Early on in this episode, we got a scene that gave us a glimpse at something that has the entire LOST fan community buzzing: the full four-toed statue!
The four-toed statue seen in the season two finale in 2004 (above) and the full statue seen at some undefined time in the past (below).
Popular fan opinion on the internet believes the statue to be that of the Egyptian god Anubis. Over the course of time, Anubis "became considered more the gatekeeper and ruler of the underworld, the "Guardian of the veil" (of "death"). Consequently, he was said to protect souls as they journeyed there, and thus be the patron of lost souls."
Thanks to Eric and Jeremy Headington at GetLostPodcast.com for this picture comparing pictures of Anubis to what we saw on the show.
The statue is holding an ankh (the symbol for eternal life), which was also the symbol of Paul's necklace revealed later in the episode. The symbol made me think of the seemingly ageless Richard Alpert, who I will discuss more in a minute.
There are a couple of other plausible statue theories out their now as well:
Horace (Goodspeed), featured prominently in this episode is similar to Horus, the name of the Egyptian sky god. The "Eye of Horus" became an important Egyptian symbol of power. Many episodes of LOST begin with a close-up shot of a character's eye.
Another theory (one with which I strongly agree) is that the statue is of Taweret:
Taweret: See the crown-thing? And the ears pointing back? And the stance, one leg in front of the other? And the FOUR TOES?
Taweret is the Egyptian goddess of fertility. She's also the protector of pregnancy and childbirth. This theory makes the most sense, considering the island's history of pregnancy problems and the first successful on-island conception and birth seen in this episode.
Nevertheless, the statue is clearly Egyptian in nature. After all this, mixed with the Sphinx that Hurley was painting last week and all the hieroglyphics we've seen on the show and the big picture slowly starts to become clearer.
Hieroglyphics in the hatch. At Comic Con 2006, producer Damon Lindelof translated the countdown timer sequence to mean "underworld," hinting at the Anubis connection.
Now back to Richard Alpert. A fan-based joke revolving around Richard Alpert and "guyliner" is referenced in this episode by Sawyer when he calls him the "buddy out there with the eyeliner." This line is a reference to the naturally dark eyelashes of actor Nestor Carbonell.
But like every thing on LOST, I have decided to over-analysis this line! Ancient Egyptians were known for darkening their eyelashes with eyeliner made from kohl. Could this seemingly throw-away line actually be a clue that the ageless Richard Alpert is actually an ancient Egyptian god?? Could Richard Alpert (initials R.A.) be the Egyptian sun god RA?? Sounds crazy, I know, but with this show, anything's possible!
"Guyliner": Just of fun joke or a clever clue!?!?!
So far, I've only covered the first couple of minutes of the episode. Stay tuned for my next post for more of my thoughts and theories on "LaFleur."
The statue is male, it can't be Taweret. It's most likely Sobek, the crocodile god - also a fertility god.
ReplyDelete