Do you have an idea for a new wiki? Please share it with us here
Anthony Cooper
From Lostpedia
Adam Seward
Paul
"The Man From Tallahassee"
[[:Category:{{{Images}}}|Images]]
Anthony Cooper was the presumed name of John Locke's biological father. Cooper was shown to have used the alias of Adam Seward, and he claimed to have used Tom Sawyer, Ted MacLaren, Louis Jackson and Paul, among others. He is, by his own admission, a con man. As "Tom Sawyer", he seduced James Ford's mother, Mary Ford and then used her in order to swindle money from her and her husband, which resulted in the death of both. This prompted James to take on the alias "Sawyer", and to hunt down his namesake. Cooper was killed by Sawyer on the Island. ("The Brig")
Contents |
Off the Island
Locke's mother became pregnant while she was fifteen. His grandmother referred to the man she was dating at the time as being twice her age. If this were confirmed as Anthony and taken literally it would make him born as early as 1924 and as old as 80 when he died. ("Cabin Fever")
Earlier in Cooper's life, he conned a woman named Mary Ford under the alias of Tom Sawyer for $38,000. This con resulted in her husband killing her and himself over the incident, and sent their son, James Ford, on a quest to murder the man he perceived as killing his parents. He wrote a letter when it first happened, and vowed to make him read it out loud to him before he killed him. ("The Brig")
When John Locke first found him, Anthony was on dialysis and in need of a new kidney. He got close to John by taking him hunting occasionally. Locke volunteered to give his father one of his kidneys. However, after the surgery, Locke woke to find Cooper had already checked himself out of hospital. Locke's mother admitted that she had worked with Cooper to con Locke into donating his kidney. ("Deus Ex Machina")
Cooper moved in an attempt to get away from Locke, who was stalking him, but John managed to find his new home. Locke waited outside his house nearly every day in his car. Eventually Anthony opened the car door and got in, telling Locke that he knew he'd been stalking him and wanted it to stop, finally telling him, "Don't come back; you're not wanted." Helen eventually convinced John to move on, and he and Anthony were out of contact for a while. ("Orientation")
Some time later, he faked his own death to avoid retribution for a $700,000 dollar retirement con he pulled on Jimmy Bane. He followed Locke around town in a white car until Locke found out it was him. He asked John to retrieve the money from a safety deposit box and left him $200,000 as promised for his help. Later Locke brings the money to him, who waits at a local motel. Cooper offers Locke his part of the money, but Locke refuses. Cooper is leaving but suddenly Helen stands in the door way. She asks "Are you him?", and slaps him. After he has left, Locke proposes to Helen, who tearfully rejects Locke. ("Lockdown")
Several years later, John stumbled into another of Anthony's cons. Going by the name "Adam Seward," he was attempting to marry Mrs. Talbot in order to steal her money. Peter Talbot, her son, suspected his plan and attempted to intervene and went to ask John. Locke confronted his father at a flower shop, demanding that he call off the wedding. He told Cooper that Peter was aware of the con and threatened to tell Mrs. Talbot the truth. Cooper agreed to call off the wedding. However Peter Talbot died suddenly and mysteriously. John went to Anthony's apartment to confront him over the death, but Anthony said he had nothing to do with it. Locke went to the phone to call Mrs. Talbot. When John turned his back, Anthony suddenly rushed and pushed him out an eighth story window, leaving John's back broken and leaving him permanently paralyzed. His actions make it very likely that he did kill Peter Talbot. Soon after, Cooper was suspected to have fled to Mexico and he disappeared. ("The Man from Tallahassee")
According to his own later account, Cooper heard with the rest of the world that Flight 815 had gone down in a trench near Bali, and he believed that John had died along with all of the other passengers. Some time later, he says, he was driving down I-10 through Tallahassee when someone slammed into the back of his car, sending him through the divider at 70 miles per hour. He remembers being put in an ambulance, where one of the paramedics smiled at him, receiving some kind of injection, and then waking up gagged and tied to a chair on The Island. ("The Brig")
On the Island
When Locke arrived at the Barracks, Ben told him about a "magic box" on the Island that could grant wishes and later asked Locke if he wished to see what Ben had found inside. He then opened the door to a small basement room in which Anthony was sitting bound and gagged. Previously, Ben had referred to Cooper as "the man from Tallahassee". ("The Man from Tallahassee") Locke asked Ben how he got to the Island, and Ben told him to ask Cooper. When Locke removed his gag cloth, Cooper bit him on the hand, then yelled out "Don't you know where we are, John?" ("The Brig")
Cooper was brought with the Others when they left the Barracks, and was later seen tied to a stone column at the edge of their camp site. Ben informed Locke that he could not become a full member of their group until he made a definitive break with his past--by murdering Cooper. When Locke balked at killing him, Cooper started to mock his son, claiming he still "wants his daddy." Shortly after this, the Others broke camp and left Locke and Cooper behind, with Ben telling Locke that he shouldn't follow them unless he's carrying his father's corpse on his back.
