Jack and Sawyer

[Miss Austen]

Been rewatching Season 1 and was struck by a couple of things. When Sawyer was on the raft, Michael questions Sawyer's motives for being there and suggested he was there either to be a hero or to die. Sawyer said he weren't no hero and yet in Season 4 he was acting very much like a hero. Sawyer also told Jack about the conversation he had with Christian Shepherd in the Australian bar. I love that section - so well acted by both Josh Holloway and Matthew Fox. That was a noble thing for Sawyer to do and he was prompted to be nice to Jack because Jack showed him a sign of trust by giving him a gun to use on the raft (in emergencies).

I also noticed that Jack said to Locke that he didn't believe in destiny and Locke replies: "Yes you do - you just don't know it yet." This could be referring to Jack now knowing he must go back to the island to help fix all the things that have gone wrong since the Oceanic Six left.

I'm looking out for new clues by rewatching the old episodes - Season 2 next!

[D-Roc]

I think that the notion of predestination is a very useful one in Lost. People often slate the episode "Stranger in a Strange Land", but actually it highlighted some important issues..especially regarding..as you say..characters being defined before they even realise it.

We can see this with Locke and Jack in particular. They seem to have a destiny which is already laid out for them - Jack aa great leader, but lonely and scared (according to Achera), and Locke a great man with always finds he way somehow.

And that's the thing..destiny in Lost isn't always guarenteed..there seem to exist elements of choice in between te steppeing stones of fate. Jack's choice to leave the island was him taking control of his own fate..which worked out quite well for some, since the spirits wanted Aaron far away from the island. But the island demands that he return..with the 6. Jack has seemingly taken a detour around the line that he was destined to take..

..and as you infer, perhaps there exists a residue of subconscius knowledge..a slight impression of what they are "supposed" to do and who they are "supposed" to be..

[Miss Austen]

I think there have been quite a few detours from destiny. Charlie was supposed to die much sooner than he did. Perhaps his living longer than he was supposed helped alter the course of events.

Michael wasn't supposed to use the computer for any other purpose than inputting the code, but then used it to communicate with Waaaalllltttt!. The Oceanic Six weren't meant to leave the island and they all seem to be paying a heavy price for their return to the real world.

Kate has become disenchanted with Jack and is having to raise Aaron alone instead of with Jack (as she envisioned), Hurley can't cope with seeing Charlie turning up in his life and is now in an asylum. Jack has become a booze and pill addled shell of a man. Sun has become a widow and an (evil?) avenger. Aaron has become separated from his birth mother. Sayid has lost the love of his life and become a hired assassin. So all in all, the Oceanic 6 don't seem to have profited by their return to the 'real' world.

Whereas those who stayed on the island like Sawyer and Juliet seem to be going up in the world. At one time Juliet was viewed as a nasty character but that's not the case now and Sawyer is becoming like the new Jack (heroic etc).