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After missing a couple of episodes and getting lost, I wasn't able to finish the series when it was first run and now that I've heard about the train wreck that the series turned out to be, I'm not too unhappy about missing out. I am curious about something I did see though. Can somebody please tell me what the black cloud that weaved its way through the jungle in season 1 was supposed to be? It seemed sentient and reactionary. Was it ever explained? (I've looked at a couple of websites with differing suggestions like: It's a monster and It's Death. They don't appear to have a common canon answer)

Major Stackings
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    How far did you get into the show? –  Sep 27 '12 at 20:55
  • @Keen Let's see. There was a polar bear, a crashed plane in a tree, some idols, and the Nubian Guard guy from the Mummy Returns. I popped back in later in the series and saw bunkers, doomsday switches and the sinister group of otherside of the islanders. – Major Stackings Sep 27 '12 at 21:01
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    I'm thinking this may be General Reference: On the Wikipedia page for Lost, just search for "smoke" or "cloud", and you'll have your answer. – Izkata Sep 27 '12 at 23:08
  • I found several different answers. Keen's answer was better than any I read and was concise enough for me. At least nobody commented that I should watch the series, and I thank you for that... – Major Stackings Sep 28 '12 at 03:03
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    I do not think it is general reference. I did not know the answer... they strung that series out longer than I had tolarancefor. – Chad Sep 28 '12 at 13:03
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    @Chad "General reference" doesn't mean you have to know the answer, it just indicates that a reasonable search can provide a single link that gives the answer. – NominSim Sep 28 '12 at 15:20
  • @NominSim - But the search comes up with lost sites that were from back when their was speculation about what it actually was. Most of them are wrong. – Chad Sep 28 '12 at 17:16
  • The other answer covers what the smoke monster is, but I wanted to mention that, if it's the disjointed storytelling that presents an obstacle for you to "get into" Lost, do a search for "Lost in sequence." A fan did the work of rearranging the whole show *chronologically". Some may find it more accessible. FWIW. – luser droog Sep 28 '12 at 17:24

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Massive spoilers for the ending of Lost. I'm not going to bother with spoiler tags here.

The Smoke Monster is the adversary and twin brother of Jacob. Jacob is the guardian of the island, and brought the survivors to the island. The Smoke Monster is able to appear as different dead people, in his original form he's just referred to as the Man in Black. In their roles on the island, both Jacob and the Man in Black are immortal, and have been there for millenia. Throughout the series, he uses his smoke monster form and his ability to appear as dead people to manipulate the survivors, especially Locke. His goal was to get off the island, but to do so required killing Jacob, which he accomplished via manipulating Ben Linus. His plan was then foiled by Jack and Kate who were able to turn him into a mortal and kill him.

Massive, in-detail information can be found on his Lostpedia page, although let me know if there is more detail you're looking for.

  • I'm skipping a great deal of detail here, just trying to craft the information to be relevant to someone who watched the first couple of seasons. –  Sep 27 '12 at 21:16
  • How far along into the series did that detail come to light? – Major Stackings Sep 27 '12 at 21:32
  • Keen, everything you've said above is correct. But it's hardly an answer at all. Is that just a reflection of how shoddy the entire story was? – John O Sep 27 '12 at 21:59
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    @JohnO Yeah. The series was...eratic and disjointed. Actually, Keens response was pretty good. It made more sense than anything else I found. I got my answer. – Major Stackings Sep 27 '12 at 22:49
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    @MajorStackings Some of these details happened in the final few episodes. The reveal that the Smoke Monster was a person was in the finale of the 5th season. –  Sep 28 '12 at 14:20
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    @JohnO I've filtered out a great deal of tangential information here, trying to boil it down to a short summary of what that thing was. They radically changed its nature in the last season, which complicates such a summary. –  Sep 28 '12 at 16:45