Claire Littleton

Template:Infobox Lost character Claire Littleton is a fictional character played by Emilie de Ravin on the ABC drama television series Lost, which chronicles the lives of the survivors of a plane crash in the South Pacific. Claire is introduced in the pilot episode as a pregnant crash survivor. She is a series regular until the fourth season finale following her mysterious disappearance. The character will return as a regular in the sixth season. On the Island, she forms a relationship with another survivor from the plane crash, Charlie Pace (Dominic Monaghan), until the character's death in the third season.

Character biography

Before the Crash

Claire was raised in Sydney by her mother, Carole, who told her that her father had died. When she was a teenager, she and her mother were involved in a car accident which left Carole in a coma. Christian Shephard paid for Carole's medical care and revealed himself as Claire's father. When he suggested Claire turn off her mother's life support, she got angry and left without learning his name.

File:Lost-Claire-Par Avion.jpg

Claire in her teen years from the episode Par Avion.

Years later, Claire and her then-boyfriend, Thomas, got pregnant. He convinced her to keep the baby but left her a few months later. Claire thought about giving the child up for adoption. She then visited a psychic, Richard Malkin, who insisted she must raise the child herself, because "danger surrounds this baby." Scared by his vehemence, Claire said she planned to have the baby adopted, coming close to signing papers with an Australian couple before losing her nerve. She visited Malkin a second time, and he told her about a couple living in Los Angeles who were interested in adopting her baby. He gave Claire a ticket for Oceanic Flight 815, which would leave the next day. Weeks later, Claire believes Malkin foresaw the plane crash, meaning she would have to raise her child herself.

After the crash

Season 1

Claire panicks as she hasn't felt the baby move after the crash and is helped by Jack. She passes out from dehydration but when Jack tells them about some caves and a freshwater stream, Claire stays on the beach, claiming that moving into the caves would be accepting their fate as long-term inhabitants.

She bonds with survivor Charlie. They grow closer and Charlie persuades her to move to the caves, where Claire has nightmares. She insists that someone is trying to interfere with or hurt her unborn child, but Jack insists her nightmares are stress-related and tries to give her sedatives. Annoyed, Claire leaves the caves with Charlie but return, wanting Jack there when she gives birth. On the way back, she and Charlie are kidnapped by Ethan. Charlie is rescued, but Claire is missing for nearly two weeks.

She is taken to a DHARMA station, where Ethan gives her and the baby regular doses of a vaccine and puts an implant in her that, when activated, will produce symptoms of a specific illness. Ethan tells Claire that after the birth, she won't be allowed to see the baby again. Drugged, Claire agrees, but is rescued by Alex. She takes her into the jungle, claiming the surgery will kill her. She meets Rousseau, who knocks her out and leaves her near the beach. Locke and Boone find Claire when she returns to the caves, suffering from amnesia. On Claire's return, Ethan tells them that he will kill one survivor daily until she is returned to him. The survivors keep this from Claire but she notices them treating her differently and eventually, Shannon tells her about Ethan's threats when Claire demands an explanation. Against Charlie's wishes, Claire agrees to be bait to capture Ethan in an operation which leads to Ethan's death.

Later, Locke seeks her help in making a cradle for her baby as a birthday gift. Days later, Claire has the baby, assisted by Kate, Jin and Charlie. Claire is initially unable to calm him but Sawyer's Southern accent solves the problem. Initially, she doesn't name him, but after Rousseau kidnaps him, she names him Aaron, begging Charlie and Sayid to bring him back. She waits at the caves with Sun and Shannon until Charlie and Sayid return with him.

Season 2

Days after the launch of an escape raft built by some of the survivors, Claire walks along the beach and discovers the bottle of messages that was taken on board. Fearing that the raft has sunk or been destroyed, she shows the bottle to Shannon, and the two decide to consult Sun because her husband, Jin, was on the raft.

Claire continues to struggle with her amnesia, and is annoyed by Charlie's attempts to play an almost fatherly role to Aaron. She unburdens herself to Locke, and jokes that Charlie could be a religious freak with his Virgin Mary statues. The statues were found in the wreckage of a plane crash, each filled with heroin. Later, Claire is confronted by Mr. Eko, who tells her what was in the statues. Remembering Charlie mentioning his former drug addiction, she forbids him to approach her or Aaron. When Charlie steals Aaron, wanting to baptize him, Claire slaps him but later requests Eko baptize her and her son.

Later, Aaron falls ill, prompting Claire to seek Libby's expertise to help her unblock her repressed memories in order to find a cure. Remembering where Ethan took her, she and Kate head into the jungle to search for Rousseau. They return to the DHARMA station, but find it abandoned. Before leaving, Claire tells Rousseau that her daughter, Alex, helped her and is still alive. Upon returning to the beach, Aaron is well and Claire has recovered all the lost memories from after her abduction by Ethan. Charlie later approaches Claire, and gives her some vaccine for her and Aaron, which she accepts. While at Ana Lucia and Libby's funeral, Claire clasps Charlie's hand and later kisses him.

