TV - Lost - Four-Toed Statue

An ABC Episode Recap of the Lost finale clarified the identity of the Four-Toed Statue. Click "Read More" for my analysis on the significance of her identity in relation to Jacob and Lost as a whole.

The statue is a representation of Taweret! Let's begin our discussion with her name. Taweret means "(one) who is great," which links up nicely with the answer to "What lies in the shadow of the statue?:" "The one who will save us all." Certainly Taweret signifies what we already knew: Jacob is a big-freaking deal.

Although my research on this is a bit murky (but props to me for looking beyond Wikipedia), it seems that Taweret was married to Apep, the Egyptian deity associated with evil. Taweret could then be seen as a counter-point to evilness and was often considered the "Restrainer of Evil". Is Jacob really good and counter-balancing the evilness of The Man in Black (or the other way around)? Let's not get carried away. Because Apep could only come out at night, Taweret was seen as responsible for all evil acts that occurred during the day. In fact, Taweret was considered a demon! Her likeness was composed of multiple man-killing animals, most notably the hippopotamus, lioness, and crocodile.

Perhaps the most intriguing link between Taweret and the mythology of Lost is that she was seen as the protector of pregnancy and childbirth. Pregnant women wore amulets of her likeness around their necks to be protected from any evilness jeopardizing the safe delivery of their babies. Obviously, we know there are some major fertility issues on the Island amongst the Others. However, Claire was able to give birth to Aaron, and Sun was miraculously impregnated by Jin (who was supposedly infertile) while residing on the Island.

Digging deeper, almost every character on Lost has major Mommy issues. Ben's mother died during child-birth. Jack decided to turn on his father when he realized the woman Christian killed while performing surgery drunk was pregnant. Ana Lucia cracked after getting shot in the abdomen, losing her pregnancy. The list could go on.

So now we ask, when did the damage to the statue occur, leaving nothing but the calf and foot, and when did the fertility issues amongst the Others arise? Certainly there could be a connection there.

What else do you know about Taweret that could be seen as relevant to Lost? And isn't this fun?!