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Is the Medusa native to the island?[]

In Arzt's scene with Nikki, he makes it very clear that he believes he's discovered new species indigenous to the island, so the answer to this question is an equivocal YES. This is reinforced by the fact that in this 'real' world there is no such thing as a Medusa Spider. Admittedly, Arzt seemed rather conceited in his knowledge, but he was also for all intents and purposes the greatest authority on that island regarding this subject matter, so we really don't have anything better than that to go on. Until the show gives evidence to the contrary we can presume safely that Arzt named the species himself, and that it's native to the island. Being the one to discover these species, and a fan of biologic classification, he would have felt it his priviledge to be the one to name them. For all we know he used "regina" because that's the name of his ex-wife. However, that last part is mere speculation. -- ZachsMind 09:44, 29 March 2007 (PDT)

  • Well, "regina" means queen (in case that was lost on anybody).--Overworkedirish 14:48, 25 March 2008 (PDT)
Medusa means "queen": "queen" is often given as one of the various translations for name "Medusa" itself. In Greek mythology, Medusa was queen of the Gorgons. Incidentally, "Medusa" should probably be capitalized throughout the article, as it comes from a proper name. Robert K S (talk) 18:14, 25 March 2008 (PDT)

The Medusa is not a new species[]

Although Artz claims that he's discovered several new species of various insects, his knowledge of the Medusa spider requires that he's read about it. --BiggSteve777 10:21, 29 March 2007 (PDT)

I agree. He also stated "They call her the Medusa spider." when telling Nikki the name, clearly suggesting the species and its name is a matter of record already. However, it isn't a real species of spider. Lunarleviathan 21:52, 30 March 2007 (PDT)
i agree as well. the wording used by arzt makes it clear that this was a previously known species that happens to be on the island. if there are no objections, i will edit both this page & the expose trivia to reflect that the medusa spider was not discovered by arzt. Lollergirl 00:35, 31 March 2007 (PDT)
I agree. The dialogue was a little clunky, but logically this must have been a species Arzt already knew about. But although it exist in the Lost universe as a known spider, in our world it's a fictional spider. "Regina", the species is fictional, but it's genus is real, making it a member of the widow spider family.--Jackdavinci 11:10, 31 March 2007 (PDT)

Spider = Monster???[]

For those of you who listened to or read the latest podcast (March 21st, 2008), Lindelof and Cuse have a section where they answer questions about various unique characters / animals, and whether they were one of the following: human, apparition, animal, or dead. When mentioning the Medusa Spider, they classify it as "monster". In terms of this show, the word "monster" seems to refer very specifically to the black smoke monster. Is this what they really meant? The spiders were an incarnation of the monster? Should we update this article? --Michaelisinthecoffin 13:58, 25 March 2008 (PDT)

