Jacob, the prototypical unseen character is shown extremely briefly in shadow

"Unseen character" is a literary term for a certain type of stock character. An unseen character has the following characteristics:

• Usually not shown to the audience, but may be shown in shadow, or only from the neck down
• Is a recurring character, and important to the plot

In Lost Edit

Jacob Edit

Main article: Jacob

Jacob is the prototypical unseen character. He is introduced to the audience as only "Him" in "Dave", which made the character not only unseen, but also unnamed. The character continues unnamed until "I Do", when Danny mentions "Jacob's list". Many characters and the audience question the very existence of the character until Jacob is finally 'seen' in a split second of shaky camera motion in "The Man Behind the Curtain". It was later revealed that the character was in fact the MIB taking an unknown form (perhaps Christian Shepard's) as part of the smoke monsters elaborate 'long-con'. Jacob's first actual appearance is in "The Incident, Part 1" alongside his brother, the forever nameless 'Man In Black' himself (in his original form).

The Monster Edit

Main article: The Monster

The audience sees the Monster indirectly, only through the eyes of John Locke

Although not depicted as a human character, the Monster is the typical unseen character during the entirety of Season 1:

• The Monster knocks down trees, and makes a mechanical-like noise, but is not seen by the survivors, or by the audience. It later figures as an important part of the Island when it brutally kills the Pilot. ("Pilot, Part 1")
• Locke sees the Monster, but the audience is only allowed to see from the Monster's perspective. ("Walkabout")
• Some of the action in Boone's vision is shown from the perspective of the Monster. ("Hearts and Minds")
• The Monster is shown as wisps of smoke, but only briefly. ("Exodus, Part 2")

In Season 2, the Monster is finally revealed to both Eko and the audience in "The 23rd Psalm".

The Economist Edit

Elsa claims to be working for an economist who Sayid is out to kill. ("The Economist")

The Man on the BoatEdit

Ben's spy on the Kahana, who was later revealed to be Michael Dawson.

See also Edit

• Category:Unseen Characters - A list of characters mentioned in Lost, but never shown. Note that many of these are not true "unseen characters" as defined in this article.