Old Four Toes - Click For Full Size
Remember last episode when Hurley was painting an Egyptian scene? In the season 4 premiere Hurley was seen painting Eskimos, which naturally put forth the idea that Hurley was somehow psychically aware of how Penny had found the island. Has Hurley demonstrated his psychic painting skills – ala Isaac Mendez – yet again? Could be. We got our first full body look at the four-toed-statue, and he certainly looks like he could have been featured in Hurley’s water color.
There is little doubt amongst the LOST sleuthing community that old-four-toes is in fact Anubis, the Greek name for the Egyptian god of the dead. Anubis acts as escort for the dearly departed on their way to the afterlife. Those of you still clinging to the purgatory theory should love that.
To add a little heavy handed punctuation to the matter, LOST’s evil Easter egg planters gave Amy an Ankh to hang onto. Ankhs are the symbol for eternal life in the Egyptian symbol language – and Mr. Anubis is grasping two very large ones.
Now as to the over-all significance of this: if this is indeed Mr. Anubis, is the island a chunk of Egypt that was somehow dislodged and set adrift? Probably not. Mr. Anubis, given the nature of our special island, is set strategically over-looking the water as if he is the island’s greeter announcing loudly and proudly “Welcome, we have plenty of eternal life for everyone.” It seems to me that the construction of this monument was part of a colonization effort of an epic scale.
Do Anubises Have Four Toes?
A few research links for you:
94 Responses to “LOST 5.09 Dissected – Ankh’s and Uncles”
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One of the best reveals last night
Looks like it could be Set… God of evil. Funny thing is, it makes no sense that it would be anubis, since anubis had huge jackle ears. and he was the god of embalming… Set makes more sense. its probablly a composite. its not totally any one god, and has the face of one of the characters.
I agree. I don’t think it’s going to be a specific, real Egyptian god. I think it’s going to be some composite being. With a Jackface.
LMAO nice hyper! I also found this:
the goddess Nut offers her protection to the deceased. She holds an ankh in each hand, a symbol that meant “to give life.”
and she has a little platform on her head.
Well, that sounds pretty spot on. Nice find.
Whoa.
“Nut was the goddess of the sky and all heavenly bodies, a symbol of resurrection and rebirth.”
“Sometimes Nut appeared in the form of a cow…”
The god of embalming doesn’t seem to be an odd choice for an island that seems to resurrect. They definitely made a big deal out of the “bury them within 108 minutes” requirement. Sounds pretty embalmy to me.
What is everyone thinking about Alpert’s peolple needing the dead bodies of his two men and the body of Paul??? I really think this is leading to us finding out that they are mummifying the bodies similiar to the egytians. I bet the statue has Faraday’s face.
maybe the smokey-monster is used in resurrecting the dead.. or maybe Richard Alpert is reanimating them to build his army, a legion of the deadalive.
Or, if left untouched they might come back to life but filled with extreme evil as if they had super rabies and come after them
My jaw dropped when I saw that statue. I wonder if Jin recognized it as the foot statue he had seen back in season 2?
Awesome reveal! I actually yelled out loud “THE STATUE!!”
LOST 5.09 Dissected – Ankh’s and Uncles
REALLY? 5.09? REALLY!
if the theory that the island were some sort of spaceship were true, then the statue must be the hood ornament!
Was that Baby Ben? I know they delved into Ben’s birth, but could that have been a lie?
The baby is most definitely NOT Ben. Not only is the age wrong–the baby was born 27 years before the crash, when Ben was in his 40s–but at the time that the baby is born, Ben is already on the island as a young man. The baby was born in 1977, whereas Ben, who was born in the 1960s, came to the island some time around 1974.
ben lies, the flashbacks (seemingly) are on the level.
Ben does not lie, he never does. He just omits certain points and people assume things by the way he says something. Ben rarely lies.
I would like to see a little more restraint in declaring this thing to be Anubis. It does not have the EARS of Anubis and it is not holding a staph. Those are significant differences.
Yes it fits the themes of the show, but we can’t see the front of it…so maybe we shouldn’t presume to much.
Also it is sad that Americans still continue to call them “Eskimos” — get a little political sensativity. It is “Inuit”. No one does this in Canada.
