Putting in Perspective: Season 3 Desmond
Hey all. A question that has been playing on my (and a few others I've discussed this with's) mind recently is whether or not Season 3 future-seeing Desmond is the same sort of thing we've seen in Season 4 and 5, mind-flying rule-bending time traveller.
First of all, let's have a refresher of Season 3 Desmond. After the turning of the fail safe key, Desmond time travelled back to the late 90s, where he ran into Ms. Hawking and Charlie. This is the first time we get a hint that Desmond is special and doesn't follow the rules, as Hawking suggests that he can change the course of time (however, he shouldn't). He then comes back to 2004, where he woke up naked outside the remains of the Swan. After this, he had what he called "deja vu", mentioning the content of Locke's speech before he even spoke it. After this, he constantly saw visions of Charlie dying, prevented it, but then Charlie heroically dealt with his fate.
DESMOND: I've tried, brother. I've tried twice to save you, but the universe has a way of course correcting and -- and I can't stop it forever. I'm sorry. I'm sorry because no matter what I try to do you're going to die, Charlie.
Now, cut to The Constant and Because You Left where we learn Desmond's electromagnetic history has made him vulnerable to the throes of time, however he has the power to affect it. So does this work with Season 3 Des? I think so.
DAN: Wait, your friend, Desmond? Has he recently been exposed to high levels of radiation or electromagnetism?
Let's start with the immediate effects of turning the key, which I see as most similar to turning the wheel. In both cases, after being exposed suddenly to a huge dose of electromagnetic energy, the characters are transported through time and resulted. The slight difference being Des' involved consciousness time travel for a spell, however they both finished with the travellers (including Locke and Eko in the Swan case) physically moving in space, waking up in a different spot to where their journey commenced. I see this as the only "logical" answer to the Deslockeko trio surviving an implosion. The implosion had mental effects on Locke and Eko as well, sending both of them on sort of "spirit journeys" by the Island. Btw, Desmond's clothes were obliterated by the sudden release of energy, suggested by his cuts and bruises when he wakes up. (Yeah, I know that's weak, comment if you've got a better theory about the nudity)
DESMOND: When I turned that key my life flashed before my eyes. And then I was back in the jungle and still on this bloody island. But those flashes, Charlie -- those flashes -- they didn't stop.
Then we move on to Des' flashes, which LP numbers as six (excluding his day in the past). I believe, fitting in with S4&5 knowledge, that these are brief consciousness time jumps that occur when something has been changed in Desmond's timeline, much like his dreamory in Because You Left. In this case, Charlie's death has been delayed everytime (Perhaps indirectly in the case of Locke's speech, or perhaps that was just a random remnant of post-discharge energy or something). The fate theme plays in here, because even though Charlie was "fated" to die much earlier, his "true fate", in service to the Island, was to deactivate the Looking Glass and communicate with Penny. So his fate was to have his first fate put off, so he could fulfill his new fate. :S
MS. HAWKING: You don't do it because you choose to, Desmond. You do it because you're supposed to.
If the future-seeing is consciousness travel, which each of the flashes do resemble, it is perfectly sound to say that Season 3 Desmond The Time Traveller does not contradict at all the future...or is that the past?
4 comments:
This is very interesting. I think Desmond is very special because of his exposure to the energy underneath the Swan (which is 30,000 times greater than the Orchid energy - and that can move an entire Island & manipulate time/space). I think Desmond is the only "variable" in the equation (not Jack, Kate, Sawyer, etc). Desmond is their one hope for changing the course of destiny.
