SIMILARITIES BETWEEN
LOST & SHANGRI-LA: THE RETURN TO THE WORLD OF LOST HORIZON
• A young boy plays with a die-cast propeller plane, like Kate and her childhood friend Tom did. The plane just so happens to be the same DC-3 twin-prop plane from all incarnations of the Lost Horizon stories.- Page 27
• A radio tower is used to learn of the outside world, like the Flame station on the Island-Page 33
• There is a mysterious hut where a vision of a man in chair appears, just like the cabin and Jacob on the Island-Page 35
• Barnard and Conway discsuss impending doom of man just as Alvar Hanso did in the Sri Lanka Orientation film. – Page 61-63
• Conway is in love with daughter of the General bent on discovering Shangri-La, like Desmond is with Widmore’s daughter Penny. –Throughout
• The General refers to his search for Shambala or Shangri-La as a “game, a challenge” like it appears a game is being played between Ben Linus and Charles Widmore which is made clear in the scene where Ben breaks into Widmore’s apartment. - Page 53-54
• The radio broadcasts are referred to as “ghostly voices emerging from the static.” The way Russo sounded with here looped broadcast – Page 59
• Barnard is referred to as a technological wizard for setting up the radio tower and planning for future use of satellites much the way Sayid is when he works on the radio or other equipment. – Page 160
• Conway describes Dharmavijaya, "a many-armed female deity with wise heavy eyes and a tiny smile. She represents the victory of the Dharma, the moral law of the Buddha, over the forces of darkness and ignorance that are always at work against ultimate liberation. Dharma is in both universes. Need I say more. - Page 168
• Vajrapani, the fierce and wrathful deity who was the defender of the Dharma, with his snarling face and his headdress rimmed with human skulls is similar at least in theme and purpose to the smoke monster on the Island. - Page 173
• Bryant's alias was Barnard and the Missionary Ms. Brinklow changed her name from Roberta to Rose like the married couple Bernard and Rose on Lost. In the 1937 Frank Capra film version of, Lost Horizon, the equivalent characters of Barnard and Gloria become a couple and Gloria is cured of a deadly disease by being in Shangri-la. – Page 199
• Pianos and piano playing are a reoccurring theme throughout both universes. On Lost we see Charlie’s piano in the water on the beach and Ben’s piano in his home. In the world of Lost Horizon, Conway plays the piano in a Tibetan monastery and on a ship.
• Mention is made of a monastery in England in the world of Lost Horizon. Similarly, there is a monastery in Scotland where Desmond once lived, he met Penny, and Ms. Eloise Hawkins is seen in a photo. – Page 227
• "A place that opens itself up as refuge to the worthy before hiding itself again." This is a quote from the book that is very similar in theme to to the way the Island works. -Page 274
• "The compass needle spun uselessly as we descended." The compasses don’t work right on the Island. - Page 299
• A horrible hard to describe creature appears and causes mayhem amongst soldiers. It also brings with it a sense of sadness and regret that permeates the men and causes them to feel regrets for their past transgressions and influences their minds and actions. It especially affects the otherwise cold and hard General to the point of tears, just as the Smoke Monster does to Ben Linus in the Season 5 episode entitled, Dead is Dead. Similarly, the Smoke Monster also analyzes, judges, and manipulate peoples' choices, which it seemingly does with Danielle's boyfriend Robert in the season 5 episode entitled, This Place is Death . - Page 306-307
SOME OTHER SIMILARITIES:
• At one point in the book, Bryant (Barnard) spoke of invitations from a well-funded institute sent out to invite people of great minds to join the community of Shangri-la the way the Dharma Initiative recruited the brightest minds in the past and more recently with the 2008 ARG game online and in the show itself.
• The 23rd Psalm (Ye though I walk through the Valley of the shadow of death…) is mentioned in a key part of the book and is also the title of an entire episode of Lost.
• In Shangri-La, the character of Chang visits the United Nations in the 1960's in an attempt to plead the case for protecting Tibet and in turn, Shangri-La knowing that mankind is on the brink of destroying itself and without Shangri-la, mankind is doomed. Similarly, according to the Sri Lanka Orientation film (the only part of the Lost Experience to be considered canon by the producers), in that same decade the United Nations securities council commissioned the work that ultimately became the Valenzetti equation. That equation predicts when mankind will cease to exist and this is what inspires the creation of the Dharma Initiative in order to find a way to save mankind. It is as if the storyline of Lost continued on from the point when Chang attempted to warn the United Nations in the novel Shangri-la.
• Father Perrault in Shangri-La and Alvar Hanso on Lost are similar in that they both warn of the impending doom of man through some form of war or disaster.
• Jack, Locke, Desmond, Ben, and Richard Alpert on Lost all have characteristics of Hugh Conway in Shangri-La.
• Hugh Conway arrives in Shangri-la at the age of 37 in the novels and appears to remain that age throughout all the later time periods the novels take place in, just as Richard Alpert does on Lost
• The latest time period to be depicted in all the novels is 2007, which is also the latest time period to be depicted on Lost.
• The actual age of the character of Conway in 2004 would have been 108, based on the fact that he was 37 when the novel was released and set in 1933. 2004 is also the year when we first enter the Lost timeline and 108 is the sum of the Lost numbers 4 + 8 + 15 + 16 + 23 + 42 = 108. This could all be chalked up to coincidence, but coincidences are rare on Lost and I tend to believe it could be at the very least a subtle homage or clue.
• Also, along the same lines, the High Lama a.k.a. Father Perrault, in the original "Lost Horizon"0 novel states that he is 108 when he realized he wasnt going to die anytime soon and 108 is a sum of the "Lost" numbers.
• John Locke on Lost is like Chiang in Shangri-la as they both leave their safe havens and die in an attempt to save their friends, their home, and their world.
• It is said in Shangri-La that there have been bad times. The same is said about The Island to Jack by Ben in the Funeral home in the finale of Season 4 of Lost.
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