Changes: DHARMA Initiative

Revision as of 18:09, 30 March 2014

The DHARMA (Department of Heuristics And Research on Material Applications) Initiative was a scientific research project that had a large presence on the Island between the 1970s and the early 1990s. The project is represented by variations of an octagonal logo, a variation of the Ba Gua, which comes from Taoist mysticism, that appear on most of its products and facilities.

The Initiative's general goal was to manipulate scientific laws in order to change any of the six factors of the Valenzetti Equation, a sequence that was believed to have some connection to the date marking the end of humanity, in hopes of delaying such a date.

The Hanso Foundation ended further funding to the Initiative in 1987. The DHARMA Initiative largely ended after the Purge, an event that saw the death of almost all of its members on the Island at the hands of the Hostiles, in either 1988 or 1992.

History

Creation of the DHARMA Initiative

According to various orientation films, the Initiative was founded in 1970 by Gerald and Karen DeGroot, two doctoral candidates at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It was financially backed by Danish industrialist and munitions magnate Alvar Hanso and his Hanso Foundation.

However, since The Lamp Post was built in the 1960s, the date of 1970 given by Pierre Chang in the orientation films may be incorrect.

Finding and settling the Island

According to Eloise Hawking, an unspecified man used The Lamp Post station in Los Angeles to find the location of the Island in the 1960s. Located underneath a church, the Lamp Post harnessed the unique pocket of energy in that area and used it to find other similar pockets around the globe. Though this man was only interested in one specific area: the Island. Since the Island was always moving, the Lamp Post was integral in finding its location. Within a few years' time, the location was uncovered.

At some point in the early 1970s, the DHARMA Initiative founded a tiny community on the Island. The Barracks became the center of operation for the DHARMA Initiative on the Island. Significant quantities of construction materials, electronic equipment and various vehicles and machinery were brought to the Island during the phase of settlement for the construction of the various DHARMA stations. Off the Island, the DHARMA Initiative's activities were coordinated from Ann Arbor in Michigan. ("Some Like It Hoth")

Conflict with natives

Main article: The Purge

Not long after settling on the Island, the DHARMA Initiative fought an armed conflict with a group they called the Hostiles prior to 1973. The reasons for the conflict are not known, though Horace Goodspeed stated that the Hostiles were natives to the Island, implying that a conflict could have arisen from DHARMA moving into their territory or intruding on the Island. On August 15, 1973, DHARMA and the Hostiles agreed to a Truce, and an uneasy peace existed between them for nearly two decades.

DHARMA appears not only to have violated the Truce but to have taken steps as the conflict escalated, including devoting one of their stations (The Arrow) to developing new strategies against the Hostiles, installation of security cameras and other monitoring systems, weapon stockpiles (unusual for a utopian community), and even having a professional interrogator on their staff. The conflict between the two does not appear to have been helped by the appearance of the time shifting survivors in 1974-1977.

Regardless of the cause, the conflict ended in December 1992 with an event known as the Purge. The Hostiles launched a toxic gas attack on the Barracks (and possibly other locations) that killed nearly all DHARMA personnel on the Island. Staff at The Swan survived, as they were sealed inside their station, and other DHARMA members, including Benjamin Linus and Ethan Rom, survived by joining the Hostiles. The bodies of those killed in the attack were piled into an open mass grave in the jungle. The Hostiles continue to survive today as the group Danielle Rousseau, the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 and the survivors of the freighter Kahana call "the Others".

After the slaughter, some of the DHARMA projects on the Island collapsed. For example, the polar bears escaped from their cages during the collapse, according to Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse in the Official Lost Podcasts.

Other than those DHARMA members who joined the Others (such as Benjamin Linus and Ethan Rom), there are only two DHARMA members on the Island who are known to have survived the Purge: Stuart Radzinsky and Kelvin Inman, who remained in The Swan after the Purge. Radzinsky committed suicide at an unknown date, and Inman, the last known member of the Initiative on the Island, died September 22, 2004. In the March 20, 2007 Official Lost Podcast, Carlton Cuse said he did not believe that The Others knew about the Swan station, but acknowledged that they might have observed the Swan through the monitors at the Pearl.

DHARMA after the Purge

Comic-con OGR2 — Modernized DHARMA logo as seen at Comic-Con 2008.

The DHARMA Initiative collapsed or was destroyed off the Island as well, although the details of this remain unclear. In the Official Lost Podcasts, executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse also make frequent references to DHARMA's fall as a "collapse". In the Sri Lanka video, Thomas Mittelwerk stated that "we all know what happened: the DHARMA Initiative failed."

The date of DHARMA's collapse is unclear as well. In 2010, Benjamin Linus states that the DHARMA Initiative has not existed "for over twenty years". ("The New Man in Charge") Hugh McIntyre of the Hanso Foundation said in an interview as part of The Lost Experience that the DHARMA Initiative's funding was cut in 1987. However, this seems to conflict with the 1992 date for the Purge (if we are to take the math of Horace Goodspeed's spirit literally).

By 2004 at the latest, The Lamp Post was in the control of Eloise Hawking. ("316") It is unknown whether other DHARMA facilities off the Island were similarly taken over by the Others.

