http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lostlogoresize.jpg

->''"Guys....where '''''are''''' we?"''
-->'''Charlie'''

An action/adventure/speculative fiction/horror/drama/insanity show created by [[JJAbrams J. J. Abrams]] of ''{{Alias}}'' fame.

On September 22nd, 2004, Oceanic Flight 815 breaks up in midair and crashes on a tropical island. Forty-eight passengers somehow survive. Unfortunately, this is no ordinary island they've crashed on. To start with, there's something in the jungle which is capable of uprooting trees. It mutilates the pilot, but not before he reveals that the plane was already a thousand miles off course when it crashed, which means the odds of rescue are nil.

The survivors must learn to work together if they want to survive in this strange and hostile environment. This isn't easy, mainly because the most prominent characters are [[DysfunctionJunction so utterly screwed up]]. All of them have [[DarkAndTroubledPast something they're hiding in their pasts]]. There's the seemingly nice woman who's actually a fugitive who was being brought to trial. There's the one-hit wonder ex rockstar junkie. There's the former Iraqi government torturer who's searching for the woman he loves. And so on. Their backstories are revealed in flashbacks, with each episode focusing on a specific character.

As the show goes on, more and more questions arise as [[MythArc the secrets of the island are uncovered]]. There's a hatch in the jungle which, when opened, reveals the existence of a scientific venture that took place on the island in the seventies. More survivors, from the tail section of the plane, are met. Biggest of all, however, is the revelation that there are other people on the island, who have been living there for a long time. They aren't friendly. Flashbacks reveal more and more connections between the characters' pasts, suggesting that it may have been more than coincidence that this specific group of people was on Flight 815.

In season four, rescue seemed to have finally arrived. Unfortunately, the so-called saviors turned out to have quite a different agenda than they claim. And then things [[MindScrew get]] ''[[MindScrew really]]'' [[MindScrew complicated...]]

[[http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page Lostpedia]] (which the producers themselves occasionally namecheck in [[DVDCommentary DVD commentaries]] for its expanse of knowledge) and the other, slightly-spiffier-looking [[http://lost.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page Lost Wikia]] have, separately and together, exhaustively catalogued ("almost") every aspect of ''Lost''. If you want insight into the show or just want to learn some random statistics, it's definitely worth checking out.

This page also has a tool for gathering and voting on [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/crowner.php/BiggestComplaint/Lost Biggest Complaints]] and [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/crowner.php/BestEpisode/Lost Favorite Episodes]], so '''''use them instead of [[HowNotToWriteAnExample adding a sub-bulleted paragraph of complaints]]'''''.

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!!!Warning: This page (much like this entire web site) contains no small number of spoilers. Reading it will ruin plot points, [[EvilDetectingDog drive your pets crazy]], and [[ImportantHaircut make you get a hair cut.]]

This program features examples of:
* ABNegative: Jack struggles to find a donor for Boone and, failing to find a match among the other survivors, reveals himself to be O- and performs the transfusion using his own blood.
**Kate is later revealed to be a Universal Donor in Season 5.
* TheAbridgedSeries: [[http://abc.go.com/primetime/lost/index?pn=lostuntangled Lost Untangled.]]
** The kicker is that it's not just ''endorsed'', but was ''made'' by the airing channel.
* AbusiveParents: ''[[http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Parent_issues In spades.]]''
* ActionGirl: Kate, Juliet, and Charlotte, at different points. Ana Lucia consistently ([[FauxActionGirl although]] YourMileageMayVary). Ilana is also fully capable of taking care of herself in a fight - good thing, since she's a bounty hunter.
* ActorAllusion: Sawyer referring to Charlie as "the Munchkin" in "Tricia Tanaka is Dead" ''could'' be construed as a reference to his resemblance to a Hobbit, especially given the slight smile that starts to appear before the shot cuts.
**Charlie definitely gets one in an earlier episode "Further Instructions" during which a dumb John Locke is trying to convey a message and Charlie remarks, "Trees? Yeah, I've heard they're wonderful conversationalists." This is a direct allusion to the fact that Dominac Monaghan played Merry in The Lord of the Ring films and did in fact talk to the trees.
**Not to mention him talking to Rose when she was carrying a ring on a chain around her neck.
* ADayInTheLimelight: Everyone gets their day.
** Except Libby.
*** And Charlotte, who got her own flashback, but not an episode of her own.
* AerosolFlamethrower: Used by Locke.
-->'''Charlie:''' "Hairspray? Uh, I hate to be the one to break this to you..."
* AffablyEvil: Ben, especially at the beginning of the third season. As the story progresses, he has to deal [[XanatosSpeedChess quickly with an increasingly dangerous situation]] (and he [[spoiler: loses Alex]]), so he becomes more frantic and less affable.
* AirVentEscape: Performed by Kate at the beginning of the second season, as well as [[spoiler:Ben (as "Henry")]] consensually later on.
* AllJustADream: A few times
* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: James "Sawyer" Ford has the fangirls to prove it.
** Reversed because Kate is every bit as bad as Sawyer and has both Sawyer and Jack chasing after her.
* AlmostDeadGuy: [[AndThereWasMuchRejoicing Best]] [[NightmareFuel possible]] [[SubvertedTrope subversion]] for [[ThePoochie Nikki and Paulo]].
* AlternateRealityGame: ''The Lost Experience'', played during the break between seasons two and three, Find 815, between seasons three and four, and the Dharma Initiative Recruiting Project, between four and five. It's fairly safe to assume there will be another ARG between five and six.
** Turns out a few ARG-ish things happened, most prominently the "Damon, Carlton, and a Polar Bear" website which resulted in a clue hunt for Lost posters.
* AnachronicOrder: It happened twice: in the season one episodes "Solitary" and "Raised by Another" and the season five episodes "316" and "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham." Apparently, there are more than enough storylines to change around the order of episodes without affecting anything.
**Also happened with two early season 3 episodes, "The Glass Ballerina" and "Further Instructions".
* AnyoneCanDie: Hoo, boy...
* ArchnemesisDad: Locke's father abandoned him until well into his adult life, at which point he stole his kidney, re-abandoned him, used him as a courier, [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder abandoned him again]], and [[DestinationDefenestration pushed him out of an 8-story window]].
* {{Arc Number}}s:
** FourIsDeath
** [[NumerologicalMotif Eight]]
** [[NumerologicalMotif Fifteen]]
** [[NumerologicalMotif Sixteen]]
** [[NumerologicalMotif TwentyThree]]
*** Jack's row was 23.
** [[TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy Forty Two]]
*** Ana Lucia's row was 42.
** These numbers come to the sum OneHundredAndEight, which ties into the Buddhist themes of the Dharma Initiative.
*** And it's the number of minutes the timer in The Hatch counts down from.
*** It's also [[spoiler:the number of days the Oceanic 6 spent on the island before their rescue]].
** The product of the numbers, 7418880, appears as part of an alert for the "Electromagnetic Anomaly".
** They also appear all over the place in combination:
*** The flight's number was 815.
*** ''The Lost Experience'' {{ARG}} revealed that the numbers are [[spoiler:core factors in the [[FormulaicMagic Valenzetti Equation]], which "predicts the exact number of years and months until humanity extinguishes itself."]]
* ArcWords: There's dozens of phrases repeated throughout the show in addition to the {{Arc Number}}s.
** "Live together, die alone" is another very common one, appearing in episodes ranging from the pilot to the Season 5 finale (currently the most recent episode).
** "What lies in the shadow of the statue?" seems to be the straightest use of this trope.
*** "Don't tell me what I can't do."
* ArthurDent: Most of the characters with no history in the MythArc, but it's most noticeable with Frank Lapidus, especially in Season Five.
* AsYouWish: Jack realizes he's met Desmond before from Desmond's calling him "brother".
* TheAtoner: Several characters. Notably subverted with Mr. Eko, who appears to be the most clear-cut example in the series but finally reveals himself to be [[IDidWhatIHadToDo utterly unrepentant of his amoral past]], which he willingly took upon himself to save his brother.
