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A giant statue of Taweret, the Egyptian goddess of fertility, existed on the Island in the late 1800's. Jacob lived under the statue for several centuries, even after its partial demolition sometime before 1974. By 2004, only the left calf and foot remained. The statue is notable for the fact that there are only four toes on each foot.
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Description
Statue exterior
The statue depicts the Egyptian goddess Taweret, the goddess of fertility. The statue, made out of a gray stone, holds an ankh in each hand. The statue's feet each have four toes, a trait noticed by Sayid when he first saw the statue's remains while sailing around the Island. ("Live Together, Die Alone") The statue, built near the sea, is visible from a large distance due to its size, which has been estimated to be 240–250 ft. (75 m) tall (about the height of a 30-story office building). (Official Lost Podcast/May 26, 2006) After the statue's partial demolition (the cause of which is unknown), only a part of the left leg remained. It is unknown where the rest of the statue went, though it is assumed it fell into the sea.
Base interior
The statue stood on a hollow base, in which Jacob lived for an unknown amount of time. The base could be entered by pushing part of the exterior wall in, opening up to a hallway which in turn led to a large room. The room comtained columns (presumably to support the statue). A fire pit adorned the center of the room. During Jacob's time spent living inside the statue's base, he spent his time weaving a tapestry on one of the walls. After the statue's partial demolition, a hole in the ceiling of the base was created, allowing one to see the remaining leg of the statue from inside. ("The Incident, Parts 1 & 2")
History
1800's
The statue was fully built at the time the Black Rock arrived on the Island. Its hollow base was inhabited by Jacob. It was also the location of a seaside meeting between Jacob and his enemy on the day the Black Rock appeared on the horizon. ("The Incident, Parts 1 & 2")
Sawyer's group experienced a flash to approximately this period of time as well, and saw the back of the statue briefly before Locke turned the frozen wheel, moving the Island and causing another time flash, after which they moved to 1974, a time when the statue had already been demolished. ("LaFleur")
2000's
After the crash of Oceanic Flight 815 in 2004, the statue was seen by Sun, Sayid, and Jin while sailing around the Island in a plot to attack the Others. Sayid spotted the statue first, and was disconcerted to find that the statue had four toes, as well as that the rest of the statue was missing. ("Live Together, Die Alone")
Three years later, after the crash of Ajira Airways Flight 316, an entity claiming to be John Locke approached Richard and demanded to be taken to Jacob, whom he secretly intended to kill. ("Follow the Leader") Richard, unaware that this person was not actually Locke, agreed, leading him to the statue's ruins and showing him the entrance to the base, allowing Locke and Ben to enter. Once inside, the entity claiming to be Locke was revealed to be Jacob's ancient enemy, who convinced Ben to stab Jacob and then kicked the dying Jacob into the fire pit, setting him alight and presumably killing him.
Meanwhile, Bram and Ilana, passengers of Flight 316 who worked for Jacob, attempted to find Jacob at his cabin, but instead found a woven illustration of the statue pinned to the wall by a knife. Realizing that Jacob was likely at the statue instead of in the cabin, they burned the cabin and traveled to the statue, revealing to Richard that the person inside the statue with Ben and Jacob was not John Locke by showing Richard the body of the real Locke which they, along with several other survivors of Flight 316, had carried around in a large metal case. ("The Incident, Parts 1 & 2")
Trivia
- Jin, Jacob and Jacob's enemy are the only people known to have seen both the ruin and the full statue.
- In a teleconference with select fans held on April 17, 2008, Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse slightly rectified a misquote of an anecdote previously told by Lindelof at the 2008 Paley Festival. According to Cuse, the true story was that the statue was originally stated to have six toes in the script, but ABC executives mandated that it better have only four toes, which was considered less "weird" than six toes. According to their own words, Lindelof and Cuse didn't mind as long as the statue didn't have five toes. However, sculptor Jim Van Houten gave yet another explanation in the May 9, 2008 video podcast, claiming that the statue's foot was changed from six to four toes because it was hard to tell that it wasn't a regular five-toed foot when it had six toes.
- The ABC Lost Episode Recap for the Incident Pt.1 (May 13, 2009) is the first official confirmation of the statue's identity as Taweret: And as the camera pulls back, we see what we've been waiting to see since we first glimpsed that four-toed foot over three years ago... the towering, majestic statue of the Egyptian goddess Taweret.
Cultural references
- The statue may be in reference to a story, Headlong Hall by Thomas Love Peacock.
- Chapter 4 notes, "Here you see is the pedestal of a statue, with only half a leg and four toes remaining: there were many here once. When I was a boy, I used to sit every day on the shoulders of Hercules: what became of him I have never been able to ascertain."
- The statue may be in reference to the poem "On a Stupendous Leg of Granite", by Horace Smith. The poem begins, "In Egypt's sandy silence, all alone, / Stands a gigantic Leg / The only shadow that the Desert knows:". The poem refers to the fallen Ramesses II colossus near Luxor, Egypt. The poem is about the irony of power--and the end of powerful civilizations. Percy Bysshe Shelley's version of the poem, "Ozymandias," also describes the foot statue.
- The Colossus of Rhodes, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, snapped off mid-leg in an earthquake not long after it was built.
Unanswered questions
| Unanswered questions |
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- For fan theories about these unanswered questions, see: Sam McPherson/Theories
- Who built the statue, and when?
- What happened to the rest of the statue?
- When were the losties during the second sighting of the statue?
- Why does Jacob live under the statue?
- What the statue rapresent/stand for?
- Who destroyed the statue when and why?
See also
References
External links
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