The DHARMA Logistics Warehouse in Orote Peninsula, Guam, continued to function, delivering periodic resupply drops to the Island. This warehouse was run by Hector and Glenn, who were unaware that the rest of the DHARMA Initiative no longer existed. In 2010, Benjamin Linus closed down this warehouse. ("The New Man in Charge")

Nothing is known about the fate of Alvar Hanso, the DeGroots, or the DHARMA headquarters in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Successors to the DHARMA Project

Non-Canon alert!
This article/section contains information that was shown or released via an official source such as ARGs or extended media (video games, books), however it has no canonical merit to the overall Lost mythos.

In the Sri Lanka Video, it is shown that in 2006, DHARMA-like work on the Valenzetti Equation is being conducted, suggesting the project's major aims are still being investigated in some new incarnation by Thomas Mittelwerk.

In the Dharma Initiative Recruiting Project of 2008, unknown benefactors attempted to restart the Initiative but failed due to constrains by the 2008 financial crisis. The "Project" consisted of a series of tests that dealt with different areas of expertise. The tests measured various skills of recruits, and official Volunteer Assessment Dossiers were sent out to recruits on November 18th. The "Project" was unable to continue spending due to the financial crisis, and sold the Dharma Initiative to the T.V. show Lost. Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse started a new website called Dharmaspecialaccess.com that gave recruits exclusive information on upcoming Lost info.

Project aims

Scenesfromorientationfilm — Assorted images from the Swan Orientation film.

According to various orientation films, the Initiative was founded in 1970 by Gerald and Karen DeGroot, two doctoral candidates at the University of Michigan. It was financially backed by Danish industrialist and munitions magnate Alvar Hanso and his Hanso Foundation. The alleged purpose of the Initiative, according to the Swan Orientation film, was to create "a large-scale communal research compound where scientists and free-thinkers from around the globe could pursue research in meteorology, psychology, parapsychology, zoology, electromagnetism, and Utopian social-[static]."

The Barracks video also said that the mission of the Initiative on the Island was to study its unique properties for the betterment of mankind and advancement of world peace.

The Sri Lanka Video of The Lost Experience appears to build on the last statement, explaining that the DHARMA Initiative was part of a project begun in response to the Valenzetti Equation commissioned by the UN in 1967, a mathematical formula that reportedly predicts the amount of time until the extinction of mankind. The purpose of the DHARMA Initiative on the Island was to use scientific research to manipulate the environment in order to change any one of the core factors of the Valenzetti Equation which, in turn, would change the Equation's result and thus change mankind's destiny. They were also interested in researching the unique properties on the Island found nowhere else in the world, again for the betterment of humanity.

The name

The word DHARMA was revealed to be a backronym in the Official Lost Podcast. Later in the ARG The Lost Experience, through the clues of Rachel Blake (known as the hacker Persephone at that time), players were directed to play a memory game available at the Hanso Foundation's website. Gradually the acronym was revealed and upon reaching level 42, the full acronym DHARMA was revealed as being "Department of Heuristics And Research on Material Applications". The acronym was later confirmed by Alvar Hanso in the Sri Lanka Video and in an ABC press release [1].

Little is known what the actual explanation behind the name is, although a heuristic is a particular technique of directing one's attention in learning, discovery, or problem-solving.[2] Also, in the Sri Lanka Video, Alvar Hanso (standing in front of the DHARMA acronym) says "it also stands for the one true way", a reference to the word's meaning in Sanskrit (see below).

The DHARMA Initiative's logo is a representation of the I Ching, a Taoist method of divination. Dharma as a word is the governing essence of the universe in Hinduism and Taoism and the essence of phenomena in Buddhism. Additionally, in Buddhism, Dharma may refer to the Buddha's teachings as well as their practice.

Facilities

The Barracks

Main article: Barracks

The Barracks appear to be the DHARMA Initiative's central area of activity on the Island. The location is a secure residential compound comprising houses, offices and other surface buildings with electricity and water, plus an unknown number of underground facilities. Other buildings include a cafeteria and adjoining kitchen, recreational hall, school, infirmary, and security office. Outside is a small playground area, numerous walkways, benches, picnic tables and a gazebo. A motor pool location at the Barracks houses a number of DHARMA vans used by personnel to travel about the Island. Close at hand to the main residential area is a small harbor and wharf where submarines dock coming to and from the Island. The entire Barracks and the surrounding area is enclosed inside a sonar fence.

While all of the DHARMA stations appear to have had their own logos, the Barracks itself did not have one. However, the security outpost beneath the Barracks did have its own - and similarly the kitchen and maintenance areas within the Baracks had their own identification. The infirmary, however, does not.

DHARMA Initiative stations

Main article: DHARMA Initiative stations

The DHARMA Initiative conducted research and other activities on the Island in a number of stations. They all have (or have had) power (from an unknown source) and a water supply as well as various kinds of equipment (e.g. machinery, living quarters, computers, medical equipment, etc). Each facility also has its own octagon-shaped logo, utilizing a different symbol to designate which station items or personnel correspond to.

Other facilities

A radio tower was built by the DHARMA Initiative ostensibly to relay the results of their experiments to their backers and external supporters off the Island. Multiple reports describe the tower as continuously broadcasting the Numbers.

