David Shephard

Flash-sideways Timeline
(Oceanic Flight 815 lands at LAX)

David Shephard
Actor	Dylan Minnette
First	"Lighthouse"
Last	"The End"
Episode Count	4
Place	Los Angeles, California, USA
Profession	Student
Family	Ray Shephard - Great-grandfather Christian Shephard - Grandfather Margo Shephard - Grandmother Jack Shephard - Father David Shephard's mother - Mother Claire Littleton - Half-Aunt Aaron Littleton - Half-Cousin

David Shephard is the son of Jack Shephard in the flash-sideways timeline. David is a gifted pianist, and lives with his mother, who has yet to be identified. His relationship with Jack is strained both by his parents' separation and by the implicit expectations David feels from his father. However, when Jack learns how David has been keeping his music lessons secret from him, he makes overtures for David's forgiveness. Jack tells David how his own father made him feel, and this repaired their father-son relationship. ("Lighthouse")

Several days later, David went with his father for his grand-father's will-reading. Before the lawyer offices, Jack spoke of the phone to David's mother - and David nodded his head indicating his willingness to stay with Jack. They both met Claire Littleton, who revealed herself to be Jack's half-sister, (and David's half-aunt). Because of a sudden emergency at the hospital, Jack had to abruptly leave, along with David. On entering the hospital, they briefly discussed how Christian kept secrets. He sincerely wished his father good luck prior to Jack entering surgery. ("The Last Recruit")

At a later morning, at Jack's house, David came into his father's room and told him he made breakfast. At the table, father and son joked briefly regarding how opening a box cereal does not equate David truly making breakfast. David reminded him of the concert at the museum that night, and asked Jack would he be "weird" that his mother would be there too. Both David and Jack then greeted their new house guest, his half-aunt Claire who joined them at the breakfast table. David asked Claire did she want cereal. They both listened as Jack received a phone call from Desmond Hume, posing as an Oceanic Airlines representative, informing him his father's casket had been found. ("What They Died For")

Trivia

• David is an LA Dodgers fan instead of the Boston Red Sox like his dad, Jack, and grandfather, Christian Shephard, as he is seen wearing a LA Dodgers Hat in a picture with Jack. ("Lighthouse")
• David, along with Sam and Eva Jarrah is one of three characers known not to exist in the original timeline.
• David and his relationship with his father are foreshadowed in the mobisode, The Watch.
• The piece that David plays at the piano competition in Lighthouse is the same piece that the young Daniel Faraday is playing when his mother walks in at the beginning of The Variable; Fantaisie-Impromptu in C-sharp minor by Frédéric Chopin.
• Judeo-Christian tradition holds that a "shepherd" boy named David (who also was a gifted musician) was the only person in Judea brave enough to fight the giant Goliath. He won against improbable odds and became the king of Judea. The most famous Psalm of David, Number 23, opens with the line, "The Lord is my shepherd."

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: David Shephard/Theories

• Who is his mother?