The Incident Exposed! Inappropriate Touching, Lies and Jean Claude Van Dam!
I started writing a comment on another theory but it was getting out of hand so I thought I’d write this up and post it in questions. What causes the incident?
The two prevailing theories I’ve read go as follows:
Big Miles changes Little Miles’s diaper, Jean Claude Van Dam runs in two seconds too late, extends his arm towards the pair and does a slow motion ‘NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!’. There’s a flash of light and Pierre runs in holding one of his arms in his other hand and says ‘WTF guys? I thought we talked about this.’. Ok, that’s not exactly how the theory goes but you get the idea. Miles touches Miles. In the real world he simply would have gone blind but on the island it causes an electromagnetic space-time twelfth dimensional cross-pollination anomaly (EMSTTDCPA for short).
Theory number two basically states that the Swan Station causes the incident. This could happen one of two ways. Either it happens during construction of the station or it is the result of whatever experimentation they’re doing there later. I guess they could accidently drill into something while they’re building the Swan Station causing the release of something like electromagnetic build-up.
Here are the problems I have with these theories.
Miles/Miles Theory. It’s a good theory, sure. I don’t see how it works out though. It causes such problems on the island! We know that the Swan Station has been reverted to simply maintaining this electromagnetic anomaly that was caused by the incident so how exactly does that anomaly happen just because some guy came into contact with himself? Besides, after 30 years Miles isn’t the same person. Every cell in his body has died and been replaced. So how exactly does physical contact become a problem? Also, if you want to assume that Pierre lost his arm in the incident then I guess there would be an explosion or something? Maybe Big Miles dies in that explosion but what about Little Miles? We know he survives but it doesn’t seem likely. When I picture it in my head I see an explosion and when the dust clears Big Miles is on the ground dead, Chang is unconscious minus one arm and baby Miles is looking up at the camera from the bottom of a small crater kind of like Superman when the Kent’s found him. Seems unlikely to me.
Swan Theory. I would say that the incident having to do with the Swan Station either because of the construction or because of experiments is the more likely of the two because as I stated above I don’t see how the two Miles contact could relate to the electromagnetic anomaly. I think we can also rule out that the construction of the station caused the incident for a couple of pretty obvious reasons. First because the station is completed eventually and two because if it wasn’t finished yet then there would be no button to press and the world would have ended 108 minutes later. That obviously didn’t happen. Unless baby Miles flew around the world super fast to turn it the other way and reverse time so they could build a computer so they could input the numbers. More unlikely.
I’m going with scientists gone wild. The incident was caused by some experiment probably done at the Swan Station or at the Orchid. I think the two stations work together, but anyway’ The Swan computer MUST have been set up to deal with the anomaly BEFORE IT HAPPENED. Otherwise they would have only had 108 minutes to construct it to save the world. It could have been put into place as a safety measure or’ maybe they knew it would happen then they made up this ‘incident’ as a cover for the people who are stationed in the Swan Station to press the button.
I think the incident was not unexpected and that some experiment taking place at the Swan but probably, in my opinion, between the Swan and the Orchid, was left incomplete when the Hostiles initiated the purge. I think that yes, the world might end if the button isn’t pressed (or maybe it just releases the polar bears. Who knows?) and that the failsafe was installed as a way to abandon the experiment if they needed to. It’s the only way I can imagine that they would have built a failsafe then still had someone continue pressing that damn button! Why!?! If they have the ability to seal it off for good? Really, think about it! They have this failsafe installed and they keep pressing the button? Seems kind of dumb now that we know the failsafe actually works to seal off the electromagnetism.
Wow. I started at Point A and ended up at Point F. I think I brushed over B, C, D and E somewhere in there. The incident wasn’t an accident. That’s my theory. Chang was lying in the video but as we all know, you can’t trust a hippy. Since I eventually came to a theory I’m going to go ahead and put this under theories instead of questions.
*****AFTERTHOUGHT*****
I recall a theory from a short time ago that was posted on Dark UFO that some other user was kind enough to copy and paste for us here… It was about the stations communicating through different times. I loved that theory and I think it could apply here. Maybe the Pearl Station was monitoring the Swan in the future… like, when you were at the Pearl and you watched the video screens you saw events that haven’t happened yet. It works to explain why they would go through the trouble of writing out all that minutiae such as “SR moves the ping pong table”. It becomes significant because it hasn’t happened yet! They could be testing this ability to monitor the future (ala Past-Watch by Orson Scott Card, only in reverse). This way they could monitor for an event like “Button-Presser Number One is passed out drunk and Button-Presser Number Two is in the crapper with only one minute remaining” or something so someone could get there to press the button for them or to turn the failsafe.
highbrow, you crack me up. I love the thoughts here, especially the time travel aspect in the stations! That makes so much sense. I think that is very well right on. My only other comment is that we already know what happens when they don’t push the button – Locke, of all people, already showed us. The purple sky, but not the end of the world. So they were preventing an electromagnetic anomaly. First, did they know this was the result of the leak, and second, what was the *real* result of that? Maybe they didn’t know what would happen, and that’s why the failsafe was created? Or would it mess up their experiments? I think this event was a turning point in the electromagnetic forces, turning polar ends against each other, which causes all the other events, from major to minor, to reverse the balance. Positives and negatives swithc. But that’s another theory … (mine, actually), so we’ll stick to yours.
