The hieroglyphics printed on the door to Ben's secret underground lair are the second instance of hieroglyphics on the island. Except this time they are part of the island's ancient heritage rather than a countdown clock. But what do they mean? Read on and you will become an expert at secret passageway hieroglyphics! Note: When analyzing hieroglyphics there are a few things to remember they can be read from any direction (such as down-up, up-down, left-right, or right-left), that there are no spaces in hieroglyphics (everything runs together), and the same symbol can be read as many different phrases or ideas.
Top Line - "to summon", "time to summon" or "to summon time"In this instance, there is one word that can help us determine the way the hieroglyphic is meant to be read and unfortunately it is the only crystal clear word here.
nas - "to summon" or "to call"
Nas or "to summon" is represented by the man with the outstretched arm (see diagram above) and the reason why it is so clear is the simple fact that the word is a determinative. A determinative is the way that the Egyptians associated meaning and pronunciations to their words.
So, "to summon" by itself would appear as n (the squiggle) on top, with a and s underneath, followed by the picture of the man holding his arm over something. This may mean that the hieroglyphics here are meant to be read from right to left, but it is impossible to say which is the right direction.
ra - "time"
The word "time" is an ideograph (hieroglyphic meant to express an idea), and is represented by a circle with a dot in the middle of it. Since the hieroglyphic is somewhat obscured, we can only guess that this is what was meant to be shown.
Second Line - "Protection", "Power" or "Strength"
The second line does not have anything that could determine direction and is a combination of ideographs and phonetics. There are an infinite amount of possibilities as to what this line means, so I'll give the phonetic and idea of each hieroglyphic and let you theorize away!
hen - "master" or "priest"
Hen as a noun would translate roughly into master, but could be easily be seen as priest. This could mean the chamber is for holy men only or could be referring to the one who is control of this island?
"man with weapon" - "power", "strength", or "protection"
The second line would seem to be anchored by this hieroglyphic, because the phrase "to summon protection" would make the most sense. After Ben left the door covered in soot, smokey was right behind him. Is the chambers purpose to summon smokey?
"container" or "stone container"
This hieroglyphic is the most confusing, could this mean that summoning smokey involves some kind of container?
anx - "life"
This symbol is not an hieroglyphic, but there is a hieroglyphic extremely similar to it. The anx hieroglyphic is a cross much like the one here, but has a looped top. Again this seems to be referring to the ritual that would summon smokey, maybe giving him life or a sacrifice of life is needed to summon him?
The Whole Enchilada - "To summon protection"
The simplest translation of these hieroglyphics is "to summon protection", but there are almost endless ways they can be translated. Here are a few to get those theories flowing:
"Time to summon strength"
"To summon time protection" or "To summon time power"
"Time summons the power of life"
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If i remember correctly heiroglyphics are usually meant to be read up and down which would make the the glyphs mean something like: To summon the master of time, unleash life.
Just a thought.
Very cool, Koobie. Thanks!
stone container = the room. which is stone & a container.
not convinced they are about or related to time travel. could time suggest that the action should happen now rather than later?
Koobie:
U said that 'time' is represented with a circle and a dot in it.
Isn't the Oceanic logo just like that?
And also, in the pilot episode, when smokey attacks the cockpit, the cockpit falls down. You can see a small black circle with a dot below the windshield outside of the cockpit. But it's only just a second.
Any thoughts?
VO815: I like that idea, and it works with thsi idea I think...
