They are taken from a famous poem "Changsha", written by Chairman Mao Tse-t'ung (Pinyin: Mao Zedong) in 1925. These characters are pronounced yīng jī cháng kōng in Mandarin. That's not what they mean." Although the translation given by Isabel matches the impact of the tattoo during the episode's flashback, Isabel's translation is far too long for any combination of four characters and is inaccurate.Īchara's contribution to Jack's tattoo - (" Stranger in a Strange Land")Ī word by word explanation of the 4 Chinese characters on the tattoo: She later translates them as "He walks amongst us, but he is not one of us." Jack replies, "That's what they say. In " Stranger in a Strange Land" while Jack is in captivity on Hydra Island, Isabel reads out the tattoo and remarks on its irony, asking Jack if he knows what they mean. Her brother and a gang of Thai locals later attack Jack over the tattoo and demand he leave the country. He forces her to give him a tattoo, despite her protests that he is an outsider and she will get in trouble if she does.
According to Achara, Jack is "a leader, a great man" but this makes him lonely, frightened, and angry. She is able to "see who people are" and "mark them". She claims to have the gift of sight to see someone's inner identity. In " Stranger in a Strange Land", we learn that the characters were tattooed on Jack in Phuket, Thailand, by a local woman using the name Achara. Jack's tattoo on his left shoulder include the number 5 and four Chinese characters just underneath. It is very noticeable in the early scenes of " Something Nice Back Home". It can be seen very briefly in " Pilot, Part 1" after he says "standard black".
Jack also has a small tattoo on the upper left part of his back. It can also be seen in " The Shape of Things to Come" when Jack is taking pills from the medical suitcase, and less clearly when Doctor Ray's body is pulled from the water. Jack's forearm tattoo is also seen in " Outlaws" when he is giving Kate a gun from the marshal's case, in " One of Us" when Jack is handing towels to Juliet on the beach, and in " Catch-22" when Jack is helping Juliet build her tent. This is another tattoo that he received before arriving on the Island. In " The Man from Tallahassee", while Jack is waiting outside of Ben's house, some kind of drawing is visible on his left arm. Kate and Jack discuss them in " House of the Rising Sun" before they leave on their trek to the Caves. Jack's tattoos are first seen in the pilot, when he removes his shirt to assess the extent of his injuries.