Lost/Eko

Eko Lost
Actors	Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje Kolawole Obileye, Jr.
First Appearance	2x02 - Adrift
Last Appearance	3x05 - The Cost of Living
Show Status	2x03 to 3x05: Billed
Episode Count	21
Notable Episodes	2x05 - ... and Found 2x07 - The Other 48 Days 2x10 - The 23rd Psalm 2x21 - ? 2x23 – Live Together, Die Alone 3x05 - The Cost of Living
Flashback Count	3

Eko, often called "Mister Eko" by others, is a Nigerian man who was seated in the tail section Oceanic Flight 815 and survived the crash. He is played by Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje and appeared in 21 episodes.

Basic Information

Eko is a devout Catholic, who has denounced his violent past. Strange coincidences and revelations on the island reinvigorated his faith in God. On several occasions, Eko served as a tracker for other survivors.

Pre-Crash

Eko as a child

As a small child, Eko lived in a small Nigerian village. Even at a very young age, Eko always took care of his younger brother, Yemi. His love for his brother sometimes got him into trouble, as he was once caught by a nun while he was trying to break into the church’s store room to steal food for Yemi, who was extremely hungry at the time. One day, a truck with armed men drove into the village and demanded all the children to line up, since they wanted to recruit them as child soldiers. The men grabbed Yemi, put a gun in his hand and ordered him to execute an old man. After Yemi hesitated for a few seconds, Eko could see how petrified his little brother was. Fearing that the men would kill Yemi for failing to obey their orders, Eko rushed up, took the gun and shot the man himself. The militia were impressed, calling Eko a born killer with no hesitation. The leader of the men called him "Mister Eko", a name which would stick with him for the rest of his life. The man then ripped Eko’s cross from his neck and tossed it on the ground, telling Eko that he wouldn’t be needing that necklace anymore, since he was going with them. As the truck drove off with Eko in the back, Yemi picked up the cross and watched as Eko was taken away.

Years later, after being raised by murderers and drug lords, Eko was known as one of the most feared militia leaders, with quite a nasty reputation. One day, he met with two Moroccan men that had some good quantity heroin, but no means to get it out of Nigeria. The heroin was of no use to them in Nigeria, since there was no market for it. Eko agreed to help the men move their heroin, but, when the men commented that they'd heard that Eko had no soul, he slit both of their throats with a single swipe of his knife.

Eko hadn't seen Yemi for three years, but returned to his childhood village to ask for Yemi's help. Eko requested credentials so he and his associates, could pose as priests. Catholic missionaries were allowed to fly out of the country and Eko needed that ability in order to move the heroin. Eko's evil reputation had reached Yemi's ears, and he refused to help Eko until a few days later, when Eko and two associates, Goldie and Olu, returned to the church. Eko told Yemi that if he signed the false documentation, he would give Yemi all the money he needed to buy polio vaccine for the villagers. Eko warned him that his associates would burn the church down if Yemi did not co-operate. With little choice, Yemi signed the documents, but told Eko that he would never be a priest, despite what the papers said. Eko bought 300 hollow Virgin Mary statues that were being sold to raise money for the vaccine. He told Yemi that they were both sinners, but Yemi retorted that it may be true, but God would forgive him and not Eko.

Eko, Goldie and Olu filled all the Virgin Mary statues with heroin. Dressed in priest uniform, they were loading the plane with the heroin-filled statues when Yemi arrived and begged Eko to abandon his plan and repent for his sins. Eko ordered Yemi to leave, but Yemi claimed that he was there to save Eko’s life, as Eko had saved his when they were children. Suddenly, military men arrived in a truck, and Eko realized that Yemi had notified them. A firefight ensued between Eko’s men and the soldiers and Yemi was accidentally shot. Olu was also killed. Eko and Goldie loaded Yemi onto the plane, but Goldie kicked Eko and prevented him from boarding the plane. Goldie flew off with the heroin and Yemi’s body, leaving Eko behind on the airstrip. The military mistook Eko for the priest who tipped them off and returned him to Yemi's church.