In defense of we sad Americans, for many many years, we were taught that they were called Eskimos. Since we were 4 y/o, we’ve told that they are Eskimo’s. Then one day, they need to be called Inuit? Ok. Fine. Is ‘Eskimo’ derogatory? If it is, it hasn’t been explained at all. If someone prefers to be called one thing, people try to respect, natuarally. But if its something that’s been embedded in your culture for many years, it takes more time for the full change to occur.
http://www.uaf.edu/anlc/inuitoreskimo.html
Although the name “Eskimo” is commonly used in Alaska to refer to all Inuit and Yupik people of the world, this name is considered derogatory in many other places because it was given by non-Inuit people and was said to mean “eater of raw meat.” Linguists now believe that “Eskimo” is derived from an Ojibwa word meaning “to net snowshoes.” However, the people of Canada and Greenland prefer other names. “Inuit,” meaning “people,” is used in most of Canada, and the language is called “Inuktitut” in eastern Canada although other local designations are used also. The Inuit people of Greenland refer to themselves as “Greenlanders” or “Kalaallit” in their language, which they call “Greenlandic” or “Kalaallisut.” Most Alaskans continue to accept the name “Eskimo,” particularly because “Inuit” refers only to the Inupiat of northern Alaska, the Inuit of Canada, and the Kalaallit of Greenland, and is not a word in the Yupik languages of Alaska and Siberia.
What can I say, I’m an old dog. But whatever you do, don’t call me a white boy – or I’ll be pissed.
whatever it is .. it doesn’t appear to be Daniel =D HAHA
Taweret, Goddess of Fertility and Child-Birth:
http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/taweret2.jpg
Political sensativity?? That is what is wrong with the world.
We call them “eskimos” because we are “ugly” Americans and we can!! We have freedon of speech here unlike in Canada.
Good lord…
You seem to have quite a talent for making freedom of speech sound like a bad thing…
i’m an american, you’re obviously an ‘ugly’ american. there is a huge difference, one that you’ve illustrated with your small-minded comment (and don’t be an even bigger punk and try to say it was a joke, jokes are usually funny…).
Very interesting…in fact, on the Anubis Wiki page, do I recognise the way “Anubis” is depicted in heiroglyphs? Wasn’t that how the counter changed in The Swan when the clock wound down to zero???
Heiroglyphs of the counter here: http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/lostpedia/images/0/09/CounterZeroHieroglyphic.jpg
The bird is the same, but that’s it.
Ah, ok.
Darlton said on Feb 5, 2009 that Swan hieroglyphs and the ones on the Ajira airline tickets both mean underworld (podcast).
The glyphs at the FDW and the temple mean “resurrection” which comes from Damon (podcast 2-5-09).
I don’t have a link to the source, but I remember reading a Hugo interview where he said that painting the Eskimo/Inuit would be funny…that people such as us would remember that and try to form some theory out of it…Jokes on us with that I guess.
I noted this on a different topic, but it fits here better. The Anubis wiki page says this: “….Anubis was sometimes associated with Sirius in the heavens, and Cerberus in Hades.”
…Cerberus being the significant part of that.
I don’t know about the Anubis thing… But if it was truth, since when does Anubis wear a women skirt?
If you look closely, you see that the statue has some sort of skirt (with stripes) and, probably, a long-sleeve shirt.
The statue has quite the lady’s waist, and such sexy, sexy legs.
Didn’t they wear robes/togas back then?
But read above for another theory on who the statue is: Nut.
Actually, Anubis often did wear exactly what the statue is depicted as. I’d also throw out that if the ears had been there, then it would have been completely clear that this was Anubis. Since when do TPTB ever give us anything that conclusively. They love us to do exactly what we’re doing. So I’d offer that perhaps the ears broke off, or something similar.
Here are some more pics of Anubis.
http://lost.cubit.net/archives/2009/03/5×08-the-egyptian-god-anubis.php
http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/taweret2.jpg
not anubis
Egyptian gods are as androgynous as they are anthropomorphic. They pretty much all wear skirts and have sexy, sexy legs.
The statue, along with the hieroglyphics and other Egyptian motifs in previous episodes, strongly points to this being the City of Atlantis. As the myth goes:
“At this time Egypt absorbed the migrating Atlanteans who then helped Egypt reach its height of glory. … People claim that Egyptian civilization started suddenly and was in complete form 5,000 years ago. They also say that Egyptians learned ‘the secrets of the universe’ from Atlanteans.”
http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/egypt/archaeology/weirdtheories/atlantis.html
It’s been a theory of me and a friend of mine for years (along with probably 1/2 the Lost fans for all I know), and last night’s episode gave it even more credibility.
-Eric
The statue is not of Anubis, but of Set, who is holding an Ankh in his right hand, and a “Was” in his left. A Was is a scepter that symbolizes power and domininion. Go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Was
The bottom right image is clearly the same statue from the show.
To be fair, that image on the bottom right looks almost exactly like Anubis too.
I just like how Set is also depicted as a cow and is a symbol of resurrection and rebirth.