The problem that I see is with Desmond's consciousness traveling and the Lefties physically traveling through time. To me, these are very different from each other and have different implications, but in the Lost world it seems perhaps not. What was the purpose of Desmond's traveling versus the Lefties traveling? The thing that is interesting is that they basically had the same purpose. The lefties travel through time to put things in place for the future. For example, Locke meets up with Richard to let him know that one day he will be special and be the leader, meanwhile Daniel meets with 1954 Richard to tell him to bury the bomb. These things had to happen all along to ensure that the future would go just as planned. (The most recent episode with Daniel and Eloise is an extremely dramatic representation of this idea.) Likewise, as you have mentioned, Desmond has done the same thing. If we are to believe that Desmond was always to fail to push the button causing the plane crash, turn the failsafe key, and have flashbacks to prevent Charlie's death until he makes it to the Looking Glass, shuts off the jammer, and makes contact with Penny. If that was always supposed to happen, then is he really changing events in time? We can also see this destiny/fate theme in Desmond's interaction with Daniel. So, I believe that Desmond's consciousness traveling was a precursor to the island time traveling (for the audience). Although they are two different types of traveling, they are in effect, ensuring the fate/destiny of the characters and island.
I recently wrote a community blog regarding the two types of time travel seen -- physical and consciousness. My theory is that Desmond is special because of his exposure to the Swan discharge.
During Faraday's conversation with Chang, he mentioned that the energy at the Orchid station was extremely powerful (enough to kill somebody who had gotten too close).
He then said that the energy at the Swan station site is nearly 30,000 times as big. That is a colossal amount of energy. If the energy at the Orchid is strong enough to move an ENTIRE Island and manipulate time and space, then the energy at the Swan is powerful enough to completely annihilate the entire world.
We have already known that for a while though -- Kelvin mentioned that he was "saving the world" by discharging the electromagnetic analomy from becoming too large. Chang also alluded to this in the Swan orientation.
Faraday also mentioned that the Incident occurred when the DHARMA members drilled into this energy pocket, and it had to be covered with concrete, like Chernobyl.
So now we know the Island has two main pockets of energy: at the Orchid site and the Swan. Both of these energies have something in common: the ability to manipulate time. But they manipulate time in two different ways:
- The Orchid station (when the frozen wheel is turned) manipulates time in a physical aspect (i.e. the time shifts, etc). When this occurs, everyone moves in time (the Others are an exception, but that's a different topic). Also, as seen in the Orchid video outtakes, a single bunny could be moved in time (physically, not by consciousness).
- The Swan station manipulates time in a different way. When Desmond was exposed to this energy, he shifted to 1995. After he lost consciousness, he came back to the present (2004) with a new ability -- parapsycology (ability to see the future) and later time traveled again in consciousness (in The Constant). This most likely did not come from a direct result of turning the key, since we know that Minkowski had similar experiences. Desmond's unique abilty that he inherited from the Swan energy was being able to 'change the past' and also predict future events.
My theory is that this energy at the Swan did something to Desmond -- it made him special. It gave him the miraculously special ability to actually change destiny; to change the past. Instead of the standard rule of WHH applying to him, Desmond actually acquires new memories (i.e. Faraday at the Swan) and can change events (i.e. meeting Daniel at Oxford)
Faraday seemed pretty convinced by his research about the WHH theory: "You cannot change anything; you can't. Even if you tried to, it wouldn't work... whatever happened, happened". But then he had a change in mind -- the variables could change the past. I think there is only one variable, and that is Desmond Hume. So why is he a variable and Jack/Kate/Sawyer/Daniel etc. not? Because he's special (turning the key/vast electromagnetic energy exposure/finding a constant/changing the past/etc.)
So when Desmond turned the fail-safe key, he was exposed to the immense electromagnetic energy pocket (when the discharge occured and the sky turned purple) which gave him the ability to alter not only his destiny, but the destiny of others as well. I remember thinking that Desmond was definitely dead when he turned the key in Live Together, Die Alone -- but instead, he inherited the unique properties of the energy and became almost like a "superhero" (as Hurley would call him). This is why Desmond is so special and can actually change the past.
Really great entry and really great comments. Just a short musing, in response to Desmond's post-hatch-implosion nakedness; I kind of look at it as a re-birth sort of experience, him re-entering the world in a completely new light with new abilities. So perhaps that's what they were going for.
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