a gun and aims at Locke in the jungle, but Sayid tackles her and the bullet just grazes Locke.

Although he connects mainly to Boone, Locke also develops a friendship with Walt early on, teaching him backgammon and demonstrating knife throwing. Locke is the one who motivates Jack to leadership when he is struggling with the ghost of his father. He helps Charlie work through his heroin addiction, and builds a cradle with Claire for her baby. He also shares a mutual respect with Sayid. Other survivors are wary of Locke, due in part to his mysterious comings and goings, as well as his collection of hunting knives, which he had transported with him intending to use them on a walkabout of the Australian Outback.

In "The Greater Good," after showing Sayid the location of the Beechcraft, Locke confesses that he was the one who sabotaged the jury-rigged communication equipment that Sayid used to search for the island's radio transmitter.

In "Born to Run," Locke asks Sayid to bring Jack to the hatch with an open mind. When Jack asks why he kept it a secret for three weeks, Locke replies, "Since when do I report to you, Jack?"

Later, in "Exodus," with the help of Jack, Kate, Hurley, Locke is successful in blowing open the hatchway with dynamite found from a trek taken to an old landlocked slave trade ship named the Black Rock.

Season Two

Shortly afterwards, Locke and Kate attempt to descend down the hatch by rope. When Kate is captured by Desmond, Locke enters alone, and is confronted by Desmond. Desmond initially asks Locke "Are you him?", to which Locke answers "Yes." But after asking him a riddle that Locke fails to answer, Desmond holds him at gunpoint and makes him enter "the Numbers" sequence into the computer. After Desmond runs off, Locke creates a duty roster to man the computer console.

Locke first meets Mr. Eko in "Collision" and runs the DHARMA Initiative orientation film for Eko and Michael in "What Kate Did". Eko shows Locke the cored-out Bible found in the Arrow Station discovered by the tail section survivors. Inside is a missing piece of the orientation film, which Locke splices back.

Locke trains Michael on how to use the guns in "The 23rd Psalm." In "The Hunting Party," Locke is knocked unconscious by Michael, who locks him in the gun cache with Jack. Locke and Jack are freed shortly thereafter by Sawyer and Kate, and the four go in search of Michael (although the men do not originally know that Kate has followed them). During the search, they are confronted by Mr. Friendly and the "Others" and are forced to return to their camp without Michael. Upon returning, in a flashback in "Exposé", Locke finds Paulo burying something on the beach. Thinking nothing of his actions, he advises Paulo to hide his possessions elsewhere, as the tide will wash it out to sea.

In "Fire + Water" Locke finds Charlie with a Virgin Mary statue and confiscates it, believing Charlie has been taking heroin again. He becomes more protective to Claire by moving his tent closer to hers. When Charlie steals Aaron for the second time, Locke punches Charlie in the face several times.

In "The Long Con" Locke locks the Virgin Mary statues in the cache because, as he tells Jack, the heroin they contain might become helpful later on since Jack, as a doctor, could administer it in controlled doses as a painkiller or sedative. He also tells Jack that he did not break them and remove the drugs because he is superstitious and doesn't "want to break seven Virgin Marys". Locke later moves both the guns and the heroin to a new hiding place as a result of being conned by Sawyer, from where they are promptly stolen by Charlie.

In "One of Them" Locke is persuaded by Sayid to change the combination on the armory in order that Henry Gale be detained there while being interrogated by Sayid. However, Jack blackmails Locke into opening the door when he realizes that Sayid is torturing Gale by grabbing Locke and refusing to release him to enter the station code unless he opens the door for Jack first. Locke does so, then runs to enter the code, but before he can enter it correctly the timer counts down to 0. The display flips over to a series of black and red hieroglyphic-style, and a tremor starts to shake the place and gives Locke a glimpse at the cataclysmic event about to happen. Locke enters the numbers anyway, the tremor stops and the display resets to 108 minutes.

In "Lockdown" Locke's right leg is painfully injured by the blast doors, forcing him to enlist Henry to enter the Numbers. Jack later determines in "Dave" that it is a hairline fracture that will take weeks to heal, forcing Locke to use crutches. While attempting to draw the mysterious map he saw during the lockdown, Locke's faith in the hatch and the entire island is severely shaken when "Henry" — who was revealed to be an "Other" — says he never entered the Numbers at all. He claims that everything simply reverted back to normal.

