Lost/Sayid Jarrah

Sayid Jarrah Lost
Actors	Naveen Andrews Anthony Keyvan (flashback)
First Appearance	1x01 - Pilot
Last Appearance	6x18 - The End
Show Status	Series: Billed
Episode Count	95
Notable Episodes	1x09 - Solitary 1x21 - The Greater Good 2x14 - One Of Them 3x11 - Enter 77 4x03 - The Economist 5x10 - He's Our You
Flashback Count	5
Flashforward Count	3 (including There's No Place Like Home (1) and There's No Place Like Home (2))

Sayid Jarrah is a former member of the Iraqi Republican Guard and one of the crash survivors of Oceanic flight 815 on the mysterious island. He is played by Naveen Andrews and appeared in 95 episodes.

Basic Information

Pre-Crash

Sayid as a child

Sayid Jarrah grew up in Tikrit, Iraq, with his older brother, Omer. From a young age, their father pressured them to be tough. One day, when Omer was 12 years old, his father gave him a knife and instructed him to kill a chicken, telling him that he was not a child and had to start acting like a man. Omer told his father that he didn't want to kill a chicken, so his father told him that he would stay outside until he did as he was instructed. After his father went back inside, Sayid arrived on the scene with some bird seed in his hand. He entered the chicken coup, lured the chicken's with some seed, grabbed one and killed it. He gave the chicken to Omer so that their father would think he did as he was asked. Their father praised Omer for killing the chicken, however, Omer confessed that he did not do it and that it was Sayid's doing. Mr. Jarrah responded by saying that at least one of his sons would be a real man. He congradulated Sayid and went inside, proud of Sayid and disapointed in Omer.

Years later, Sayid went to Cairo University in Giza, Egypt. He served in the Iraqi Republic Guard for five years, including the first Gulf War. During this war, Sayid was a communications officer in an intelligence unit. His father was seen as a great war hero to Iraq, although the specifics of his father's heroism is not known.

During the Gulf War, Sayid's intelligence unit was overrun by the American military and the unit was captured. Sgt. Sam Austen, Kate Austen's father, retrieved Sayid from a holding facility for use as an Iraqi-English translator in the interrogation of Sayid's commanding officer, Tariq. An Apache pilot was captured by Iraqi forces and it was believed that Tariq knew the pilot's whereabouts. Sgt. Austen was unable to get anything out of Tariq, and so turned over the interrogation to a CIA "spook" named Kelvin Inman. Showing Sayid a video of a sarin gas attack on a village that was home to some of Sayid's relatives, Kelvin informed Sayid that Tariq was the head of a chemical warfare battalion and personally supervised the use of sarin gas on the village. He handed Sayid a tool box with implements of torture, and told Sayid to make Tariq talk. Sayid tortured Tariq and got the information Kelvin wanted. Kelvin left Sayid on a road in Iraq and told him that he had a new skill set that will come in handy if there's ever a time when he'll need information from someone.

Sayid promised to never torture anyone again, but it was an empty promise. He became a torturer with the Republican Guard, and was very good at his job. A childhood friend he cared for, Noor Abed-Jaseem or Nadia, was brought to the facility he worked at in connection with a bombing. Sayid fell in love with Nadia and spent a month questioning her while sneaking her food as best he could. Sayid's superior officer, Omar, ordered Sayid to execute Nadia in order to send a message to those who wouldn't talk. Instead of complying, Sayid murdered Omar and shot himself, making it look as if Nadia was responsible. He gave her instructions on how to escape from the facility and told her to run.

Sayid later left his life in Iraq, searching for Nadia's whereabouts. During this search he ended up as a cook in an Arabian restaurant in Paris, France. There he met a fellow Iraqi named Sami who offered to hire Sayid for his restaurant at double Sayid's current salary. However, this was all a ruse and Sayid was taken prisoner, chained to the kitchen floor of Sami's restaurant. He learned that Sami's wife, Amira, was tortured in Iraq and forced to give a confession to something she didn't do. She identified Sayid as her torturer. Sami beat Sayid badly, demanding he confess to his crimes, but Sayid claimed he never saw Amira. Amira eventually spoke with Sayid in private, asking him to show her the respect of acknowledging what he did to her. Sayid broke down and confessed to what he did to her, and Amira told her husband that Sayid was the wrong man and freed him.

