Shannon Rutherford

Character: Shannon Rutherford
Played By: Maggie Grace

Before the Crash

After Shannon's mother died while she was a young age, her father, Adam Rutherford, married Sabrina Carlyle when Shannon was 8 years old. She had always been a daddy's girl and they remained very close throughout her childhood. When she was 18, Shannon was a ballet instructor in Los Angeles. While working, Shannon received a call from her stepmother telling her that her father had been in a car accident. He was taken to St. Sebastian Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 8:15AM. Jack was the attending doctor in the ER and he chose to save the other driver, Sarah Shephard, while Adam Rutherford passed away. Adam's death hit Shannon hard because of their close relationship and her stepmother Sabrina offered little help. Shannon applied for a prestigious internship at Martha Graham Dance Company in New York in hopes of getting a chance to prove herself. While she was accepted, she did not have the money to go since her stepmother had cut off her funds from her father's fortune. Although Boone offered her money to get her started, she refused to accept it because she wanted to prove that she could support herself.

Next, Shannon spent a year in France, working as an au pair, a job that Philippe offered to her friend Nora in the ballet studio. She accepted the job despite telling Nora that it wasn't a good idea. While in Paris she learned some French while watching a Philippe's children Laurent and Sophie.

After returning from the au pair job, Shannon began to routinely conn money out of her stepmother and/or Boone in an attempt to get the money that she felt was owed to her. Boone said he had paid off 3 men to break up with her, the most recent attempt being to fake an abusive relationship with Bryan, the man she was living with in Sydney, Australia. After Bryan took the money and ran, Shannon tried to make up with Boone and seduced him.

According to Boone, Shannon had been married once, but was not anymore. Shannon sat in seat 9F next to Boone on the plane, Business Class.

On the Island
At the time of the crash on the Island, Shannon was 20 years old. Initially, Shannon wanted little to do with everyone else and refused to help build camp, believing that they'd soon be rescued. When Boone criticized her for not helping out, she went on a jungle trek with Sayid, Kate, Charlie, Sawyer, and Boone to prove to him that she wasn't useless. Her assistance was vital in translating the French distress signal that Sayid received on the radio from the cockpit.

Later, Shannon begins experiencing asthma attacks, which is unusual since many of the other survivors' physical ailments ceased after the crash. To compound the problem, Boone could not find the extra inhalers that he had brought in his luggage on the plane. As Shannon's attacks became more life threatening, Boone began to suspect that Sawyer was hoarding them like he had done with other items from people's luggage. The conflict escalated to Sawyer being tortured by Sayid but it was later discovered that Sawyer in fact did not have the inhalers.

After Sayid returned from his encounter with Rousseau, he asked for Shannon's help in translating the French writing on the maps. Shannon reluctantly agreed but had trouble at first and began to become frustrated with Sayid and herself. It was during her work with the maps that Shannon began to fall for Sayid. Shannon's attraction to Sayid grabs the attention of Boone, who is visibly displeased. He explains to Locke, "You don't know Shannon. She's smart and she's special in a lot of ways."

When Boone was killed after falling in the Drug Smugglers Plane, Shannon was distraught and looked for someone to blame. Because Locke was with Boone for so long in the jungle and when he died, Shannon assumed that he was responsible for his death. Shannon turned away from Sayid when he refused to let her kill Locke to avenge Boone, however she eventually forgave him.

Before Walt left on the raft, he asked Shannon to take care of his dog Vincent. After Michael, Walt, Sawyer, and Jin had been gone for some time, Shannon began to see visions of Walt in the jungle, where he appears wet and speaks backwards to her. She becomes the second to know about the second raft being destroyed after Claire told her.

After Sayid build Shannon a new tent to live in, they have sex and decide to live together. Moments after, when Sayid steps out of the tent, Shannon has another vision of Walt. When she tells Sayid what she saw, he doesn't believe her, saying that it was only a dream. Shannon once again feels that no one takes her seriously and leaves Sayid in frustration.

On day 48, Shannon sets off into the jungle, determined to find Walt. Sayid catches up with her and tries to apologize for doubting her. Later, Shannon once again sees Walt, but this time, Sayid does too. Sayid then tells her that he believes her and loves her. As Shannon runs toward Walt, she is shot once in the chest by Ana-Lucia Cortez, who thought she was one of The Others.

Shannon was buried next to Boone and the others in the graveyard the next day.

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