Template:Infobox Lost character

Johnathan Locke, or John, but most often referred to by his surname, "Locke," is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost played by Terry O'Quinn, who has become a fan favorite. He is the antithesis to Jack Shephard and Ben Linus. In 2007, O'Quinn won the Emmy award for acting in a supporting role.^[1]

Fictional character biography

Early life

Locke and his younger sister were raised in foster care from a young age. She died while very young. Locke's carer felt immense grief, which was relieved when a dog randomly inhabits her home, believing it to be a reincarnation of Locke's sister. Once a fully-grown adult, Locke works at a toy store, where he is visited by a strange woman. She reveals that she is his biological mother, and that Locke was immaculately conceived. Skeptic, Locke hires a private investigator to trace the whereabouts of his biological father. He is led to the home of Anthony Cooper, who welcomes John into his home and regularly takes him hunting. On one visit, Locke walks in to find Anthony attached to a dialysis machine. After much consideration, Locke agrees to donate a kidney to him. However, after coming round from the operation, he discovers that Anthony has long since left the hospital. Enraged, Locke constantly visits his father's house, only to be denied access.

Locke attends an anger-management group, where he meets Helen, who shares the same view of the group. She helps him briefly overcome his issues with his father, and the two eventually move in together. Locke plans on proposing to her, but is sidetracked upon learning about the death of his father. Locke and Helen are the only people present at the funeral, but Locke notices two men watching from a car. They visit Helen later, and question the two of them regarding Anthony's condition. While inspecting the home of Nadia, Locke is visited by Anthony, who has faked his death in order to escape from the two men. He asks Locke to retrieve a large sum of money for him, to which he reluctantly agrees. Upon handing him the money in a hotel room, he is found out by Helen, and she leaves him.

Escaping his past, Locke joins a commune that secretly grows marijuana. He picks up a hitchhiker one day whilst driving home, where he welcomes him into the commune. After six weeks, however, Locke learns that the man he picked up is an undercover cop, who finds out about the marijuana. Locke leads him into the nearby forest to shoot him, but realizes he cannot bring himself to commit such an act, and lets him go. Locke sinks into a state of depression and decides to go into solitude. While he is watching Exposé, Locke is visited by a man, who asks him for information about Anthony, sensing that he is setting up his mother for a con. Locke dismisses the matter, but privately visits Anthony and warns him not to go ahead with his plan. Locke is surprised to learn that Anthony has backed out of his plan of marriage after her son mysteriously dies. Anthony denies killing him, but as Locke is about to call her, he pushes him out of the window, falling 8 stories and breaking his back upon landing. He is then bound to his wheelchair for the following four years.

Locke then works at a box company, owned by Hurley. His boss, also Hurley's old boss, constantly gives him a hard time. One day, Locke decides to buy two tickets to participate in an Australian walkabout. The other ticket Locke bought was for a woman whom he would call, nicknaming her Helen. When the woman reveals she is unable to meet her customers, she hangs up on him. Locke flies to Australia alone, where he is frustrated even more when he is denied access on the walkabout due to his paraplegic state. Locke is then sent home on Flight 815. At the airport, Locke is the first to board the plane, being carried on by staff. He is seated behind Rose.

After the crash

Season One

Upon landing on the island, Locke miraculously regains the use of his legs. He soon bonds with Walt, much to his father's resentment. When boars invade the camp one night, Locke takes Michael and Kate with him to hunt them. After Michael becomes injured, Kate takes him back while Locke continues hunting alone, eventually coming face to face with the "Monster." Locke then returns with a boar. Locke heads to the caves with Jack, Kate and Charlie, where he and Charlie remain behind while the other two recruit people to move in. Locke discovers Charlie's heroin addiction and decides to help him. He finds Charlie's guitar, and requests that Charlie give him his remaining heroin; after asking three times, Locke agreed to finally return it. Locke is pleased when Charlie throws the heroin in the fire. Also, Locke follows Sayid into the jungle, and knocks him out when he attempts to find the source of the looped distress call. He later places the blame on Sawyer.