While traveling to London, England, Sayid was arrested at Heathrow International Airport. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS) offered to give him the location of Nadia in exchange for him infiltrating a terrorist cell in Sydney, Australia that had stolen a large amount of C-4 explosive. The cell had recruited his old university roommate and friend, Essam Tazir. In Sydney, Sayid was able to infiltrate the cell by using Essam. Essam eventually decided that he didn't want to go through with the suicide bombing, but the CIA told Sayid that they needed to secure the explosives and ordered him to convince Essam to go through with it or they would arrest Nadia. Just before Essam was due to perform the bombing, Sayid told him that he was working with the CIA. Essam was furious that Sayid convinced him to commit the bombing, all so he could find a woman, and killed himself. The CIA told Sayid that Nadia was living in Los Angeles, California and gave him an Oceanic ticket there. But Sayid requested a later flight, Oceanic 815, so he could claim Essam's body for a proper Muslim burial.

Post-Crash

Season One

After the crash, Sayid fixed the aircraft's transceiver that was recovered from the nose section. He accompanied a group to a higher location on the island to get a signal, and that was when the transceiver picked up a mysterious distress call from a French-speaking woman. Determined to locate the source of this transmission, Sayid was on the cusp of succeeding when he was knocked unconscious and the transceiver smashed. Sayid had reason to believe that Sawyer, a survivor he had butted heads with since the crash, was responsible for the attack.

Sawyer was later thought to have Shannon Rutherford's asthma medicine, but was unwilling to divulge its location. After Jack Shephard was unable to get the information from Sawyer, he agreed to let Sayid take more drastic action. Sayid tortured Sawyer for the information, but ended up scuffling with him and driving a knife into his shoulder. It was soon discovered that Sawyer never had the medicine and, ashamed for what he had done, Sayid left the survivor's beach camp to scout the island.

During his trek, Sayid found a cable leading from the jungle into the ocean. Following the cable into the jungle, he was caught in a snare and injured. He was cut down and brought to the shelter of the French woman, Danielle Rousseau, who believed he was one of the Others and knew the location of her child, Alex. She tortured Sayid until he finally convinced her that he knew nothing, and attempted to gain her trust. When she left to investigate a noise, he was able to free himself and fled with some of her papers and a rifle. Rousseau cornered him in the jungle and learned that the firing pin in his rifle had been removed. She allowed Sayid to return to his people, but warned him to watch the survivor's closely for the "sickness." As he made his way through the jungle, Sayid heard mysterious whispers on the wind.

Making it back to the caves, Sayid had his wounds treated and warned them about "the Others." As Rousseau's notes were in French, Sayid enlisted the help of Shannon in translating them and the two grew closer. He took Shannon on a day's long date, which made her miss Boone Carlyle's accident and subsequent death. Shannon believed Locke was responsible for her brother's death and asked Sayid to do something about it. He questioned Locke about the accident, retrieving some of the radar equipment from the downed Beechcraft. Trying to gain Sayid's trust, Locke gave him a gun he found on a dead Nigerian drug smuggler and told Sayid that he was the one who knocked him unconscious and destroyed the transceiver. Rousseau's distress signal talked about how "it killed them all", and he didn't want Sayid to lead the survivor's to such a place. Shannon later tried to shoot and kill Locke, but Sayid saved his life, believing Locke is the best chance for survival on the island. He later fixed the radar equipment for Michael Dawson's raft, so the raft members could use it to locate ships on the ocean.

While he make think Locke is their best chance for survival, Sayid doesn't necessarily trust Locke. He wasn't fooled by Locke's claim that Boone's mention of a hatch meant a hatch on the crashed Beechcraft. He forced Locke to show him the hatch, and later brought Jack to see Locke's discovery. Jack and Locke wanted to find a way to open the hatch, but Sayid believed the lack of a handle on the hatch exterior meant it was never meant to be opened. Sayid was overruled, as Jack believed there might be space inside to hide the survivors from an attack by the Others that Rousseau claimed was about to occur. He was given the guns from the Marshal to protect the survivors while a group went to the Black Rock to retrieve dynamite to blow open the hatch. During this time, Rousseau kidnapped Claire Littleton's newborn baby, Aaron. He and Charlie Pace chased after Rousseau and he was able to talk Rousseau into giving back Aaron.

