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Lost Trivia
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Lost Jack Shephard Biography
Dr. Jack Shephard is a fictional character on the ABC television series
Lost played by Matthew Fox. Jack is the leader of the crash survivors
and the main character of the series. He is the antithesis of
John Locke (Terry O'Quinn) and the love
interest of both
Kate
Austen (Evangeline Lilly) and
Juliet
Burke (Elizabeth Mitchell).
Prior to the crash
Jack was born into a successful family, with aspirations of following
in the footsteps of his surgeon father, Christian (John Terry).
Following college and early in his career as a spinal surgeon, Jack
operated on a young girl, in the process accidentally severing a nerve
sac in her spine. Following a brief panic, he counted to five and fully
repaired the damage. Jack later operated on Sarah (Julie Bowen), a
woman involved in a car accident with Adam Rutherford (coincidentally
Shannon Rutherford's (Maggie Grace) father). Speaking to Sarah before
the operation, he vowed that despite the high likelihood of her
becoming a paraplegic, he would "fix her." After the operation, he ran
the stairs in a stadium to relieve stress, where he meets Desmond Hume
(Henry Ian Cusick) for the first time. Returning to the hospital, Jack
was surprised to discover that Sarah could move her toes. Following her
recovery, the two marry on August 15.
Months later, as Jack's marriage grew strained, he and Christian were
approached by an Italian man with a inoperable tumor, who asked Jack to
operate on him. Jack reluctantly agreed, but is unable to save the man
during surgery, who died on the table of heart failure. As Jack
consoled the man's distraught daughter in the parking lot, he was drawn
into a kiss. He returned home to Sarah and apologetically confessed to
her, at which point she admitted she had been cheating on him, and left
him that night. Unable to bear this loss, Jack refused to cooperate
during the divorce procedures, demanding to know the identity of the
man she was seeing. When Sarah refused, Jack stole her phone bill and
called all the listed numbers, one of which belonged to his father.
Jack followed his father to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, where he
attacked him and was arrested. After Sarah bailed him out of jail, she
revealed that Christian had relapsed back into alcoholism.
Jack retreated to Thailand for several months, where he had an affair
with Achara, a secretive young woman with a unique gift of seeing a
person's true self. Achara revealed that he was a great leader, but was
also angry and lonely as a result. Jack demanded a tattoo of his
description, but Achara secretly branded him an "outsider," prompting
the previously friendly locals to banish him from the country. Jack
returned to the United States and resumed his surgeon duties, on one
occasion relieving his father during an operation on a woman. During
the surgery, Jack was informed that Christian was intoxicated during
the operation. Although Christian initially persuaded Jack to sign a
report and ignore his intoxication, Jack changed his mind upon learning
that the woman was pregnant, and exposed his father as a chronic
alcoholic, shattering Christian's career.
Two months later, Jack's mother, Margo (Veronica Hamel), ordered him to
find and return Christian, who had exiled himself in Australia. An
irate Jack traveled to Sydney to track down his father, but instead
discovered his body in a morgue, having died of a severe heart attack
from his alcohol abuse. Jack arranged for a funeral back home, but had
trouble clearing the casket at the airport. His request was eventually
granted, and Jack spent the last few minutes at the airport bar, where
he struck up a flirtatious conversation with Ana Lucia Cortez (Michelle
Rodriguez) before boarding the doomed flight. Mid-flight, air hostess
Cindy Chandler (Kimberley Joseph) slipped him two bottles of vodka to
ease his tension. He kept Rose Henderson (L. Scott Caldwell) company
while her husband Bernard Nadler (Sam Anderson) was in the toilet at
the rear of the plane when turbulence hits. Before crashing, however,
Jack passed out.
