The television show LOST started in 2004 and ended in 2010, capturing the attention of millions of devoted fans along the way. It was the kind of show that kept viewers guessing about everything. Little clues were revealed along the way that provided insight into exactly how the characters were related to each other. I thought it would be interesting to apply a little genealogy to the relationships between several of the characters in the show.
If you are someone who has not yet managed to finish watching this television series, and have somehow been able to avoid finding out about what will happen next, you may want to stop reading now. Consider this to be your “spoiler alert”.
Let’s start with one of the main characters in LOST, Dr. Jack Shephard. His father is Dr. Christian Shephard, and his mother is Margo Shephard. The Shephard family are Americans. Christian had another child with Carole Littleton, a women whom he met in Australia. Viewers discover, eventually, that this child is Claire Littleton, who, like Jack, is among the survivors of the plane crash. In kinship terms, this makes Jack and Claire half-siblings to each other, because Jack and Claire share the same father, but do not have the same mothers.
Claire was pregnant before she arrived on The Island. The father of Claire’s child was Thomas, who was her boyfriend at the time. Thomas basically bails out and leaves Claire to raise the baby by herself. Claire gives birth to a baby boy, whom she names Aaron. (His last name can be assumed to be Littleton, at this point). This makes Jack the half-uncle of Aaron. It makes Christian the biological grandfather of Aaron, and Carole the biological grandmother of Aaron. Margo is the half-grandmother of Aaron.
Once on the island, Claire meets Charlie Pace, and the two of them end up forming what might be called a “common law” marriage. Claire and Charlie become the primary caregivers of Aaron. Claire, of course, is Aaron’s biological mother. Charlie, for a while, effectively becomes Aaron’s foster father. Claire and Charlie split up after Claire discovers that Charlie is a drug addict, (to make a long story short).
Somewhere in the story line, Claire abandons Aaron, and heads off into the jungle, in search of her father, Christian. Aaron winds up being unofficially adopted by Kate Austin, who becomes Aaron’s foster mother. When Kate, and several other characters, are able to leave the island, Kate claims that she gave birth to Aaron. The veracity of this is questioned by a reporter, but Kate continues to insist that she is Aaron’s mother. Depending on how you look at it, this means that Aaron was either adopted by Kate, or was kidnapped by her. Aaron was an infant, and too young to remember Claire. To Aaron, Kate really is his mother. One can assume that Aaron has now taken on Kate’s surname, Austin.
Now, here is where things come full circle. Kate and Jack start a relationship with each other, and begin raising Aaron together. Kate is, at this point, effectively Aaron’s mother by adoption. Jack, on the other hand, is biologically the half-uncle of Aaron, but also has become Aaron’s foster father.
Image by Alejandro Molina B on Flickr