The source of DHARMA's electric power has been a question since the survivors discovered The Swan. Sayid theorized at the time that the Swan had its own geothermal generator, although prevalence of electricity at DHARMA facilities across the Island (especially the large amounts of power needed by the radio tower for continuous transmission) suggests another source. The Others maintained a deception among their own people that The Tempest was a power station, but this proved to be untrue. In "Happily Ever After" it was revealed that The Hydra contained a large and powerful generator, although in 2007, a member of Widmore's team indicated it hadn't been used in some twenty years, indicating it is not the Island's source.

Staff

Main article: List of DHARMA Initiative members

Orientation films

MarkWickman — Pierre Chang in the Pearl Orientation film.

Main article: DHARMA Initiative films

To instruct its members, the DHARMA Initiative created several orientation films, most of them featuring Pierre Chang under various aliases.

Known films are:

The Barracks video - An introductory video that new members of the Initiative were shown upon reaching the Island. Pierre Chang explained the purpose of the Initiative and security protocols for the Barracks.
The Hydra Orientation film - Explaining the primary purposes of the station, and instructing personnel in various protocols (ie the polar bears and the captured Others).
The Swan Orientation film - Instructing the Swan station's inhabitants about the protocol, as a consequence of an unspecified incident. The film includes a short history of the Initiative.
The Arrow Orientation film - Explaining the primary purpose of the station.
The Pearl Orientation video - Instructing the Pearl station inhabitants on monitoring other stations.
The Orchid Orientation video - Instructing the Orchid station inhabitants on monitoring the machines.
Outtakes of the Orchid Orientation film - Introduced as a teaser for Season 4 at San Diego Comic-Con 2007.
The Psychology Orientation test video - A series of flashing images shown revealed in The Lost Experience.
The video filmed in the Sri Lanka video - Dated 1975, provides a broader history and overview of DHARMA. Revealed in The Lost Experience.

DHARMA logos and personnel

The Swan station's logo

Main articles: DHARMA Logos and List of DHARMA Initiative members

The DHARMA initiative is represented by a series of distinct eight-sided logos. These octagon-shaped logos used by the Initiative appear on many items and are seen in the various DHARMA Initiative stations on the Island. DHARMA members also wear uniforms embossed with the logos, and this can also designates which station they belong to. Notable members of the Initiative include Pierre Chang and Horace Goodspeed, who wore various uniforms connecting them to particular DHARMA stations. According to information obtained in "He's Our You", an unknown person or group based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, (presumably the DeGroots), make large decisions and are the leaders of DHARMA. Horace Goodspeed appears to be the leader of all the DHARMA members on the Island, but ultimately does not make all decisions. Other seemingly high-ranking members of DHARMA are Jim LaFleur, the Head of Security, Stuart Radzinsky, the Head of Research and presumed architect of the Swan, and Pierre Chang, who appears to have some leadership at the Orchid.

The logos are all based on an octagonal design incorporating eight trigrams surrounding a central symbol. These are the trigrams of the I Ching, in which the broken bars represent yin and the solid bars represent yang. The central symbol is unique for each station. The design of the logo was derived from a Chinese concept known as "Bagua"; the trigrams are all inverted (inside-to-outside) from their normal "Later Heaven" order.

Cultural references to "Dharma" and the DHARMA logo

Wheel — The Dharmacakra, a Buddhist symbol representing the teachings of Dharma.

In Sanskrit, the word Dharma (धर्म) means "religion, moral duty", [3] with the etymological sense "that which is established firmly". [4] [5]

In Eastern religion, Dharma means Natural Law or Reality, or the "Way of The Higher Truths" By this, it stands as the principle or law that orders the universe, individual conduct in conformity to this principle, and the essential function or nature of a thing.

In Hinduism, Dharma refers to individual obligation with respect to caste, social custom, civil law, and sacred law. Meanwhile, in Buddhism, it stands for the body of teaching expounded by the Buddha, and therefore the knowledge of or duty to undertake conduct set forth by the Buddha as a way to enlightenment. In addition, it is one of the basic, minute elements from which all things are made. It also refers to the Path of the Teaching, the journey of the student that ends ultimately in the alleviation of suffering and/or the undoing of karma. Finally, it also references ultimate reality, the realization that the most fundamental element of the universe is happiness, bliss, or Nirvana.

Surrounding the logo are 8 trigrams which are derived from belief in Bagua. Under Chinese legend, the 8 trigrams were represented to the Yellow Emperor in 3000 BC by heaven, each symbol allocated to a particular plane of existence, a family member, an element etc... and grouped into both Yin and Yang. Cross multiplication of the 8 trigrams yields the I-Ching which is an old method of divination in which coins or sticks are randomly shaken to produce lines making up the trigram. The I-Ching is then used to interpret the meaning of the combination of trigrams.

References in popular culture

A DHARMA logo appearing at the beginning of the film Cloverfield.