* BackForTheDead: [[EnforcedTrope Enforced]] by the island for [[spoiler:Michael]]. When he's asked what he's doing back:
--> ''"To die."''
** Played normally with [[spoiler: Faraday.]]
* {{Badass}}: Everyone has their moments.
** Locke: Knife-throwing makes you a badass by default.
** Eko: Killed 3 gun-wielding drug lords with a machete without flinching.
** Sayid: Killed someone by stabbing them. ''With a '''dishwasher'''.''
*** And snapped a man's neck with his ankles, ''while he was bound and the man was armed''.
** Sawyer: Removed a bullet from his shoulder ''with his bare hand''.
** [[MagnificentBastard Ben Linus]]: took out two [[spoiler:gun-wielding horseback Bedouins]] with nothing but a telescoping baton and the element of surprise.
*BadassDecay: Played with in Locke's case. He goes back and forth from awesome to pathetic so many times that this duality has basically become one of his main character traits.
* BeardOfSorrow: Jack at the end of the third season. The beard was massive, probably because it stood for alcohol and pills.
* BecauseDestinySaysSo: In this case, Destiny goes by the name of "Desmond".
** Practically all of Ms. Hawking's appearances involve this.
* BecomingTheMask: Juliet
* BeleagueredChildhoodFriend: Things didn't end so well for Kate's childhood sweetheart.
* BestServedCold: Sawyer is constantly searching for the man he wants to serve revenge to. Coldly.
** And then in season three [[spoiler:he finally gets his chance]].
* BetterThanItSounds: "Okay, so we did crash, but it was on this crazy island. And we waited for rescue and there wasn't any rescue. And there was a [[spoiler:smoke monster]], and then there were other people on the island, we called them 'The Others.' And they started attacking us. And we found some hatches and there was a button you had to push every 108 minutes or...well it was never really clear on that. But The Others didn't have anything to do with the hatches, that was [[spoiler:the Dharma Initiative]]. They were all dead, [[spoiler:The Others]] killed them. And now they're trying to kill us. And then we teamed up with [[spoiler:the Others]] because some worse people were coming on a freighter. [[spoiler:Desmond's girlfriend's father]] sent them to kill us. So we stole their helicopter, and we flew it to their freighter, but it blew up. And we couldn't go back to the island because [[spoiler:it disappeared]]. So then we crashed in the ocean, and we floated there for a while, until a boat came and picked us up. And by then there were [[spoiler:six]] of us."
* BetterOnDVD: For one thing, you don't have to wait an ungodly time between seasons.
* BigBad: Uncertain at this point, but Jacob sure is being set up as one. [[spoiler: Season 5's finale seems to have thrown a curveball as Jacob being the good guy and this new...entity being the true villain of the show, assuming Jacob had a very good reason to let all the people on the island who have died die.]]
* BigDamnHeroes: Hurley in the third season finale.
* BigFun: Hurley.
* BilingualBonus: Dr. Arzt translates as "[[SouthPark Dr. Doctor]]" in German.
* BlatantLies: Ben.
* {{Blipvert}}: Carl is strapped into a chair and forced to watch one of these when Kate, Sawyer and Alex rescue him.
* BloodstainedGlassWindows: Eko kills a bunch of gangsters in a church. This actually causes the parishioners to shut it down.
* BlownAcrossTheRoom: [[spoiler:Cesar]], by a gun that suspiciously resembles the Force-a-Nature from TeamFortress2 (which has this effect). JJ Abrams and Gabe Newell (head of Valve Software, the game's developer) are in contact and Lost has referenced Valve games before (and vice versa).
* BolivianArmyCliffhanger: Season 5 possibly ended with a hydrogen bomb detonating in proximity to at least eight of the main characters.
* BoobsOfSteel: Ilana; to a lesser extent, Juliet and middle-aged Eloise Hawking.
* BountyHunter: Ilana.
* BrandX: Would ''you'' like some Dharma Initiative cereal?
* BuffySpeak: [[http://www.hulu.com/watch/90208/lost-tricia-tanaka-is-dead?c=1889:1899 SHUT UP! Red... neck... man.]]
* BuryYourGays: Tom, aka Mr. Friendly. In fairness, there was nothing but the fact he said Kate wasn't his type to indicate he (a quite minor character) was gay anyway, which was hardly definitive. The reveal only came after he had died, shown in someone else's flashback as a tiny detail likely thrown in because of fan speculation.
* BrokenBase: Let's not get into it.
* CarFu: Hurley's [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome ride to the rescue]] in a [[strike:VW]] [[BrandX Dharma]] minibus.
* CatchPhrase:
** Hurley: "Dude..."
** Desmond: "See you in another life, brother."
** Sawyer's "Son of a bitch!" and many nicknames for people, particulary Freckles (Kate).
** Locke: "Don't tell me what I can't do."
** Ben: "ILied."
* CanNotSpitItOut: The only time Sawyer verbally admits his feelings for Kate is when he's deliriously sick. The only time Kate verbally admits her feelings for Sawyer is when he's being beaten to a bloody pulp. Even then, it takes her a while.
** [[spoiler:Libby]]'s [[AlmostDeadGuy last]] [[HisNameIs words]] claiming [[spoiler:Michael]] betrayed the group. Reason being is that she's [[spoiler:been shot in the stomach and pumped full of heroin]].
* CelebrityResemblance: If you think Ben Linus's resemblance to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk Elon Musk]] is rather creepy, try not to notice his even stronger resemblance to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klaus_Nomi Klaus Nomi]].
* TheChainsOfCommanding: Jack doesn't enjoy it.
* ChainedHeat: Brilliantly subverted.
* ChangelingFantasy: Alex discovering that she's Rousseau's daughter.
* CharacterAlignment: The series provides examples of:
** LawfulGood: Jack; Frank Lapidus
** NeutralGood: Hurley; Rose and Bernard; Juliet (later seasons)
** ChaoticGood: Kate; Sawyer (post-season 1); Desmond
** LawfulNeutral: Sayid; Richard
** TrueNeutral: Locke; Juliet
** ChaoticNeutral: Rousseau; Sawyer (at first)' Miles
** LawfulEvil: Charles Widmore
** NeutralEvil: Anthony Cooper; Ben
** ChaoticEvil: Keamy; The Black Smoke, inexplicably alternating between this alignment (when it's killing people randomly) and LawfulNeutral (when it's judging them)
* CharacterDerailment: Sawyer and Charlie in season two, though they snap back later. Some might say Kate after Season 1 or 2.
* CharacterDevelopment: Everyone.
* CharacterFocus: The show's bread and butter.
* CharacteristicTrope: Revolutionized the use of flashbacks.
* ChekhovsGun: Multiple times.
* TheChessmaster: [[spoiler: Jacob's unnamed opponent, as revealed in the season 5 finale.]]
* TheChewToy: Bad things keep happening to Locke's right leg.
** Mikhail is severely hurt in every episode he appears in.
** Despite being a very powerful {{manipulative bastard}} who brings it on himself, Ben qualifies because he can't go more than two episodes without being dealt a {{no holds barred beatdown}} (and he never fights back).
* TheChrisCarterEffect: Oh, boys...
** Mainly caused by the second and the third season. During the second half of Season 5 some people complained about the show stripping [[spoiler:the Dharma Initiative]] of its mysteries. Can you invert TheChrisCarterEffect?
* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: There are at least two rules on this show. The first rule is that nobody should trust Ben. The second rule is that everybody will disregard the first rule.
** Locke has a similar relationship with [[ArchnemesisDad his father]].
* CliffHanger: Pretty much every other episode.
** Every ''other''?
* CommitmentAnxiety
* CompleteMonster: Keamy. As for any others who fit the bill, have fun debating!
** Anthony Cooper also qualifies.
* TheComputerIsACheatingBastard: Mikhail states that this is why he's never beaten his computer at chess.
* ConspiracyTheorist: Frank Lapidus, the pilot who was supposed to be flying Flight 815, after seeing footage of [[spoiler:the recovered aircraft]] and noticing that [[spoiler:the body in the cockpit didn't match the man who was supposed to be flying it]].