Amina, a young woman who worked at a local clinic, discovered Eko inside Yemi's church. Her son, Daniel, was an altar boy, and she was there to drop him off. Eko created a cover story, telling her that Yemi was called away for an emergency at a refugee camp and that he was taking Yemi’s place. He learned from Amina that Yemi was scheduled to leave for London a week later to continue his studies, and so told her that he would be taking Yemi’s place there too. During the week that Eko was posing as Yemi’s replacement, a local warlord named Emeka arrived, demanding his cut of the church's vaccine shipment. Amina explained to Eko that Emeka had a deal with Yemi: the church could keep 20% of the vaccine provided to them by the Red Cross, the rest they had to give to Emeka and his men. Emeka claimed that in exchange, he provided protection to the village. Eko, completely unafraid of Emeka, refused to honour the arrangement, causing Emeka to shoot a woman in cold blood. Before leaving, Emeka said that Eko did't want more lives on his conscience and that he would be back for the vaccine in a few days.

Eko learned from Amina that before Yemi was their priest, they used to get none of the vaccine. They owed the 20% they got to Yemi’s work and his arrangement with Emeka. However, Eko had plans of his own, and decided to sell the vaccine to an old associate of his before leaving for England. Emeka heard about Eko’s plan to sell the vaccine, and when he and his men confronted Eko, he killed them all without mercy inside Yemi's church. Since there was no more danger from Emeka, the clinic received the entire shipment of vaccine from the Red Cross, but Amina was not happy, and told Eko that the men he killed would simply be replaced by others. As Eko left for his trip to London, he discovered that the church was being boarded up because of the blood spilled inside. Eko was upset by this, telling Amina that it was Yemi’s church. Amina told Eko to go to London and begin to repent, as he owed God for every life he took. She said that if he truly believed the church was Yemi’s, then he owed Yemi a new church.

Eko left and continued to pose as a priest at a parish in England and continued Yemi's studies. He often saw a little boy at the church. One day the boy came up to Eko and told him that his dog had bitten his baby sister on the cheek, so he beat it to death with a shovel to protect her. The boy asked Eko if he was going to go to hell. Eko told him that God would forgive him as long as he was sorry. But the boy wasn't looking for forgiveness, rather he was afraid that the dog would be waiting for him in hell.

Shortly before the crash of Oceanic 815, Eko was still posing as a priest at a church in Sydney, Australia. His plans to fly to Los Angeles were put on hold when his superior asked him to investigate an alleged miracle in the form of a resurrection of a girl, Charlotte Malkin, who had died drowning. Eko told his supervisor that he did not believe the story. The man told Eko that that was exactly why he was the one chosen to investigate it. Eko talked to the coroner who did the autopsy two hours after Charlotte was pulled from the icy water and heard the autopsy tape. On the tape, Eko could hear the chaos which ensued when Charlotte suddenly awoke during the autopsy. He then talked to Charlotte's father, Richard Malkin, who made a living as a psychic. Richard told Eko that there was no miracle - Charlotte merely went into hypothermic shock and the coroner failed to make sure she was dead. Malkin said his wife made the story up to spite him, because she knew that he was a fraud and not a real psychic. Malkin seemed anxious to have Eko leave as soon as possible. Eko concluded his investigation and was at the airport about to leave on Oceanic flight 815 when Charlotte found him. She told him that after she had drowned, she was "between places" and got a message from Yemi for Eko. She told him that Yemi had faith in him and that he would see Yemi again. Eko was angry with her, demanding to know how she knew his brother’s name. Eko thought that her father was behind it and that it was just some strange trick.

Post-Crash

The first 44 Days

After the tail section of the plain broke off and landed in the ocean, Eko was the first one to help other survivors out of the water. He rescued a small boy, Zack, who was looking for his sister, Emma. Eko saw Emma drifting in the water and got her out of the water, but she was unconscious. Ana-Lucia Cortez came to the scene and performed C.P.R., which saved Emma’s life. After the commotion of the crash started to settle, Eko went back into the water and started removing the dead bodies from the sea. That night, the survivors were attacked by the Others – a group of people who had been living on the island long before the crash. The Others took three men, but targeted Eko, who managed to beat two of them to death with a rock. To atone for that, Eko took a vow of silence and didn’t speak a word to any of his fellow survivors for the following 40 days. Eko broke off a big branch from a bush and started carving it into a club. During his 40 days of silence, Eko spent his days carving out pieces of Scripture onto the stick, but the group did experience quite a few other difficulties during that time.

