Summary

• In Lost, The Smoke Monster's true form is the Man in Black, connected to the island's mythology.
• The Man in Black transformed into The Smoke Monster after being thrown into the Heart of the Island.
• The Smoke Monster's powers include shape-shifting, immunities, and a distinctive mechanical noise.

This article contains spoilers from Lost.One of Oceanic Flight 815 survivors heard a haunting mechanical noise emanating from the island's jungle and saw trees being knocked down, along with pilot Seth Norris being killed by something that couldn't possibly have been human. Later in season 1, several of the survivors saw the Smoke Monster as a cloud of black smoke.

As the series progressed, Lost's characters gradually learned more about the Smoke Monster and had more encounters with him. Not until Lost's final season was the full story behind the Smoke Monster revealed, connecting the terrifying force to the island's mythology, and cementing him as the overarching antagonist of the entire series. Many of the vital revelations about the Smoke Monster were revealed in season 6, episode 15, "Across the Sea," although every season contained important details needed to fully understand the Smoke Monster.

The Smoke Monster's Real Form Is The Man In Black

The Man In Black Is Jacob's Brother

While the Smoke Monster took on many forms throughout the series, his truest form was the Man in Black. Long before Oceanic Flight 815 crashed on the island, a pregnant woman named Claudia washed ashore. After Claudia gave birth to two sons, Jacob and the Man in Black, she was killed by another woman, who raised Jacob and the Man in Black as her own children, and prepared them to one day inherit her role as protectors of the island.

As the two brothers grew older, the Man in Black grew curious about the world beyond the island. When he learned the truth about his origins and that the woman who raised him, known as Mother, had been lying to him his entire life, the Man in Black made it his mission to leave the island and return to the outside world where he felt he belonged. Mother was determined to stop him by any means necessary, killing those whose community he'd ed on the island, and destroying his means to escape via electromagnetism.

How The Man In Black Was Transformed Into Lost's Smoke Monster

Jacob Unintentionally Created The Smoke Monster

Infuriated by Mother's actions, the Man in Black retaliated by killing her. Jacob couldn't accept what his brother had done, and dragged him to the Heart of the Island, containing the light that the Mother told them as children they must protect. For years, the Man in Black had tried and failed to find the Heart of the Island again, and a heartbroken Jacob granted his brother's wish by throwing him down the waterfall and into the light, intending to kill him and avenge Mother.

When the Man in Black was thrown into the Heart of the Island, it transformed him into the Smoke Monster, as a cloud of black smoke erupted from the cave and knocked Jacob aside. Jacob later discovered his brother's corpse. While the Smoke Monster contained the Man in Black's essence and his desire to leave the island, he was no longer human, and had become an evil incarnate that Jacob needed to prevent from leaving in order to protect the Heart of the Island and the outside world.

The Smoke Monster's Powers & Abilities Explained

It's More Than An Angry Cloud Of Black Smoke

The Smoke Monster was able to take on the physical form of individuals who died, including the corporeal form of the Man in Black. He also disguised himself as a number of other deceased characters, including Christian Shephard, Yemi, Alex Rousseau, and John Locke. This helped him deceive and influence the living as they seemingly spoke with their loved ones or acquaintances who had ed away, which was partly why he chose Locke as his final physical form.

As a cloud of black smoke, the Smoke Monster could fly at will, except for the sonar fence around the Dharma Initiative barracks that successfully repelled him. In the form of smoke, he had the ability to knock people aside and physically harm them, along with taking down trees and human-made structures. He could also travel over water within the radius of the island, as he traveled to the Kahana in the form of Christian moments before the freighter exploded.

The Man in Black disguised himself as Christian Shephard as early as season 1.

Whether it was in the form of smoke or as a human, the Smoke Monster was immune to bullets and being stabbed by a knife. His immunities temporarily went away when the cork was removed from the Heart of the Island, making him vulnerable, and enabling him to finally be killed when Kate Austen shot him and Jack Shephard kicked him off a cliff. He died in the physical form of Locke.

One of the Smoke Monster's weaknesses was that he was unable to kill Jacob or any of Jacob's candidates, and couldn't leave the island until Jacob and all his candidates were dead. Jack, Kate, and many of the other Oceanic Flight 815 survivors were candidates, which was why the Smoke Monster couldn't kill them. This meant that the Smoke Monster, in the form of Locke, had to convince Ben Linus to kill Jacob, and a bomb had to be planted in a backpack as part of an elaborate scheme to try and eliminate the candidates given the established rules.

Why The Smoke Monster Makes That Mechanical Noise In Lost

As for the mechanical noise that the Smoke Monster made, this didn't have anything to do with the island's mythology and was instead a creative choice. The mechanical noise is the same sound made by the receipt printer of a New York City taxi cab. The Smoke Monster's true nature and origins didn't secretly have anything to do with NYC taxi cabs; it was just a distinctive sound that worked well within the context of the story and this character.

The noise served as the survivors' introduction to the Smoke Monster in the pilot episode, as they heard the sound while seeing trees being uprooted in the jungle, and didn't see him as black smoke or in the physical form of a deceased individual until later episodes. The sound was eerie and unnerving, and often served as an effective and familiar narrative cue when the Smoke Monster was about to appear. It was ultimately more about the sensory experience of bringing Lost's Smoke Monster to life.