Ilana Verdansky

Ilana
Actor	Zuleikha Robinson
First	"316"
Last	"LA X, Part 2"
Episode Count	9
Centric	"The Incident, Part 1"
Profession	Bounty hunter
Reason For Trip	To escort Sayid to Guam.

Ilana is a mysterious survivor of Ajira Airways Flight 316. She claimed to be a bounty hunter working for the family of Peter Avellino to capture Sayid Jarrah and escort him to Guam. Recent events suggest she has an allegiance to Jacob, as they were shown as acquaintances while Ilana was severely injured in a Russian hospital, where he asked her to do something for him, to which she agreed. Sometime after this, after Ilana had apprehended Sayid in Los Angeles, she and Sayid were both passengers aboard Flight 316 along with most of the Oceanic Six when the plane encountered turbulence and was transported above the Island. On the Island, she has assumed leadership of a group of people including the remaining survivors of the Flight 316 crash, including Bram, who all serve Jacob. She led these survivors and Frank Lapidus to the remains of the statue of Taweret, where she revealed to Richard Alpert that the John Locke with him was not who Richard thought he was. Ilana appears to have knowledge about the Island, as she knows her way around it to find Jacob's cabin and the statue, and she seems to know what they are and what their purpose is.

Before the Island

Visited by Jacob

A heavily bandaged Ilana is visited by Jacob in Russia. ("The Incident, Part 1")

Sometime before 2007, Ilana became hospitalized in Russia after suffering an unknown injury that resulted in her being bedridden and heavily bandaged.

The nature of this injury and how it was obtained is unknown. A nurse came up to Ilana's bed and told her she had a visitor, and that this would be good for her because she had not had any visitors in the entire duration of her stay at the hospital. The nurse said she had explained Ilana's condition, but the visitor insisted on seeing her nevertheless.

This visitor turned out to be Jacob, who apologized for not being able to come see her earlier. Ilana apparently knew who he was and had some form of previous relationship with him, claiming she was happy to see him. Jacob asked her to help him with something, and she agreed. It is unknown what this favor he needed was.

It should be noted that, while Jacob made a point to make physical contact with the other cast members during their flashbacks, he seemed to go out of his way to specifically not touch Ilana, wearing black leather gloves when he visits her. ("The Incident, Part 1")

Meeting Sayid

Ilana holds Sayid at gunpoint and reveals that she was hired by Peter Avellino's family. ("He's Our You")

Ilana first met Sayid in a bar drinking MacCutcheon whiskey. They had a brief, flirty conversation about their jobs, with Sayid mistaking Ilana for a professional prostitute, and Ilana commenting that she wasn't "professional at anything", before getting a room in a hotel. After seducing Sayid, she knocked him down and pinned him to the bed, before pulling a gun on him as he was taking off her boot. Ilana said that she was hired by the family of Peter Avellino - the man who Sayid killed on a golf course while working for Benjamin Linus - to capture Sayid and bring him to Guam. When Sayid asked if she was a bounty hunter, she replied that it didn't matter who she was and that he was going to answer for what he did. ("He's Our You")

The next day, at LAX, Ilana passed through security, posing as a federal marshal with Sayid as her prisoner. ("316") Just before takeoff, Sayid noticed the Oceanic Six outside their flight and, worried about where he might actually be going, requested they take a different flight because he is "very superstitious when it comes to flying", but Ilana sarcastically told him she would buy a rabbit's foot from the gift shop and insisted that it had to be this flight. She and Sayid got on Ajira Airways Flight 316, which shows she had knowledge from another source that the plane would crash on the island. ("He's Our You")

Flight 316

Sayid asks Ilana if she is working for Benjamin Linus. ("He's Our You")

