Kate Austen



Katherine Anne Austen, more commonly known as Kate, was one of the survivors from the crash of Oceanic Flight 815. Before the crash, Kate had spent many years fleeing the law after killing her abusive father. To achieve her goals, she would commit several other crimes and would turn to bank robbery, assault and seduction.

On the Island, she became an integral member of the survivors' society, forming strong bonds and eventually romantic relationships with Jack and Sawyer and also becoming close with Claire and Sun. Resourceful, quick-witted and mysteriously reclusive, she participated in many missions while attempting to hide her troubled past from the rest of the survivors.

Kate was captured by the Others along with Jack and Sawyer, but she eventually escaped the Island with five other survivors. Kate went on trial for her various crimes and, in desperation to resolve her issues with the law, accepted a ten-year probation order. She was briefly engaged to Jack, but his drug and alcohol problems ended their relationship. She raised Aaron Littleton as her son, but she finally decided to return to the Island to rescue his mother, Claire.

Once she returned to the Island, Kate was stranded in 1977 with the other survivors. She worked for the DHARMA Initiative and saved a young Benjamin Linus's life. She then time-traveled to 2007, where she found an "infected" Claire. Kate joined the Man in Black's side, but she did not trust him. She helped Jack to kill the Man in Black and then escaped the island with Claire. Jack and Kate were reunited in the afterlife and moved on with their friends.

Childhood
Kate was born sometime between May 21 and June 21, 1977 and grew up in rural Iowa. She was raised by her mother, Diane and Sam Austen, the man that she believed was her biological father. Her actual father was a man named Wayne. Her parents divorced when Kate was five, and Kate lived with her mother. Diane married Wayne, even though he was an alcoholic and physically abused her. Wayne had occasionally leered at Kate during her childhood as well.

In 1989, a store clerk caught Kate and her friend, Tom Brennan stealing a lunchbox from a small convenience store. A stranger intervened and paid for the lunchbox, tapping her nose, and telling her to "be good." On 8|August 15, Kate and Tom placed a recorded message, a toy airplane and a baseball into the lunchbox and buried it under a tree as a time capsule.

A fugitive
In 2001, Kate discovered Sam served in Korea when she was conceived, suggesting that Wayne was her biological father. Horrified at the thought of being his actual daughter, Kate took out an insurance policy and blew up the house with Wayne inside it. Her shocked mother called the police on her. A U.S Marshal Ed Mars arrested her when she tried to flee to Tallahassee, but a horse forced their car off the road, letting her escape.

During her early days as a fugitive, Kate visited Sam Austen and confronted him about her true parentage. He explained he'd hid the truth because he knew that she'd kill Wayne, then he gave her an hour's head start before calling the police. Two months later, she visited her mother with help from Cassidy Phillips, a con artist she'd saved from a police encounter. Cassidy cased Diane's house disguised as Kate and discovered agents watched it continuously. Cassidy later spilled food on Diane at her diner, sending her to the bathroom where Kate hid. Diane defended Wayne and warned Kate if she ever visited again, she would yell for help. When cancer attacked Diane, though, Kate returned, with help from Tom, now a doctor. The two dug up their time capsule and briefly kissed, then Tom smuggled Kate into Diane's room. Diane screamed for security, and Kate and Tom fled in the car. The subsequent police chase killed Tom with a bullet to the head, and Kate continued alone on foot.

Life on the run
Though still a fugitive, Kate tried to assume a new life by relocating to Florida under an alias: Monica. She fell in love with and eventually married a police officer named Kevin Callis who knew nothing of her true identity. A few months into their marriage, she contacted the marshal, begging him to stop chasing her, but he said that either way she'd find she couldn't settle down. Sure enough, Kate soon discovered she couldn't deal with domestic life after a pregnancy scare. Surprise honeymoon tickets reminded Kate that she lacked a valid passport and couldn't continue lying to Kevin. She was forced to drug her husband, believing he suspected her as the fugitive she was, and reluctantly left him.

In 2002, Mars informed her that he had Tom's toy airplane in a New Mexico bank. Kate, now calling herself "Maggie Ryan," conspired with a gang to rob the bank. Kate posed as a hostage, and her new boyfriend Jason led the robbery. When Jason tried shooting the bank manager though, Kate shot him and the rest of the gang. She then retrieved the toy plane from a safety deposit box.

Kate then worked on Ray Mullen's farm in Australia and was planning to subsequently travel to Bali, but Mullen discovered her wanted poster at the post office, and attempted to turn her in to Edward Mars. Kate realised the plan, but when her escape attempt endangered Mullen's life, she chose to save him rather than escape. Mars consequently captured Kate and prepared to extradite her to the U.S. aboard Oceanic Flight 815.

Flight 815
At the airport, Edward Mars taunted Kate in order to explain to an officer why it was necessary that he bring five guns with him. On the plane, he continued to taunt Kate. During the flight's turbulence, luggage flew from the overhead luggage bin and rammed into Mars's forehead and knocked him out. Kate stole his keys and unlocked her handcuffs and then placed the oxygen mask on his face, remaining conscious throughout the entire crash.