Main article: Outside references to Lost

In an episode of NBC's The Office, Dwight asks Ryan a series of questions one of them being, "What is the DHARMA Initiative?"
The band Miniature Tigers has a T-shirt featuring the DHARMA logo, with a Tiger in the center.
In the sixth chapter of Half Life 2: Episode Two, Gordon Freeman can see a corridor behind a gas tank next to Uriah the vortigaunt, where the Swan's numbers input terminal can be seen opposite a concrete wall bearing a DHARMA logo with an unknown symbol (actually is the White Forest symbol, the rebel base where the game concludes).
At the beginning of Cloverfield there is a DHARMA initiative Pearl Station symbol on the video of the night of the Monster Attack of New York.
In season 1, episode 4 ("It's Only The Beginning"), of ABC's TV series "V", a DHARMA looking logo can be seen on the V's computer screen at the 31:51 time mark.

Trivia

The DHARMA Initiative closely resembles the NICE (National Institute for Co-ordinated Experiments) from That Hideous Strength, the final volume of C.S. Lewis's Ransom Trilogy. Both were scientific societies whose members lived and worked together, whose lower recruits believed their aims were purely noble and scientific and whose upper echelons seemed to have knowledge of secret matters (In Lost, the energy beneath the Orchid and Swan, in Lewis's book, the Macrobes) which they intended to exploit. Both groups did experiments on bears, which escaped captivity when the groups' activities collapsed, when purged by a group of people hostile to their aims, who defended nature and objected to scientific exploitation. The names of both societies are acronyms, which hint toward applied science.
The acronym for DHARMA is similar to DARPA, the acronym for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency which funds classified and often quite exotic research for the United States government. [6]
During DJ Dan's 7/05 podcast, a listener by the name of Anthony called in saying that in the 70s his grandmother joined what he thought was a cult. He said that the cult was called the "KARMA Imperative", although he probably meant to say the DHARMA Initiative but simply misspoke the name. According to Anthony's story, his grandmother joined the "KARMA Imperative" while attending the University of Michigan and was taken to an unknown location in the South Pacific and was never seen again, declared dead.
- In DJ Dan's First Live Podcast of August 11, 2006, Dan identified Keith Strutter as the guitarist and founder of Geronimo Jackson, and noted that Strutter's previous band was called The Karma Imperative.
Capitalization: Since DHARMA is an acronym (source: The Lost Experience), its proper spelling is in all capital letters. However the canonical exceptions using "normal caps" have been the welcome sign at the submarine arrival dock in "The Man Behind the Curtain", as well as ABC press release for that episode that lists the three characters, Dharma Welcomer, Dharma Rep. 1 and Dharma Rep. 2.
The backs of the Official jigsaw puzzles revealed that the "D.I.H.G." notations on the blast door map stands for DHARMA Initiative Hanso Group.
The DHARMA Initiative had access to dynamite, likely used during the initial stages of station construction. ("LaFleur")
"The Door" was presumed to be another station, but when opened by Sayid in "Live Together, Die Alone, Part 1" it was revealed to be a façade covering a rocky wall. This was most likely part of an elaborate deception put on by the Others.
The Temple itself is an ancient ziggurat pre-dating DHARMA's arrival the Island, yet Ben's map identifies the location with a unique logo, suggesting some sort of DHARMA presence at the site. Close inspection of the computer monitors in "Namaste" reveals a listing of "Temple ruins."

Unanswered questions

Unanswered questions
Do not answer the questions here. Keep the questions open-ended and neutral: do not suggest an answer. More details...

For fan theories about these unanswered questions, see: DHARMA Initiative/Theories

What powers their on-island facilities?
What events precipitated the Purge?
Other than Ethan and Ben, did any other DHARMA personnel join the Hostiles?
Why did they label most of their food, and other supplies, with the Swan station logo?

