Lost may be working off religious overtones: For example:

1. Patchy wanted to die, but not by suicide. He could have killed himself, but instead he killed Klough. Death seemed desirable, but suicide was not an option. In at least Christianity suicide is a sure way to hell.

2. He indicated to Kate she was not capable of understanding. This is a typical answer one get when asking questions like "Why would a kind god allow an innocent child to starve to death?" If you ask a Sunday School teacher this question you usually get an answer like "You could never comprehend why God does what he does."

3. The list. Who gets in and who does not. This kind sort of reminded me of the Rapture where if you were on "the list" you got into Nirvana, Paradise, or Heaven.

4. Patchy also gave indication as to why certain people weren't on the list - I forgot what faults were attributed to who, but he looked at Kate, Sayid, Locke and Danielle and indicated one was too angry, one was consumed by fear, etc. These sound like sins or something similar.

5. Patchy referred to a "Him" - a great man (not Ben) who made everything possible. This sounds really god-like.

I think it is entirely possible there may be some kind of apocalypse-like event happening. Maybe not exactly what is described in the Bible, but a similar event.

Lost may be working of religious overtones: For example:
Death seemed desirable, but suicide was not an option. In at least Christianity suicide is a sure way to hell.


Well, that depends on what group w/in Christianity you're talking about. :rolleyes: Christianity is so big and has so many different interpretations, it all depends what group you talk of. But I can assure that suicide is not condoned.

Religious overtones? Yes, there definitely are those in this series. Whether it's Locke who believes everything happens for a reason, or Sayid praying to Allah in the Season 2 finale, or that everyone has a second chance since they came to the Island. And in the case you speak of, The Others, this idea of them being a cult is not entirely new, but it's good that you opened up this topic again since there was more evidence in this episode of The Others being self-righteous.

Back in "The Cost of Living" (S03.E05), at Colleen's Funeral, people were wearing outfits almost similar to robes, and not only did they resemble robes, but they were white. To wear white rather than black is different and must have been done because of their own culture and/or religion.

I definitely agree that the others/the hostiles believe in what they do with religious fervor.

-Exodus

Patchy wanted to die, but not by suicide. He could have killed himself, but instead he killed Klough. Death seemed desirable, but suicide was not an option. In at least Christianity suicide is a sure way to hell.

This would work, except it seemed clear to me that he was about to shoot himself in the head before Locke tackled him in E77.

Otherwise, I think you hit a lot of the right notes. Ever since the trial complete with ceremonial robes and a branding, the Others have seemed more and more religious in nature.

Patchy and Klugh were prepared to die because they thought of themselves as martyrs.

Patchy seemed more than prepared to die - he wanted to die. He asked to be killed on several occasions and seemed happy when it finally happened. Like he knew would now go to Nirvana.

I agree that the Others are in many ways acting like some sort of religious cult, with a shadowy, larger than life leader and enough fervor to be willing, perhaps even eager, to die for the cause.

I am thinking they are actually planning for an apocalypse. It may be a divine apocalypse or a man-made one, but maybe they have been preparing the island for the end of days and they have a list of everyone that gets to stay????

Patchy wanted to die, but not by suicide. He could have killed himself, but instead he killed Klough. Death seemed desirable, but suicide was not an option. In at least Christianity suicide is a sure way to hell.

Well done teksmith, I think that's a really good explanation for why he didn't kill himself despite his apparent desire to die.


I don't think it's necessarily Christianity, maybe the forbidden aspect of suicide is part of the beliefs of the cult, a theory that marksman has proposed.

Lost may be working of religious overtones: For example:

1. Patchy wanted to die, but not by suicide. He could have killed himself, but instead he killed Klough. Death seemed desirable, but suicide was not an option. In at least Christianity suicide is a sure way to hell.


No, patchy did try to kill himself in Enter 77 after killing Miss Klugh, Locke or maybe it was Kate knocked the gun out of his hand

I am not sure it was clear that he was trying to kill himself. He could have easily charged the sonic fence and killed himself if he had wanted to, but he didn't. But when Locke pushed him across, he knew he was going to die and he seemed almost thankful.

It's definitely got religious overtones, and the "Him" reference just makes it be right in our face.

"Yeah, we're a religious cult....so? Wanna fight about it" :rolleyes:

there's always been religous overtones on lost

In some Asian cultures, Korean and maybe Japanese (?? sorry I wish I could be more specific) white is worn at funerals.

Let's dub it "Jacobism" (since Jacob's the Big Leader), and see what else they tell us about its tenets in the weeks to come!

Lost may be working of religious overtones:

Lost has lots of spiritual overtones, not religious. The Others do obviously have some religious level of devotion to their cause, but the overall theme of the show appears to be partly spiritual. Religion and spirituality are two separate things in my mind. Namely, religion is a subset of spirituality. It's spirituality with a belief structure built on top of it to formalize and strongly define itself. The Others clearly have that, but the general feel of the show is more abstract. It doesn't seem like they're trying to push any one religion, just a general notion of the unknown plateau of existence beyond our own.

Lost has lots of spiritual overtones, not religious. The Others do obviously have some religious level of devotion to their cause, but the overall theme of the show appears to be partly spiritual. Religion and spirituality are two separate things in my mind. Namely, religion is a subset of spirituality. It's spirituality with a belief structure built on top of it to formalize and strongly define itself. The Others clearly have that, but the general feel of the show is more abstract. It doesn't seem like they're trying to push any one religion, just a general notion of the unknown plateau of existence beyond our own.

i agree.. i've never felt like they were promoting certain religions or beliefs... but spirituality has been woven in since season 1. My guess is since Klugh and Patchy knew who Sayid was, and what he was capable of, that they wanted quick deaths... patchy just hesitated when he had the chance to end his life... but Klugh knew what had to be done...

Well this is interesting but as we know LOST has had some pretty religious aspects to it. IT is just part of the show as is romance, intense situations and such. :).

Clearly, Lost has always had some spiritual/religious overtones, but I am starting to believe that these may be the foundation for the overall story arc.

The Others have the best funeral music, eva!

Back in "The Cost of Living" (S03.E05), at Colleen's Funeral, people were wearing outfits almost similar to robes, and not only did they resemble robes, but they were white. To wear white rather than black is different and must have been done because of their own culture and/or religion.

Yeah, it reminded me of the Lotus Eaters.

Lost may be working off religious overtones: For example:

1. Patchy wanted to die, but not by suicide. He could have killed himself, but instead he killed Klough. Death seemed desirable, but suicide was not an option. In at least Christianity suicide is a sure way to hell.



It looked to me like he aimed the gun at himself after killing Klugh but was stopped be either Locke or Sayid.

It looked to me like he aimed the gun at himself after killing Klugh but was stopped be either Locke or Sayid.


But Mikhail could have been FAR more uncooperative. For instance, he could have just gone limp and refused to walk, civil-rights-demonstrator-style. He seemed to be sending mixed messages, to say the least.