-I will be unveiling my very own personal crackpot theory. Oh yeah, its out there...but its pretty interesting as far as I'm concerned...and you know you wanna hear about it!
-One thing that I'd really like to discuss is Locke's crossword puzzle from 2.08 Collision. Unfortunately, I think it might come off a little awkward on air. But wait, I have this blog! So I'll just post my findings here.
So we all see that Locke is working on number 42 (=O!), and that they clue says "Enkidu's friend." Hopefully you also saw that the answer to this clue was Gilgamesh, as Locke was just filling it in when we saw the shot. I don't know about the rest of the world, but I knew little to nothing about that story, so here is what Wikipedia has to say:
Enkidu
Gilgamesh
The Epic of Gilgamesh
I would love to hear theories on how anyone can relate that to Lost...could Locke (or anyone else) represent Enkidu? Gilgamesh?
In other news, there are several other clues listed, and we also see many of the answers that Locke has already filled out. The hints are:
Down
36. Macbeth...place
37. Belgian Port
38. Robbed
40. WWII movie feature : hyph. wd.
42. Enkidu's friend
43. Less brazen
And under the Across column, we can see "...African." I'm assuming that the first clue reads "Macbeth's place," and I'm assuming that that is Inverness. The Belgian port is Ghent, "robbed" is "ransacked," but I have no idea what "WWII movie feature : hyph. wd." or "less brazen" could be. There are two definitions of brazen, the literal and the figurative, so I suppose either could be applicable, but without seeing how many letters or anything I can't even make a guess.
As I said, we also see many of the answers that Locke has filled in, but some of them don't even make sense. I'll list all of the ones that I caught:
- Age - there have been many theories about the Other's aging process after we saw Richard Alpert in 2.20....could this be an early hint?
- Covet - Self explanatory, but interesting nonetheless.
- Edgar - Marvin Candle's new alias in the Orchid film was Edgar Hallowax...hmm...or maybe a reference to Edgar Allan Poe? Something about Locke has always reminded me of his writing...
- Log - the inhabitants of the Pearl filled out Log books that were sent by pneumatic tube to a field in the middle of the island, though those who filled them out were told that they would be sent to another location for review.
- Iona - An island in the Hebrides
- Tense - well there's certainly some tension between a couple of the characters on the show...Jack/Locke, anyone? And there are many more such relationships just around the corner.
- Group - Well we've had a group of Losties, and now we're adding a group of tailies to make one big fantastic group....and lets not forget the group of Others that we have yet to be introduced to at this point.
- Cicero - very interesting
- Brr - a polar bear reference? Maybe a nod to Penny's friends in the Arctic?
So thats all the teaser you get! If you have anything to add about things I've mentioned, or anything else in either episode, JOIN US LIVE tomorrow at 9 p.m. EST. The talkcast ID is 35516. Also, there are two new ways that you can support the podcast. You can go to our article on Digg and Digg the cast - because we would really digg you for doing it <3333 Also, if you're a livejournal user, you can join my Lost haiku community - doesn't that sound like fun! If you're there, you might as well visit my graphics journal, too, because I love the attention =p
If you can't make it to the recording, don't forget to download the episode on Friday, and email us all of your thoughts and theories at lostflashbacks@gmail.com
Until tomorrow, Losties....Namaste!
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9 comments:
Oh, awesome. I just read some of Gilgamesh again this summer for a class. Hope I can participate in the chat.
I actually thought a lot about Lost while I was taking the class. I began to realize how much the epic hero shows himself in Lost. Not just with Locke but with many of the characters.
The Desmond-Charlie arc in season three is extremely similar to the story of Achilles in Homer's Iliad. Achilles has been handed this destiny by the gods to die as a hero in battle and help save the Acheans (the Greeks). He struggles at times with whether or not to fulfill this destiny, even though it would mean losing his status as an immortal hero if he does not.
I feel like Charlie parallels Achilles in that he also had the choice of living as a mortal man or choosing to die and in turn becoming an "immortal hero" - when I say immortal I mean that your name lives on, and that your name is that of a hero. Just like Achilles Charlie was handed his fate and was forced to decide whether to accept it or not.
