Jack Shephard
From Lostpedia
Christian Shephard - Father
Margo Shephard - Mother
Claire Littleton - Half-Sister
Aaron Littleton - Half-Nephew
Sarah Shephard - Ex-Wife
Kate Austen - Ex-Fiancée/Soulmate
- "Jack" redirects here. For other uses of "Jack", see Jack (disambiguation).
Dr. Jack Shephard was a spinal surgeon and the survivors' de facto leader. Before the crash, his obsessive personality wrecked his marriage and his relationship with his father. On the Island though, the survivors sought his guidance during crises and missions, and he united them till they cooperated and formed a society.
Jack developed romantic relationships with Kate and later Juliet, and his jealousy sparked a rivalry with Sawyer. His rationality, so useful when solving problems, prevented his accepting the Island's mystic properties and caused friction with "man of faith" John Locke. Problems arose that Jack could not fix despite his obsession and self-sacrifice. Though he tried to repress his guilt, he often broke out with violence or tears.
After suffering a kidnapping and almost negotiating his own rescue, Jack escaped the Island with five other survivors. Off-island, he laid his father to rest and proposed to Kate, but visits from John Locke and his father's ghost sent him toward depression and substance abuse. Yet he gained new faith, and he led the survivors back to the island, believing it his destiny. He then found himself in the past, where he tried to reset time and prevent the crash of Oceanic 815.
The attempt failed, sending Jack to a new low. But after surrendering to being a candidate, he gained new confidence and decided to stay on the island. He also ceded decision-making to Sawyer, overcoming his control issues. He chose to become the Island's new protector and was nearly killed by the Man in Black, but with Kate's help, he defeated him before he could leave. He then sacrificed himself to relight the Heart, saving the Island from destruction. Post-death, he imagined a son and an ex-wife to come to terms with his bad relationships. His personality mixed science and faith, but he again felt the compulsion to fix others. His stubbornness returned, and unlike his friends, he resisted remembering his life, even after experiencing flashes. Eventually though, after meeting with his father one last time, he followed his advice and "let go", reuniting with Kate and his friends, to finally move on in the church.
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Before the crash
Childhood
Jack Shephard was born July 14th, 1966 to Dr. Christian and Margo Shephard. He was also, through his father, the half-brother of fellow Oceanic Flight 815 survivor Claire Littleton, thus making him the half-uncle of Claire's son, Aaron. As an adolescent, Jack was beaten by a teenage bully after attempting to rescue his friend Marc Silverman. Hearing what happened, his father spoke over a glass of whiskey of his ability to accept the consequences of life and death decisions. He advised Jack to avoid being a hero because he didn't have what it took to cope with failing. ("White Rabbit")
At some point, Jack began flying lessons, but chose not to continue because "it wasn't for me." ("Pilot, Part 1")
Medical career
Jack attended Columbia University and graduated a year early from UCLA medical school then began working with his father at St. Sebastian Hospital as a spinal surgeon. ("A Tale of Two Cities") ("All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues") During his residency, he once met a crash victim who couldn't speak but who could write. Another time, Jack accidentally nicked a patient's dural sac and panicked. Christian told him to count to five and let the fear in, or else he would operate himself. Jack reluctantly listened, and he was able to fix his mistake and complete the surgery. Later, Jack told Christian that he resented being "put in a time-out" in front of his team. As he started to walk away, a man approached him and offered a trapped Apollo Candy Bar Jack had tried to order. He briefly touched Jack's hand and said, "Maybe all it needed was a little push." ("The Incident, Part 2")
At 8:15 AM on an unknown date in 2001, two victims of a head-on collision came to Jack's hospital, and Jack operated on the woman, Sarah, at the older man's expense. Sarah's spine was severely crushed, and Jack told her she would never walk again. This bluntness bothered Christian. Sarah's fiance responded superficially upon hearing her condition, and Jack overstepped his professional relationship with Sarah, promising to fix her. He initially believed he failed, but a man he met at a stadium suggested he may not have. Jack tearfully informed Sarah of his failure. She then wiggled her toes, and Jack realized he'd fixed her. ("Man of Science, Man of Faith")
Marriage and divorce
Sarah and Jack fell in love. Sarah toasted Jack as a hero at their wedding rehearsal, but Jack had trouble writing his vows. Christian comforted him, saying he chose his wife correctly, and handing Jack an heirloom watch. Jack ended up improvising his vows, telling Sarah that he didn't fix her - she fixed him. ("Do No Harm") ("The Watch")
Jack's career and his obsessive compulsion to fix things later took a toll on the marriage. In December of 2003, Jack kissed a patient's daughter while consoling her after he died on the operating table. He returned home to Sarah and confessed the kiss to his wife, promising he would change. Sarah told him she had been seeing another man and had already made plans to leave her husband. In the months that followed, Jack became obsessed with finding his wife's lover. He stalked her, offered him all their assets for the name and dialed all her cell phone contacts, shocked to find his father's number. He followed Christian to an AA meeting, accused him of sleeping with Sarah and physically attacked him. Christian started drinking after 50 days of sobriety, and Jack ended up in prison for the attack. Sarah was called to bail him out. Sarah remained Jack's hospital emergency contact for years, and had a baby with the other man. Jack never learned his identity. ("The Hunting Party") ("A Tale of Two Cities") ("Through the Looking Glass, Part 2")
