Lost: 10 Hidden Details You Missed About Sawyer

Fans love dissecting their favorite shows and finding all the Easter Eggs and cryptic connections. Lost did a masterful job at filling each and every episode with these kinds of small details, the likes of which still delight fans to this day. These details are not only rooted in the show’s mythology, but also in main characters like James “Sawyer” Ford.

As a character who liked to read, the show included many literary references when it came to Sawyer, along with a number of other hidden details. Here are 10 hidden details you missed about Sawyer.

10 The Connection Between Sawyer’s Name And His Candidate Number

The final season revealed that many of the main characters had been selected as candidates to replace Jacob as the Island’s protector. Each candidate could be identified by a number. Sawyer’s candidate number was 15. There was a hint to this all along as there are 15 letters in his name James “Sawyer” Ford.

9 Sawyer And The Vending Machine Number

Right before Sawyer is “awakened” in the flash-sideways, he tries to get an Apollo chocolate bar out of a hospital vending machine. The hidden detail isn’t the Apollo chocolate bar, but rather the letter and number combination Sawyer enters into the vending machine.

The combination is G23. While Sawyer’s candidate number is 15, Jack’s number is 23. With this occurring in the series finale, it’s one last reference to the complex relationship between Jack and Sawyer and the roles they played in saving the Island.

8 Kate’s Husband Knew About Sawyer’s Tampa Job

One of Sawyer’s past criminal associates referred to a past exploit as the “Tampa job.” It’s never revealed what exactly happened during the Tampa job, but it appears that Kate’s husband did know about it.

In the season 3 episode “I Do” Nathan Fillion plays Kevin, a cop who happily marries Kate and is unaware of her real identity or her past. Kevin mentions that he needs to finish up work on a fugitive recovery in Tampa. Given that this is the only other mention of Tampa Bay in the entire series, the fugitive recovery Kevin is working on is most likely connected to Sawyer’s Tampa job.

7 Tampa Job Flashbacks Were Originally Filmed For The Episode “Adrift”

Season 2, Episode 2 “Adrift” ended up being a Michael-centric episode with flashbacks focused on his struggle to be Walt’s father. These flashbacks worked well with Michael’s present struggle of feeling responsible for Walt being kidnapped off of the raft.

However, “Adrift” was originally supposed to be a Sawyer-centric episode featuring Tampa job flashbacks. These were later replaced with the Michael-centric flashbacks.

6 Sawyer’s Favorite Book Is Of Mice And Men

Sawyer is frequently seen reading throughout the show, but he tells the Man in Black in the episode “The Substitute” that his favorite book is Of Mice and Men. This isn’t just a random piece of trivia as it lends more significance to a scene between Sawyer and Ben in the season 3 episode “Every Man For Himself.”

In that episode, Ben reveals to Sawyer that they’re on a different island, which means there’s nowhere for Sawyer to run. Shortly after revealing this, he quotes a line about loneliness from Of Mice and Men. Even though Sawyer doesn’t immediately recognize the quote, it shows how thoroughly Ben familiarized himself with the Oceanic 815 survivors and how he’d use those details to manipulate them when need be.

5 The Fountainhead Reference

Another famous book that Sawyer is seen reading is The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand. The novel deals with a con man who is in love with a woman named Katie. This is a clear connection to Sawyer missing Kate in this episode.

In one of the season 3 DVD features, showrunner Damon Lindelof even spoke about how Sawyer is similar to the novel’s main character, Howard Roark, and how they are both rebels against society.

4 Sawyer Got Beer From The Skeleton Of Ben’s Dad

The episode “Tricia Tanaka is Dead” features a delightful storyline where Hurley, Charlie, Sawyer, and Jin work together to jump-start a Dharma Initiative van. Sawyer agrees to help because of the beer in the van. They also find a skeleton in the van with a Dharma Initiative uniform that says “Roger workman.”

This skeleton was once Ben Linus’ father Roger, who was a workman for the Dharma Initiative. The van is the same one where Ben killed his father during the Purge. It’s a bit eerie to think about Sawyer taking beer from Roger’s skeleton when Sawyer would end up time traveling and interacting with the living Roger Linus in the 1970s.

3 His Letter To “Mr. Sawyer” Begins With A Huckleberry Finn Reference

As a child, Sawyer experienced a terrible tragedy. While hiding underneath his bed, his father killed his mother and then committed suicide. This was all because a con man had slept with Sawyer’s mother and conned the family out of all of their savings.

Shortly after this tragedy, Sawyer wrote a letter to the con man named Mr. Sawyer. The letter began with “You don’t know who I am, but I know who you are.” This is similar to the opening line of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn which reads “You don’t know about me, without you have read a book by the name of ‘The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,’ but that ain’t no matter.” Considering the importance of the name Sawyer, this reference to Huck Finn is definitely intentional.

2 Sawyer Is The Show’s Most Promiscuous Character

Fans have done their homework and determined that Sawyer is the most promiscuous character both on and off the Island. On the Island, he had intimate relations with Kate, Juliet, and Ana-Lucia.

Off the Island, he had intimate relations with Cassidy, a woman named Jessica, and an untold number of others during his various con jobs. In the flash-sideways, he also spent the night with Charlotte when Miles set them up on a date. To this day, fans still remember Sawyer as being one of the most attractive characters on the show.

1 Why Jacob Chose Sawyer When He Did

When Jacob touched Sawyer, he made him a candidate. This happened to Sawyer in the 1970s, which is much earlier in the timeline compared to the other instances when Jacob marked the other Oceanic 815 passengers as candidates.

Some fans have speculated that Jacob made Sawyer a candidate in the 1970s because the 1970s was also when the adult Sawyer time-traveled to the past. Sawyer spent more time on the Island than most of the candidates in the 1970s and he proved himself to be a leader within the Dharma Initiative and for the survivors who were still on the Island. Sawyer’s leadership proved to Jacob that he was candidate material and that’s why Jacob marked him as a candidate at such a young age.

About The Author

Matthew Rudoy
(278 Articles Published)

Matthew Rudoy is a freelance writer who loves to write about his favorite movies and TV shows. In addition to Screen Rant, he also currently contributes to Dork Side of the Force. He has previously self-published two fantasy/sci-fi novels titled CORRUPTION and DESTRUCTION. While his favorite movies and TV shows tend to also fall in the fantasy and sci-fi genres, he enjoys and is open to anything that provides an engaging story, strong character development, and in-depth world-building. Matthew is grateful for the opportunity to write for Screen Rant and looks forward to continue contributing to the site.

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