* ConsummateLiar: Ben's CatchPhrase is "ILied".
* ContinuityLockout: So, so much in Seasons 4 and 5. Naturally, the plot is better off for it.
* ContrivedCoincidence: One of the shows themes is the concept of coincidence versus fate. [[spoiler: Flashbacks with Jacob in the last episode of Season 5 have kind of ruined most of the debate.]]
* ConversationalTroping: Locke and Boone's RedShirt discussion.
* CoolOldGuy: Locke, in spades. Even if [[spoiler:he was just another pawn the whole time]], he still saved several lives and helped countless others.
* CosyCatastrophe: There's the odd soldier or convict (okay, maybe about a third of the passengers), but most of the other castaways are normal, middle class people, albeit with [[DysfunctionJunction an awful lot of trauma in their pasts]].
* CPRCleanPrettyReliable: Either after 10 seconds they cough up a mouthful of salt water and spring to life or "there's nothing else I can do". ''Every. Damn. Time.''
* CrazyPrepared: Ben could make Batman green with envy.
** Keamy's elaborate [[spoiler:DeadManSwitch]] at the end of Season 4 should qualify him.
* CrazySurvivalist: Rousseau in the first season.
* CrossReferencedTitles: "One of Them" and "One of Us"
** Now includes "The Constant" and "The Variable"
*** The Episodes "...and found" and "...in translation" could be seen as a version of this are both are part of phrases that begin with the word "Lost"
* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: Most characters get one.
* CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming: The reunion of [[spoiler:Desmond and Penny]].
** Speaking of [[spoiler:Des and Penny]], how can you not mention the end of "The Constant""?!
* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: So many, but particularly Ben's theme 'Dharmacide' and 'Life and Death'. Michael Giacchino is a very talented man.
** Also the use of 'Make Your Own Kind of Music' for the Season 2 opening which not only caused a crazy SoundtrackDissonance but the lyrics still define the characteristics of the character introduced to this day.
** The leitmotif of the season four finale, ''There's no place like home''. The heartwarming version of [[spoiler:the plane landing]] becomes the theme of terrible impending doom later on, but it's powerful nonetheless.
* CrypticConversation: "Are you him? What did one snowman say to the other?"
** "What lies in the shadow of the statue?"
** Whenever Christian appears in a non-flashback.
* CuckooNest: It's practically poor Hurley's second home.
* CuffsOffRubWrists: People get handcuffed or tied up a lot. Of special note is Jin, who went for ''over a season'' wearing one shackle of a pair of broken handcuffs.
* DeadGuyJunior: [[spoiler:Desmond and Penny]]'s son is named [[spoiler:Charlie]].
* DeadManSwitch: [[spoiler:Keamy]] sets up one of these before [[spoiler:leaving to capture Ben Linus]].
* DeadpanSnarker: Miles.
-->'''Miles:''' What happened to him?
-->'''Horace:''' He fell in a ditch.
-->'''Miles:''' He's got a bullet in his head. The ditch have a gun?
** In [[LampshadeHanging commenting on Miles' use of this trope]], Hurley reveals his own qualifications for the position:
--->'''Miles:''' Where the hell did they go, Tubby?
--->'''Hurley:''' Oh, awesome. The ship sent us another Sawyer.
** Ben Linus also gets his fair share.
---> "No, John, we don't have a code for 'there's a man in my closet with a gun to my daughter's head'. Although obviously we should..."
* DeathByCameo: Zoe Bell.
* DeathByMaterialism: Nikki and Paolo
* DeathBySex: Shannon and Ana-Lucia ([[LesYay no, not together]])
* DeathIsNotPermanent: [[spoiler:Yes it is.]]
-->'''Ben:''' ''[[TitleDrop "Dead is dead."]]''
* DesertedIsland: The entire show is the subversion.
* DidNotDoTheResearch: Claire in the tattoo/piercing studio uses a piercing gun to pierce the ear of a girl who already had a septum ring. These are most commonly used in mall jewelry kiosks, but not in piercing studios. Reputable shops will use sterile, one-time-use needles, even for ear piercings.
* [[spoiler:DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu]]: Ben and [[spoiler:Jacob]] in the season 5 finale.
* DiesWideShut: Numerous times. One minor motif is someone closing a dead person's eyes out of respect.
* DisappearedDad: Hurley, Claire (which plays a role in the plot)
* DisneyDeath: Charlie pulls one in the middle of season one.
* DoggedNiceGuy
* DoorToBefore
* DoubleAesop: "The best way to find something is to stop looking"
* DrivingQuestion: Being specific would require a page of its own (and in fact this page can probably be found on Lostpedia), so a good summary is "What the hell is going on?"
* DrJerk: Jack (sometimes) has a terrible bed-side manner and often brutally honest with his patients about their chances, but otherwise is a miracle-worker. His father Christian, on the other hand, was a snarky, condescending drunk who got a patient killed.
* DroppedABridgeOnHim: All of them.
* DucksInARow
* DyingAlone: "If we don't learn to live together, we're gonna die alone."
* DyingLikeAnimals
* DysfunctionJunction: More like Dysfunction Scramble Crossing.
* EducationMama: Eloise Hawking
* EnsembleDarkhorse: There are, of course, several in a show with this many characters. Rose and Bernard deserve special mention. Both Desmond and [[TheMoriartyEffect Ben]] started out this way with [[BreakoutCharacter their popularity earning them MAJOR roles]].
* EpilepticTrees: One wild fan theory was the TropeNamer. [[SoYeah Yeah]]. It's [[MindScrew that kind of a show]].
* EstrogenBrigadeBait: Sawyer, Jack, Sayid, Desmond.
* EvenTheGuysWantHim: There have been a few mancrushes on Sayid, Jack, Desmond, and Sawyer. Even Ben and Locke aren't without their fans.
* EveryoneIsJesusInPurgatory: The show is a ''perfect'' example of this trope - the whole thing is so labyrinthine and deliberately ambiguous that fans tend to overanalyze everything, to the point of risking a brain aneurysm. That's part of the fun, after all.
* EvilVersusEvil: Ben versus Charles Widmore in season three and four. Then in season five it was revealed that [[spoiler:it has been Jacob versus his enemy all along]], and now it is possibly [[spoiler:Jacob's enemy versus whoever the "they" Jacob was referring to]].
* ExactTimeToFailure: The countdown clock in The Hatch.
* ExecutiveVeto: Jack was supposed to die in the first episode; ABC nixed that idea and the rest is history.
* ExpandedUniverse: Consisting of a few books, two online games, and a computer/video game. The canonicity of all of them is questionable, however.
** Word from ThePowersThatBe is that the only true canon is the show itself. The mobisodes are kinda canon, same goes for the Orchid video from Comic Con 2007, but not for the Pierre Chang Video from Comic Con 2008. So yeah.
* ExpansionPackPast: Everyone
** Not all characters employ this trope to its full definition, though. For instance, most of Hurley's flashbacks, rather than adding a new period to his otherwise-undefined past, flesh out a period in his life that was alluded to over a season prior.
* ExpositoryHairstyleChange AKA Flashback Wig
* EyepatchOfPower: Mikhail.
* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler:Michael]], although he eventually [[RedemptionEqualsDepth redeems himself]] (to the island).
* FailureIsTheOnlyOption: Subverted after we start flashing forward and see that some people get off the island. Then subverted again when it turns out they were better off on-island.
* FakeDefector: Hurley pretends to get kicked out of Locke's group and join Jack's.
* FakeNationality:
**Naveen Andrews (British) plays Sayid Jarrah (Iraqi Arabic)
**Daniel Dae Kim (Koren-American) plays Jin-Soo Kwan (Korean national)
**Mira Furlan (Yugoslavian/Croatian) plays Danielle Rousseau (French)
**Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (British) plays Mr. Eko (Nigerian)
**Alan Dale (New Zealand) plays Charles Widmore (British)
**Henry Ian Cusick (Scottish-Peruvian) plays Desmond Hume (Scottish)
*** That one not so much, but his off-screen accent is wildly different, brotha)
** In-universe example: If anyone says they're Canadian--they're lying!
* FakeOutOpening: Every Season Premiere (except for the first, naturally).
