The Mysteries of Lost: The Monster

One of the strangest inhabitant on the island is "The Monster". The Monster has the appearance of a black cloud. It is of yet unknown what the Monster actually is. There have been many theories, and some of which have been turned down by the Lost crew. One of the common theories is that the Monster is nanobot cloud; however this had been discredited by Lindelof. Another possible theory is that the Monster is ex-experiment of the DHARMA Initiative. Its true purpose is also unknown.

However we do already know some things about the Monster. For example the monster has the ability to kill. With this we know that it has incredible strength with the ability to pull the pilot, a grown man, as if he was a rag doll. We also can conclude that the Monster has the ability to take a corporal form. Otherwise it would not be able to do any damage. So far it has taken the life of two castaways, the Pilot and later Mr Eko.

The Monster has the strange ability to show images of the person's, who it encounter, past. This has only been shown on screen with Mr Eko, these various visions included important and significant moments in his life. Examples are Eko holding Yemi after he was shot, as well as the man who wanted Yemi to shoot an old man. This suggests that the Monster has the ability to "look into someone's soul".

When ever we saw the Monster we, as the audience, always saw a black cloud, as did Mr Eko. However Locke described it as a bright light, and the Monster never touched Locke. This suggests that the cloud can tell whether someone has sinned or not. Mr Eko was a war lord in Nigeria before coming to the island, and Locke is a man of faith.

Furthermore, Mr Eko saw a figure that appeared to be his brother Yemi. However, after Mr Eko refused to confess his sins, saying he had not sinned, Yemi says "You speak to me as if I were your brother," and stormed off into the jungle. Mr Eko pursued the Yemi figure, but was confronted by the Monster and killed. This could possibly mean that the cloud take the form of different people from the past of the castaways, as it pleased.

The Monster does seem to have a weakness. Juliet, after being chained to Kate and left behind, used the sonar fence as a form of defence against the Monster. The Monster chased Juliet and Kate, but crashed into the fence and was unable to pass through, almost as if there was an invisible wall. After this Juliet admitted that the Others knew of the Monster but did not know what it is. However in one episode, Rousseau explained that the Monster was a security island designed to protect the island. On the other hand if the monster is an ex-experiment then it would be a security system for the DHARMA.