Some believe Ilana was meant to fulfill the role of Edward Mars from the original crash. She was in the front passage of the plane with the rest of the Oceanic 6, Ben, Frank, and Caesar, and she had Sayid in her custody on the flight. Before takeoff, when Ben got on the plane, Sayid asked her if she was working with Benjamin Linus, and she asked Sayid who Benjamin Linus is. Sayid said that he is a liar and a murderer responsible for genocide, and Ilana replied, "Why would I work for somebody like that?" Sayid informed her that he did. As the plane encountered turbulence prior to the supposed crash, she looked visibly shaken. ("316")  ("He's Our You")

During the crash landing, Ilana was rendered unconscious and was awoken by Caesar and, as she woke, she muttered something unintelligable. Caesar introduced himself and informed her that they had crashed but were now safe. Somewhat disorientated, Ilana looked to the seat to her left to see that Sayid, who she was escorting to Guam, had disappeared. She looked around the cabin for him with no success. She got up out of her seat with Caesar's help and left the wrecked air carrier. ("Namaste")

On the Island

2007 (Season 5)

Ilana asks Sun if she lost anyone in the crash. ("Namaste")

After the crash, Ilana gathered on the beach with the other survivors. She approached a worried Sun and asked if she was looking for someone due to the expression on her face and Sun's nervous fiddling with Jin's wedding ring. She then listened to Frank and Caesar debate about what they should do next. ("Namaste")

A short time later, Ilana and Caesar discovered the abandoned Hydra station. Neither of them appeared to have any previous knowledge of the DHARMA Initiative. While Caesar explored an office, he took a flashlight and a sawed-off shotgun which he stowed away in his bag. Ilana arrived, apparently already having visited the station, and informed him of a man in a suit that Roxanne had discovered whilst scouting south. She seemed very mistrustful of Caesar, asking him what he had found, and further pressing him when he lied.

Ilana speaks with the mysterious John Locke. ("The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham")

The pair returned to their beach camp, passing the reasonably intact crashed plane, whilst discussing how none of the survivors recognized this man as being aboard. Caesar theorized that he may have been one of the passengers who disappeared whilst crashing, but Ilana disputed this, saying how he wasn't even on the plane to begin with. A roaring signal fire was burning, and many of the survivors stood in a circle surrounding a mysterious man draped in an Ajira Airways blanket.

Together, they met John Locke, the man under the blanket, whom they suspected had not been on the plane. The next morning, Ilana offered Locke a mango and struck up a conversation with him. He asked her if the outriggers belonged to them, to which she replied that they were already there. Locke asked her if she has a passenger manifest, and she told him that he would have to talk to Caesar about that. She then told him that no one remembered him being on the plane, and eagerly asked him what he remembered about his past. He told her that he didn't remember much, but that he remembered dying. Ilana appeared flustered and walked away. ("The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham")

Ilana demands to know "what lies in the shadow of the statue." ("Dead Is Dead")

Ilana was standing near a giant steel crate that several other Flight 316 survivors, including Bram, seemed to be trying to open, when Ben approached her after he had spoken to Locke about visiting the smoke monster. He asked her what was inside the crate, and she was brief with her answer, saying that it was just some things that they needed to get moved. When Ben asked her if they needed a hand, she told him that they had it.

After Ben shot Caesar and left Hydra Island on the outrigger, Ilana, Bram and three others, rid of their competition, found some guns and forcefully took over leadership of the remaining survivors. When Frank returned to Hydra Island, Jed informed him of this, and Frank cautiously approached Ilana. She walked up to him, holding him at gunpoint, and asked him, "What lies in the shadow of the statue?" When he failed to produce the answer she wanted, she hit him on the head with the butt of her rifle and knocked him to the ground. She then told Bram that it was "time" and to tie him up and take him with them. ("Dead Is Dead")

Ilana enters Jacob's cabin to find it deserted. ("The Incident, Part 1")

Ilana and Bram led the rest of their group to the main island in the outriggers including an unconscious Lapidus. When she and Bram got out of the outrigger they were in, he asked her why they were keeping Frank, as he did not know the answer to the question she had posed to him earlier. Ilana responded that just because Frank did not know the answer didn't mean he wasn't special. Bram asked if that meant she thought Frank was a candidate, but Ilana did not respond and instead pointed out that Frank was awake. He asked what he was a candidate for, and she told him that her group were "friends." They showed Frank what was inside of the Ajira crate, and he was shocked by what he saw.