Following his marriage's collapse, Jack visited Thailand and started a relationship with Achara, a mysterious tattoo artist. She said she saw him as a leader who, although strong, could also be unhappy. Jack insisted she tattoo him. The tattoo she designed translates to "He walks among us, but is not one of us." ("Stranger in a Strange Land") Jack learned poker during his time there. ("Lockdown")
Betraying his father
In July of 2004, a nurse observed an intoxicated Christian Shephard botch a surgery. She called in Jack, who failed to save the patient. Christian asked he sign a falsified death report absolving him of blame, and though Jack initially refused, he later agreed. He then saw his father console the deceased woman's husband, who was threatening legal action, and learned the woman was pregnant when she died. Jack revised his statement, blaming his father's drinking for the patients' death. This cost Christian his medical license. ("All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues")
The two never spoke again. In mid-September of 2004, when Christian went missing, Jack searched for him in Sydney at his frantic mother's behest. He learned his father had died due to an alcohol-induced heart attack. The undertakers were missing his shoes, and rather than buy some, Jack gave them an old pair he had handy. ("White Rabbit") ("316")
Oceanic Flight 815
Jack tried to take his father's body on his return flight but had trouble loading the casket because he had not made the proper arrangements. Eventually, the ticket agent gave in to Jack's pleas about his need for closure. Just before boarding, Jack met Ana Lucia Cortez in an airport bar. Jack mentioned his father's death, as well as the fact that he had once been married. When Ana Lucia received a phone call, she left, but promised to have another drink with Jack on the plane. ("White Rabbit") ("Exodus, Part 1")
Jack sat in seat 23B, and talked a flight attendant into handing him two airline bottles of vodka, one of which he consumed immediately. A short time after this, while rising from his seat, Jack was nearly knocked down by a man hurrying up the aisle. This prompted a conversation with a nearby passenger - Rose Nadler, whose husband - Bernard Nadler - was in the bathroom. Jack attempted to allay her fears when the plane hit turbulence. Very soon, however, the plane began to shake more violently before making a sharp, uncontrolled descent. Due to the loss of cabin pressure, oxygen masks fell from the ceiling of the plane. Despite putting his mask on, Jack blacked out before the plane's tail separated from the mid-section. ("Pilot, Part 1")
On the Island
Days 1–44 (Season 1)
Jack woke up alone in a bamboo thicket near the site of the plane crash. He ran through the jungle toward the sound of screaming and began helping several crash victims - a man whose leg was being crushed, a pregnant woman, a woman receiving improper CPR. Jack eventually wandered away and examined his own wounds. He enlisted a woman's help in stitching him, telling her a story to calm her.
The next day, he led a trip to the cockpit, where the pilot was found alive until something unseen killed him. ("Pilot, Part 1") Jack returned to camp and broke up a fight between two survivors, then operated on a man with shrapnel in him. In the man's pocket, Jack found a mugshot of Kate, and when he came to the tent later, he saw the man trying to strangle her. Kate tried to convince Jack to euthanize him. When Sawyer failed to end his life with their last bullet, Jack was forced to euthanize him by hand. ("Pilot, Part 2") ("Tabula Rasa")
Jack struggled with the leadership role that was thrust upon him. When wild boars started raiding the fuselage's dead bodies, Jack decided to burn it, but he declined to lead the memorial. He also initially refused to talk to a woman who appeared to be in shock, but he later sat with her for hours. He rescued a survivor from drowning but felt guilty that another drowned. Then Jack began seeing visions of his dead father - actually the Man in Black. He chased the vision and would have fallen off a cliff but for Locke's help. After continuing to chase it, Jack found caves with fresh water, but also found his father's coffin, empty. He told the survivors about the caves, adding that "If we can't live together, we're going to die alone." ("Walkabout") ("White Rabbit") One trip to the caves awoke a swarm of bees, and Jack and Kate found two skeletons. Jack suggested moving to the caves and some survivors agreed, even though a cave-in dislocated Jack's shoulder and almost killed him. ("House of the Rising Sun") ("The Moth")
Believing Sawyer was withholding a survivor's asthma inhaler, Jack approved Sayid's torture of him. Hurley lightened the mood by building a golf course, and Jack and Michael were the first to play on it. ("Confidence Man") ("Solitary")
Claire began having nightmares about someone attacking her unborn child, and Jack tried to allay her fears. A man posing as a passenger then kidnapped Claire and Charlie and attacked Jack when he went after them. Jack and Kate then found Charlie hanging by his neck, and Jack resuscitated him. ("Raised by Another") ("All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues")
Soon after, Kate discovered the Marshal's gun case and asked Jack's help retrieving its key from its owner's corpse. Kate tried to con Jack out of the key, and Jack had to threaten withholding Sawyer's medication to get the case, but in the end, Jack owned the guns. He used them when Claire returned to camp and Jack used her as bait to lure her kidnapper again. Though Jack won their second fight, Charlie shot the man before they could interrogate him.("Whatever the Case May Be") ("Homecoming")
Jack's next challenge came on day 40, when Locke brought Boone to him, claiming he had fallen off a cliff. Jack wanted to amputate Boone's leg, but Boone awoke and dissuaded him. Jack held Locke responsible for Boone's death and confronted him at the funeral. Even after Locke explained what had actually happened, his earlier lie and the fact the he was keeping the Hatch a secret caused Jack to distrust him. ("Do No Harm") ("The Greater Good")
