Dharma Secret’s LOST-n-Found: A Blog Dedicated to the T.V. Show Lost

After watching the season three premier at the “Sunset in the Park” event here in Hawaii, my inner theory monger started itching again. Warning, this theory does have spoilers from the season three’s first episode.

1

In the opening minutes of the premier, it is revealed that the Others have a modern community established on the island, similar to any suburban community anywhere in the United States. It is alluded to by comments in the episode that they were involved with the research done on the island. It is also said in the Lost Experience’s Sri Lanka video that the Dharma Initiative failed, and has since been disbanded. However, the question that these two things leave us with is why are they still there?

The resources available to the Others in their community (Which I will refer to henceforth as “Erewhon”); Juliet’s CD player, an active book club, and that Juliet had detailed information on Jack’s pre-crash life, all indicate that they have contact with the outside world, and that they have some sort of means of getting things too and from the island. All of this adds to the question of why they choose to remain on the island, when it is obvious that they have the ability to come and go as they please.

Although, according to the Sri Lanka video, the Initiative failed to change the core values of the Valenzetti Equation, I believe that the Initiative did succeed in achieving much of their research goals. As the Initiative was disbanded, it became obvious to those on the island that their research had several military applications. It is because they did not want their research, developed with the intentions of benefiting human kind, being used as a weapon that they chose to stay on the island in voluntary seclusion.

Through the use of their research, and possibly financial assistance from Alvar Hanso before being forced into seclusion my Thomas Mittelwerk, the Others abandoned the various stations, and started Erewhon. They equipped it with all the feature comforts of modern living, and have lived there unknown to the rest of the world for years.

Another question that arises from the Other’s choosing to remain on the island is, why is it that if they have a failsafe device that can stop the electromagnetic anomaly in the Swan hatch, that they did not use it. It is my contention that the periodic magnetic discharge had a beneficial side effect, which masked the island from being probed by radar, satellite, or any other means of detection aside from visual sighting. By continuing to purge magnetic energy from the island, the Others assured that they would not be discovered by nefarious elements.

To further protect themselves, the Others activated the island security system to patrol the jungle, as deterrent to keep anyone (i.e. random people who may stumble upon the island) from exploring too deeply, and finding Erewhon. As more and more people found their way to the island, the Others used their remote viewing abilities; (which were developed as a result of the Accelerated Remote Viewing Training Facility on the island) to monitor, their whereabouts on the island. Their presence made evident by the whispers heard in the jungle.

At this point, it does not appear that Mittelwerk has had total access to the research from the island. This is probably due to the fact, also mentioned in the Sri Lanka video, that only Alvar Hanso and Degroots knew the exact location of the island. After being forced into seclusion by Mittelwerk, Hanso knew that he had to protect the location of the island, and the researchers living in Erewhon. The only research available to Mittelwerk at the time of the Lost Experience was most likely based on tidbits of information about the Initiative’s research at the Hanso Foundation headquarters.

Click here to return to main blog:

Comments(0)

Rachel’s last two posts have ended with her asking the question “where is GidgetGirl?”. I figured that this is worthy of some discussion, and the fact that Rachel gave her admin status on her blog means that she is or at least will become an important character.

From UnseenPresence’s storyline recap:

GidgetGirl is a complete unknown at this point. She is a name in the comments section and nothing more. GidgetGirl first appears on 6/21, when she claims Blake is as immoral as McIntyre when she posted a defamation of his character through the pictures of him with his mistress. Blake refuses to remove them.

Fri, 6/23: GidgetGirl again posts to the comments section, and a fascinating development happens: Both GidgetGirl and Blake acknowledge they have ‘reasons’ not to be entirely forthcoming. GidgetGirl again asks Blake to take down the McIntyre photos and Blake again refuses. Could GidgetGirl be McIntyre himself? His wife? Perhaps THE MISTRESS? And yet again, we must wonder–WHY is Rachel so determined to go after Hanso?

Tue, 6/27: GidgetGirl apparently gives Blake enough information that Blake agrees to take down the photos and to give GidgetGirl admin access to the blog. This makes her much more likely to be an important source of info in the future.

Fri, 6/30: GidgetGirl’s access to inside information is pretty impressive. She is the one who tells Blake where Mittelwerk has gone. She also says that she’s heard about Valenzetti more than once and then tells Blake about the savants working on the equation 24/7. She clearly has a strong inside connection. So who -is- she? When Blake announces herself as Persephone, she asks whether GidgetGirl wants to tell her name as well. GidgetGirl doesn’t rise to the bait. Who could she be?

