Lennon

Season: 6, Episodes: 3, Faction: The Others

Overview

Lennon was one of the Others who took refuge in the Temple. He acted as translator for Dogen and was killed by Sayid at the spring just before the Man in Black invaded The Temple.

Sun (Fire)

Messenger

Underworld

Sky

Fertility (Water)

On the Island (2007)

6×02 – LA X, Part 2

When Jack, Kate, Hurley, Jin, and Sayid arrived at the Temple, Dogen ordered the Others, through Lennon, to shoot them. Hurley, however, announced that Jacob had sent them and wanted Sayid to be healed. Lennon then asked for proof that the group was sent by Jacob. Hurley produced a guitar case containing a wooden ankh. Inside the ankh was a paper, presumably listing the survivors’ names, among other unspecified information regarding Sayid.

Lennon later on was present when Sayid was taken into the spring to be healed, and, following Sayid’s death, told everybody that he wasn’t able to be saved. He led Hurley to Dogen’s chamber deep within the Temple, where he learned that Jacob was dead. Lennon assisted The Others in preparing the Temple’s defenses, and told Hurley the goal was to “keep ‘him’ out”.

Lennon was then sent, along with several armed Others, to retrieve Jack so that Dogen could speak with him. As Lennon tried to convince Jack to come with him, Sayid suddenly sat up, alive, much to Lennon’s surprise. (“LA X, Part 2”)

6×03 – What Kate Does

After conferring with Dogen about this turn of events, Lennon summoned Sayid to Dogen’s room, where Sayid was promptly tortured. Lennon informed Sayid that it had simply been a “test,” and that he had “passed.” After Sayid left, Lennon observed that he had just lied to him. (“What Kate Does”)

6×06 – Sundown

Later, when Sayid delivered a message to the Others that the Man in Black would kill anyone left in the Temple at sundown, Lennon tried to calm the Others down and talk them out of leaving. He was confident that the Man in Black could not get into the Temple.

However, this changed after Sayid killed Dogen; Lennon burst into the room and was dismayed to see Dogen dead, saying that Dogen was the only thing keeping the Man in Black out. With a swift movement, Sayid slit Lennon’s throat, killing him. (“Sundown”)

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Associated LOST Themes

Decoded Season 1 Characters

Jack Shephard

Sayid Jarrah

Hurley Reyes

Kate Austen

Decoded Season 5 & 6 Characters

The Man In Black

Jacob

Dogen

Key Episode(s) to Decoding the Character

6x02 "LA X, Part 2"

6x03 "What Kate Does"

6x06 "Sundown"

Hu is the anthropomorphic divine personification of hu, a complex concept which involves both authority and utterance, that is, both the authority to speak and the exercise of that authority. In some texts it is only possible by context to distinguish this sense of hu from the similarly written hu, meaning food, which is sometimes personified as well. In at least one text, the two senses of hu converge completely. In a text from the temple of Horus at Edfu detailing a ritual for offering meat to a living sacred hawk kept at the temple, but which A. M. Blackman speculates to have been adapted from a ritual originally performed by the king prior to a sacred meal, the dinner table, as well as the hawk or king, is identified with the God Atum, while Shu, who provisions the table, is identified with Hu: “May he [Shu] dedicate to thee [Atum] all that he hath enchanted, for he hath become Hu,” (Blackman, p. 59; 153, 10). Hu, God of food, and Hu, God of authoritative utterance, are here virtually fused, since the product of Shu’s “enchantment” or authoritative utterance is in fact food for the sacred table. It is possible that one has here two aspects of the same divine potency, that is, the power of taste, which is also the power of judgment, akin to the metaphorical sense given to the term ‘taste’ in English. Hu frequently appears together with Sia, perception or understanding, helping to guide the boat of Re. In this pairing it seems as if the Egyptians regarded Sia as superior, insofar as Sia is specified (e.g., in PT utterance 250) as being “at the right hand of Re,” perhaps indicating that to perceive and to understand must come prior to utterance or action.