Ilana reveals herself to Richard Alpert and the Others. ("The Incident, Part 1")

Ilana and the survivors made their way to Jacob's cabin, which she found to be deserted. Bram discovered that the ring of ash around the cabin was broken, and the group appeared distraught. Ilana stepped over the ash and went inside to look for clues that would tell her what to do. She found a scrap of cloth that bore the picture of the statue, and before they left. She told the group that someone other than Jacob had been using the cabin and that they had to burn it. The group burned the cabin and Ilana led everyone to the statue.

When they arrived at the statue, the group encountered Sun and the Others, who were awaiting the return of Locke and Ben from their visit inside of the foot to see Jacob. Ilana asked for Richardus, and when Richard answered, she repeated the question of what lies in the shadow of the statue. Richard answered correctly in Latin, saying "he who will save us all." Ilana prompted her group to reveal the contents of the crate after Richard told the Others to stand down. The body of the real John Locke tumbled out of the crate when the group tipped it over. She said it was found in the cargo hold of Ajira Airways Flight 316. ("The Incident, Part 1")

2007 (Season 6)

Ilana attempts to stop The Man in Black from taking the unconscious Richard. ("LA X, Part 2")

Ilana demanded to see Jacob, a demand which Richard fervently denied, saying just because she knows what lies in the shadow of the statue doesn't mean she gets to see Jacob. She witnessed The Man in Black emerge from the statue and prepared to fire upon the mysterious antagonist until Richard ordered her not to. She watched helplessly while the figure kidnapped an unconscious Richard. ("LA X, Part 1") ("LA X, Part 2")

Trivia

• Although Ilana's name was not stated explicitly in "316", it was revealed in the credits and the ABC press release. Caesar later addressed her by her name in "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham".
• Ilana is one of only two main characters who's surname has not been reveled. The other being Paulo.
• Along with Caesar, Ilana was mentioned in the fifth Dharma Special Access e-mail as a new cast member.
• Out of the main characters, Ilana has only met Sayid, Sun, Ben, Richard and Lapidus. She has also met The Man in Black manifested as Locke and has seen his body (and carried it around in a box for several days).
  • She was on the same plane as Jack, Kate, and Hurley. However, she has yet to speak to any of them.
• After appering in seven Season 5 episodes as a guest star, Zuleikha Robinson was promoted to the main cast for Season 6.
• Ilana's casting call was the very first for Season 5, since she was originally meant to appear in "Because You Left". She was described as "Ilanna, a European female in her late 20s to early 30s who possesses great intelligence, but who's also dangerous as all get out. She's alluring and apparently used to getting her own way."
• In her character bio on the ABC website, Ilana is described as having recovered from being "badly burned" while she was in the Russian hospital. [1]
  • This is repeated in The Incident, Parts 1 & 2-Enhanced transcript
• Ilana means "tree." In kabbalah, the numeric value of Ilana (96) equals the "throne of God." (variations: Elana, Ilanit)
• Ilana was the thirty-second character to ever have a flashback.
  • Ilana was the seventh guest character to have a flashback and the third to have a flashback as a guest star before becoming a regular (the other two are Desmond and Frank).

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: Ilana Verdansky/Theories

• How did she end up in the Russian hospital where Jacob visited her?
  • When did this visit take place?
  • What happened to her?
  • What favor did Jacob ask her?
• How much of what she told Sayid about herself was true?
• What is her relationship with Jacob?
  • How much does she know about the Island?
• What is the significance of her question about the statue?
• What did she and Bram mean when they were talking about Frank Lapidus being a candidate?
• Why did she order Jacob's cabin to be burned?
• Why does Richard respond to her question about the statue in Latin?