Eko (Lost)

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Eko, often called Mr. Eko, is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost played by Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje.

[edit] Biography

[edit] Prior to the crash

Before arriving on the island, Mr. Eko was a ruthless and vicious warlord in Nigeria. We learn this in the episode "The 23rd Psalm". As a young boy, he lived a simple life with his younger brother Yemi in a small village. Eko looked out for his brother, even stealing food for him when he was hungry. However, he was often punished for this and forced to confess his sin at the local church, although Eko did not feel what he did was wrong because it was to help someone. This was seen in the episode The Cost of Living (Lost). Eko was soon drawn into the criminal life when guerrillas raided his village in search of young recruits. Taking an older man in the village captive, the guerrillas ordered Yemi to kill the man. When he hesitated, the guerrillas threatened to kill Yemi as well, leading Eko to intervene to save his brother's life. Taking the gun from Yemi, Eko promptly shot down the older man. Impressed by his actions, the guerrilla leader calls him "Mr. Eko," a title that would stick with him throughout his life. The guerrillas then take Eko away instead, but first stop to remove a cross pendant from his neck before departing.

Many years later, after he has become leader of a guerrilla group, Eko acquires a large amount of heroin, which he then seeks to smuggle out of the country by exploiting a privilege given to aid groups and missionary priests. Eko returns to his old village and visits his younger brother Yemi, who is the priest of the village church. There he asks his brother to aid him in smuggling the drugs from the country; he requests a large number of Virgin Mary statues (in which to hide the drugs) and the use of his plane. In return, Eko offers a large sum of money, which Yemi could use to provide vaccines to the village. Though momentarily tempted, Yemi refuses. Later, Eko returns with a second proposal: sign forged documents to make Eko and his henchmen appear to be priests, for which he will be paid handsomely, or watch as Eko's men burn down the church. This time Yemi agrees.

When the shipment is ready to be smuggled from the country, Eko and his men assemble at an airfield dressed as priests. While they are loading the plane, a Beechcraft 18, Yemi arrives to convince Eko not to go through with his plan. Moments after his arrival, however, the military, having been warned by Yemi about the impending operation, arrive to capture Eko and his men. In the ensuing gun battle, Yemi is wounded in the crossfire. Before the military can stop them, however, Eko and his henchman attempt to flee in the plane. After placing Yemi on the plane, the henchman boards the plane, but then suddenly turns and kicks Eko away from the door, leaving him to be captured. As the plane pulls away, the soldiers arrive at Yemi's vehicle. Based on Eko's clothing, the soldiers mistake him for his brother, the priest, and set him free back in his old village. In "The Cost of Living" we see that Eko has decided to carry on these duties as a Priest.

The village people believe that Eko is the new priest replacing Yemi, who was about to leave for London to study. Eko, who harbors tremendous guilt over Yemi's death, takes on the role. Eko soon comes into conflict with some guerrillas who had a deal with Yemi: they take 80% of the vaccines that are now delivered to village and sell it on the black market, and in return, they leave the village alone. Eko refuses, so they shoot a woman dead as a warning, vowing to return in a few days for the vaccines.

Eko decides to rescue his brother's village from the guerrillas and seeks out a dealer who is willing to buy the vaccines, intending that this information will be passed to the guerrillas. Soon after, the guerrillas confront him inside the church and attempt to cut off his hands. Eko fights back and kills all three, including the leader who begs for his life. The villagers are aghast at the thought of their new priest killing men, especially inside the church, so they board up the church and Eko is ostracized until he departs. He is told that he owes Yemi one church.

At some later point in time, Eko (known as "Father Tunde") is serving as a priest in an Australian church, taking confession from a man who has actually arrived to provide a passport so Eko can travel to Los Angeles. This is shown in the Episode "?". He is asked by a senior priest to investigate a reported miracle, the apparent resurrection of a young woman who drowned the day before. Eko visits the undertaker, who plays him the tape of his autopsy procedure. He later visits the home of the woman, Charlotte Malkin, and encounters her father, Richard Malkin, who seeks to explain away the miracle as a cover-up of the undertaker's incompetence. Richard is the psychic who told Claire to go on the plane, in the episode "Raised by Another", though he admits to Eko that he is a fraud. At the airport in Sydney, prior to boarding Oceanic Flight 815, Eko encounters Charlotte, who agitates him by saying that she saw his brother when she was "between places," asking her to tell Eko to have faith. Whilst booking in at the airport, he is given the time of take off which is 8:23am, two of the numbers.

[edit] After the crash

Eko survives the crash of the tail section, and is the first to return to the water to help other survivors to the shore. When the tail-section survivors are attacked by The Others during that first night, he is among those targeted. Unlike three of their other targets, however, the physically powerful Eko fights back against his attackers and wins, killing two of them. Disturbed and saddened by his actions, even though they were done in self-defense, Eko remains silent for the next 40 days, instead channeling his efforts into the carving of a stick that he adorns with references to Biblical passages. He later refers to them as "things I need to remember".

