Charlotte Lewis

"Charlotte" redirects here. For the flashback character from "?", see: "Charlotte Malkin".

Charlotte Lewis
Actor	Rebecca Mader
First	"Confirmed Dead"
Last	"LaFleur"
Episode Count	16
Centric	"Confirmed Dead"
Birth	1970
Death	During a shift in time
Death Episode	"This Place Is Death"
Place	The Island
Profession	Cultural anthropologist
Island Reason	Part of a team searching for Benjamin Linus, looking to return to the place where she was born and raised
Family	David Lewis - Father Jeanette Lewis - Mother Two sisters

Charlotte Staples Lewis was a gifted cultural anthropologist, who grew up on the Island where her parents were members of the DHARMA Initiative. She eventually escaped with just her mother, leaving her dad (and possibly two younger sisters) behind. She spent the rest of her life trying to find the Island again. This was mostly due to her mother's insistence that she had made it all up, and for a chance to find her dad. She then finally parachuted back onto the Island on day 91, as part of the freighter science team. After initially being held hostage in Locke's group, Sayid traded her freedom for Miles, and she arrived at the beach camp with Daniel Faraday, where her presence aroused the suspicions of the survivors due to her secrecy and dishonesty about their mission while on the Island, as well as her attitude to the others. Following Benjamin Linus's turning of the frozen wheel and the increasing frequency of the time flashes that ensued, Charlotte began suffering the effects of temporal displacement, which she succumbed to 16 days after her arrival on the Island, dying by Daniel's side.

Before the Island

Background

Young Charlotte at the The Barracks. ("LaFleur")

According to information provided by Ben, Charlotte Staples Lewis was born on July 2, 1979 in Essex, England to parents David and Jeannette. She was raised in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, England along with two younger sisters. It has since been uncovered that Charlotte was actually born in 1970 and spent some of her younger childhood on the Island. ("Confirmed Dead")  ("This Place Is Death") (1)

Charlotte herself stated that she grew up on the Island, in the DHARMA Initiative, though for unknown reasons, she and her mother had to leave while she was still quite young. Her father did not leave with them, and was left behind. At some point while she was on the island, she had an encounter with a "crazy" man (who she later came to believe was Daniel Faraday) who told her that she should never come back to the island, or else she would die. After they settled in England, Charlotte said, whenever she would ask her mother about the island, her mother would insist that it was not real, and that she had imagined it all. ("This Place Is Death").

There was a Little red-haired girl on the Island in 1974 at the Barracks, holding a woman's hand. She waved at Daniel who, in shock, exclaimed "Charlotte!". ("LaFleur")

Charlotte smiles as she finds the DHARMA collar on a polar bear skeleton in an archaeological dig in Tunisia ("Confirmed Dead")  (promotional still)

Charlotte did her undergraduate studies at the University of Kent, and she also received a Ph.D. (or DPhil) in Cultural Anthropology from Oxford University. She states that her reason for becoming an anthropologist was so that she might be able to find her way back to the Island again. She also speaks fluent Korean, and Klingon (although her reference to Klingon was most likely to have been a joke). ("Confirmed Dead")  ("Something Nice Back Home")  ("This Place Is Death")

Tunisia

Around the time that the faked wreckage of Oceanic Flight 815 was recovered (about which she had already expressed serious disbelief), Charlotte was at an excavation in Tunisia. She bribed a man to allow her into a dig-site. The excavation revealed the skeleton of a polar bear, and, around the bear's neck, a DHARMA collar with the Hydra station logo emblazoned upon it. This discovery caused Charlotte evident pleasure as she began smiling. Charlotte recognized the Dharma logo from her time on the island when she was younger, and the emblem on the collar clearly proved the island's existence and thus confirmed that she had not simply made the island up. ("Confirmed Dead")

Recruitment

Charlotte was recruited by Matthew Abaddon to go to the Island in search of Benjamin Linus. Together with Miles Straume, Naomi Dorrit, Daniel Faraday and Frank Lapidus, she formed a five-member team for which every member was chosen for (apparently) a specific reason. ("Confirmed Dead") Also, at some point before she was recruited by Abaddon for the mission aboard the freighter, she won an award, most likely for her outstanding work in anthropology. ("Confirmed Dead")

On the Island

Season 4 (Days 91-100)

Charlotte is taken captive by Locke. ("Confirmed Dead")

