Dharma Stations Part 2: The Arrow
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By AngeloComet
- Dharma Stations Part 2: The Arrow
- Created: Jan 16, 2008
- Last updated: Aug 13, 2008
- After episode: 3.22: Through The Looking Glass
- Status: Current
- Flag this theory:
I think we’re on the same wavelength.
— AngeloComet
I have been intrigued by what the original purpose of the Dharma Stations were. Through the design of the various Stations, and for the few that we have been able to see Orientation films for, I believe that solid foundations can be drawn to build a case for their original intentions. In this series of theories I shall examine each Station in the order their existence has been revealed. This post shall look at The Arrow Station.
Before the speculation, the facts.
Our introduction and understanding of the Arrow Station came primarily through the eyes of the tail-end section survivors who holed up there to seek refuge from The Others. Goodwin said, “It looks like some sort of storage facility.” However, Goodwin was a no-good, duplicitous Other at this time, which makes me think cynical about his input. The inside was relatively bare though, with the only (so far) notable find being a large box that contained: a Bible, a glass eye and a radio.
There’s popular belief that the glass eye belonged to Mikhail. Just because the socket beneath Mikhail’s eyepatch was revealed as healed over during Through The Looking Glass doesn’t mean the glass eye couldn’t have been his, but to suggest anything further would be pure conjecture (and not my concern here).
The Bible contained a piece of missing footage from the Swan Orientation film. The missing piece showed Marvin Candle warning that use of the computer in The Swan for communication purposes was strictly prohibited. (Aside: Arguably the reason this piece of film was taken was to encourage later occupants to use the computer for communication. Aside over.) Interestingly, the Bible was most likely brought to The Arrow by Radzinsky. The same Radzinsky that worked on the Blast Door Map. On the Blast Door Map, Radzinsky had made the following notation about The Arrow. ‘I think we’re on the same wavelength.’
If we take the statement - ‘I think we’re on the same wavelength’ - and run with the idea that Radzinsky was aware of parallels between the Arrow Station and the Swan Station we may potentially be leading down a promising path. Let’s look for clues. Firstly, the name. Arrow. This suggests direction, or pointing to something. I’m not so sure I would go with the blatantly obvious idea (that the Station is situated at a point on the Island where it literally points at something else!) which leads me to believe the Station itself is meant to point the way, to give direction. I presume that means it will offer direction due to the nature of the studies taking place.
Which begs the question: What was Dharma studying there?
Before the what, let me tell you who. Horace Goodspeed. When Horace met Ben and his father arriving on the Island he was wearing a Dharma jumpsuit with the Arrow logo upon it. He was wearing this same item of clothing on the day he died; this suggests that for many years Horace spent his time working in the Arrow. Clearly The Arrow is a more significant Station than the sparse rooms and bare furnishings the tail-section survivors found suggests.
Horace’s field of study within the Dharma Initiative was mathematics. Naturally, this brings up the good old Valenzetti equation. Potentially, Horace’s character may be the means by which this concept is introduced to the show. Perhaps Horace spent his time on the Island studying the 4 8 15 16 23 42 equation in The Arrow. ‘I think we’re on the same wavelength,’ stated the notation from the Swan to the Arrow. The Swan Station that has 4 8 15 16 23 42 etched into its hatch. The Swan Station that requires 4 8 15 16 23 42 required as a code entered into a computer. If The Arrow is on the same “wavelength”, and Horace worked at The Arrow, and Horace was a mathematician, those 4 8 15 16 23 42 numbers loom pretty large. . .
Ordinarily I wouldn’t feel particularly compelled to push this point, but since Horace Goodspeed worked at The Arrow I am forced to consider its importance. To be frank, The Arrow station revealed so far is a bit of a dump; stone walls, scarce furnishings - not the kind of place serious scientific study was taking place. And so maybe there’s a hidden room, like what was revealed with The Staff Station during the episode D.O.C. Or maybe, like The Flame, there’s an area underneath the Arrow Station that contains juicier treasures. Maybe, just maybe, there’s another computer in there. I think we’re on the same wavelength. That phrase just keeps coming back to me.
There’s every reason to believe The Arrow Station is going to be a Dharma facility we get to know a whole lot more about in forthcoming episodes. Horace Goodspeed is certain to be a character that features again, and since his principle work belonged to The Arrow it’s hard to imagine how further information about this Station cannot accompany further information about Horace, or vice versa. Furthermore, we’ve got that glass eye mystery to concern ourselves with. So while, at the close of season 3, The Arrow appears to have been relegated to the status of least interesting Dharma Station, I believe it withholds the capacity to be the most fascinating. I trust you’re on the same wavelength. . .