After the crash
Season 1
On the island, Jack plays a key role in the survival of his fellow
survivors in the immediate aftermath of the crash, instructing others
to help those with injuries. On their sixth day on the island, he
rescues Boone Carlyle (Ian Somerhalder) from drowning but feels guilty
for being unable to also save Joanna Miller. The survivors almost
immediately look to Jack as their leader; however, he is reluctant to
embrace the position. Deprived of sleep, Jack begins to chase what he
believes are hallucinations of his father in the jungle. He finds his
father's coffin in the caves, but it is empty. Still struggling to cope
with demands of him by the castaways, he meets fellow survivor John
Locke (Terry O'Quinn) in the jungle, who provides some guidance for
Jack's leadership. He gives a speech on how they are going to live on
the island and informs them of the caves; one part of his speech —
"live together, die alone" —would come to be a mantra of him and
occasionally, other survivors. However, during an argument with Charlie
Pace (Dominic Monaghan), he is caught in a cave in. Charlie comes to
his rescue, and helps him escape. Since then, Jack deals with the
survivors' illnesses up until Claire Littleton (Emilie de Ravin) and
Charlie's abduction by Ethan Rom (William Mapother). Kate Austen
(Evangeline Lilly) and Jack follow Ethan's path until they find and
heal Charlie.
Later, Locke brings an unconscious Claire to Jack. Jack fills her in
about the events since the flight. That night, one of the survivors,
Scott, is murdered by Ethan, and with the guns from the briefcase, and
Claire as (willing) bait, Jack, Kate, Locke, Sayid and Sawyer set a
trap. Ethan enters the trap, and Jack is forced to fight him and
subdues him. Although the plan is to keep Ethan alive, a vengeful
Charlie fires four rounds into his chest and kills him with a gun that
Jack had dropped during the fight. Later, Locke brings a critically
injured Boone to the caves, and Jack and Sun work into the night to try
and save him. The next morning, Jack informs Shannon of her brother's
demise.
The next day, Sayid Jarrah (Naveen Andrews) takes Jack to the hatch,
discovered by Locke. Later one morning Danielle Rousseau (Mira Furlan)
arrives at the beach to warn the survivors that The Others are coming,
and tells them more of her own story. Later, a column of black smoke is
seen in the distance. Jack and the others show Rousseau the hatch, and
tell her of their need to open it, perhaps with dynamite. Rousseau
offers to take them to a wooden shipwreck, the Black Rock, which is a
British slaving ship that was found inland on the Island. she takes
Jack, Kate, Locke, Hugo "Hurley" Reyes (Jorge Garcia) and Dr. Arzt
(Daniel Roebuck) to the Black Rock, in order to gather some dynamite.
They eventually make their way to the Black Rock. Rousseau departs, and
Jack, Kate, and Locke enter the ship through a hole in the side. While
attempting to handle some of the volatile dynamite carefully, Arzt
triggers one of the sticks and blows himself up. The remaining
survivors leave the ship with several sticks of dynamite. On their way
back to the hatch, Locke is attacked by a cloud of smoke, but Jack and
Kate save him throwing dynamite to the smoke. They later arrive at the
hatch, and manage to set the dynamite up on the hinge, and set it off.
Season 2
Jack declines to descend the hatch, telling Locke and Kate not to
enter. After they disobey his orders and enter, Jack follows after
them, where he discovers Locke being held hostage by Desmond, who had
been living in the hatch for the past three years. He shows the three
of them an orientation video, but flees when Kate damages the computer.
Following Desmond's departure, Jack and Locke set up a rotating shift
for certain survivors to enter the code into the computer. One day,
while Jack and Kate spend a day playing golf, they encounter Mr. Eko
carrying a critically injured Sawyer. They take them into the hatch,
where Jack plots revenge for Shannon's death, but changes his mind when
he learns more about the accident.
Jack finds Locke unconscious in the hatch armory. As he enters, Michael
Dawson (Harold Perrineau) confronts him, armed with weapons as he
leaves to search for his son. Jack, Locke and Sawyer pursue him, only
to encounter the Others, who hold Kate hostage and ransom her for their
weapons. Jack, enraged with Kate, ignores her during their return to
the beach. Meanwhile, Danielle reveals that she caught a member of the
Others. Jack, Locke and Sayid bring captured man, named Henry Gale
(Michael Emerson), into the hatch and interrogate him. During the
subsequent interrogations, Gale toys with Jack and Locke's grudge,
frequently pitting them against each other, before Sayid, Ana Lucia and
Charlie expose Henry as an imposter.