* FanCommunityNicknames: Lostaways
* FanNickname:
** Fenry for Ben when he was "Fake Henry," becoming "Benry"
** Losties or Lostaways for the original group
** Smokey for The Monster
** Tailies and Boaties for those who arrived in the plane's tail and the freighter, respectively; ** {{Guyliner}} for Richard Alpert (later hilariously subverted when the producers denied he was wearing any makeup whatsoever).
** There's [[IncrediblyLamePun plenty of others]]. Newest of all: [[MeaningfulName Esau]] and [[spoiler:Un-Locke]] for [[spoiler: Jacob's unnamed enemy]].
* {{Fanon}} Eko and Yemi's so-far non-existent last name, "Tunde".
* FanPreferredCouple: Many fans prefer Sawyer/Juliet just because they're so damn sick of the Jack/Kate/Sawyer love triangle. The fact that they, depending on [[YourMileageMayVary your mileage]], have spectacular chemistry only furthers the preference.
** Most of the fandom, given the question, will probably tell you that their favorite couple on the series is Desmond/Penny.
* FauxActionGirl: Ana-Lucia. Despite it constantly being mentioned that she was a cop and can therefore handle herself, all she really manages to do aside from talk big is shoot two unarmed people and barely manage to stab someone before [[spoiler: getting killed ignominiously by Michael after barely stopping herself from shooting ''another'' unarmed man.]] ThisTroper had started watching Lost with high expectations from all the talk about her being an ActionGirl on this page and was consistently disappointed. YMMV if others qualify for this as well, such as Kate.
* FauxDeath - Charlie in S1 and [[spoiler: Jin in S4/5]]
* FauxFluency: Naveen Andrews is actually British, and doesn't speak Arabic (which is why all of his scenes with people who should be speaking Arabic [[TranslationConvention switch to English after one or two sentences]]).
**At Jin and Sun's wedding, [[spoiler:Jacob]] tells them their love is special. After he leaves, they comment that his Korean is excellent. It doesn't take a knowledge of Korean to notice that this is an InformedAbility.
**Inverted with Jin: Daniel Dae Kim is a Korean-American and, in a dream sequence of the season 2 episode "Everybody Hates Hugo", demonstrates he actually speaks native English. In the show, however, he plays a Korean national who doesn't learn English for at least 2 seasons, and still speaks it with a moderate accent after [[spoiler:having 3 years of experience]].
*** It only slipped once, and only very slightly, when he encountered [[spoiler:Rosseau's research party]] and quickly spoke 5 English words or so in a row without hesitation.
* FetishFuel: This show is the restrainment fetishist's paradise.
* FingertipDrugAnalysis: As a drug lord, Eko knows how to do this, of course. Sayid in one episode too.
* FiveBadBand: The Others in season 3, with Ben pulling double duty.
** TheBigBad and the EvilGenius: Ben.
** TheDragon: Richard.
** TheBrute: Tom or Mikhail.
** TheDarkChick: Juliet.
* FiveManBand: The fan-nicknamed "A-Team" (The five Lostaways that always involve themselves in everything important happening in the island), who had even been referred to as such within the show at least once.
** TheHero: Jack Shephard.
** TheLancer: John Locke.
** TheBigGuy: James "Sawyer" Ford.
** TheSmartGuy: Sayid Jarrah.
** TheChick: Kate Austen.
* {{Flashback}}: It is practically the CharacteristicTrope, after all.
* FlashbackEcho: OnceAnEpisode or so.
* FlashbackEffects: A distinctive sound effect notes the beginning and end of each flashback. This is almost reversed for the 'jumps'
* FlashbackTwist: Possibly the TropeCodifier. Special mention goes to [[FlashForward the third season finale]].
* FlashForward: As of [[spoiler:the end of the third season]], we get these too.
* FlorenceNightingaleEffect: How Jack and Sarah fell in love.
* FoeYay: Ben and Locke. Lampshaded by Ben in the season 5 finale.
** The amount of [[FoeYay FoeYayishness]] between the two is actually rather amusing.
--->'''Ben''': ''And then you came striding out of the jungle, John, to make my dream come true.''
*** So much, in fact, that the [[spoiler: Season 5 finale with Ben and Un-Locke confronting Jacob almost feels like a love triangle, with Ben's angry reaction at being treated like the third wheel.]]
* FreudianExcuse: Ben.
* FridgeBrilliance: It is very subtly, but heavily, implied that Rose and Bernard are the elderly couple who's skeletons were found and [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse never mentioned again]] in S1.
* FunWithForeignLanguages
* GeniusLoci: The Island
* GreyAndGreyMorality: Played with in the repetition from all different sources about who is a "good person" (or people) or a "bad person" (or people). Naturally, there are contradicting opinions about and from just about everyone.
* GuineaPigFamily: Juliette practiced her fertility therapy on her sister.
* TheGwenStacy: Libby in Season Two, and [[spoiler: Charlotte]] in Season Five. The only purpose that either of their death's served was to further {{woobie}}fy their respective boyfriends. [[spoiler:Charlotte]]'s death was especially grating, as she died of something which literally ceased to be an issue five minutes later and actually seemed like a character with some skills to contribute and some potential, whereas connection with Hurley and one mystifying flash back aside, at the time Libby was a non entity.
* HandWave: when Abbadon asks if Walt [[spoiler:has to come back to the island too]], Locke replies that "he's been through enough."
* HearingVoices
* HeelFaceTurn: Juliet
* HesJustHiding: See "DropABridgeOnThem" above.
* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:Desmond]] at the end of Season Two [[spoiler:(although he survives)]], [[spoiler:Charlie]] at the end of Season Three
* HeWhoMustNotBeSeen: The Monster and the Others during season one. And Jacob, [[spoiler: until "The Incident"]]
* HeyItsThatGuy: Survivors include [[{{Film/LordOfTheRings}} Meriadoc Brandybuck]] and [[TheMatrix Link (not the Zelda one)]].
** Hugo is the son of [[CheechMarin Cheech]].
** Kate was briefly married to [[{{Firefly}} Mal Reynolds]].
*** Her ''mother'' is [[SabrinaTheTeenageWitch Aunt Zelda]].
** Sayid is [[PlanetTerror humanity's last hope for stopping the zombie outbreak]].
** Locke once lived on a commune with [[TwinPeaks Hank Jennings]] and was nearly Married [[strike:With Children]] to [[MarriedWithChildren Peggy Bundy]].
*** Also, Locke's mom is [[PushingDaisies Charlotte Charles]]' aunt [[spoiler:(actually, they'd be siblings)]].
** [[TheTick Batmanuel]] is the (partial) leader the Others, as well as [[TheDarkKnightSaga the citizens of Gotham City]].
** [[{{Saw}} Zep from Saw]] used to be the leader of the Others.
*** Miles can't possibly be alive because he [[YourHeadASplode lost his head]] [[{{Saw}} in the first Saw movie]].
** One of their guards is freaking '''[[ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia Mac]]'''.
*** This was [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] with Damon Lindelof introducing the Sunny panel at ComicCon.
** [[TheXFiles Eugene Tooms]] was one of the leaders of the Dharma Initiative.
** [[TheOC Caleb Nichol]] is Penny's father.
** [[{{Ed}} Carol Vessey, Mike Burton, and Dr. Crazy]] were Jack's wife, a survivor from the tail of the plane, and Hugo's [[spoiler:imaginary]] friend respectively!
** The ship's communications engineer was [[Film/SuperMarioBros Iggy Koopa]]. He probably got the experience while he was [[{{Hackers}} administering the Gibson]].
** Daniel Faraday was [[SavingPrivateRyan in Normandy with Tom Hanks]].
** In ''The 3:10 To Yuma'' remake Martin Keamy managed to piss off both [[ChristianBale Batman]] and [[RussellCrowe Maximus]], before [[spoiler: dying... stabbed in the throat!]] Yeah, that happens a lot to him.