On day 44, Jack set out along with Kate, Rousseau, Locke, Hurley, and Arzt to get dynamite from the Black Rock to blow open the Hatch. On the way back, Jack and Kate kept Locke from being pulled down into a hole by the Monster. Jack, Kate, Locke and Hurley arrived at the Hatch later that night and blew it open. Jack and Locke stared down into the pit before them, having no idea of what might be at the bottom. ("Exodus, Part 1") ("Exodus, Part 2") ("Exodus, Part 3")
Days 44–67 (Season 2)
After their first attempt to enter the Hatch failed, Kate and Locke returned, and Jack armed himself and set off after them. Inside, he found Desmond, the man he had met in the stadium after Sarah's surgery, holding Locke at gunpoint. When the computer was shot and a system failure seemed imminent, Desmond left the Swan and Jack and Locke became its main inhabitants. They had to input the Numbers into the computer every 108 minutes for an unknown reason. Tension grew between the two as it began to become their permanent home. ("Man of Science, Man of Faith") ("Adrift") ("Orientation")
Jack and other survivors continued to explore the Swan Station, but their investigations halted when Mr. Eko, a tail-section survivor arrived with an injured Sawyer over his shoulder. He reunited with Ana Lucia in the jungle, and the tail-section survivors joined the mid-section. Ana-Lucia had accidentally shot Shannon and Jack led her funeral. ("Everybody Hates Hugo") ("Collision") ("What Kate Did")
Michael leaving to find his son in the Others' camp, locked Jack and Locke in the Swan's armory. Jack led a party to go after Michael, and they encountered the bearded man who had kidnapped Walt. The Others had surrounded Jack's party and used a bound Kate, who'd followed Jack against his wishes, to force the party to turn back. Jack began to conspire with Ana-Lucia about training an army to fight the Others. ("The Hunting Party")
The rivalry between Locke and Jack began to escalate into a leadership struggle, which came to a head when Locke let Sayid torture a man they thought could be an Other. Jack had to threaten to let the countdown timer run to zero to convince Locke to open the armory and let Jack intervene. ("One of Them") "Henry" took advantage of Jack and Locke's antagonism, trying to play them against each other..
Meanwhile, Jack's relationship with Sawyer also became strained as they competed for Kate's attention, Jack and Kate once shared a passionate jungle kiss. ("What Kate Did") Jack continually tried to "one-up" Sawyer, and threatened to withhold antibiotics from him, mere days after he'd been shot by Mr. Friendly and was recovering from an infection. After Sawyer took the medical supplies, Jack won them back from him in a poker game. ("Lockdown")
During Ana Lucia and Libby's funeral, Jack boarded a boat that arrived. He and Sayid planned for Sayid to sail on it to the Others' camp while Jack Michael, Kate, Sawyer and Hurley went there on foot. On their expedition, Jack confronted Michael, forcing him to admit betraying the survivors. Later, Jack realized they were not heading to their supposed destination. The Others ambushed them with stun darts and captured their entire party. They woke up at the dock. Jack, Kate and Sawyer were hooded and told they would be going home with the Others. ("Three Minutes") ("Live Together, Die Alone")
Days 68–91 (Season 3)
The Others took Jack's blood and imprisoned him in a disused aquarium, where he tried to assault his interrogator, Juliet. When she refused his orders to open a door, he unlatched it himself, flooding the corridor. He managed to close it again, and she knocked him out and returned him to his room. Juliet then revealed that she had a details on his life. Jack later met Henry, actually named Benjamin Linus, who proved the Others had contact with the outside world by playing news footage of the Boston Red Sox winning the World Series. He then offered Jack a trip home in exchange for his cooperation. ("A Tale of Two Cities") ("The Glass Ballerina")
When Colleen arrived with a gunshot wound, Juliet demanded Jack's help. He failed to save her, but he noticed an x-ray while washing up and conned Ben into admitting it was his. This apparently disrupted Ben's plan to pressure Jack into operating on him. Juliet sent Jack a secret video message suggesting he kill Ben while operating, but she also brought in Kate, who begged Jack operate so the Others would spare Sawyer. Jack later found his door unlocked, letting him collect a pistol from a weapons locker and spy Kate and Sawyer sleeping together on a security monitor. ("Every Man for Himself") ("The Cost of Living") Jack now agreed to operate, but he deliberately cut Ben's kidney sack during surgery, threatening to bleed Ben to death unless the Others freed Sawyer and Kate. The Others agreed, and Jack only completed the surgery when Kate repeated a story to prove she was safe. Jack not her not to return for him. ("I Do") ("Not in Portland")
In the operating room, Jack revealed Juliet's plan to kill Ben, and after they locked him in Sawyer's old cage, the Others' sheriff asked him for more details. Jack lied on her behalf then offered Ben further medical treatment if he let Juliet live. Ben agreed. The Others took Jack with them to the Barracks. During his week there, he played chess with Ben and played football with Tom, shocking Kate and Sayid when they came to rescue him. ("Stranger in a Strange Land") ("King of the Castle") ("Par Avion") Kate got captured during this rescue attempt, and Jack visited her, speaking of his deal to leave the island. This deal fell apart when Locke sabotaged the Others' submarine. ("The Man from Tallahassee")
The Others abandoned the Barracks, leaving Juliet behind, and Jack took her back to the camp, telling the survivors she was under his protection. The survivors mistrusted Juliet lost their trust in Jack as well. ("Left Behind") ("One of Us") Kate finally approached Jack about a parachutist that had entered the camp, and Sayid approached him about Juliet's being Ben's mole - a secret Jack already knew. ("The Brig") ("The Man Behind the Curtain") ("Operation: Sleeper") Jack revealed that he, Rousseau and Juliet had been planning to use dynamite to lay a trap for the Others. When he learned the Others were coming sooner than expected though, he decided to lead most of the survivors to the radio tower, leaving just three behind to set off the trap. ("Greatest Hits")