Henry Gale also is able to stir dissent in Locke on numerous occasions by implying that he "lets Jack call all of the shots". Locke's faith is rekindled slightly when Rose reminds him that the island cured his paralysis and her illness, and it will probably speed up the healing of his leg.

In "?", Locke is recruited by Eko to track "Henry," who had just escaped. Locke soon finds out that Eko actually wants to know about a "question mark," even going so far as knocking Locke unconscious when he does not get answers. When he wakes up, Locke shows Eko the map that he has drawn from the blastdoor. Seeing the giant "?" in the middle, Eko and Locke head there.

At night, Locke dreams that he is Eko. A wheelchair-bound Yemi appears, asking him to climb the cliff that the Beechcraft plane was on. When Locke awakens and informs Eko of his dream, they trek to the cliff and Eko climbs it. The view from the top reveals that the ground below looks like a giant question mark, and when some of the soil is cleared away, another hatch is discovered.

Locke and Eko enter the hatch - called The Pearl - which has numerous television monitors. They watch a video which explains that its purpose is to see if the denizens of the other hatches perform their tasks, a "psychological experiment," as though they are actually meaningless. Locke is shocked by this revelation and falls to the ground screaming, mainly because he has spent so much time performing and believing in a task that meant nothing. Eko, however, tells Locke that whatever he believes can still be true. Eko explains about the extraordinary circumstances of his brother's plane crashing on the same island that he crashed on. Because of that - and the dreams they both had with Yemi - Eko believes that the island and the button do indeed mean something. Locke is still not convinced, so Eko says he will take over button duty for him.

In "Three Minutes", Locke cuts open his splint and starts walking along the beach and later through the jungle without his crutches, although he still limps slightly.

In "Live Together, Die Alone," Locke confronts Mr. Eko in The Swan, trying to convince him that the whole button procedure was a mind game. He grabs Eko's club and tries to destroy the computer, but Eko overpowers Locke and beats him up, locking him out of The Swan. Locke then approaches Desmond and tells him about what he found inside The Pearl. Desmond accompanies Locke back to The Swan, where Desmond short-circuits the station's security system, causing the blast doors to close and thereby locking Eko out. While Eko, with the help of Charlie, unsuccessfully tries to force his way into the computer room by attempting to blow up the blast doors with dynamite, Desmond tells Locke about what Kelvin told him the button was for (discharging the buildup of the electromagnetic field behind the wall). Although Desmond discovers that his failure to enter the code in time on September 22, 2004 may have been responsible for the crash of Oceanic Flight 815, this does not convince Locke, who smashes the computer when Desmond tries to push the button after all. Instead, Desmond makes his way under the computer room to activate The Swan's fail-safe device before the station's electromagnetic field gets too powerful. Desmond's actions halt the growth of the electromagnetic field.

Season Three

In "Further Instructions", Locke awakens by himself in the jungle a day later. He is unable to speak, but spots Desmond run by for a moment. Eko's stick suddenly lands on him, so he takes it and heads back to camp, where he begins building a small sweat lodge in the middle of Eko and Charlie's uncompleted church, motioning that he needs to speak with the island. He asks Charlie to guard the sweat lodge while he is inside, and a bitter Charlie reluctantly agrees.

Inside, Locke consumes a paste which acts as a hallucinatory drug (the same paste he gave to Boone in the episode "Hearts and Minds"). Boone himself suddenly appears, much to Locke's surprise. Locke tries to apologize to Boone, but can neither speak nor use his legs. Instead, Boone puts him in a wheelchair and wheels him through Sydney International Airport, telling him that he has to help someone he knows. Locke sees everyone he met on the island in different roles in the airport (Desmond is a pilot, Hurley works behind the ticket counter, entering the numbers into a computer), but everyone he sees is not the person he has to help. Boone dismisses Sun, Jin, Sayid, Hurley, and Desmond as the one in danger. When Locke points at Charlie and Claire (with Aaron), Boone says that they'll be fine... for a while. Boone then points Locke toward Kate, Sawyer, and Jack, who are checking their bags through security. Boone acknowledges that they are who Locke has to save, but that he can't do anything about it just yet. Eventually Locke is forced to crawl up an escalator, where he finds Eko's stick. A now-bloody Boone tells Locke to fix his "mess." Locke snaps out of his hallucination and leaps out of the sweat lodge. Finally able to speak again, he tells Charlie that he has to save Eko's life.

