On the island:
Walt and John Locke establish a friendship shortly after
arriving on the island. Locke sees something special in
the boy, and tells his father: "Maybe you haven't spent
enough time with him to see it, but he's different... As
long as we're here, I think Walt should be allowed to realize
his potential." This leads to Michael mistrusting Locke's
intentions with the boy.
In "Special", when Walt has been looking through
a comic book with a picture of a polar bear rather than
listening to his father, Michael takes it away from him.
Later, in anger, Michael throw the comic into the fire,
and Walt runs off, only to be attacked shortly afterwards
by a polar bear in the jungle.
In "Born to Run", without having any apparent
knowledge of "the hatch," Walt appears to exhibit
some form of psychometric clairvoyance: after touching Locke's
arm, he tells him ominously: "Don't open it. Don't
open that thing."
During the episode "In Translation" Walt secretly
sets fire to the initial raft that Michael has been building.
Locke is the only person on the island who realizes this.
The day before the second raft is set to be launched, Walt
confesses to his father that he was responsible for burning
the first raft, because he didn't want to leave the island.
With a sudden realization, Michael tells him that they don't
have to go, but Walt replies solemnly, "Yes, we do."
Walt has a yellow Labrador retriever named Vincent. Before
leaving the island on the raft, Walt gives Vincent to Shannon,
to help her to cope with the loss of her step-brother Boone.
While on the raft, in "Exodus: Part 2", Walt and
his companions run into another boat. Instead of rescuing
them, however, the crew of the other boat kidnap Walt, destroy
the raft and leave Michael, Jin, and Sawyer in the sea.
In "Man of Science, Man of Faith", a water-drenched
Walt appears before Shannon, and whispers incomprehensibly,
which has been ascribed to reversed speech. Whether this
was actually Walt or a vision is unclear.
What Walt's backwards speech translates to is disputed
between the possibilites of "Don't press the button,
the button is bad" and "Press the button, no button's
bad", although most people agree with the former.
Later, Walt is seen twice more by Shannon, in the episode
"Abandoned". The first time, he again speaks in
reversed speech, which according to Entertainment Weekly,
sounds like, "They're coming and they're close".
When he appears a second time, he puts his index finger
to his mouth and made a "sshhh" sound. Then, he
turns around and walks back into the jungle, only to be
chased by Shannon and Sayid. When asked, Sayid claims he
also saw the boy.
At the end of "What Kate Did", while examining
the equipment within the Dharma Initiative station, Michael
discovers a message reading "Hello?" on the station's
computer screen. Typing in a response and identifying himself
by name, Michael is shocked when the other party returns
with "Dad?" Convinced that the user on the other
end is Walt, Michael continues communication with him in
"The 23rd Psalm"; when he inquires if he is alone,
Walt responds that he cannot talk long, because "they're
coming back soon." Walt concludes by telling Michael
he needs to go somewhere, but the audience is unable to
see before Jack enters and Walt cuts off the communication.
The next time we see Walt alive is during Michael's captivity
in the "others" camp. Walt looks healthy, but
tells Michael they have been running tests, and that they're
"pretending".
Before the crash:
Walt is Michael Dawson's 10-year-old son (born August 24th),
named after Michael's father. Walt's mother was Susan Lloyd,
an attorney, who rejected marriage with his father, a construction
worker and part-time artist. His mother split up with Michael
while Walt was still a baby, and moved with him to Amsterdam
for a plum international law job. Just before Walt's second
birthday, Susan married her boss, Brian Porter. Later, while
Michael is recovering in a hospital from a car accident,
she visits him and insists he give up parental rights to
Walt so that Brian can adopt him. When Michael sees Walt
for the last time before he picks him up in Australia, he
gives the boy a stuffed polar bear.
Nine years later, Brian tracks down Michael, and tells
him that Susan had passed away in Australia due to a "blood
disorder." He pleads with Michael to take custody of
the boy and gives him tickets for the flight to Sydney.
Brian reveals that he had not wanted to be Walt's adoptive
father, and that he is scared of the boy: "There's
something about him... Sometimes when he's around things
happen. He's different somehow."
Unusual occurrences have appeared around Walt. Just prior
to his mother's death, Walt is studying from a book about
native birds, and wants Brian to look at the entry for the
Australian Bronze cuckoo. When Brian ignores him, Walt becomes
insistent, and a bird suddenly smashes into the window and
dies. |
