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The "Monster" has also been referred to as The Security System and the Black Smoke; it may also be Cerberus.

Facts

  • First thought of as a monster of unknown nature
  • Believed to have killed the pilot
  • We are led to believe that Locke has seen it up close. He says that he did not see it, but he later says to Jack, "I looked into the eye of this island... and what I saw was beautiful."
  • Makes different sounds that sound both mechanical and biological. It has made mechanical sounds such as: whiring, clanking, chittering, ratcheting, and noises similar to releasing air pressure. It has also made varying types of sounds that sound similar to roaring.
  • Sound extract from Season 1 - Pilot 1: download from RapidShare.
  • Rose remarks that the sounds sound familiar to her. Someone asks her where she lived, and she says, The Bronx (unknown if the sounds are related to where she lives or not).
  • Rustles trees and rips them from the ground
Blacksmoke

- Locke, Kate and Jack facing the black smoke

File:Mr eko and the smoke.jpg

Mr. Eko facing the black smoke - see black smoke for details on the image

  • While traveling in the Dark Territory to the ship, the group (including Danielle, Jack, Locke, Hurley, Kate and Leslie Arzt) are chased into trees where Danielle declares they are “safe.” Jack asks her what chased them and Danielle calls it The Security System. Jack asks her what it does and she tells him that “Its purpose is that of any security system: To protect something.” Kate asks what it protects and she replies, “The Island.”
  • On the return trek through the Dark Territory, while bringing the dynamite from the ship to the hatch, the group is chased again. There are wisps of smoke, followed by mechanical noises and explosions from the ground. Locke is knocked to the ground and looks up in horror at something. Presumably, this would be an image he sees in the smoke. He gets up, runs frantically away and is then "grabbed" and pulled into a large hole. Jack holds onto Locke's arms to prevent him from falling in. Locke tells Jack that everything will be all right and to let go. Jack then tells Kate to get the dynamite from his backpack and throw it down the hole. When she does, a large explosion occurs, Locke is released, and we see what appears to be a cloud of smoke appear and "rush away" from the group.
  • All the appearances show the Monster as a cloud of freely-moving black smoke
  • We see what we think is the Monster quite clearly for the first time in the episode The 23rd Psalm
  • Mr. Eko does not react when it confronts him. As it hovers, nearly motionless, it flashes several images from Eko's past,then retreats into the jungle.
  • According to the May 26 podcast, we saw the monster in season two but didn't realise we were looking at the monster.

