Desmond Vs. The Course Correctors
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By AngeloComet
- Desmond Vs. The Course Correctors
- Created: Oct 26, 2007
- Last updated: Aug 14, 2008
- After episode: 3.17: Catch 22
- Status: Current
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We should not mistake fate for coincidence.
— AngeloComet
Desmond - “And when I woke up, I was lying on my back in the street, and I dunno how I got there and, there was this man standing over me, Ruth. And he reached out his hand and he said to me, can I help you brother. And the first thing I noticed was the rope tied round his waist, and I looked at him and I knew, I knew, I was supposed to go with him. I was supposed to go with him, I was supposed to leave everything that mattered behind, sacrifice all of it, for a greater calling.”
This is how Desmond explains how he turned away from a married domestic life in pursuit of a higher purpose. He got drunk. He woke up to a monk standing over him, and suddenly his life took on a different course. There’s a strong vein of an argument suggesting there are those that exist purely to ensure this doesn’t happen by chance. Enter Brother Campbell.
So here’s what I am proposing: that Brother Campbell, and Ms. Hawking, are both working together for the common purpose of ensuring that Desmond gets to the Island. Like guardian angels, if you like (but don’t take that literally). I don’t think it’s an accident that, on his desk, Brother Campbell had a picture of he and Ms. Hawking together. At a stretch, I would even suggest that Charles Widmore is a ‘member’ of this group, too. He did send Penny to meet Desmond at the monastery, for one thing. And set-up a yacht race for another. I’m not saying these are a group as in they sit down and have meetings and discuss tactics; I am saying they are together in the sense of sharing a common goal.
My evidence? Well, the bizarre speech above serves up intrigue enough. Desmond saying he woke up in the street with no idea how he got there… Fair enough, anyone who has an affinity with heavy-drinking understands how that can happen! But where did this sudden, marked desire to join a monstery come from? For me, that speech alone doesn’t explain it. Call it pre-marital jitters if you like, but joining a monastery to evade matrimoney? That’s a HELL of a jitter.
Still, if getting Desmond into a monastery in pursuit of a higher purpose was the goal then it was achieved. And don’t you think that forcing Desmond into a life of solitude breeds the perfect kind of person well suited to racing solo across the world? And, for that matter, pressing a button in an underground bunker every 108 minutes…? Is that all just coincidence? If it turns out that Charles Widmore is responsible for putting Desmond in prison, once more we have a period of enforced confinement inflicted on Desmond as a test for him to come through - which marks Charles out as ever more involved in Desmond’s fate.
Of course, we should not mistake coincidence for fate.
It’s just that when Ms. Hawking is factored in then it all becomes more compelling. When Desmond experiences his time-travelling event, with the apparent capacity to change his own destiny, up she pops to dictate that Desmond not veer from the destiny he already knows about. Pushing the button is the most important thing he’ll ever do, she tells him, appealing to that part of him that already yearned to “sacrifice all of it, for a greater calling”. So he once again turns away from Penny and accedes to ‘fate’.
We should not mistake fate for coincidence.
Course Correction 1 Desmond 0
Key characters
| Short Name | Full Name | Episodes | Theories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Charles | Charles Widmore | 412 |
Key episodes
| # | Title | Aired | Central character | Theories |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.17 | Catch 22 | 4-18-2007 | Desmond | 124 |
| 3.8 | Flashes Before Your Eyes | 2-14-2007 | Penny | 233 |
| 2.23 | Live Together, Die Alone | 5-24-2006 | Desmond | 323 |
Angelo, you*re on a roll!! Another very good theory. +1 More course correctors for Desmond, of course it makes perfect sense. He obviously needed them, if he were to do the things he were destined/fated to do.
But starting with becoming a monk and bringing Widmore into it is brilliant. It sets Des up perfectly for what is has to do.
Great theory!
Love it +1
I had never thought of Widmore of being one of Desmond’s handlers before (there is an excellent post by Tharde that you may like to read…. I’ve linked it below) but now that you mention it, it does seem possible. Widmore seems to be very harsh to Desmond when he meets him and we never get a ‘real’ reason for that. +1 from me.
http://www.lost-theories.com/theories/2007/jul/13/fate-benders/
Nice work AC. So has Desmond’s ability to Mind Travel/see the future always been there, lying latent until turning the failsafe or is it by accident that he now has these powers?
Did the Trio of course correctors know that he would one day have the ability to fight against them, and try and change fate? Or was he simply supposed to go to the Island and push the button?
I believe this ability to mind travel/see the future is a product of being next to the electromagnetic anomaly when he turned the Fail Safe. He could not do this before.
So did they know that he would get this ability and that is why they chose him to be there? Could it be that the greater purpose was to put Desmond in the position to get this power and that he will ‘unite the force’ for want of a better expression. Or do you think that Desmond getting this power is a big spanner in the works for the course correctors/time police?
Is it just coincidence that Desmond got a time travel ability whilst being manipulated by temporal guardians or Fate?
I think Desmond may be being groomed to a new “fate bender”. He became in effect an apprentice to Ms. Hawking and Brother Campbell when he turned the key and acquired a new consciousness and became like them.
A could of things Ms. Hawking said may imply something else… When Des is shopping for the ring and meets her for the first time she says, “Never done this before, have you?”. Maybe this is referring to his experience in “time-consciousness-travel”.
Later, when they are outside and she is illustrating a point, she says, “And if you don’t do those things, Desmond David Hume, every single one of US is dead.”. Was she referring to the human race or the “fate benders” and their ilk?
It’s interesting to contrast that last statement of hers with Ben’s when he is with Jack during the finale. Ben says, “Jack, listen to me. If you phone her boat every SINGLE LIVING PERSON on this island will be killed.”.
It not known if Ms. Hawking and Brother Campbell are mortal or immortal. If they are the former, then perhaps they are passing the torch to Des. I mean, they are getting up there in years.
Good discussion and great post AC.
Good theory and comments. Meeting Penny could have been a genuine accident that put all the future in jeapardy and steered Desmond away from course, explaining why they needed to step in so forcefully. Maybe Widmore was such a jerk because he had to be rather than wanted to be.
what if… The reason that charlie has to die, is that charlie would eventually enable penelope to find Desmond. As soon as penelope finds desmond then this “time loop” is broken. Therefore, time keeps corse correcting until charlie eventually gets kiled. Destiny is clear that desmond can never be with penelope. Desmond must die on the island to return back and start his life again from the point of meeting the monk….
That could be why we don’t see penelope until the end of 3:23. I think thats it is significant that we see the effect of her searching for desmond and not her searching….
NB: I’m new here so if this has been toyed with before please point me in the right direction!!
Maybe Penny is in on it too, I don’t remember much of the episode when she meets him outside the monastery. Was it a bit too good to be true…………don’t mistake coincidence & fate for a plan……..kind of thing
Welcome johno. There have been similar thoughts about Des and Chollie’s fate(?)
try using the ‘search theories’ function using terms like Desmond, Charlie, etc… Here is a good one on the topic:
http://lost-theories.com/theories/2007/jun/01/desmond-killed-charlie/
Knock yourself out. :)
Oh, and here is another good post for people who are new to the site (even if I do say so myself). :)
http://lost-theories.com/theories/2007/jul/14/i-can-always-spot-newbies
Namaste
The whole thing with Penny just happening to show up when Desmond is being “fired” from the monastary—I’ve wondered about that too, and whether that’s connected to Charles as five said. And that Des is both someone being corrected and then trying to correct (Charlie)—I think he’s the only character so far in both roles.
Nice spin on Desmonds story, well done. +1
+1