** [[{{Fringe}} Agent Broyles]] or [[{{Oz}} Johnny Basil]] is a mysterious orderly/assistant who works for Widmore.
*** Also from {{Oz}}, trapped in yet another series, The Narrator/Augustus Hill is looking for his son, Walt, all the time, and Adebisi is an African warlord/priest.
** Jacob was [[{{Dexter}} Rita's douchebag ex.]]
** Juliet was married to [[HomicideLifeOnTheStreet Ed Danvers]] / [[Series/{{Heroes}} Emile Danko]].
** [[BattlestarGalactica Admiral Cain]] took a well-paying job as an Oceanic Airlines rep.
* HeyItsThatVoice: Also, John Locke used to date [[{{Futurama}} Leela]] (listed above).
** On one of his time jumps, Jin landed in [[AvatarTheLastAirbender the Earth Kingdom]] and became a general.
* HitlersTimeTravelExemptionAct: In play in some way. [[spoiler: What with Sayid shooting, and trying to kill Ben Linus back in 1977.]]
** [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in the following episode by Hurley and Miles - and even better, it's implied that [[spoiler:Jack's refusal to save Ben's life as a child - and Sawyer and Juliet's subsequent plea to Richard Alpert - turned him into the MagnificentBastard he would become in the future]].
* HisNameIs: Pretty much every character with valuable information to impart on the main characters seems to suffer from this trope. Every time someone has a chance to really expose an important plot point or enigmatic mystery, they dance around the issue with vague words and nonsense until they are forced away/leave/die.
* HookersAndBlow
* HoYay: By union set:
** Jack and (Sawyer, Locke, Sayid);
** Sawyer and (Sayid, Hurley, Jin);
** Charlie and (Hurley, Desmond)
* HopeSpot: Locke banging on the Hatch door at his weakest moment only for it to miraculously turn on. Which is actually a double-whammy as by doing so he [[spoiler:saves Desmond from a suicide attempt]].
* HowWeGotHere: Season 4.
* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: Such episode titles as [[LostInTranslation "In Translation"]] and [[LostAndFound "And Found"]].
* IdiotBall: A ''massive'' handling by the remaining A-Team and Boaties, who spent the last few episodes of season 5 formulating and executing a plan that hinged on the small probability that [[spoiler:setting off a nuke would prevent the mysterious "Incident" that happened to the Swan station]]. It wasn't until five minutes before they were to do it that the DeadpanSnarker asked "what if it didn't prevent it; what if it ''caused'' it?" The silent response warranted an exasperated "I'm glad you all thought this through".
* IJustWantToBeSpecial: Locke's backstory
* IKnewIt: Speculation was that based off his nickname, "Mr. Friendly", Tom's full name was Tom Friendly. Eventually the producers confirmed this was true.
* IKnowKungFu: Kate suddenly has tracking skills; they weren't revealed before because YouDidntAsk.
* ILied: Ben Linus's CatchPhrase.
* IllGirl: Shannon is asthmatic, which leads to Sawyer stealing her inhalator...
* {{ILLKILLYOU}}
* InconvenientHippocraticOath: Jack has to save Ben. When pressed for a reason, however, he neglects to mention the oath.
* InfantImmortality: [[WordOfGod Damon Lindelof]] stated that by the end of the series, [[TeamPet Vincent the dog]] will still be alive. Chances are Aaron, Ji Yeon, and little [[spoiler:[[DeadGuyJunior Charlie]]]] will live to the end as well.
* InferredSurvival: As of season 3, this is the game people play with the characters left on the island.
* IPulledAWeirdAl:
-->'''Hurley:''' ...You just totally ScoobyDoo-ed me, didn't you?
* ISeeDeadPeople: Miles.
** Technically, he doesn't actually see them, but can communicate with them.
** Hurley is a much more straight example these days.
* ISeeThemToo: Kate and Sawyer go through this in "What Kate Did".
* IslandHelpMessage: Bernard begins to build one in the episode "S.O.S.," as the title would seem to indicate. [[spoiler:He gives up, because nobody really wants to leave.]]
* IsThatWhatTheyreCallingItNow: Sawyer's reaction to Jack telling him that he and Kate got caught in a net.
**Later:
--->'''Sawyer:''' I screwed her.
--->'''Jack:''' What?
--->'''Sawyer:''' [[spoiler:Anna Lucia]]... we got caught in a net.
* ItWasHisSled: Wanna know what the FanNickname for the Monster is now? [[spoiler:The Smoke Monster]].
* JediTruth: "The box was a metaphor."
* {{Jerkass}}: Sawyer in season one. [[HeelJustification Justified]] a few episodes in, where we learn that he is [[spoiler:intentionally playing the part of a JerkAss so people can hate him as part of a deep self-hatred impersonation complex]].
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Sawyer ''after'' season 1. Thank you CharacterDevelopment! By S4, the Jerk may as well be completely removed.
** Though he's still a grand DeadpanSnarker.
* JigsawPuzzlePlot: We still haven't been given half the pieces.
** There's a ''literal'' jigsaw puzzle you can buy that assists in revealing the plot.
* KilledMidSentence: This is how [[spoiler:Boone]] died. [[spoiler:[[RedShirt Arzt]]]] as well.
* KilledOffForReal: Many, ''many'' people.
* KnifeNut: Locke
* KudzuPlot: The whole show, inside and out. There may be no better example.
* LandDownUnder: The show's portrayal of Australia is laughably inaccurate, mainly appealing to stereotypes.
** Claire's mom. You'd swear she's on the verge of saying "Dingoes stole moi baybee" every other word.
* LandMineGoesClick: Happens every time someone activates one of Rousseau's traps.
* LargeHam: Jack, old Ms. Hawking, and Ben (occasionally).
* LettingHerHairDown: Ana-Lucia goes back and forth in the second season.
* LeyLine: An intricate [[EpilepticTrees fan theory]] has it that the island moves along ley lines. Interestingly, there is in fact a ley node in Tunisia. Ley node number [[ArcNumber 4]] actually corresponds with one of the possible locations of the Island.
* LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt: Averted. They would.
* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters - it helps fuel AnyoneCanDie.
** GeodesicCast: Out of sheer necessity.
* LoveMakesYouDumb
* LoveTriangle: The one involving Jack, Kate and Sawyer has been played throughout all seasons so far with an insufferable, obnoxious insistence.
** The addition of Juliet to the mix makes things [[LoveDodecahedron slightly more interesting]].
* LukeIAmYourFather: We eventually learn that Claire is Jack's half-sister.
** [[spoiler:Eloise Hawking]] is Faraday's mother.
*** And [[spoiler:Charles Widmore]] is his father.
* LukeYouAreMyFather: And [[spoiler:Pierre Chang]] is Miles's father.
* MafiaPrincess: Sun, though she does not really approve of it.
* MagnificentBastard: Ben.
* ManBehindTheMan: It turns out to be [[spoiler:Ben]], except he is actually working for [[spoiler:Jacob]], until [[spoiler:he is killed by... Who the hell knows?]]
* MarySue: Jack and Kate, especially in the first two seasons. [[Discussion/Lost Have fun debating]] over whether this has changed since.
* MauveShirt: Rose and Bernard.
* MeanwhileInTheFuture: Done when [[spoiler:Desmond (and, by Season 5, the whole island)]] gets unstuck in time. Averted in name with title cards stating "[[spoiler:Thirty years]] later".
* MentalTimeTravel: Happens if you encounter a large blast of radiation or electromagnetism on or near the island.
* MessageInABottle: Attempted and failed... [[OrIsIt or was it?]]
* MessianicArchetype: Locke seems to definitely fit this role. A whole race of people awaiting his arrival? Suffering a lot and eventually dying to save everyone? Having a resurrection?
** Cruelly subverted in season five when [[spoiler:it is revealed Locke was never brought back to life at all.]]
* MindScrew: Lots of it.
* MisplacedWildlife and NoisyNature: FridgeLogic would imply they're all probably escaped Dharma experiments.