One interesting possibility about GidgetGirl exists–could she be the real Persephone? Persephone’s hacks were from a very clear moral ground, as GidgetGirl herself appears to be. GidgetGirl is also far less obvious about who she is…which meshes with Persephone as well. Finally, even with the Rachel’s statement announcing herself as Persephone, there remain those who doubt Rachel’s abilities. While GidgetGirl seems smarter, more capable, and appears to have stronger inside information.

I’m thinking that maybe she was on the HELGUS ANTONiUS, and as such does not have access to a computer. If she is on the boat, then I’m guessing that her next appearance on Rachel’s blog will be from where ever it was that the boat went. However, I think that it would be increadibly cheesy if we find out that GidgetGirl was now on the island.
Brennan from Dharma Secrets noted:

I’m thinking that she might be Macintyre’s GWC girlfriend. That would explain why she wanted the pictures down and how she knows so much about Mittlewerk’s movements. If that theory is correct, then she’s probably back in Denmark by now and maybe trying to find out from Macintyre where Mittlewerk went to.

UPDATE:
Well, It looks like Brennan may have nailed it. In a phone message included in Rachel’s Italy 06 post, GidgetGirl admits that she and the man that she loves are involved in whatever project that the Hanso Foundation is up to.

However, listening to the phone recording (GidgetGirl’s directions for Rachel to meet her in Paris in particular) has got my inner theory monger on edge. I smell a trap!

Click here to return to main blog:

Comments(0)

A while back, I found something interesting that made me rethink the Blast Door Map.

On navigation charts, the map is broken up into quadrants and labeled C1, C2, etc. This got me thinking, what if C1-C7 is not hatch designations, but refer to the quadrant in which they are located on the island. I have been trying to locate a good screen cap of Rousseau’s map of the island, but have not been able to find one. I’m thinking that if I can locate a map, perhaps I can divide it into quadrants, and maybe get some insight to the layout of the different stations on the island.

I couldn’t find a map that suited my needs, so I designed these maps in hopes of maybe going somewhere with this theory. I noticed that the island in Rousseau’s map looked very similar to the Hawaiian island of Oahu with a few alterations. So I found a suitable picture of Oahu, and fired up the old paint program.


I then overlaid a grid over the map, and numbered them as follows.


As indicated on the blast door map, C2 (Arrow Hatch) is on the north side of the island, C3 and C4 are located somewhere in the mountains, and C5 (Swan Hatch) is on the south side of the island. One thing that I do find interesting is that quadrant C5 and C7 (Staff Hatch) are opposite of each other. By looking at the blast door map, you would think that the Staff hatch is on the other side of the island. The fact that this map shows us that C5 and C7 are literally right next to each other could explain how Kate, Rousseau, and Clair were able to walk to the Staff Hatch and back with-in a day.

Also, this arrangement has a C8 quadrant, so if the “?” is C8, then it could be in the C8 quadrant. Notice the cliff in the C8 quadrant, which could be the cliff Boone fell off of in the plane. However, that is a rather far distance to travel considering that Lock and Boone did it in half a day, and that after Boone got hurt, Locke would have had to carry him almost half the length of the island on his way to the cave (which most likely is in the C5 quadrant, although it is possible that it could be in the C4 quadrant, but I won’t get into that).

Another thing that I find interesting about this map is that there is very little land in the C6 Quadrant. This suggests to me that it is C6 (Flame Hatch) that is the underwater hatch, and not C4, as everyone believes.

One of the main reasons that many believed that C4 was the underwater hatch is because the name “Pearl” was written in the vicinity of C4 on the blast door map.

However, we know from the “?” episode that the hatch in the center of the map was the Pearl (assuming that they did find the center hatch in that episode?). Another thing that may discredit the belief of C4 being under water is if you look at the geography on the blast door map, it appears that C4 is in the mountains.

One thing that might discredit this part of my theory is that in “Solitary”, when Sayid finds the cable (The first thing that got people theorizing about an underwater hatch), he was walking east (I say east because if the camp was on the south side of the island then walking with your right side facing the water would be east). However, there are a few things that I would like to point out that would disprove the idea that the cable was on the east side of the island.

The first thing that I would like to point out is that the show is filmed in Mokuleia on the north shore of Oahu. Because of this, all the directions in the show are reversed. In the episode, Sayid left the camp in the morning, so if he were walking east, then he would be walking towards the sun. However, in the episode, he was walking away from the sun.