Days 1–44 (Season 1)
Jack Shephard noticed Kate walking out of the jungle and asked her to stitch up his wound, to which she agreed reluctantly. Later that night, they introduced themselves to each other properly. During her second day on the Island, Kate, Jack and Charlie Pace went on a mission to retrieve the cockpit's transceiver from the plane debris. They tried to rescue the injured Pilot, but the Smoke Monster attacked them for the first time. When they returned, Sayid Jarrah repaired the transceiver. To receive a signal, Kate, Sayid and several other survivors hiked to higher ground of the Island. During their journey, Sawyer killed an attacking polar bear with the Marshal's gun. Kate removed it from his possession, but she feigned inexperience with the weapon. Eventually, the transceiver picked up a chilling distress signal.

Back at the camp, Kate visited the injured Marshal. He attacked her, further straining his injuries. Kate told Jack that he should euthanize the dying man, but Jack questioned her true motives because he had learned about her criminal record. She returned the gun to Sawyer, who agreed to end the Marshal's life. Kate offered to tell Jack why she had been arrested, but Jack said that all the survivors deserved a fresh start. Later, Kate went on a mission to triangulate the distress signal, but it failed and she had to help an injured Michael back to their camp. Kate accompanied Jack to the caves to scout them out, but when he suggested the survivors move there, Kate refused because she did not want to end up like the skeletons that they had found there. While Kate was again assisting Sayid in triangulating a signal, Sawyer informed her that Jack had been trapped in a cave-in. Kate hurried to the caves to help. Later, Kate agreed to kiss Sawyer to find out the location of Shannon's inhaler, showing contempt for Sayid and Jack torturing him.

After Ethan kidnapped Claire and Charlie, Kate tried to track them down with Jack. They were able to find and revive a hanging Charlie. Later, Kate discovered the Marshal's Halliburton case but had to let Sawyer take it when she could not find the key. She eventually told Jack about the guns in the case and they exhumed the Marshal's body together to recover the key. However - Jack decided that he should open it with her. Inside the case was Tom's toy plane. When Jack questioned her about the toy, Kate admitted the plane belonged to the man that she had both loved and killed. Later, she helped in the mission to capture Ethan.

Soon after, Kate negotiated a deal with Sawyer, offering to help him hunt down a boar to acquire one of the guns in his possession. They bonded over a drinking game of "I Never," during which Kate revealed her marriage and the murder that she committed. Later, Kate and Jack were together when Locke brought an injured Boone, but Kate was forced to deliver Claire's baby while Jack tried to save Boone's life.

Michael built a raft and Kate tried to gain a spot on it by convincing Sun to poison Jin's water. In preparation for the trip, she stole a dead woman's passport to assume her identity. Michael accused Sawyer of Jin's poisoning, which led to Sawyer revealing Kate's fugitive status to the other survivors.

Kate left the camp with Jack, Locke and Hurley to retrieve dynamite from the Black Rock. On the way back to the Hatch, she threw dynamite to free Locke from the Smoke Monster's clutches. Kate continued to the Hatch with the rest of the group. They were able to blow it open with the dynamite.

Days 44–67 (Season 2)
After returning to the caves with Jack and Hurley, John Locke and Kate agreed to venture further inside the Hatch. Being the lighter weight, Kate went down into the Hatch first, counting to five to ease her fears. Her harness cable came loose and she fell to the bottom of the Hatch. Desmond ordered Locke to tie her up and lock her in pantry. Kate freed herself with a knife that Locke had slipped her and climbed into an air vent to help him and Jack. She hit Desmond from behind with a gun, but she damaged the computer in the process. To fix the computer, she ran to the beach to find Sayid.

Kate joined the team that entered numbers into the Swan computer and also exploited the Swan's pantry, taking shampoo against Hurley's wishes, which led to Jack catching her in a towel after a sulfur-odored shower. Kate helped Sun to find her wedding ring when it went missing, and the women developed a close friendship.

When an injured Sawyer returned to camp, Kate cared for him for the next few days, even skipping Shannon's funeral to do so. While gathering fruit in the jungle, Kate came upon a horse and confided in Charlie and Sayid about what had happened. After a violent incident with Sawyer, she feared that Wayne was manifesting himself through Sawyer and fled the Hatch in a panic. Later, Jack found Kate and tried to comfort her, which led to a vulnerable Kate kissing him unexpectedly. Confused by her feelings, she fled from Jack and returned to Sawyer's side. When the two left the Hatch, they witnessed the black horse together.

When Michael tried rescuing his son from the Others, a group decided to go after him. Jack would not allow Kate to come, but she followed them regardless and was captured Tom and Pickett, two members of the Others. When the group confronted the Others, Tom threatened to hurt Kate if they did not leave. Jack remained hostile towards Kate for a while despite her several apologies.