After the attack on the first night, there was some disagreement between the survivors as to whether they should stay on the beach or move to a safer location. Nathan was adamant they should stay on the beach in the hopes that a passing plane or ship might see their signal fire. Goodwin, who took somewhat of a leadership role among the group, agreed with Nathan and they decided to stay. Things remained peaceful for a few days, but on the twelfth night, the Others returned and took nine more people, including Zack and Emma. This time, it was Ana-Lucia who killed one of the attackers while trying to defend herself. It was a woman whom she had killed, and in the woman’s pocket, Ana-Lucia found a list containing the names and detailed descriptions of all nine of the people who had been taken. The group decided to move on and find a new place to stay. Eko, along with Ana-Lucia, Nathan, Goodwin, Libby, Cindy and Bernard, started a long trek into the jungle in search of a safe haven.

After three days of walking, they finally settled near a fresh water stream in the jungle. However, Ana-Lucia was convinced that someone in their group was a spy for the Others, and she was convinced that that person was Nathan, who often disappeared into the jungle on his own for very long periods, and always claimed to have simply gone to the bathroom. Ana-Lucia dug a pit and threw Nathan inside. She kept him locked up and interrogated him for days, demanding answers. Eko did not agree with Ana’s methods, and secretly gave Nathan food. One morning, Cindy discovered that Nathan was gone from the pit. The group was convinced that he would lead the Others to their new location and once again decided to move. After a few days, they discovered the Arrow, which was a storage facility for the DHARMA Initiative. Inside, there wasn’t much to be found, except for a single box which contained a glass eye, a two-way radio and a Bible. Eko took the Bible and found that inside, the pages had been cut out and a piece of film was hidden. Bernard was anxious to try and call for help with the radio, but Goodwin took it and claimed that they needed to be on higher ground to get a signal. He offered to go alone, but Ana-Lucia joined him. She later returned alone, having killed Goodwin after finding out that he was the actual spy and not Nathan.

On day 41, Bernard suddenly got a reply on the radio. He had reached Boone Carlyle, one of the survivors from the mid-section of the plane. Ana-Lucia took the radio and shut it off, convinced that it was the Others trying to lure them into a trap. She told the group on that this was their life now, and that they had to give up their hopes of getting rescued. She went off by herself, but Eko followed. He broke his silence and told her that everything would be all right. Ana-Lucia cried in his arms.

Season Two

When three men washed up on the far side of the island, Eko wasted no time, and no words, hitting them all unconscious with his stick. The three men were Michael Dawson, Jin Kwon and James "Sawyer" Ford, who were survivors from the mid-section of the plain who had built a raft and tried to find rescue, but they were ambushed by the Others at sea. But at that time, they were strangers to Eko and his group. With the possibility of the three men being part of the Others, they were thrown in the pit that Ana-Lucia had dug for Nathan. Eventually the truth came out and Eko released them from the pit. Sawyer had been carrying a gun, but Ana-Lucia confiscated it from him. The following day, the tail-section survivors decided to go with Michael, Jin and Sawyer to their side of the island, where more than forty passengers had survived the crash. However, Michael ran off into the jungle, determined to find his ten year old son, Walt, who had been kidnapped by the Others when they were attacked at sea. Jin wanted to go after him, and Eko went along to help him. Eko could somehow hear or sense danger approaching, and as he and Jin hid in the undergrowth, a group of barefooted Others marched straight passed them. One of them was carrying a teddy bear like the one Zac had before his kidnapping. Jin and Eko found Michael, and convinced him to go back with them.

