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LOST: 50 Unanswered Questions That Keep Us Up at Night

UGO counts down the biggest unanswered questions and unsolved mysteries of LOST.


What was the Smoke Monster's name?  Why did anyone think Nikki and Paolo were cool?  What was up with with that guy's fake beard?  Was Jack really as dreamy as Sawyer?

Thoughts kind of got away from me there.  Do you feel like the end of LOST left you with just a few more questions than you wanted?  Us too!  So let us conveniently list off for you the biggest unsolved mysteries of TV's greatest Survivor rip-off!

Agree, disagree, more questions?  Sound off below!

Unsolved Mysteries of LOST
Credit: ABC/Lost-Media

Why Did The Smoke Monster Kill The Pilot?

What did poor Greg Grunberg do to incur the Smoke Monster's wrath within hours of landing on the Island? 

Maybe the Man in Black's precognition saw the last few seasons of Heroes.

Or maybe it had something to do with Lapidus not piloting Oceanic 815 as originally intended...either way, 'ol Smokey doesn't seem too consistent about who's gone the right way for a smoke-house knuckle sandwich.

Unsolved Mysteries of LOST
Credit: ABC/Lost-Media

What Was Up With Locke And The Monster?

Just what the heck did Locke see when the Smoke Monster loomed over him in "Walkabout?"  And why would it ignore him once, then try to drag him into a hole in the ground later?

Perhaps that crazy light-hole that created the monster left some kind of residual energy that only Locke saw, being tainted by the Island's healing powers himsef, and so Smokey eventually chose him as his human form.

Christian Shephard's Body - Unsolved Mysteries of LOST
Credit: ABC/Lost-Media

Where Is Christian Shephard's Body?

What happened to Christian Shephard's body when Jack found the casket in "White Rabbit?"  And for the record, just how often was the Smoke Monster claiming to be the incarnation of Christian?

Maybe the Man In Black dragged away and buried the body to lend credibility to the ruse that Jack's father was mysteriously alive somewhere.

And what was up with the tennis shoes thing?

Richard Malkin - Unsolved Mysteries of LOST
Credit: ABC/Lost-Media

What Was The Deal With Richard Malkin?

Why would Richard Malkin be so insistent on Claire raising Aaron by herself, even (presumably) putting her on a plane destined to crash on the Island to keep him out of anyone else's hands?

And then later, why would he tell Mr. Eko that his psychic abilities were fake?

It's not like psychics ever lie to their customers.

Pregnant Women - Unsolved Mysteries of LOST
Credit: ABC/Lost-Media

Pregnant Woman Die on the Island Because....?

Why is it that the Others were so certain pregnancies on the Island were destined to fail, killing the mothers in the process?

Arguably Sun and Claire didn't spend their entire pregancies on-Island, so the case can be made that they'd each turn out alright.

But what of Amy Goodspeed, who through Juliet's help, successfully delivered Ethan (albeit, difficultly)?

Could it have had something to do with "The Incident?"

Walt - Unsolved Mysteries of LOST
Credit: ABC/Lost-Media

WAAAAALT???!!

Okay seriously, what was the deal with Walt?

The Others jonesed for that boy like Claire for peanut butter but we never got a decent answer as to why.  We never knew why birds seemed to die in his presence, what tests the Others were putting him through, why his dreams were special, how he apparated in tents and through computers, why his step-father was so unnerved by him

Perhaps he was one of the prime candidates to replace Jacob, and thus of interest, but we could have at least done with a line or two saying that.

The Numbers - Unsolved Mysteries of LOST
Credit: ABC/Lost-Media

The Numbers Still Don't Add Up

Okay, we get that the numbers correspond to the names of candidates to replace Jacob, but what does THAT mean?

And why would those numbers bring bad luck to people in the outside world, showing up everywhere from radio transmissions to the serial number on the Hatch

Why would those numbers be chosen to stop the buildup of electromagnetic energy in the Swan?

Hardly just chalk on the cave wall, Jacob.

The Island's Healing Power - Unsolved Mysteries of LOST
Credit: ABC/Lost-Media

The Island Can Cure Paralysis But Not a Spinal Tumor?

The Island grants accelerated healing abilities, and that's fine.

We'll take that for granted.  There's crazy electromagnetism everywhere, and frankly, stranger things have happened.

But why was the Island so inconsistent about who it healed?  Gunshots could be shrugged off within a few days, but spinal tumors are still capable of developing?  And it seems reasonable that Locke's ability to walk would be fragile, but why is the Island "selective" about who it chooses to heal?

The Others' Kidnappings - Unsolved Mysteries of LOST
Credit: ABC/Lost-Media

Why Were The Others Abducting People?

Pregnant women afforded an opportunity to study the reasoning behind the third-trimester deaths of the Island's females, and thus Claire was kidnapped.

Even Walt would have been a chance to study the stranger people who land on the Island, perhaps as replacements for Jacob.

But then why were all those Tailies abducted in "The Other 48 Days," and never heard from again?  Cindy and the kids reappeared, seeming vastly different, but what about everyone else who disappeared?

Orientation Tapes - Unsolved Mysteries of LOST
Credit: ABC/Lost-Media

Who Messed with the Orientation Films?

It makes sense that a certain amount of mystery has to be kept, and what better way than to introduce the DHARMA stations in the second season.

And part of their mysterious appeal were the grainy orientation tapes that seemed to accompany each station.  But why were certain portions of the film edited out, hidden in bibles in other stations, or could only be accessed through beating a computer chess game in the Flame? 

He may have blown his brains out, but did Radzinsky really go so crazy as to organize all this?

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