Following the abduction of Claire, Locke joins the search party, along with Jack, Kate and Boone. He and Boone follow a separate trail, eventually leading them to a hidden hatch in the ground. Locke and Boone return to the hatch every day, and work out how to open it. When Boone considers informing Shannon, Locke knocks him out and induces a hallucination on him in order to help him overcome his feelings for Shannon. Locke is then at the receiving end of Michael's fury for allowing Walt to throw knives. Upon Walt running away, Locke helps Michael rescue him from a polar bear. Locke and Boone eventually construct a trebuchet, but this has no effect on the hatch. After receiving a piece of the broken trebuchet in his leg, Locke begins to lose the use of his legs. After experiencing a vision that night, he and Boone discover the beech craft wedged atop a cliff. Upon the plane falling off, Locke regains the use of his legs once more, and carries a mortally injured Boone back to the caves. Rather than stick around, Locke returns to the hatch as soon as he delivers Boone, and begins thumping on the hatch. His faith is boosted when a bright light shines up through the glass of the door.

Locke arrives on the beach in time for Boone's funeral, much to Jack's resentment. Locke apologizes to Shannon for the loss of her brother, promising it to be an accident. However, due to Jack branding him a liar earlier that day, Shannon doesn't believe him and, after being let down by Sayid, Shannon holds Locke at gunpoint. As Sayid disarms her, Locke narrowly dodges the bullet fired from the gun. Locke takes Sayid to the fallen beech craft, where Boone fell. Sayid then demands to be taken to the hatch he discovered, but Locke asks for Jack to be brought along too. After Rousseau arrives on the beach to warn of the Others' imminent arrival, Locke, Jack, Kate, Hurley and Arzt are taken to the Black Rock, an abandoned ship that contains dynamite. Upon Arzt's demise, Locke helps in carrying the dynamite to the hatch, almost being taken away by the "Monster" in the process. Upon arriving at the hatch, Locke detonates the dynamite, blowing open the hatch. He peers inside, along with the other three.

Season Two

Locke and Kate descend into the hatch against Jack's wishes. When they encounter Desmond, Locke manages to avoid being tied up by telling him about Kate's past. He slips Kate a knife as he locks her in the pantry, while Locke is held at gunpoint upon Jack's arrival. The three overpower Desmond, and he shows them an orientation video explaining the hatch's purpose. Desmond flees after the computer is damaged, but Locke insists that Jack enter the code into the computer first, after Sayid repairs it. Locke takes pride in this task during the following days. One day, he encounters Mr. Eko, who enters the hatch with an injured Sawyer. He shows Eko the orientation video, prompting him to give Locke the missing footage. Locke is approached by Michael, who asks him to show him how to use the guns in the armory. The next day, however, Michael knocks him out and locks him and Jack in the armory. After being released by Sawyer, the three follow Michael into the jungle, encountering the Others instead. In exchange for Kate's safety, Locke and the others hand over their weapons. Upon returning, Locke advices Paulo to hide his possessions in a better place than the beach, due to hide tides.

Locke learns that Charlie is using heroin again, and discovers his secret stash in the jungle. When Charlie steals Aaron from Claire, Locke punches him in front of his castaways, and returns Aaron to Claire. The next day, Locke is one of the victims in Sawyer's long con, through which he gains possession of the remaining weapons and all of the medicine. The next day, Locke is asked by Sayid to change the lock code on the armory door in order to hold "Henry Gale" while he interrogates him. Upon learning of this, Jack demands Locke open it for him, and prevents him from entering the computer code until he does. Locke makes it to the computer, but witnesses the timer reaching zero, revealing hieroglyphics to appear in the timer's place. Locke finishes entering the code, and the tremor in the hatch stops. The timer is restored to it's normal routine. Locke is caught in the middle of a lockdown in the hatch, and his only available help is with the hostage, Henry. When Locke has his leg trapped beneath one of the blast doors, he asks Henry to enter the code into the computer. As soon as he leaves, the room's light switches to ultra-violet, revealing a secret map on the back of the blast door. Upon the hatch returning to normal again, Henry reveals not to have pressed the button. It is then that Jack, Kate, Sayid, Charlie and Ana Lucia arrive and reveal Henry as an imposter.