Only two traps appeared to go off. When Juliet and Sawyer announced that they were returning to the beach, Jack kissed Juliet as Kate looked on, but he told Kate he loved her soon after. ("Through the Looking Glass, Part 1") Ben and Alex intercepted the group, and Ben privately told Jack Naomi's people planned to kill everyone on the island. When Jack did not cooperate, Ben ordered by walkie-talkie the deaths of three hostages - Sayid, Jin and Bernard. Jack savagely beat Ben, but later learned the hostages were fine. When the group reached the radio tower, Locke stabbed Naomi and held Jack at gunpoint, but Jack ignored his threats and called Naomi's boat. A man answered and told Jack rescue was on the way. ("Through the Looking Glass, Part 2")
Days 91–108 (Season 4)
Minkowski called again, asking for Naomi, and Jack claimed she was gathering firewood. When he turned around, she was gone. Jack tried to track her, but he followed a dummy trial, and when he tried to call the freighter again, he realized Kate had stolen the phone. He headed for the cockpit, where he attacked Locke, taking his gun and pulling the trigger. The gun wasn't loaded, so he beat him till others pulled him off. Locke again claimed the supposed rescuers meant to harm them, and half the survivors followed him to the Barracks, while Jack's group went to the beach.
Jack and Kate stayed behind and followed a helicopter's sound to a parachutist, Daniel Faraday. Faraday's gun, gas masks and secretive manner all worried Jack, but he agreed to locate his team. The first member demanded to see Naomi's body. The second's transmitter beacon turned up on Vincent, and Jack concluded Locke had captured her. The third, Frank Lapidus, had safely landed the helicopter, but refused to fly it till the missing member turned up. Sayid and Kate retrieve her from the Barracks, and Kate chose to stay there, hurting Jack. ("The Beginning of the End") ("Confirmed Dead") ("The Economist")
The helicopter left, and Jack was confused later when it didn't arrive as scheduled. When it did arrive, he learned of Desmond's temporal displacement.("Eggtown") ("The Constant") Daniel and Charlotte disappeared that night. Jack chased them to the Tempest, passing an unconscious Kate, but Juliet arrived first. He kissed her, though she warned him Ben had claimed her. ("The Other Woman") They returned to the beach, where Jack checked on Sun's pregnancy and complimented Jin's English. ("Ji Yeon")
A body appeared in the water, and Jack make Daniel contact the freighter. When Bernard discovered he lied about their reply, Jack lost his temper and grabbed him by the collar. Jack's stomach had been hurting - Kate had caught him sneaking pain pills - and he now collapsed with appendicitis. Juliet offered to operate. Doubtful, Jack chose to stay awake during the surgery, but Bernard knocked him out with chloroform. He awoke to hear Juliet telling Kate he loved her. He left the tent against her wishes and heard the helicopter return, dropping a phone. He concluded they wanted him to follow them. ("The Shape of Things to Come") ("Something Nice Back Home") ("Cabin Fever")
Armed, Jack tracked it with Kate till they crossed Sawyer, Miles and Aaron returning from the Barracks. Jack and Sawyer continued toward the chopper and found Frank hand-cuffed to it. Frank agreed to fly immediately, but they first journeyed to the mercenaries' destination to save Hurley.("There's No Place Like Home, Part 1") There, they also found Locke, who tried again to convince Jack to stay before suggesting he lie to the world about what happened on the island. Jack, Sawyer and Hurley returned to the helicopter, and they took off with Kate, Sayid and Frank. Though fuel was low, Jack refused to turn back, and they landed on the freighter, where a bomb was about to detonate. Jack prevented Kate from fetching Jin, and they left with Sun, Aaron and Desmond right before the freighter blew up. They flew toward the island, but it had disappeared, and the chopper lost fuel quickly and crashed. They boarded a life raft, and Jack resuscitated Desmond. When the Searcher found them, Jack sought Kate's help to convince the others to lie about everything since their crash. A week later, Jack departed with the others for the island of Sumba.("There's No Place Like Home, Parts 2 & 3") ("The Little Prince")
After the Island
2005
The US Coast Guard flew the Oceanic 6 to Hawaii, where Jack's mother greeted him. He took part in a press conference, lying about how they survived the crash, claiming their plane crashed into the water and all of the passengers died instantly but the six, Jack, Kate, Aaron, Hurley, Sun, and Sayid. However, Jack also claimed that Boone, Charlie and Libby also survived the crash, but had later died. Some 6 months later, Jack held a wake for his father. There, Carole Littleton approached Jack and told him her daughter, Claire, had been on Jack's plane and was his half-sister. Carole then complimented Kate's baby, not realizing Aaron was her own grandson. ("There's No Place Like Home, Part 1")
2006
Jack began drinking regularly. When he learned the police had arrested Hurley, he visited his old friend at the institute. Hurley accused Jack of checking he hadn't revealed their secret. He insisted they return to the Island, though Jack disagreed, and apologized for not following Jack on the island. ("The Beginning of the End")
At Kate's trial, Jack testified that only eight people survived the crash and that three died. He claimed he'd never met the marshal and denied loving Kate. He met Kate afterward and said he'd lied, implying he loved her. He turned down an invitation to her house. Kate gathered that this was because of Aaron and refused any further contact till he agreed to see him. ("Eggtown")
2007
Jack eventually came to terms with Kate raising his nephew, and they became seriously involved. He moved into Kate's house and became a surrogate father to Aaron, but his insecurities forced him to compare himself to his own father. Jack maintained contact with Hurley and was called in when he stopped taking his medication. Hurley passed on a message from Charlie: "You're not supposed to raise him," and said someone would visit him soon. Jack nonetheless proposed to Kate, who happily accepted.
