Hardcore Spinal Surgeon

[addboy]

This mystery is nothing compaired to the others but I want to know about Jack's tattoo. They are obviously going to explain it for us or else he wouldn't have it covered up in his flashbacks. And Kate asked about it and he wouldn't explain. I've heard they plan on using his tattoo as part of his story, they'll probably show him getting it after something happens with his wife. I want to know what it means. Hopefully they will explain it to us. It's cool how they can incoorperate Matthew Fox's real tattoo into the storyline.

[Jeremy]

If you listen to the commentary for the first episode, they say that it is a tattoo that Matthew Fox already had.

My thinking is that he got it after the surgery that he did on the girl where he cut open the sac holding her nerves, since the tattoo has a 5, and Jack counted to five (also, this was the scene where the creators decided to talk about it)

[addboy]

I knew Matthew Fox already had it, I just think it's cool that they will incorperate it into Jack's Story, or else they wouldn't have covered it up in the flashbacks.

[FrodoFreak87]

I can't remember, what was his Tattoo of?

[Jeremy]

It has the number 5, and a sun or compass, I don't know the Asian characters, but the five will probably refer to counting to five to bypass fear.

[akamauu]

Here is another image from the show:


And a shot of the tatoo from when he was on the Jimmy Kimmel Live talk show:

[akamauu]

I found those pics at this website:
www.ece.neu.edu/~xzhu/lost_tatoo.html

It also has an explanation about the meaning of the chinese letters in the tatoo.

The four characters mean "Eagle". "Strike" as a verb, "Long", and "Void", respectively and literally translated. The author of this website goes on to explain that together it is roughly translated into "Eagles high up, cleaving the space". This is a quote (translated from the four characters) taken from a famous poem written by Chairman Mao Tse-tung (MAO Zhedong).

Here is the english translation of the poem (copied from the link above):

Ch'ang-sha 1925

Standing alone in the autumn cold:
The Hsiang flowing northward,
Orange Island, the cape.
I see thousands of hills in crimsoned view,
The woods piling up in deep-dye;
The mighty stream, in its gleam of jade,
One hundred barques racing by.
Eagles high up, cleaving the space,
Fish gliding above shallow ground;
Ten thousand creatures, under frosty a sky,
all fighting for freedom.

In the waste's dreariness brooding,
I ask the blue space without bonds:
Who masters fate's rise and descent?

Once I came here with a hundred companions,
Vivid the months and years yet, filled with pride.
Schoolmates we were, and young altogether,
Upright and honest, in the bloom of our lives;
Impetuous students, full of enthusiasm,
We cast all restraints boldly aside.
Pointing to China, its mountains and rivers,
Setting the people afire with our words,
And counted for muck all those ranking high.
Do you still can remember:
How, venturing midstream, the oars lashed the waters
And the waves yet staying the flight of our boats?

[addboy]

So that is what is represented from his tattoo! Wow.

[Annie]

I didn't know Chairman Mao wrote poetry. Learn something new every day.

[addboy]

Yes we do. Pretty cool.

[Jeremy]

Ya know how all the actors who played part of the Fellowship got a tattoo of the Elvish 9...


...maybe all the actors from Party of Five did the same thing, Hence the 5

[addboy]

Never thought of that. I think I see a BC though, 5 BC looks like a date.