Season Two

While the survivor's hid in the caves, Shannon went out into the jungle in search of Walt Lloyd's dog, Vincent. Fearing for her safety, Sayid accompanied her but, while trying to encircle Vincent, did not see a vision of Walt. Returning to the caves with Shannon, he was then taken to The DHARMA Initiative's the Swan to fix a computer that Desmond Hume had accidentally shot. He later explored the Swan, attempting to find a way past the concrete that sealed off a section of the station to no avail.

After the threat of the Others failed to materialize, Sayid and Shannon returned to the beach where he built a shelter just for her. The two consummated their relationship, but Shannon saw Walt again that night. Sayid believed she was simply dreaming, but Shannon left to look for Walt alone. Catching up to her in the jungle, Sayid told Shannon that he would never leave her and that he loves her. The two heard whispers in the jungle and they both saw Walt. Shannon chased after Walt, but was shot by Ana-Lucia Cortez. Shannon collapsed in Sayid's arms and died. Enraged, Sayid was going to kill Ana-Lucia but Eko stopped him and he was restrained. Michael told Sayid what happened to them after they left on the raft. When he learned that Walt was taken by the Others, Sayid became upset, realizing that Rousseau was right about the Others coming for the boy and Shannon indeed saw Walt. Ana-Lucia eventually freed Sayid and gave him a weapon to kill her with, but Sayid refused to kill her.

Sayid carried Shannon's body back to the beach and dug a grave for her, saying a few words at her funeral. He spent a lot of time alone, brooding over Shannon's death, so Hurley tried to cheer him up by giving him the radio Bernard had been carrying since it was found inside the Arrow. Sayid built an antenna to boost the radio's signal, and he and Hurley heard a broadcast of an old band. Sayid surmised that the signal bounced off the ionosphere and there's no way to know where it came from.

Rousseau later brought Sayid to see a man caught in one of her traps, a man calling himself Henry Gale. She believed Henry was one of the Others, but Sayid cut him down. Henry attempted to flee and was shot in the shoulder by a crossbow Rousseau had. Sayid brought the man to the Swan and had the wound treated by Jack. While Jack was working on Henry's wound, Sayid talked Locke into changing the armory combination so he could use harsher interrogation methods without Jack interrupting him. Locked inside the armory with Henry, Sayid was convinced Henry was an Other when the man couldn't remember the details of his wife's burial. Sayid beat Henry badly before Jack got inside and restrained him.

Ana-Lucia later talked Henry into drawing a map to his balloon and asked Sayid to investigate the claim with her. During their journey to the balloon, Ana-Lucia apologized to Sayid for Shannon's death, but Sayid forgave her and blamed the Others for creating the climate of fear that lead to Shannon's death. Arriving at the clearing on Henry's map, the group found a hot-air balloon caught in the trees and the wife's grave underneath. Still convinced that Henry was lying, Sayid dug up the grave and found the body of a man inside and in the man's wallet was the ID card for Henry Gale.

Returning to the Swan, Sayid and his group ran into Jack and Kate Austen in the jungle at a DHARMA pallet supply drop. He revealed the news to the two and then confronted "Henry Gale" with the real Henry's photo ID. Sayid continued his interrogation of Henry, catching him in another lie — the real Henry Gale didn't die in the crash, but survived long enough to tell the Others something of himself. Henry claimed he wasn't the one who killed the real Henry. Sayid tried to kill Henry, but Ana-Lucia stopped him.

After Henry Gale escaped, Sayid wanted to join the group going after the Others. Michael refused to let Sayid join the group, telling him that he just wanted revenge and not to rescue Walt. Sayid agreed to not go, but Michael's response aroused his suspicion. He told Jack that he thought Michael had been compromised and was the one that freed Henry. Jack wanted to confront Michael, but Sayid said it was better to let Michael believe he's in control, so they could create an advantage. Such an advantage presented itself when Desmond returned aboard his sailboat, the Elizabeth. Sayid came up with a plan to use the Elizabeth to sail to the far side of the island, scout the Others' village and then set a signal fire so Jack could lead his group to it. Together they would ambush the Others. With no prior sailing experience, Sayid recruited Sun and Jin to help him. They sailed around the island and Sun spotted a strange statue of a foot with four toes. Continuing onward, the group found the Others' village and Sayid snuck ashore. He found the village abandoned and empty, and the DHARMA station was also fake. Sayid lit his signal fire, but when no one came, he went back to the Elizabeth.

