Mr. Eko

File:Ekoadewale.jpg

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Mr. Eko

Mr. Eko is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost played by Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje. Eko is apparently his first name; his surname is currently unknown. Template:Spoiler

Basic facts

• Played by: Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje
• Flashback episodes: "The 23rd Psalm"
• Reason for trip: unknown
• Profession: Priest, former drug dealer

Prior to Oceanic Flight 815

In the episode "The 23rd Psalm" it develops that Eko was separated from his brother at a young age, and taken into a warlord gang. Eko took the place of his younger brother, who was tapped by the gang and told to kill a priest. Eko kills the priest in his brother's stead. The gang, satisfied, takes Eko instead of his brother. Eko is reintroduced later as a warlord, with a reputation for violence throughout the area. It is rumored by locals that he does not have a soul. Contrary to this, Eko makes a deal with some drug dealers to move a large shipment of heroin outside of the country, so as to prevent his fellow Nigerians from using the drugs. Subsequently, he kills the two dealers and takes the drugs from them. Eko coerces his brother, who has become a priest, to sign papers that certify Eko and his cohorts also as priests. He plans on using the priest garb as a cover for moving the drugs via plane. On the threat of violence, his brother signs the papers. In the final scene, Eko's brother arrives on the runway, while Eko (dressed as a priest) and company are loading the heroin on to the plane. The brother announces that the military is coming, but that they don't know the names of the criminals. In the ensuing melee, the military shoots Eko's brother, and a member of Eko's band. Eko's cohort keeps Eko outside of the plane, and takes off without him. This plane is revealed to be the same that crashed on the island. It is unknown if the presence of Eko and the plane on the same island relates to the strange nature and happenings on the island, or if it instead is truly a coincidence.

On the Island

Mr. Eko's first appearance is in Orientation. He was given a nickname from Sawyer "Shaft". He has a heavy Nigerian accent and is seen pulling dead bodies from the water when the tail section came down. He is shown as a deeply religious person. He was one of the first to act after the tail section crashed, he rescued a number of people from the water including both of the children. He is often seen comforting the other characters as if they were children, taking the boy away and telling him his sister will be alright when Ana-Lucia revives her. He also holds Ana-Lucia and says the same thing to her when he finds her crying by the river. The first night after the crash, when the "Others" abducted several of the survivors, only Mr. Eko was able to resist. He killed two of the Others with a large rock in self defense during the attempted abduction. Following this brutal and traumatic experience he did not speak for 40 days, a period of time symbolic of redemption in classical literature and biblical passages. He spoke again only when he found Ana-Lucia crying.

Eko is shown to be comfortable with weapons - having defended himself from two assailants with a rock and, in the following morning, cutting the club that he would carry onwards from that point. He also made a machete from plane debris and a few other weapons he was seen carrying in a bag. Eko is strong enough to have given three men — Jin, Michael, and Sawyer — a sound beating with the club before dragging them to the pit where they were briefly held as prisoners. After the Tailies agreed that the three were also survivors of Oceanic Flight 815, Mr. Eko gives Sawyer a machete he had made. When Michael leaves the small band in search of his son, Mr. Eko accompanies Jin on the chase after Michael. When they come across a body in the jungle, Mr. Eko identifies it as Goodwin, who we learn in "The Other 48 Days" was an Other who had posed as a tail-section survivor, much as Ethan Rom had done in Season One.

Later, when the Others appeared again, Mr. Eko helped Jin hide as they passed. After rejoining the rest of the Tailies, Eko is also responsible for the decision to cut through the forest (and face the threat of the Others) in order to get an ailing Sawyer back to the other survivors faster. In the episode "Abandoned", Ana-Lucia, irritated that Eko risked their party's lives to help Sawyer, sarcastically remarks that she liked him better when he "didn't talk".

In the episode "Collision", after the tail-section survivors had had a bad encounter with Sayid and Shannon (Ana had shot Shannon, mistaking her for one of the Others when she burst through the woods looking for Walt) Eko was the first to stand against Ana-Lucia, who held everyone still, fearing the other survivors' reaction to Shannon's death. Eko carried the unconscious Sawyer to the other camp, and as Jack treated Sawyer he examined the Dharma station logo. Here, he also met with Locke. When Jack ordered Eko to take him back to tailies, he refused to do that because "Ana-Lucia made a mistake".

In the episode "What Kate Did", Eko forms a thin friendship with Locke and after Locke showed Eko and Michael the Dharma Initiative film, Mr. Eko told Locke the biblical story of King Josiah's discovery of the Books of the Law. He then told Locke that his group had also found a book, in which Locke might find some answers. Eko unwrapped the book and gave it to Locke, who found it to be hollow and containing a piece of film apparently removed from the one left behind by Desmond. Locke is astounded, and asks, "What are the odds?" Eko replies, "Don't mistake coincidence for fate."

In the episode "The 23rd Psalm" Claire tells Mr. Eko about the Virgin Mary Statue and that Charlie had one. He seemed to remember it. Eko goes to Charlie angerly to ask him where he found the statue. Charlie agrees and takes Eko into the jungle to show where he found it. Charlie purposely takes him to the wrong place. Eko demands to be taken to the plane. They are on thier walk to the plane when Eko sees a parachute. He recognizes it. He goes over to a body that looks like a priest and he opens the shirt looking for the neckles and it is not there. They are close to the plane when they suddenly get lost and Eko demands Charlie to climb the tree. Sudden noises come from the jungle and BOOM! the monster appears and the monster and Eko stare at each other. The monster runs off and Charlie sees the plane a kilometer away. They get to the plane and Eko looks around it. He goes inside the plane and eventually finds his brother Yemi. Eko cries for his brother and rips the gas line in the plane and burns it. Eko and Charlie recite the 23rd Psalm. He gives Charlie a replacement statue for the one he broke. Charlie notes the unlikelyhood of a Nigerian plane flying over the South Pacific, and considering Eko's previous statement regarding coincidence, it is possible that his brother's death will be further explained.