Later, Kate and Sawyer discovered an unconscious Sun, who had been attacked by an unknown figure. Sawyer tricked Kate into blaming Ana-Lucia. After discovering his con and involvement in the attack, Kate confronted him and demanded to know why he would use her in his own exploits.

Kate remained with a worried Claire when it appeared that Charlie had kidnapped baby Aaron. Later, Claire began recalling memories of Ethan, and Kate helped her to find Rousseau. Claire and Rousseau searched the Staff for vaccines to cure Aaron, while Kate discovered the Others' apparent costumes. After they returned, Sun confided in Kate that she suspected herself to be pregnant. Kate waited with her for the pregnancy test results and advised Sun to consult Jack about the matter.

The next day, Jack and Kate tried to trade Ben for Walt by traveling to the the Line and they were briefly caught in one of Rousseau's traps. Kate told Jack about finding the Others' costumes and apologized for kissing him. Jack replied that he did not regret their kiss. An injured Michael suddenly appeared out of the bushes. Jack and Kate brought him to the Hatch and went to Sawyer for guns to attack the Others. On their return, they discovered Ana-Lucia and Libby had been shot. Kate accompanied Sawyer to fetch heroin to ease Libby's pain. When Libby died, Kate was forced to break the devastating news to Hurley.

Unaware of Michael's intentions to help the Others, Kate joined the squad of survivors that Michael had suggested to rescue Walt. Along the way, Kate spotted members of the Others tracking them; she and Sawyer attempted to kill them with their guns. Jack revealed that he knew Michael had betrayed the survivors, but they continued on their mission regardless. The Others were able to capture Jack, Kate, Sawyer and Hurley and took them to the Pala Ferry. Kate and Jack exchanged worried glances before being shrouded with bags over their heads.

Days 68–91 (Season 3)
Being held hostage at the Others' base, Kate was forced to have breakfast with Ben, who told her that her next few weeks were going to be very unpleasant. The Others imprisoned her in a large cage across from Sawyer, who tried to calm Kate when she became distressed about their situation. Sawyer and Kate started working daily at a quarry under the orders of the belligerent Pickett. During their work, Sawyer kissed Kate passionately and tried to flee, but Juliet threatened Kate with a gun, which ended his escape attempt. Later, he was beaten violently by an angered Pickett until Kate said that she loved him.

Jack and Kate were briefly reunited when Juliet asked her to tell Jack to operate on Ben, saying Pickett would kill Sawyer if he did not comply. When she returned to the cages, Kate and Sawyer had an argument about his indifference to escape from the Others and he revealed that they could not escape because they were on a different island. Kate was touched by Sawyer's attempt to try and give her hope, she kissed him and they proceeded to make love.

The next morning, Pickett and Jason came to the cages. Despite Kate's pleas, Pickett prepared to execute Sawyer, but Tom called on the walkie talkie with new instructions. Jack talked to Kate and told her to escape the base with Sawyer. They were able to make it to the coast before Pickett and Jason caught up with them. However, Alex saved them and she let them use her boat in exchange for freeing her boyfriend from Room 23. Before Kate, Sawyer and Karl rowed for the main island, Jack called her again via the walkie talkie and a very emotional Kate re-told the "count to five" story. As Jack ended their conversation, he told Kate to never return for him.

Kate insisted she and Sawyer should return for Jack, but Sawyer refused. Kate was furious when she discovered Sawyer had sent Karl back to the Others as she had planned to use him to free Jack. Then, Sawyer accused her of sleeping with him because she thought he was going to die. When they returned to the camp, Kate was still determined to rescue Jack and she was able to recruit Danielle Rousseau on her mission. She and Danielle joined Locke and Sayid, and the group discovered the Flame station. Eventually, they reached the Barracks and Kate was astonished to find Jack playing a friendly game of football with the Others.

Kate entered Jack's house and discovered him playing the piano, she was found by the Others and they captured her again. Later, Jack revealed to Kate that he made a deal with them to leave the Island; however - he promised to return for her. After he left her alone, Kate recieved another visit from Locke, who told her that he defected to the Others. Kate was knocked unconcious with a gas canister and woke in the jungle, handcuffed to Juliet. The two women began fighting, but stopped when the Smoke Monster arrived. Juliet admitted that Jack had seen Kate and Sawyer together and it had broken his heart. After another encounter with the Monster, they returned to the deserted Barracks. Kate found an abandoned Jack and apologized for preventing his escape from the Island.

As Jack, Kate, Sayid and Juliet traveled back to the survivors' camp, she and Sayid shared their suspicions about Juliet.

Back at the camp, Kate tried to flirt with Jack but when she saw that he was having dinner with Juliet, Kate went to find Sawyer and seduced him again. Later, Kate discovered Sayid fixing the satellite phone and he told her about Naomi. Despite Sayid's request for secrecy, Kate decided to tell Jack in order to prove that the survivors do not trust him or Juliet.

