John Locke is a fictional character played by Terry O'Quinn on the ABC television series Lost. He is named after the English philosopher of the same name.Season 5, Episode 7: "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham" In 2007, O'Quinn won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for his portrayal of Locke.King, Susan, (September 16, 2007) "Emmys Live", The Los Angeles Times Envelope. Retrieved on September 16, 2007.
Locke is introduced in the first season as a mysterious, intellectual and stoic character with an affinity for living out in the wild and a penchant for hunting and tracking. He believes in mystical and spiritual explanations for why things happen on the island due to an objective "miracle" happening to him after the crash of Oceanic 815. His eccentric and at times selfish behaviour results in him being repeatedly distrusted by the other survivors. His stoicism and mystical outlook dominate his character and are the basis for many of his relationships and interactions on the show.
Arc
Prior to the crash John Locke was born to teenager Emily Locke on May 30, 1956. In his early years he showed extreme promise in his intelligence. After being placed in government care as a ward of the state he found himself in a variety of foster homes. He was visited in one such home by Richard Alpert (Nestor Carbonell), who described Locke as "extremely special". Locke had a number of foster siblings over the years: Jeannie, who died as a child when she fell off of a set of monkey bars; Melissa, who was prone to bullying John; and an unnamed brother with whom Locke played the game Mouse Trap.
At age 16, Locke's high school teacher freed him from a locker and took him to his office, and kindly told him that being a sportsman, prom king, and a superhero were simply not who he was. Locke angrily replied "Don't tell me what I can't do!" It is implied here that Locke disliked being put down more than being physically bullied. The phrasing of Locke imploring figures in his life both in the show's present and in his character's past was used repeatedly throughout the series.
Around 22 years later, Locke was working in a toy store and was visited by his mother, who implied that he was conceived without a father. Curious, Locke hired a private investigator to track down the location of his father, Anthony Cooper (Kevin Tighe). Cooper welcomed Locke into his life, and the two bonded over hunting trips. Cooper soon revealed he needed a kidney transplant and Locke volunteered to donate one of his. Following the surgery Cooper abandoned Locke and refused to see him, at which point Locke found out that his father conned him for his kidney. Locke became very depressed and eventually sought group therapy, where he met his future girlfriend Helen Norwood (Katey Sagal). Helen helped Locke overcome his obsession with his father. However, Cooper later came to him for assistance and Locke helped him. Helen left Locke as a result.
Locke began living and working at a commune that grew marijuana in California until the police began an investigation. He subsequently left.
Locke retreated into a life of solitude until he was visited one day by a young man named Peter Talbot. Peter came asking for information about "Adam Seward," who intended to marry Peter's wealthy mother. Locke realized it was Cooper and met with him, ordering him to not marry Peter's mother. It is strongly implied Cooper killed Peter, although he denied it when Locke confronted him. After a struggle, he pushed Locke out of a window eight stories high. Locke hit the ground, where he was soon touched by the mysterious island inhabitant Jacob (Mark Pellegrino). Locke survived the fall but suffered a broken back, an injury that left him in a wheelchair.
While Locke recovered in the hospital, a presumed orderly named Matthew Abaddon (Lance Reddick) visited him and told him to go on a walkabout for a period of self-discovery. Once out of the hospital, Locke started working at a box company where he was constantly insulted by his boss, Randy (Billy Ray Gallion). Locke then flew to Australia, where he was denied admission on the walkabout because of his paraplegic state. He boarded Oceanic Flight 815 to return home.