Since then, Locke attempts to draw out the map from memory, failing several times. His faith in the island and the hatch is broken when Henry taunts him regarding the hatch's irrelevance, and how he is merely subordinate to Jack. However, his faith is boosted slightly during a conversation with Rose on the beach. He manages to finish drawing the map. Locke is approached by Eko to help him search for the escaped Henry Gale, after discovering Ana Lucia dead and Libby and Michael with serious injuries. Locke sees through Eko's lie, to which he asks Locke to take him to the '?' on his drawn map. The two return to the beech craft, where Eko reveals its location to be beneath it. The two move it aside, and descend into the Pearl station. Upon watching the station's orientation video, Locke believes that entering the code in the computer is a pointless task, and refuses to continue pressing the button. To test his theory, after Desmond returns to the island, he asks him to induce another lockdown, and locks Eko out of the computer room. Once inside, Locke smashes the computer when Desmond reveals he may have caused the plane crash. Eko blows open the blast doors with the dynamite, and upon finding him, Locke admits to being wrong. The hatch soon implodes, with the three of them still inside.

Season Three

Locke wakes in the jungle the next day, unable to speak. He builds a sweat lodge to induce a hallucination, while Charlie waits outside. After encountering Boone, he is told to clean up his own mess, and must save Eko. Locke and Charlie head in the jungle, passing the crater left behind after the implosion. Locke approaches a polar bear den, and proceeds inside to rescue Eko. Locke and Charlie carry him back to the beach, to which Locke reveals he will rescue Jack, Kate and Sawyer. The next day, he leads Desmond, Sayid, Nikki and Paulo back to the Pearl station, where they rewire the circuits in the monitors to view surveillance from another hatch. Shortly after, Locke hears a commotion outside, and discover a dying Eko in the jungle. He decides to bury him on the spot rather than back on the beach. Upon placing his stick at the head of the grave, he notices a particular inscription, instructing him to go north. He allows Desmond to inform Charlie and Hurley of Eko's death.

When Kate and Sawyer return to the beach, Locke and Sayid follow her into the jungle in search of Rousseau. The four head north, until they discover the Flame station. Inside, Locke is drawn to the computer, where he continually plays a game of chess. Upon winning a game, he watches the station's orientation video, instructing him to enter different codes for different situations. As they are about to leave, with Mikhail as hostage, Locke enters the code that causes the station to self-destruct. They continue their hike the next day, eventually coming across sonar panels. Locke pushes Mikhail through the sonic barrier, killing him. Sayid discovers a pack of C4 in Locke's bag, which he had taken before destroying the Flame station. Locke is questioned about his motive for coming along, but dismisses the matter. The four arrive at the Others' barracks, where they watch Jack bonding with Tom. That night, Locke barges into Ben's home, and demands to be taken to the submarine, holding Alex at gunpoint. Once inside the submarine, Locke rigs it with the C4, and detonates it. Locke is taken away by Ben and Richard, who lead him to a room containing Anthony Cooper, tied up and gagged.

Locke is then offered the opportunity to join the Others as they leave the barracks, to which he accepts. He says goodbye to Kate the next morning before leaving. As they set up camp in a large clearing, Locke is approached by Cindy, who tells him that everyone is excited about him being among them. That night, Ben tells Locke that he must kill Anthony before he can officially join them. Locke is unable to do it, and the Others abandon him the next morning, leaving behind a trail for him to follow should he kill his father. Before leaving, Richard hints to Locke about finding someone else to kill him. He returns to the beach and brings Sawyer to the Black Rock, where he locks him in a room with Anthony. After Sawyer kills him, Locke gives him Juliet's recorder and tells him she is a spy. He carries Anthony's body with him to the Others' new pitch. He then demands Ben take him to see Jacob, much to his resentment, and the shock of the others. Ben agrees, and takes him to an isolated cabin. Locke is cautioned not to use his flashlight, but Locke grows impatient and uses it, causing Jacob to erupt in anger, sending objects flying across the room. The next day, Ben takes Locke to a pit full of long-deceased DHARMA members. He is then shot and thrown into the pit, and left to die. Locke contemplates suicide, but his faith is again restored upon seeing Walt. He makes his way to the radio tower and kills Naomi, and begs Jack not to contact her freighter, walking away when he does so.

