Apart from his name being mentioned by others, Magnus Hanso himself has never been shown in Lost, alive or dead.
The blast door map suggests Magnus Hanso was at some point buried on or near the site of the Black Rock wreckage, and this fact was known by some members of the DHARMA Initiative. ("Lockdown") In the bottom right part of the map, it is written: "Known final resting place of Magnus Hanso / Black Rock".
In 1867, Hanso sent one of his officers, Jonas Whitfield, to Tenerife to find a slave for his ship, Black Rock. Whitfield picked Richard Alpert, as he knew how to speak English, and then paid Father Suarez a sum of money for him. Some time later, the ship was caught in a terrible storm during the night and carried on a giant tidal wave onto the island, partially destroying the Statue of Taweret in the process, before landing in the middle of the jungle. The next day, "Captain Hanso" was reported dead by the surviving officers on deck. Moments later, the slaves still alive were killed by Whitfield, with the exception of Richard, before the smoke monster appeared and massacred him and the remaining officers. ("Ab Aeterno")
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Excerpt from New World Sea Traders
Information about Magnus comes almost entirely from a book excerpt revealed by Rachel Blake in her second Copenhagen blog entry:
With Magnus Hanso's sale of the New World Sea Traders, an era in British shipping drew to a close. Whether history will judge him harshly for his continued role in the slave trade post-abolition remains to be seen. However, with Hanso's unquestionable dedication to his fleet, it is certain that this ship's captain turned entrepreneur left a substantial mark on the international shipping trade. For, although he could have rested on his laurels and steered the company from the quiet and comfort of his London manor, Hanso's passion for the sea inspired him to continue as captain of several voyages each year.
It is an interesting footnote, and, perhaps, a testament to Hanso's lasting influence that those slips from which the New World Sea Traders operated at Portsmouth, numbering 18 through 27, continued to be known during the following era of the East Ocean Trade Group as the "New World Docks," a point... (excerpt ends)
After selling the New World Sea Traders company to the East Ocean Trade Group, the company would later be purchased in the 1950s by the Hanso Group, renaming it to the Allied Copenhagen Marine Merchants.
Meanings of the name and references
The name "Magnus Hanso" is equal to "The Great Hanso," or "Hanso the Great."
- Magnus was the most popular baby name for boys in Denmark in 2005.
- "Magnus" is a Latin word for "great," "large," "big," "very," "very much," "important," etc.
- Is the Latin form of the Dutch surname "de Groot" (both meaning "The Great").
- Albertus Magnus was a German philosopher and theologian.
- Magnus was one of the greatest alchemists of all time, and was also the discoverer of the legendary "Philosopher's Stone" (which could allegedly be combined with certain metals to create a youth-preserving elixir; that would make its general objective similar to that of the Life Extension Project) and the creator of a supernatural device, an automaton which he named "Android." Using the "angels from the netherworld" and the powers of the Philosopher's Stone, he created "metals and material unknown to this world" and chose them "according to the stars and planets." This "android" was instilled with the powers of speech, thought, and according to some reports, a soul. Upon completion of this project, his student St. Thomas Aquinas destroyed the "diabolic being" and denounced it as "a tool of Satan and a blasphemy to God."
- Magnus, alias Magnus Lehnsherr, is a member of the Exiles, a group of alternate reality X-Men from the Marvel comic of the same name.
- One of his superpowers is the control of electromagnetic energy.
- Hattori Hanzō -- Hattori Hanzō -- A Sumurai who was known to have supernatural powers, telekinesis, and precognition.