I think the writers are really going to throw us for a loop on what the incident is. Maybe it’s something to do with our 3rd party as well.
love your title, btw. lol
*switch*
Thanks… The purple sky is how it starts when the button isn’t pressed but we haven’t seen that actually play out all the way. Every time it starts to happen someone enters the numbers or turns the failsafe. The purle sky could be the beginning of the end of the world. It might be something less dramatic than that.
Yes. It very well could be something we’ve been led to forget about, when in actuality the consequences are still in play. It could be a butterfly-effect-end-of-the-world. Or beginning of a time loop. 🙂
highbrow, three plausible scenarios you have presented for us.
While I am fairly convinced that Miles may in fact be responsible for his father losing his arm somehow, I do not believe this is what causes the famous incident.
I also am inclined to believe that the incident at the end of this season, may not be the actual ‘incident’ we have heard so much about.
Having said that, I believe ‘the mad scientists gone awry’ theory, as it makes the most sense.
We can presume that with the digging which is being done, with the ‘Orchid’ and the ‘Swan’ stations, that the opportunity for disaster lies there. They are working with high levels of electromagnetic power. A virtual hot-bed for disaster on ‘the island’.
The one interesting point which has me somewhat confused is, we have been led to believe that the ‘Swan’ station was constructed after ‘the incident’ to compensate for the build-up of electromagnetism, caused by ‘the incident’.
We see, this is not the case. The construction of the ‘Swan’ station is already underway, without any hint of why Dharma needs this station to be built.
Once again, we are not being shown the ‘full’ picture, surrounding the need for its construction, and what its true purpose was intended to be.
lol highbrow, I was simo-posting with you and mojo!
Good thoughts.
One additional thought I have with respect to the button-pushing is, I feel part of its purpose became maintaining ‘the island’ from skipping wildly through time.
Yeah, it could be to prevent skipping. Skipping maybe be the result of the incident. It still works with my theory though which basically boils down to the following statement.
“The Swan Station and the computer (where the numbers are entered) both must have been constructed prior to the incident which means that the incident was predicted and measures were taken to mitigate the effects.”
I go further to state that the “incident” isn’t really an incident at all but rather something that is done intentionally as part of an experiment. They make up this story about an incident as a cover story to feed to the button pressers.
Incident was predicted … or seen via the Orchid. As you said, this would cause them to build the computer/the Swan to compensate for their experiments and still move forward, knowing that something would go wrong. This would also explain Chang’s explanation in the video that the incident was unavoidable.
You mean the DHARMA Booth Video? That was made post-incident I believe. Chang said that the purge was coming but they could not escape it. I have a whole theory about that as well… The Truth About the Purge.
highbrow, I agree with you that ‘the incident’ was predicted. That is why I pointed out the discrepancies. it was not to detract from your theory, in any way. It was actually in support of it.
If this was done as a deliberate action, it would have to be because of something that was required to be done in The Orchid Station.
I am not saying this was a good thing, as it may in fact have been a situation which was in opposition of ‘the island’ and its resources.
Question on the monitering stations and the idea of them moitoring from the future/past…
They see Mikhail on TV in one of the hatches, wouldnt this alone discreditthe thought of him monitoring the future?
I feel you are on about Chang losing his arm due to contact of the 2Miles, but am weary to believe it caused the actual incident, which I do think we will see by seasons end.
As for predicting the incident…they’re on a timetraveling island, with timetravelers from the future…the weatherman has nothing on their forecasting skills.
At the very least the scientists knew, not only that the incident was going to happen, but exactly how to deal with it! This is why I think they caused it intentionally as a part of their experiment.
Dabs, please don’t mess with my theory. If you don’t agree with it then fine but geez, you don’t need to be bitter.
This is, for future reference, an example of me pulling your leg.
highbrow, your avatar just became less cute to me! lol
AES, yeah… I thought about Mr. Bakunin on the monitor. I’m going to go back and look into specifics of that and see how it works here.
