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Elsa was a Dutchwoman and an assassin located in Berlin, Germany. She was hired by an "economist", a man she claimed worked in emerging markets. She was tasked by this "economist" to pursue a romance with Sayid Jarrah, an Oceanic Six celebrity who also lived a double life as a contract killer.

During their time together, Sayid was blindsided by Elsa's charm and did not consider she was aware of her boss' double-life, let alone that she was also a contract killer spying on Sayid and working against him and his boss.

One day, he was abruptly shot by her when he confessed the truth about his dangerous double-life and the task-at-hand. However, Sayid gained the upper-hand when he narrowly retrieved his gun, killing her.

She only appears in "The Economist". According to "He's Our You", her employer—whose identity remains unknown—is implied to be dead.

After the Island[]

Oceanic Six[]

Nothing is known about Elsa's background. She may have had connections to Charles Widmore personally, or may have only known of him through her employer. She carried a bracelet that reminded Sayid of Naomi Dorrit's one, a mercenary of the Kahana assigned by Widmore to protect the freighter's science team.

4x03 Elsa's bracelet

Elsa's bracelet

She was hired by a man who Benjamin Linus claimed posed a threat to the safety of the Oceanic Six.

Targeting Sayid[]

In a snow-melted Berlin, Elsa is sitting in a cafe when Sayid walks in. He asks in German if the seat opposite her is taken. He sits down and looks at his map, and asks her for directions to Potsdamer Platz. She tells him it's one block down and across the road, and continues to introduce herself as Elsa.

When Sayid asks what she does for a living, she indicates that she works as a personal assistant for an economist. Meanwhile, Sayid identifies as a headhunter/corporate recruiter. Elsa explains that her employer is only in Berlin twice a year, which is good for her because she won't be by his side very often. She also claims she doesn't know exactly what he does, and that she simply shops for him.

She asks if she knows him from somewhere. He says he will tell her if she will allow him to take her to dinner. After this, she marks the map of where Sayid will take her to dinner that night at 8pm. Later, Sayid contacts Ben to inform him he has made contact.

4x03 ADangerousCouple

Plans for the opera.

On their fifth date, they plan to go to the opera. She attempts to leave her pager at home, explaining that she doesn't care if her boss calls, she wants to spend the night with Sayid. Sayid objects and says he doesn't want her to lose her job because of him, and takes the pager with him. Elsa asks Sayid why he is still in Berlin, and he replies his job is taking longer than expected. Elsa tells him that she hoped the reason for him staying was her.

Elsa Feigns Upset

Elsa feigns upset about Sayid's double-life.

Elsa and Sayid are lying in bed. She expresses sadness about not knowing anything about Sayid. He agrees to tell Elsa everything about him when her pager goes off and she announces that her boss needs her. She begins to get dressed and Sayid tells her she needs to leave Berlin immediately. Sayid says people will be asking questions about her boss, indicating he has been or is going to be killed.

Elsa Shoots Sayid

Elsa after shooting Sayid.

She pulls a gun and shoots him on the left side of his chest. Elsa calls her boss and speaks to him in German, saying that she has shot but not killed him, and plans to obtain information from him. After shooting Sayid, she questions why they keep him alive. But she agrees with her boss to bring Sayid to him at their unknown safe house.

After visually locating his gun, Sayid picks up an item off the floor and throws it at the mirror, cracking it. She walks over to see what has happened, when Sayid reaches for his gun and shoots her two times in her stomach, killing her.

Post-death[]

In 2007, Benjamin Linus tells Sayid a year after her death, that Sayid's work is done. He has killed everyone who posed a threat to the Oceanic Six after killing Ivan Andropov, which likely includes Elsa's employer.

Elsa Dies

Elsa dies.

However, this is contradicted by his later-warning about the man in a sedan watching Hurley for a week at Santa Rosa after Locke's murder (which Ben committed), so there is still a possibility that Ben may have simply lied because he was finished using Sayid for his agendas. ("He's Our You")

Trivia[]

Name reference[]

  • Elsa is also the name of the blond love interest in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Both are double agents who betray the protagonists, and Berlin figures prominently in both of their stories.
  • Elsa is the name of Lohengrin's wife in the Wagner opera "Lohengrin," about a man who must keep his true identity hidden from his lover. In the end, she causes the secret to be revealed, and the work concludes with her death.
  • Elsa is also the name of the German love interest in the 1976 film Marthon Man, who initially lies to the protagonist about her identity and eventually betrays him. Her exact role, however, is not completely clear and she does not appear to have any formal affiliations with the antagonists. Like Elsa in "The Economist," she is shot and killed shortly following her betrayal.

Shannon[]

  • She has several similarities to Sayid's previous blonde love interest, Shannon.
    • Elsa died the same way Shannon did: shot in the abdomen. ("Abandoned")
    • She is also tall and fair like Shannon, with light blond hair.
    • Both women die shortly after sleeping with Sayid.
    • They also both romantically connect with Sayid through locating whereabouts on a map. ("Whatever the Case May Be")
    • Both have a bilingual or multilingual connection to a European capital city—in Shannon's case, Paris; in Elsa's case Berlin. ("Whatever the Case May Be") ("Hearts and Minds")

Other[]

  • The bracelet that Elsa wears bears a strong resemblance to Naomi's bracelet. However, Damon Lindelof confirmed in an interview that the two bracelets have no connection beyond the second reminding Sayid of the first. [1]
  • Sayid's search for Potsdamer Platz is very likely a reference to the Wim Wender film Wings of Desire (1987). In one scene, an old man named Homer searches in vain for Potsdamer Platz, but finds only rubble, weeds and the graffiti-covered Berlin Wall.

Unanswered questions[]

Unanswered questions
  1. Do not answer the questions here.
  2. Keep the questions open-ended and neutral: do not suggest an answer.
For fan theories about these unanswered questions, see: Elsa/Theories
  • Who was her employer and what was his agenda? ("The Economist")
  • Is her employer from the list confirmed dead? ("He's Our You")
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