@@ Line 77: / Line 77: @@
 ==Facilities==
+===The Barracks===
-The Dharma Initiative placed nine known research stations around the Island (as well as the off-island Lamp Post), most of which take the form of hidden underground facilities or bunkers. After Oceanic Flight 815 crashes on the Island in September 2004, the survivors encounter several of these stations. The first to be discovered is "The Swan" which they refer to informally as "the hatch". Nine additional stations have since been visited over the series, each with its own particular logo associated with it: an octagon, similar to the bagua design, with a differing symbol at the center.
+{{main|Barracks}}
-On the blast door map, there are 6 structures depicted, and at least 4 of them are labeled by name and icon like DHARMA stations: The Swan, The Flame, The Staff and The Arrow. The other structures are labeled by question marks or numbers. 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. The Swan Station's blast door map makes reference to a light manufacturing facility, a meteorological research station, station "CVII", and others that were never shown on the series.
+The Barracks appear to be the DHARMA Initiative's central area of activity on the Island.  The location is a secure residential compound comprising houses, offices and other surface buildings with electricity and water, plus an unknown number of underground facilities.  Other buildings include a cafeteria and adjoining kitchen, recreational hall, school, infirmary, and security office.  Outside is a small playground area, numerous walkways, benches, picnic tables and a gazebo.  A motor pool location at the Barracks houses a number of [[DHARMA vans]] used by personnel to travel about the Island.  Close at hand to the main residential area is a small harbor and wharf where submarines dock coming to and from the Island.  The entire Barracks and the surrounding area is enclosed inside a [[sonar fence]].
-Among the hatches on the southeast side of the map, there are 4 rectangular structures/labels that have "CVI","CVII","CVIII", and "CVIV" written on them. CV stands for Cerberus Vent, which was revealed in secret writing on the back of one of the Lost jigsaw puzzles. The Swan station's blast door map claims that there was, at one time, an underground tunnel network that connected many of the stations. Notations on the map suggest that the tunnels started falling into disrepair in the early 1980s, soon after the incident occurred.
-Station 1: The Hydra[edit]
-The Hydra is a zoological research station located on a small island roughly two miles off-shore from the main island. It is described as being about twice the size of Alcatraz Island. The Hydra facility has cages outside the station in the jungle where polar bears used to be kept. An underwater complex was once used as an aquarium, which housed sharks and dolphins.[18] The facility also features living and research quarters. The symbol for this station is the usual Dharma Initiative logo with a hydra in the middle, which can be seen on a large canopy behind Kate and Sawyer's cages in season 3.
-At the start of season three, Jack, Kate, and Sawyer are held captive on the Hydra island by the Others. Kate and Sawyer are forced to build a runway, until they manage to escape.[19] In season two, a shark has the Dharma symbol branded on its tail. Also in season three episode "A Tale of Two Cities", Tom comments that the polar bears that used to be housed in the cage Sawyer was being held in figured out the "food" puzzle in two hours. A leather collar bearing the Dharma Hydra symbol is found near a polar bear skeleton in the Tunisian desert.[20] In the fifth season, Ajira Airways Flight 316 makes a forced but overall safe landing on the Hydra island, landing on the runway built by the Others. In the fifth season episode "Some Like It Hoth", Dr. Chang threatens to send an over-inquisitive Hurley to the Hydra Station to participate in their "ridiculous experiments" if he mentions a body delivered to Dr. Chang by Miles Straume.
-Station 2: The Arrow[edit]
-The Arrow station is first seen in "...And Found". In "Because You Left", a flashback shows Chang doing the initial recording for the orientation film, where he explains that it is a station for monitoring the Hostiles and formulating strategies to combat them. He is interrupted before he can finish. In "The Man Behind the Curtain", flashbacks of the Dharma Initiative in operation on the Island show one of the members, Horace Goodspeed (Doug Hutchison), wearing a jumpsuit bearing the Arrow station logo with "mathematician" written below it.[5] When rediscovered in 2004, the word "quarantine" appears on the inside of the station's door.[21] In "LaFleur", Horace gives the order to notify the Arrow to "prepare the heavy ordnance" when he believes there is an imminent danger from the Hostiles.
-When the tail section survivors come across the Arrow Station in "The Other 48 Days", it has apparently been converted into a storage room.[22] Within, they find a radio, a glass eye, and part of the Swan station's orientation film hidden inside a Bible.[21] Producers Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof stated on a podcast that each object is significant, and not randomly chosen.[22]
-Station 3: The Swan[edit]
+While all of the DHARMA stations appear to have had their own [[DHARMA logos|logos]], the Barracks itself did not have one.  However, the security outpost beneath the Barracks did have its own - and similarly the kitchen and maintenance areas within the Baracks had their own identification.  The infirmary, however, does not.
+===DHARMA Initiative stations===
-Dharma food, bearing the Swan logo
+{{main|DHARMA Initiative stations}}
-The Swan was planned to be a laboratory used by the Dharma Initiative for research on electromagnetism.[3] In the episode "The Incident", Dharma Initiative member Radzinsky claimed when complete, the Swan Station would allow manipulation of electromagnetism that "would change the world". According to the feature "Access Granted" on the third season Blu-ray, Dharma drilled into the earth and hit an area containing a large electromagnetic buildup, which their drilling released. The Swan was built over this area to act as a cork. Dharma then came up with a scheme to "dam" the leak but with the drawback that the field built up behind the dam and would eventually break it. A failsafe key could be used to permanently "seal" the leak.[23] The specific event happened in July 1977, as revealed in "The Incident", and necessitated the evacuation of the island.
