DHARMA Initiative stations

On the American television show Lost, the fictional DHARMA Initiative has built several research stations on an island located somewhere in the South Pacific. The principal information about these stations comes from an orientation film viewed by the main characters of the series. Additional information is derived from a hand-drawn ultraviolet map of the island, seen only by one the characters, which briefly appeared under black light.

Discovery

Station 3, The Swan

Station 3, The Swan

Template:Spoilers The first of such stations discovered by the characters on the series is known as "Station 3" or "The Swan" in its orientation film, but is referred to informally by the characters as "the hatch."

Since the discovery of The Swan, two other stations have been visited by the survivors. They both look the same. In the episode "Lockdown" a blast door closes a section of the facility, trapping John Locke underneath. He discovers what appears to be a map of the island, drawn in flourescent paint on the inside of the door, with various annotations. Entertainment Weekly received a high quality image of this map, which they interpreted to refer to additional DHARMA stations not yet seen on the show.

Station 3: The Swan

First visited in: All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues

Name given in: Orientation

According to the orientation film, Station 3 ("The Swan") was originally constructed "as a laboratory where DHARMA researchers could work to understand the unique electromagnetic fluctuations emanating from that sector of the island."

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Desmond and John Locke in Station Three, The Swan.

Desmond is the sole occupant of Station 3 when the survivors of Flight 815 uncover it. He claims not to be involved with the DHARMA Initiative, having been brought to the station by a man named Kelvin after his boat ran aground on the island three years earlier. Kelvin initiated Desmond into the code-entering procedure, which he referred to as "saving the world." Desmond continued entering the code alone after Kelvin's death. Desmond explains that "Kelvin died waiting for his replacements," and initially mistakes Locke as being a member of the next team in "Man of Science, Man of Faith." When Jack first arrives in the station, and engages Desmond in a standoff for Kate and Locke, the computer controlling the timer is accidentally shot, damaging it. Desmond, wanting to be far away from the Swan when the timer hits zero, flees into the jungle and has not been seen since.

After Desmond runs off at the end of "Orientation," the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 (particularly John Locke) take on the responsibility for entering the code into the station's terminal.

Station 3 is almost entirely underground, except for a 'hatch' entrance and a concealed door. The word quarantine is spray-painted on the inside of the hatch, and the numbers (4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42) are punched into its outside. It is believed to be powered by geothermal heat and illuminated by powerful lamps shining through windows as a substitute for sunlight. The main work area resembles a geodesic dome. A strong but localized magnetic field emanates from behind a wall composed of rough concrete. The hatch also has several internal blast doors, as discovered by Michael. These blast doors are mysteriously released in "Lockdown" and Locke is trapped underneath, at which time he sees a map written on the door in fluorescent ink.

Station 3 is stocked with food, a record player with a collection of old LPs, a small library, an armory complete with Kalashnikov rifles and other firearms, a late-model washer and dryer, a shower, and bunk beds. According to the blacklight map on the Swan's blast door, it is the largest of the seven DHARMA stations.

Purpose of the station

In "Orientation," Marvin Candle describes the DHARMA Initiative's founders as "following in the footsteps of visionaries such as B.F. Skinner." In the same episode, Jack questions Desmond about the purpose of the station: "Do you ever think that maybe they put you down here to push a button every 100 minutes just to see if you would?" Jack suggests that the code procedure is a "mind game" and also questions the quarantine message.

Desmond recalls Kelvin equating the procedure with "saving the world" and takes the strong electromagnetic field as proof that the station has a non-experimental purpose: "I hope it's not real. But the film says this is an electromagnetic station. And I don't know about you, brother, but every time I walk past that concrete wall out there, my fillings hurt."

In Dave, "Henry Gale" disdainfully addresses Locke about the Swan station, and states that "this place is a joke." After Henry accurately describes the post-countdown occurrences to Locke, he says, "and you know what happened next? Nothing happened, John. Nothing happened at all. The timer just flipped back to 108. I never entered the numbers, I never pressed the button."

In the episode ?, the orientation film for the Pearl states that other DHARMA Initiative stations (including the Swan) are settings to a psychological experiment that is to be observed by the crew in the Pearl.

The orientation film

The film found in the Swan Station provides a brief history of the DHARMA Initiative, as narrated by Marvin Candle. The DHARMA Initiative was founded by Gerald and Karen DeGroot, and funded by Alvar Hanso. The film gives a very brief description of the Swan station, and what occupants are expected to do.

An unspecified "incident" early in the station's experiments resulted in a change of focus: a two-member crew, replaced every 540 days, is now under orders to enter a code into a computer terminal every 108 minutes. The film stresses the importance of adhering to the procedure by entering the code quickly and accurately, but gives no reason or potential consequences. At the end of the film, a copyright date of 1980 is shown. An additional section of the film, returned by Mr. Eko when he found it in an hollow Bible in another station, adds about 30 seconds of footage in which Candle emphasizes that the terminal computer not be used for anything other than entering the code.

The timer

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The hieroglyphics that appear when the counter reaches zero in the episode One of Them.

Station 3 is equipped with a flip-card timer, which is controlled by a computer and connected to an alarm system. The computer resets the timer through manual entry of a numeric code (4 8 15 16 23 42) every 108 minutes and pressing an "Execute" button.