Locke and Charlie trek through the jungle, although Locke wants to rescue Eko on his own. They spot polar bear fur and Eko's cross necklace, leading Locke to believe that a polar bear found an unconscious Eko and dragged him off to its lair. A polar bear charges after the two, but they both manage to run away, only to find themselves at the former site of the hatch, which is now a giant implosion crater. They also run into Hurley, who explains the kidnapping of Jack, Kate, and Sawyer by the Others, he is sent away by Locke. Locke and Charlie eventually discover a cave, but Locke insists he go in alone: If he had only believed in the button, Eko would not be in danger, so he should be the one to save him. He enters the cave with a torch and discovers numerous skeletons, some with Dharma Initiative shirts on. He also discovers Eko, injured but alive. The resident polar bear then grabs Eko, but Locke fights it off by spraying hairspray on the torch, shooting a fireball at the bear and burning it.

Locke and Charlie carry Eko to safety. Locke apologizes to Eko and blames himself for the dire situation the survivors are currently in, but Eko regains consciousness and says that Locke can still fix everything. Charlie does not see this and notices that Eko is not awake, so whether this was in Locke's head is unknown. When they return to camp, Locke tells the other survivors that he will rescue Jack, Kate, and Sawyer. His first phase of the plan begins in "The Cost of Living", where he decides to visit The Pearl in order to find a way to communicate with the Others. Unlike Jack, Locke says that anyone can join him, and Sayid, Desmond, Nikki, and Paulo do. He also wants to find Eko, who awoke and ran into the jungle, delirious.

Eko is found by a stream, where Locke confronts him about spotting the monster. Locke reveals what he saw so long ago during the first days on the island: a shining white light. Eko, however, did not see that. Locke's party enters The Pearl, where they turn on another monitor, revealing a camera looking into another hatch. A man with an eye-patch (revealed to be Mikhail) stares back at the camera before turning it off. Suddenly, everyone hears the monster outside and rushes out to help Eko, who remained above. Locke finds Eko seriously hurt on the ground. Eko whispers his last words into Locke's ear: "You're next."

In "I Do", Locke is shown, along with Desmond, Paulo, Sayid, and Nikki, alongside the deceased Mr. Eko. Locke states that Mr. Eko died for a reason, but that reason is unclear as of now. He leaves with Sayid to walk back to the beach to get shovels to bury Mr. Eko. Later on, he returns and says a brief prayer. As he bends down to say his last good-byes, he notices Eko's "Jesus stick." Some of the words inscribed on it are: "Lift up your eyes and look north, John 3:05." Locke now has his instructions. He sends Desmond to retrieve Hurley and Charlie, and he tells them about Eko's fate. While being questioned by Charlie, Desmond suddenly sprints off for the beach. He follows, as does Hurley, Charlie, and Sayid, to witness Desmond saving a drowning Claire ("Flashes Before Your Eyes").

The next day, in "Tricia Tanaka Is Dead", Locke greets Kate and Sawyer as they return to the camp. Kate tells him and Sayid about events while they were kidnapped; she also tells them that she is going to find help to rescue Jack. Locke and Sayid follow Kate into the jungle late at night and ask her why she isn't seeking their help. Kate says they aren't motivated, but Locke tells her that he didn't know where to look. The three of them soon encounter Danielle Rousseau in the jungle.

In "Enter 77" Locke, Rousseau, Kate and Sayid find Mikhail, the man with the eye patch (seen previously from the way station "The Pearl"), in a small house in the middle of the jungle. Rousseau decides to leave; Kate, Sayid, and Locke investigate. At first, Mikhail is hostile and shoots Sayid in the shoulder, knocking him to the ground. After Kate and Locke intervene, the strange gunman is restrained; he reveals that he is the last surviving member of the DHARMA Initiative. While exploring the house in which Mikhail lives, Locke finds a computer with a chess game on it. Mikhail tells Locke that he's been trying to win that game for years but the computer has always beat him. While Locke is attempting to beat the game, he is distracted by the fighting that breaks out when Mikhail reveals his connection to the Others. After Mikhail is restrained, Locke is presumably conscripted to watch over him while Sayid and Kate explore the basement of the house. During his assignment, Locke beats the chess game, which reveals a video menu with a number of options for apparent communication with the outside world, all of which are broken. One of the options, which calls for the numbers 77 to be entered, is to be used in the event that the "Hostiles" have infiltrated the location. Before he can enter the numbers, Mikhail, who has now escaped with no one watching him, holds a knife to Locke's throat and takes him hostage.

