Ethan Rom

Infobox Lost character
Title=Ethan Rom


First="Solitary"
Flashback1=
Name=Dr. Ethan Rom
Place=The Island
Status=Dead Profession=Surgeon
Actor=William Mapother

Dr. Ethan Rom [Johnston, Amy J., (July 5, 2007) " [http://www.buddytv.com/articles/lost/more/exclusive-interview-william-ma-7947.aspx Exclusive Interview: William Mapother, from "Lost" (Part 2)] ", "BuddyTV". Retrieved on July 6, 2007.] is a recurring fictional character portrayed by William Mapother ["ABC MediaNet", (January 22, 2007) " [http://abcmedianet.com/web/dnr/dispDNR.aspx?id=012207_15 The Life of One of the "Others" Rests in Jack's Hands] ". Retrieved on May 19, 2007.] on the ABC television show "Lost", which chronicles the lives of over forty people after their plane crashes on a remote tropical island somewhere in the south Pacific. ["ABC MediaNet", (January 22, 2007) " [http://www.abcmedianet.com/web/showpage/showpage.aspx?program_id=001648&type=lead "Lost" Show Description] ". Retrieved on April 8, 2007.] Introduced in the first season", [Fury, David (writer) & Yaitanes, Greg (director), "Solitary". "Lost", ABC. Episode 9, season 1. Aired on November 17, 2004.] Ethan is the surgeon for the antagonistic and mysterious group known as the "Others". [Sarnoff, Elizabeth (writer) & Kim, Christina M. (writer) & Paris Barclay (director), "Stranger in a Strange Land". "Lost", ABC. Episode 9, season 3. Aired on February 21, 2007.] He infiltrated the fuselage survivors, posing as one of them, until they discovered his true identity at which point he kidnapped Charlie Pace and the pregnant Claire Littleton, disposing of the former soon after.Grillo-Marxuach, Javier (writer) & Williams, Stephen (director), "All The Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues". "Lost", ABC. Episode 11, season 1. Aired on December 8, 2004.] Ethan is also one of the few characters to have made more episode appearances while his character was dead rather than alive.

History

Before the crash

Originally from Ontario, Canada, [Litt, Lynne E. (writer) & Grabiak, Marita (director), "Raised by Another". "Lost", ABC. Episode 10, season 1. Aired on December 1, 2004.] Ethan works as a surgeon for Mittelos Bioscience, a front company for the Others. [Cuse, Carlton (writer) & Goddard, Drew (writer) & Bender, Jack (director), "One of Us". "Lost", ABC. Episode 16, season 3. Aired on April 11, 2007.] Prior to the crash of Oceanic Flight 815, Ethan travels from the island to Florida by submarine to recruit Juliet Burke, with the help of Richard Alpert. [Cuse, Carlton (writer) & Pinkner, Jeff (writer) & Williams, Stephen (director), "Not in Portland". "Lost", ABC. Episode 7, season 3. Aired on February 7, 2007.] Ethan's wife dies in childbirth and his baby also does not survive. [Lindelof, Damon (writer) & Bender, Jack (director), "". Aired on January 7, 2008.]

After the crash

When Oceanic Flight 815 crashes on the island on September 22, 2004 where Ethan and the rest of the Others live, he is sent by his superior Ben Linus to pose as a fuselage survivor [Kitsis, Edward & Horowitz, Adam (writer) & Williams, Stephen (director), "Exposé". He "Lost", ABC. March 28, 2007. Episode 14, season 3.] and make a list of the survivors. [Lindelof, Damon (writer) & Abrams, J.J. (writer) & Bender, Jack (director), "A Tale of Two Cities". "Lost", ABC. Episode 1, season 3. Aired on October 4, 2006.] Ethan generally keeps to himself, however he takes blood samples to determine if Claire is encountering pregnancy issues and goes on hunting trips with John Locke. Hugo "Hurley" Reyes asks Ethan his information for a census. Knowing that he will be exposed before he can complete a list of the survivors, Ethan frantically kidnaps the pregnant Claire Littleton for scientific research and Charlie. Ethan finds the survivors' leader Jack Shephard following him and beats him up, warning Jack that he will kill either Claire or Charlie if Jack continues to follow him. Charlie is later found hanging from a tree and Jack saves him.