The code cannot be entered until four minutes before the countdown reaches zero, at which time the alarm begins to sound. Until that time, the computer is unresponsive to keyboard input. At the four-minute mark, a horn speaker alarm activates. After the one-minute mark, the alarm accelerates and grows louder, and then again at the 10-second mark. If the countdown actually reaches zero, the familiar black and white numbers begin to flip into a series of black and red tiles that look like Egyptian hieroglyphs.

Character "Henry Gale" claimed that he did not enter the code at the time the blast doors shut on Locke's leg and the fluorescent ink showed the map of the stations. After this, a DHARMA Initiative package was parachuted onto the island containg a plentiful stock of food.

The map

The mysterious map featured in Lockdown.

In "Lockdown," the blast doors drop. John Locke is pinned underneath one of the doors while the timer for the countdown approaches zero. Prisoner Henry Gale has been sent to enter the numbers although, in the episode Dave, he claims to have never done this. Just after the alarm stops sounding, all of the lights go out and several ultraviolet lights turn on.

A drawing is revealed on one of the doors, what appears to be a map of a part of the island enclosed in the shape of an octagon. At the bottom of the drawing are the words "I AM HERE" with an arrow pointing to a drawing of the Swan logo. There are also other stations shown on the map, some of which are named, as well as a substantial amount of comments.

On the map, there are appear to be six structures depicted, with at least four of them labeled by name and icon like DHARMA stations: The Swan, The Flame, The Staff and The Arrow. The other structures are labeled by numbers, some with question marks. Two of the alleged stations are drawn with dotted lines. The 6 structures all surround a big circled question mark in the center of the map. At the top left, there is another structure (a 7th structure) which is scribbled out. Among the stations on the southeast side of the map, there are 4 rectangular structures/labels that have "CV I", "CV II", "CV III", and "CV IV" written on them (the lines indicating that the CV part is not a roman numeral).

Station 5: The Pearl

First visited in: ?

Name given in: Lockdown

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The Pearl orientation film

Locke and Eko find a hatch underneath the beechcraft from Nigeria. They pull open the hatch and crawl inside, discovering a room with several television screens. They turn on one of the screens and see Jack walking around inside The Swan. Locke sees a computer and answers a prompt reading "Print Log?" A printer spools off several sheets of paper with numbers. They then find another Orientation video, but this time it is on a U-matic tape instead of a projector reel. The video shows the same man that was in the Swan's Orientation film, but this time he introduces himself by a different name. In it, he states that the purpose of The Pearl hatch is to monitor all of the other hatches for a 3-week period. He goes on to say they are watching a series of experiments taking place in the other hatches--that the people in the other hatches have been conditioned to believe their work is of grave importance, and that every action, regardless how subtle, is to be recorded (onto notebooks) both for posterity and as part of the project. He further explains and demonsrates that the completed notebooks are to be placed inside containers and fed into a provided air tube delivery system. The man affirms that the notebooks will be "transported directly to us."

Near the end of the video, he also explains instructions on a location one must proceed to once a shift has been completed, though at this point the video is drowned by static, thus most of the information said regarding this location is audibly incomprehensible. Given the nature of the aforementioned static transition, it would seem to indicate that the video may have been doctored and pertinent information removed much like the Swan Orientation film.

At the end of the video a copyright year of 1980 is shown. However, the printer used to print the logs is visible in the film and is easily identifiable as the characteristically shaped Apple ImageWriter II which was launched in 1985, creating an anachronism

Other stations

Note that all of these names (except for The Swan and The Pearl) are taken from that map, and are only as accurate as the mapmaker knew – including the possibility that the actual stations with the respective symbols are not the same as the ones indicated on the map. Since The Swan and The Pearl are the only stations with confirmed numbers, the stations are listed here alphabetically.

The Arrow

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The Arrow logo inside the station

First visited in: The Other 48 Days, first seen in Everybody Hates Hugo

Name given in: Lockdown

Events during visit: Hatch first visited by the tail section survivors and used as a hiding place from The Others. When discovered it was gutted and burned out and seemed almost entirely empty except for a box containing a Bible, a short wave radio and a glass eye. It was later revealed by Eko, in "What Kate Did," that the Bible contained Orientation film footage that warns the occupant not to use the computer for communication with the outside world.

The Flame

First visited in: N/A

Name given in: Lockdown

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Kate and Claire outside The Staff

The Staff

First visited in: Maternity Leave

Name given in: Lockdown

Events during visit: When Claire's baby Aaron becomes ill, she begins having flashbacks of the time she was abducted by Ethan Rom. Convinced that her baby needs to find some of the vaccine that was injected into her pregnant stomach during her abduction, Claire leads Kate and Danielle through the jungle to the station where she had been held. While travelling, Claire's flashbacks continue in sporadic pieces, revealing that this is where the Others were going to have Claire give birth, and that there was a nursery provided for the baby. Claire also remembers that there was a corridor that she tried to go down, but that she was diverted by Ethan. When the trio find the station, however, it has been abandoned. The symbol within the DHARMA station logo is a caduceus. In a locker room, Kate finds costumes and theatrical makeup, including Mr. Friendly's beard. 'The Staff' seems to be a former medical station, since it comes complete with an operating room. Claire and Kate lift the refrigerated cabinet to find that all the medicines have been removed. However, Aaron recovers as Jack predicted before Claire and the others left on their quest.