KOOBS: Awesome Job brudda!!! I would never have te patience to try and look these the heiros up, or understand them... thanks for your interpretations, and you may very well bew on point.. I'm sure Darlton had that there to show mystique to the casual fan(to make them think and understand it was an ancient room) but I think they also left that their for the obsessed Losties(US) to decipher and try to use the key to un"Locke" some of the islands mysteries and The smoke monster... Thanks again for your deciphering(prob not proper english what I just wrote..oh well)
Out of the 4 suggestions at the end, they were all great and theory inspiring, I will go out on a limb and say my fave and most plausible would have to be: "Time summons the power of life" - at the least, to me it is the most powerful statement. I am going to google that phrase and see what I get. regardless of my findings, I will post the most related idea after.. Namaste
The first thing I found is located here:
http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/fr/IMG/pdf/0202-Delfour-GB-2-2.pdf
It was an Adobe file, and I am not great with Technology(quiet You non believers of Jacob hehe) so I dont know how to paste its.. Not sure if it correlates, but it is interesting
On another note on this, can this be related to some D&D/AD&D summoning spells??? Just a thought
@ theMachine, first off your English may not have been proper, but i understood you perfectly. The .pdf file you linked to had information about it's content at the bottom of each page in smaller print. Also you cannot simply paste that file on a message board, linking it the was you did was just fine.
Back to the secret door, although i'm not sure myself what direction to read them in on the secret door, i believe we have a pretty good idea but the content alone. The moment we all saw Ben standing at that door i think we all knew it was something special, and very old. It's more obvious now than ever that the island has had mystical properties well into it's past, i really can't wait until that last episode air's 2+ season's from now, a bitter sweet moment indeed.
Thanks for the awesome info Koobie!!
Sorry Pals, but hieroglyphics must be read from the direction of what the human figures are looking. In this case from the left to the right. At the beginning you haven't noticed the symbol "jw" that means "Island" (dubbled, could be Island or Islands) at the left of the symbol of Summon.
I'm not sure of the traduction but it could be "jwt" (The islands) " 's(s) " (Summon) "j" (me) "nb n" (master of) "sn" (To encircle with "determitative of" strenght) "ny" (of) "nd" (to protect)
"Islands... I summon the master of the surronding wall of protection"
"This hieroglyphic is the most confusing, could this mean that summoning smokey involves some kind of container?"
Or is the room a container for smokey? After all, we only speculate that he roams the island randomly. Perhaps he is rather like the genie in the bottle, and everytime we have seen him he has been unleashed on purpose.
Like Cristina said, Hieroglyphs can be read many different ways. Top to bottom on things like cartouches, right to left or left to right for most glyphs based on which way the animals and people are facing.
With that in mind we get the symbols to read in this order:
1) To summon
2) Time
3) Master / Priest
4) Man with weapon
5) Container
6) Life
Now, the sentence "To summon time master man with weapon container life" doesn't really roll off the tongue, so if you take that and turn it into a more "english" sounding phrase you could come up with the following assumptions:
There aren't going to be words like "to" "at" "when" and words like that in between these words, so we will take for granted that freedom.
Also, some of these words can be condensed. "Man with weapon" for instance could mean simply "enemy" or the like.
With that said here's a couple scenarios I came up with:
"Summon at a time when elite enemies try to contain life."
"Summon now the master weapon. Contain life."
"Summon the master weapon. It contains protection."
Just my two cents.
Couldn't the Container be "the box"?
Would it be a stretch to say that when Ben entered the room he went to Iraq to find Sayid? Afterall in Iraq he was there no parachute or anything he was just laying there. I thought maybe he went into the room and went to Sayid and Widmore because he was just as upset in the flash it seemed as on the island like it had just happened.
I think it is safe to say that Ben did not go to find Sayid when he entered the room. First of all, there is a lot of evidence that suggests the room was for summoning smokey... what he did in there to summon him is anyones guess (all we know is he got really dirty). Also, when Ben showed up in the desert, he was wearing a jacket with a DHARMA logo on it (one we've never seen before), and based on how it looks,
http://the-odi.blogspot.com/2008/04/episode-4x09-ben-with-dharma-parka-in.html
it's pretty safe to say that it is the Orchid station logo. Plus, the Orchid station video that was a precursor to season 4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bTvAUVPyLI
suggests that the Orchid station has some kind of teleportation power. So I think we can say Ben getting to the desert was a result of the Orchid station somehow, not from the crazy hieroglyphics door.
