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May 17, 2006
Are you Lost? Maybe it's because of the giant magnet.
[Don't read this if you haven't seen tonight's episode yet.]
Does anyone else have any theories about the giant magnet on Lost? We don't read enough forums to know if other people have come up with this theory, but we think there were three big clues in tonight's episode:
- Eko's cross getting pulled up by the magnet.
- The Hanso Foundation ad that said, "Let your compass guide you [dot com!]."
- The sailboat showing up at the end.
If you put this together with the other available facts about who has accidentally turned up on the island -- the Oceanic flight, the Nigerian drug smuggler's plane, Rousseau's research vessel, and the real Henry Gale's balloon, it sure seems like the Dharma Project guys are using the gigantic magnet to tamper with the perception of magnetic north in the area, so that the compasses and guidance systems on these various crafts go haywire and lead everyone to the island.
It would seem that the Dharma team is doing this sort of thing whenever they need new test subjects for their project. As Amy puts it, they are using the magnet to "fish" for whatever happens to be out there. Another way of looking at it is that they've created their own man-made Bermuda Triangle.
One interesting exchange from last night's episode, though, suggests they may have been doing more than just randomly fishing: When Michael asks who "James Ford" is, Ms. Klugh responds, "You know him as Sawyer." To me, this suggests they may have known who was on the airplane before it crashed, and perhaps they brought it down to get specific people (most probably Walt). (Can't you just see the scene where Jack confronts ole Beardy: "But dozens of people died!" "It'll all be worth it, Jack, if we can prove mankind can blah blah blah....") Maybe they get them out there on the island so everyone can be free from psychic interference or some such. Who knows.
The show's creators have been making a big deal of saying that next week's episode will answer all kinds of questions, and I suspect the purpose of the magnet will be one of the things explained.
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Comments
good thoughts, agent19. but i really do thing they are messing with magnetic north on the compasses in those vessels. they will explain it by borrowing a page from the same physics textbooks the writers of "24" use.
probably they shot down the Oceanic flight once they got it within range, but the ships and balloon were probably a lot easier to bring straight to the island.
Posted by: ADM at May 18, 2006 12:58 PM
Technically speaking, using the magnet to simulate magnetic north wouldn't work to attract airliners, planes, balloons, and boats to the island. I'm not sure how they are going to deal with that. However, my theory about what's going on is that the "button" has to be pushed every 108 mins to keep the magnet from firing up to full strength. As the countdown gets close to 0 the magnetic "warms up" in preparation for going to full strength. This is why we saw Echo's cross levitate as the countdown was nearing 0. If the Dharma Initiative people want to bring the magnet to full strength they need a way to protect the hatch inhabitant from its harmful effects. That is why there are those blast doors that Locke got stuck in. Henry Gale didn't hit the button that time because he knew the others were trying to bring down another plane or boat or something. The black light came on while Locke was stuck down there and exposed an evacuation map in case something went wrong and the hatch inhabitants had to leave. I'm sure I'm wrong on a lot of this, but we'll see.
Posted by: Agent 0019 at May 18, 2006 10:39 AM