* MoralDissonance: Kate (a fugitive murderer) lecturing Locke about love, while at the same time refusing to go and help one guy who ''does'' love her (Sawyer) and the real mother of her adoptive son (Claire) - plus all the other survivors, of course.
* MoralEventHorizon: Jack wants to push the ResetButton because [[spoiler: Kate left him.]]
** Or probably just an example of [[RomanticPlotTumor Really]]. [[CharacterDerailment Bad]]. [[WallBanger Writing]].
* MostlyNarmless: One would argue that, Michael's repeated shoutings of "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALT!", given their justification, come off less narmful than anybody else in the same situation.
* MsFanservice: Bikini-clad Shannon in season 1.
** Kate is often scantily clad, showing off her bare legs (and occasionally more). The reason [[TheScrappy even she manages to have some fans]] is not because she is a particularly interesting or likeable character, you know.
* MyEyesAreUpHere: Kate at 8:41 into "Catch-22". (Okay, that's not when she says it, but that's when ''why'' she says it.)
* MysteriousPast: All the characters, at first. Some of them still have unanswered questions.
* NamesTheSame: The show's ThemeNaming:
** John Locke
** Daniel Faraday
* {{Narm}}: Jack is a pretty big source of this (YourMileageMayVary), through [[http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Jackface facial expression]]. And let's not forget "THEY TOOK MY SON!"
** Which of course spawned from the Narmtacular (big inhale): [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0LpiK9rEFA WAAAAAAAA-HO-HO-HALT!!!!]]
** When Kate is telling her husband why they can never be together.
--->'''Kate''':''Taco night?! I don't '''DO''' taco night!''
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ub33_M7FZVk YOU ALL EVERY BUTTIES!]]
** Every scence that Jack and Achara share in "Stranger in a Strange Land" is made of pure narm. [[FetishRetardant Especially their forced sex scene.]]
** Jack's reason for wanting to [[spoiler: blow up a nuclear bomb]] is basically a good ol' case of broken heart:
--->'''Jack''':''I had her, and I lost her.''
* NeverFoundTheBody: The justification for the return of [[spoiler:Jin after the boat explodes]] is that [[spoiler: he was thrown clear of the blast]].
* NightmareFuel: Jacob's cabin, for one.
* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: Ben's ''brutal'' savaging of Keamy, not to mention his unbridled rage at the man for killing his daughter, and also being one of the few times where Ben shows genuine emotion, possibly from watching Jack in season 3's finale. And after [[spoiler: Shannon's death]], the scene where an enraged Sayid shows off that Republican Guard hand-to-hand training and just ''mows'' through several Tailies trying to get to(and from the look on his face, kill) Ana-Lucia. Then there was Locke beating the snot out of ButtMonkey Mikhail. And Jack and Sawyer in the Season 5 finale. It was pretty even until the GroinAttack.
* NoMrBondIExpectYouToDine: Ben treats Kate to a pleasant breakfast on the beach, explaining that he wanted to give her something nice to remember, as "the next few weeks are going to be very unpleasant".
* TheNotableNumeral: The Oceanic Six
* NotBloodRelated: Boone and Shannon.
* NoticeableNipples: Eko.
* NotQuiteDead: Charlie's DisneyDeath in season one, Locke in season three. Both stretched credibility, Charlie moreso. Jin's probably now out done both. However, as far as credibility goes, it's most likely the Island's healing properties.
* NotHimself: [[spoiler: John Locke after his return to the island.]] [[spoiler: And one has to wonder about Daddy Shepherd, too.]] In fact, this could very well be the answer to every single "dead person" who's been seen on the island.
* OedipusRex: [[http://www.lostpedia.com/wiki/Parent_issues Every. Single. Friggin'. One of 'em]]! Lampshaded with the season one episode title, "All The Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues".
** As of Season 5, mother issues are beginning to emerge. Albeit [[strike: subtly]].
* OlderThanTheyLook: Richard Alpert. Part of why he's so damn creepy. Likewise with [[spoiler: Jacob and his rival.]]
* OneDegreeOfSeparation: Pretty much everyone has encountered everyone else [[http://www.lostpedia.com/wiki/Connections in some way before the crash]].
* OntologicalMystery
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Sawyer and Hurley for a while.
--->'''Sawyer''':''Who the hell is Hugo Reyes and why has he got 160 million dollars?''
* OnlyOneName: Eko and Yemi.
* OohMeAccentsSlipping: Evangeline Lily betrays her Canadian upbringing whenever she says something that rhymes with [[strike:"out"]] "oat".
* OracularUrchin: Walt, [[OrIsIt maybe]].
* OrIsIt: Pretty much the entire series.
* {{Oxbridge}}: Oxford University is where Daniel does his research whilst a professor of Queen's College ("The Constant"). It's physics deparment apparently [[http://media.photobucket.com/image/lost%20oxford%20daniel/fishbiscuit_photos/Misc%20S4/s4-oxford-sml.jpg looks like a new church]], [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/49/Clarendon_Laboratory,_University_of_Oxford.jpg this]] being far to boring.
** Charlotte also recieved her doctorate there ("Confirmed Dead").
* PairTheSpares: [[spoiler:Sawyer and Juliet]] in season 5, after [[spoiler:Jack and Kate leave the Island]]. It's a testament to [[spoiler:Josh Holloway and Elizabeth Mitchell]]'s acting ability that they're able to make their ship infinitely more appealing than the OfficialCouple's.
* PercussivePrevention: [[spoiler:Charlie]] prevents Desmond from taking his place [[spoiler:drowning at The Looking Glass]] by smashing him in the face with an oar.
** In season 5, [[spoiler:Richard Alpert]] does this to [[spoiler:Eloise Hawking]] when she tries to follow Jack and Sayid on their way to [[spoiler:nuke The Swan]].
* PermaStubble: All the guys. They used salvaged razors to keep from growing full beards.
* PhraseCatcher: ''[[http://www.lostpedia.com/wiki/Phrases Tons]]'' of phrases repeated by various characters. Each phrase is a motif all its own.
* PoorCommunicationKills: Oh, if only people learned to mention some of those regularly-occurring {{BLAM}}s...
* PosthumousCharacter: A lot of people show up after death, whether by flashback, some {{Mind Screw}}y vision or time travel. Special mention of course goes to Jack's dad who was already dead before the show started, and to the whole Dharma crew, who were [[spoiler:almost]] ALL dead ''twelve years'' before the beginning.
** Ethan has now featured in twice as many episodes since his death than he did while alive. As has the Marshal who was escorting [[spoiler:Kate (that's right, ''season 1 spoilers!'')]].
* PowderTrail: Used to open the hatch.
* PreemptiveApology:
-->'''Michael''': "I'm sorry."
-->'''Ana Lucia''': "For what?"
-->[[spoiler:(Michael shoots Ana Lucia)]]
* PrisonerExchange: This is Jack's plan for getting Walt back after he is kidnapped by the Others, lampshaded by Sawyer as "the old PrisonerExchange". Unfortunately, it doesn't go according to plan.
* [[TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything The Producers Think Of Everything]]: Despite a lot of the show's criticism claiming the contrary, anyone who actually watched the show through 5 seasons knows that ''way'' too many things ''do'' add up for it to all be "Made up as they go along".
* PsychicNosebleed: Appears in one episode of season four, and repeatedly during the first half of season five, all related to the effects of time travel.
* PsychoForHire: The mercenaries in season four, especially their leader, Keamy.
* PsychoticSmirk: Keamy's creepy grin/mouth twitch. For a good guy, John Locke does flash a lot of those.
* ThePublicDomainChannel: While a prisoner of the Others, Jack watches Heckle and Jeckle cartoons on a TV set they provide.
* {{The Purge}}: The name given to the Island-wide toxic gas attack that effectively wiped out the DHARMA Initiative's presence on the Island.
* PutOnABus: Walt, the one kid on the show, had to be written out to hide his clear progression through puberty, while only months pass in-show.
* TheQuietOne: Eko, during his introduction.
