"This is my villain origin story," we all scream-text our friends at the smallest inconvenience. My "thirteenth reason why." What brings us each to our breaking point, or as the kids say: "crashing out." We are all one Trader-Joes-being-out-of-eggs-for-the-9th-day-in-a-row away from Villain Era, and we'd be in good company. Compelling genre stories nearly always feature a compelling villain. And in the era of IP expansion at the film and TV levels, we are spoiled for choice in villain origin stories to inspire our own impending Crash Outs.

This episode of Lore of the Things argues there are three ingredients of a successful villain origin story (listen to find out!!!) Using Star Wars's Darth Vader, Lord of the Rings's Lord Sauron, and ASOIAF's Targaryen family, we'll debate which origin stories successfully cook using these ingredients, and if/when we need to know why mask-clad bad guys do bad things (g*noc*de).

Show notes and references:

• RogerEbert.com: How The Phantom Menace Predicted Hollywood’s Prequel Future
• Sunsets of High Renown: An Interview with George R. R. Martin by Nick Gevers
• The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien. Letter 183.

Lore of the Things is produced, hosted, and blood/sweat/tear'd over by Rebecka Green. Find her on Instagram @rebecka_green and email loreofthethingspod@gmail.com with compliments and complaints.

Opening and closing music is "Magical Journey" by Geoff Harvey, and podcast artwork is by Levi Åhlén, @oloflevi, featuring Terry O'Quinn's portrayal of John Locke in the pilot episode of LOST.

TWENTY YEARS AGO, the pilot episode of ABC's beloved yet maligned LOST debuted and for-e-ver changed how TV TV'd. In honor of this singular, 121-episode piece of media, we're kicking things off at Lore of the Things by embarking on a 10-part miniseries about the 10 most controversial, infamous, and eternal aspects of LOST. Think: Jack's tattoos, 'purgatory,' the finale.

For part two, we're talking about everyone's problematic fave, John Locke.

You may know him as the person in the artwork of this show, and/or, as easily THE fan favorite LOST character. Locke straddles the line between protagonist and antagonist as the Island's #1 hype man and paraplegic-turned-wilderness-guru with a brutal case of Bad Dad syndrome. Locke was named after a 17th century philosopher, referred to in this episode as OG John Locke, for his theories on free will, blank slates, and personal identity, all of which are key themes in LOST, and all of which we explore in this episode. One part character study, one part philosophy lesson.

Spoiler warning: This episode contains minor spoilers for a show that aired the same year the Motorola Razor debuted. LOST newbies, you are 95% safe here.

Show references/notes:

• NYT: The Men Who Made ABC’s ‘Lost’ Last
• BBC Radio 4: John Locke on Personal Identity, narrated by Gillian Anderson

Lore of the Things is produced, hosted, and blood/sweat/tear'd over by Rebecka Green. Find her on Instagram @rebecka_green and email loreofthethingspod@gmail.com with compliments and complaints.

Opening and closing music is "Magical Journey" by Geoff Harvey, and podcast artwork is by Levi Åhlén, @oloflevi, featuring Terry O'Quinn's portrayal of John Locke in the pilot episode of LOST.

The word "origin" originates (heh) from the Latin word “oriri” which means, “to rise," as in: bread, Jesus, and my blood pressure. Humankind has a long-standing—if not pathological—fascination with origins. Luckily for us, with a multitude of storytelling mediums at our fingertips, this desire for explanation and "safe surprises" influences the contemporary tales we are drawn to, the IPs we entertain at our own peril, and how we connect with people at the proverbial "water cooler" through shared pop-cultural experience.

No better way to kick off Lore of the Things, a podcast about the lore of things, than with an exploration about why human psychology is drawn to origin stories in TV and film, and the role nostalgia plays in our pop culture consumer choices. And besides: what are origins if not lore, and what is lore if not an origin? Yeah baby!

Show notes and references:

• Speaking of Psychology: Does nostalgia have a psychological purpose? With Krystine Batcho, PhD
• Pew Research Center: What’s new with you? What Americans talk about with family and friends
• IndieWire: TV’s IP Problem: How Reboots, Spinoffs, and Blockbuster Franchises Could Shape the Future
• Hollywood Reporter: Why Hollywood Is in the Throes of an IP Frenzy

Lore of the Things is produced, hosted, and blood/sweat/tear'd over by Rebecka Green. Find her on Instagram @rebecka_green and email loreofthethingspod@gmail.com with compliments and complaints.

Opening and closing music is "Magical Journey" by Geoff Harvey, and podcast artwork is by Levi Åhlén, @oloflevi, featuring Terry O'Quinn's portrayal of John Locke in the pilot episode of LOST.