While working late, Jack saw his father, who spoke to him, and Jack asked another doctor for stress-relieving medication. He went home and was suspicious when he found Kate talking on the phone to someone he didn't know. Another time, he found their nanny staying late, and when Kate returned, he demanded answers. Kate admitted fulfilling Sawyer's secret request and objected to Jack's drinking around her son. Jack yelled back that she wasn't "even related to him," and Aaron appeared in the doorway. Jack left. ("Something Nice Back Home")
John Locke repeatedly visited Jack under the alias Jeremy Bentham, and when he landed on Jack's operating table after an accident, he said Christian had told him to move the island. ("The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham") Jack succumbed to depression and substance abuse, and his hospital suspended him. He began flying across the Pacific every weekend hoping it would crash, returning him to the island or killing him. When he heard Locke had killed himself, Jack tried calling Kate then almost leaped off an L.A. bridge, distracting a driver he then had to save from the ensuing crash. A doctor refused to let him operate on the passenger he'd saved, and when a pharmacist denied him painkillers, even when he forged a prescription from his father, the same doctor caught him trying to steal drugs. Jack finally managed to meet Kate outside the airport and said they had to return to the island. Kate refused and drove away. He attended Locke's funeral - no one else did - and later broke into the funeral home, where Ben appeared. He said that all of them, even dead Locke, had to return to the island. They removed the coffin then they went to a hotel where Jack shaved his beard and Ben flushed his pills. ("Through the Looking Glass, Part 2") ("There's No Place Like Home, Parts 2 & 3") ("Because You Left")
Ben led Jack to a church, where Eloise Hawking showed the group DHARMA station that first found the Island. She told them to take Ajira Airways Flight 316 to return to the Island. She privately gave Jack Locke's suicide note and told him to give Locke's body something that had belonged to Christian. Jack obeyed by collecting Christian's shoes from his grandfather, who'd been trying to escape his retirement home, and placing them on Locke's feet along with the note. On the eve of the flight, Kate slept with him, agreeing to come to the island. At the airport, Caesar offered him condolences over his loss, and in the plane, an attendant handed Jack the suicide note. They took off, and jack realized Frank Lapidus was piloting and said hello. Further on the journey, he read John Locke's note, which read, "Jack, I wish you had believed me. JL." The flight suddenly encountered heavy turbulence, and was then surrounded by a bright light. ("316")
Back on the Island
1977 (Season 5)
Jack woke up in the middle of the jungle as he had when he first crashed on the Island. He found Hurley and Kate at the waterfall, and Jin found and called Sawyer. Jack learned they had traveled back in time to when the DHARMA Initiative occupied the island, and Sawyer and Juliet inducted them as new recruits. Jack became a workman. He visited Sawyer that night at his and Juliet's house , admitting that Sawyer, now DHARMA's security head, was in charge. ("316") ("LaFleur") ("Namaste")
When a flaming DHARMA van crashed into a house, Jack helped extinguish it with a fire hose. Horace accused Sayid, who'd been locked up, and Jack disagreed, arousing his suspicion. When Dharma found a janitor's keys in Sayid's cell's lock, they put Jack, along with Hurley and Kate, under house arrest. Sawyer tried to recruit Jack's help operating on young Ben, who'd been shot, but Jack, done with trying to fix things and now trusting in the Island, refused. This angered Juliet, who resented his return, and Kate, who claimed to prefer "the old" Jack. Jack covered Roger's work, and defended Kate when he accused her. ("He's Our You") ("Whatever Happened, Happened") ("Some Like It Hoth")
Early the next morning, Daniel Faraday showed up at Jack's house claiming Jack did not belong there. Daniel told Jack that his mother was wrong, and that Jack does not belong there. Jack visited Sawyer, who revealed that he'd tied up a DHARMA member who'd discovered he'd taken Ben to the Hostiles. Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Juliet, Jin, and Hurley all met in Sawyer and Juliet's home to discuss their options. Miles and Daniel then, asking to visit the hostiles to find Daniel's mother. Jack, Kate, and Daniel went to the motor pool for weapons DHARMA workers opened fire, and Jack shot a fuel tank so they could escape. Daniel explained his plan to detonate a bomb at the Swan, then entered the Hostiles' camp, where Charles Widmore knocked out Jack with his rifle's butt. Jack later explained Daniel's plan to Eloise, and they swam to the underground tunnels where the bomb was hidden. ("The Variable") ("Follow the Leader")