Charlotte Lewis arrived on the Island after parachuting from a helicopter which had taken off from the freighter, after it encountered difficulties mid-flight. She was the last of the passengers to jump out (after Miles and Daniel) when the helicopter encountered electrical problems. During landing, her parachute got caught in a tree which hung over a small river, causing her to become suspended upside down. She managed to free herself, landing in the water below, just before encountering Locke's group. She showed great pleasure at arriving on the Island, smiling and laughing. She questioned the group about various issues (such as how many survivors there were) and she seemed surprised when Locke announced that his group didn't want to be rescued from The Island. Locke told Charlotte that he wanted her to come with his group, at which she looked greatly shocked and apprehensive. Her transponder was later found attached to Vincent apparently to throw off anyone who may have been looking for her. ("Confirmed Dead")

After landing on The Island, Charlotte is questioned by Locke's group. ("Confirmed Dead")

After Frank Lapidus let off a flare, Charlotte tried to leave Locke's group to meet up with the rest of her team, but before she could leave she was shot twice in the chest by Ben. She survived the attack however, because she was wearing a cleverly concealed bullet-proof vest. After this, Sawyer held a gun to Ben's head, but was talked out of killing him by Locke, who said it was his mess to clean up. Just as Locke is about to shoot him, Ben began to divulge extremely detailed information pertaining to Charlotte's background, and the background of the rest of her team. This information, however, may or may not be correct, according to Charlotte herself. Ben also informed the group that he had a spy among the freighter people. ("Confirmed Dead")

Sayid brings Charlotte back to Frank, in return for a seat in the chopper. ("The Economist")  (promotional still)

Charlotte continued traveling with Locke's group unwillingly, and as she pointed out to Hurley, her status was basically that of a hostage. With the rest of the group, she reached the barracks. She wasn't there for long however, as Sayid arrived (with Kate and Miles), and proposed a deal to Locke; he wanted to exchange his hostage, Charlotte, in return for Miles. Locke accepted the exchange and Charlotte was released back to Jack and her other team-mates. Frank asked her if she wanted to return to the freighter by helicopter, but she refused, explaining that she had work to do on the Island. ("The Economist")

Along with Jack, Juliet and her fellow team mate, Daniel, Charlotte traveled to the beach camp, where she met some of the other Flight 815 survivors. That night she played a card game with Daniel to test his memory. After only guessing two out of three cards correctly, Charlotte attempted to console Daniel by telling him that he was making progress, showing a more compassionate side to her personality. Their game was interrupted when Jack and Juliet questioned them about the satellite phone they had in their possession from the helicopter. They didn't believe that there was only one contact number to get in touch with freighter. Charlotte told them that there was also another number, one used for emergencies, and Juliet asked her to dial it. Charlotte called the number and Regina picked up; she informed Charlotte that the helicopter, carrying Sayid and Desmond, never arrived back at the freighter. ("Eggtown")

Juliet commands Charlotte to call the "other number". ("Eggtown")

While being continuously questioned by Jack about the helicopter, Charlotte repeatedly answered that she didn't know what was going on and why it hadn't arrived at the freighter by now. Juliet then noted that it was very peculiar and strange that Charlotte didn't seem to be at all worried about those who were on the helicopter. Daniel then asked Charlotte if they should "tell them", and Charlotte hinted to him that she did not want to. However, Daniel told them that the Islander's perception of time was not realistic, and that the helicopter was fine. Daniel informed them that their people would arrive on the freighter given time anyway, much to Charlotte's displeasure. ("The Constant")

Charlotte reveals her and Daniel's true intents at the Tempest. ("The Other Woman")  (promotional still)

Later that night, in secret, Charlotte and Daniel packed a bag full of gas masks and HAZMAT suits and set off for the Tempest, a DHARMA station on another side of the Island. During a rest-stop along the way, a somewhat anxious Daniel asked Charlotte what would happen to them if "he couldn't do it". Reassuring him, Charlotte told him that he would be able to, and just as they were about to set off once more, Kate chanced upon them while running through the jungle. She quizzed them about what they were doing, and Charlotte lied to her, fabricating a false story that they were looking for the packs that they threw away from the helicopter. When Kate searched in their bags and found their gas-masks, before she could question either of them, Charlotte whacked her on the back of the head with the butt of her gun, rendering her unconscious. ("The Other Woman")

The two journeyed on, and they eventually they reached the Tempest. When they arrived there, they then began working on the station's computer network to disable the lethal gas system that was installed there. They nearly completed their mission, when Juliet arrived and attempted to stop them, under the false impression that they were trying to destroy the island by switching the lethal gas system on instead. Juliet fought Charlotte for a while, before beating her into submission, but when she and Daniel told Juliet what they were actually doing there, she changed her mind and allowed them to continue their work. Later, an angry Kate arrived and held Charlotte at gunpoint outside the station, but after Juliet explained that Charlotte was on their side, she relented, and Charlotte brought her into the Tempest to explain to her what had just happened. ("The Other Woman")

