figuring out the timeline
I see one important tidbit from Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham that seems to have been overlooked thus far in the discussions here, and that is Widmore telling Locke that it was BEN who exiled him from the island. Reason tells me that Widmore had to be off the island by the late 60’s (he has at least one child off the island in Penny who has to be about 40…and we presume he founded the Dharma Initiative about 1970, right?). On the other hand, Ben does not purge Dharma and take over leadership of the Others until the late 80’s/early 90’s….so did Widmore stick around until the purge? If so, how did he father off-island children? OR did future Ben, post 316 crash, find a 1960’s Richard Alpert like Locke did and declare his leadership, banishing then-leader Widmore, only to flash away again? This could explain Richard’s approaching Ben as a child as he does Locke…but in this case, who led the Others between Widmore’s banishment and the Purge?
I’m confused.
Any ideas?
Refer to my new theory “Revealing Penelope Widmore”, which sort of answers some of your questions. Question: Widmore founded the DHARMA Initiative?
I always assumed Widmore founded the Dharma with the DeGroots, Chang, possibly Horace Goodspeed, Mittelwerk and possibly Valenzeti.
I am sure there were many other ways of getting to and from the island aside from the submarine. It is not an efficient way of getting necessary supplies, and especially materials to the island for the massive construction projects being undertaken at the time. Even air drops cannot account for the Dharma vans and possibly cranes that would be needed.
Hi beccaan, hopefully this might help with the time line a bit.
The date of the Purge, is December, 19, 1992. This is the date of Ben’s birthday.
Rousseau and her team, land on ‘the island’ in 1984. It appears Ben may have being groomed, at least the ‘unofficial’ leader of ‘the others’, somewhere in this time frame, or shortly thereafter.
Widmore was exiled, but I am not certain of when. I personally believe it was before the Purge in 1992.
This is somewhat verified, when I think it was Miles who says, that Widmore has been looking for ‘the island’ for twenty years.
The freighter arrives on ‘the island’ in 2004.
I think until we learn more, this is as close as we can determine, on Widmore’s time line.
Ben comes to ‘the island’ as a young boy, sometime in the 70’s.
Young Rousseau and the french team arrive in September of 1988. It is clearly stated in the episode when Jin asks her the date and year.
Miles does say 20 years, but he could be making a broad statement. He could be way off. Also HOW WOULD HE KNOW?
Widmore is:
17 in 1954. (Jughead, Life/Death Jeremy Bentham)
33 in 1970. (founding of Dharma according to Swan film)
43 in 1980. (recording of Orientation videos)
55 in 1992. (Dharma purge)
67 in 2004. (Pilot episode)
68 in 2005. (The Shape of Things To Come, Season 4)
70 in 2007. (Season 5)
lol Following me around to correct me, are we, Andre7?
I’ll try and keep you busy, then! lol
Widmore was most def off the island before Rousseau came, let alone the Purge.
Hi Dabs. Please do not be paranoid. I am not stalking you. But as Satchel Paige once said: ‘Don’t look behind you, something might be gaining…’
I am just obsessed with reconstructing the proper chronology in my head for this show. Especially the pre-815 details. The three major events that are hard to fit in are the 1985 event, the Orchid-Casimir incident and the Purge. All three were potentially cataclysmic events and they do not quite gel with the break between Dharma and the Hostiles, and the arrival of Rousseau.
If you think about the infrastructure needed for Dharma both ON and OFF the island, it just does not make sense…
Apparently the purge we see in ‘The Man Behind The Curtain’ was only one more skirmish in the war between the ‘Hostiles’ and the ‘Dharma’ people. Dharma continued to maintain a presence on the island for a time – hiring Kelvin Inman, for instance. Wait, no. Now I am confused again.
Andre7, beyond being mildly humourous, I assure you, I placed no further emphasis on it!
I completely understand, where you are coming from.
We all stand to be corrected, from time to time!