Sayid, who'd joined them, extracted the bomb's core, and he and Jack entered Horace's house through a passage Richard created. They donned DHARMA jumpsuits, and Jack shot three Initiative members after one shot Sayid. Hurley picked them up in a van, and Jack tried to treat Sayid inside. They drove till they say Sawyer, Juliet and Kate in the road. Sawyer and Jack argued in private about whether to detonate the bomb, then they fought intensely till Juliet separated them. The van drove to the Swan site, and Jack entered it alone with the bomb. Phil spotted him, and the van started attacking from afar. Jack shot one member, and he and the others successfully neutralized all present. Jack dropped the bomb into the Swan drilling shaft. Nothing initially happened, then a severe electromagnetic Incident pulled all metal objects into the shaft, including a tool box that knocked Jack out. He awoke to find Kate pulling Sawyer away from the drilling shaft, which Juliet had just fallen down. Jack helped, and moments later, the bomb presumably detonated. ("The Incident, Parts 1 & 2")
2007 (Season 6)
In the aftermath of the blast, Sawyer blamed Jack for Juliet's death. In order to save the mortally wounded Sayid, Jack took him to the Temple, and when the Others failed to revive him in the spring, Jack vainly performed CPR. Sayid resurrected hours later, and Dogen gave Jack a pill to feed him. Suspicious, Jack tried swallowing it himself to get Dogen to tell him what was in it, and Dogen stopped him, revealing it was poison. Jack left the Temple to travel to the lighthouse with Hurley, passing Kate and the caves along the way. They reached it, and Jack broke down the door. Inside, he saw a mirror that reflected his childhood home. He smashed the mirrors in frustration. ("LA X, Parts 1 & 2") ("What Kate Does") ("Lighthouse")
He and Hurley walked back toward the Temple, but they met Richard, who took them to the Black Rock. Suicidal but physically unable to kill himself, Richard asked Jack to light dynamite and kill him. His trip to the lighthouse though had built Jack's faith, so he lit a fuse and stayed in the ship, believing it would extinguish before it could kill him. It did. The three of them returned to the beach to Sun, Frank, Miles, Ben and Ilana. Ilana informed him and the others of their candidacies to replace Jacob. ("Lighthouse") ("Dr. Linus") ("Ab Aeterno")
Jack briefly followed Ilana's plan to blow up the Ajira plane, but Hurley destroyed their only source of dynamite. Jack then traveled and met for the first time with the Man in Black on Hurley's suggestion, where the Man in Black revealed that the earlier apparitions of Christian Shephard that Jack had seen on the Island were in fact the Man in Black. Jack reunited with Claire, having discovered that they were siblings since their last meeting, and conspired with Sawyer to steal the Elizabeth, though after executing the plan, he revealed that he did not believe that they should leave the Island, eventually returning to the shore and meeting the Man in Black, who appeared to believe that Jack had taken his side. ("Happily Ever After") ("Everybody Loves Hugo") ("The Last Recruit")
Jack worked with the Man in Black to rescue his friends from Widmore on the Hydra Island. He decided though to help Sawyer keep the Man off Widmore's submarine by pushing him into the water, but he decided to stay on the island. Widmore's men attacked, forcing Jack to enter the sub. Once aboard, Jack realized that the Man in Black had placed C-4 in his backpack. He correctly concluded the Man couldn't kill them, so as long as they left the bomb alone, they'd be safe. Sawyer accidentally detonated it though, killing Sayid, Jin, and Sun. Having survived the explosion, Jack, Kate, Sawyer, and Hurley washed ashore and mourned the loss of their friends. They set off for the well where Desmond was imprisoned, but Jacob's spirit intercepted them. He explained one of them had to replace him, and Jack volunteered. After a short ceremony, he was "like" Jacob. Jacob explained where to find the Source, which he had to protect from the Man in Black. ("The Candidate") ("What They Died For")
Sawyer learned the Man in Black had found Desmond, and the two groups met on the way to a common destination - the Heart of the Island. Jack decided to help him lower Desmond into it, believing Desmond to be Jacob's secret weapon. After Desmond removed a stone from the Source though, Jack realized the island was falling apart, just as the Man in Black had predicted. He began to attack the Man in Black, who escaped, but not before Jack managed to wound him. Jack followed him to the cliffs, where they fought in the rain. The Man in Black stabbed him in the side and the neck, but Kate shot him, and Jack kicked his body off the cliff. Jack kissed Kate goodbye, and they each professed their love for one another. He then wished Sawyer goodbye as well. Next, he returned to the source with Hurley and Ben. Jack chose Hurley as his replacement for protector, then descended into the Source, where he replaced the stone and saved the Island from destruction. Leaving the Source, Jack returned to the bamboo patch where he watched his friends escape on the Ajira Flight off the Island. He died with Vincent by his side, ensuring that he would not die alone. His death is reminiscent of his initial awakening on the Island. ("The End")
Flash sideways
In the flash sideways, Christian still died drunk in Australia and still kept secrets from his son. The two enjoyed a better relationship though. Jack invented a son, David, whose dynamic with Jack mirrored his own with Christian, including fear and poor communication. Though Jack had rebuffed Christian's attempts at reconciliation, David accepted his. Jack also imagined Juliet as his ex-wife, and the two shared an amicable relationship quite unlike his and Sarah's. He brought with him into the afterlife the faith he'd gained during his final days.