Season 3

The next day, Claire tells Charlie to help a mute Locke, who has returned from the hatch implosion. When they return with an injured Eko, Claire, Nikki and Paulo tend his wounds. Later, she is approached by Desmond, who ask her and Charlie if he could fix the roof of their shelter. Charlie refuses and narrowly avoids a lightning strike hitting the roof, thanks to Desmond's constructed lightning rod. Some days later, Claire leaves Aaron with Sun, deciding to go for a swim. However, she is caught in a riptide, and is rescued by Desmond. She thanks him, unaware of his precognition.

Days later, Claire sees a flock of gulls flying overhead. She believes that, if she can catch one, they could send a distress message to the outside world. She asks Sun and Jin to help build a net to catch one of the birds, but Desmond thwarts their attempt when he scares the birds away with gunfire. Angry with him and Charlie, she follows Desmond to a rocky cliff, where he gives her a bird and learns of Desmond's visions of Charlie's death. She comforts Charlie, and the two attach a note to the bird before releasing it. Later, Claire suddenly falls violently ill, due to the now activated implant Ethan put in her during her abduction. Juliet cures the illness as a means of earning the survivors' trust.

When Naomi addresses the camp about the world's perspective of their predicament, Claire expresses outrage that they are considered dead. Later, when Karl arrives the next day with news of the Others' impending arrival, Claire goes with the rest of the camp to the radio tower. Soon after, Claire is delighted to hear that Charlie has disabled the jamming device blocking all outgoing signals, but is worried that he has not returned to shore.

Season 4

Claire and Sun tend to Aaron before heading back to the beach, following Jack's success in contacting the freighter. However, upon the two groups meeting by the cockpit, Claire learns of Charlie's death and his final warning. With this in mind, Claire decides to join Locke and move into the barracks, along with Hurley, Sawyer and three other unarmed castaways. Along the way, she and the rest of Locke's group encounter Charlotte, who had parachuted onto the island. Claire is asleep when the barracks fall under attack. One of Keamy's men shoots an RPG at Claire's house, which explodes, but she is rescued by Sawyer. Upon safely leaving the barracks and its attackers, Claire, Sawyer and Miles return to the beach. Several times during the journey, Miles stares at Claire strangely, prompting Sawyer to issue an impromptu 'restraining order'. She falls asleep in their camp that night and wakes to find her father, Christian, holding Aaron, and proceeds to follow him, leaving Aaron under a tree in the process. Later, when Locke enters Jacob's cabin, he finds Claire sitting there with Christian, claiming she and Aaron are fine where they are. Before Locke leaves, Christian cautions him that Claire's whereabouts should remain a secret.

After the island (Aaron)

It is revealed that Aaron is one of the Oceanic Six, and is looked after by Kate. During her trial, Aaron is cared for by a child-minder. Claire is Jack's half sister, making Aaron, his half-nephew and the reason that Jack refuses to visit Kate but eventually changes his mind. Jack sometimes reads to Aaron at night, including passages from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Later, Aaron walks in on Jack and Kate arguing, presumably overhearing that he is not related to her.

At Christian Shephard's memorial service, Carole Littleton, who is now out of her coma, tells Jack that she and Christian had a relationship which produced a daughter, Claire, making her Jack's half-sister. While the general public believe Claire did not survive the plane crash and that Aaron is Kate's son, Kate eventually tells Carole that Claire is alive, and that Aaron is Claire's son. She tells Carole that she is going to go back to the island to find Claire, and leaves Aaron with his grandmother.

In "There's No Place Like Home", Claire appears to Kate in an apparent dream. While caressing her sleeping son, she strongly warns Kate not take "him" back, which is presumably a warning not to take Aaron back to the island.

Season 6

In the alternate timeline, Kate gets in a taxi to try and escape Edward Mars, and the driver declares he already has a customer, and a frightened Claire asks what she is doing as Kate forces the man to drive at gunpoint. Kate eventually takes control of the car and forces her to get out, however later regrets it and gives Claire a ride to the house of the couple adopting her baby. Claire asks Kate to come in with her, and finds out they won't be taking her child. She almost gives birth, but is stabilized, with Kate's help. Back on the island, it is hinted that Claire has been taken over by the Man in Black, much like Sayid has possibly been, although his "infection" is not complete yet. Jin is attacked by men from the temple, and is rescued by a dirty and well-armed Claire. She, then, lifts her gun and says, "You damn Gook!"

Development

The producers thought it was essential that an Australian was cast for the part of Claire, as it was always planned to be a multi-cultural show, and the Oceanic 815 was leaving from Sydney. Emilie de Ravin was working in Edmonton, so she was unable to go to the auditions, which were being held in Los Angeles. From a video she sent to the producers, they were able to tell that de Ravin had the youth and sweetness required for the role, but also looked as though she had some life experience.

Emilie de Ravin did not return as a series regular for the fifth season, but has a "holding contract" and returned as a regular in the sixth season.