The only way that Sayid could walk away from the sun when the camp is on the south side of the island is if he were traveling west, or if he walked east in the afternoon. Since the show is filmed on the north side of Oahu, then Naveen Andrews is walking west in the scene at the beginning of “Solitary”. This discrepancy could in fact contribute to my theory of the cable being on the southwest side of the island. If the Sayid left the camp in the morning, walking with the sun to his back, then he would be traveling west, hence if there were an underwater hatch, it could be in the C6 quadrant as indicated in my map.

Another thing that I have come to notice, although not directly from my map, is that there is yet another discrepancy with the Crash. If, as mentioned by the pilot in the first episode, the plane was flying from Sydney to Los Angeles (heading northeast) then turned around reroute to Fiji (now heading southwest) then the plane’s tail section should have landed on the northeast side of the island (quadrant C2). But, if you look at the trajectory in which the tail section of the plane hit the water, it was coming from the northwest which would put it in the C1 quadrant.


Take notice that the sunlight in the screen cap above is coming from right. If this point of view were facing north, then the light would be coming from the east.

The next thing that I came to notice is that the fuselage, which supposedly landed on the south side of the island, is facing the wrong way. The fuselage is facing the island, which singe they are on the south side of the island would mean that it is facing north. This would indicate that the plane was on a northern heading. As I previously stated, if the plane was traveling southwest towards Fiji, then why is the fuselage facing north? Shouldn’t the fuselage be facing south towards the ocean? The only thing that could possibly explain the arrangement of the wreckage is if the fuselage flipped up-side-down, then went into a flat spin as it fell towards the island.

Take notice that the sun is shining from the left. If the this point of view if facing south, then the sun would be shinning from the east.

Take note that the engine is facing towards the island with the exhaust blowing south towards the sea.

And finally, the cockpit is also facing the wrong direction. If Jack, Kate and Charlie had to walk inland from the beach to reach the cockpit, then that means that they would be heading north.

If the plane was flying southwest, then the nose of the plane should be pointing in the direction that it was going. Yet, when they arrive, Jack, Kate and Charlie find the plane pointing west (assuming that they are still walking in a northerly direction). Again, it could be possible that the plane went into a flat spin as it descended, but due to the lack of ground scaring around the cockpit, this is highly unlikely.

Click here to return to main blog:

Comments(2)

I have to say that listening to DJ Dan’s latest podcast was the first time in this game that I had a “Oh My God!” moment, but not for the reasons that you are thinking. The thing that caused this reaction was the fact that, up until 6 months ago, I lived in Petoskey Michigan. I was rather amused when I heard it mentioned in the podcast. However, with the posting of DJ Dan’s latest podcast, I have been beginning to think that the ARG designers are stalking me.

Yeah I know this sounds stupid! Why the hell would they be stalking some geek who uses his sleepless nights obsessing about a television show, well here’s the proof!

Proof:
My Vincent Theory posted June 03, 2006, 02:17:20 AM.
Retrievers of Truth site goes live, June 06, 2006.

My Island Map posted June 21, 2006, 07:45:21 PM.
Rachel’s Copenhagen 05 video with screen shots of Mittelwerk’s maps, June 23, 2006.

And now this Petoskey thing!!!!! I think I’m starting to let ARG get to me.

Click here to return to main blog:

Comments(6)

About a week ago, I found something interesting that made me rethink the Blast Door Map.

On navigation charts, the map is broken up into quadrants and labeled C1, C2, etc. This got me thinking, what if C1-C7 is not hatch designations, but refer to the quadrant in which they are located on the island. I have been trying to locate a good screen cap of Rousseau’s map of the island, but have not been able to find one. I’m thinking that if I can locate a map, perhaps I can divide it into quadrants, and maybe get some insight to the layout of the different stations on the island.

When I couldn’t find a map that suited my needs, I designed these maps in hopes of maybe going somewhere with this theory. I noticed that the island in Rousseau’s map looked very similar to the Hawaiian island of Oahu with a few alterations. So I found a suitable picture of Oahu, and fired up the old paint program.

However, once I made the maps, I realized that no matter how I numbered the quadrants, the map would never fit with what we know about the lay out of the hatches (i.e. the swan hatch is on the south side of the island, the arrow hatch on the north side, and the ?/Pearl being somewhere in the middle).

Still, the maps came out really terrific, so I figured that I share them. Maybe they will prove useful to other theory mongers.

Click here to return to main blog:

Comments(1)