The next day, Juliet revealed her true intentions to the survivors including her and Jack's plan to kill the Others. Kate decided to join the group that were going to the radio tower, but Sawyer refused to let her check on those that remained on the beach. As the survivors made their way to the radio tower, Jack and Juliet shared a kiss as Kate watched in envy. Despite this, Jack admitted to Kate that he loved her, leaving her shocked.

Days 91–108 (Season 4)
Kate, like the rest of the survivors, was elated by the prospect of finally being rescued. But Naomi disappeared, and she and Jack disagreed over which trail to follow. She and Jack split up to both find Naomi and herd the survivors, but when Kate hugged him and told him to be careful, she also stole Jack's phone. A man called Minkowski on the phone while Kate tracked Naomi, who attacked Kate till she convinced her that Locke had acted alone in the stabbing. Naomi then died, and Kate met the other survivors at the cockpit. Sawyer followed Locke's group to the Barracks, disappointing Kate. She and Jack reminisced then followed a helicopter's sound to an apparent rescuer, Daniel Faraday. They agreed to find the other members of his team, first Miles, who feared they'd killed Naomi. Kate explained what happened and took him to her body to convince him. Sayid and Juliet then arrived and disarmed Miles. They discovered a beacon from the third member, Charlotte, revealing Locke had her, then found Frank, the helicopter's pilot. Kate and Daniel carried Naomi's body to the helicopter.

Kate joined Sayid and Miles to the Barracks to retrieve Charlotte, after Jack told her that Sawyer would protect her from Locke. Hurley there posed as a prisoner and said the others had left. They split up to search Ben's house, and when Sawyer approached her, she warned Sayid. Sawyer and Kate talked about "playing house," and she stayed in the Barracks when Sayid left. Fearing the rescuers knew the police sought her, Kate asked to speak to Miles, and when Locke refused, she tricked Hurley into revealing his location. Miles asked her to bring him to Ben, and Kate turned to Sawyer, who distracted Locke till she could bring him there. Miles revealed the freighter knew of Kate's record, and Locke ordered Kate to leave the Barracks by morning. Sawyer let her stay with him, but when he expressed extreme relief at learning she wasn't pregnant, Kate rejected his advances and decided to leave for the beach. Sawyer noted that she'd likely return the next time Jack rejected her, and she slapped him.

On the walk back, Kate encountered Daniel and Charlotte, who knocked her unconscious. Jack and Juliet found her, and they went to the Tempest. Once they returned to the beach, Kate stayed suspicious and shared her doubts with Sun. Kate later drew Sun a map to the Barracks when she and Jin decided to defect. A few mornings later, she expressed concern when she found Jack taking painkillers. Jack's "stomach bug" turned out to be appendicitis. Kate carried him to the tent where the operation would take place, and Jack remarked that it wouldn't be the first time she was his nurse. He asked Kate to hold a mirror so he could watch his surgery. His pain upset her though, and Juliet ordered her out. Juliet later told her that Jack loved her and kissed Juliet to vainly prove he didn't.

A helicopter dropped a satellite phone to the beach, and Jack and Kate followed it, running into Sawyer, Miles and Aaron. Kate returned to the beach, learned of the mercenaries' plan and went back for Jack. The Others captured her and recruited her to help them ambush the mercenaries. She approached Keamy's men and pretended the Others were chasing her, letting them attack the mercenaries by surprise. She then freed Ben, who led her board Frank's helicopter with Sayid, Sawyer, Jack and Hurley. Sawyer jumped out of the helicopter to save fuel, but he first kissed Kate and whispered a secret request. They landed on the freighter and Kate took Aaron from Sun, who had already arrived. Jack pulled her back into the helicopter before they could fetch Jin, telling her that he would not leave without her. The freighter exploded. The chopper ran out of fuel and ditched in the ocean, but they were able to use a life raft before they were picked up by Penny's boat. They set out for the island of Membata and eventual rescue.

2005
The coast guard took the Oceanic Six to Hawaii, where no family or friends came to meet Kate. At a press conference, she claimed she'd given birth to Aaron on the island, and though reporters showed disbelief, she started raising him as her own. She kept in touch with the other survivors, attending Jack's father's funeral, which Aaron's unknowing grandmother also attended, and Hurley's surprise birthday party. She also fulfilled Sawyer's request in giving financial support to his daughter, whose mother, Cassidy, Kate had met years before. Kate confided in Cassidy, and the two met regularly over the next three years.

2006–2007
Kate went on trial for her numerous crimes. The prosecution called her cancer-stricken mother as their "star witness," but Kate's supposed death had softened her, and she agreed not to testify if Kate let her see her "grandson." Kate refused, but her mother skipped testifying regardless, and Kate took the prosecution's new deal of ten years probation and confinement to California. She later became romantically involved with Jack, who'd testified for her, once he agreed to see his nephew, Aaron. He moved in with her, and she accepted his marriage proposal. But visions of his dead father and Kate's visits to Cassidy, which brought up Jack's issues involving infidelity and Sawyer, led to her finding Jack drunk and alone with Aaron one night. They argued, and Jack walked out.