+The DHARMA Initiative conducted research and other activities on [[the Island]] in a number of stations. They all have (or have had) power (from an unknown source) and a water supply as well as various kinds of equipment (e.g. machinery, living quarters, computers, medical equipment, etc). Each facility also has its own octagon-shaped [[DHARMA Logos|logo]], utilizing a different symbol to designate which station items or personnel correspond to.
-On the station's orientation film, Doctor Marvin Candle explains that an "incident" occurred early in the station's experiments. An edit to the film, which according to Inman was made by Radzinsky, removed specific details of this incident. This event required the entire Swan station area to be sealed with a large amount of concrete "like Chernobyl" (according to Sayid and Daniel Faraday) to contain the dangerous energy. This caused a consistent build-up of electromagnetic energy, which resulted in a change of the station's focus: a two-member crew, replaced every 540 days, were instructed to enter a numeric code into a microcomputer terminal every 108 minutes. The station is equipped with a split-flap display timer, which is interfaced to a microcomputer terminal and connected to an alarm system.[3]
-The station is stocked with food, a record player with a collection of old LPs, a small library, an armory, a shower, and bunk beds. There is also a brand new washer/dryer and one of the books in the library is "Rainbow Six" by Tom Clancy, published in 1998. It is almost entirely underground, except for an entrance shaft and a concealed door (possibly due to being hidden in the Hostiles territory). The station also has several internal blast doors, with a map in invisible ink on one of them.[24] This map has been worked on by, at a minimum, Kelvin Inman and Radzinsky. Analysis of the map suggests no less than five unique handwriting styles, and thus five different contributors. The map has direct revision dates on it, and as well as the obvious map entry, also seems to serve as some sort of history to happenings on the island, as there are many annotations that seem to suggest the writers were attempting to locate and ascertain the status of many stations on the Island. There are sections that are written in Latin. Kelvin Inman is seen writing in the lower right hand part of the map in "Live Together, Die Alone", near a revision dated for 6.26.2002. There are also acrylic based paints and several murals painted in different portions of the hatch by unknown people as well as tick marks on the wall derived from them.
+===Other facilities===
-In the episode "Some Like It Hoth", set in 1977, the Swan Station is shown to be under construction in an area designated as the Hostiles' territory, a violation of the truce Dharma had brokered with them, under the primary authority of Radzinsky. In the episode "The Incident", Dharma hits the pocket, releasing the energy and drawing all metallic objects into the hole. The plutonium core of a hydrogen bomb is detonated by the survivors in an attempt to negate the energy. In "Live Together, Die Alone", Desmond Hume (Henry Ian Cusick) shipwrecks on the Island in 2001 and is taken to the Swan station. Here Kelvin Inman explains about entering the numeric code then pushing the button to save the world. In September 2004, Kelvin and Desmond get into a fight, resulting in Kelvin's death. Desmond enters the numbers too late, resulting in an electromagnetic build-up, which causes the crash of Oceanic Flight 815.[9] Two of the survivors, Locke (Terry O'Quinn) and Boone (Ian Somerhalder), discover the Swan accidentally.[25] Locke manages to successfully open it in the first season finale "Exodus".[26] Inside they find Desmond,[27] who flees after they break the computer.[3] The survivors manage to fix the computer, and begin pushing the button every 108 minutes.[3]
+* A [[radio tower]] was built by the DHARMA Initiative ostensibly to relay the results of their experiments to their backers and external supporters off the Island.  Multiple reports describe the tower as continuously broadcasting [[the Numbers]].
-After discovering the Pearl orientation film, Locke believes pushing the button is a psychological test, and with Desmond's help decides to find out what will happen if the button is not pushed.[28] Desmond tries to convince Locke that the station is real, with data from the Pearl, but Locke breaks the computer anyway so he can't stop the countdown. This causes all the metal objects in the Swan to fly about, and the ground begins to shake. Realizing the importance of the button Locke accepts he was wrong, and Desmond turns the failsafe key. The sky turns violet temporarily, and the Swan is destroyed.[9] The electromagnetic burst released by the destruction of the Swan Station renders the island momentarily visible to the outside world. The energy signature is detected by a monitoring station under the control of Penelope Widmore, which reported to her that they had "found it."
-The Incident Room[edit]
-In the video game Lost: Via Domus, the Incident Room is the abandoned laboratory revealed to be on the other side of the concrete wall in the Swan. The room was accessed by a tunnel and a large locked door. The room contains a large reactor and other severely damaged equipment. The reactor is tilted to one side and discharging electricity as well as coolant fluid. It has the appearance of two large electromagnetic coils suspended over a drilled shaft into the Island surrounded by severely damaged concrete. The Incident Room has its own computer much like the Swan's. This section of the Swan appeared on the blast door map as a blocked off section of the station ("Lockdown"), but was never seen in the show itself.
-The Incident Room has been mentioned several times in Lost. When Sayid first visited the Swan he tried to find a way past the concrete wall, but it was just too thick to get through. Sayid told Jack that "The last time I heard of concrete being poured over everything in this way was Chernobyl", ("Everybody Hates Hugo").
-The look and design for the "Incident Room" came from never before seen blueprints given to the developers by the Lost crew for the game. Although the game has been stated to be non-canon, the designs are the creators' intended layout for the blocked sections of the Swan station.[citation needed]
-Station 4: The Flame[edit]
