Locke wakes up after the plane crash, and is shown with a gash above and below his right eye. ("Walkabout")
Eyes are a recurring theme in Lost, from Locke's gash above and below his eye, to the closeups of eyes shown at the opening of episodes.
Lost both begins and ends with a shot of Jack's right eye opening and closing, respectively.
Episode openers[]
Episodes opening with a character's eye is a common practice on Lost, usually the eye of the centric character. Through the use of digital effects and contact lenses, actors' eye color have been altered a couple of times on the show. [1]
| Character | Eye | Episode | Flash | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Season 1 | |||||
 |
Jack | Right | "Pilot, Part 1" | Yes | |
 |
Locke | Right | "Walkabout" | Yes | |
 |
Jack (young) |
Right | "White Rabbit" | Yes | |
 |
Sun | Left | "House of the Rising Sun" | Yes | |
 |
Charlie | Both | "The Moth" | Yes | |
 |
Claire | Right | "Raised by Another" | Yes | |
 |
Boone | Left | "Hearts and Minds" | Yes | |
 |
Michael | Left | "Special" | Yes | |
| Charlie | Both | "Homecoming" | Yes | ||
 |
Sawyer (young) |
Left | "Outlaws" | Yes | |
 |
Jin | Right | "...In Translation" | Yes | |
 |
Aaron | Left | "Exodus, Part 2" | No | |
|
Season 2 | |||||
 |
Desmond | Left | "Man of Science, Man of Faith" | No | |
|
Season 3 | |||||
 |
Juliet | Left | "A Tale of Two Cities" | Yes | |
 |
Locke | Right | "Further Instructions" | Yes | |
 |
Claire | Left (flashback) | "Par Avion" | Yes | |
| Nikki | Both (running) | "Exposé" | Yes | ||
|
Season 4 | |||||
 |
Sayid | Both (closed) | "The Economist" | Yes | |
 |
Locke | Right | "Eggtown" | No | |
 |
Jack | Left | "Something Nice Back Home" | Yes | |
|
Season 5 | |||||
 |
Jack | Right | "316" | Yes | |
|
Season 6 | |||||
 |
Ilana | Right | "Ab Aeterno" | Yes | |
 |
Desmond | Right | "Happily Ever After" | Yes | |
 |
Jack | Right | "What They Died For" | Yes | |
Other close-ups[]
Several other instances of eye close-ups have occurred that are not episode openers:
| Character | Eye | Episode | Flash | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Season 2 | ||||
|
Ana Lucia | Both | "The Other 48 Days" | Yes |
 |
Locke | Right | "Lockdown" | Yes |
|
Season 3 | ||||
 |
Jack | Left | "A Tale of Two Cities" | Yes |
 |
Eko | Right (closed) | "The Cost of Living" | Yes |
 |
Desmond | Left | "Flashes Before Your Eyes" | Yes |
 |
Claire | Right | "Par Avion" | Yes |
 |
Locke | Right | "The Man from Tallahassee" | Yes |
 |
Nikki | Both | "Exposé" | Yes |
|
Paulo | Left | "Exposé" | Yes |
 |
Figure in Jacob's cabin | Left | "The Man Behind the Curtain" | No |
 |
Locke | Left | "Through the Looking Glass, Part 1" | No |
|
Season 4 | ||||
 |
Figure in Jacob's cabin | Left | "The Beginning of the End" | No |
 |
Miles | Both | "Confirmed Dead" | Yes |
 |
Desmond | Left | "The Constant" | Yes |
 |
Michael | Left | "Meet Kevin Johnson" | Yes |
 |
Benjamin | Both | "The Shape of Things to Come" | Yes |
 |
Locke | Left | "Cabin Fever" | Yes |
|
Season 5 | ||||
 |
Locke | Both | "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham" | Yes |
 |
Ilana | Right | "The Incident, Part 1" | Yes |
|
Season 6 | ||||
 |
Kate | Right | "LA X, Part 1" | Yes |
 |
Miles | Both | "Dr. Linus" | No |
 |
Jack | Both (closed) | "Dr. Linus" | No |
 |
Ignacio | Left | "Ab Aeterno" | No |
 |
Ricardo | Right | "Ab Aeterno" | Yes |
 |
Jack | Right | "The End" | No |
Other occurrences[]
Lost:Via Domus opens with a shot of Elliott Maslow's eye.
- John Locke has a gash above and below his right eye from the crash. ("Pilot, Part 1")
- Locke tells Jack, "...I've looked into the eye of this island. And what I saw was beautiful." ("White Rabbit")
- Sayid threatens that Sawyer could lose an eye if he doesn't tell him where Shannon's inhalers are. ("Confidence Man")
- In Claire's dream, Locke appears with one white eye, one black. ("Raised by Another")
- Jack diagnoses Sawyer's headaches as a symptom of far-sightedness. ("Deus Ex Machina") From then on, Sawyer wears glasses whenever he reads.
- A glass eye is found in the Arrow. ("The Other 48 Days")
- When the blast door map is revealed during the lockdown incident, Locke's eye is shown with the map reflected in it. ("Lockdown")
- The cartoon that that is being shown to Jack at the Hydra station features a set of large eyes. ("Every Man for Himself")
- Locke notices an inscription on Eko's stick that reads, "Lift up your eyes and look north - John 3:05." ("I Do")
- Many images of eyes and round objects (including a Nazar Boncuğu) are found in the video Karl was watching in Room 23 ("Not in Portland")
- In the Looking Glass station, Charlie refers to Mikhail as "Cyclops" after he removes his eye patch. ("Through the Looking Glass, Part 1")
- Hurley winks to Sawyer, and Sawyer asks if he's got something in his eye. ("Eggtown")
- Speaking to Horace, Sawyer makes reference to Richard Alpert as "your buddy out there with the eyeliner." ("LaFleur")
Eye of Horus, an Egyptian hieroglyph
- Jacob's tapestry depicts the Eye of Horus. ("The Incident, Part 1")
- Charlie's tattoo reads: "Living is Easy with Eyes Closed"; this is a lyric from The Beatles' "Strawberry Fields Forever". (Music)
- There are two eye references in the mural painting in the Swan:
- A man with a crossed out left eye
- A figure of an eyeball followed by an "M" and (crossed out) "SICK", which gives us: "I am (not?) sick"
- Mikhail is missing his right eye and wears an eye patch.
- The first episode of the video game Lost: Via Domus opens with a close up of Elliott's eye.
- Characters dying with open eyes is a common occurrence: Abaddon, Boone, Locke, Charlotte, Naomi, Libby, Ana Lucia, Shannon, Horace, Minkowski, Keamy, Daniel, and Eko. (Life and death)
Trivia[]
- In "Flashes Before Your Eyes", the close-up of Desmond's eye when he enters his altered timeline is the same shot of his eye (with less saturated colors) that was shown at the beginning of "Man of Science, Man of Faith".
- In "316", the initial close-up of Jack's eye is the same as that as in "Pilot, Part 1", also with changed color levels.
- Track two of the Season 1 soundtrack is called "The Eyeland", a pun based on how the first scene of "Pilot, Part 1" opens on Jack's eye.
- Similarly, track three of the Lost: Via Domus soundtrack is called "Eye Open", a blatant reference to the use of eyes in the series.
- In some cultures, dying with eyes open is interpreted as dying in a state of unrest or mission in life unfulfilled. (Death)
- Some cultures consider eyes as the way into a person's soul.
- The series opens and closes with a shot of Jack's eye.