Ethan examines Claire in a Dharma Initiative station called The Staff. He asks her questions about her pregnancy and injects her with Juliet's serum. Ethan also inserts a remote-activated implant that is later used to trigger nausea and bleeding. He drugs her and tries to convince her to give up her child to him and the Others, stating that they are "good people". As Ethan is preparing to perform a Cesarean section, Alex frees her, and even though he leads a search party, Ethan is unable to find her. [Kelly, Dawn Lambertsen (writer) & Ragghianti, Matt (writer) & Jack Bender (director), "Maternity Leave". "Lost", ABC. Episode 15, season 2. Aired on March 1, 2006.]

Having lost Claire, [Fury, David (writer) & Greg, Yaitanes (director), "Homecoming". "Lost", ABC. Episode 14, season 1. Aired on January 19, 2005.] Ethan attempts to bring her back by telling Charlie he will kill one survivor for each night Claire is not returned to him. [Lindelof, Damon (writer) & Hooks, Kevin (director), "Homecoming". "Lost", ABC. Episode 15, season 1. Aired on February 9, 2005.] Scott Jackson is killed the next morning. The survivors assume he was killed by Ethan although this has not been established. The next day, Claire offers to use herself as bait, luring Ethan out of the jungle. Locke, Jack, Kate Austen, Sayid Jarrah and James "Sawyer" Ford proceed to run in and tackle him down. Before they are able to extract any answers from him, Charlie shoots Ethan six times, killing him. [Goddard, Drew (writer) & Bender, Jack (director), "Outlaws". "Lost", ABC. Episode 16, season 1. Aired on February 16, 2005.]

Casting

William Mapother did not audition for the part; he was picked by co-creator/executive producer J. J. Abrams on September 22, 2004—the day that "Lost" premiered—who recognized him from the film, "In the Bedroom". [Johnston, Amy J., (July 5, 2007) " [http://www.buddytv.com/articles/lost/exclusive-interview-william-ma-7948.aspx Exclusive Interview: William Mapother, from "Lost" (Part 1)] ", "BuddyTV". Retrieved on July 5, 2007.] Mapother was originally contracted for two episodes and his contract was later extended to a total of four episodes in the first season. Mapother has since appeared in the flashbacks of five episodes throughout the second and third seasons, for a total of nine episodes. Ethan also appears in the "" mobisode titled "". As Mapother himself points out, Ethan has now appeared in more episodes after his death than he did when he was alive. Mapother described playing Ethan as "fun". The character's name is an anagram of "Other Man". ["Oceanic Airlines", (March 27, 2005) " [http://oceanic-air.com/seatingchart.htm Seating Chart] ". Retrieved on May 19, 2007.] Mapother is a fan of "Lost" and has never missed an episode.Lachonis, Jon "DocArzt", (July 24, 2007) " [http://www.thetailsection.com/lost-news/doc-encounters-ethan-rom-willi.php Doc Encounters Ethan Rom (William Mapother), and Lives to Tell About It!] ", "The Tailsection". Retrieved on September 9, 2007.]

Characterization

In the first season, Ethan was portrayed as a "brooding villain", "cold and evil" and "creepy" and after as a "swell, neighborly guy". Mapother felt that he was not evil and that Ethan had his reasons for acting the way that he did.

Reception

"IGN" concluded that Ethan's death was the most frustrating on "Lost" because Ethan could have provided many answers to the island's mysteries. [Carabott, Chris & Goldman, Eric & Iverson, Dan & Moriarty, Colin & Zoromski, Brian, (December 6, 2006) " [http://tv.ign.com/articles/749/749696p3.html Top 10 "Lost" Deaths] ", "IGN". Retrieved on September 9, 2007.]

References