Jack and Kate decide to approach the Others to trade Henry for Walt
Lloyd (Malcolm David Kelley). They find a wounded and exhausted Michael
who stumbles from the bushes. As Jack asks Sawyer for the guns, he
learns about Ana Lucia's intention to kill Henry. Jack, Kate, Locke and
Sawyer rush to the hatch to discover Ana Lucia dead, with Michael and
Libby (Cynthia Watros) severely injured from gunshot wounds. Following
Libby's death, he agrees to follow Michael to the Others' camp. The
group departs the next day, having been cautioned by a wary Sayid that
Michael may be a traitor. On the way to the camp, Jack, Kate, Sawyer
and Hurley are surprised and gagged and taken to the pier in
restraints. Hurley is freed and ordered to return to the survivors as a
warning, and Jack witnesses Michael and Walt leaving the island aboard
a boat.
Season 3
Jack finds himself held in a room with a glass wall, where he is
questioned by Juliet Burke (Elizabeth Mitchell). Jack refuses to
cooperate with her or Ben (aka "Henry Gale"), almost flooding the
hatch. On his second day as captive, Juliet seeks his medical expertise
to operate on Colleen, but she flat lines and dies on the table. After
attending the funeral, Ben reveals that he wants him to operate on him,
to which Jack refuses. Juliet wants Kate to talk to Jack to ask him to
do the surgery or they will kill Sawyer. After seeing Kate and Sawyer
together in the cages, he reluctantly agrees. Under Juliet's secret
instruction, during the operation Jack deliberately slices open Ben's
kidney, and holds Ben hostage until Kate and Sawyer escape. After a
discussion with Juliet and Ben, Jack resumes and completes the surgery.
He succeeds in sparing Juliet execution for killing one of her own, and
is taken back to the Others' barracks.
Jack appears to have bonded with some of the Others during his time
there, particularly Juliet. When Kate attempts to rescue him, Jack
warns her that he is under surveillance, and later admits that he has
struck a deal to go home. However, Locke thwarts his plans by
destroying the submarine. Later, Jack is knocked out by nerve gas, and
is later found by Kate. Noticing the barracks completely abandoned,
Jack, Kate, Sayid and Juliet return to the beach. Jack remains
protective of Juliet, and intervenes whenever Sayid attempts to
interrogate her. Later, Jack and Juliet learn of the arrival of Naomi
Dorrit (Marsha Thomason). Soon after, Jack and Juliet head into the
jungle to seek Rousseau's help, and ask her to retrieve some dynamite.
Upon returning to the beach, Jack and Juliet walk in on a camp meeting,
who are now aware of Juliet's purpose for being amongst them. However,
Jack leads them into the jungle the next day to reveal their true
intentions; to rig the targeted tents with dynamite in order to destroy
the Others when they invade the camp the following night. Jack allows
Sayid, Jin-Soo Kwon (Daniel Dae Kim) and Bernard to remain behind while
he leads everyone else to the radio tower. They witness the plan
backfire that night, but Jack insists they press on. He eventually
encounters Ben and Alex (Tania Raymonde) in the jungle, to which Ben
tricks Jack into thinking that Sayid, Jin and Bernard are dead. Jack
takes Ben hostage again, and takes him with them to the tower. After
Locke apparently kills Naomi, Jack uses her satellite phone to make
contact with her freighter.
Season 4
They eventually meet the other survivors at the cockpit; Jack attacks
Locke and aims a gun at his head. When Kate returns with news of
Naomi's death, Locke explains that they need to hide, some of the
survivors, head off with Locke to hide in the Barracks, Jack and Kate
stay to wait for the helicopter.
When it arrives and a Daniel Faraday (Jeremy Davies) parachutes out,
Jack and Kate run into the jungle and meet him. When he and Kate
discover a metal case from Daniel's helicopter containing HAZMAT suits
and gas masks, Daniel admits that rescuing them is not their primary
objective. Jack, Kate, and Daniel then go to meet one of Daniel's
teammates, Miles Straume (Ken Leung), who immediately draws his gun on
Jack and accuses him of killing Naomi. When Jack and Kate take them to
Naomi's body, Miles accepts that Naomi was killed by Locke. They then
pick up the signal of a third teammate, Charlotte Lewis (Rebecca Mader),
whom Locke has taken Charlotte prisoner. They find the team's pilot,
Frank Lapidus (Jeff Fahey), who takes them to the helicopter. Miles
reveals to Jack, Kate, Sayid, and Juliet that their real mission is to
find Ben. Later, he and Juliet pursue Daniel and Charlotte when they
run off to find the Tempest.