Also, I forgot to mention that the jacket said Halliwax which was the name the doctor used in the Orchid video. :)
not sure about teleportation. orchid seemed to be a bunny version of the dead freighter doctor: there are temporarily 2 of them. ..which brings me to: since both ben and widmore have both accused the other of faking the oceanic crash, maybe neither faked it and it actually happened. the plane "doubled" and one crashed. maybe. maybe the "evidence" - graves in china etc - was faked. but maybe not, and there is the issue of the pilot's ring..tho bet you any money that could be solved via a flashback to the airport showing him losing or taking off the ring....
anyway, main point: both have accused the other of faking the flight 813 crash. maybe it really happened. this could also explain the black rock in the jungle: it popped into existance in the same way the bunny did.
at first, i had a problem with these being explained as "hieroglyphics". mostly because that hieroglyphs are defined as, "pictorial symbols... used to represent meaning or sounds or a combination of meaning and sound."
a) does this mean a culture that used this system of writing was there previously? if so, why isnt there more available for archaeology and ruins instead of just a secret door (so far)?
b) a more contemporaneous people just USED that system of writing... for reasons to be tricky (yawn)
c) are these really hieroglyphics or just pictograms that arent necessarily a strict system of "language."
'Container' could equal The CV vents? Could one of the symbols suggest an opening of the 'container'?
Wrong
I studied this stuff for years
It says
Man with big fish No smoke...
and then what looks like the symbol for Crack Pipe
According to some, Smokey destroy those who could change the course of time.
Therefore, I would say that the room "summons the protector of time".
I know, I'm a pedant, but those are hieroglyphs. Hieroglyphic is an adjective, not a noun.
That aside, you ROCK for getting even a partial explanation of this. Given that the Lost staff got busted out on the last audio podcast for a mistake in Korean, I have a feeling that their own grasp of what they wrote may be a little rough, and the general idea of what it says may be enough of a hint...
Excellent work Koobie.
Great stuff Koobie. After looking them over and being quite literal, I decide to attack it from a "puzzle solving" angle, rather than adhering to strict Egyptian rules, primarily because of 3 inconsistencies. What I noticed first is that reading top right to left, the phrase "to summon" appears in two forms, one symbolic and one phonetic. The phonetic or spelled out form is "interrupted" by the symbol for time. This bothers me.....when studying it either literally or abstractly. Another thing is the use of a vowel for the one word that is actually "spelled" out...I was taught the classic Egyptian word structure relied very little on vowels. The third is the use of a Christian symbol. All In all I came to think of the whole thing as sort of a "caution" sign, warning about letting Smokey out during power surges. Something to the effect of, "If time interrupts one of your summons, remember that faith holds your protection and power." With all the comings and goings of time travelers around there, the electronics/magnetics could get disturbed somehow every time "time" gets bent. Remember how old Smokey reacted to Eko? Anyways, that's my "out of the box" take.
Pretty cool. I see this more as a puzzle then strict hieroglyphics. In this case the main with the outstretched arm is “Summon” or “Servant”. The glyph noted as “s” could also be “Health” or “Happiness”. The “a” for now would have to stay an “a” because I don’t know any other interpretation for it. If we’re saying that “time” in really a circle with a smaller circle in the middle then it could also mean “sun”. The glyph for “n” could be “water”.
On the second line the “hen” could be the symbol for “protection” itself. The man with a weapon can mean “power”, or “ to teach” or at it’s most basic it means to “hit or strike”. The “container” and “anx” do mean “container/jar” and “life” respectfully.
So if we group the writing into four boxes:
Upper left: Summon/Servant Happiness/Health
Upper right: Sun/Time Water
Bottom left: Protection Harm
Bottom Right: Container Life
So the bottom could be read as “Protect from Harm the Container of Life”. Possibly referring to protecting the island itself. The top row though… I’m not so sure. Could be something like “Summon the Protector of the Sun and Water (the Island?)” Lots to think about.