When the plane landed, Charlie glared at Jack as police arrested him. Jack exited, making eye contact with John Locke as he was transferred to a wheelchair. The Oceanic service desk paged him and told him the airline had lost his father's coffin, so he called his mother to postpone the funeral. He talked in the lost luggage office with Locke, who suggested that Christian's spirit was more important than the body's location. Jack offered him a business card and a free surgical consult because though his condition appeared permanent, "nothing is irreversible." He returned to work and over the next few days he passed Sayid, not recognizing him, and encountered Desmond and Charlie. ("LA X, Part 2") ("Sundown") ("Happily Ever After")
That weekend, Jack noticed a scar from where the Man in Black had stabbed his side. He called his mother, who rationalized the scar as an appendectomy Jack barely remembered and asked him over to search for Christian's will. Jack hung up and drove to David's school, apologizing for picking him up late. Back at home, he noticed a book of David's and tried talking about it, but David left the room and rejected all further attempts at conversation. Jack went to his mother's house and searched for the will, pleasing her when he refused a drink. The will mentioned a stranger: Claire Littleton. Returning home, Jack found David missing and called him repeatedly, apologizing for imaginary offenses. He listened to his son's answering machine and learned he was auditioning for an arts school. Jack stopped by, and David's piano skill moved him. Another parent talked to him about the pressures children face, and Jack talked with David afterward, and the two made up. The following week, the two were on good terms, and they attended the will's reading together. Their lawyer introduced Jack to Claire, his half-sister. ("Lighthouse") ("The Last Recruit")
His beeper called him to the hospital for emergency surgery - on Locke. Afterward, Jack told him a new treatment could cure his paralysis. Locke refused the offer. Curious why, Jack asked a dentist who'd treated Locke about his original accident. The dentist, who'd flown on Flight 815, withheld details but gave Jack the name of another man from the accident. Jack visited the man's nursing home and discovered he was Locke's father and was catatonic. Back at the hospital, Jack met Claire and invited her to stay with him, then he met Locke and again offered to operate. Locke revealed details of his accident but again refused the offer, despite Jack's insistence that they both "let go." ("The Last Recruit") ("The Candidate")
Jack noticed his neck cut again the next day. Then, he had breakfast with David and Claire and discussed a concert that evening. Desmond then phoned, posing as an Oceanic employee, saying they'd found his father's coffin. Later that day, Locke visited Jack and said he'd opted for surgery after all. Later that day, he joked with Locke before the surgery and talked about the found coffin. Before the surgery, he ran into Juliet and gave her tickets to the concert, telling David to take Claire as well in his place. He then operated successfully on Locke. ("What They Died For") ("The End")
Afterward, his cut began bleeding. Locke awoke early from his anesthesia, and when the two spoke, Jack briefly recalled their time together on the island. He resisted though, and he refused Locke's mysterious suggestion for them to "leave". As he left, Locke told him David didn't exist and offered a veiled wish that someone wake him to his memories. He arrived late at the concert and met Kate, who said he recognized her from somewhere besides Flight 815.
They touched, and Jack resisted another flash of memories. Confused, he let her lead him to the church of his father's funeral. Jack entered a side chapel and found his father's coffin. He touched it and at last recalled his life. He turned and sound Christian standing beside him. They embraced, and Christian explained the afterlife's nature Jack then entered the church's nave and found all his friends there. Jack greeted them, embracing Locke, Boone, Hurley and Sawyer. Kate then led him to a pew, and Christian, briefly patting his son's shoulder, opened the church's doors, letting in a bright light. Kate and Jack held hands and looked at each other knowingly as they were moving on with their friends. ("The End")
Trivia
- Jack has met all of the main characters.
- Jack is the only one who has met all the main characters, since Sun and Sayid haven't met Pierre.
- Jack was the nineteenth and last main character who die.
- Jack is one of the seven characters to have a flashback, a flash-forward and a flash-sideways episode centered around them. The other six are Hurley, Sayid, Kate, Sawyer, Ben and Sun.
- According to Danny Pickett, Jack isn't on Jacob's list.
- As de facto leader, Jack has resorted to some extreme measures to protect the crash survivors. This includes sanctioning the torture of Sawyer (who he believed to have Shannon's asthma medication), setting up the ambush of Ethan Rom, holding Ben hostage to trade for Walt, engaging in a risky attempt to recover Walt, holding Ben's life hostage during surgery to allow his friends to escape, and refusing to bring the phone to Ben which resulted in Jin, Sayid, and Bernard's "deaths".