Juliet convinces Jack and Kate that Daniel and Charlotte just saved
their lives. Later, Juliet explains to Jack that a war is coming
between the freighter crew and Ben, and that she believes that Ben will
win. Later, Jack begins to suffer from mysterious stomach pains, while
he and the other survivors discover a body that has washed ashore.
Faraday claims that it is the body of the Kahana's doctor, Ray (Marc
Vann). Jack, still suffering from his stomach pain, then forces Faraday
to reveal that the Kahana's crew never had any intention of rescuing
the survivors.
In the next episode Something Nice Back Home, Jack falls ill with an
appendix about to rupture. Juliet claims she has to perform basic
surgery on him, and he agrees. The surgery is a success, and as Juliet
sews the wound up, Kate chats with her while Jack is asleep. Juliet
reveals to her that Jack kissed her, but he still loves Kate. Kate
thanks her for saving his life, and exits. Juliet then tells Jack she
knows he is feigning sleep, to which Jack responds by merely opening
his eyes, a solemn expression on his face.
Later on, Jack refuses to listen to Juliet about being stationary and
gets food. Then, a helicopter flies above, dropping a bag and a
satellite phone in the process. This is Lapidus's message telling the
survivors to hide, but Jack misinterprets it; he thinks they are to
follow the chopper. He heads off with Kate. They encounter Sawyer,
Aaron, and Miles, learns what happened to Claire and the true motives
of the freighter, and the groups split. Jack and Sawyer head off to
face Charles Widmore's assault team and rescue Hurley, while the rest
returns to the beach. Jack is determined to get all his survivors off
the island. The two then arrive at the Orchid Station, where Jack once
more argues with Locke regarding the island. Locke orders that should
Jack truly leave: he should lie about the entire plane crash incident
so as to protect the island. Ben arrives to proceed moving the island
with Locke, and at the same time wishes Jack a safe journey home. Jack,
Hurley, and Sawyer go back to the helicopter, where Martin Keamy (Kevin
Durand) and his team have already been defeated by Ben's team. Five of
the Oceanic Six, as well as Lapidus and Sawyer, fly off the island
without looking back.
The chopper heads toward the freighter, but a bullet hole on the side
of the aircraft causes a fuel leak. Sawyer, wanting to take off the
extra hundred pounds to allow the chopper to say airborne, kisses Kate,
making Jack somewhat jealous. Sawyer then jumps off into the ocean and
swims back to the island. Jack promises Kate they will return for him.
On the freighter, Desmond tries to prevent the chopper from landing,
since there is a time bomb on the ship. Jack helps pump fuel onto the
chopper, but only a limited number of people can go on. The ship
explodes, seemingly killing Michael and Jin, leaving Sun-Hwa Kwon (Yunjin
Kim) distraught. The chopper then starts to swerve, and then attempts
to land on the island, according to orders by Jack. But the Island
disappears, and the passengers take refuge on an inflatable raft.
Hurley remarks Locke succeeded on moving the Island, but Jack angrily
disagrees. When Penny Widmore's (Sonya Walger) rescue ship arrives,
Jack orders everyone to lie about the crash, just as Locke told him to
do. When Kate is skeptical, Jack claims he will do all the talking.
They spend a week on the ship, and then the Oceanic Six head off
towards another island inhabited by villagers. Before leaving the ship,
Jack tells Lapidus that he hopes that he will never see him again. He
also gives a fond farewell to Desmond, repeating the latter's
catch-phrase "I'll see you in another life, brother." As the survivors
make their way towards civilization, Jack exclaims, "Let's go home."