-The Flame is the Dharma Initiative's communication station. It uses sonar and satellite technologies to communicate with the outside world and other stations on the Island, and can also be used to order food deliveries. Unlike the other stations, the Flame is not an underground bunker, but rather a wood-frame bungalow with a large satellite dish on the roof. Inside the station is a living area, a kitchen, and a computer room. Below the building is a large basement containing supplies, including a library of Dharma Initiative operations manuals.[8] The facility also boasts several gardens, as well as chickens, cows, and goats roaming the area.
-On the day Oceanic Flight 815 crashes on the Island, Mikhail Bakunin (Andrew Divoff) uses the station to access news feeds to gather information about the survivors. At Ben's request he alters one of the feeds to allow Juliet to see her sister and nephew alive and well off the Island.[29] At some point after this, communication off the Island is no longer possible, as the Looking Glass is blocking all signals.[30] In "Enter 77", Kate Austen (Evangeline Lilly), Sayid Jarrah (Naveen Andrews), and Locke discover the station. Locke uses the computer to send a message saying the Hostiles have invaded the station, and by doing so he intentionally destroys it by causing the C4 lining the basement to go off.[8] As shown in "LaFleur", Radzinsky was stationed at the Flame in 1977, where he designed the model for the future Swan Station.
-Station 5: The Pearl[edit]
-The Pearl is where the Dharma Initiative studied psychology. It primarily serves as a monitoring station, to which surveillance feeds from the other stations are sent. Its orientation film asserts that the Swan is a psychological experiment, and that the purpose of those stationed in the Pearl is to monitor the participants in that station. The station consists of a three-by-three bank of television sets, two chairs with writing surfaces, and a computer hooked to a printer. A pneumatic tube is installed in the room, which the orientation film states is used to transport notebooks to another Dharma location. According to the orientation film that features Dr Mark Whickman, two-person teams, working eight-hour shifts over a three-week period, were to watch the video displays and take notes on their observations. Every action, regardless of how subtle, were to be recorded into notebooks by the Pearl's team members.[28]
-After Oceanic Flight 815 crashes on the Island, Nikki and Paulo (Kiele Sanchez and Rodrigo Santoro) are the first survivors to encounter the Pearl, while searching for diamonds.[31] Several weeks later, Locke and Mr. Eko (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) enter the Pearl and watch the orientation video. Locke believes this means pushing the button in the Swan is a psychological test, and resolves to discover what will happen if it is not pushed.[28] However, Desmond postulates in "Live Together, Die Alone" that the Pearl participants were the true test subjects without knowing it. This is supported when the survivors discover that the pneumatic tube dumps the notebooks into an open field; the contents of the notebooks indicate that they had been dumped there long before the station closed.[9] During season three, some of the survivors visit the Pearl in hope of finding a way to communicate with the Others, but discover that the station is only capable of receiving data, not sending it.[32]
-Station 6: The Orchid[edit]
-Introduced in the three-part finale of the fourth season, "There's No Place Like Home", the Orchid station appears at first to be an abandoned greenhouse. Hidden below the greenhouse is a second level of the station, a furnished laboratory similar to the Swan station. The Orchid features a small chamber adjacent to an exotic matter anomaly, which can be used to warp time and space. An outtake from the orientation film was shown at the 2007 San Diego Comic-Con, where Doctor Edgar Halliwax explains that, contrary to Dharma's statements that the station was for botanical research, the station is used for researching a "Casimir effect" exhibited by the Island.[33] The producers have confirmed that the video is canon, and holds relevance to the show itself.[34]
-Below the Orchid station is a room which consists of pillars and stones with unknown hieroglyphs that have been seen in a few other places on the Island, and ends with a room consisting of a giant frozen wheel built horizontally into the wall.[35] As shown in "This Place is Death", the chamber was in place well before the construction of the Orchid. A well was connected to it at one point before the Orchid was built, but the chamber itself predates it. Despite being under the Orchid, it has nothing to do with the DHARMA Initiative, nor did any member of DHARMA ever set foot in the room or touch the wheel. Ben and Locke enter the station and Ben travels to this room, where he turns the wheel. As he pushes it, the gap containing the wheel glows and the Island vanishes. Ben is transported to the Tunisian Desert as a consequence of using it.[36] As a result of turning the wheel, the survivors of Flight 815 and the freighter crew members on the Island (who are all candidates to replace Jacob) begin to jump randomly through time. When Locke returns to the wheel in "This Place is Death", it is shown to be bouncing erratically and still glowing. Locke turns the wheel back to its original position, transporting himself off the Island to the same place Ben ended up. The time jumps also stop, stranding the survivors in 1974. Charles Widmore would later tell Locke that the Tunisian Desert is the "exit point" for anyone who uses the wheel.
-In a flashback in "Because You Left", Dr. Chang is called to investigate an incident at the Orchid. A construction worker is shown bleeding from his eyes and mouth, and six drill bits have been melted drilling into the future site of the chamber. Scans of the wall reveal the presence of the chamber with the wheel behind it. Chang refuses to use explosives to clear the wall, since it might release a limitless energy source. He believes that they will be able to control time if the energy can be harnessed properly.
-Station ?: The Staff[edit]
-The Staff is a medical research station, later designed to house pregnant women who were taken there to give birth and/or die.[37] It consists of a long corridor, at the end of which is an operating room, as well as a nursery and a locker room.[38] Hidden inside one of the lockers is a switch that unlocks a hidden vault that contains medical equipment and nursery furniture.[37] There is also another hidden room, where the Others take women who have become pregnant on the Island to die.[37]
