Mother

For all the mothers in Lost, see Mothers.

Mother
Actor	Allison Janney
First	"House of the Rising Sun"
Last	"Across the Sea"
Episode Count	3
Family	Man in Black - Adoptive Son Jacob - Adoptive Son

The adoptive mother of Jacob and his brother murdered their birth mother Claudia just after the twins were born, and raised the twins herself. She was the protector of the Source until shortly before her murder by Jacob's brother.

According to the Man in Black, she was "crazy" and responsible for him having issues as a child ("a long time ago") that continue to this day. He then uses this story to note how Aaron now has a "crazy mother" too. ("Recon")

It would seem that the Man in Black was referring to the unnamed woman who raised him. Her presence on the island pre-dates any other characters that we know of so far. Long ago, she found Claudia, heavily pregnant and shipwrecked on the Island. After Claudia had given birth to Jacob and the Man in Black, the woman killed Claudia. (She later told Jacob that she had done this because Claudia and the other people who were shipwrecked with her were bad people, and she did not want the infants to be raised by them.)

Jacob and the Man in Black grew up believing that this woman was their mother. She told them that nowhere other than the island existed, and that her mother had died. She also said that she had "made it" so that Jacob and the Man in Black would not be able to hurt each other.

When Jacob and the Man in Black were children, she took them to a cave filled with water and light. She told them that it was "the heart of the island", and that she was its protector; she also said that someday one of them would have to take her place as the protector of the light.

After the Man in Black learned from Claudia's ghost that the woman had lied to him, he decided to leave her and live among Claudia's people. Jacob decided to stay with the woman, but continued to visit his brother. After several decades, the Man in Black and Claudia's people learned about the magnetic energy pockets on the island, and dug wells to learn more about them. In a chamber beneath one of these wells, the Man in Black built a wheel which he hoped to be able to use to leave the island. When the woman learned about his plans, she confronted him and knocked him out. When he regained consciousness, he found that the well had been filled in and all Claudia's people killed.

Meanwhile, the woman took Jacob to the cave of light, and gave him a cup to drink. She said that by doing so, he would be taking on her responsibility as the guardian of the cave; however, she told him never to enter it, and that if he did it would be "worse than dying". Jacob accepted the cup and the responsibility.

The woman returned to the cave where she lived, only to find her belongings destroyed. As she rose to investigate, the Man in Black stabbed her from behind. As she died, she said, "Thank you."

After Jacob fought with the Man in Black and threw him into the cave of light (thus transforming him into the smoke monster), he took the woman's body and the Man in Black's body and laid them to rest in the cave, with a pouch containing one black and one white stone from his brother's Senet game. ("Across the Sea")

Their skeletons were discovered centuries later by Jack Shephard and Kate Austen; John Locke subsequently nicknamed them Adam and Eve. ("House of the Rising Sun")  ("Across the Sea")

Season 6

“

MAN IN BLACK: Because... my mother was crazy. A long time ago, before I... looked like this... I had a mother, just like everyone. She was a very disturbed woman. And, as a result of that, I had some growing pains. Problems that I'm still trying to work my way through. Problems that could have been avoided had things been different. KATE: Why are you telling me this? MAN IN BLACK: Because now Aaron has a crazy mother too.

”

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: Mother/Theories

• What is her name?
• How did she not grow older?
• Did she really arrive to the Island by accident?
• Does she really have the powers she claims? And if so, how?