During the village massacre, the residents of a village on the Island during a primitive time were murdered, allegedly by the adoptive mother of the Man in Black and Jacob. Many of the residents had shown a large loss of blood, and the only villager to avoid the attack was the Man in Black himself.
Lead-up[]
A group of men and women shipwrecked onto the island, including a heavily pregnant woman named Claudia, who was separated from the rest of her people. She met a woman, who assisted in the birth of Claudia’s children, Jacob and an unnamed child. However, shortly after giving birth, the woman murdered Claudia so she could raise the children as her own.
The Man in Black reveals how he is going to leave the island. ("Across the Sea")
Meanwhile, the rest of Claudia’s people made camp across the island with the intention of living there.
During his early teens, a vision of Claudia caused the Man in Black to leave his family to live with the residents of the village. 30 years later, his mother learned that he lived in the village and that he was getting closer to finding a way to leave the island. She visited him and failed to convince him to stay. She knocked him unconscious and she left him.
The death of the villagers[]
The assailant — allegedly Mother — murdered all the residents of the village, and also had time to fill a well with rocks before the Man in Black regained consciousness. In audio commentary, the producers reference the unlikelihood of a woman single-handedly managing this. They suggest Mother may have attacked the village as a smoke monster, but they refuse to confirm or deny the theory. (Across the Sea audio commentary)
Aftermath[]
The Man in Black loses his body and becomes a smoke monster. ("Across the Sea")
The Man in Black regained consciousness to find the entire village burned down, every resident dead and the well in which he planned to leave the Island filled up with stones. Furious, he stabbed Mother to death.
Jacob retaliated by beating the Man in Black unconscious and dragging him to the Heart, where he planned not to kill him, but to give him a fate "much worse than death". When the Man in Black entered the Heart, he turned into the smoke monster, losing his body and humanity while remaining alive.
Unanswered questions[]
- How were the villagers murdered?