As for time travellers telling them about the incident… I don’t think the Losties know all that much about it. They at least don’t have specifics. As I stated in my last comment the fact that DHARMA had enough specifics to know exactly how to deal with the problem shows that they knew more than the Losties could have told them.
I think that two Miles touching has nothing to do with the incident or with Chang losing his arm.
Sorry Dabs! I’m thinking about changing it…
Dont you think that now that our favorite bumbling physicist has returned, that he may have some incident insight?
He may, sure. But then why not just prevent it?
as it goes with electromagnetism, there are two poles. positive and negative. i see the swan and orchid on opposite sides of the island, opposite poles to each other. and the line of the truce splitting them sort of down the middle so it looks like a yin/yang symbol. the swan is on the hostile side of course…
but perhaps they are building them at the same time because they are both necessary for the other to exist…at least for the experiments they are doing maybe the swan ensures that the orchid doesn’t cause a time catastrophe.
i dont know what i am talking about…but the ying yang visual makes me happy.
It makes me happy and sad at the same time…
Totally agree. The Swan and the Orchid are part of the same system.
yeah which is why the body was brought from one to the other… instead of burying it wherever…
There are a couple of possibilities with regards to the body I think.
One: You have all these workers out there at the Swan Construction Site and apparently it’s super secret that they’re out there… So a guy dies, right? Maybe you use his body in your experiment which involves sending organic material through time and nobody back at the base camp misses him. Maybe…
Two: You have a guy on your staff with this special ability to listen to dead people. Maybe you bring the body to that guy to get the skinny on exactly what happened.
Three: Both.
Four: You want to create a situation that provides the opportunity for antics and hilarity so you have a security guy carry the body in a minibus across a tropical island… maybe throw in a fat guy and some garlic mayonnaise…
hmm i like 1. the organic material thing. does that mean his teeth fillings would have effed up the machine and the magnetism pulling it out was good? and no problem with dead people touching themselves right?
Well, I have a problem with dead people touching themselves… but I think the space-time continuum is ok with it…
even if you die with your hand down ur pants? you are no fun highbrow
If you die with your hands down your pants, sure, that’s ok. But if you come across your own dead body do not put your hand down the pants the dead body is wearing.
ok. ill write that down. but i dont think theyll put the dead body in contact with the live one. i think they will take the dead body back only a minute or so and it will touch the other body still dead. would that be ok. 2 of the same body dead? is it being alive that matters or actually touching no matter what?
Yeah, that’s ok… so long as you don’t put ’em in odd positions and whatnot… Gotta have respect for the dead…
I THINK faraday wouldnt try and prevent a major event from occuring, being he buys ‘whatever happened…’, but I could see him trying to save the lives of people, meaning possibly changing minor events caused by a larger event….i dont know if that makes sense…
Daniel believes that whatever happened, happened. He believes that it’s true. I don’t think he’s endorsing it though. I’m sure he would like just as much as anyone else for that to not be true. Unfortunately it is true.
Love your polar DI stations, eko. I was wondering if anyone had an idea where the two stations are in relation to each other. I can’t seem to find the Orchid on a map (those that are out there).
so highbrow, do you think Chang/Horace know about Miles being able to talk to dead people then? Do you think they know about the Losties?
No. I think Chang can talk to dead people like Miles can… or I guess the other way around. Miles gets it from Chang, his father. Sort of like Luke being strong with the force because his father was too…
I think Daniel Faraday definitely lied about ‘Whatever Happened, happened’, either to make sure the other ‘losties’ didn’t try to change anything, or in part, because his research was flawed.
I also think Daniel is going to attempt to ‘fix things’. We know how well Daniel’s former experiments, usually end. With somebody dying!
aha – epiphonous moment!
And yes, I was confusing the incident with the purge in the DBV. Thanks for catching that. I wonder where Chang is now – he wasn’t in with the Others, obviously, but he survived the purge. DI Ann Arbor? If the 3rd party isn’t DI Ann Arbor, then he could possibly be a 4th party?
I mean about the Miles and Chang both having ESP for the dead.
Dabs – your comment makes me wonder once again what is Dan’s motive? Why is he so passionate about this? Is it because he, too, feels like he is saving the world from destruction?
mojo, part of Daniel’s passion may come from the mistake he made with Theresa Spencer.
highbrow, that comment about dead mans pants, just cracked me up!
PS: please don’t change the avatar!
I wonder if he’s crying when he sees the crash because it means he didn’t succeed at whatever his mission was back in that time period, even though he doesn’t know why.
And … what’s the deal with the person he’s with that asks him why he’s crying? I read somewhere it was a caretaker?
Well Mojo, if he’s crying because his mission to change the past failed then I guess maybe whatever happened really did happen.
highbrow! goes to show I haven’t made up my mind either way on that one, although I tend to agree with you that whatever happened happened. I am hoping there will be some sort of balance between the two … lol.
