Revision as of 19:37, 24 December 2008
- "Daniel" redirects here. For other uses of "Daniel", see Daniel (disambiguation).
Daniel Faraday is a physicist and professor who parachuted onto the Island from a helicopter sent by the freighter Kahana. He is distinguished by his absentmindedness, his polite demeanor and his scientific insight into the Island's mysterious properties. Daniel hid his awareness of the freighter's true mission, which was not to rescue the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 at all. Upon learning of Keamy's implementation of the secondary protocol, Daniel insisted they had to leave the Island immediately and helped to ferry the survivors to presumed safety onto the freighter. He was in the water aboard the Zodiac raft with several survivors when the Island was moved.
Before the Island
At Oxford
Daniel is shocked to hear his future-self sent Desmond. ("The Constant")
In 1996, Daniel Faraday was a professor at Queen's College, Oxford University. He was conducting unauthorized experiments involving time travel, and had created a machine that allowed a living creature's consciousness to travel through time. When visited by Desmond Hume, who claimed to know about the machine, Daniel initially believed that a colleague was playing a practical joke on him, but when Desmond mentioned Eloise, Daniel's lab rat, he believed Desmond.
In his lab, Daniel tested the numbers Desmond supplied to him. He used the machine on Eloise, enabling her to inerrantly complete a maze that she would not be taught how to run for another hour. Daniel's blackboard revealed his interest in the Kerr metric as part of his theory of time-transported consciousness.
A being that undergoes time-transported consciousness, according to Daniel's explanation to Desmond, must identify a constant, something existing in both periods of time travel that can serve as an anchor for the being's consciousness;
Daniel cries for reasons he can't say. ("Confirmed Dead")
failure to find a constant results in instability of consciousness, and the resulting stress can lead to brain aneurysm and eventual death. At some point, Daniel identifies Desmond as his constant, noting so in his journal. ("The Constant")
In America
Eight years later, Daniel lived in Essex, Massachusetts under the watch of a caretaker. When he saw a news report covering the discovery of the Oceanic Flight 815 wreckage, he became visibly upset, but he himself was unaware of the reason.
Shortly thereafter, he was recruited to a team, organized by Matthew Abaddon and led by Naomi Dorrit, that was sent to the Island aboard the freighter Kahana. ("Confirmed Dead")
On the Island
Season 4 (Days 91-100)
Faraday asks for Jack's name, moments after landing on the island. ("The Beginning of the End")
While flying to the Island, the helicopter Daniel was travelling in encountered electrical problems and the passengers were forced to bail out. Miles pushed Daniel out first, who encountered Jack and Kate in the jungle upon landing. He introduced himself and claimed to be there to rescue them. He explained that he had lost his pack which contained his phone when he bailed out, so Kate gave him the phone she had taken from Naomi. He called Minkowski to report contacting the survivors. Minkowski asked Daniel if he was on speaker, causing Daniel to then excuse himself to talk privately. While he was talking to Minkowski, Jack and Kate saw the gun he was concealing. Daniel explained that the rest of his team all had GPS units which were tracked by the phones, and enlisted Jack and Kate's help in finding the rest of the team. ("The Beginning of the End") ("Confirmed Dead")
Faraday tries to calm a hostile Miles. ("The Beginning of the End")
While walking through the jungle they found a metal box from the chopper. Jack opened it up, revealing a gas mask and other quarantine equipment. Daniel said that he could not explain what it was there for since he was not in charge of packing. Jack remained doubtful and suddenly asked him why he brought the gun, prompting Daniel to reveal that rescuing the survivors was not their primary objective. As Daniel was about to explain what they were doing on the island, Miles' signal appeared on the satellite phone. They reached the cove where Miles appeared to be dead. Miles surprised Jack and held him at gunpoint, convinced Kate had killed Naomi. Daniel told him to stop, that they were good people who were trying to help, only to have Kate try to steal his gun. They travel to Naomi's body where Miles "talked" to her to confirm that Jack and Kate were not the ones who killed her.
