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Michael Giacchino's musical score for Lost makes use of numerous recurring motifs.

This article covers motifs that recur rarely, appear on no soundtrack release or lack a character or setting association. For a comprehensive list of themes and motifs, see musical themes.


Season 1 motifs[]

See Season 1 motifs

Season 2 motifs[]

Fearful Transition[]

This motif plays during several tense scenes throughout the series.


Walt's Apparitions[]

This motif plays during two of Walt's appearances to Shannon.


Station Investigation[]

This motif plays during several scenes in which characters explore a DHARMA station for the first time.


Sneaking Motif[]

This motif plays during a number of scenes in which characters sneak around an area.


DHARMA Patrol[]

This motif plays during two scenes in which DHARMA personnel spy on an intruder.

  • Desmond surveils Jack from the Swan and reacts. ("Adrift")
  • Radzinsky surveils Sayid from the Flame and reacts. ("Namaste")
  • In a Previously on Lost recap, the Man in Black attacks Richard, and tells the assembled group that he is very disappointed in all of them. ("The Substitute")


Chase Motif[]

This action motif plays during several action scenes, usually involving a chase.

  • Jack chases Desmond. ("Orientation")
  • Jack and Locke enter the Hatch to find Kate gone and the countdown timer under a minute. ("What Kate Did")
  • The hunting party runs towards the sounds of Michael's gunfight with the Others. ("The Hunting Party")


Standing Down[]

This sad motif plays during two scenes where characters cannot bring themselves to shoot a person they are holding at gunpoint.


Rustling Motif[]

This tense motif plays during two scenes where characters suddenly hear movement.



Arming Up[]

This motif plays during a number of scenes throughout the series where characters arm up in preparation for moving to a new destination.


Eko and Yemi[]

This sad motif plays during a few scenes relating to Eko and his troubled relationship with Yemi.


Night Motif[]

This suspenseful motif plays during two night scenes where a character betrays a group.

  • Charlie lights a fire in the camp. ("Fire + Water")
  • Roger Linus notices that Ben is missing from the infirmary and leaves to get security. ("Some Like It Hoth")
  • Ilana's group reacts to learning that Ben killed Jacob. ("Dr. Linus")


Danielle's Motif[]

This motif plays during a few scenes involving Danielle and Alex Rousseau.


Kwonflict Motif[]

This motif plays during two scenes of conflict between Jin and Sun.


Worried Words[]

This sad motif plays during two scenes relating to bad news.

  • Kate and Sawyer tell Hurley about Libby's shooting. ("?")
  • Desmond dodges questions from Claire about scaring away the birds. ("Par Avion")


Vertical Eko[]

This motif plays during two scenes where Eko ascends or descends in "?".

  • In Locke's dream, Eko ascends a cliff toward Yemi. ("?")
    • Eko and Locke descend into the Pearl.


Season 3 motifs[]

Chaos Motif[]

This motif plays during a few chaotic action scenes.


Cabin Motif[]

This motif plays during a few scenes relating to the Cabin.

  • Locke examines the ash circle around the cabin. ("The Man Behind the Curtain")
  • Hurley unintentionally reveals to Locke and Ben that he has been to the cabin. ("Confirmed Dead")
  • Locke's group arrives at the location the cabin had been at when Ben took Locke there, only to find the cabin gone. ("The Economist")


Season 4 motifs[]

Tension Motif[]

This chilling motif plays during several tense scenes throughout the series.

  • Naomi contacts the Freighter. ("The Beginning of the End")
  • The survivors in the jungle see the light from the Hatch. ("The Little Prince")
  • Sun and Lapidus look on as Christian searches for the 1977 DHARMA recruitment photo. ("Namaste")
  • Several men grab Miles and pull him into a van. ("Some Like It Hoth")
  • The Man in Black returns to his camp only to find that his entire group has been knocked out and Jin is missing. ("The Package")


Ben's suspense motif[]

This motif plays during several suspenseful scenes involving Ben.