Among the tail-section survivors, Eko comes to be the muscle and the soul of the group. His strength is well evidenced by his single-handedly incapacitating Sawyer, Michael and Jin when they are mistaken for the mysterious attackers. Once the "misunderstanding" is resolved, Eko apologizes for his actions and provides assistance to Michael and Jin. He later helps make a stretcher to carry the injured Sawyer through the jungle. Although he treats Ana Lucia with respect, he does not hesitate to disagree with her, unlike the other survivors of the tail section.

After the tail-section survivors make their way to the camp of the mid-section survivors, Eko proves pivotal in helping the two groups come together in the face of truly terrible circumstances. Ana Lucia mistakes Shannon for one of the Others, and shoots and kills her. Ana Lucia, desperate, takes Sayid hostage to keep him from killing her in retaliation. When the situation reaches a standstill and Sawyer's condition continues to deteriorate, Eko stands up to her. He carries a dying Sawyer on his back and leaves in search of the doctor. He arrives at the Station 3 bunker and meets Locke, to whom he tells the story of Shannon's shooting. When Jack arrives and learns of Shannon's death, he becomes angry and begins preparing weapons for defense. Not wishing to see any more bloodshed, Eko stops Jack and explains that "Ana Lucia made a mistake" and offers to take Jack to the other group if he promises to bring no guns.

Eko watches the Dharma Initiative's Station 3 orientation film with Michael and Locke, and gives Locke an item from the other bunker: a hollowed-out Bible containing a missing piece of the orientation film.

Later, Eko learns from Claire that Charlie has been carrying around a Virgin Mary statue. Surprised and angered, Eko confronts Charlie about the statue and forces him to bring Eko to the plane. While wandering through the jungle, while Charlie is in the trees searching for the plane, the "monster" appears and charges Eko. Undaunted by the dangerous entity before him, Eko stands his ground and stares down the "monster" which displays in its smokey swirls flashes of images from his past. Unshaken by the encounter, Eko continues on, until he and Charlie arrive at the plane, the same Beechcraft plane Eko had used in Nigeria. Inside, Eko finds his brother's body, and, coming full circle, retrieves the cross pendant that had been thrown away by the guerrillas when he was taken from his village. Afterward, he and Charlie set the plane ablaze, as the two recite the 23rd Psalm. As he puts on the cross, he tells Charlie that he is a priest.

After Charlie begins having seemingly prophetic dreams and visions of Aaron in grave danger, Eko baptises Claire and Aaron at Claire's request.

In the episode "Maternity Leave", Eko discovers Henry Gale and coerces Jack into permitting a meeting between the two of them. He tells Henry that he is sorry for killing the men who tried to drag him from the beach. He then proceeds to cut a set of two tails from his beard and hand them to Henry, which represent the two men he killed.

In "Dave", Charlie comes across Eko chopping wood to build some sort of structure. He jokes that it is a Starbucks, but Eko ignores him and tells him he will find out in time. Later, in "S.O.S.," it is revealed that they are in the progress of building a church, since he owes Yemi a church after defiling the one in Nigeria.

In "?", Eko has a dream one night where Ana Lucia and Yemi ask him to help Locke because he is losing faith, and that Eko needs to know about the "question mark." When he wakes up, he asks Locke to help him track "Henry", who has escaped. In truth, Eko wants Locke to show him the "question mark" although Eko himself does not know exactly what it means. When Locke does not cooperate, Eko knocks him out. When he wakes up, Locke shows him the map that he drew from the blastdoor map during the lockdown in the hatch. In the center of the map is a big question mark, and Eko realizes that they both must go there.

Although Locke's faith in the island is suffering, he admits to Eko about having a dream where Yemi appeared, asking him to climb the cliff that the Beechcraft plane was on. They arrive at the cliff and Eko climbs it. The view from the top reveals that the ground below looks like a giant question mark, and when some of the soil is cleared away, another hatch is discovered.

Eko and Locke enter the hatch (called The Pearl) which has numerous television monitors. They watch a video which explains that its purpose is to see if the denizens of the other hatches perform their tasks, a "psychological experiment," as though they are actually meaningless. Although Locke is shattered by this revelation, Eko is rejuvenated by it. He tells Locke that whatever he believes can still be true. Eko explains about the extraordinary circumstances of his brother's plane crashing on the same island that he crashed on. Because of that - and the dream with Yemi telling him about the question mark - Eko believes that the island and the button do indeed mean something. Eko says to Locke if Locke doesn't continue to push the button, he will.