Daniel sets up the tripod for his payload experiment. ("The Economist") (promotional still)
Daniel paid attention to the Island's unique physical properties, observing that the scattering of light on the Island seemed unusual. Kate noticed Daniel's harmless nature and asked him to put away his gun, though Daniel claimed that Miles would kill him if he did. As Charlotte's signal appeared on the phone, Jack ordered them to put their guns down as Juliet and Sayid had taken up shooting position on Daniel and Miles. They complied and began to follow Charlotte's signal into the jungle. Sayid questioned them, allowing Daniel to reveal his name and his profession as a physicist, though he "doesn't like being pigeonholed." Sayid took Miles' phone to see that Charlotte's signal was moving quickly toward them, only to find Vincent with the GPS tracker, revealing that Locke had captured her.
The group then saw Frank's flare. When they reached him they found him unconscious, though he woke up and said that he managed to land the chopper just over the hill. Daniel and Kate retrieved Naomi's body and brought it back to the chopper, which had landed safe and sound. ("Confirmed Dead")
Daniel, tired of sitting around the helicopter, began unloading pieces of equipment. He set up a tripod with a guidance apparatus on top, and phoned the freighter to ask Regina for a 'payload'. He was visibly upset when it didn't arrive at the expected time. When the payload (a rocket) arrived later, the clock inside it reported a different time than its synchronized partner held by Daniel, a difference of 31 minutes. Daniel was somewhat shaken by his discovery of the time differential between the Island and the rest of the world, murmuring "This is not good." He was later happy to see the rescued Charlotte and declined a seat on the helicopter soon leaving the Island. Daniel told Frank that on his flight back to the freighter he should be sure to follow the exact bearing he had flown on their way to the Island, no matter what. ("The Economist")
After returning to the beach with Jack, and Juliet, Daniel and Charlotte played a memory game involving cards. After guessing only two out of three correctly, he felt he was making no progress. He and Charlotte were then questioned by Jack and Juliet about their inability to reach the freighter on the satellite phone, which they used to contact Regina on an "emergency line". She told them that, even though the helicopter took off a day previous, Frank, Sayid, and Desmond had not yet made it to the freighter. ("Eggtown")
Daniel's journal naming Desmond as his constant. ("The Constant")
After being interrogated by Jack and Juliet all night, Daniel revealed that the survivors perception of the passage of time differed from its actual passing, though Charlotte prevented him from saying any more. Daniel reassured Jack that everything would be fine as long as Frank had stayed on the correct bearing, otherwise there would be "side effects." After the beach was finally contacted by Sayid, Daniel learnt of Desmond's becoming unstuck in time. Daniel told Jack and Juliet that people having recently been exposed to high levels of radiation or electromagnetism could become "confused" when travelling to and from the Island. He only clarified by saying the condition was "not amnesia." He asked to speak to Desmond and asked him what year he thought it was, learning that Desmond's consciousness from 1996 had jumped forward in time. Daniel tells Desmond to travel to Oxford when he returns to 1996 in order to find Daniel. In order for Daniel's past self to believe Desmond, Daniel gives him information from his journal that only he would know: a setting of 2.342, an oscillation of 11 Hertz, and the name of Eloise. This information was used by Desmond in the past to establish his constant. Daniel told Jack that the displacement was unpredictable, ranging between minutes and years for different people. That evening, he was seen on the beach, leafing through his diary. He found a note he had written for himself back in 1996: "If anything goes wrong, Desmond Hume will be my constant." ("The Constant")
Juliet holds Faraday at a gun point at the Tempest station. ("The Other Woman") (promotional still)