After the Island
After reaching shore, Jack agrees to a press conference since the
Oceanic 6 were all aware of the cover story. Jack reunites with his
mother and begins a relationship with Kate. Kate was raising Aaron as
her own. The relationship ends when Claire's mother comes to visit him
and tells him that Claire was on Flight 815. There he was told that
Claire's father was Christian Shephard, which made Claire Jack's
half-sister. Due to Aaron being his nephew, he wasn't comfortable being
around Aaron any longer.
sometime after leaving the Island, Jack is mixing a drink in his
apartment, when he sees a car chase on television, who he recognizes as
Hurley. Shortly after that, Jack goes to Santa Rosa Mental Health
Institute to check on Hurley's mental condition and starts playing a
game of HORSE. Jack asks Hurley if he was "going to tell." Jack then
gets his coat and proceeds to leave. Hurley then apologizes to Jack and
said that he was sorry that he went with Locke instead of him, and Jack
accepts his apology. Hurley finally asks Jack if leaving the Island was
a mistake since it keeps calling to him, and Jack responds, "We're
never going back!" Hurley then says, "Never say never, dude."
Jack takes the stand as a character witness in Kate's trial and
testifies that she saved him and eight others including the surviving
Oceanic Six. He becomes very emotional on the stand and under cross
examination by the prosecution says that he does not love Kate anymore.
After Kate's mother refuses to testify against Kate, she is released on
a plea deal and is leaving the courthouse when she is confronted by
Jack. Again, emotional, he says that he was lying under oath and that
he still loves her. She asks him if he wants to follow her, come by for
a visit, but he makes an excuse to get to the hospital but he asks if
she would be willing to go out with him. Kate gives an exasperated look
and tells him that he has to see her son. However she does tell him to
come over whenever he feels like seeing her and the baby.
Later, Jack has gotten over his hesitation, and is seen living in a
relationship with Kate. He is also acting as a stepfather for his
nephew Aaron, showing that Jack changed his mind about not wanting to
see the child. Later, he asks Kate to marry him, which she happily
accepts. A series of mysterious events then happen. While visiting
Hurley again, Hurley claims that he has been having talks with Charlie,
who left a message for Jack. The message is "You're not supposed to
raise him", apparently referring to Aaron. Later, while leaving work,
Jack briefly sees his father in the waiting room of the hospital.
Thoroughly distressed, Jack asks one of his colleagues to write him a
prescription for the drug Hurley is taking, Clonazepam(brand name
Klonopin), which she does. Jack is seen starting to take pills and
drinking. He later confronts Kate, who has been acting mysterious, and
she admits that she is doing favors for Sawyer, who is still on the
island. During this argument between the two, Jack, by accident, blurts
out that Aaron is not even related to Kate, while the former is in the
room. Jack then leaves in shame.
Sometime later, John Locke ends up in the hospital where Jack Shephard
works, after being in a car accident. H
According to Kate, 3 years have passed since leaving the island and
Jack is now separated from Kate and has become a drug-addicted
alcoholic. He has sunk into despair, desperately trying to get back to
the Island to help the people on it as Bentham told him to do. While on
a plane, he finds a small note in a newspaper, and is obviously deeply
disturbed by it. Once he has landed, he takes his car and drives up on
a bridge. He looks at the note again, and starts to cry. He gets out of
the car and climbs on top of the ledge of the bridge, meaning to jump.
Just before he can jump off the bridge, however, a car crashes and he
rescues a woman and her son from the wreckage. Back in the hospital, he
encounters his pregnant ex-wife, since her name was still listed as his
Emergency Contact. The next day, Jack wants to perform back surgery on
the woman from the car accident, but the Chief of Surgery, Dr. Hamill,
gently rebuffs him and tells him to rest at home.
Jack then goes to a funeral of an unidentified person and is the only
person to show up. He chooses not to view the occupant of the coffin.
Later he attempts to fill a prescription for Oxycodone; however the
prescription is out of refills. Jack pulls out a new prescription and
after reviewing it, the pharmacist tells him that he cannot prescribe
medicine for himself. He then unsuccessfully tries to explain that it
was written for him by his father, also a doctor. She again refuses to
fill it. Visibly frustrated, Jack staggers out, knocking over several
displays in the process. He then returns to the hospital and steals
several small packages of Oxycodone. Confronted by Dr. Hamill, Jack is
informed that the woman has awoken from her surgery and had divulged
the reason for the accident: she saw a man standing on the bridge
railing, about to jump. Upon being accused of being drunk, Jack tells
the Chief to get his father so that he can see which Shephard is more
drunk.