Locke and Stations

• Locke discovered The Swan with Boone in "All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues"
• Locke first visited The Swan in "Man of Science, Man of Faith".
• Locke discovered The Pearl with Eko in "?". However it was later revealed that 815 survivors Paulo and Nikki found it first, but did not tell anyone else.
• Locke discovered The Flame with Kate and Sayid in "Enter 77".
• Locke has caused the destruction of two Stations; The Swan by destroying its computer and making the Station implode, and The Flame when he entered ""77" into its computer which caused the Station to self destruct.
• Locke destroyed The Others' submarine with explosives taken from The Flame in "The Man from Tallahassee".

Themes

Games

Locke is frequently connected with games in Season 1. He teaches and plays backgammon with Walt, which he refers to as a game between dark and light...good and evil, demonstrates Mouse Trap to a child in a flashback scene in "Deus Ex Machina", and plays Risk with a co-worker in "Walkabout". In a deleted scene from "Tabula Rasa" Locke is shown giving Walt tips on how to play poker, identifying the "tells" of the various castaways. In "Exodus: Part 2" while handling dynamite, Locke asks Jack if he ever played Operation, joking that he "always got nailed by the funny bone"; he then proceeds to make a buzzing sound while lifting one of the fragile explosives. A startled Jack asks, "Do you like to play games, John?" Locke smiles and says, "Absolutely." In "Enter 77", Locke plays numerous matches against the Flame Station's computer chess program, eventually beating it (the finished chess board is a reference to the "Brisbane Bombshell" match between Anatoli Karpov and Garry Kasparov.(1)). .

Philosophy

John Locke, after whom the character John Locke is named, was a famous social contract philosopher who dealt with the relationship between nature and civilization. As an empiricist he proposed that humans are born with a tabula rasa (the title of the third episode of the first season, featuring Kate). Also, the TV Locke's father is named Anthony Cooper, named for Lord Anthony Ashley-Cooper, the real-world John Locke's political mentor and patron.

The real Locke believed that, in the state of nature, all men had equal rights to punish transgressors; to ensure fair judgment for all, governments were formed to better administer the laws. This philosophy is paralleled by the character of Locke, who embraces both nature and the need for organization among the survivors. Further, the flashback in which Locke donates his kidney to his father mirrors the historical relationship between the philosopher John Locke and Lord Anthony Ashley Cooper, whose life was saved by Locke when the latter persuaded Ashley-Cooper to undergo an operation to remove a cyst on his liver.

Faith

Locke's life has a repeated pattern of believing in a higher being or purpose (for example, his father, pressing the button in the hatch). He begins to suspect that he was destined to be on the island, which coincided with the partial loss of his recovered ability to walk.

Midway into Season 2, however, his faith begins to falter as he slowly grows disillusioned with repeatedly pressing the button. The season finale of Season 2 concludes with Locke ultimately deciding not to press the button, despite the protests of Mr. Eko, who tries unsuccessfully to convince John to keep believing (and keep pushing). After the cataclysmic events that occurred when they stopped pushing the button, Locke admitted that he was wrong to stop believing.

At the beginning of Season 3, Locke's faith seems to be fully restored. This is supported by the fact that Locke's first action after regaining consciousness is to "talk to the island," a strongly spiritual action that harkens back to the Locke of Season 1, who considered the island to be a nexus of spiritual energy, and an entity that could be communicated with. After Mr. Eko is killed by the smoke monster, it is Locke who buries him, thanking him for restoring his faith.

See also

• John Locke