Sayid Jarrah
Template:Infobox Lost character Sayid Hassan Jarrah (Arabic: سعيد جراح) is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost, played by Naveen Andrews.
Fictional character biography
Prior to the crash
Sayid Jarrah served as a communications officer in the Iraqi Republican Guard. During the Gulf War (when Sayid was 23), Sayid's base is captured by the Americans. As the only Iraqi among his squad who speaks English, the Americans use Sayid to ask his superior officer, Tariq, about a missing U.S. pilot. After learning that Tariq ordered a sarin gas attack on his village, Sayid is given a box filled with torture tools by an American commander named Kelvin Joe Inman, which Sayid uses to successfully interrogate Tariq about the location of the pilot, who had been executed earlier. During this time he came into contact with Kate Austen's father.
When the Gulf War ends with Saddam still in power, Sayid is released by the U.S. and goes back into the Iraqi Republican Guard. He swears he will never torture again. Under the rank mulazim awwal (equivalent of First Lieutenant), Sayid continues his military service using his knowledge of torture. However, his loyalty is shattered when he is ordered to torture his childhood friend, Nadia. When she is set to be executed, Sayid helps her to escape by killing his commanding officer and shooting himself in the leg to make it look like she escaped on her own.
Sometime after the Gulf War, Sayid leaves the Republican Guard and decides to track down Nadia. He moves to Paris and works as a chef under the assumed name Najif and tells people that he is Syrian, in an effort to hide his past as a torturer. Sayid is offered a position with higher pay at another restaurant by a fellow Iraqi named Sami, but when he arrives, he is taken prisoner by Sami and locked in a pantry. It turns out that Sayid was recognized - he once tortured Sami's wife, Amira, by pouring boiling oil on her arms. Sami beats Sayid to get him to confess what he did, but Sayid denies ever seeing Amira before. The next day, Amira meets with Sayid alone, explaining how he so negatively effected her life. Sayid finally admits torturing her and tearfully apologizes, but she forgives him, explaining that all people are capable of doing what he did, but she will never torture or witness torture after being put through it herself. She tells Sami that Sayid was not the man who tortured her and Sayid is presumably let go soon after.
An undetermined amount of time later, Sayid is picked up in England by members of ASIS and the CIA who have been following his movements. They offer him a deal: if Sayid can infiltrate a terrorist cell in Sydney whose members he is familiar with, and uncover 300 pounds (136 kg) of stolen C-4, then the intelligence agency will tell him where Nadia is.
Sayid is tasked with convincing Essam, his college roommate from Cairo University, to go through with being a suicide bomber so the intelligence officers can take possession of the missing explosives. Sayid warns Essam at the last moment to give him time to escape, but Essam becomes distraught that his supposed friend has deceived him over a woman, and kills himself. Sayid is released with a plane ticket to Los Angeles to look for Nadia, who they tell him is living in Irvine, but he asks for a flight for the next day, so that he can arrange a proper Muslim burial for Essam's body. He is then given a ticket on Oceanic flight 815.
Presumably the agents were telling the truth about Nadia's location, as she is later seen living in Los Angeles in one of John Locke's flashbacks.
In "Exodus: Part 2", Sayid asks Shannon, who is preoccupied with a magazine, to watch his bag while he enters a store in the airport. However, Shannon turns him in to security, as proof to her brother that she can take care of herself.
After the crash
Sayid is initially accused by Sawyer of being a terrorist who crashed the plane. He proves himself useful by repairing the transceiver recovered from the cockpit and receiving the looped distress signal recorded by Rousseau. Sayid comes close to triangulating the signal, but Locke knocks Sayid out before he is successful. Sayid tortures Sawyer for information on Shannon's asthma medicine. During a struggle he stabs Sawyer with a knife. Sayid feels guilty and leaves to explore the island. Shortly afterwards, he is captured by Rousseau.