Jack leaves angrily and returns to his apartment, a mess with dozens of
maps of what appears to be the Pacific Ocean and many items that are
marked "Oceanic". Here he calls a woman, asking her to meet him at the
airport. When she arrives, the woman is revealed to be Kate. He tells
her about the funeral, and she claims that there was no reason for her
to be there. He then explains, out of nowhere, that he has been flying
across the Pacific Ocean every Friday, and coming back,(using a "Golden
Pass" provided by Oceanic Airlines), hoping that the plane will crash.
Distraught, Jack tells her that it was a mistake to leave the island,
that they "were not supposed" to leave the island and that they have to
go back. She disagrees and, crying and visibly distraught, comments
that "he's going to be wondering where I am" and gets back into her car
and drives off into the night. A passenger jet soars off overhead as
Jack yells after her "We have to go back!"Kate then stops her car, gets
out and begins to yell at Jack for abandoning her and Aaron. She tells
Jack that Bentham visited her as well and heard what he had to say, but
she knew he was crazy and did not take his advice. She says that there
is no reason to go back, and then departs, leaving Jack alone.
Later, Jack is seen attempting to enter the funeral home from before.
Finding it locked for the night, he breaks the door open with a rock,
and enters. Jack opens the coffin containing the man from before
(previously revealed to be named Jeremy Bentham, though his body is not
immediately shown), but he is interrupted by Ben. Ben tells him that he
heard about how Jack had been flying and trying to crash on the Island,
and that this is "Very dark, Jack". He tells him that this won't work
because [the survivors] all have to "go back together". He also asks
Jack if he has spoken to "him", and Jack said he did and told Ben what
Bentham told him. Jack also responds by saying it would be practically
impossible to get the other survivors together, but Ben says he can
help. Just as the two are about to leave, Ben reminds him that they
will need all the survivors to go back including the man in the coffin.
The man in the coffin is then shown to be none other than Locke.
Return to the Island
Now convinced of the need to return to the island, Jack forges an
alliance with Ben. Shaving his face clean and coming off his
medication, Jack then prepares to attempt to persuade the rest of the
Oceanic Six to return.
When Sayid is attacked and tranquilized, Hurley brings Sayid to Jack,
who treats him in the hospital. Jack recognises that Sayid's attacker
has Kate's address in his pocket; Jack meets Kate and warns her,
whereaupon he learns of the apparent plot to take Aaron from Kate. The
truth is later uncovered when he, Kate, and Sayid meet Ben, who reveals
he was behind the scheme in order to convince Kate to go back to the
island. Jack is horrified, and protests his innocence. Furious, Sayid
departs; having believed Jack to be in league with Ben's plan, he warns
Jack he never wants to see him again. Kate also leaves.
When Sun prepares to kill Ben, Ben states that Jin is alive and he can
prove it. He drives to see Daniel Faraday's mother (Eloise Hawking),
and during the trip, Sun repeats her threat to kill
Ben if he is lying. Jack tells Sun that if she doesn't do it, he
will, after what happened to Kate. Arriving at the place where Eloise
is, Jack and Sun are shocked to find another DHARMA station, the
"Lamppost". Eloise explains that the purpose of the station is to
predict the location of the island as it is "always moving", leaving
brief windows of entry; furthermore, she reveals to Jack that Ajira
Airways flight 316 will pass over the entry window and he and his
friends must be on the flight. Eloise then tells Jack in private that
Locke committed suicide so as to be a "proxy" for Jack; a substitute
for Jack's dead father. She tells him that to return to the island, the
conditions must match those as three years ago as closely as possible.
She then says that Jack must give Locke something of his fathers, which
at the time means nothing to him.
Returning home, Jack discovers Kate in his room, and she asks if he is
still going. When he answers yes, she states she will always go with
him; Jack notices Aaron's absence, but Kate firmly tells him never to
ask about Aaron again. The two then kiss and sleep together. The next
day Jack goes to visit his grandfather, and discovers a pair of formal
shoes belonging to his own father. He relates the story of how his
father came to be dressed in white trainers, and later puts the shoes
on the feet of Locke's corpse, before boarding Ajira 316 along with
Kate, Hurley, Sun, and Ben. Jack is surprised to see Sayid on the plane
in handcuffs, mirroring Kate's own circumstance aboard Oceanic 815.