Meanwhile, Sayid and Kate find Ms. Klugh hiding in the basement - Mikhail's apparent connection to the rest of the Others. They take her hostage, and while looking for Locke, Sayid and Kate call out for him. Locke responds, and they find him being held at gunpoint by Mikhail. While attempting to negotiate for a prisoner exchange, Ms. Klugh and Mikhail converse in Russian. It appears that Ms. Klugh is telling Mikhail to kill her and then himself. Mikhail kills Ms. Klugh, but before he can turn the gun on himself, Locke and Sayid knock him to the ground, taking him hostage. Later, as the party and prisoner are preparing to continue their search for the Others, The Flame blows up. When asked what he had done, Locke responds that he had pressed 77, because the house had been infiltrated by the Hostiles. Sayid says 77 caused a self-destruct by activating the C-4 inside, but Locke claims he did not even know about the C-4.

As the group continues their journey in "Par Avion", Mikhail says that they would never understand who the Others are because they are not on "the list" and explains that Locke is too angry to be on it. He also shows that he knows personal details about the survivors. He almost reveals Locke's past as a paraplegic but is interrupted; Locke, nonetheless, is greatly upset. The group encounters a fence of pylons surrounding the Others' territory. Locke pushes Mikhail through them, which activates a sonar frequency that causes Mikhail to have a cerebral hemorrhage and appear to die. Sayid and Kate are angry at this, but Locke cares little. Sayid discovers that Locke stole some C-4 from The Flame, meaning he did indeed know about the C-4 after all, and suspects that Locke joined the mission for a different reason than rescuing Jack.

Upon reaching the Barracks, Locke sneaks into Ben's bedroom. Alex, who enters soon thereafter, is told to retrieve Sayid's backpack, which contains the C-4. Locke makes it clear to Ben that he intends to destroy the submarine. Ben and Locke discuss how Locke regained the use of his legs after the crash; Locke remarks that Ben has not regained the use of his legs even after Jack's operation on him. Ben appears mystified as to why and how Locke has developed an intimate Communion with the sentient spirit of the island in a short space of time, when he himself has not despite having lived on the island his entire life. Locke calls him and his people cheaters for using electricity and communicating with the outside world. Ben attempts to prevent Locke from destroying the submarine by promising Locke additional information about the island and hinting about a "magic box" {metaphorically speaking). Locke is not moved, and he uses the C-4 to destroy the submarine before Jack is able to escape via his previous deal with Ben. Locke is then captured, and is later led by Ben to a room containing "what came out of the box," which turns out to be Locke's father.

Locke immediately starts questioning Ben and Tom regarding his father's being on the island, but Ben tells him that Locke brought him here. Locke then un-gags Cooper, only to be bitten on the hand. When they leave the room, Ben offers Locke to join them as they leave for a 'new' place, to which he accepts. The next morning, in "Left Behind", Locke visits Kate, - he now has a black eye and a couple of marks on his face - who is still being held in the Barracks game room. He tells her that he is leaving with the Others, and that they won't forgive Kate for her past crimes. He leaves shortly before she is gassed. When they arrive at the new camping site, Locke helps Cindy to set up her tent, to which she explains how everyone is excited about him being among them. Tom then tells Locke to see Ben, who informs him that his presence has cured his inability to walk, as well as Juliet gathering information from the beach.

During this conversation, Ben tells Locke that he is not yet ready to know the secrets of the island until he kills his father, and stresses that Locke brought him here. Locke is confused, but Ben says it is the only way for him to become one of them. That night, Locke is approached by Ben, who tells him it's time to kill his father. Locke hesitates, attracting a crowd of Others to watch. While Cooper intimidates him and Ben argues him, Locke cannot bring himself to kill him. Disappointed, Ben announces to everyone that Locke isn't the man they hoped he would be. The next day, Locke is approached by Richard, who explains that Ben planned on embarrassing him in front of everyone, and suggests that Sawyer is a more likely candidate to kill Cooper, showing him his file. The next day, Locke wakes to find that the Others have taken down their tents and are moving on, leaving behind him and Cooper. Ben tells him that he can only rejoin them when his father is killed.