The science team's mission comes under scrutiny by the survivors. ("Something Nice Back Home")

Charlotte was also one of the people present at the beach when Ray's body washed up on shore. When she was questioned by Jack, she denied having any knowledge about his death. Later, Daniel revealed that it was never their objective to rescue any of the survivors from Oceanic 815. ("The Shape of Things to Come")

A day later, both Charlotte and Daniel were still being hassled by the survivors, most notably Bernard and Rose, about how much information they knew about the freighter, and the intentions of the people still on board. The bickering was interrupted by Jack, who needed emergency surgery to remove his infected appendix. Charlotte, along with her teammate Daniel, and 815 survivors Jin and Sun, agreed to travel to The Staff station to collect medical supplies for Jack's treatment. When they reached the station, Daniel gallantly offered to enter inside first to make sure that there wasn't any danger. Jin remarked to Sun in Korean that he wondered if Charlotte knew that Daniel liked her, to which Sun replied "she's a woman, she knows". Charlotte then smiled to herself at this interchange while looking at the both of them, all the while not realizing that she had just given away the fact that she could understand Korean to Jin. ("Something Nice Back Home")

Jin forces Charlotte to admit she speaks fluent Korean. ("Something Nice Back Home")

After gathering the medical supplies for Jack's operation, the group returned to the beach, where Jin decided to confront Charlotte about earlier. He revealed that he knew that she could speak Korean, as he noticed her listening, and reacting to, several conversations he and Sun were having on the way there. Though initially she denied this fact at first, Charlotte finally caved in after Jin threatened to harm Daniel if she didn't admit to it. Charlotte spoke to Jin in Korean, and asked him what it was that he wanted from her. Jin instructed her that she was to make sure that Sun was on the helicopter when it left the Island. Charlotte agreed to his proposal. ("Something Nice Back Home")

The next day, Frank Lapidus, who was flying overhead in a chopper, threw a satellite phone down onto the beach. The phone was tracking the helicopter, and Jack and Kate believed that they should follow it inland.

Charlotte is shocked as Miles discusses her search for the Island. ("There's No Place Like Home, Part 2")

Before they did however, Daniel put a call through and listened to what was happening on the other end, but he appeared to be very dismayed by what he heard. Charlotte, noticing that something wasn't right, asked Daniel "what's wrong?" He told her that "they were using the secondary protocol" and that they had to get everyone off the Island right away, due to great danger. A while later, Daniel began to ferry people from the Island to the freighter via the emergency raft, the Zodiac. Charlotte stood from the shore watching, looking somewhat anxious after him as he left with the first group of survivors. ("There's No Place Like Home, Part 1")

When Daniel returned to ferry a second group to the freighter, he told Charlotte and Miles that they should be on the next one. Charlotte was initially compliant with Daniel's request, until Miles asked her why she was willing to leave so soon, after trying hard to get back to the Island again - implying that she has been to the Island before. Charlotte was very visibly surprised that Miles knew of this. This clearly led Charlotte to rethink her decision. Later, Charlotte told Daniel that she was not going to go back to the freighter quite yet, because she was still "looking for where she was born." She kissed Daniel tenderly on the cheek before they parted ways. ("There's No Place Like Home, Part 2")

Season 5 (Days 100-)

Charlotte's nose begins to bleed. ("Because You Left")

Charlotte was at the beach camp when white light immersed the whole of the camp, and the various makeshift structures disappeared from sight. When Daniel arrived back on the Zodiac she was overjoyed to see him alive and ok, having thought he may have been on the freighter when it exploded, sank and disappeared, and the two embraced each other. She then followed Daniel as their group headed to the Swan to try and analyse the events in progress. She displayed her anger and annoyance when Sawyer struck Daniel, becoming very protective over him. Later, while conversing with Daniel, her nose bled in a manner similar to that of Minkowski and Desmond when they were unstuck in time in "The Constant". She made an off-hand comment that she had not had nosebleeds since she was a child. Daniel displayed serious concern and fear because of this, but then managed to cover it up convincingly and effectively by saying that it was just the sight of blood that was disturbing him. Daniel then told Charlotte to return to the beach while he recovered his backpack from the jungle ("Because You Left").