On the island After crashing on the Island in the fuselage section, Locke miraculously regains the use of the lower portion of his body below his waist. Locke becomes the most attuned toward the Island and has no intention of leaving it. It is then revealed that Locke is an expert at hunting and tracking. On a hunt he encounters the smoke monster, describing it as a "bright light". When Claire Littleton (Emilie de Ravin) is abducted, Locke helps Jack Shephard (Matthew Fox), Kate Austen (Evangeline Lilly) and Boone Carlyle (Ian Somerhalder) search for her. Whilst searching, he and Boone discover the hatch, which they then spend most of their time trying to open. During this time, Boone becomes Locke's protégé and Locke tries to teach him the nature of the Island. When Locke has a vision one night of a Beechcraft crashing, Locke and Boone then discover it lodged atop a cliff. Boone climbs up into the plane, but it falls while he is still inside. Locke carries him back to the caves and leaves him dying in Jack's care, then sneaks away to the hatch, where he bangs furiously on the door. Just as Locke loses hope, a light turns on in the hatch, and Locke sees it as a sign. Locke returns to the beach in time for Boone's funeral, and reluctantly reveals the existence of the hatch. Due to Boone's death, Jack is no longer trusting of Locke and his motives, and Boone's grieving stepsister Shannon Rutherford (Maggie Grace) attempts to shoot Locke. In order to open the hatch, the survivors are led by Danielle Rousseau to the wreckage of a ship known as the Black Rock, and find dynamite. Locke uses the dynamite to blow the hatch open.
Locke enters the hatch and discovers Desmond Hume (Henry Ian Cusick), who shows Locke and Jack an orientation film explaining that the hatch was once used for studying electromagnetism and a specific series of Numbers has to be entered into a computer every 108 minutes to prevent an unspecified catastrophe. Seeing that his replacements have arrived, Desmond leaves. While Jack is reluctant to enter the Numbers, Locke convinces him otherwise. When a man named "Henry Gale" (Michael Emerson) arrives in the jungle (captured in a trap set by Rousseau), Locke holds him prisoner in the armory. The blast doors in the hatch close, and one crushes Locke's leg. Locke tasks Henry with entering the Numbers in the computer. Locke notices a map drawn on one of the doors when the lights go out, which he manages to sketch after the blast doors open. Locke and the other survivors soon find out that Henry was lying about his identity and he is a member of the Others, but he refuses to speak to anyone but Locke. He taunts Locke by telling him that his people saw the hatch as a joke, and that he never entered the Numbers in the computer, which results in Locke starting to believe that the button is not real. When Henry escapes, Locke and Mr. Eko (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) enter the jungle to search for him but find the "?" on Locke's map, where they discover the Pearl station, which explains that pushing the button is just to test the occupants of the hatch. While Locke believes that the button is fake, Eko feels the opposite. Locke abandons pushing the button, and he and the recently returned Desmond sneak into the hatch to allow the timer to reach zero, but when the electromagnetism begins destroying the station, Locke realizes that he has been wrong all along. Desmond then turns the fail-safe key that causes the hatch to implode.
Locke awakens in the jungle the next day and constructs a sweat lodge to induce a hallucination, in which Boone tells him to rescue Eko. In order to communicate with the Others to help the captured Jack, Kate and Sawyer (Josh Holloway), he and some of the other survivors travel to the Pearl station, where they rewire the circuits in the monitors to view surveillance from another hatch. They leave the station and discover Eko dead in the jungle. After burying him, Locke notices an inscription on Eko's prayer stick instructing him to go north. After Kate returns, she, Locke, Sayid (Naveen Andrews), and Danielle (Mira Furlan) go on a mission to rescue Jack from the Others. When they arrive at the Others' village, the Barracks, Locke finds Henry (whose actual name is Ben and is the leader of the Others). Locke takes Ben hostage and forces him to show him the location of the Others' submarine. Locke then uses C-4 to blow up a submarine that Jack was going to use to get off of the Island, due to his belief that everyone should stay on it because of destiny. After this, Ben shows him his father, Anthony Cooper, whom they have captured, and tells Locke that he can join the Others if he kills his father. Locke manipulates Sawyer into murdering Cooper for him, then carries the corpse to the Others' camp. He is taken by Ben to see Jacob, but Locke is shown only an empty chair in the cabin. Locke goes into a rage, but objects suddenly began to fly around of their own accord. Ben and Locke next visit a pit full of long-deceased DHARMA members, where Ben shoots Locke, because Locke threatens his leadership of the Others. Locke is left for dead, but he wakes up days later. Locke contemplates suicide, but his faith is restored upon witnessing an apparition of Walt, who tells Locke that he's got "work to do". He makes his way to where Jack has taken the survivors, and kills Naomi, a woman from the freighter, who he believes has brought danger to the Island. He asks Jack not to communicate with the nearby freighter, but Jack ignores him and contacts it. Locke goes back to the beach camp, hoping to gain support from some of the other survivors.