Swan Station Post: http://www.lost-theories.com/theories/2008/jan/14/dharma-stations-part-1-swan/
Key episodes
| # | Title | Aired | Central character | Theories |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2.7 | The Other 48 Days | 11-16-2005 | Eko, Ana-Lucia, Libby, Bernard, Cindy | 93 |
| 2.5 | …And Found | 10-19-2005 | Sun | 69 |
| 2.4 | Everybody Hates Hugo | 10-12-2005 | Hurley | 87 |
Key locations
| Theme | Relevant Episodes | Theories |
|---|---|---|
| The Swan station | 2.20, 2.23, 2.14, 2.17, 2.1, 2.2, 1.11, 3.3, 3.8 | 461 |
very interesting read and raises a lot of things i had not considered before, i always thought it was a bit of a crap station and didn’t think anymore about it but i agree that it is highly likely there could be a hidden area to the arrow as with the staff.
what they were working on though i have no clue, wild thought is that maybe smokey was originally part of the arrow station experiments as he tends to give a lot of ”direction” ? +1
+1
I’ve never thought much about the Arrow Station before, let alone in this much detail. The main reason I think that you’re onto something is because if they have bothered to make the Arrow Station a “station,” then it was most likely originally something more than just a room with some walls in it.
One possibility that might be worth considering (simpler, but much less exciting) is that the Arrow has simply been emptied of all its contents up to this point. There may not actually be any secret compartments or hidden treasures - maybe whatever was there was taken by the Others (or DHARMA, or pre-appendage-loss Montand, or the polar bears).
Regarding your brief aside, why do you think that Radzinsky took the film snipped hidden in the bible and hid that in the Arrow? *Forgive my ignorance if I’ve missed some important Radzinsky theories)
your arrow theory was a good read, especially that there is more of a importance regarding the station other then a storage facillity. Horace seemed too important at Dharma to just guard a station full of storage. I 100 percent agree on the arrow being so much more.
But as for the roll of film being placed there by Radzinsky, i can not agree due to loosly based evidence. For all we know it could of been kelvin, desmond or the others.
Pace/Smokey - fair points. My conjecture regarding Radzinsky and the roll of film is purely that, conjecture. Kelvin did state that it was Radzinsky that edited the original film and, given that he was also the map-maker, I put the two together and had him as the man that put the film at the Arrow. That’s as far as I can defend my logic!
i always thought the others were trying to hide that clip so the losties or swan inhabitats (kelvin, desmond) would comunicate on the computer.
why would Radzinsky hide the clip, hes dead and has no need to play mind games. kelvin also had some knowledge of where dharma stations are, he was finishing off the map as well.
Just a thought, do we “know” Radzinsky’s dead? Patch of something on a ceiling is hardly conclusive proof.
Chances are if Kelvin and Radzinsky both knew about about the editting of the film, and both knew of the non-danger of outside of the hatch, then its conceivable to believe that perhaps one or both used to travel to the Arrow hatch - and perhaps carry on this same wavelength work in another way.
It all relies on timelines though (which I’m not certain of). Like had the purge occured when Kelvin came to island? If so Radzinsky could have been in cahoots with Mikhail (ie the glass eye link) or even BE Mikhail. I’ve seen the guy come back from a sonar fence death, so why not a gunshot to the head? :-)
AC—you’ve opened up a lot of possible avenues here—I think you’re right in suggesting that the Arrow is much more important than we know based on what’s been shown so far and the connection with the numbers and with Goodspeed. Hmmm…I think you’ve given me an idea…
This was a great read. Definitely has me thinking. Regarding the name “the Arrow”, I wonder if instead of relating to the direction of a physical object, it may have to do with magnetism and the direction of the magnetic poles? This may connect it to the Swan, as they would have been researching different properties of the same phenomenon on the Island. Also, it may have to do with direction of time. Theoretical physicists (and philosophers) frequently speak of time having a direction, and in representations this is usually shown as a line with an arrow pointing toward the “future”. Perhaps Horace’s work was on modifying the direction of that arrow, and the electromagnetic anomaly was used in this research. Just to throw in a few other tidbits, and I know this is kind of derailing the original purpose of the post, but remember the reversed east-west symbols on the Maxwell Group website? Well, technically, if a magnetic pole reversal took place, compasses would still point “north”, only north would actually be our geographical south, making east into west, and west into east. Perhaps the Arrow was studying the effects of a magnetic reversal isolated on the Island, and Horace was studying its effects on the direction of time. Anyway, it’s just a hunch. Certainly the Arrow has a purpose beyond “storage”. Regarding the clip from the Swan film, I don’t think the Others had access to the Swan, as it was sealed from the inside. They could have monitored it from the Pearl, but it didn’t reveal its actual location. So I don’t think the Others edited the film. I think Radzinsky was hoping to initiate another incident, only he couldn’t find the courage to stray from the directions in the Dharma film. Long-winded, sorry.