Theories

  • It is some kind of scout for The Others/The Dharma Initiative, whose purpose is to gain information on any people that come onto the island, taking them if they are good people (Locke), killing them if they are bad (The pilot), and leaving them if it cannot decide (Mr. Eko).
  • The monster is some type of mechanism to control the movements of people on the island, designed to induce fear in the people on the island in order to force them to constantly adapt.
  • Similarly, the monster is a mechanism employed by the Dharma Initiative in order to keep test subjects in the various hatches from 'running into one another' and communicating the nature of the experiments each experience in their respective hatches.
  • The monster/security system is what was being investigated by the Dharma Initiative's Parapsychology station; the fact that it flashes images of Mr. Eko's past in The 23rd Psalm suggests the monster has some sort of psychic ability, or is able to penetrate people's bodies.
  • The Monster is a cloud of nanobots developed by or involved somehow with The Dharma Initiative, known as Smartdust, believed to inhabit computers, like the one in the Hatch. (This has been dismissed by the producers.)
  • There are two different "security systems" When Locke had his first run in with this thing, he said "I looked into the eye of this island... and what I saw was beautiful." (we never saw that "monster") His second run in, coming back from the Black Rock, he runs toward it in anticipation... that suddenly turns to fear. Then he almost gets sucked into a hole.
  • The black smoke reflects parts of the persons' past; in Eko's case his turning from criminal to a man of God(hence churches flashing in the smoke), and in Locke's case he sees his fiancée, thus exclaiming "... and what I saw was beautiful".
  • It is a security system used to keep those who are now known as the Others from communicating with the outside world.
  • Perhaps, for unknown reason, caused the Turbine Explosion?
  • There are three of them (not all necessarily security systems) : Black, red and white
  • The sounds produced by it aren't related to its functioning but just sound effects created by it to create fear and panic.
  • The Black Smoke is a cloud of iron atoms suspended in a magnetic field. By changing the magnetic orientations of the atoms, they could act as a data storage system of enormous capacity.
  • It is a combination of the scientific and the supernatural; souls and modern technology. In this manner it "extends" the life of the dead by letting their soul last as the black smoke - and sometimes even takes on a more corporeal form, such as Jack's father, Kate's Horse, and so on.
  • The monster is a Bad Robot
  • The monster attacks are tailored to maximise the victim's fear. The Pilot was dropped from a great height (falling), Locke was dragged by the legs (couldn't run) and Eko was shown scenes of his childhood and of the church. Eko being who he was, was not scared by seeing who he truly was, hence the attack failed. Perhaps Locke's first meeting with the creature also failed to scare him.
  • Only physically attacks people in the dark territory.
  • The monster, in its "Security System" function, judges people and decides whether they are a threat. When Locke encounters the security system the first time, he is kind of a guide for people on the island and it decides he is non-threatening. In Exodus: Part 2, however, he has "lost his way" and it judges him as a threat. In The 23rd Psalm, it decides Eko is all right.
  • The Monster is the "Cerberus System" mentioned several times on the blast door map, a reference to the three-headed canine guardian of Hades in Greek mythology. Other notes seem to connect the "AH/MDG INCIDENT OF 1985" with a "CATASTROPHIC MALFUNCTION" of the system.
  • The security system doesn't judge if people are good or bad at all. The pilot got killed (and Locke was attacked) only because of this malfunction mentioned on the blast door map.
  • The image of the woman is possibly Ms. Klugh, a member of the Others, who makes her first appearance in the episode "Three Minutes"
  • Cerberus was a three-headed dog. Maybe there are three of the monsters, each with their own disposition. One is more inclined to kill anything it finds, and throws them into trees. One is generally curious, and most likely to simply examine people and move on. The third drags people into holes?
  • The people on this island have special powers, the smoke/security system is a type of projection or physical manifestation created by someone else in order to invoke their will on others. This person may or may not be associated with "The Others" (those who took walt)
  • A person with powerful psychic powers is able to control the Monster, or an accident may have turn such a person into the Monster. Its actions are based of what it can learn from the person due to it's psychic abilities and the moods that it's in. It may be possible for other people with psychic powers to partially control the actions of the Monster, such as Walt. The Monster didn't attack Locke when he first encountered it because Walt had some control over it, that may also explain why he thought it was beautiful because it displayed some of Walt's good characteristics. When Locke next encounters it Walt is on the raft and has no control over it. The Others may have some control over it or it may be working with them and that's why it seems to cause them very few problems.
  • The Monster protects the survivors of Flight 815 from the Others. During the first few days on the island, the passengers from the middle section of the plane saw the Security System while the passengers in the tail section did not. The tail-enders, instead, were being attacked by the Others, something the passangers from the middle section did not have a problem with on their side of the island.
  • The Monster can watch in the past (Eko) and the future (See THIS 3 pics).
  • The smoke assumed to be Sayid's smoke signal from the Others camp in season two finale may actually be the black smoke of the monster, from the other side of the island. This could explain the confusion when Michael is accused of leading them to the wrong place. This could also be one of the instances that we "see the monster" but dont realize it, as per the 5/26 ABC podcast.
  • The sound the Monster makes while Eko stares into it sounds very much like the receipt printer in a New York City taxi - a possible explanation to why Rose said it sounds familiar.

External Links:

To see the black smoke in action from The 23rd Psalm, click here.

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