LOST may be known as a show about tropical polar bears, killer smoke, and mysterious islands with super healing powers, but above all it is a story about people - people motivated by love, hate, revenge, and factors that we would probably never think of.
To get you familiar with LOST's ensemble of characters, we've selected the eleven key players and groups and given you the need-to-know on all of them.
Jack Shephard (Played by Matthew Fox) is an accomplished surgeon with serious daddy issues and a major hero complex. Basically, the guy doesn't feel right unless he is saving somebody's life. His quick ascension to leader of the crash survivors is characteristic of this 'fault.'
Jack resists any notion that the island possesses any magical properties through much of the series so far. Of course, most of this could be attributed to the fact that all of the proof is shielded from his eyes. For instance, he has no idea that John Locke was paralyzed before coming to the island. In the fourth season, Jack is made a believer when the island vanishes before his eyes.
Jack is one corner of a love 'quadrangle' on the island, with Kate, Sawyer, and Juliette occupying the rest. At one point off the island Jack was set to marry Kate, but his difficulties in adjusting to a mundane life were exasperated by the memory of Sawyer, who sacrificed himself so they could escape, sending the good doc on a bender that eventually ruined his relationship with his fellow survivor - for now.