Oh, I forgot, + 1!
AC—
An interesting read. In the end, it’s all conjecture, though, as you say. While I do agree that Horace no doubt worked there, it is very unlikely (in my opinion, of course) that his sole purpose there was the investigation and research of the 8 15 code. Seems to me the authors indeed left Horace’s purpose on the island sketchy and vague to peek our curiosity and learn later more about what’s going on there.
The link of “We’re on the same wavelength” pointing to the numbers is a bit of a stretch to me. But there isn’t a whole lot of information out there on this station to suggest a theory much different (or at least more interesting) that yours.
But again, a fun read.
AC, nice work, very interesting read.
Another note about the name of the station….Apollo was a god of archery, and swans were sacred to him-they encircled him when he was born (*info was taken from the links below).
http://www.lostpedia.com/wiki/Arrow
http://www.lostpedia.com/wiki/Swan
Angelo, another +1 for your Arrow theory. Great pickup on Horace’s uniform, I never noticed that, but always felt he would turn out to be more important to the plot in the future via flashbacks.
Your take on the Arrow may very well be correct, considering that Horace was a mathematician and the numbers were of such importance to Dharma.
I think stay Puft in onto something. Because it just hit me that it makes a lot of sensethat Readsinky is Mikhail. That would be awesome because it gives the chance of many flashbacks and answers about the hatch and about the other stations and how he really ended up on the island……
Another fascinating read. I never even thought about Horace’s Arrow jumpsuit! Brilliant connection!
+1
:)
I like the idea of a station where calculations are being made and where mathematicians do their research. We may find a hidden room with a lot of computer equipment there.
didn’t Radsinky blow his brains out.
What other place on the Island is simple, with no technology or modern devices?
Is there a connection to where Jacob is kept. Do part of the experiments require a similar environment?
Question (to Slusho ?)
When the earth’s magnetic field “flips”, North to South, which it has done many times in our geological past, does East and West flip too ?
I did’t think they did. But I might have been wrong. +1
Yeah, if the Arrow was a storage facility…why would it be out in the middle of nowhere with no accessible roads leading to it. It would have to be nearby one of the other stations or barracks to really be a storage facility.
It wouldn’t be too convenient too have to treck half-way across the island when one of the stations is running low on Post-It notes.
I agree there has to be more to the Arrow than we’ve seen, it was likely barricaded off after the incident. My take is that Radinsky explored the island in order to see what/who was still around at the other stations after the purge, that’s how he made his map of course. My guess is that he used the Arrow as a hide-out from the hostiles, and the radio was used to communicate with the Swan. That would be another way of the 2 stations being on the same frequency.
StayPuft: Maybe it wasn’t his brain that Radinsky blew out, but his eye (both are gunshot wounds to the head), he might have intended to kill himself but the aim was off, it would still make a mess. If he survived that, he could have considered himself re-born, a new man, and I could see him being in awe of the islands’ healing abilities. Enough to make a non-religious man religious—or go to the other side. New name would be in line as well, something to commemorate the change in him?
Ozzig - I like how you put the radio in with the frequency notation. My personal spin on that idea would be that someone from the Arrow contacted the Swan via the radio, somehow, and described where they were, that they were in the Arrow Station, and Radzinsky used this information to work out where that person must have been on the map he was designing. Hence: ‘I think we’re on the same frequency’.
Great comment!
AC, it could have gone that way too. The only part that seems to be certain though is that the radio could only make contact with the Swan from the Arrow, (otherwise it would have been carried along with whomever and not stored at the Arrow) so something about the Arrow enabled the communication between the two. It would seem the 2 stations were set up to communicate on the same frequency in the first place. Which makes sense if Dharma didn’t want everyone else on the island to be privvy to exchanged info between them.
My memory is fuzzy on this, but if I remember correctly, Bernard tried to use the radio but thought it didn’t work, but the losties picked him up at their location (can’t remember if in the Swan or just the vicinity on a radio) without realizing who they were recieving.
AC nice work +1
Ozzig Bernard used the radio to communicate with Boone in the drug plane not the swan
Thanks Lojozz, (told you my memory was fuzzy!) I do remember now that you brought it up. Only now, that puts more questions in my mind, like if anyone in the plane ever communicated with anyone in the Arrow, which leads me to wondering if anyone survived in the plane, etc.
Dharma stations are not like you described!!!
ozzig, the producers have confirmed Radzinsky’s death, sorry.
but yeah, i like this one! if the DI’s overreaching purpose on the island was to change the numbers, maybe the arrow station was the one leading all the others, the “brains” of the operation if you will.
+1