Haha, ok not really. It's very difficult to try and define Smokey as an entity, because from The Cost of Living it is apparent that it can shape-shift to take the form of people, and although it backed down from Eko during their first encounter, it seemed to change its attitude and violently attack and kill him during their next (and final) encounter.

On the Blast Door Map something called "Cerberus" (note - Greek Mythology - Cerberus was the beast that guarded the gates of Hades in order to prevent the dead from returning to the world of the living) is mentioned on several occasions, usually pertaining to an abandonment of a Dharma Initiative station.

Maps -


Original map with clearly defined text.


False colour version of original map.


Accurate and simple transcription of the map.

There are a lot of unanswered questions about Smokey, but rather than trying to guess what it is, I usually try to find out what impact it has had on the Island (following the assumption that Smokey is indeed "Cerberus" from the Blast Door map).

From what I have seen and heard and assuming that Cerberus is Smokey, I speculate that Smokey/Cerberus was an entity discovered by the Dharma Initiative and used by them as a security system to prevent the Dharma scientists from ever attempting to escape the Island (thus tieing in with the Greek Mythology, that Cerberus' goal was to prevent the dead from escaping to the world of the living).

There is a chance that if Smokey was at one point controlled by Dharma that it would have had its own station, The Flame springing to mind ("no smoke without fire").

However, during the enigmatic "Incident", there was a malfunction with the Smokey/Cerberus system (when I say "system" I'm suggesting that the Dharma Initiative somehow managed to 'program' Smokey/Cerberus) that may well have been caused by, or indeed been the cause of the leak of the electromagetism contained by The Swan.

After the Incident, Smokey/Cerberus was no longer constrained by the Dharma Initiative and roamed the Island freely, self-sufficient and independent. Now it preys on those who have weak or guilty hearts whilst seemingly fleeing from those who are strong and steadfast in their resolve.