-After Claire Littleton (Emilie de Ravin) is kidnapped by the Others in season one, she is taken to the Staff station. Here she has a drug administered to her fetus. A renegade Other, Alex (Tania Raymonde), helps Claire to escape when she learns that they are planning to steal Claire's baby. When it is found by Claire and Kate later on, Kate discovers costumes, a fake beard, and some theatrical glue in the Staff locker room.[38] In season three, Sun-Hwa Kwon (Yunjin Kim) and Juliet Burke (Elizabeth Mitchell) visit the Staff station to perform an ultrasound to discover when Sun's baby was conceived.[37] In season four, Faraday, Charlotte, Jin and Sun visit the station to get some medical supplies for Jack's operation.
-Station ?: The Looking Glass[edit]
-The Looking Glass is located on the sea-bed at approximately 60 feet (18m) depth, some 600 feet (182m) from the beach. The station is used to jam communications going to and from the Island, as well as generating a beacon to guide the submarine to the Island. When the Dharma Initiative was still active, the Looking Glass was used to resupply the submarine. The station receives power from the cable that Sayid discovered in the episode "Solitary". The station's logo is a rabbit, a reference to the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland (the sequel to which is Through the Looking-Glass). Its logo can be seen in the episode "Greatest Hits" when Charlie swims down to it. The Others were under the impression that the station was flooded. Only Ben knew that the station was still in operation and there were people working there.
-In the season three finale, "Through the Looking Glass", Charlie Pace discovers that the rescue boat linked to Naomi, the parachute woman, was not sent out by Desmond Hume's ex-girlfriend Penny Widmore. Charlie locks the door to the control room when Mikhail shatters the porthole window, subsequently flooding the room. This prevents Desmond from getting to Charlie, thereby fulfilling Desmond's latest "premonition" (Charlie was meant to drown in the control room after disabling the jamming equipment). He quickly writes "Not Penny's Boat" on his hand and shows Desmond through the glass on the door.
-Station ?: The Tempest[edit]
-The Tempest is a chemical weapons development station on the Island, first seen in the episode "The Other Woman". It is used to control the release of poisonous gases over the Island. In "The Other Woman", it was revealed that part of Daniel Faraday's and Charlotte Staples Lewis' primary missions were to disable the gases at the station. They said they needed to press the button to save everyone, although they may have wanted to disable the station's gases to prevent Benjamin Linus from using the Tempest as a weapon of last resort against the Island's enemies.
-The station's name is a reference to "The Tempest", the title of one of William Shakespeare's most famous plays.[citation needed] The play concerns a group of flawed and corrupt individuals being shipwrecked on a mysterious island.
-Station ?: The Lamp Post[edit]
-The Lamp Post is the only known off-island Dharma station. It is located in Los Angeles under a church, built on top of a pocket of electromagnetic energy similar to that on the island. This station was used by the DHARMA Initiative to find the Island. As the island can move and is hard to locate, the researchers developed an equation to predict where the island would be in the future, thereby providing a window of opportunity to reach it. A large pendulum (resembling a Foucault Pendulum) hangs from the ceiling making chalk marks on a map on the floor beneath, making a pattern with lines crossing a central point from almost every direction except up and down. Many computers surround the pendulum, along with a panel on the wall that marks latitude and longitude. The inside of the station first appears in the second episode of season five, "The Lie", though no explanation of its purpose (or that it is, in fact, a DHARMA station) is revealed until the following episode, "316". The computers also seem to be able to find data regarding the Island, for example how long the people who left the Island have to return before an unspecified catastrophe occurs (70 hours). It is unknown how this data is calculated or received. Eloise Hawking is currently in charge of the station, and uses it to help the Oceanic 6 return to the island with the assistance of Ben Linus.
-The station's logo includes the traditional Dharma octagon-shape with a picture of what appears to be a lamp post emitting light to either side. This picture can also refer to the pendulum within the station as evidenced by the pointed tip in the picture.
 * The source of DHARMA's electric power has been a question since the survivors discovered [[The Swan]].  [[Sayid]] theorized at the time that the Swan had its own geothermal generator, although prevalence of electricity at DHARMA facilities across the Island (especially the large amounts of power needed by the [[radio tower]] for continuous transmission) suggests another source.  The [[Others]] maintained a deception among their own people that [[The Tempest]] was a power station, but this proved to be untrue.  In {{ep|6x11}} it was revealed that [[The Hydra]] contained a large and powerful generator, although in 2007, a member of Widmore's team indicated it hadn't been used in some twenty years, indicating it is not the Island's source.
@@ Line 170: / Line 138: @@
 *The band Miniature Tigers has a T-shirt featuring the DHARMA logo, with a Tiger in the center.
 *In the sixth chapter of ''[[Wikipedia:Half-Life 2: Episode Two|Half Life 2: Episode Two]]'', Gordon Freeman can see a corridor behind a gas tank next to Uriah the vortigaunt, where the [[Swan]]'s [[numbers]] input terminal can be seen opposite a concrete wall bearing a [[DHARMA logo]] with an unknown symbol (actually is the White Forest symbol, the rebel base where the game concludes).
-* At the beginning of ''[[Wikipedia:Cloverfield|Cloverfield]]'' there is a DHARMA initiative symbol on the video of the night of the Monster Attack of New York.<br>
+* At the beginning of ''[[Wikipedia:Cloverfield|Cloverfield]]'' there is a DHARMA initiative [[Pearl|Pearl Station]] symbol on the video of the night of the Monster Attack of New York.<br>
 * In season 1, episode 4 ("It's Only The Beginning"), of ABC's TV series "V", a DHARMA looking logo can be seen on the V's computer screen at the 31:51 time mark.
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