Locke returns to the camp briefly in "The Brig", but only to convince Sawyer that he has infiltrated the Others' camp and wants him to kill Ben. When Sawyer refuses, Locke explains about their files on everyone on the beach, and calmly turns and leaves, causing a bitter Sawyer to follow. As Locke continues to reel out Sawyer's past, Locke is then forced to admit that he cannot kill Ben himself, which is why he came for Sawyer. Locke takes Sawyer to the Black Rock, where Cooper is held in the brig of the ship. Locke lures Sawyer into the room and locks him inside. Shortly after, Rousseau arrives and takes a box of dynamite. After Sawyer kills Cooper, Locke frees him and tells him that Juliet is spying on everyone back at the beach, handing him her tape recorder. Locke leaves, carrying his father's corpse on his back.

In The Man Behind the Curtain, Locke returns to the others camp with his father's body. He then demands that Ben answers all his questions. Ben then proceeds to tell him about Jacob, the supposed leader of the others tribe. Locke then demands that he be brought to Jacob while Ben has strong objections to this, saying that Jacob is the not the kind to visit, but be summoned by. Immediately after this, Mikhail rushes to the others camp, calling for Ben. He then tells him of what occurred in the forest with him, Desmond, and the parachute. He says that they probably brought the parachutist to their camp, and tells them that they should immediately go there and retrieve her. But Ben responds saying that they will go the night after tomorrow. This disagrees with Mikhail, but Locke didn't take this for an answer, and beats Mikhail to the ground.

Locke and Ben then enter the jungle, so that Locke can meet Jacob. When they get there, however, Ben tells Locke to turn his flashlight off, as Jacob does not like technology, and Ben lights a lantern outside his house; Jacob lives in a dilapidated barn house in the middle of the forest. When they enter, Ben immediately walks to a table in the middle of the room and tells Locke that Jacob sits in the chair adjacent. He begins to speak with Jacob, who is apparently angered that Ben would come without being summoned. However, Locke does not see Jacob, and immediately assumes that Ben is schizophrenic. He begins to argue that Jacob does not exist, and Locke turns to leave the house. However, as he was exiting, he hears a cold voice say "Help me." He turns and asks Ben what he said, but Ben denies speaking. Annoyed, Locke switches on his flashlight. Jacob is visible for a small duration of 11 frames when he throws Ben against the wall. Then suddenly, the house begins to shake and the windows shatter. The lantern Ben was using falls and consumes the table in flames. Locke and Ben escape as fast as they can, and when Locke asks "What was that?", Ben responds, "That was Jacob."

As they head back to the Others' camp, Locke notices that they were taking an alternate path. He asks why, and Ben says that he wants him to see something. Then he shows Locke a pit filled with decomposing skeletons. Ben tells Locke that this is the answer to his earlier question regarding where he came from, saying that they're all the Dharma Initiative, and admitting he was born elsewhere. Then, Ben pulls out a gun and shoots Locke in the stomach, and Locke falls into the pit. Ben asks Locke what Jacob said to him. Locke responds with "he said, help me," which clearly shocks Ben. Ben then says 'I certainly hope he helps you, John,' and then leaves Locke in the pit to die.

In Through The Looking Glass, Locke is revealed to be still alive, dying from his gunshot wound in the ditch. Once again paralyzed, a depressed Locke reaches for a revolver on one of the Dharma corpses and prepares to kill himself, when Walt appears and tells him to put the gun down. Walt tells Locke that he needs to get out of the pit, because he has work to do. It is uncertain if Walt is actually back on the island, if Locke was hallucinating him or he was made visual by the smoke monster. Later on in the episode, Locke re-appears(able to walk again and seemingly healed of his gunshot wound) when Jack and the rest of the party are at the radio station, attempting to make a connection with Naomi's ship. Just as Naomi gets a connection, Locke appears on the scene and kills her by throwing a knife into the back of her head. Jack then picks up the receiver and attempts to make contact, and Locke threatens to kill him if he doesn't discard the receiver. Jack doesn't back down, and Ben screams to Locke from a nearby tree that he(Locke) has to do whatever it takes to stop them. Locke is unable to find the courage to shoot him(Jack) and only tells Jack that he(Jack) wasn't supposed to make the phone call. Jack still refuses to listen to him, and Locke walks away into the jungle shaking his head.