Locke visited Kate sometime after this, asking she return to the island. She refused, even when Locke told her that everyone on the island would die. She asked him if he had ever been in love. She later dreamt one night that Claire warned her against bringing Aaron to the island. About a month later, Jack insisted they return the island. She met him at the airport and she was surprised by his disheveled appearance. They shared an intimate moment, but when he said returning to the island would protect Aaron, she slapped him and left.

2007
A lawyer later visited Kate, demanding a blood test to prove she wasn't Aaron's real mother. Kate packed and left with Aaron, and when Sun phoned, she went to her hotel room. Sun showed her pictures of Ji-Yeon and lent her some clothes. Kate visited the lawyer and failed to learn his client's identity. Jack called her and asked where she was, because a man who had attacked Sayid had her address in his pocket. Jack met up with her and she smiled when she saw that he had shaved his beard. They tailed the lawyer to a motel, where he met Carole Littleton on an unrelated matter. Jack decided to go inside and talk to Carole about Aaron, because he considered Aaron his family too. Jack then took Kate to the marina to meet Ben, the actual client. Kate misunderstood, thinking that Jack was trying to trick her into returning to the Island, and she angrily drove away with Aaron. She went to a supermarket and briefly lost Aaron, but a woman who resembled Claire found him. Shaken, Kate visited Cassidy, who guessed Kate only took Aaron because Sawyer broke her heart. That night, Kate visited Carole Littleton, revealing everything. She gave her Aaron and vowed to return to the island to retrieve Claire.

She visited Jack to tell him her decision, but she told him to never ask her about Aaron. They kissed passionately and slept together. She seemed distracted the next morning, and left as soon as Jack's phone rang. Kate went to the airport for Flight 316, but she avoided Jack. Later, when Jack approached her on the plane to discuss the coincidence of their group together on the same flight, she said that their sharing a plane didn't mean they were "together." The plane began to shake, and the two vanished from the plane along with Hurley and Sayid after being caught in a time flash.

1977 (Season 5)
Kate appeared on the edge of the waterfall pool, where Jack revived her. Jin appeared and took them, along with Hurley, to an empty cliff. Sawyer arrived and shared a friendly reunion with them all, including Kate. Sawyer explained that they'd come back to 1977, when the Dharma Initiative lived on the Island. He drove them to the Barracks to pass them off as new recruits. Phil there became suspicious, but Juliet arrived to help Kate's charade.

Sawyer approached Kate at night about why she returned, but a burning van distracted them, and Kate rushed to save its occupants. The next day, she commiserated with a fellow laborer, Ben's father, but then Ben turned up shot, and Sawyer put her, Jack and Hurley under house arrest. Kate defended the decision against Jack. She tried and failed to convince Jack to operate on Ben. She walked out on him when he insisted that she did not like the "old" him. Kate donated blood to Ben, and while doing so, told Juliet that she had been engaged to Jack before returning to the island. Juliet later told her she could do no more for Ben but the Others could. Kate volunteered to take him to them, hoping to spare Juliet and Sawyer any blame, but Sawyer caught up to her, and they entered the jungle together. They talked about their past relationship and about Clementine. The Others then took them captive, and Kate agreed to hand Ben over to Richard.

Kate returned to the Barracks and filled in Juliet. Roger noticed Ben was missing and told security, and when Kate tried to comfort him, he became suspicious of her. The next day, their cover blown, Kate, Jack, Sawyer, Juliet, Jin and Hurley met to discuss options. Sawyer suggested they either leave the Island or go to the beach, but then Daniel arrived, insisting they visit the Others. Kate and Daniel left with Jack, first stopping at the motor pool for guns, but Radzinsky and other DHARMA workers caught them, and and a firefight ensued. They continued into the jungle. Daniel explained his plan to detonate a bomb, which worried Kate. They reached the Hostiles, who shot Daniel and took them captive. Kate and Jack, held in a tent, discussed their plan. Jack told Kate that they could erase all the bad things that had happened to them, but Kate was despondent about erasing their relationship, insisting that it was "not all misery." Jack told her apologetically that "enough of it was." They convinced Eloise to take them to the bomb, but Sayid appeared and freed them from their captors. Kate insisted on finding Sawyer and Juliet so that they could help her convince Jack that he was wrong. DHARMA caught her, ordered her on to the sub and handcuffed her with Sawyer and Juliet.

The sub submerged, but Kate convinced them to stop Jack's plan. Juliet freed them and got the captain to surface. When they arrived on the island, they met Vincent, Rose and Bernard, who tried to dissuade them from their mission. Kate asked for directions to the Barracks instead, and they left, intercepting Jack on the way. Jack told Sawyer that he had Kate, but he had lost her. Jack and Sawyer fought about Jack's plan, then Juliet confronted Sawyer about looking at Kate. Kate tended to Jack's wounds, and he convinced her to help him by telling her that she'd be able to help Claire too. They drove to the Swan site, and Kate helped cover Jack with her gun. As Jack was about to drop the bomb, he looked at Kate for support; she nodded as a tear fell down her cheek. When the bomb failed to detonate and the drill hit the EM pocket, Kate desperately tried to save Juliet from being dragged down, buying enough time for Sawyer to grab her hand. Juliet fell nonetheless. Moments later, the bomb detonated.

