Achara approaches Jack on a beach in Phuket, Thailand. She helps him assemble a kite he just bought and the two share a meal afterward. She greets an unknown man with a Wai (similar to the Hindi namaste), and then he gives her a small, rectangular, flat object in a bag on the first day she meets Jack. At his questioning, she mentions her "gift" to him without further elaboration. ("Stranger in a Strange Land")
She becomes Jack's lover, having sex with him many times over a one month period but not telling him much about herself. He becomes suspicious of her nighttime activities and, somewhat intoxicated, stalks her to her workplace, where she says that he is an outsider. He forces her to confess that she has the power to "see who people are", and then tattoos that information onto them. She says it is an act not of decoration, but "definition". Despite being an outsider, Jack forces Achara to break the rules and "read" and tattoo him. The tattoo supposedly translates literally to "He walks amongst us, but he is not one of us," according to Isabel (though this is not accurate Chinese). According to Achara, it signifies that he is a leader, but that being one makes him "lonely, and frightened, and angry". ("Stranger in a Strange Land")
When Achara's brother Chet discovers this transgression later, he and a group of Thai men beat Jack severely, and force him to leave the country, never to return. ("Stranger in a Strange Land")
Trivia
- In Hinduism Achara and Dharma are synonymous and mean "the regulation of daily life." Indeed Achara is often referred to as the Supreme Dharma.
- In the May 11, 2007 Lost Podcast, Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse joke that the shark swam all the way to Thailand and forced Achara to give it a DHARMA tattoo or it would "bite her head off".
Unanswered questions
| Unanswered questions |
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- For fan theories about these unanswered questions, see: Achara/Theories
- When Achara says that she can see who people are, does she mean supernaturally/psychically, or using some sort of psychology? Or is it just a marketing tactic for her tattoo parlor?
- Why did Achara's brother attack Jack, and why was marking him "breaking the rules"?