Season Three

After waiting for over a day aboard the Elizabeth, Sayid suggested to Jin and Sun that a nearby mountain was blocking the smoke signal from being seen by Jack and his group. The group sailed further up the coast and eventually discovered the Pala Ferry dock. Sayid attempted to lure the Others into an ambush at the dock entrance, but the Others boarded the sailboat from the water and took her. With the sailboat gone and no sign of Jack and the others, Sayid led Sun and Jin back to the beach camp.

Upon returning to the camp, Sayid learned from Locke and Desmond that they believed The Pearl's computer systems could possibly be used to communicate with the Others. At the station, Sayid was able to patch into a new video feed revealing a man with an eye patch who disabled the camera on his end. Several days later, Sayid accompanied Kate, Locke and Danielle on a rescue attempt to bring Jack back from the Others, but the group came across The Flame. This station was home to the man with the eye patch, Mikhail Bakunin, who revealed information about the station's purpose and the DHARMA Initiative. Sayid learned that, on the day he met Danielle, the cable he found buried in the sand ran into the ocean and to a sonar beacon used to guide submarines to the island. Despite Mikhail's fairly welcoming and open demeanor, Sayid believed the man was one of the Others and was proven correct. Bea Klugh was found in the basement of the station and, in a stand-off, she ordered Mikhail to kill her. Mikhail followed through with her order and attempted to kill himself, but was stopped by Locke. With Mikhail as their prisoner, Sayid led the group onward to a place called "the barracks" — a location on a map he found inside The Flame and the place he believed the Others were at.

Before reaching the barracks, the group reached a line of pylons set into the ground stretching as far as the eye could see. Sayid's map showed the pylons surrounded the entire area of the barracks and he concluded they were a security perimeter. Mikhail claimed the system hadn't worked in years, but Locke pushed Mikhail between two pylons and he was seemingly killed by the system. Sayid believed the system fired a sonic pulse when an object breaks the plane between two pylons. Using a tree propped up against a pylon, the group crossed the sonic fence and reached the barracks. A rescue attempt was made at night, but the group was quickly captured. Eventually the Others gassed them unconscious and disappeared into the jungle, leaving them all behind but with Juliet Burke, an Other, as an addition. Sayid did not want to bring Juliet back to the survivor's camp, but Jack overruled him.

Returning to the beach camp, Sayid remained skeptical of Juliet even after she seemingly saved Claire's life. His mistrust of Juliet began to extend to Jack as he watched Jack spend a lot of time with Juliet. Sayid eventually learned of Naomi Dorrit, a woman who parachuted onto the island, as she had a non-functioning satellite phone that he could possibly fix. His mistrust towards Jack caused Sayid to not inform him of Naomi's presence. Eventually Sayid's skepticism of Juliet proved to be well-founded when Sawyer procured an audio cassette from Locke in which she revealed her role was to infiltrate the Oceanic survivors, discover which of the women were pregnant and then mark their tents for an eventual raid. Sayid brought this tape forth to the other survivors, but learned that Juliet had already told Jack and Jack had decided to set a trap with Danielle's help. With this discovery, Sayid decided to inform Jack about Naomi and her satellite phone.

A plan was made to ambush the raiding Others while the bulk of the survivors went to the island's radio transmitter to turn Danielle's distress signal and contact Naomi's freighter. However, Juliet revealed the existence of The Looking Glass, a station that was blocking all incoming and outgoing communications. Charlie and Desmond volunteered to take care of the station while Jack and Danielle would lead the survivors to the radio transmitter. Sayid stayed behind with Jin and Bernard to trigger the trap, but three Others survived and captured the trio. The survivors heading to the radio transmitter witnessed only two of the three traps going off and knew something went wrong, so Sawyer and Juliet eventually went back to the camp with Hurley secretly following them. The next day, Hurley drove the DHARMA van he found earlier into the beach camp, running over Ryan Pryce. In the ensuing confusion, Sayid broke the neck of one of the remaining Others with his legs while Sawyer shot, Tom.