2007 (Season 6)
Not long after the explosion, Kate woke up in a tree, temporarily deaf. She and Miles went to the Swan site, where she ran to Jack to see if he was okay. She had to hold an enraged Sawyer back from attacking Jack. Kate then heard Juliet's muffled calls from below, and they worked to unearth her, but she died. Sawyer refused Kate's help burying her. She instead helped take an injured Sayid below the Temple. The Others caught them and prepared to kill them until Hurley's list from Jacob revealed their names. They then took them into the Temple, where they drowned Sayid trying to save him. Later, Kate accepted some food and water from Cindy, Zach and Emma. Miles and Sawyer, attacked and captured, came soon, and she tended to Sawyer and talked to him. Sayid then came back to life, and Sawyer left the Temple. Kate decided to go after him, but not until after Jack told her to be safe. Kate followed Sawyer with Jin and two Others, who warned them of a new threat and saved them from one of Claire's traps. Kate then sprung the trap in order to get away, and went to the Barracks for Sawyer while Jin looked for Sun. Sawyer caught her sneaking into his house, then they sat on the submarine jetty together. Kate explained coming to reunite Claire with Aaron, and she apologized for Juliet's death, but Sawyer blamed himself. He tossed Juliet's engagement ring, which he'd never given her, into the water. Kate broke down crying.

Kate met Jack and Hurley on the way to the Temple, and she pulled a gun on them till she recognized them. She refused to follow them to the lighthouse, still intent on finding Claire. She told Jack that she hoped he'd find what he was looking for. Further on, she met Sayid. She then reached the Temple, and Miles told her Claire had arrived. Kate pinned Lennon to the wall till he brought her to Claire. Kate revealed to Claire that she'd taken Aaron and had raised him. Lennon then pulled her away. Later, during the Temple massacre, she returned to Claire rather than escape with Miles. Claire insisted the pit was safer than outside, and the Monster appeared, sending Kate down for cover. Afterward, she took a gun from a dead Other and joined the Man in Black outside the Temple.

He led his group to Claire's camp, where Kate was reunited with Sawyer and Jin, then to a new campsite. As the Man spoke to the group, Claire took Kate's hand, bewildering her. Claire later attacked Kate with a knife till the Man in Black separated them. He later apologized for Claire's behavior and confided about his own mother. Claire apologized too, hugging her. That night, Sawyer approached, claiming they'd escape on Widmore's submarine. The next day, tranquilizer darts hit the whole camp, after which Jin is kidnapped. That night, Hugo, Jack, Sun and Frank arrived and Kate was happy to see them, especially Jack.

After informing others about Sawyer's plan to betray the Man in Black, the next day she, along with Sun, Hugo, Frank and Sawyer left the main Island on the Elizabeth, leaving Jack behind. Once they arrived on Hydra Island they were captured by Widmore's team and placed in the bear cages, along with Jin. They were later rescued by the Man in Black, Sayid and Jack, after which they left for the Ajira plane on which they attempted to leave the Island.

After finding C-4 aboard, the Man in Black led them to the sub, which the survivors managed to overtake from Widmore's men, though in the process Kate was wounded, and was carried in the sub, during which she pleaded the rest not to leave Claire behind. Once on-board, they discovered a bomb, which Sawyer set off. After the bomb's explosion, Kate was carried to the surface by Hurley, and was informed of Sun and Jin's deaths once Jack swam up too, leading her to swear vengeance on the Man in Black. Later that day, Kate, along with Sawyer, Jack and Hurley met Jacob, who explained to her why her name was crossed out and offered her his job, which he eventually gave Jack.

Once Jacob's ashes burned out, Kate went with Jack and Hurley to find The Heart of the Island. They ran into the Man in Black, and when Kate fired vainly at him, he told her, "You might want to save your bullets." He proceeded to the Heart with Jack and Desmond, and Kate caught up with them next when they were fighting at the cliffs. She shot the now-mortal man - she'd "saved a bullet" for him. With the Man in Black mortally wounded from Kate's gunshot, Jack finished the job by kicking him off the edge of a cliff.

Jack then resolved to return to the Heart to restart it, so she sadly asked Jack if she would ever see him again. She kissed him and they both professed their love for one another one last time, then they parted. She and Sawyer jumped to the water below. They swam to a boat and sailed to Hydra Island, reaching as Frank prepared to take off in the Ajira plane. They found Claire on the beach and Kate convinced her to come along, offering to help raise Aaron. The three made it to the plane just in time and flew toward civilization, leaving the Island for good.

After the Island
Before leaving the Island, Kate told Claire she would help raise Aaron. Her post-death dialogue suggests she lived a considerable time after escaping.