* RasputinianDeath: Mikhail
*RealityIsUnrealistic: At the start of the show, some viewers complained that Claire's accent was too over the top. The actress is a real Australian.
**Following Maternity Leave, there were also complaints about the actress playing Alex looking "as old as the actress playing her mother". The actress and the character were the same age at the time.
* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: Richard Alpert, it seems. And, of course, [[spoiler: Jacob and his enemy.]]
* RecapEpisode: ABC, Sky1 and RTE 2 like to throw together recap specials to air before premieres, finales, or after a hiatus.
* RedemptionEqualsDeath: Cause-Effect flipped with [[spoiler:Michael]], who is ''unable to die'' until he redeems himself.
* RedemptionInTheRain: Played with in Locke's case. We see him in the rain, but we don't see how he was redeemed until later.
* RedShirt: Done with an appreciable amount of LampshadeHanging. Look at the page to see. The show has actually shown a lot of restraint in killing off unnamed/minor survivors. At least until season four.
** It continues onto Season five [[ArrowsOnFire in a big, literal way]].
* RememberTheNewGuy: Subverted.
-->'''Hurley:''' "Dude... Nikki's dead."
-->'''Sawyer:''' "Who the hell's Nikki?"
* ReplacementGoldfish: Ben tries to make this out of Juliet twice, once for Sarah Sheppard and again for Annie, and both times it fails.
* TheReveal: Plenty. Usually reserved for season finales. However, only one question that existed since the very beginning of the show (how did the plane crash?) was properly answered.
** The page quote has also been explained in fairly heavy detail. [[spoiler: The island is constantly moving.]]
* RomanticPlotTumor: What's the new episode about? Knife-throwing Locke? Badass Sayid? MagnificentBastard Ben? The mysterious Others? The smoke monster? Time travel? [[spoiler: God-like beings using humans as their pawns]]? One of the thousands of questions which have yet to be answered? No - first we ''need'' to know whom Kate loves. '''Again'''.
* ResetButton: The [[spoiler:events of the season 5 finale are]] designed to be a ResetButton [[spoiler:reaching beyond the beginning of the series]].
* SassyBlackWoman: Rose is a CloserToEarth example.
-->"If you say [[SurvivalMantra "Live together, die alone"]] to me, Jack, I'm gonna punch you in your face."
* SayMyName: '''"[[{{Narm}} WAAAAAALLLLLLLLTTTTTT!!!]]"'''
* ScaryBlackMan: Mr. Eko, at first; also Abbadon
* TheScrappy: Nikki and Paulo. They were wisely [[ThePoochie killed off just half a season after their introduction]].
** Ana-Lucia as well.
* ScreamingBirth: Aaron's birth, as well as Ben's.
* ScreamingWoman: One iconic image of the show is Shannon doing this in the pilot.
** Claire's got quite a set of lungs in her as well.
** But none can dream of competing with Sun.
* SeasonalRot: Some say Season 2, others say Season 3, but both seasons got back on track as they approached the finale.
* SecretTestOfCharacter: [[spoiler:Implied to be the point of the entire show in the season 5 finale. Ben either fails or succeeds spectacularly.]]
* SeinfeldianConversation: Charlie and Hurley debate the old "Who would win in a race between TheFlash and {{Superman}}" question in the beginning of the episode "Catch-22".
* SenselessSacrifice: Most of the death scenes in the show tend to be rather bleak and nihilistic more than heroic ([[spoiler: Shannon, Ana Lucia, Libby, Charlie, Daniel, Alex, Rousseau]]) - even fan favourites like [[spoiler: Locke and Eko]] have died in a rather miserable way. Whether [[spoiler: Juliet's ]] sacrifice will turn out to be useful or not, it has to be seen.
** Further detail on the complete sadistic senselessness of [[spoiler:Charlie]]'s sacrifice:
*** He could have escaped (FridgeLogic justifies this as [[spoiler:he wanted Desmond's prediction to be accurate in order to allow Claire's rescue]]).
*** The ship which arrived because of his death [[spoiler:was full of bad guys.]]
*** The one person [[spoiler:he wanted to save]] most of all [[spoiler:(Claire)]] didn't [[spoiler:get off the island]].
*** Those who actually did [[spoiler:get rescued]] thanks to him had to negate it and [[spoiler:go back]].
* SexyBack: Kate in ''Every Man For Himself'' and Juliet in ''One of Us'' and ''The Other Woman''
* ShootTheShaggyDog: Most characters' ongoing and complex development ends in their sudden, avoidable, and horrible deaths, which renders all of their hopes, dreams, aspirations, and resolutions utterly and depressingly irrelevant.
* ShoutOut: In season 5, Hurley is seen in the airport reading a trade paperback of ''YTheLastMan'', written by current ''Lost'' producer, co-writer, and story editor Brian K. Vaughan.
* ShowWithinAShow: ''Expose'', starring BillyDeeWilliams. [[StylisticSuck It's pretty cheesy.]] Locke is [[RememberTheNewGuy shown watching it in the episode before it is featured.]]
-->"Razzle dazzle!"
* SigilSpam: The Dharma Initiative logo is on everything on the Island
* SoundtrackDissonance: "Make Your Own Kind Of Music" is played by Desmond in the first scene of Season 2 from inside a hatch built to contain a cold, frightening secret.
** "Downtown" playing as Flight 815 crashes in "One Of Us".
** "Better Every Day" playing as [[spoiler:Michael revs his car into a wall]].
* SpannerInTheWorks: Hurley, early Season 5. [[spoiler: Purposefully, just to piss Ben off]].
* SpecialEffectsFailure: Happens a few times, although the special effects are generally decent otherwise.
* StableTimeLoop: Sayid attempts to kill [[spoiler:Ben as a child, forcing Kate and Sawyer to turn over the mortally wounded child to the Others, with the implication that these events will inalterably set the kid on the path to being the cold hard bastard he is in the present]]
* StarTrekShake: The crash of Flight 815.
* StrangledByTheRedString: Sayid - a solitary, stoic man - after two weeks forgets about the love of his life, Nadia, whom he has been trying to find for years, and falls for the whiny Shannon, possibly because... she looks good in a bikini? The unlikely pair [[spoiler: didn't last long though.]]
* SurvivalMantra: ''"1... 2... 3... 4... 5..."''
** "Live together, die alone" also qualifies.
* TactfulTranslation: Sayid pulls this one.
* TakeMyHand: Sawyer to [[spoiler:Juliet]] in the season 5 finale. Also counts as a TearJerker.
* TearJerker: Loads, but everyone remembers [[spoiler:Charlie's]] death.
** The ending of "The Constant".
** And the even later payoff of that episode in "There's No Place Like Home, parts 2 and 3".
* TemporalParadox: The magical compass bouncing between the time-travelling Locke and Richard seems to exist in a loop: Present-Locke gives it to Past-Richard in 1954, then Present-Richard gives it to Locke in 2008 before Locke leaps into the past to give it to Richard... so, technically, the compass was never built.
** No, it just means that he had two versions of it at the same time.
* ThemeNaming: Many characters are named after philosophers, scientists, or literary figures. Most of the names can grant insight into their characters.
** Lampshaded in season 5, episode 7, by [[spoiler:Charles Widmore when he gives Locke a fake ID with the name "Jeremy Bentham", comparing his sense of naming humor to Locke's parents.]]
** The pseudonyms Dr. Chang uses in the orientation films all have last names related to candlemaking.
* TokenEvilTeammate: Ben, starting around season 4.
* TonightSomeoneDies: Done gratingly with Shannon, Eko and [[spoiler: Charlotte]].
** They also made mention that by the end of season 5 they were going to kill off someone important. By the end of the last episode, [[spoiler:Faraday had been killed by his own mother]], [[spoiler: Sayid was shot by Roger Linus]], [[spoiler:BigBad Jacob had been (probably) knifed to death by Ben]], [[spoiler:Juliet fell down a pit on the island with everybody else and repeatedly hit an armed H-bomb with a rock,]] and [[spoiler:Locke was [[TheReveal revealed]] to have been dead the whole time]]. SoYeah.