- In the commentary track on the Season 1 DVD, the producers explained that the character of Jack as the de facto leader of the survivors was intended to be killed off in "The Pilot, Part 1" by the Monster, with Kate becoming the de facto leader. However, ABC executives and advisers to the producers convinced the writers and producers to keep him alive. They reasoned that killing him off, while a novel idea, generated feelings of betrayal, bewilderment, and anger in the audience. Instead, Oceanic 815's pilot, Seth Norris was written in and killed in Jack's place. Fox's portrayal of Jack as such a likable and noble character that audiences can relate to only helped solidify his survival and importance to the show.
- In the same commentary track, it was discussed that the role was originally intended for Michael Keaton but this idea was discarded after it was decided that he wouldn't die in "Pilot, Part 1".
- In Lost: Via Domus, his full name is given as Jackson Shepherd. However, only the Island locations in the game are considered canon, but the story-line and characters are not.
- Jack, Locke and Michael have turned suicidal at some point after leaving the Island.
- Jack has an O-blood type, which is a universal donor.
- As seen in "Something Nice Back Home", Jack has two scars: one from his appendectomy and one from Kate's suturing in "Pilot, Part 1".
- Jack is a baseball fan, and seems to have some affection for the Boston Red Sox and some contempt for the New York Yankees.
- Jack has cried ten times during the series so far, and because of this the nickname "Jears" (Jack + tears) has been created due to the character over-emoting in several episodes.
- Jack may be indirectly responsible for Shannon's disdainful attitude towards others. If he had chosen to save Adam Rutherford instead of Sarah in "Man of Science, Man of Faith", Shannon may have had an easier transition from childhood to adulthood without her step-mother's influence.
- Nearly every time Jack is seen with a gun it is a Colt .45 pistol.
- Jack is the only main character that is aware of all the DHARMA Initiative stations.
- Jack, like Ben, develops a deadly condition (appendicitis) on an Island where people including Rose, Locke, and Jin are all healed in some way (Rose's cancer, Locke's paralysis and Jin's infertility).
- Jack's candidate number, 23, is special with respect to The Numbers and the remaining candidates. It is the only prime number.
- Jack's centric episodes in Season 3 are all titles of books: A Tale of Two Cities, Stranger In A Strange Land and Through the Looking Glass
- Jack's musical theme is A Touching Moment.
- Jack is the only character to play his theme. He played it when Kate tried to rescue him from the Barracks, while he was held by the others.
- Jack revealed to Kate that he had taken a couple of flying lessons but realized that "It wasn't for him.
Episode statistics
Counting archival footage, Jack appeared in 113 episodes, more than any other character, and he was the first to appear in 100 episodes. He had the most centric episodes, including seven in a single season, also a record. Jack had one of the highest ratios of centrics to appearances (22/113), second only to Jacob who appeared in just 11 episodes. The first three season premieres featured Jack's flashbacks. He starred in the first flashback and flash forward, though two characters had centric episodes before his first. Juliet's, Charlotte's, Frank's, Miles's, and Jacob's first episodes contained their first flashback.
Jack (along with only Hurley, Sun, Christian, and Jin) appeared in every season and the Missing Pieces. He tied Michael with 5 mobisode appearances, and he tied or surpassed all characters for appearances each season, except for season 3, when Kate appeared more. He and Kate are the only characters to appear in every premiere.
Jack was the nineteenth main character to die, the third from the Oceanic 6, and was the last person to die on screen. More main characters died in Jack-centric episodes than anyone else's. Boone, Charlie, Michael, Juliet, Sayid, Jin, Sun, the Man in Black and Jack himself all died in partial or fully Jack-centric episodes.
Tattoo
- He has a tattoo on his left shoulder that translates to: "Hawk in the expansive sky" or "Eagles high up cleaving the sky". According to Isabel, the tattoo literally translates as "He walks amongst us but he is not one of us." ("Stranger in a Strange Land")
- He has another tattoo on his left forearm that appears to be a large number 5 with a compass dial around it. The five may represent when he conquered his fear during an emergency by "letting the fear in", but only for five seconds. ("Pilot, Part 1")
- He has another tattoo on his left elbow.
- The tattoos actually belonged to Matthew Fox before LOST, and were incorporated into his character.
Abilities/skills
Jack completes crosswords with a pen, a rare practice even amongst enthusiasts, which shows his confidence and intellect. He seems to have a good memory: he remembered the Numbers and the combination to the gun vault after hearing them only once from Desmond. Jack demonstrates proficiency with firearms and extraordinary aim, though we never see where he gained these skills.
Name significance
The name Jack is Hebrew and means "the Lord is Gracious". It is also a variation of John, as in the first name of Jack's polar opposite on the series, John Locke.
Jack's last name may reflect his position as a leader because a shepherd leads a flock. The 23rd Psalm reads "The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want," and 23 is Jack's candidate number.
"Jack Shepard" is the name of the serial killer in the movie Frequency, which stars Elizabeth Mitchell and Shawn Doyle.Jack Sheppard pioneered cave diving, and Jack swam through an underwater cave in "Follow the Leader". "Jack" was also the name of a character in Lord of the Flies. The two Jacks bore few similarities, but both faced rivals in leading island factions.
Additional casting
- John O'Hara played the role of Young Jack. ("White Rabbit")
- Steven Jay Blum voiced Jack in the game Via Domus.
See also
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