Flash sideways
In the flash sideways, Kate had failed to kill Wayne. Instead, her explosion killed a plumber named Ryan Millner. She was still a fugitive—America's Most Wanted featured her—and again brought aboard.

She bumped into Jack when leaving the lavatory and stole his pen, and when she tried to escape Ed Mars in the airport, she ran into James Ford as well. Leaving the airport, she hijacked a cab that happened to contain Claire Littleton. Kate expelled Claire from the cab, but when she stopped at a garage to remove her handcuffs and examined the woman's baggage, she found evidence that Claire was pregnant. Feeling guilty, Kate drove back and offered to drop Claire to her baby's adoptive parents.

At their house though, they learned the adoptive father had left the mother, who no longer wanted the baby. Claire became upset and went into labor, and Kate drove her to the hospital, where Claire told her doctor to delay the delivery with drugs. Later, Kate hid in an adjoining room while two detectives questioned Claire. Claire covered for her and afterward told Kate she believed her innocent. She lent Kate a credit card, and Kate left, suggesting Claire keep the baby.

A week later, the police were chasing Kate's car when she slammed into a parked car containing two detectives. They pursued her, and caught her. James, whom she'd met at the airport, questioned her and put in a cell. She unsuccessfully tried convincing him to free her, but he moved her to a wagon for transfer with two other passengers, and.

Desmond offered to help them escape in exchange for their obedience afterward. Then the prison wagon stopped and Hugo Reyes arrived and paid off the driver. Desmond led her into Hurley's Camaro and gave her a dress, saying that they were going to a concert.

At the concert, they sat with Claire, which surprised Kate. When Claire left to go to the bathroom, Kate followed her and found Claire going into labor. Kate helped deliver the baby, and in the process, they both had flashes of their lives and realized they had died. Charlie joined them, and he too remembered his life and death.

Leaving the concert, Kate met Jack but failed to wake him. She led him to the church of his father's funeral, and when Jack entered the main church, at last remembering, he and Kate exchanged knowing looks and held hands. They sat together as light filled the room.

The list
Mikhail tells Kate she is not on the list because of the fact that she is "flawed", even though that was Jacob's reason for bringing the Oceanic flight to the island.

Locke tells Kate he made a strong case with the Others for her, but based on who she was and what she had done he could not convince them because "forgiveness is not one of their strong suits."

Kate is listed with the candidates on the dial of the lighthouse, and her name is not crossed out. Her number is 51.

Sawyer told Kate that her name was written on the cave wall, but was crossed out. Charles Widmore told the group that he had a list of names, including Ford, Reyes, and Kwon, but not Austen.

Jacob made it clear that she was crossed off because she became a mother (she adopted Aaron). He continued with saying that her crossed name is merely chalk, and the job is hers if she wants it.

Kate's places and license plates

 *  For more information on the cars Kate has used, see: Automobiles 

Because she was a fugitive, Kate had a stash of license plates hidden within the trunk of her car to use when adopting a new identity. Some of the license plates found in the picture to the left are: Minnesota, Idaho, Missouri, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, North Dakota, Colorado, and Wisconsin, all possible references to the places where she may have been located while on the run.

General

 * The character of Kate was first intended to be the leader of the survivors, after Jack's character was to be killed off in . Later, the writers found that killing Jack in the first episode would raise feelings of betrayal and anger in the audience. They decided instead to have the pilot killed in Jack's place.
 * In this depiction, Kate was written as an older woman traveling with her husband, whom she is separated from after he goes to the bathroom right before the crash. This idea was still employed, but with the characters of Rose and Bernard.
 * Kate, along with Claire, Rose, Penny and Eloise Hawking, is one of only five female main characters alive at the end of the series, not counting the flash sideways.
 * Kate is one of only two characters to escape the island twice, the other being Frank (who facilitated her escape on both occasions).
 * Kate is the only member of the Oceanic 6 to fly off the island on Ajira 316.
 * Kate is involved in a car accident in many of her flashes.
 * Kate presumably left Iowa before Tom's son Connor was born. Connor was almost 22 months old in "Born to Run".
 * The safety deposit box that contained Kate's toy plane was box #815. (The Numbers)
 * On her mugshot the subject file is: 00-0428-23-5607-01, which contains the Numbers 4, 8, 23 and 42.
 * Kate has visited five of the ten known DHARMA Initiative stations: the Swan, the Staff, the Hydra, the Flame and the Tempest. Kate, Jin and Desmond have visited the most stations. Since Jin is dead and Desmond isn't a survivor, Kate has visited the most stations from the survivors.
 * Kate, while on the run as a fugitive, called Edward Mars on Catholic Holy Days of Obligation. ("I Do")
 * Kate seems to be a fan of American country singer . She plays Patsy Cline records twice on the Island, once in the hatch in "What Kate Did" and once at Claire's house in "Eggtown". Patsy Cline songs also play in Kate flashback scenes in "Tabula Rasa" (in Ray Mullen's truck), "Left Behind" (in the tow truck) and "The Incident, Parts 1 & 2" (in the grocery store she attempted to steal from). Kate also listens to Patsy Cline on the way to Cassidy's house in her car in Whatever Happened, Happened. Interestingly, Patsy Cline was killed in a plane crash.
 * Kate's blood type is O negative. ("Whatever Happened, Happened")
 * Kate is one of seven characters who has their real name in the title of an episode, in Kate's case two episodes. The others are Sun, Hurley, Tricia Tanaka, Dave, Ji Yeon and Sawyer (as LaFleur).
 * Kate is one of 22 main characters to have their names appear in a soundtrack title.
 * Kate is one of the five original main characters still alive at the end of the series.
 * Kate is the only one of the Oceanic survivors and candidates whose candidate number is not one of "The Numbers" or a multiple thereof. The only survivors on the list in addition to Hurley, Locke, Sawyer, Jack, Jin and/or Sun, and Sayid are Kate, Michael, and Shannon. Shannon's number is 32, a multiple of 4 and 8 and Michael's number is 124, a multiple of 4. Kate's number is 51, which is not a multiple of any of the numbers.

