Dawson, Michael
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Resided in: New York, NY
Occupation: Construction
Reason for Travel: Returning to NY after traveling to Australia to pick up son
Flight Seat #: Unknown
Michael has worked as an artist, and in construction. Although they never married, Michael and Susan Lloyd lived together and had a child, Walt. Susan decided to leave Michael, taking Walt, in order to pursue a job in Amsterdam. Over the years, Michael attempted to keep in touch with his son, but Susan hid all the letters Michael sent.
In 1996, Michael was hit by a car after walking into traffic. He had just been on the phone with Susan, and was frustrated with her refusal to allow him to talk to Walt. When he got better, Susan visited him and told him that she had paid all his hospital bills. She tried to convince Michael to give up custody to her, so that Brian Porter, her coworker and now husband, could adopt him. Michael refused this arrangement, and fought it legally. Though Susan's lawyer (Lizzy) pointed out that Michael was now a virtual stranger to Walt, Michael looked like he might win. Susan approached him later and convinced him that giving up custody would be in Walt's best interest.
In 2004, Susan died, and Brian didn't want to take care of Walt. Brian showed up in New York to ask Michael to fly to Australia and take Walt, because he said strange things happen when he is around. Walt and Michael had a very strained relationship, as Michael wasn't used to being a father, and Walt didn't understand why his father wouldn't have been a part of his life for so long.
On the island, Walt distances himself from Michael, and prefers the company of Locke, his dog Vincent, or being by himself with his comic book, all of which frustrate Michael. The only people Michael becomes close with is Sun, and later, to her husband Jin, ironically despite an earlier rift between the two.
Michael decides to build a raft to go out in the ocean and see if they can flag down help, because he does not want Walt growing up on the island. Walt and Michael go through some rough times as Walt rebels against his father, even going so far as to set the first raft on fire, unbeknownst to Michael. As they spend more time together, however, Walt and Michael begin to form a bond and grow closer to one another.
Michael eventually goes on the raft with Walt, Sawyer and Jin. When the Others pull up next to the raft in a boat and attack them, Michael tries to save his son, but is no match for the kidnappers. As Walt is carried away, Michael screams for his son in the cold dark water.
Eventually, when the raft pieces get carried back by the current to the other side of the island, the raft group is ambushed by the tail section survivors and thrown in a pit because they are believed to be Others. When it is understood that they are in fact also survivors of Flight 815, they travel together to the other side of the island to meet with the main group on the beach.
One day, while Michael is doing a shift in the Swan, he encounters something unusual on the computer screen, which usually does not allow for anything except entering the numbers. Someone tries to communicate with him through a chat function, and asks if he is dad. Michael believes that this is Walt, and becomes frantic. He steals guns and locks Jack and Locke in the armory, going off in a Northward direction to find Walt himself.
Michael stumbles upon Pickett, and then Tom. The Others capture him and take him back to their camp by the beach. There, Miss Klugh grills Michael for answers about Walt, including if he is his biological son, when his first words were, and "if he was ever someplace he was not supposed to be." Michael is finally briefly reuinited with Walt for just 3 minutes; Walt tells him that the Others are not what they seem, and that they are running tests on him. In desperation to save him, Michael agrees to go along with Miss Klugh's plan and lead Kate, Sawyer, Jack and Hurley into a trap.
He is not seen for many days, until Kate and Jack stumble upon him, half-conscious, one day in the jungle, close to where Tom once said "There's a line here." Michael is taken back to rejoin the 815 survivors in the Swan. One night when he is alone with Ana-Lucia, he convinces her to give up her gun, saying he will shoot the Prisoner with it. However, he betrays her, and kills Ana instead. When Libby walks in on him, he unexpectedly shoots her fatally as well. He shoots himself in the shoulder before letting the Prisoner go free. He leads the rest of the survivors to think that the Prisoner was the one who shot them all, and gets them thinking about revenge. Telling Jack that the Others' camp is poorly armed, he leads the 4 on Miss Klugh's list into an ambush.
On the trip, Michael shows symptoms of sickness. He is also confronted by Jack in front of everyone about his betrayel after they realize they are being followed, and Michael is forced to admit his murder of Ana and Libby. Sayid had meanwhile suspected Michael's betrayel, and had earlier concocted a plan with Jack for Sayid to take Desmond's boat to scout the Others' camp first. Michael, however, leads them instead to a different spot away from the beach, where his four former friends are captured.
The Prisoner meets him on the dock and tells him that the Others will honor their word. He rewards Michael with the boat and reunites him with Walt. He tells him that if he sails towards compass bearing 325, they will find rescue. He tells Michael that he suspects he won't tell anyone in the outside world about what he has seen, because then he will have to reveal the things he did to escape.