Locke and Stations

• Locke discovered The Swan with Boone in "All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues"
• Locke first visited The Swan in "Man of Science, Man of Faith".
• Locke discovered The Pearl with Eko in "?". However it was later revealed that 815 survivors Paulo and Nikki found it first, but did not tell anyone else.
• Locke discovered The Flame with Kate and Sayid in "Enter 77".
• Locke has caused the destruction of two Stations; The Swan by destroying its computer and making the Station implode, and The Flame when he entered ""77" into its computer which caused the Station to self destruct.
• Locke apparently destroyed The Others' submarine with explosives taken from The Flame in "The Man from Tallahassee".

Themes

Games

Locke is frequently connected with games in Season 1. He teaches and plays backgammon with Walt, demonstrates Mouse Trap to a child in a flashback scene in "Deus Ex Machina", and plays Risk with a co-worker in "Walkabout". In a deleted scene from "Tabula Rasa" Locke is shown giving Walt tips on how to play poker, identifying the "tells" of the various castaways. In "Exodus: Part 2" while handling dynamite, Locke asks Jack if he ever played Operation, joking that he "always got nailed by the funny bone"; he then proceeds to make a buzzing sound while lifting one of the fragile explosives. A startled Jack asks, "Do you like to play games, John?" Locke smiles and says, "Absolutely." In "Enter 77", Locke plays numerous matches against the Flame Station's computer chess program, eventually beating it.

Philosophy

John Locke, after whom the character John Locke is named, was a famous social contract philosopher who dealt with the relationship between nature and civilization. He mostly subscribed to the theory of tabula rasa (the title of the third episode of the first season, featuring Kate). Also, the TV Locke's father is named Anthony Cooper, named for Lord Anthony Ashley-Cooper, the real-world John Locke's political mentor and patron. The real Locke believed that, in the state of nature, all men had equal rights to punish transgressors; to ensure fair judgment for all, governments were formed to better administer the laws. This philosophy is paralleled by the character of Locke, who embraces both nature and the need for organization among the survivors. Further, the flashback in which Locke donates his kidney to his father mirrors the historical relationship between the philosopher John Locke and Lord Anthony Ashley Cooper, whose life was saved by Locke when the latter persuaded Ashley-Cooper to undergo an operation to remove a cyst on his liver.

Faith

Locke's life has a repeated pattern of believing in a higher being or purpose (for example, his father, pressing the button in the hatch). He begins to suspect that he was destined to be on the island, which coincided with the partial loss of his recovered ability to walk (from being struck by a steel splinter during an attempt to open the hatch).

Midway into Season 2, however, his faith begins to falter as he slowly grows disillusioned with repeatedly pressing the button. The season finale of Season 2 concludes with Locke ultimately deciding not to press the button, despite the protests of Mr. Eko, who tries unsuccessfully to convince John to keep believing (and keep pushing). After the cataclysmic events that occurred when they stopped pushing the button, Locke admitted that he was wrong to stop believing.

At the beginning of Season 3, Locke's faith seems to be fully restored. This is supported by the fact that Locke's first action after regaining consciousness is to "talk to the island," a strongly spiritual action that harkens back to the Locke of Season 1, who considered the island to be a nexus of spiritual energy, and an entity that could be communicated with. After Mr. Eko is killed by the smoke monster, it is Locke who buries him, thanking him for restoring his faith.

Trivia

• When Locke beats the chess game on the computer in the Flame station, the message on the screen says "checkmate". But on closer inspection, the game should have continued, albeit briefly, as white (computer) could have escaped check via knight or bishop to f1. Checkmate would then inevitably have followed with John moving his black queen to g1. The finished chess board is a reference to the "Brisbane Bombshell" match between Anatoli Karpov and Garry Kasparov.(http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1067175)

See also

• John Locke