Why the LOST Island Is Actually a Giant Turtle

One of the writers of LOST once joked that the island may ultimately turn out to be a giant turtle.  But what if it wasn't a joke?

We now know that the evil spirit that inhabits John Locke had a "crazy mother" once upon a time.  We also know that the island moves.  And it has been implied that Jacob and his evil counterpart may not be native to the planet.  Given the LOST writers' interest in mythology, I think much of this story may actually be based on the traditional Iroquois creation myth, which goes like this:

Long before there were human beings, there were Sky People. They dwelled in the celestial world. In those days there was no sun. All light came from the large white blossoms on the celestial tree that grew in front of the Lodge of the Sky Chief. This Sky Chief had married a young wife. In time, this wife, Sky Woman, began to show signs that she would soon bear a child.

There was a troublesome being, called Firedragon, in the Sky World. Firedragon was always spreading rumors. Now he whispered to Sky Chief that the child who was about to be born would not be his. In a fit of anger and jealousy, Sky Chief uprooted the great celestial tree in front of his lodge. He pushed his wife through the hole where the tree had once stood.

Sky Woman fell rapidly down toward the vast dark waters below. The birds, feeling sorry for her, flew underneath and gently supported her, breaking her fall and carrying her slowly downwards. At the same time, the water animals hurried to make a place for her. Turtle said that he would support a world on his back. The sea animals plunged down into the water looking for some earth. Muskrat succeeded and came up with a large mouthful of earth, which he placed on Turtle's back. The light from the blossoms of the fallen celestial tree shone through the hole where it had stood and became the sun. When Sky Woman landed, everything was in readiness for her, with grass and trees beginning to grow.

Sky Woman gave birth to a daughter. When this daughter grew to womanhood, she began to be with child. No one knows whether her husband was Turtle or West Wind, but she gave birth to two remarkable twin boys–one good and one evil. The Good Twin was born in the usual way. But the Evil Twin was in a hurry and pushed through his mother's side to be born. In doing so, he killed his mother.

Sky Woman buried her daughter, and plants miraculously began to grow from various parts of the daughter's body–a tobacco plant, a cornstalk, a bean bush, and a squash vine. This was the origin of all the plants that would be most important to the human beings who would come later.

The Good Twin and the Evil Twin quickly grew to manhood. As soon as they were grown, they proved true to their names. The Good Twin began creating all sorts of good things: plants, animals, medicinal herbs, rivers, and streams. The Evil Twin began to spoil his brother's work., putting rapids and boulders in the rivers, creating poisonous plants, thorns and briars, diseases, and monsters. The Good and Evil Twins fought against each other to see who would predominate in creation, but the Evil could never overcome the Good. Finally the Good Twin created human beings to enjoy all the good things he had made for them. And that is how it all began.

So, a woman from the sky comes down and takes up residence on the back of a giant turtle-turned-island, and has twin boys, one good and one evil, by the latter of whom she is killed.  One of the twins is continually creating, the other perverting and destroying, and they struggle for dominance over the world.

Okay, so the island probably won't turn out to be on the back of a giant turtle.  But the fact that one of the writers even suggested such a possibility may indicate that they may have been keeping this myth in mind.