I mean Nut, not Set.
i personally think this is a different, unheard of god maybe. it looks like Seteh, but also Anubis…they both carried a was and ankh’s….but you have to pay close attention to their posture and they way they both are depicted on different sites…anubis’ ears are nothing like the statue on the island. both seteh and anubis wear a short gown around their waste with their top halfs exposed, they both have long hair down their back, but with anubis…he has nothing in the middle of his head, between his ears, seteh’s main of hair in some pictures is raised in the front between his ears. so it may infact be seteh….but i think the writers will come up with some other twist to this story…because obviously, the island can move, so it may be a vessel of some sort…i’m stil theorizing…
looking at the picture more closely, the statue is holding two ankh….not a was and an ankh…does anyone agree?
Agree 100%. There were images where Anubis was seen holding two Ankhs.
whichever god it is….it’s a male…male gods wore short “skirts” and women wore long ones to their feet…..
Nut, the most likely candidate, is most often bare-assed. Maybe she’s a bit more modest when giant-sized.
I liked how they treated the ankh in this episode. I feel like the really highlighted why these symbols can exist for such a long time, being passed down from person to person. To her (i can’t remember her name…Horace’s first girly) it represented a love lost and a memory held. That same sentiment could be used to describe Christ and his cross.
I don’t think it’s Anubis or Set. They’re almost almost always portrayed in statues as having 5 toes, like a human.
I like the theory that the statue is Tawaret, the ancient Egyptian deity of protection in pregnancy and childbirth. Fitting for the island, no? He’s got 4 toes, too. Take a look.
http://preview.tinyurl.com/aulogt
Definitely similar! Good call.
Wow. Very nice find. I think that’s much closer than Anubis.
Nice but no.. does not compute
Check here
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/06/Tawaret_figurine_(Boston_MFA).jpg
This figurine has five toes as usual
speaking of does not compute … us this link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tawaret
So, some figurines have 5 toes and some 4.
But based on the shape of the ears and the flat thing on top of the head, and the fact that the statue isn’t holding a staff (like Anibus does), I think Tawaret is a definite possibility.
“As a protector, she often was shown with one arm resting on the sa symbol, which symbolized protection, and on occasion she carried an ankh, the symbol of life, or a knife, which would be used to threaten evil spirits.”
This is the best alternative I’ve seen to Anubis yet. Nice work, indeed.
Hippos have FOUR TOES!!!
http://www.sa-venues.com/wildlife/wildlife_hippo.htm
i guess we can mark this one as check.
I agree, it’s probably Taweret, but she’s been given an Extreme Makeover for Hollywood. Same ears, same hat, appears to be the same two items in her hands, and she’s the FERTILITY GODDESS.
What is everyone thinking about Alpert’s peolple needing the dead bodies of his two men and the body of Paul??? I really think this is leading to us finding out that they are mummifying the bodies similiar to the egytians. I bet the statue has Faraday’s face.
why faraday?
I’m not sure how it could be Faraday, but in the seasons promo picture, he is missing a foot.
i love that promo picture detail…so tantalizing.
Set would make sense too. Look at what the picture of Set is holding on its wiki page. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Set_(mythology)
Here’s some meaty speculation…
So Richard Alpert appears to resist aging. After Lafleur we know that the four toed stature is indeed Egyptian. Richard Alpert looks a hell of a lot like he could BE (at least…) of Egyptian lineage.
ready for the kicker?
Richard Alpert’s initials are R. A.
Ra.
The egyptian sun god.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ra
Why hasn’t anyone mentiones Horus yet?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horus
Looks kinda similar, in one pic he also wears some kind of hat.
Also the resemblance between his and Horace’s name is significant
It says that Horus has a falcon head.
yeah but you can’t really tell from the picture what the head could look like. You can only see something that could be hair or maybe feathers or something.
However i rather think that it is Taweret, but hey, just giving suggestions
Yeah, I hear ya.
In the book of Daniel a statue describes different countries as parts of the body, (head–Babylon, body–media-persia, etc) what if the statue represents parts of all the egyptian Gods?
Some of the other interesting gods of Egypt….
Ra: commanded sky, earth, and underworld
Osiris: oldest god; known as the god of the afterlife. Judged the dead. Granted all life,
including vegetation and the swelling of the Nile. Supplanted Ra to rule underworld. (seems to be a pattern in leadership of Island)
Am-heh: minor god of the underworld; name means “devourer of millions;” controlled by Ra.
Horus: god of the sky. Told by his mother to protect the land of Egypt from Set (god of the desert, storms and chaos)
food for thought!
It’s none of the gods you have all described, although whomever named Set came close. It’s Horus, the falcon god, the protector. It’s no coincidence the episode begins with the statue of Horus and then goes on to focus mostly on Horace, the character. We were discussing it in another blog earlier today and B.Quain gave us the clue.
“Horus, the son of Osiris and Isis, was called ‘Horus who rules with two eyes.’ His right eye was white and represented the sun; his left eye was black and represented the moon.” Finally, those black and white rocks placed in Adam and Eves eyes from season 1 come into play.