They eventually rejoined Ana-Lucia and the rest of the group, and continued their trek to the other side of the island. They travelled along the beach, feeling that it was safer than moving through the jungle. Sawyer, who had been shot in the shoulder by the Others, was in quite bad shape. Concerned about Sawyer’s deteriorating condition, Eko told Ana-Lucia that they had to cut inland, even if it put everyone at risk. They had heard that there was a doctor among the other survivors and Eko wanted to get Sawyer there as quickly as possible. When Sawyer collapsed, Eko and Bernard helped Michael and Jin build a stretcher to carry him. They were not that far from the mid-section survivors’ camp and could carry Sawyer the rest of the way. Chaos ensued when the group suddenly realized that Cindy had vanished, and had obviously been taken by the Others without the group even noticing. Panicked and scared, the group rushed through the jungle. Ana-Lucia was armed with the gun and was determined to protect the group. Suddenly, Shannon Rutherford emerged from the bushes in front of them and Ana-Lucia fired a shot, not realizing that Shannon was a fellow survivor.

Shannon died within seconds and when her lover, Sayid Jarrah, tried to kill Ana-Lucia, Eko stopped him. Ana-Lucia had the stretcher dismantled to tie up Sayid, so Eko picked Sawyer up to carry him to the doctor. Eko found the doctor, Jack Shephard, and Kate Austen near the golf course made by the mid-section survivors. He went with them to the Swan, another DHARMA station, where Jack could help Sawyer. A while later, Michael arrived demands from Ana-Lucia, who wanted blankets, bullets and clothes so that she could go off on her own, in exchange for letting Sayid go. Jack was planning to go out with Michael and a couple of guns, but Eko stopped them, asking Jack what he wanted to accomplish by going out with weapons. When Eko used Ana-Lucia's name, Jack realized that it was the woman who he had met at the airport before their plane took off. Seeing the expression on Jack's face, Eko agreed to take Jack to where Ana-Lucia was.

The following day, after attending Shannon’s funeral and settling into the new camp, Eko watched the Swan's orientation video with Michael and John Locke. The film explained the purposes of the station, and instructed the occupants of the station to enter a code into a computer and press a button every 108 minutes. According to the film, not following the protocol of pushing the button would lead to catastrophic results. Afterwards, Eko showed Locke the piece of film that he found hidden inside the Bible from the Arrow station. It was a missing section of the Swan orientation film, which Locke and Eko spliced back into the original reel. Locke thought it was fate that brought that piece of the film back to the whole, but Eko warned Locke not to mistake coincidence for fate. Locke and Eko watched the new cut of the film.

When Eko heard from Claire Littleton that Charlie Pace had found a Virgin Mary statue in the jungle, he demanded to see it. When Claire showed it to him, he smashed it open in front of her, revealing the heroin inside. Eko was sure that it was the heroin he had once wanted to smuggle out of Nigeria. He found Charlie and demanded that he take him to where he found it. Charlie kept insisting that he had simply found the statue under a tree in the jungle, but Eko threatened him and told him to take him to the plane. As they continued, they found Goldie’s corpse in the jungle, still in priest uniform. Eko told Charlie that man had saved his life, and he prayed over the body. While Charlie was up a tree looking for the wreckage, the monster came. It raced towards Eko, then hovered in front of him. Charlie told him to run, but Eko didn't move. He stayed to face the black cloud for a few minutes. The monster flashed images of Eko's past to him, then turned around and floated off. Charlie was astounded and asked what Eko did. Eko said he didn't do anything, he was simply not afraid. They found the plane and inside Eko found his brother's corpse, and sobbed over it. Eko told Charlie it was his brother. He took Yemi's silver cross necklace, which had belonged to him as a child, then turned the plane into a funeral pyre and recited the 23rd Psalm. He gave Charlie a Virgin Mary statue as a replacement for the one he broke, even though Charlie had admitted he knew they were full of heroin. Eko put the silver cross necklace around his neck. By this time, Charlie had made his own conclusions that Eko was a priest, and that is what Eko continued to tell the other survivors.

