- This article is about character powers. For other supernatural happenings, see miracles.
Dead birds Walt unconsciously summoned to Room 23. ("Room 23")
Several characters on Lost have exhibited supernatural abilities. The Island appears to be the source for some, but not all, of these powers.
Agelessness[]
Protectors of the island do not age. They can also confer this ability on to others, as Jacob did to Richard.
Mediumship[]
Horace tells Locke that he must find him if he wants to find Jacob.
Several characters have communicated with the dead. Hurley sees, talks with and even plays chess with dead friends. The Man in Black as a child saw his mother's ghost. Young Ben saw his dead mother on the island as well.
Miles is a professional medium, but he says he doesn't talk to the dead. Instead, he senses the dead's last thoughts.
Locke and Eko have dreamed of dead characters. Two off-island mediums later admitted being frauds.
Premonitions[]
Several characters have foreseen future events. These premonitions usually come in the form of dreams. Desmond, however, foresaw events as specific flashes.
Psychic intuition[]
Miles exhibited some psychic ability independent from his main ability. He intuited Michael's true identity on the Kahana, and he knew Charlotte had been searching for the island, knowledge which surprised her. He also suggested he knew other freighter passengers' secrets.
Walt displayed supernatural knowledge of the island. He once told Locke "Don't open it, don't open that thing," despite never having seen or heard of the Hatch. He showed furthermore mysterious behavior that night, suddenly telling his father without explanation that they now had to leave the Island. Off-island, Walt dreamed of Locke, so wasn't surprised when he came to visit. ("Born to Run") ("The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham")
Psychic drawing[]
Young Locke scribbles of smoke attacking a person, interested Richard Alpert. Locke though never showed powers again. Several Santa Rosa Mental Health Institute inmates drew elements from the series, including scenes from the Arctic, Egypt and the Island.
Resistance to harm[]
Electromagnetic resistance[]
Desmond miraculously survives the electromagnetic solenoid coil room. ("Happily Ever After")
Desmond turned the fail-safe in The Swan station, releasing energy that he believed would kill him. ("Live Together, Die Alone, Part 1") This act either imbued in him resistance to electromagnetism or revealed a resistance he had in him all along. He later successfully entered the Heart of the Island, whose energy had killed many before him. ("The End")
The Man in Black, who was supposedly sent into the Heart of Island, came out as black smoke due to the lack of his resistance to the electromagnetism. He was still "alive" as a smoky form, which might be the effect of the immortality bestowed upon him. His immortality made him take a smoky form (soul), which could assume the appearance of any other dead person.
Physical resistance[]
The Man in Black, in both human and monster forms, resisted all physical attacks, including knives and bullets. He lost this resistance when Desmond turned off the source of his powers.
Shapeshifting[]
The Man in Black could assume the form of the dead, and he could transform into a smoke monster.
Summoning animals[]
An Australian Bronze cuckoo once flew to its death into Walt's home's glass door. Walt was reading about Australian Bronze cuckoos in a text book at the time. On the island, when the Others imprisoned him in Room 23, several birds flew into a nearby boarded window, again to their deaths. The Others realized they'd got "more than they bargained for" with Walt, and they returned him to Michael. ("Room 23") ("Special") ("Live Together, Die Alone, Part 1")
Telekinesis[]
The Man in Black freed Ben from his shackles without physically touching them. Shortly before his death, his boat arrived on the main island, though it had last been docked on Hydra Island. ("Dr. Linus") ("The End")
Objects also flew around the cabin, either at the hands of someone invisible or a telekinetic. ("The Man Behind the Curtain")
Walt appears over John. ("Through the Looking Glass, Part 1")
Teleportation and astral projection[]
Walt has more than once, as Bea Klugh put it, appeared "somewhere he wasn't supposed to be".
Not long after the Others kidnapped him, Walt appeared in front of Shannon, soaking wet and whispering incomprehensibly. Three nights later, he appeared to her again, and Sayid saw him as well the following day. Seeing Walt led Shannon to her death. A taller, older Walt later appeared to Locke, stopping him from killing himself. The show has not revealed whether these appearances were Walt himself, visions of manifestations of the Man in Black. ("Adrift") ("Abandoned")
Unanswered Questions[]
- What is the true nature of Locke's visions?
- Why did Walt have the abilities that he did?
- Why didn't the rules of time travel apply to Desmond?
- Why was Desmond immune to electromagnetism?
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