The ongoing 'Lost Experience' game is filling in the backstory on the Hanso/DHARMA side of things, which I'll spoiler-summarise in a second. But generally:
The Monster/Black Cloud: a security mechanism to defend the island. From what is unclear. It can read minds. According to the producers, we saw it again in Season 2 after it's obvious appearance mind-scanning Eko in The 23rd Psalm (Episode 10). The common theory is that it can also take on other forms, and appeared as Eko's brother to guide him and Locke to the Pearl Station. Why? Who knows? It may also have appeared as Hurley's imaginary friend, Kate's horse etc. The monster is code-named Cerberus and apparently escaped from the Flame Station during 'The Incident' (this info is revealed on the map on the rear of the blast door, seen in Episode 17, Lockedown).
The Island: almost definitely in the Pacific just off the direct-line route from Sydney to LA, just north-east of Indonesia at 4.815 S Lat, 162.342 Long. The EMP field completely blocks the island off from the outside world, rendering it invisible to rader, radio etc. There seems to be a 'corridor' permitting contact with the outside world, through which signals occasionally escape (this wouldn't stop the island being observable from satellites etc). The island is probably about 10-15 miles across.
Right, now to the info from the Lost Experience. Highlight to read:
Quote:
In the 1870s a Norwegian man named Magnus Hanso established a slaving business using three ships, including his flagship, the Black Rock. In 1881 the Black Rock disappeared without explanation whilst on a slaving run to Mozambique. The prevailing theory is that Hanso discovered the island and its unusual magnetic properties. He may have managed to escape the island and left the location with his family, but later returned. The Black Rock was carried ashore by a massive tidal wave (possibly caused by the eruption of Krakatoa in 1883?). Magnus Hanso died on the island and was buried by his crew near the wreck.
The Hanso family abandoned the slave business and became industrialists. During WWII they became arms magnates under the young Alvar Hanso, who supplied arms to resistance movements across Europe. After WWII Hanso became more interested in scientific development. He may have discovered his ancestor's 'hidden island' at this time.
In 1962, after the resolution of the Cuban Missile Crisis, an Italian mathmatician named Enzo Valenzetti was called upon by the UN to develop a method for predicting the end of human civilisation. He succeeded after many years work, but by this time the UN seems to have abandoned the idea as a bit daft. The Hanso Foundation picked up on it and started developing the equation themselves. Valenzetti disappeared (or was killed) in the late 1990s/early 2000s and the Hanso Foundation continued developing the equation using a group of 'autistic savants' (geniuses) at the Vik Institute in Iceland. The Vik Institute burned down very recently in the Lost Experience timeline and the savants were all killed, much to the Foundation's disquiet.
The Foundation also adopted a group of US scientists keen to find a place where they could develop scientific studies in peace in the early 1970s. They brought this group under the Hanso banner as the Department of Heuristics And Research on Material Applications (DHARMA) and Hanso placed them on the island his ancestor found, where they built a number of research facilities. An 'incident' took place in the early 1980s which resulted in the destruction of one of the hatches (The Flame) and possibly the 'escape' of their advanced security system, code-named 'Cerberus'. This incident also allowed the very-high electromagnetic field of the island to begin building to dangerous levels. Through an unknown method, the DHARMA Initiative was able to put a 'pressure valve' on this field which could be gradually released by entering a code into a computer every 108 minutes.
In 1987 the Hanso Foundation abruptly abandoned the island, shut down the DHARMA Initiative and left the scientists abandoned on the island whilst sending in personnel to continue pressing the button. The abandoned scientists became 'The Others' (this part is speculation, but it seems pretty logical).
In 2001 Desmond Hume crashed on the island (probably due to the machinations of his fiancee's father) and was recruited into pressing the button. Shortly afterwards, his finacee Penelope Widmore started looking for him. Widmore Industries may be the company that built the Hatches and thus have known of the location of the island, so Penny may have found out about its unusual EMP properties. She established a two-man 'EMP listening post', probably near the Arctic, to watch for signs of EMP activity.
In 2003 Alvar Hanso disappeared without a trace, although the Foundation continues to claim he is alive and well 'behind the scenes'. On 22 September 2004, during a partial system failure of the EMP containment system, Oceanic Flight 815 was pulled out of the sky and crashed on the island. On 26 November 2004 the 'valve' was destroyed by the actions of John Locke. Desmond triggered a failsafe which released all of the leaking EMP at once, but probably destroyed the Swan Station on the island. This is the 'present' date in the TV show (the date of the Season 2 finale and presumably the Season 3 opener).
The Lost Experience reveals that an advanced ocean-going vessel has been built by Paik Industries (owned by Sun's father) for the Hanso Foundation and that Hanso's right-hand man, Dr. Mittelwerk is planning to use it to travel to an "island located near the equator" (such as 4 degrees south of the equator?). A PI named Rachel Blake has exposed much of this information, but was unable to follow the ship after it left Italy. The general theory is that the ship has been modified to penetrate the island's EMP field. If the Experience is taking place between Seasons 2 and 3, it may be setting up the arrival of new Hanso personnel onthe island in the forthcoming season.
It is unclear if the Lost Experience is taking place 'now' (i.e. in 2006, two years after the events of Lost Seasons 1 and 2) or at the same time as the show. The former is supported by many of the hidden documents and websites part of the game bearing 2006 dates, the latter by events in the Experience (Dr. Mittelwerk is agitated by an 'unforseen event' that is possibly the EMP flare seen in the Season 2 finale, which galvanises his search of the Hanso archives for the location of the island). |
Got all that? Good. Some of this stuff is pretty interesting, as we find out what DHARMA stands for, possibly what the numbers are for (they are part of the Valenzetti Equation), how the
Black Rock which appeared in the Season 1 finale ties in with things...but it still leaves a hell of a lot of stuff unexplained.