i think that its an R and an S... but im not sure about the S..

This isn't deep, and for that I'm sorry, but if you look at the tatoo upside down, it looks like the latest Smokey pose, a paper airplane, and and island with palm trees. Maybe Jack passed out face first into somebody's lap and this is only magic marker. .... maybe. :c)

Naomi said it as they marching to the radio tower. I do agree with JEP about his leadership and his failings off island and that is how I thought the Tats and his reading figured in. I have said before, from a theological standpoint, Jack is a chosen one. The symbolism that surrounds his character is just to ripe with religous overtones. Last name Sheppard and a healer of people and the his father's name is Christian. Anyhow I think the Tats will play a role later. As for all the Locke flashbacks I too was cool with them but it was a major build up that took a long while to play out.

The Moses reference could mean a couple of things. I'm studying to get my Masters degree in theology right now... I don't have exhaustive knowledge on this topic by any stretch, but I could perhaps shed a little light on the topic for BobBX542 (and others, I'm sure). Moses was the leader of the nation of Israel. He took them through the Red Sea and was supposed to lead them into "the promised land" of Canaan. However, because of his sin, God sat him on the bench, so to speak, and appointed Joshua to lead Israel into the land. Moses was allowed to SEE the land, but he never got to enter it.

So, the Moses reference could be a reference to Jack's leadership abilities. Regardless of Moses' sin, he is still considered to be a great leader of God's people. However, the Moses reference could also be pointing out his failure as a man who had incredible potential, but he didn't finish well.

Hope this helps! Any thoughts?

Walkabout-I actually had no problem with Locke's flashbacks. I found all of them interesting, but agree that it was a huge let down that Locke didn't handle the situation himself. The weird thing about that though is that if he had, we all be saying how much of a let down it was that Sawyer didn't take care of it. HA!!

The thing that made me upset about Jack's tattoos was that I remember hearing the Producers say something to the effect of how much they liked his tattoos and decided to tie them into the story in a semi significant way, and then they give us the episode that "explains" them, and the whole episode was Jack and that beast of a woman Bai Ling. There might be something more to them later, but I'm not really concerned with it now.

What is the Moses reference suppossed to mean?? I actually don't remember the reference at all, but on top of that, I'm soooooooo, not religious.

Could also be "RG" with a lower-case G, like the initials on Sayid's bracelet.

i know the tat with the 5 he got during his stint on 'party of 5' and it is/was a reference to that show. i also heard that he had that one touched up after 'party of 5' ended (?)
the one on the inside of his arm was first noticed last year i believe....

Bob like you have been disappointed in regards to the tats. After enduring Locke "daddy issue" flashbacks we were rewarded with Sawyer offing the other Sawyer but that took forever. I think the tats will be signifigant as the series winds down because his reading spoke to him being a great leader. Don't forget that Naomi made a Moses referrence to Jack.

i see an "R" and an "S" on the sides and the symbol also seems to be characters as well. i see a "7" on the end. any other thoughts on that?

I think the idea of Jack's tattoos was a huge let down in season 3. I was all excited to see them have some kind of significance later on in the final season about some kind of secret map or password or SOMETHING, but instead, they spit in our faces and made us look at Bai Ling. Man, I think the writers must have hated us.

Jack has not got man-boobs! He's just got a regular average build.

DizzyIzzy - the tatoo artist episode is from Stranger in a Strange Land in season 3. It's the one where Jack gets beat up on the beach in Phuket, Thailand because he made that girl with the "special ability" gave him the tat... but she wasn't supposed to do it for outsiders.

I don't know if this has been brought up here at Sledgeweb or not, but in the episode, they say that the tat means "He walks among us, but he is not one of us." Isabel says that to him when he was caged up, but Jack replies, "That's what it says but that's not what it means."

But... just in case nobody has pointed this out yet... that's not really what the characters mean. The 4 Chinese characters form what is called a "chengyu," or a 4 character idiomatic phrase. This specific phrase is taken from a poem written by Mao Zedong.

Literally, the characters mean "an eagle strikes the sky" (or eagle strikes long void) but the phrase is usually used in everyday Chinese language to describe someone who is ambitious and also very capable in a specific field.

So, what's the deal with that? Any thoughts?

Also, in the scene where Jack gets beat up in Phuket, the only tat on his arm is the Chinese phrase. Where do the other symbols come from and when does he get them?

I never noticed the one on his back and the one under his arm either. I can't even remember the episode with the female tattoo artist. The tattoos do look rather faded as in tattoos do lose definition the older they are. My two cents anyway.

The symbol looks like aa airplane to me

I can't believe no one said anything about his manboobs. I though Jack was in better shape than that.

Push ups, Jack. Push ups.

To me it looks like:

K (symbol) 8 = KATE

OR

R (symbol)S

Doesn't that remind you of Naomi and Elsa's bracelet?

It's a pretty crappy tattoo no matter how ya look at it.

Yes, you can definitely see his appendectomy scar. When I saw it at the beginning of the show, I thought "wonder where he got that scar". Guess we found out!

i think the back tat is and R/S for racer, speed.

Did anyone catch to see if his appendix scar can be seen in the front shot with his shirt off in the kitchen? If not, what happened to it?

The K/8 would be clever, and add to the old wives tale about getting tattoos with a g/f or b/f name ruins the relationship, but when I saw it last night, it deffinitely looked like R\/S on my buddy's Hi-Def TV.

It is K8 with an Cupid's arrowhead sticking out between the letters (right thru the heart!)

Looks like a Deceptacon symbol from Transformers. Jack is bad after all.

it says R S and some kind of pontiac symbol :S

no doubt R S will be identified maybe a tribute tattoo....just think of any characters we've met with the initals R S.

the only one that springs to mind is Rose and not knowing her surname.......but im tired so more will come later.

looks more like an "R" and an "8"/"S"/"B" any of those...but I am pretty sure the one on top is "R" and not "K"!!