To atone for the boarding up of Yemi's church in Nigeria, Eko decided to build a church on the island, remembering Amina’s words that he owed Yemi a church. He started chopping down some trees and started construction. Charlie went to see Eko about his vivid dreams and said that he was afraid he might be losing his mind. Eko told him that his dreams might mean something. Charlie was convinced that Claire’s baby, Aaron, was in danger and needed to be baptized. Claire was still angry with Charlie for lying to her about the Virgin Mary statue, and dismissed him. Charlie’s behaviour got out of control when he took Aaron without Claire’s permission and insisted that he be baptized. Later, Claire went to Eko on her own and asked him to baptize both her and Aaron, which Eko did.

A few days later, when Eko went to the Swan to get tools for building his church, he realized that Jack and Locke were keeping someone in the armory. To keep Eko from telling others, Jack let Eko see the man. He was Benjamin Linus, the leader of the Others, but at that time, he claimed to be Henry Gale, a man who had crashed on the island in his hot-air balloon. Eko told him that he killed two Others on the first day on the island, then he cut off his two beardlets and asked the man to forgive him. He needed to tell someone that he was sorry.

Charlie started helping Eko build his church. When Bernard asked them to help build his S.O.S. sign, they refused, saying that the church was more important. Eko had a dream in which Ana-Lucia and his brother Yemi appeared. Yemi told him the work being done in the Swan was more important than anything, and he had to make Locke take him to the question mark. Under the pretence of searching for the now-escaped "Henry Gale", Eko made Locke show him his imprecise drawing of the hidden map which Locke had discovered inside the Swan. After trekking through the jungle, the map lead them back to the Nigerian plane, where they discovered another DHARMA station — the Pearl. The orientation video inside made Locke lose his faith in pressing the button, but Eko remained steadfast and decided to continue pushing the button himself. He told Locke that he had more faith than ever before. He told his entire story to Locke, about how he ended up on the same island as the plane with his dead brother’s body that left Nigeria years ago. Eko was convinced that fate had brought him to the island and that their faith was only being tested, and they needed to carry on pushing the button.

Eko took up residence in the Swan and abandoned the church, much to Charlie's dismay. Locke, believing the timer and button to be nothing but a lie, attempted to smash the computer, and he and Eko came to blows. Eko threw Locke out of the station and warned him not to return. However after Desmond Hume returned, Locke convinced him to help keep the button from being pushed, and they manually triggered a lockdown inside the Swan, locking Eko out of the computer room. Fearing that everyone on the island might die if the button was not pressed, Eko enlisted the help of Charlie to find the remaining dynamite taken from the Black Rock. He attempted to blow open a blast door with the dynamite, but was knocked unconscious by the blast. Charlie was able to wake him up, but not before the timer reached zero and the electromagnetic charge reached a critical level. Eko shoved Charlie out of harm's way and ordered him to go, while he went to find Locke. Eko was in the Swan's computer room with Locke when Desmond activated the fail-safe device, which caused the entire station to implode.

Season Three

Eko somehow escaped the implosion of the Swan, but was dragged off by a polar bear to its cave. Locke and Charlie tracked him down and rescued him. He was unconscious, but alive. When Charlie went to get some water, Locke thought that Eko told him that he can still protect Jack, Kate and Sawyer, and still save them. Even though Locke doesn't know where they are, he can find them because he is a hunter. When Charlie returned with the water, though, Eko appeared to be deeply unconscious. Charlie and Locke took Eko to the beach camp.

While recuperating from his injuries, Yemi appeared to him again to tell him it was time to confess. Still delirious from the injuries, Eko trekked through the jungle on his way to the Nigerian Beechcraft wreckage and his brother. During the journey he was stalked by the smoke monster and faced the apparent apparitions of the militia men he killed inside Yemi's church. Making it to the wreckage, Eko removed the stones barring entrance to the makeshift tomb and discovered his brother's body was missing. Locke suggested it burned completely in the funeral pyre or wild animals took it, and he returned Yemi's cross to Eko. Yemi appeared once more to Eko and Eko gave his confession - that he has not sinned and has only done what he's needed to survive. Yemi was angered at Eko's words, telling Eko he spoke to him as if he were his brother, and left. Eko gave chase, demanding to know who "Yemi" was, but encountered the smoke monster. The monster beat Eko badly against several trees, leaving his broken body on the jungle floor where Locke discovered him. Eko could only muster a few last words to Locke before he died; a warning that they were next.