In "Three Minutes", Eko stays true to his word. He discontinues building the church (to Charlie's dismay) and moves into the hatch to take over button duty, which he believes is of greater importance. In "Live Together, Die Alone", Locke approaches Eko and orders him to stop pushing the button. When Eko refuses, Locke attempts to smash the computer, but Eko punches him in the face and throws him out of the hatch. Sometime later, Eko leaves the computer to investigate a strange dimming of the lights. It turns out Desmond has crossed some wires to trigger a lockdown, which ends up locking Eko out of the computer room, but locks Desmond and Locke in. Locke refuses to let Eko back into the room.

Eko emerges from the hatch and asks for Charlie's help. Although Charlie is upset with Eko for abandoning him and the church, Eko convinces him that something terrible will happen if the button is not pushed. Charlie leads Eko to the remaining dynamite that was used to open the hatch in the first place. Eko goes back into the hatch, places the dynamite by the steel door and lights the fuse. Eko and Charlie take cover as it explodes. The explosion knocked Eko unconscious.

Desmond retrieves the key he took from his predecessor and uses it to activate the fail-safe mechanism and stop the electromagnetic disturbance which is wrecking the station. A bright light and loud noise engulf the entire island. Charlie escapes unharmed, and everyone else on the island experiences only temporary discomfort. The hatch implodes, leaving a large crater.

In "Further Instructions", it is revealed that Eko somehow survived the implosion, but exactly how is unclear. It is believed by Locke - who also survived - that Eko awoke in the jungle and was attacked by a polar bear, who dragged him off to its lair. Locke rescues an injured Eko from the polar bear and apologizes for not siding with him on the button, and blames himself for all the bad things that have befallen the survivors. Eko awakens and says that Locke can still fix everything by rescuing Jack, Kate, and Sawyer, who have been captured by the Others, but Charlie does not see this. Whether Eko speaking was all in Locke's head is unknown.

In "The Cost of Living", Eko is still recovering, but he sees Yemi, who tells him that it is time to be judged. Eko's hut is then somehow set ablaze, but he is pulled out by fellow survivors. He runs off into the jungle when no one is looking. As he wanders in the jungle (searching for the crashed beechcraft that housed Yemi's body), Eko sees visions of the three guerrillas he killed, along with other people from his past. The "monster" appears behind Eko, but retreats when Locke and others appear. When Eko finds the beechcraft, he discovers that Yemi's body is gone.

When Locke's party enter The Pearl, Eko stays above ground, where Yemi appears to him again and Eko follows him. Yemi tells Eko that it is time to confess his sins, but Eko refuses. He says that everything that he did in his life was to survive and that he did his best with what was given to him. He points out that if he did not kill a man as a child, Yemi would have been taken away instead. The vision of Yemi then says, "You speak to me as if I am your brother" and leaves. Infuriated, Eko follows him demanding the identity of whoever is posing as his brother. He is lead into a closing in the jungle when the "monster" appears before Eko as a towering mass of black smoke. It reaches down and lifts him high into the air, slamming Eko many times into trees before brutally crushing him into the ground. When Locke and his party arrive the monster is gone and Eko is lying motionless where the "monster" left him. Locke rushes to his side and Eko, with his last living breath, gasps his final words. As Eko dies, we see a flashback of him and his brother as young boys. Young Eko tosses a ball into the air, hugging his brother to himself, while walking away, backs toward the screen. Locke closes Eko's dead eyes and when Sayid asks what was said, Locke replies, "We're next."

Eko is buried in the episode "I Do" on the spot where he was killed, rather than at the cemetery on the beach. Locke says the other survivors have seen enough death recently (referring to Ana-Lucia and Libby's recent deaths). No one sees the monster kill Eko, and Locke suggests to the other survivors that Eko was killed by a wild animal. However, due to the fact that Locke has had previous contact with the monster, even confronting Eko about its existence, and also that Locke was the only one to hear Eko's last words, it is implied that he knows that the monster killed him. He then departs with Sayid to retrieve Eko's "scripture stick" where it fell in the forest in "Further Instructions." When they return to Eko's resting place, Locke says a few words before he is buried. As Locke pounds the stick into the ground as a grave marker, a scripture on it catches his eye. It reads "Lift up your eyes and look north - John 3:05."

[edit] Trivia

• Eko was originally to be named "Emeka."<ref>http://honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050805/ENT01/508050303/1076</ref> Instead, they gave that name to a warlord in "The Cost of Living".
• The idea of Eko's scripture stick was thought up by the actor playing him, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje.^{[citation needed]}
• To maintain the intensity of his character on the set, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje stayed in character throughout the entire day. He explained to the New York Post:

"The only way I know how to deliver is to focus; some people can turn it on or off - I'd rather stay in character. There was no socializing. I would start two hours before I went to the set and I wouldn't say any other words other than the ones that I needed to say, that's just the way I work and I think that intensity comes across in my characters."

[edit] References

he:מר אקו hu:Mr. Eko pl:Mr. Eko pt:Mr. Eko ro:Dl. Eko fi:Mr. Eko zh:伊高·東迪