Season Four

Desmond returned to the beach camp with news of Charlie's death and warning: the freighter wasn't Penelope Widmore's. Sayid believed the freighter would be monitoring their communication, so the survivors headed to the radio tower to warn Jack. They eventually arrived at the nose section wreckage of Oceanic 815, where they were met by Locke and then Jack and the other survivors. The Oceanic survivors split into two groups: those who believed Charlie went with Locke to the barracks while those who believed in rescue stayed with Jack. Sayid stuck with Jack and helped lead the survivors back to the beach camp. When Jack and Kate failed to return, he set out with Juliet to track them. The two helped disarm two men from the freighter, Daniel Faraday and Miles Straume. The group eventually found the helicopter they flew in on and its pilot, Frank Lapidus. Miles eventually revealed they had come to the island to find Ben, who was now held by Locke's group who also had the helicopter's fourth team member, Charlotte Lewis. As the helicopter was intact, Sayid struck a deal with Frank: he would bring Charlotte back safely in exchange for a ride to their freighter. He set off with Kate and Miles to the barracks. There they were ambushed by Locke's group. Sayid exchanged Miles for Charlotte and returned to Frank. Frank knew Sayid cheated, but Miles was a pain in his ass and he honored his agreement with Sayid. Sayid left for the freighter with Desmond and Naomi's body.

While flying across the ocean, Sayid asked about a piece of paper Frank was using as a reference and learnt it's a "cheat sheet" Daniel gave to him; he must fly for 40 miles north at a bearing of 305 degrees before heading east to the freighter. Unfortunately for all of them, the heading placed their flight path directly into a severe thunderstorm. After making their way through severe turbulence, Desmond suddenly started acting very strangely, trying to unbuckle his safety restraints, and yelling at Sayid that he didn't know who Sayid was or where he was. Desmond calmed down as they made their approach to the freighter. Frank landed the helicopter on the freighter and two men on the freighter, Keamy and Omar, rushed up to it. Keamy demanded to know why Frank was back as he shouldn't have brought them to the freighter. Desmond screamed at them that he didnn't know who Sayid was, and Keamy asked Frank when Desmond started behaving like that. Frank told him that Desmond was fine when they took off, but began acting strangely during the flight. Keamy told Sayid he was going to escort Desmond to their sick bay so their doctor could take a look at him. Keamy and Omar escorted Desmond to the sick bay and locked him inside while they retrieved the doctor. Up on the freighter's deck, Sayid watched from afar as Keamy delivered a heated one-sided conversation to Frank and left for the bridge. Sayid tried to figure out what was wrong with Desmond, believing the men on the freighter already knew, but Frank told him he hadn't been told anything. Sayid pointed out how they left at dusk but landed on the freighter in the middle of the day. Frank assured Sayid that he was on his side and gave him his satellite phone in exchange for Sayid's hand gun. Sayid used the phone to call Jack on the beach. Daniel realized what was wrong with Desmond and asked to speak with him. Sayid and Frank went down to the sick bay, with Daniel on the phone ready to talk to Desmond. The doctor, Ray, refused to allow Daniel to talk to Desmond and activated an alarm. Sayid shut and tried to block the door while Desmond spoke to Daniel. Daniel realized that Desmond's conciousness was travelling back and forth through time, which is why he didn't recognize anyone or anything. Daniel explained to Desmond what he needed to to in order for it to stop. Desmond needed to speak with someone familiar who he knew from the past. Keamy and Omar busted into the sick bay and took the phone from Desmond. Frank tried to defuse the situation, but Keamy and Ray were not in the mood for his explanations. Omar took Frank outside as the captain wanted to speak with him, and Sayid and Desmond were locked inside the sick bay. There was a man unconcious on one of the cots in the sick bay. When he came to, he introduced himself to Sayid and Desmond as George Minkowski, the freighter's communications officer. He was experiencing the same effects as Desmond. He told them that while on duty, every so often he would get an indicator for an incoming call he was under strict orders never to answer. The calls were from Penelope Widmore. Desmond pleaded for Sayid's help in contacting Penny, but Minkowski informed them that someone sabotaged the freighter's communications equipment two days ago. He offered to take them to the radio room. Sayid wondered how they could get out of the locked sick bay, but Minkowski pointed out that the door was unlocked and ajar; someone on the boat was helping them. Minkowski's nose started bleeding before the trio carefully made their way down the corridor to the radio room. They arrived at the radio room where Minkowski suddenly passed out while speaking. Sayid began work on jury-rigging a telephone. Desmond noticed a 2004 calendar on the wall—it's December 24, 2004 — and his nose also began to bleed. Minkowski woke up and went into shock, saying that he can't get back, and the he died. Sayid finished patching the phone up to a battery and Desmond gave him Penny's number. The call was placed and Penny picked up. With his consciousness back in place, Desmond remembered everything and told Penny that he's been on an island for the last 3 years. Penny told him she's been searching for him over that period, that she knows about the island. She talked to Charlie and that's how she knew Desmond was still alive. Desmond told Penny he loved her and always has. Penny promised to find Desmond as the battery died and the phone was cut off. Desmond thanked Sayid for his help.