Character History

Information is shown in chronological order. Episodes in bold are flashback episodes.

Before the Crash

• 2x10 - The 23rd Psalm: As a child, Eko is taken by the militia to be a child soldier.
• 2x10 - The 23rd Psalm: Eko returns to his village and asks for Yemi’s help. Yemi is killed as a result of Eko’s crimes.
• 3x05 - The Cost of Living: Eko takes Yemi's place as priest at the local church.
• 2x21 - ?: Eko works in Sydney. He investigates the “resurrection” of Charlotte Malkin and eventually leaves for Los Angeles on Oceanic Flight 815.

On the Island

• 2x03 - Orientation: Attacks Michael, Jin and Sawyer and throws them in the pit.
• 2x04 - Everybody Hates Hugo: Eko releases Michael, Jin and Sawyer from the pit.
• 2x05 - ... and Found: Eko helps Jin track down Michael.
• 2x08 - Collision: Eko abandons Ana-Lucia and carries Sawyer to the Swan bunker.
• 2x10 - The 23rd Psalm: Eko takes Charlie on a search for the drug plane and his brother's body.
• 2x11 - Fire + Water: Eko starts work on a church, and baptizes Claire and Aaron.
• 2x15 – Maternity Leave: Eko discovers the prisoner in the Swan station and asks to speak with him.
• 2x21 - ?: Driven by a dire warning in a dream, Eko discovers the Pearl station with Locke and decides to push the button when Locke stops.
• 2x23 - Live Together, Die Alone: Eko is locked out of the computer room and attempts to blow open a blast door to get back inside.
• 3x03 - Further Instructions: Eko is saved from a polar bear by Locke.
• 3x05 - The Cost of Living: Eko is killed by the smoke monster.

Memorable Moments

• 2x07 - The Other 48 Days: Eko's first words in 40 days were those of comfort to Ana-Lucia.
• 2x10 - The 23rd Psalm: Eko finds his brother's body and weeps.
• 2x23 - Live Together, Die Alone: Eko comes to blows with Locke over pushing the button. He tosses Locke out of the Swan and warns him to not return.
• 3x05 - The Cost of Living: Eko confesses to an image of his brother that he feels he has not sinned, he only did what he needed to do for survival.

Trivia

• Emeka, Eleko, Eko, Mr. Eko: The Lost producers originally had the character's name as Emeka, but Adewale suggested first Eleko (Lord of Lagos) instead, because Emeka was a name used in a different region of Nigeria than where he was from. He then trimmed that to Eko, before suggesting that he be referred to as "Mr. Eko" to make the character more mysterious.

Quotes

• 2x07 - The Other 48 Days - "It's going to be all right."
• 2x08 - Collision - "What do you want? Peace? Revenge? Justice? And you're going out there with guns?"
• 2x09 - What Kate Did - "Don't mistake coincidence for fate."
• 2x21 - ? - "This cross was worn by my brother, Yemi. Yemi was a great man. A priest. A man of God. And because I betrayed him he was shot and died. He was placed on a plane... which took off from an airstrip in Nigeria, half a world from here. Then the plane I was on crashed on this island. And somehow... here... I found my brother again. I found him in the same plane that took off from Nigeria. In the same plane that lies above us now. That has concealed this place. And I took this cross from around Yemi's neck and put it back on mine. Just as it was on the day I first took another man's life. So let me ask you... How can you say this is meaningless? I believe the work being done in the hatch is more important than anything. If you will not continue to push the button, John... I will."
• 3x05 - The Cost of Living - "I ask for no forgiveness, Father. For I have not sinned. I have only done what I needed to do to survive. A small boy once asked me if I was a bad man. If I could answer him now I would tell him that when I was a young boy I killed a man to save my brother's life. I am not sorry for this. I am proud of this. I did not ask for the life that I was given, but it was given nonetheless. And with it I did my best."