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Summary

Biography

Prior to Oceanic Flight 815

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, and in return she would cover all Michael’s medical expenses. 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 died 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.

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 throws 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, which had been owned by Brian. 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. Walt is taken by the Others. Enlarge Walt is taken by the Others.

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. It has recently been revealed that the kidnappers are part of the Others

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 possibilities 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 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 Sayid trips, Shannon runs ahead of him and is shot by Ana-Lucia Cortez, who was returning with the other tail-section survivors and mistook Shannon for one of the Others. Walt, or the vision of Walt, was probably telling Shannon to be quiet, as the loud noise she made alarmed the tail-section survivors and caused her death. 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.

In “Three Minutes,” it is revealed that Walt is still alive and has been living among The Others. They had taken Michael prisoner while he was trying to save his son and were holding him in solitary confinement in a tent. An Other by the name of Ms. Klugh proposes a deal: if Michael brings them Jack, Kate, Sawyer and Hurley, they will let Michael and Walt go free. In order to be sure that they hold up their end of the bargain, Michael demands to see his son, if for no other reason than to make sure he’s still alive. Ms. Klugh shouts for an Other by the name of Pickett to bring him inside, telling Michael that they will have three minutes together. Walt enters in the grip of a large man, looking relatively healthy - he inquires about Vincent’s health and tells Michael that The Others have been making him “take tests” and that “they’re not who they say they are - they’re pretending”. Ms. Klugh becomes agitated that the conversation is moving in this direction and threatens to put Walt in “the Room” again. Walt instantly freezes up at the mention of this. Ms. Klugh then tells him to leave. Walt breaks free, hugs his father, and tells him repeatedly that he loves him before being carried out.

After Michael leads Kate, Hurley, Jack and Sawyer to the Others to complete his deal for Walt, “Henry Gale” happily returns the boy as promised, commenting that he was “more than we bargained for.” Michael is also given a boat and coordinates to an apparent rescue. Walt and Michael both leave the island.

Trivia

One of the key questions with the character Walt is casting and problems that arise concerning the proposed timeline on Lost. While the series moves slowly through time and only weeks have passed on the show, the actual filming has stretched over two years. When originally cast, Walt was portrayed as a 10 year old boy but, after two seasons, he no longer looks 10. The creators of the show plan to address this issue in Season 3.

Connections

Walt	And	Description
Walt	Psychic anomolies	Walt seems to posess some psychic "powers"
Walt	Michael Dawson	Walt is Michael's son
Walt	Parent issues	Walt had divorced parents and didn't see Micahel much growing up

Top theories referencing Walt

Title	Author	Cmnts	Votes	Rating
The Perfect Montauk Sci-Fi	HoofSC	24	22	+16
My theory on theories and the creators of lost	holy1se	27	17	+15
Walt is Matthew Abaddon (tall, mysterious black man) in the Future	Andfound4815	17	17	+13
Walt is Responsible for the So-Called ‘Cabin Fever’	Oceanic_JC	25	21	+13
Locke: The mole?	Occam	66	12	+12

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