Frank's instructions[]

This motif plays during two of Frank's action scenes.


Season 5 motifs[]

Dr. Chang's Motif[]

This motif plays during several scenes featuring Dr. Chang.

  • Dr. Chang enters the Orchid work site. ("Because You Left")
  • Dr. Chang threatens Hurley with shoveling polar bear feces on Hydra Island if he talks about the body he discovered. ("Some Like It Hoth")
    • He orders several workers to take the body into the work site.
  • Daniel follows Dr. Chang into the Orchid work site. ("The Variable")
    • Daniel tells Dr. Chang that Miles is his son. He asks Miles for confirmation, though he denies it.


1954 Others' Motif[]

This motif plays during several scenes featuring the Others in 1954.


Desmond's action motif[]

This motif plays during two of Desmond's action scenes.

  • Desmond and Efren Salonga rush to help Penny. ("Jughead")
  • Desmond is rushed into surgery after being shot by Ben. ("The Variable")



Sawyer's action motif[]

This motif plays during a few action scenes involving Sawyer.

  • Sawyer and Juliet aim their rifles after the group hears gunshots. ("LaFleur")
  • Radzinsky and Phil interrogate Sawyer and Juliet. ("Follow the Leader")
  • Widmore's men hold Sawyer at gunpoint. ("Recon")
  • Widmore's men fire warning shots at the Man in Black. ("The Package")


Ben and Widmore[]

This motif plays during a few scenes involving Benjamin Linus and Charles Widmore.

  • Desmond confronts Widmore at his office. ("Jughead")
  • Ben tells Widmore that if the Island wants Alex dead, Widmore should do it himself. ("Dead Is Dead")
    • As Ben sees Widmore off, Widmore warns him that he may end up being banished himself someday.
    • Ben tells Sun that "dead is dead".
  • Widmore visits Daniel and offers him a job opportunity. ("The Variable")
  • Widmore asks Richard how he recognizes Daniel. ("Follow the Leader")
  • Widmore's people take Sawyer through the submarine. ("Recon")
    • Sawyer talks to Widmore.
  • Zoe questions Jin about the DHARMA Initiative's maps of electromagnetic pockets. ("The Package")


Duel motif[]

This motif plays during a few climactic action scenes, usually involving Jack or the Man in Black.


Season 6 motifs[]

Kate's escape[]

This action motif plays in several of Kate's action scenes in the Flashsideways world.


Temple motif[]

This rhythmic motif characterizes a few of the Temple's scenes.



Temple suspense[]

This motif plays during a few of the Temple scenes in "What Kate Does".

  • Dogen tests Sayid. ("What Kate Does")
    • Jack goes past guards to confront Dogen.
  • In a Previously on Lost recap, Sayid is tortured by Dogen. Jack confronts Dogen about it. ("Sundown")


Dogen's theme[]

This sad motif characterizes Dogen.


Medical emergencies[]

This action motif concludes a few scenes.


Claire's 2nd motif[]

This plays during a few of Claire's scenes in "Lighthouse".


Man in Black's chase motif[]

This motif plays during several of the Man in Black's action scenes.


Ben's second action motif[]

This motif plays during Ben's "Dr. Linus" action scenes. A similar, but not identical motif plays when Sayid kills Dogen by drowning him in the Temple Spring.


Sawyer's flash sideways theme[]

This simple motif of two-note pairs that fall conversely to Sawyer's theme, offset with a four-note haunting piano lilt.

  • Sawyer lays in bed after an affair with a married woman. ("Recon")
    • Sawyer is revealed to be a cop in the flash-sideways.
    • Sawyer tells Charlotte why he became a cop.
    • They have sex.
    • She later rejects his flower.
    • He tells Miles about Anthony Cooper.


Claudia's theme[]

This motif plays during Claudia's scenes in "Across the Sea".


Ford and Straume[]

This motif plays during a few of Sawyer and Miles's finale flash sideways scenes.


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