Personality
Throughout the series, it has been stated numerous times that Jack is a
natural leader. This has been demonstrated many times by his ability to
think quickly and analyze crisis situations. Jack intentionally
represses many of his emotions of fear and anxiety, usually in order to
remain strong for the other crash survivors. The emotion that he seems
to repress most, however, is his deep love for Kate Austen, which he
has only twice ever fully admitted to, and even then only once in a
very emotional tone of voice. This seems to be because he believes that
Kate does not/cannot love him, but rather loves Sawyer, and therefore,
there is no point in telling her of his deep devotion. Jack's habit of
repression sometimes does flare out, usually in his propensity to
become violent when he is enraged. He is also prone to become highly
obsessive, which also can lead to violence. Jack is deep down a very
caring person and has sacrificed himself for his crashmates several
times. Later, he sinks into alcoholism and drug use out of severe
depression, apparently blaming himself for the deaths of nearly all of
his fellow survivors, which includes his missing half sister, Claire.
This even leads to his delusions that his father is still alive, and a
suicide attempt, indicating that Jack has not been completely able to
cope with his traumatic experiences on the island. Digital Spy's Ben
Rawson-Jones marked a difference in the characterisation of Jack [who]
has become known as the trustworthy, honest type since Oceanic Flight
815 crashed, so his blatant lies about the island under oath were
definitely dramatic."
Development
In the original outline of Lost, Jack was going to be killed halfway
through the first episode. Lost creator J. J. Abrams was interested in
Michael Keaton for the role, as Abrams wanted to work with him.
However scripts were never even sent to him, as the character was made
into a regular, and Keaton wasn’t interested in a series. The producers
felt that if the audience became attached to the character during the
first episode, and then he was killed, they might resent the show. His
death was meant to shock the audience so they would never know what
would happen next. The role ended up going to Matthew Fox, who was
“very excited” about it, as it was the genre and tone he was looking
for.
Jack has the most flashback episodes of all the characters with a total
of twelve to date, and was the first to have a flashforward. He is the
de facto male lead and the primary protagonist of the series. He is the
son of Christian Shephard, half brother of Claire Littleton, and uncle
of Aaron Littleton, though neither he nor Claire know this until
Claire's mother reveals it to him at his
father's wake. Jack is a talented spinal surgeon at St. Sebastian
Hospital in the Los Angeles area, where his father, Christian, is Chief
of Surgery. Jack had previously attended Columbia University and went
on to graduate from medical school a year ahead of the rest of his
class. Jack has been portrayed as a “man of science” and a natural
leader. He has tattoos on his left arm that he received in Phuket,
Thailand, which reads in Chinese, "An Eagle Cleaves the Emptiness",
although one of the Others claims it says "He walks among us, but he is
not one of us."This discrepancy is due to the fact that the tattoo is
an actual one of actor Matthew Fox, which he received before the
creation of the show.
After the crash of Oceanic 815, the survivors defer to him as their
leader from the start. Though reluctant at first to accept this
responsibility, he gradually grows comfortable with taking charge.
Tattoos
Although Jack had tattoos on his arm the entire series, their origin
had never been explained. Matthew Fox received the tattoos before Lost
was even created. The producers considered putting make-up over them,
but instead, decided just to keep them and fit it in with the plot.
According to Assistant Professor Xinping Zhu of Northeastern
University, the tattoo is made up of four Chinese characters from a
poem written by Mao Zedong in 1925, and the Lebanese Phalangist symbol.
Fox's tattoo translates to "Eagles high up, cleaving the space". The
number 5 can also be seen on Fox's forearm, he got that one while
working on Party of Five, along with another cast member. In an
interview, Fox said that for him, getting a tattoo was a "pretty
intense experience", and something he would not do in the "spur of the
moment". He thought Jack having tattoos was a "really cool idea". Since
Fox used tattoos to represent memories or meaningful events in his
life, the writers took a similar approach when dealing with Jack's
tattoos.