The personification of hu permits Egyptian theologians to speculate upon the sources of authority or authority of utterance. In PT utterance 401, the king states that he has “seen the Great Serpent” and “received the Great Serpent,” as a result of which he is able to say that “Hu has bowed his head to me, and I cross his canal with my serpent behind me.” The ‘Great Serpent’ here is perhaps to be identified with Wadjet. In CT spell 759, however, the operator says “I know the dark paths by which Hu and Sia come in with the four dark snakes which are made bright for those who follow them and those who precede them,” hinting at the dark and obscure origins of hu and sia. In PT utterance 627, in a particularly complicated formulation, it is said that “authority [hu] is given to the king from [or ‘as’] Him whose face suffers greatly in the presence of Him who is in the Abyss.” Since Atum is typically ‘Him who is in the Abyss’ it seems as if ‘authority’ derives either from being able to bear the discomfort of meeting Atum face-to-face, or accrues to the king instead of one whose suffering in the encounter with Atum made him unsuitable as a bearer of ‘authority’. A mythical account of the origins of Hu and Sia is given in a commentary on BD spell 17. Here, an appeal is made to the “Ancestors”: “Give me your hands. It is I, who came into being through you.” The ancient commentary states that this refers in some fashion to the drops of blood which came from Re’s phallus “when he set about cutting himself,” which “became the Gods that are in the presence of Re. They are Hu and Sia.” More interesting, perhaps, than the myth itself (for, being such intimate faculties of Re’s as the powers of perception and of authoritative utterance, Sia and Hu might be expected to have their origin from within Re’s own body) is that it stands as a commentary on a rather straightforward statement about the dependence upon the ancestors: it is the connection with the ancestors, it would seem, which constitutes these powers of understanding and of authoritative speech for the individual.

A similar note is perhaps struck by the several references to Hu in BD spell 78, which is entitled “Spell for Assuming the Form of a Divine Falcon,” i.e. Horus, embodiment of sovereignty over the idealized spiritual ‘territory’ of Egypt. First Geb is appealed to for ‘authority’ (hu), which is followed by the wish that “the Gods of the netherworld be afraid of me … when they see that thy [Geb’s] catches of fowl and fish are for me,” alluding perhaps to lordship over other, subordinate souls, which are at times represented by fish and fowl caught in nets, but also playing upon the two senses of hu. Later in the same spell, the operator, having “taken for myself the Gray-haired ones” (compare the reference in spell 17 to the ‘Ancestors’), proceeds to “Them That Preside over Their Pits … at the house of Osiris,” to “inform them that he [Horus] has taken over Authority [hu] and that Atum’s symbols of Might have been provided for him.” Finally, at the end of the spell, Atum passes on to the operator “what Hu has told him,” consisting of a series of praises of Horus. Here Hu gives weight to Atum’s speech as a perfect expression of the truth and a confirmation of the sovereignty of Horus from “Atum the Mighty, sole one of the Gods who changes not.” The praise of Horus which Atum delivers in the voice, as it were, of Hu, comes as the culmination of the efforts of the operator.

CT spell 325 is for “becoming Hu”. A variant manuscript titles the spell “becoming Heka,” which indicates the tight bond between authoritative utterance and magically effective utterance or heka (cf. spell 1130: “Hu is in company with Heka, felling yonder Ill-disposed One for me”). Unfortunately, the contents of the spell are rather obscure, but it seems to associate Hu with the pacification of the fiery Eye of Re, a role typically accorded to Shu or Thoth. The close relationship between Thoth and Hu is to be expected; accordingly, Thoth is asked at CT spell 617 to “commend me to Hu.” That hu plays a role in supplementing sia is indicated by CT spell 469, in which it is said that “the weary (or inert) Sia” sends for “the two Hu-Gods” – possibly the two senses of hu mentioned above, since it is said that they shall permit one to “eat magic” – who accordingly “shall have power over Sia the weary, who is not equipped with what he needs.” It is perhaps this partial independence of hu from sia which is indicated by a statement like that in CT spell 1136 that “Hu who speaks in darkness belongs to me.” Also related to this may be the characterization of Hu in PT utterance 245 as having for companion the “Lone Star” – that is, a star visible when no others can be seen, hence either Venus (Hesperus) or Jupiter (Journal of Near Eastern Studies 25, 160f).

Something of the nature of hu can be discerned from BD spell 84, where the operator says “What Hu tells me, that have I said. I have not told lies yesterday and truth today.” It is not simply that hu is inconsistent with lying; rather, hu seems to be a consistent ground for what one says. This accords well with the image presented in Egyptian didactic literature of the sage as a person of few words, but those well-chosen.