* TranslationConvention: Scenes in Korea are subtitled, but Sayid's flashbacks to Iraq are generally not -- since Naveen Andrews doesn't speak Arabic.
* TrojanPrisoner: "I can't believe you fell for the old Wookiee prisoner gag!"
** Also, this is how [[spoiler:Ana Lucia determines that the raft passengers are telling the truth.]]
* TrustPassword: When Desmond starts flashing between the past and present, Daniel actually [[InvokedTrope invokes this trope]] telling Desmond what to say to the past version of Daniel in order to get Past-Daniel to help him. [[spoiler: Later on, the same characters reverse it.]]
* UnderwaterBase: The Hydra and The Looking Glass.
* UnfortunateImplications: When it turns out that Libby, who had fallen in love with the nice but overweight and unattractive Hurley, was actually [[spoiler: a former mental patient.]]
* TheUnreveal: And ''how!''
* UnstoppableRage: Hurley after one insult too many from Sawyer.
* UnstuckInTime: Several characters, and more recently the ''entire Island''.
* VillainDecay: As of the end of Season 5, [[TheChessmaster Ben]] has been reduced to just another pawn in [[spoiler:un-Locke/the enemy's extended chess match against Jacob]].
** He knows it too, and isn't the least bit happy about it. It should be noted that only a few episodes after we learned Ben led the Others we found out Jacob gave the orders (the list for instance), so we should have seen this one coming.
*** [[spoiler:Though it's implied that Ben's mere existence and free will is the "loophole" that un-Locke needed to kill Jacob, making him the most important character in the show...]]
* ViralMarketing: The Lost Experience is the biggest example, but also the other between-seasons games.
* WallBanger: In ''The Hunting Party'', the Others have Jack, Sawyer, Kate and Locke surrounded and disarmed, but they do not capture them. Some episodes later, they ask Michael to lure into a trap Jack, Sawyer, Kate... and Hurley (whom they just use as a messenger and let go immediately). Notice that, in ''The Hunting Party'', Ben ''already'' knew he needed Jack to perform the surgery. SoYeah...
**Less a WallBanger than FridgeLogic. Locke fancies himself [[ChosenOne "special"]] and a hero of sorts. Hardly the sort of person Ben might want as a messenger ''especially'' since the Others had yet to reveal themselves as technologically advanced and as hostile as they would later become. Capturing Jack with Locke nearby might have put a crimp in a time-sensitive plan.
***Also, Ben didn't know who he needed to capture with Jack in order to manipulate him into performing the surgery. Capturing Kate was just lucky for Tom. Ethan was probably too obsessed with Claire to pick up on the relationships; we see that Ben gives his x-rays to Juliet, not to Ethan. This might even be the main reason he let himself get captured by Rousseau, because this is his life we're talking about here. Presumably, he overheard the triangle somehow while in the armory and went on from there.
* WastelandElder: Jack
* WellIntentionedExtremist: The Others believe that they are the good guys. Just what good they're working towards is unknown, but most of their actions point to quite the contrary. Locke and Jack have gone down this road at times as well.
* WhamEpisode: [[{{Understatement}} Comes along every once in awhile.]]
* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic: Since we still have lots of unanswered questions, it's tough to sort out what "symbolic" names, references, or images really mean something as opposed to those just thrown in for the hell of it.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Where does the dog keep getting off to, anyways?
** As of the S5 finale, we know.
* WhatTheHellHero: Everyone has one of these.
** Season 5, in particular, was one big "What the hell, Hero?!" for Jack. Interestingly, many fans actually started to ''warm up to him'' when his usual [[TheWesley gratingly perfect ]] facade fell apart.
* WholeEpisodeFlashback: "The Other 48 Days", telling season one from The Tailies' perspective.
* WomenInRefrigerators: It's a bit of a stretch, and not ThisTroper's opinion, but a case could be made for Shannon, although Sayid doesn't actually end up doing much because of it; Libby, though likewise with Hurley; and [[spoiler: Charlotte, with only drives Faraday into nigh-HeroicBSOD territory.]]
** Almost played straight with [[spoiler: Alex]], but there's been enough attention given to her death since that it probably doesn't qualify.
* TheWoobie: Young Ben. I dare you to defy it. Amazing, considering [[MagnificentBastard what he grew up into...]]
** One could argue for Locke. He seems like a text book case.
*** Dan Faraday takes the cake though. He and [[NeonGenesisEvangelion Shinji]] would be best buds.
* XanatosGambit: Ben ''again'' again.
* XanatosRoulette: Sometimes you wonder just how Ben could have planned for some things. He could just be [[XanatosSpeedChess good at improvising and adapting his plans]], though.
** Ben seems like a rookie compared to [[spoiler: Jacob's enemy]], whose plan included everything in Ben's plans, plus a couple of twists which ultimately gave him the upper hand and led to [[spoiler:un-Locke manipulating Ben into killing Jacob.]]
* XanatosSpeedChess: Michael Emerson pretty much said himself (in layman's terms) that Ben is doing this throughout Season Five:
-->"I think Ben has a lot of layers of plans, but I think we're way off the main stem of anything that works for him. I mean, Ben's doing like moment-to-moment scrambling now."
* XanatosSucker: After the season 5 finale [[spoiler: the (apparently) deceased John Locke]] probably qualifies as the poster boy of this trope, having been manipulated his whole life, first by [[spoiler:his father]], then by Ben (no spoilers there), and finally by [[spoilers:the entity who has now taken his place]].
** Unless [[spoiler: Jacob's enemy [[DarkIsNotEvil will turn out to be the good guy, after all]].]]
*** A good guy after [[spoiler: having a big reveal and suddenly gaining the upper hand late in the game via manipulation?]] [[RuleOfDrama Does not happen in good fiction, sir.]]
*** [[GreyAndGrayMorality They don't necessarily have to be Absolute Good versus Utter Evil, though.]] Although [[spoiler: Jacob's enemy was surely set up as the BigBad]].
** Note also that Ben becomes a rare case of a ManipulativeBastard pulling dozens of [[XanatosGambit Xanatos Gambits]] while [[spoiler: ''at the same time'' being a XanatosSucker himself in the greater plan concocted by [[TheManBehindTheMan Jacob's enemy]].]]
* YouAlreadyChangedThePast: Whatever happened, happened. [[OrIsIt Maybe.]]
* YouALLShareMyStory
* YouCantFightFate: One character explicitly tells Desmond this. Free will vs. fate is a recurring theme in the series. So far, no one has been able to ScrewDestiny.
* YouCantGoHomeAgain: Once some of the survivors make it off the island, at least Jack and Hurley end up convinced they shouldn't have left in the first place.
** Also happens, from the other side, to [[spoiler:Ben]] at the end of season four after [[spoiler:he moves the island]], meaning he can never return [[spoiler:to it]].
** [[spoiler:Until he does. He admits that he broke the rules by doing so, and that there would be consequences (which he was ultimately spared from).]]
* YouFailPhysicsForever: The completely impossible behavior of the water in the season three finale.
* YouFailNuclearPhysicsForever: The hydrogen bomb. A ''15,000-pound'' hydrogen bomb according to what the US was building at the time, made up mostly of the fuels required to detonate it. Somehow this can be turned into a (maybe) 30 kg backpack device which [[spoiler: survives massive falls and (possibly) detonates when you hit it with a rock.]]
* YouFailLogicForever: Hurley's attempts to understand time travel paradoxes.
* YoureNotMyFather: Claire's response to her father.
* YouWouldntShootMe: Subverted when Sawyer has [[spoiler:Tom]] at his mercy. After he surrenders, Sawyer (remembering his [[spoiler:capture and threatening of Kate]], as well as his involvement in [[spoiler:kidnapping Walt, shooting Sawyer, and attempted murder of everybody on the raft]]) takes deliberate aim and kills him.
--> '''Hurley:''' Dude...he'd surrendered.
--> '''Sawyer:''' I didn't believe him.
** Also, Colleen and Sun in The Glass Ballerina.

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