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Ben: Two days after I found out I had a fatal tumor on my spine, a spinal surgeon fell out of the sky

Coincidences, often wildly improbable coincidences, occur frequently in the plot of Lost. The characters talk about coincidence, sometimes in the context of destiny, fate or religious faith. Coincidence is such a prevailing theme that it partly defines the Lost universe, and may be an important clue to the mysteries of the story.

Occurrences

The following list shows when characters have mentioned, or encountered coincidences.

Season 1

• Hurley played the Numbers, which originated from the Island.("Dave") These numbers won the lottery ("Numbers"). Then, Hurley crashed on the same island where the Numbers originated.("Pilot, Part 1")
• When discussing Charlie's addiction, Locke used a moth in its cocoon as a metaphor for the need to struggle to become strong enough for life. Later that day, a moth lead Charlie and Jack to escape the collapsed cave. ("The Moth")
• Haddad told Sayid "Perhaps it's not happenstance that you and Essam met at the Mosque. Perhaps it is fate." ("The Greater Good")
• While airborne, Hurley read a comic book featuring a polar bear. On their first excursion into the interior of the Island, Sawyer, Kate, Boone, Shannon, Charlie and Sayid encountered a polar bear and Sawyer shot it. ("Exodus, Part 2")  ("Pilot, Part 2")
• Charlie, a heroin addict, kicked his habit. Shortly thereafter, he discovered that there's a huge stash of heroin on the Island. He's Catholic; the heroin was hidden in Virgin Mary statues. ("Exodus, Part 2")
• Locke said "Do you think we crashed on this place by coincidence?" ("Exodus, Part 2")

Season 2

• Bernard turned on his handheld radio, which he only does "a few minutes a day." Coincidentally, in the few minutes that he's in the drug smugglers' plane before he falls to his death, Boone broadcasted an SOS, and Bernard heard it. ("The Other 48 Days")
• While reinserting the missing piece of the Orientation film Locke said "Here's the missing piece right back where it belongs. What are the odds?" And Eko replies "Don't mistake coincidence for fate." ("What Kate Did")
• Eko and his brother Yemi both ended up crashing on the same Island, at different times. ("The 23rd Psalm")
• Dave told Hurley, "Whoa, wow, awesome, dude! What numbers did you play? Leonard's number, right -- from the hospital? What a coincidence." ("Dave")
• After Ana Lucia told Christian that she stopped being a cop, Christian responded: "What a coincidence, I just stopped being a doctor." ("Two for the Road")
• After Michael makes it back to camp, Locke said "So, it was just a coincidence that he came wandering out?" ("Two for the Road")
• After a casual meeting, Libby gave Desmond a sailboat, the Elizabeth, which her late husband named after her. Desmond (marooned) and Libby (crashed) both later end up on the same island. During Libby's funeral, the Elizabeth coincidentally appeared. If Libby hadn't died then she would have recognized the boat and Desmond, and Des would have recognized her.("Three Minutes")

Season 3

• Locke said "Don't mistake coincidence for fate." ("The Cost of Living")
• Christian Shephard told Sawyer a metaphor for the futility of trying to change one's fate, when he says "That's why the Red Sox will never win the World Series". The footage that Ben shows Jack on the Hydra television (to prove their connection to the outside world) just happened to be of the Red Sox winning the World Series. ("Outlaws")  ("The Glass Ballerina")
• Ben learned he has spinal cancer. Two days later, Jack, a spinal surgeon, crashes on the Island. ("The Cost of Living")
• In order to prove to Jack that Sawyer and Kate were safe, Kate told Jack the Count to Five story from the Pilot, Part 1 episode. While she was telling the story, Jack was fixing an artery on Ben's back that he deliberately cut during surgery to remove a tumor. ("Not in Portland")
• Hurley feels unlucky. The restaurant he buys gets hit by a meteorite.("Tricia Tanaka Is Dead")
• Claire and Jack, who are half-siblings, happen to be on the same doomed flight together, and Claire happens to be on the same flight as the corpse of her father, Christian Shephard. ("Par Avion")
• Nikki's character on Expose is killed off shortly before leaving Australia, then she dies on the Island. ("Exposé")
• Cassidy is conned by Sawyer, then works a con with Kate. ("Left Behind")
• Anthony Cooper, Locke's father, turns out to be the real Sawyer. ("The Brig")
• The neurosurgeon who operated on Mrs. Arlen and Bernard have the same last name: Nadler. ("Through the Looking Glass")

Season 4

• The detective who questions Hurley was Ana Lucia's former partner. ("The Beginning of the End")
• Locke survives the shot from Ben because the kidney which was supposed to be there was removed. ("Confirmed Dead")
• Dan is from Essex, Massachusets. Charlotte is from Essex, England. ("Confirmed Dead")
• Charlotte earned her doctorate at Oxford. Daniel taught there. ("The Constant")
• Both Ben and John are born prematurely to a woman named Emily. Both are raised by a single parent. ("Cabin Fever")
• Both John and Juliet are recruited by Richard Alpert to a Mittelos facility, supposedly in Portland. ("Cabin Fever")
• The key to Hurley's Camaro is on a rabbit-foot key chain, as was the key to the van on the island. ("There's No Place Like Home, Part 1")
• The sequence of numbers on the Camaro's odometers reads 4815162342. ("There's No Place Like Home, Part 1")
• Carole Littleton lingers after Christian's eulogy, unaware that the baby she compliments is her grandson Aaron. ("There's No Place Like Home, Part 1")

Names

Some names are given to two or more characters. Some notable coincidences:

• Emily is the name of both Locke's and Ben's mother.
• Richard Malkin is the name of Claire's psychic, while Richard Alpert and the man who recruited Juliet to the Island.
• Charlotte Malkin is Richard Malkin's daughter, and Charlotte Lewis is the anthropologist team member of the freighter group.
• Charlie is the rockstar who was aboard Flight 815. Charles Widmore is the father of Desmond's fiancée.
• Kevin is the name of both Kate's husband and Sarah's ex-fiance.
• Thomas/Tom is the name of Kate's childhood sweetheart, as well as the Other who told her she wasn't his type. It is also the name of Claire's ex-boyfriend and Aaron's father.
• David is the name of Libby's deceased husband. Dave is the name of Hurley's imaginary friend.
• Danny Pickett is the mean-spirited Other who was killed by Juliet. Daniel Faraday is the physicist who arived on the Island with the freighters.
• Michael and Mikhail share the same name, different languages. There's also Mike, Ana Lucia's partner.
• Nadia is name of both Mikhail's cat and Sayid's love. ("Enter 77")

See also

• Character connections
• Fate versus free will
• Irony
• Lost Connections
• Miracles