ISLAND AS UNDERWORLD
But first lets look at the hieroglyphs. Three of them in particular are illuminating. First is the hieroglyph on the Ajira Airways FL316 ticket; it represents the 'Underworld', confirmed by Darlton. Wow. That seems to be a fairly critical clue. In terms of the LOST paradigm, it's probably useful to at least ask oneself if the ticket is to the underworld or from it. Because if the mainland is the underworld, and we're all living some kind of shadow existence until we get to the island, well then, that's a different story than if the island is the underworld, which is on the way to either heaven or hell.
The second set of hieroglyphs represent 'Time' and 'Travel' and Darlton has confirmed that together they represent 'Resurrection.' Those symbols are on the columns in the room housing the Donkey Wheel underneath the Orchid station. People turning the Donkey Wheel not only shift the island in time space, they transport onto the mainland in Tunisia. Hmmm. Interesting. So right away we're fairly certain the island is indeed the Underworld, and transporting to the mainland 'resurrects' yourself in the real world (RW).
Now on to the Season Finale, where the large island statue is finally seen in its entirety, which ABC confirms is Taweret, the god of fertility. This long in coming revelation is enlightening, but also generates some ambiguity. Egyptian mythology alternately describes Taweret as the consort of Apep or Set, or the wife of Sobek.
DUAT OR UNDERWORLD MYTHOLOGY
Duat was the region through which the sun god Ra traveled from west to east during the night, and where he battled Apep. It also was the place where people's souls went after death—for judgment.
The most famous scene from the discussions of Duat is the Weighing of the Heart, in which the dead were judged by Anubis, using a feather, representing Ma'at, the goddess of truth and justice.
There is a significant difference between Egyptian interpretations of the Underworld, and many other western (Catholic, Methodist, Jew) and eastern (Buddhism, Nordic, Orthodox) views of Purgatory. Purgatory nearly always incorporates the chance for souls to redeem themselves and make their way to heaven. In Egyptian mythology, there is no such chance; it is a place for judgment one way or the other. It is interesting to note that if we are to use the Egyptian themes to instruct us in LOST, we must necessarily use the concepts of Purgatory to complete the analogy.
APEP MYTHOLOGY
Apep was evil and resided in the Underworld. He was the sworn enemy of Ra, keeper of the light, God of the Sun, and upholder of Ma'at, the goddess of harmony, order, and truth. As the personification of all that was evil, Apep was seen as a giant snake. In LOST terms, this is an attractive metaphor; the island as Underworld with snakes much like smoke.
Each night Apep would fight Ra as he and his entourage traveled through the Underworld on a huge baroque, on their way through the River Styx to morning. Some of Ra's companions would help him fight Apep, most principally Set, god of chaos, confusion, storms, wind, the desert and foreign lands. He was also the only god strong enough to reliably conquer Apep. Myths sometimes say that Apep was trapped in the Underworld because he had been the previous chief god and suffered a coup d'etat by Ra, or because he was evil and had been imprisoned.
SET MYTHOLOGY
Set was the god of the desert, and chaos. Notice that both order and chaos are needed for the balance of the universe, forming a dichotomy between Ra and Set. Set was viewed as immensely powerful and carried the epithet, "His Majesty", shared only with Ra.
The myth of Set's conflict with Horus, Osiris, and Isis appears in many Egyptian sources, including the Pyramid Texts, the Coffin Texts, the Shabaka Stone, inscriptions on the walls of the temple of Horus at Edfu, and various papyrus sources. These myths generally portray Osiris as a wise king and bringer of civilization, happily married to his sister, Isis. Set was envious of his younger brother, and he killed and dismembered Osiris.
Osiris' son Horus was conceived by Isis with Osiris' corpse. Horus naturally became the enemy of Set. In some of these myths Set is portrayed as Horus' older brother rather than uncle. The myth incorporated moral lessons for relationships between fathers and sons, older and younger brothers, and husbands and wives. It is interesting that LOST's survivors universally have father issues. Have we hit on something here?
In the Pyramid Texts he was believed to be a friend to the dead. It was believed that "Horus purifies and Set strengthens, and Set purifies and Horus strengthens" the deceased while the backbone of the deceased becomes the backbone of Set and Set has "joined together my neck and my back strongly, and they are even as they were in the time that is past; may nothing happen to break them apart." Stories of backs remind me of back surgeons named Jack and Christian Shephard, and of course paraplegics like John Locke.
It is also interesting to note that in later mythology, Set evolved into the first supreme God, usurping Ra, while still later, he was again demonized and became evil, associated with Apep. There are definitely many angles to choose from here, including any one of Set or Apep, vs. Ra.
SOBEK MYTHOLOGY
Sobek's early history was ambiguous in nature, and that led some Egyptians to believe that he was a repairer of evil that had been done, rather than a force for good in itself. In one story, Sobek traveled to Duat to restore damage done to the dead as a result of their form of death.
Originally, Sobek was probably a dark god who had to be appeased to give the people his protection against crocodiles. Sobek had a dark streak that stayed with him for the time he was worshiped. In The Book of the Dead, he was showed as four crocodiles who were believed to attack the deceased in the underworld. This dark side sometimes put him in the camp of Set.
Sobek, as with many of the other protective gods, also had a benign side. In a different version of the tale of Osiris, it was Sobek who carried the dead body of Osiris to the bank of the Nile on his back. And under the orders of Ra, the four gods were rescued by Sobek in a net, and brought them to land.
Despite the different attitudes of people to the god, he was venerated as one who restored sight to the dead, who revived their senses and who protected them from Apep who attacked those souls who travelled through the land of the dead.
Some tales suggested that Set was his father. He was also thought to be husband of the goddess Taweret, who was sometimes depicted with a crocodile on her back.
During the Middle Kingdom, Sobek was linked to the god Amen (also connected to Ra), who seemed to have assimilated him to some degree. He was also connected to the sun god Ra, giving the form Sobek-Ra, who was worshipped as another omnipotent manifestation of the sun deity. Thus Sobek could be shown wearing either the headdress of Amen or the sun disk of Ra.
LOST COMPARISONS
It's possible to see healthy comparisons between the two LOST protagonists, Jacob and his cohort, in any number of the mythological characters noted above. Set and Apep for instance, both have intimate Duat connections and were enmeshed with Taweret according to various mythologies. Placing LOST in the Underworld allows the writers to develop their own laws of physics while playing out many themes they've so carefully developed.
Ultimately, we suspect that it's not important exactly which two characters Jacob and his 'brother' represent. More likely it is the ambiguity that Darlton was looking for, along with the consistent themes that lurk in the mythology of all of them; Chaos vs. Order, Fate and Destiny vs. Free Will and Redemption, Father vs. Son, Life vs. Death, Progress and Evolution vs. Tradition and Stability. In all of these age old dichotomies, there exists a balance, neither good nor bad. In all of them there also exists man's will, and his choice to use it in whatever manner he is inclined. In this I can not help but get the feeling that Darlton has made Jacob come down very much on the side of free will and redemption.
After all, it's what gives man his divinity, and the ultimate power of a god.
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