Lost might well be one of, if not the, most divisive shows in the history of television. It started off as nothing more than a group of people surviving on an island. Then there was a polar bear, a strange sci-fi mystery, some time travel, a couple of timelines and then an ending that, if anything, made it all even more confusing.
The Dharma Initiative was at the center of the entire show and might be the element surrounded by the most mystery and confusion. We’ve put together a list of ten things we still don’t know about the strange research project.
10 What Did The Numbers Mean?
The loveable Hurley was a secretive lottery winner followed around by a series of numbers: 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42. This was introduced all the way back in season 1, and viewers waited with bated breath for seven years to find out what they meant.
Eventually, we saw them correspond with the final candidates to replace Jacob as The Island’s protector, but surely there was more to it than that? After all, they were printed on The Hatch and they spent weeks typing them into the computer down in The Swan. We found out their connection to The Island, but never really what they meant to Dharma. If they meant anything at all. You never really know with Lost.
9 Why The Egyptian Hieroglyphs?
When the countdown in The Swan went past 108 minutes, we thought all hell would break loose. Eventually, it did, but before that, we saw Egyptian symbols appear instead of the timer. These same hieroglyphs appeared in various places around the show, and apparently they translated to mean ‘underworld’. But why were they there? If Jacob was supposed to be Roman, it doesn’t seem to line up to have Egyptian symbols everywhere, so their relevance must have been to Dharma. No explanation was ever really given, so we can only assume the producers basically just thought they looked pretty cool.
8 What Were They Vaccinating Against?
For a while, a mysterious vaccine was lurking around The Island. Desmond was the first to find it, but various characters were exposed to it, and effectively, it did nothing. There seemed to be no symptoms from taking it, but it also didn’t seem to protect against anything specific.
Then again, if nothing happens to those that take it, maybe it’s doing its job? Claire gave it to Aaron without really understanding why, but it reassured her against her fears of him becoming sick. Either way, it eventually fizzled out and went on to never be mentioned again, leaving the answer to what it was actually doing to be lost in mystery forever.
7 Why Couldn’t Pierre Chang Choose A Name Not Candle-Related?
Pierre Chang was an interesting figure throughout Lost. We first saw him in an orientation film, then eventually encountered him in ‘real’ life, before he died along with the rest of Dharma at the hands of The Others. However, in every orientation video, he gave himself a new name. Eventually, this was revealed to be for security reasons, but what was his obsession with candles? Dr. Marvin Candle, Dr. Mark Wickmund, Dr. Edgar Halliwax. It probably isn’t that important, but it is pretty weird. Then again, this is Lost we’re talking about. This could easily have been the answer to every single unanswered question.
6 Why Did They Have That Fake Door?
Remember the strange decoy town that showed up in ‘Three Minutes’? It was built as a cover-up for the real camp The Others operated from. There was a door shrouded in mystery which was guarded at all times, but it was eventually shown to simply open to... nothing.
It had all of the classic Dharma logos on it, but nothing inside. That seems like a strange, pointless move from the normally very calculated and precise Dharma Initiative, so it seemed like more was going on there. Perhaps another station that was filled in or destroyed? Maybe it really was nothing, but we never got to find out.
5 Why Does No One In The Real World Question The Supply Drops?
We eventually found out that the supply drops being received by Desmond were being sent by The Others to keep him convinced he should be doing his job. However, they had to be coming from somewhere. Apparently, that somewhere is a warehouse in Guam. Those involved are probably being paid a handsome sum to keep quiet about the seemingly pointless activity they’re involved in, but with Dharma defunct in the future, why are they still sending supply drops? Who pays them? Where are they getting the Dharma Initiative logos printed on the boxes? It raises a lot of questions that aren't really even referred to, let alone answered.
4 Did The Others Know About The Swan?
It’s hard to know whether The Others knew about The Swan or not. They made it pretty obvious that they knew about the remaining Dharma stations, but surely they’d have been able to see the final one on one of the cameras in a different station?
None of them seem that surprised by it, so perhaps that’s why they left it alone for so long- they needed people to stay there and keep pressing the button for them, after all. We never really find out just how much they actually knew about it.
3 When Did It Actually Stop Existing?
There are a few contrasting things said about when the Dharma Initiative stopped its work. We know most of the members were killed by The Others in 1992 but then Ben goes on to state that it hasn’t operated ‘for over 20 years’ in 2010. Surely he’d just say ‘nearly 30’ if it stopped in 1992?
Why would he imply it didn't stop operating straight away? There were sites off of The Island as well, but there is no mention of their fate anywhere in the show. They might well have continued operation for years after The Purge, but who knows?
2 What Were They Actually Doing?
The Dharma Initiative is so central to Lost and so much of the show is built around its mystery and history, yet no one really had the time to sit back and ask, ‘what are you doing?’. We know they carried out a whole host of experiments, from tests to do with everything from magnetism to animals, but what was their end goal? A game called The Lost Experience revealed that their plan was apparently to change the result of an equation that predicted the exact date of human extinction. This seems like a pretty important detail the show should have at least attempted to explain.
1 If Dharma Didn’t Do It, Would It Have Happened?
The biggest question of all, and it’s so confusing that it's barely even understandable even with a full explanation we never really got. Due to the way time works in Lost, whatever happened, happened.
Except, when they’re trying to blow up Jughead at the end season 5, it is in order to stop ‘The Incident’, which is what led to The Hatch, which is what led everyone to the Island in the first place, which is what meant they could try and stop The Incident... confusing, right? Because The Island literally has to create a second reality just to escape its own paradox, we never really know for certain which one should/would/did happen. Or if they all did. Maybe the Smoke Monster did it.
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