“Horus was conceived magically after the death of Osiris, and Isis hid him away on an island to protect him from Set. He is worshipped as an infant and is beseeched to gain his mother’s protection for the worshipper. The most popular story of Horus is the one in which he grows to manhood to avenge the death of his father Osiris by battling against his cruel uncle Set. In many writings, he is said to continue to battle Set daily to ensure the safety of the world.”
So Horus was hidden away on an island for protection. hmm. And once grown, he continues “the battle against Set daily to ensure the safety of the world.” Kind of reminds me of Locke pressing the button back in season 2.
You can look up Horus, it’s definitely him. He’s known to always hold an ankh, sometimes holding 2 just like the statue on the island.
Good connection with the rocks.
Also, the painting in the Swan included the head of a man with one white eye and one black. And in Claire’s dream Locke had one black and one white eye.
I’d have to say that after reading and researching I’m on the side that it’s Tawaret. It would make sense that some early descendants on the island would erect a statue to appeal to a god when their pregnant women and unborn children are dying. This was common with ancient egyptians.
I like the idea that this statue has the face of Faraday though. I have this idea that Daniel somehow ends up in the time just before the statue and teaches an ancient civilization (centered around gods) modern scientific ideas.
Btw, I really hope the scene with the statue sets up an Alpert-centric episode. I would love to find out more about RA and of course our beloved island.
Btw, btw, does anybody have thoughts on who the child is? If the child was born in 1977 it would make him 27 of our years old, but perhaps younger on the island. One thought I have is that it’s Aaron who dies eventually. He is then born to Claire (father Paul no doubt, which is why Richard wants the body), and the rest is LOST history and future…
Another thought here is that the child is the eventual father of Aaron…
Impossible. The statue clearly wears the kilt that only kings and male gods wear.
Perhaps, but it could be a detail tptb overlooked. It wasn’t my most perplexing point though. I really think that kid is going to play a signifigant part…
ohh I hadn’t considered that Richard might want Paul’s body for any other reason than to appease his droogs.
the concept of The Faraday Intervention is incredibly intriguing, but they’re going to have to pull some strings to make the Faraday-face-on-statue effect not look lame.
Really interesting reading about your theories about the statue. But watching it in 1974 poses the question; why destroy it? And who did it? When?
The incident
Once again: they didn’t see it in 1974. They saw it BEFORE locke pushed the donkey wheel, so it was probably waaay back in ancient times. The volcano could have destroyed it once.
It does have that ozymandias feel…if not a volcano then i’d bet that it was destroyed during one of many feuds held between two sides wanting control.
Or just crumbled because it was ancient.
but where’s the oomph in that?
The incident could’ve been pre-1974. Dharma had obviously been there for at least a few years considering the already built neighborhood. Perhaps before the truce there was a war that ended with the incident, the destruction of 4 toes, and finally the truce…
maybe we go into details to much, but remember that the statue wore a sandal? thats not egyptian, that’s a Greco-Roman feature. Also most egyptian standing colossal statues have back pillars, so you would expect them on a gigantic one like this.
i dunno, i think its another cultures interpretation of egyptian style and religion.
also, its probably not Horus, because you wouild expect him to be depicted with the crown of upper and lower egypt. the ears are not really fit for Seth or Anubis, but then again, it might not by really an egyptian statue.
good point about the sandals.
I don’t know if this was mentioned or not, but Amy took the Ankh from her husband… but Richard wanted her husbands body… Possibly to resurrect his body? Or, maybe to claim his soul?
Horus was sometimes represented as a Falcon according to Wikipedia.
In the Season 2 finale, a large bird (possibly a falcon) flies overhead and screams out Hurley’s name.
Just a thought.
Here is a way crazy thought: maybe the statue was built by, and represents a culture unique to the Island. I would hope it would not be as disappointing and cheap as to have any relation to Egyptian/Greek/Roman or mythical Atlantean culture. That would be such a let down for me, and I would think to others as well. So, with all due respect, and with hope for the arc of the story- I hope every post above this is absolutely wrong.
agreed! I want them to blow my mind.
kind of related, found this on digg yesterday.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1157784/Do-mysterious-stones-mark-site-Garden-Eden.html
it’s a pretty remarkable article though i’d be disappointed with Eden as well. now that i think about it…i don’t know what resolution would make me happy.
I won’t mind a relation to Egyptian/Greek/Roman or mythical Atlantean culture as long as it’s handled intelligently. I trust the producers.
While I didn’t care much for the movie itself, I always liked how STARGATE played with the history of the Egyptian culture and its relation to extra terrestrial life.
I thought that was a great movie.
Nothing fails like success.