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Amanda, one important connection with Enkidu you left out is that Eko's original name was going to be Enkidu. And the connection between Locke and Eko goes deep. If Enkidu is Eko, would that make Locke Gilgamesh? - Or could Yemi be Enkidu and could Eko be Gilgamesh? (Both could easily be true to the epic gilgamesh as Enkidu dies by Gilgamesh's side. The two became brothers and great friends during Gilgamesh's journey.)
As for the epic of Gilgamesh, you can begin to draw clear parallels between Gilgamesh and Locke... but just as well there are many differences. I don't think what we have here is an exact "match" between the two characters. Still, Locke is slowly becoming an epic hero just as Gilgamesh was - however Locke has not been to the underworld yet, neither has Charlie (or have they? o_O) - visiting the under world - or "hell" - is a must for ancient epic heroes. In addition Locke has not died (or has he o_O -coffin- -cough-)
Enkidu is not an epic hero (in my opinion). The reason Enkidu is not an epic hero is because he does not become immortal - essentially. Gilgamesh does not become one literally (Gilgamesh dies at the end of the epic) but Gilgamesh achieves immortality through legend - fame. Immorality is at the root of these ancient epics. We see this again with Plato's Antigone and then Aneas (in the Aneid by Virgil).
Enkidu's death troubled Gilgamesh - and the scene with Locke apologizing to Eko as Eko is unconciouss is very reminiscent of all this to me. This is very much how Gilgamesh felt, he felt guilty for Endkidu's death and was deeply troubled by it. However, I feel that the writers sped along Locke's journey a bit here through a "Deus Ex Machina" (another ancient mythology term that you should know :P ) with Eko as well. The Deus Ex Machina in this case is Eko waking up (while Locke is apologizing) and telling him that he "will find them" (Kate, Jack & Sawyer)... or whatever he said (when charlie was getting the water from the stream). That is a classic device used in ancient mythology to move the plot along and that is exactly what it did.
Regarding the smoke monster - it is an encounter with a monster that leads to Enkidu's death. This monster, not Humbaba but the bull of heaven, is one that Enkidu defeated... much like Eko however, the Gods judge him for what he has done and make him sick, which ultimately kills him.
My own personal theory is one that veers from all this. I think there are many overtones that can be connected to Gilgamesh with Locke and Eko but I believe the reason, as Locke references to ("I think he died for a reason") that Eko died is because he failed in getting Locke to "change". Eko was told in a dream that the "work in this place is very important" - regarding the hatch's button pushing - but Eko failed in having the work continue. This is why Eko died imo and there is not much you can tie that part with to the epic of Gilgamesh. Still, it's all very interesting and I'm glad you are trying to get a discussion about Gilgamesh going. Nice work.
That doesn't make sense, Achilles wasn't Irish.
I like all of your points about the Gilgamesh story, but I eko's name wasn't originally Enkidu - it was Emeka, which they instead made the name of the man Eko later kills.
You guys are great! I'm a HUGE Nadia fan, the first time I saw Naomi I totally believed that it was Nadia. Didn't turn out that way, but oh well, at least she made a cameo on Charlie's flashback :D
I didn't know where else to leave this but that thing you were talking about where you believe a future prediction and then unconciously make it happen... "self-fufilling prophecy"
Ah! Dawn, you are my HERO! =D
Hmmm, so I was wrong about the name? Damn... I wonder where I got that from... maybe I just mixed it up in my head some where along the line.
YES, That's IT!! Thanks so much Dawn!
Also, this will be a wonderful discussion on the show, I have my own thoughts that I'll save for tonight.
PLEASE PLEASE join us, and give your own thoughts. Trust me, this will probably take up 75% of our discussion of the episode.
Congested left a great great post. Got a question for you guys: when I watched the episode, I thought that Shannon and Sahid's relationship was the representing Gilgamesh & Enkidu. I know that it might be far fetched, but I would love to hear comments.
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