Sayid grows closer to Shannon and when she helps him translate Rousseau's notes. After Boone's death, Shannon asks Sayid to kill Locke. Sayid refuses to do so, leading to a temporary cooling of their relationship. Eventually, Sayid and Shannon reconcile and consummate their relationship. Shortly thereafter, Shannon tells Sayid that she keeps seeing Walt but no one, including Sayid, believe her. Then Shannon and Sayid see Walt in the jungle. Sayid is completely shocked over what he just saw and immediately trusts Shannon. Shannon, over-excited to see him, runs after Walt and crosses paths with Ana Lucia, Bernard, Libby and the other tailies on their way to the camp. Shannon is accidentally shot by Ana-Lucía, in the abdomen, when she mistakes her for an Other who was coming to attack them, Shannon died in Sayid's arms. Sayid goes to attack Ana Lucia but is stopped by Mr. Eko and Ana Lucia herself who proceed to tie him to a tree. She later lets him go after being overcome by her own guilt. Sayid sympathizes with her, and forgives Ana, believing that she did it to protect her own people. Sayid digs Shannon's grave and attends her funeral, which he leaves early. Hurley asks Sayid to fix the tail-sectioners' radio. He does and it picks up the song "Moonlight Serenade" by Glenn Miller.
Rousseau captures a man claiming to be named Henry Gale of Minnesota, crashing on the island in a hot air balloon with his wife, who later died and he buried her. She gives him to Sayid, claiming he is an Other. Sayid interrogates him, but Henry constantly denies it. Unconvinced, Sayid begins beating him. Overcome by the grief of Shannon's death, he loses control during the interrogation. Jack subsequently stops the interrogation, but Sayid still believes that Henry is an Other. After reflecting on the torture of Henry Gale, he realizes the usefulness of "torture" and begins to accept his skill in getting information when he needs to. This is a change in attitude, as he had sworn during the Gulf War never to torture again.
Along with Charlie, he joins Ana-Lucia in her search for Henry's balloon. He is eager to find out if it even exists, because he blames the Others for Shannon's death and wants to take his vengeance out on Henry. The three discover the balloon, as well as the grave of Henry's wife, but Sayid is still unconvinced. He digs up the grave and discovers a dead man inside. An ID card on the man reveals him to be the true Henry Gale, suggesting that the "Henry Gale" in the hatch is indeed an Other, using the dead man's name as a temporary alias when he was caught by Rousseau. After this revelation, in a heated exchange with "Henry," Sayid almost shoots him. Ana Lucia won't let him and pushes his arm at the last second so he misses.
When Michael returns in "Three Minutes", Sayid is enlisted by Sawyer to join the attack on the Others' camp. However, Michael adamantly and angrily refuses Sayid's help, and later privately asks Sayid not to intervene. Sayid appears to understand Michael's standpoint and backs out graciously, but has become suspicious as to why Michael does not want a former soldier like Sayid joining the attack. He tells Jack that Michael has been "compromised" and that he is luring them into a trap, possibly as a deal to get Walt back. He keeps this a secret between him and Jack, not wanting Michael to think that anyone suspects him. In "Live Together, Die Alone", Sayid plots with Jack to sail ahead to the Others' camp (along with Jin and Sun) and help fight by using Desmond's sailboat. On the way there, they sail past a giant foot of a destroyed statue, which Sayid notices only has four toes.
Sayid arrives at the Others' camp and no one is there. He discovers what appears to be a hatch, but it is just doors on the side of the rocks; the entire camp is a decoy. He sets off a signal fire for Jack to know his location anyway (as per the plan) but Michael has not led Jack, Kate, Sawyer, and Hurley to the decoy camp. They are quickly taken by the Others and never meet Sayid.