I had always assumed it was liked to the monster, as we can hear it during the scene.--Baker1000 14:03, 25 March 2008 (PDT)
It just seems crazy... so can we assume that the monster can not only take the form of animals, but also adopt their abilities, since the medusa spider did bite and paralyze Nikki and Paulo? Do we now consider them to be victims of the monster? This opens so many possiblities! --Michaelisinthecoffin 14:16, 25 March 2008 (PDT)
I don't have the episode on-hand so I can't re-watch the scene, but IIRC Paulo gets bitten by a single spider and then Nikki is attacked by a bunch of them. The single one was a real spider and it was the "swarm" that was the Monster meting out just deserts. Robert K S (talk) 15:02, 25 March 2008 (PDT)
They also joke about Jack being an apparition also. They could also, when listening to it, be referring to them as Monsters not "THE" monster. Furthermore, the podcast isn't canon, certainly not answers directly to questions posed to the shows creators! As such, we can't "confirm" anything about these spiders being "the monster".  Plkrtn  talk  contribs  email  15:13, 25 March 2008 (PDT)
Yeah, that's what I had thought (monsters being plural, not monster). The original spider (the female) just released the pheromones, but the alleged monster (the swarm of males) did have the ability to bite them, and that's what made them paralyzed. That would lead me to believe that the monster had the same ability as the real spider. Robert: they kind of clarified that the Jack = apparition was a joke by laughing, and all the others seemed reasonable (including the use of "monster" to refer to Yemi). So, I'm the n00b here... what do we deduce from this? Do we leave everything as is? Do we speculate about the monster's ability? Or do we continue to speculate (which, to me, is the most fun! :P)? --Michaelisinthecoffin 18:03, 25 March 2008 (PDT)
I presume your comment addressed to me was meant for plkrtn, as I agree with the distinction that Jack was a joke but the spiders weren't. Don't forget, they made the Monster NYC taxicab receipt printer sound. Robert K S (talk) 18:07, 25 March 2008 (PDT)
Whoops, sorry! I meant that for plkrtn. --Michaelisinthecoffin 18:08, 25 March 2008 (PDT)
They don't have the podcast just so they can mess with our heads - they're trying to give us cool tidbits to get us thinking. IMO it IS confirmation - just listen closely and take joking context as it comes. Anyway, when I first saw the episode I thought it was pretty clear that "the monster" was involved with the Nikki incident because of the receipt sound, they confirmed this. As far absolute specifics on what is the spider vs. what is the monster, I don't think we have a full enough understanding of "the monster" (which appears to be shape-shifting in a way) to grasp what is going on in that scene.--Overworkedirish 16:42, 28 March 2008 (PDT)
I think a problem here is that we are assuming the Arzt was telling the truth. However, we now know that he has lied in the past to the Losties. It doesn't seem too far-fetched to wonder if he was just trying to impress Nikki with the "deadly" spider he found and captured. If thats the case then the spider might have been nothing more than a regular garden spider, and the males and the paralyzing effects could have been Monster-caused.--moss ryder 18:05, 31 March 2008 (PDT)
Good point, Moss. This is going to drive me nuts... I strongly doubt that they'll revisit anything relating to Nikki and Paulo, including the spiders. Hopefully, when we learn more about the monster, we can find out if it can in fact take the form & abilities of animals. I realized something, though, in regards to one of my first questions: we can't classify their deaths as caused by the Monster, since it didn't quite kill them... the losties accidentally did when they buried them alive! --Michaelisinthecoffin 07:27, 1 April 2008 (PDT)
The more i think about it, the more i think arzt is a liar. He says he's a doctor, but how many phd's teach highschool? plus the whole monsoon thing... If you consider that he could be lying bout the spider to impress a hottie(he WAS in sydney cause he couldn't hook up irl, then couldnt even hook up online), a picture seems to emerge. jmho.--moss ryder 00:16, 5 April 2008 (PDT)

If the medusa spiders were the monster does this mean that the monster can take on multiple forms at once? --onelostfanpaul

It's been a while since I saw "The Cost of Living", but didn't the Monster appear as multiple drug smugglers at once at some point? Also, we know he can break himself up and travel as multiple plumes of smoke in multiple directions.  Robert K S   tell me  00:07, May 17, 2010 (UTC)

Rename[]

  • Rename to "Medusa Spider". Species names must have 1st letters in caps as they are proper nouns. Following this protocol, I'm also pushing for Wild Boar and Polar Bear. See Hurley Bird. Sea urchin, for example, is NOT a species, but a class of animals.
  • Rename. To "Medusa Spider"
  • Don't. This is the convention Wikipedia has come up with when referring to a whole variety of animals. (I say "variety" because, the way Wikipedia uses it, it's not limited to species; all dogs are of the same species and subspecies Canis lupus domesticus, but Wikipedia capitalizes dog breeds, as when referring to "the German Shepherd" or "the Mastiff".) It's not standard practice (you'll never find "polar bear" or "boar" or "mastiff" capitalized in a dictionary) and it can lead to all sorts of contradictions and confusion about when proper to capitalize or when not to. I say this is one crazy conformity convention we let be limited to Wikipedia. There's just no sense in it. Robert K S (talk) 18:40, 29 April 2008 (PDT)
Don't rename: As per Robert K S. --Nickb123 (Talk) 09:54, 6 May 2008 (PDT)
This discussion has been open for a while now - gonna class it as a keep result. --Nickb123 (Talk) 06:14, 19 May 2008 (PDT)
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