Acting on knowledge obtained from a file given to him by Richard Alpert, Locke carried Cooper to the Black Rock and then lured Sawyer there to kill him, claiming that the man he was holding captive was Ben. After Locke locked Sawyer and Cooper in the Brig together, Cooper told Sawyer about how he came to the island, corroborated Naomi's claim that Flight 815 was found with no survivors, and shared his belief that the island is actually Hell. Cooper then inadvertently revealed his past connection to Sawyer, who handed him the letter he wrote to the original Sawyer as a child, demanding that he read it. When Cooper mocked Sawyer and tore up his letter, Sawyer strangled him to death with a chain. ("The Brig")
Trivia
- Cooper's episode count so far is 5.
- Cooper's apartment number, where Locke fell from the window, is #3801.
- Anthony Cooper is the second of three people Sawyer has killed on the Island, the first was an unnamed Other. The most recent was Tom.
- In "The Man from Tallahassee" we can see this picture in his room, before he pushes Locke out an eight-story window: [1]
- Anthony Cooper's mysterious appearance on the Island in "The Man from Tallahassee" was at first completely unexplained, and a mindf*ck to both John Locke and the Lost audience. (Literary techniques)
- Technically, Cooper saved Locke's life. Ben's gunshot in "The Man Behind the Curtain" would have been fatal if he still had a kidney. (Irony)
- Despite being on the Island, Cooper has never been seen alive in an episode that wasn't Locke-centric.
- The producers confimed in "Access: Granted" that the Others did indeed bring Cooper to the Island, having staged an accident.
Cultural references
- The alias Cooper may be derived from Anthony Cooper, the First Earl of Shaftsbury, a leader of the early Whig party in England and a formative influence on the philosopher John Locke. (See main article, Philosophy)
- The alias Sawyer may be derived from the character created by Mark Twain. Cooper claims he took it because "I was young and Huck Finn was taken. And the ladies loved that one", being Huck Finn another character created by Mark Twain. ("The Brig")
- Tom Sawyer is the title character of the Mark Twain novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876).
- Tom Sawyer is the name of a song by the Canadian rock band Rush.
- "Cooper" may be a reference to the hijacker D.B. Cooper, who escaped by parachuting from an airplane with $200,000 in 1971. This was also the amount that Cooper left for John Locke.
Unanswered questions
| Unanswered questions |
|---|
|
- For fan theories about these unanswered questions, see: Anthony Cooper/Theories
- What happened between his auto accident and his arrival on the Island? ("The Brig")
- Is he connected to anybody else on the island?
- Is Anthony Cooper his actual name? ("The Brig")
- What did the Others do with his body after Locke brought it back?
- How did he arrive on the island in the first place?
![[1]](http://www.aliaseffect.it/chicchelost/03/cap031314forsecooper%E8apollo.jpg){kind=link}