Lost in Lost – What’s the deal with Abaddon?

With all my recent watching of The Wire, I’ve had Lance Reddick on the brain. These days he’s busy playing Broyles on Fringe, but last season he was one of Lost‘s most intriguing new faces: Matthew Abaddon.

He wasn’t a featured player, but I think any Lost fan will remember Abaddon as the man behind the science team on the freighter. That wasn’t the only thing he was doing in season four, though. We also saw him take a very creepy visit to Hurley in the mental institution where he claimed to be a lawyer from Oceanic Airlines. The final appearance by Abaddon was in one of Locke’s flashbacks, where he was an orderly during Locke’s rehab after his broken back and paralyzation. After all these appearances, though, Abaddon remains a complete and utter mystery. Let’s discuss.

As I see it there at least four possibilities for the strange Mr. Abaddon:

• Working for Charles Widmore: This seems like the obvious option. We saw that Abaddon was responsible for putting the team together on the freighter, and we know that the freighter was sent to the island by Charles Widmore. I’m not convinced that this is the right answer though. It seems far too simple for Lost, and Abaddon seems to be a lot more complicated than that.
• Working for Dharma: This may not be a totally separate option, as we saw that there is at least some connection between Widmore and Dharma. If you recall, the freighter contained Dharma instructions about the orchid station. What if Abaddon is working for Dharma without Widmore’s knowledge? He put the freighter team together and we know that Charlotte has ties to Dharma. Could he be trying to finish some Dharma business, sending Daniel, Miles, and Charlotte to the island to figure out some of the strange properties of the island?
• Working for the others: This option doesn’t seem too likely, but Abaddon was the one who put the idea of the walkabout in Locke’s head, claiming that he himself had experienced a miracle in Australia. The walkabout, of course, led John to Australia and then the island. Could Abaddon have been pushing Locke toward the island because the others needed him?
• Something else altogether: It’s possible that Abaddon isn’t associated with any of the groups mentioned. He could be a complete free agent. After all, his actions don’t really seem to jive with any one faction perfectly. One of the real questions is what the heck was Abaddon doing visiting Hurley, trying to get information about the castaways left behind on the island?

Even though Lance Reddick is working on a new show on a different network this season, we’re still going to get to see him this year in some capacity. Thank goodness J.J. Abrams is listed as creator of both shows.

Do you have any theories on Abaddon?

Clacked by Bob Degon
on Jan 07, 2009 @ 11:00 EST5EDT