He regroups with Sun and Jin after the violet light in "The Glass Ballerina". They discover the Pala Ferry dock, where Sayid makes a plan to light a fire to attract the Others, capture two, and kill the rest. Initially, he lies to Sun and Jin about this. His plan fails, however, when the Others arrive not at the fire but on the sailboat, which they steal. Sayid apologizes to Jin and Sun afterwards for putting their lives in danger. They return to camp in "The Cost of Living," where Sayid joins Locke, Desmond, Nikki, and Paulo on their journey to The Pearl, another hatch, in order to find a way to possibly communicate with the Others. Sayid rewires a monitor, which turns on and reveals the inside of yet another hatch. A man with an eye-patch who is inside spots the camera and turns it off. The "monster" is then heard outside, and when everyone rushes out, they see Eko - who was outside - lying there completely still. He then dies. Sayid was the first to understand that Locke was lying in I Do about the cause of Eko's death. He later, along with Locke, Desmond, Paulo and Nikki, attended to Eko's funeral.
In "Flashes Before Your Eyes", he and Locke send Desmond to retrieve Charlie and Hurley. Once gathered, Locke informs them of Eko's death. However, the secretive group meeting is interrupted when Desmond runs off. Sayid follows him, alongside the rest of the group, and discovers that Claire had been drowning, and that Desmond was already in the water trying to rescue her. The next day ("Tricia Tanaka Is Dead"), Sayid greets Kate and Sawyer as they arrive on the beach. Kate tells him and Locke about the events during their captivity, and that she intends on finding help to rescue Jack. Sayid and Locke follow Kate into the jungle later that night, asking her why she isn't seeking their help. Kate accuses them of not being motivated, but they explain that they didn't know where to look. Sayid also points out the scripture on Eko's stick that could contain a clue. Kate, Locke and Sayid soon encounter Rousseau in the jungle.
In "Enter 77", Locke, Rousseau, Kate and Sayid find the eye-patched man in a small house in the middle of the jungle, which is really another DHARMA station called "The Flame." Rousseau decides to leave while Kate, Sayid and Locke investigate. The man shoots Sayid in the shoulder, but Sayid is not seriously hurt. Everyone lays down their arms when it's decided they are not enemies and the eye-patched man treats Sayid's wound. He explains that his name is Mikhail Bakunin and he is the last remaining member of the DHARMA Initiative. Sayid suspects otherwise and Mikhail gives up the ruse and attacks them. Sayid subdues Mikhail and ties him up. He then discovers a secret door in the floor underneath a mat. Sayid and Kate go underground to discover The Flame is rigged with numerous C-4 explosives all over the walls, but they do not know why. Kate is then attacked by Bea Klugh, but Sayid captures her. However, when they emerge from the hatch, they find Mikail has escaped and is keeping Locke hostage outside. In Russian, Bea asks Mikhail to kill her which he regretfully does. Sayid holds a gun to Mikhail's head but decides to keep him alive. Sayid, Kate, Locke, Rousseau and their prisoner Mikhail leave The Flame, but to their shock, it blows up behind them. Locke reveals that the computer inside told him that if "the hostiles" took over the station, he needed to press "77," but it turns out that it activated the C-4 explosives in order to self-destruct the station. Although angry at Locke's actions - the communication systems in The Flame had the capability to contact the outside world - Sayid still managed to bring along a map from the hatch, which listed wiring routes throughout the island, and pinpointed the location of The Others' village.
In the episode "Par Avion" the group encounters a strange row of pylons that surround the Others' territory. Locke pushes Mikhail past them, which activates a sonar frequency that causes Mikhail to have a brain hemorrhage and die. Kate, Sayid, Locke and Rousseau then put a branch up against a pylon of the security system and over the other side of it and all four climb over sucsessfully without getting killed. The four then encounter Jack playing football with Tom. Sayid stops Kate from approching the changed Jack. Later, in "The Man from Tallahassee", Sayid is captured by the Others, and chained to a swingset. When Alex comes to get his pack, he tells her that she looks just like her mother, who she believed was dead. Alex becomes troubled, and Sayid is beaten into silence. The next day, in "Left Behind", Sayid is still tied up in the garden, and is released by Juliet. When Jack decides to return to the beach, Sayid is adamant not to allow Juliet to come along. However, his opinion is overruled, and the four of them begin to head back.