Episode statistics

 * Kate's episode count so far is 108, as of.
 * Kate was the second character, after Jack, to appear in 100 episodes.
 * Kate was the central character of the first episode to contain the traditional flashback format. In season 6, she was the first to receive an individual flash sideways.
 * Kate, along with Jack, had the most centrics in a single season until Jack beat their record of five each from season one. Season One's, , , and  centered on Kate. She was the only character to receive three centric episodes during season 5: ,  and.
 * She is after Jack for the second-most flashbacks, with 17.
 * Despite this, the only time she had a flashback set before she went on the run is the brief one in "The Incident, Part 1".
 * Kate only appeared in archive footage in - from a scene in.
 * She also had the most consecutive centric episodes. followed by,  followed by ,  followed by  and  followed by.
 * Kate was the third character to ever have a flashback.
 * Kate was the fourth character to ever have a flash-forward.
 * Kate is one of the seven characters to have a flashback, a flash-forward and a flash sideways episode centered around them. The other six are Hurley, Sayid, Sun, Sawyer, Ben and Jack.
 * Kate was the first character to do this.
 * Kate and Jack are the only characters to appear in every season premiere of the series.
 * Kate has had three instances of back-to-back centric episodes, although in both cases, one of these episodes was shared with at least one other person. In the first season, she appeared in the second of two flashbacks in "Pilot, Part 2" before having the first traditional flashback in "Tabula Rasa". Later in the season, she had a flashback in "Exodus, Part 1", which followed Kate-centric "Born to Run". In the sixth season premiere, Kate had flash sideways in both parts of "LAX", following the first traditional flash sideways in "What Kate Does".
 * Kate was the final Oceanic 815 character to have a flashback episode centered around them.
 * Kate was the main character who made the most episode appearances in Season 3.

Name

 * Kate has been referred to as or used the aliases Katherine Ryan, Katherine Dodd, Joan Hart, Maggie Ryan, Annie, Lucy, and presumably lived under the name Monica Callis during her marriage. Her father, Tom Brennan, and Jacob called her Katie. Her mother called her Katherine. Sawyer almost always calls her Freckles, but occasionally calls her Kate during particularly emotional or tense conversations.
 * She is called "Kate Ryan" at the Oceanic-air.com seating chart.
 * She is also called "Kate Ryan" in The Lost Chronicles: The Official Companion Book.
 * "Joan Hart" is a reference to Melissa Joan Hart, who starred in the television show "Sabrina the Teenage Witch". Her co-star, Beth Broderick ("Aunt Zelda"), plays Kate's mother, Diane Janssen.


 * There are a total of 16 letters in her name.
 * Katherine is a Greek name which means "pure".
 * Kate's name may be derived from that of a character from John Steinbeck's Nobel Prize-winning novel East of Eden. Catherine is one of the main antagonists and, like Kate, sets her parents' home on fire as a young girl (killing both of them, as opposed to Kate who just kills her step-father) and spends most of her life from that point forward running from the law. Catherine later changes her name to Kate to further avoid detection.

Interactions

 * Kate has met all of the main characters, except Ilana and Pierre.
 * She saw Pierre during the Incident.
 * Kate is one of the five main characters not seen at the crash site of Oceanic 815's middle section, along with James "Sawyer" Ford, Sayid Jarrah, Sun-Hwa Kwon and Walter Lloyd.
 * Kate has cried seventeen times during the series.
 * Kate has been tied up more than any other character on the show.

Additional casting

 * Skye McCole Bartusiak was the voice of Young Kate on Kate and Tom's tape. ("Born to Run")
 * Young Kate was played by Emily Rae Argenti in . The casting call described her as "Young Emily Caucasian. 10 year-old, brunette. Green eyes. Cute, precocious and confident. Willing to bend the rules to get what she wants."