THE MAN IN BLACK.

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biography.

the man in black was born on a special island that acts more as an entity than a location, after his pregnant mother claudia's ship wrecked off-shore. a woman on the island delivered him and his twin brother jacob, but killed their mother and raised them herself. the boys initially led a carefree life, but some thirteen years later discovered the shipwreck's other survivors on the island. when their adopted mother heard, she blindfolded the boys and led them to a cave where a stream flowed into a glowing light. samuel remarked how beautiful the light was, but was warned never to enter the cave. later, claudia's ghost convinced the young samuel to join her people, against his adoptive mother's wishes. he invited jacob to join him, but jacob chose to remain with mother.

years passed, but he remained in touch with jacob, meeting with him often to play their childhood game. samuel disapproved of his people, but when they discovered the island's electromagnetism, he used them to dig a well to its source, seeking access to the light his adoptive mother had once shown him. he planned to build a wheel to harness the energy and leave the island. jacob told their mother though, and she knocked samuel out, filled his well and killed all his people. furious, samuel sneaked up on her in her camp and stabbed her to death.

nged her death by throwing his brother into the heart of the island, which either transformed him or combined with a part of him. he became a cloud of black smoke, leaving behind his human body in the process. jacob laid his mother and brother's bodies in a cave.

samuel retained the ability to assume his human form, but jacob denied him access to the heart, confining him to the island. their mother had prevented samuel from hurting jacob, so he sought a "loophole" to kill him and his replacements. the two also began a conflict regarding the nature of humanity. echoing his mother's beliefs, jacob thought people always "fight, destroy and corrupt," but jacob, believing in their potential for good, began drawing them to the island to test their nature.

in ancient times, some of these early inhabitants built the smoke monster a chamber beneath the temple and devised an apparent method of summoning him, though benjamin linus later deduced samuel only made it appear as if he were summoned. hieroglyphs outside the chamber read "to summon protection," suggesting they considered him a guardian. an engraving portraying samuel with anubis suggests they even considered him a deity.

soon after the black rock crashed on the island, samuel as black smoke killed its passengers and scanned richard's memories. he returned in the form of isabella, the woman richard loved who had died earlier, telling richard they were in hell, then left, letting her screams convince richard the smoke was killing her. later, back in his human form, he freed richard and gave him a knife to kill "the devil," who had taken isabella. jacob convinced richard otherwise though, and richard returned with a white rock from jacob to give to samuel.

according to charles widmore, samuel became a much-feared figure in myth, ghost stories, and "jungle noises in the night" to the inhabitants who would reside on the island during subsequent years. they would also come to regard him as "evil incarnate". during all this time after their adoptive mother's death, it is however only jacob who knows of samuel's real name, everyone else just knows him as "the monster", "the man in black", "the black smoke" or other made up names for the smoke monster.

abilities.

connections.

universes.