The two of them were found by the freighter crew and locked back in the sick bay.

After the Island

As one of the Oceanic Six, Sayid received a substantial settlement from Oceanic Airlines. However, he was also employed by Ben and assassinated people from a list he was given. These assassinations sent him from places such as the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean to Berlin, Germany. In Berlin, Sayid made contact with a woman named Elsa who was employed to a mysterious economist. Sayid wooed the woman to get closer to his target, the economist, but eventually fell in love with the woman. But Elsa knew who he was and was forced to shoot Sayid before she was able to get information out of him, such as who his employer was. Before she could bring Sayid to her employer, Sayid fatally shot her. Ben treated his wound and reminded him that Elsa and her people didn't deserve their sympathies. Sayid's work was necessary to protect his friends.

Character History

Information is shown in chronological order. Episodes in bold are Flashback/Flashforward episodes.

Before the Crash

• 2x14 - One Of Them: What happened to Sayid at the end of the Gulf War.
• 1x09 - Solitary: The events that caused Sayid to fall in love, forcing him to leave Iraq are revealed.
• 3x11 - Enter 77: Is captured in Paris for his past interrogation of a man's wife.
• 1x21 - The Greater Good: Sayid is lured into foiling a terrorist plot in Sydney with the promise of information on the whereabouts of his lost love.

On the Island

• 1x01 - Pilot (1): Sayid survives the plane crash.
• 1x09 - Solitary: While exploring the island, Sayid is captured by the mysterious French woman.
• 1x12 - Whatever the Case May Be: Sayid asks Shannon to help him translate Rousseau's notes, bringing them closer.
• 1x21 - The Greater Good: Shannon asks Sayid for a big favour.
• 2x06 - Abandoned: Sayid and Shannon consummate their relationship.
• 2x08 - Collision: An enraged Sayid tries to kill Ana-Lucia.
• 2x14 - One Of Them: Sayid interrogates a mysterious man Rousseau captures.
• 2x16 - The Whole Truth: Sayid goes on a mission to find proof that Henry Gale is lying.
• 3x11 - Enter 77: Finds the Flame and captures an Other, Mikhail.
• 4x03 - The Economist: Trades Miles for Charlotte; leaves the island for the freighter.

After the Island

• 4x03 - The Economist: Travels to Berlin to for an assassination.

Trivia

• Plot Confusion: Strangely enough, Sayid told Rousseau that the woman he loved with was dead because of him, seemingly referring to Nadia. However later in the season it was learned that Sayid knew Nadia was alive and living in Los Angeles, and that was the reason he was on Oceanic Flight 815 in the first place.
• Cutting Room: Sayid had a flashback in "Exodus", but it was cut for time. It appears on Disc 7 of "Lost: The Complete First Season" DVD set.

Quotes

• 1x08 - Confidence Man: "Part of my training entailed getting the enemy to communicate."
• 1x08 - Confidence Man: "What I did today... what I almost did, I swore to do never again. If I can't keep that promise, I have no right to be here."
• 1x21 - The Greater Good:(To Locke) "This is one time you better not be telling the truth!"
• 2x08 - Collision: (To Ana-Lucia) "What's the point, if we're both already dead?"
• 2x11 - The Hunting Party: (Charlie and Hurley are listening to music inside the hatch) "This music is quite depressing."
• 2x14 - One Of Them: "You want to know who I am? My name is Sayid Jarrah, and I am a torturer."