Charlotte reveals she forgot her mother's maiden name. ("The Lie")

Back on the beach, around two hours later, and after another timeshift, Charlotte hugged Daniel when he reappeared claiming he had gotten lost while looking for his pack. Later that evening while he was doing calculations, Charlotte approached him and gave him some fruit she had found while in the jungle. She explained to him that her headache was consistent, and was not going away and, more worryingly, she seemed to be suffering from severe and peculiar memory loss; being unable to remember her mother's maiden name for a short time, which was obviously worrying her greatly. Suddenly looking serious, revealing the true intent of their conversation, she asked Daniel if he knew why this was happening to her. Before he had the time to answer her, Miles approached the camp with a boar he had found dead. Soon after, the camp came under heavy attack from an unseen group firing flaming arrows from within the jungle. Charlotte and Daniel, sticking close together, fled into the jungle, Daniel helping Charlotte when she fell over while running away. ("The Lie")

Charlotte collapses in Daniel's arms. ("Jughead")

However, soon after reaching the rendezvous point, Charlotte, Daniel, and Miles were captured by a group of Others, led by a young woman named Ellie. The three members of the freighter crew were then taken back to a camp being occupied by the Others, and led to a tent to be held captive. Charlotte's headaches became worse and worse as their journey towards the camp progressed. As leverage, Daniel offered to help deactivate the bomb, citing his love for Charlotte as the reason he would not detonate it instead, as he would 'never do anything to harm her'. Before he departed, he admitted to Charlotte that he was telling the truth, and that he did love her, as she expressed scepticism that he was telling the truth to Richard Alpert. He then departed for the bomb with Ellie. Charlotte then remained in the tent with Miles until the survivors time-traveled again, crying slightly to herself. Soon after the flashing light of the time travel happened when the survivors where all reunited again, Charlotte's nose began bleeding profusely, and she collapsed onto the ground, unconscious. Daniel huddled over her and grabbed her in obvious distress and fear moments later. ("Jughead")

Charlotte looks on ("The Little Prince")

Charlotte was incapacitated for over ten minutes as a worried Daniel and Juliet attempted to revive her. Eventually she came to and was initially slightly confused but, apart from a slight headache, she said she felt fine. Along with the rest of the group, she trekked back to the beach camp to collect the Zodiac so as to sail around the horn of the Island and reach the The Orchid. Along the way, Daniel told Charlotte that she'd be able to rest up when they reached the zodiac, to which she replied, "you're sweet, but you don't have to baby me. I'm fine". Eventually, they reached the beach camp after enduring another time-shift. They found the camp deserted, the zodiac missing and two canoes beached on shore. They took one of the canoes and began sailing to another part of the Island, but along the way they were waylaid by unseen assailants firing guns at them from another canoe. They survived the attack when a timeshift brought them back in time to 1988. After landing on another shore of the Island during an extremely violent storm, Charlotte found some scattered items and the recent wreckage of a sailing vessel strewn about on the beach. ("The Little Prince")

This place is death - Charlotte's warning to Jin. ("This Place Is Death")

Charlotte and the others continued their lengthy trek to the Orchid, all the while experiencing increasingly frequent time flashes along the way. After another of these flashes, Charlotte collapsed, bleeding profusely from her nose. As Dan and the others tried to revive her she spoke rapidly in Korean, not making much sense. Then, in English, she told Jin that "she" must not return to the Island because "This place is death." While the others discussed what to do, Charlotte's consciousness seemed to slip between time, much like that of Minkowski and Desmond. She referenced many past experiences in her life, speaking in a childlike voice, i.e. "you know what my mum would say about me marrying an American". Unable to move by herself, Locke refused to allow anyone to help Daniel with carrying Charlotte the rest of the way. She urged a reluctant Dan to leave her behind and accompany the rest of the group to the Orchid, which he refused to do. Before the others left, they discussed how they would find the station if it was at a point in time when it had not been built yet and, in a rare moment of lucidity, Charlotte told them "you will find it at the well". ("This Place Is Death")

Charlotte dies. ("This Place Is Death")

A little while after the other survivors continued on to the Orchid, Charlotte confessed to Dan that she remembered how she grew up on the Island as a child, and had left it with her mother at an early age. She also mentioned the Dharma Initiative, having been on the Island while they were still functioning there. Despite her mother's assertion that she had merely invented the Island, Charlotte believed otherwise, and had been searching for it ever since, which is why she became a Cultural Anthropologist. She also confided to Dan that, as a child, a "crazy man" told her that she must leave the Island and never return, or she would die. Realising that she was going to die on the island as a result of the repeated time jumps, she finally recognized that man as Dan, warning her from the future. After telling him this, she experienced one more moment of madness due to her repeated time jumps, saying she was "not allowed to eat chocolate before dinner", and then tragically died as Daniel comforted her. ("This Place Is Death")