Step into the light that is Whatever Happened, Happened! I just put on a pot of coffee…
sounds inviting, highbrow, but that better be some darn good coffee!
Oh, it is. If we get a bad pot I just go back in time and change it… oops…
lol literally, highbrow! ha ha ha ha
For HB & Eko: Don’t sweat the petty things, pet the sweaty things.
And anyway, wow I have some reading to catch up on. HB, what does it mean if my computer sounds like a bug zapper minus the gratifying “btzs” of killing bugs? IDK…It does mean I get behind on my theory interfering around here for one thing.
That’s computer language for “Back-up your data immediately!”.
Really though it depends on where the sound is coming from. For now, if the sound is bothering you, just cover it with a thick blanket to muffle the noise.
And you get paid for that kind of “help”… don’t you?!?
The problem with covering it with a thick blanket is that it already has a tendency to get rather warm near the battery (good old Dell) so it needs all the ventilation it can get.
Bottom line question on this theory though: is it the Losties from the future that are responsible for all the ‘failsafe’ buttons, the incident, the purge, etc. I mean Radzinsky isn’t necessarily the best listener, and he has a rather paranoid way about him…so I could see him hearing two things that Miles or Daniel or Jack might tell him and then bam…DHARMA’s work and experiments are on to another level…
Not a very intelligent comment, I know, but I’m allowed to pull a Kate every once in awhile.
This is a good theory.
Thanks Kim! Hey, I was totally kidding about the thick blanket. Do not do that!
So, ummm, yeah… are the Losties/Pasties responsible for the failsafe? I don’t know about that… maybe Daniel is to some extent. I don’t think Jack, Kate, Hurley, etc… have the knowledge they’d need to really provide any kind of input into the construction of the Swan or the systems inside it. All they ever did in there was push buttons and one time this guy turned a key.
Concerning the incident… The more and more I think about it the less and less I beleive it has anything at all to do with Miles touching Miles… I doubt it has anything to do with Miles at all actually… unless it’s caused by the Pasties as a whole…
Yeah thanks, my computer blew up. Just kidding. I knew you were kidding…
I think what I am ultimately getting at is that somehow, just like Kate had that ill-timed, not thought out conversation with Roger that sends his little suspicion radar up…I could see there being a slew of information shared with random DHARMA.
Horace and Chang are two very different ‘leaders’ involved with DHARMA. If the two of them get little bits of information from the future Losties, what are the implications? Not necessarily that the Losties would know what all is involved, but hey, they have all been to “the Hatch” (and used it as a torture chamber, a place for investigating where they were, encountering Des, etc) — they know just enough to be dangerous to disrupting the order that exists. If Radzinsky finds out about the Purge and also finds out that people in the future arrive and try to ‘disrupt’ what he’s been doing…a “failsafe” seems like the kind of word he would use…
Yeah, I don’t know… Well, I take that back. I know what will eventually happen, I just don’t know how that would play out.
I don’t think that the Pasties will be with DHARMA much longer… Things are getting a but complicated and it’s only going to get worse. I think they’ll be around just long enough to get to the point where Chang is making the DHARMA Booth Video. In fact, some people thought they heard him say “LaFleur, what are you doing?” or something like that at the end of the video. Maybe this is the Pasties making their move and fleeing DHARMA. That along with speculation that Dan was partly responsible for the making of that film might indicate that the Pasties are divided on if they should work with the DI to try to change things or if they should take off and hide in the jungle… maybe joining the Others…
The sooner they leave the DHARMA Initiative the less likely they are to spill information to them.
As for Radzinsky… geez, I don’t even know what to make of that guy… all I can think of is “when is this guy going to die?”. The only thing interesting he could possibly bring about is a visit from the DeGroots which I think might be one of the most intersting reveals of the entire series thus far.
i hate radzinsky too. and i just missed a lot of comments, i lvoed that the sweaty petty line kim. it warmed my…heart.
i believe faraday will have some excellent info to reveal to all of our pasties about what dharma is all about and what he is there to do…maybe even what they are there to do. i feel a faraday centric episode because it is the variable- in stark contrast to the constant.
maybe we will see what happens to des too.
I’m not sure about the relationship Dan has with the other Pasties. When Sawyer told Jack that “he’s not here” or whatever it seemed like maybe he’d lost his mind or disappeared in some time travelling experiment… but it turns out that he was in Ann Arbor. He may have left the island against the wishes of the other Pasties and they might not be super tight anymore. The DBV leads me to believe that Dan is onboard with trying to help the DI survive the purge and Jack and Hurley might go along with that as well…