Hu was the personification of the Divine Utterance, the Voice of the Gods. Hu was very important to the Pharaohs as the Voice of Command. Hu was also the companion of the Pharaoh in the Afterlife. The Sphinx is believed to be a representation of Hu.

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Further Info

The Egyptian god Hu was one of the minor gods in some respects, but he was one of the most important gods for those serious about Egyptian deities. Hu is the power of the spoken word. He personifies the authority of utterance.

One legend has it that the creator and Sun God, Re (Ra), evolved from the primeval waters of Egypt. Once alive, Re created the air (Shu) and the moisture (Tefnut). Next, the earth god, Geb and the sky goddess, Nut were created. Mortal men and women were created from the tears of Re. Re then drew blood from his own penis and created the gods Hu and Sia. These two gods represented the creative power of the gods.

Hu and Sia were partners. Sia was the personification of Divine Knowledge/Omniscience, the mind of the gods. Hu was the personification of Divine Utterance, the voice of authority. During Ancient times, Heka, the personification of Divine Power accompanied these two gods. Together, the three gods were very important to the rulers of Ancient Egypt. Along with the falcon-headed Sun God, they rode the Sunboat across the sky in order to create and sustain all life.

The act of the Sunboat traveling across the sky signifies that with each sunrise the world was created anew. Having traveled through the Underworld of night and making it past all the dangers therein, the Sunboat once again rises to confirm that life is created new each day.

Hu was particularly important because he was the epitome of the power and command of the ruler. Even after death, Hu was of the utmost importance to the Kings of Ancient Egypt. Hu acted as the King’s companion as the King entered the Afterlife. Through Hu, the King maintained his royal authority in the Afterlife. Hu allowed the King to cross the waters of his canal and acknowledged the King’s authority and supremacy.

So far, we know Hu as the personification of Divine Utterance. However, some legends maintain that he was not just a part of creation, but that he was the creator. It is said that as Hu drew his first breath, there was in that sound the essence of his name. Hence, we have the name Hu, which sounds remarkably like the sound of an expelling breath.

With each breath Hu expelled, creation took place. The first breath created the Soul of Osiris. His last creation was the Sun. So it is said that Hu is the Word of God, the first and the last breaths, Hu Hu.

The Ancient Egyptians recognized the Sphinx at the Giza Plateau as an image of Hu. The lion was a symbol of power and strength. Used as the body of the Sphinx, this was perfectly acceptable to the Ancient Egyptians. The face of the Sphinx wore the distinctive Red Crown of the Creator and the Osiris Beard. These were hallmarks of the time.

It’s been suggested that Ancient Egyptians would use the Sphinx in a ritual that reenacted the creation of the Universe. It was performed at dusk, as night was falling upon Egypt. This was considered the time before creation begun, when Hu (the Sphinx) sat silent.

When the signal was given, the sound of the first word of creation filled the air, as people made the sound they recognized as that breath, “Hhhhoooooooo.”

This “word,” the Word of God, would be chanted all through the night symbolizing the night of progressive creating. The final act of the ritual came at sunrise. As the sun rose out of the East, the last breath of Hu was recognized.

Sri Harold Klemp, Spiritual Leader of Eckankar, notes, “Hu is the ancient name of God, a love song to God. When Soul has heard this sound, Soul yearns to go home.”

Eckankar uses the singing of Hu’s name as a spiritual connection to the Heart of God. They sing the name Hu to draw closer to the Divine Being. For the people who follow this faith, the desires are reported to be love, freedom, wisdom, and truth.

Eckankar teaches, “A spiritual essence, the Light and Sound, connects everyone with the Heart of God. This Light and Sound is the ECK, or Holy Spirit. Direct Aspects of God opens the deep spiritual potential within each of us. The Light and Sound purify, uplift, and direct us on our journey to home.”

The Egyptian Book of the Dead, The Papyrus of Ani, mentions the ceremonies of Hu and Sa. One can only speculate as to the nature of such rituals and ceremonies. Could they be talking about the ancient ritual involving the Sphinx?

Hu may be considered a minor god in some ways, but it’s obvious that Hu was a not-so-minor god to most Ancient Egyptians.

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