Post-Death

When the next flash occurred (the last one to happen, leaving the others in the 1970's) after her death, her body did not travel with it. Charlotte's body disappeared in front of Daniel, and she was presumably left in the location of the previous time. It is unknown where Charlotte's body is in current time. ("LaFleur")

Trivia

• [1] Although Ben stated "July 2, 1979" as Charlotte's birth date in "Confirmed Dead", on the Official Lost Podcast, producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse admitted this was an error that should have been caught in editing; Rebecca Mader had asked that the date be changed on the set, presumably without checking with the writers. (Mader, who was born in 1979, likely requested the change because she felt playing a character several years older than herself was either not believable or not desirable.) Lindelof and Cuse stated Charlotte was born in 1970 and confirmed it was young Charlotte that Daniel saw in 1974. (Official Lost Podcast/March 19, 2009)
• Charlotte's total episode count is 16 (as of "LaFleur").
• Charlotte was the twenty-seventh character to ever have a flashback.
• Charlotte has met almost all of the main cast, except for Boone, Shannon, Nikki, Paulo, Ana Lucia, Eko, Libby, Walt and Charlie.
  • Charlotte has met almost all of the survivors who were alive at the time of her arrival, because she had visited both Jack and Locke's group of survivors. after being held hostage.
• The headline on the right hand side of the Tunisian newspaper she is reading reads "Le lavage de cerveaux en liberté" - "The free brainwashing" but "free" as in "freed from prison", not as in "free of charge".
• Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse have confirmed that the role was originally offered to Kristen Bell, who turned it down to join the cast of Heroes. Thus, Rebecca Mader auditioned for the part, and was the only new cast-member to read for her role. [1]
• Charlotte was originally intended to be in eight episodes but her role was expanded to a series regular.
• The place she was raised (Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, England), is accessible from the M42 motorway.
  • To access the M42 motorway from the M1, you need to leave at junction 23a.
• Because Charlotte studied for her doctorate at Oxford, it would be a D.Phil rather than a PhD as stated by Ben in "Confirmed Dead".
• Charlotte was the last member of the freighter crew to be cast for Season 4.
• Charlotte was originally scripted as an American character. Rebecca Mader auditioned with an American accent, and then her own, and the producers liked it so much that they changed the character to be British. [2]
• Despite her storyline in Season Four revolving around her role as part of the science team from the Kahana, Charlotte has never been seen aboard the ship.
• Charlotte knows Charles Widmore. She is wondering if Widmore will look for them, after the Island moved ("Because You Left")
• Charlotte is one of two main characters who have not been given a centric episode with more than one flashback, the other being Libby.
• Charlotte is the first main character to live/survive on the island. She is on the island before any of the others.
• Charlotte is the tenth main character to die, after Boone, Shannon, Ana Lucia, Libby, Mr. Eko, Nikki, Paulo, Charlie and Michael.
• Charlotte is the first main character to die who was not on Oceanic Flight 815.

Name

• Like the Victorian author Charlotte Brontë, Charlotte Lewis is the eldest of three sisters.
• The name Charlotte Lewis appeared as a season 4 clue word for chapter 3 of the Find 815 ARG. it was initially thought to be the names of two separate characters, Charlotte and Lewis.
• Charlotte Staples Lewis is a reference to the British writer and scholar, Clive Staples Lewis. Lewis is most famous for his works on medieval literature, Christian apologetics, literary criticism, and in fantasy literature (The Chronicles of Narnia). Both C.S. Lewises attended Oxford University.
• In connection to her name being a reference to C.S. Lewis, Charlotte's mother tries to convince her that the Island is imaginary, similar to the character Susan from Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia, who becomes convinced that Narnia is imaginary despite her time spent there.

Unanswered questions

Unanswered questions
Do not answer the questions here. Keep the questions open-ended and neutral: do not suggest an answer. More details...

For fan theories about these unanswered questions, see: Charlotte Lewis/Theories

• What award was Charlotte accepting, as shown in the photo Matthew Abaddon gave to Naomi Dorrit?
  • Why was she selected for the freighter team by Abaddon? ("Confirmed Dead")
• Why does she find it hard to accept the newspaper stories about the finding of Flight 815?
• Where did she learn Korean and why?
• Why would she become a cultural anthropologist in order to find the island?
• Who are her parents?
  • Who are Charlotte's sisters?
  • Why did her mother lie to her about the Island?
  • Where is her father?
• Was Ben's information about her birth/life correct?
  • Did Ben know that she was born on the island instead of in Essex?