That night, he and Charlotte slipped out of the beach camp in order to venture to the Tempest in order to shut it down and prevent the possible threat of toxic gas being spread by Ben. At a stream, Daniel expressed doubt in his ability to perform his task, but was reassured by Charlotte. They were confronted by Kate en route to the beach from the Barracks, who became suspicious at their obvious lies. She searched through their pack and found a gas mask, only to be knocked out by Charlotte. Daniel and Charlotte continued on to the Tempest and broke in by sparking the wires outside the door. While Daniel struggled to neutralize the gas, he was confronted by Juliet, who was subsequently knocked into a brawl with Charlotte. With minutes to go and his gas mask ripped off, Daniel frantically typed the keyboard, and stopped the disaster with seconds to spare. He remarked that it was "a close one" and stayed behind to shut down the station while Juliet and Charlotte left. ("The Other Woman")
After returning to the beach, Daniel attempted to fix the satellite phone (which was broken during Charlotte and Juliet's confrontation the previous day), and was approached by Sun. She told him of her pregnancy and asked him if they were actually going to rescue the survivors, to which he answered that it was not his decision and would not reveal whose decision it was. ("Ji Yeon")
Jack demands from Faraday to tell him the truth about his mission.("The Shape of Things to Come")
Daniel was among the people on the beach who ran to the edge of the water in response to Bernard's cries for help and Vincent's barking. After the body had been pulled onto the sand, Daniel shared Ray's identity as the freighter's doctor.
Daniel was provided with the materials to fix the satellite phone enough to communicate in Morse code, and they attempted communication that night. Daniel transmitted "What happened to doctor?" and when the freighter replied, he told Jack the response was "Friends are fine. Helicopters coming in the morning." Bernard, however, knew Morse code and said Daniel lied because the real reply stated, "What are you talking about? Doctor is fine." Under pressure from an angry Jack, Daniel revealed the freighter never planned to rescue any of the survivors, which left Jack stumbling away, upset and in apparent pain. ("The Shape of Things to Come")
Daniel and Charlotte were still being interrogated by Rose and Bernard the next morning over the rescue situation when Jack stepped in to calm the crowd, only to collapse with pain. Juliet gave Sun a list of medical instruments to get from the Staff in order to perform an appendectomy on Jack. Daniel stepped in and offered to help, explaining that he had performed some animal dissections and knew what the supplies looked like. Though aware of the survivors' distrust of them, Juliet agreed for Daniel and Charlotte to travel with Jin and Sun. Upon reaching The Staff, he volunteered to go inside the station first in a gesture of chivalry toward Charlotte. Jin noted that Daniel seemed to have a crush on her. Daniel collected the supplies and brought them back for Jack's surgery. ("Something Nice Back Home")
When Jin discovered that Charlotte spoke Korean, he threatened to break Daniel's fingers one at a time if they didn't take Sun off the Island when the helicopter arrived. ("Something Nice Back Home")
Daniel tries to convince Charlotte to leave the Island. ("There's No Place Like Home, Part 2") (promotional still)
He was then asked by Jack to call Frank's satellite phone, where they heard Keamy ordering Frank to land the copter. Daniel, hearing The Orchid mentioned, realizes that they need to get off the island immediately, because Keamy is following the secondary protocol. After Jack and Kate set off to follow the signal, Daniel witnesses Sayid returning on the Zodiac raft. While Sayid attempts to follow Jack and Sawyer, Daniel volunteers to begin ferrying the survivors back to the boat. Sayid reluctantly agrees. After Kate returns and gives Aaron to Sun, Daniel takes off on the Zodiac raft with Jin, Sun, and three other redshirts. They reach the boat, and as soon as everyone is on the Kahana safely, Daniel turns the raft around and returns to get more people. ("There's No Place Like Home, Part 1")
After making it back to The Island for more people, Daniel tells Miles and Charlotte that they have to be on the raft with next group if they want to leave the island. Miles says he wants to stay; Charlotte, on the other hand, isn't sure. When Daniel returns, Charlotte tells him that she's staying for now. Daniel replies that there might not be a next time and that she may never get off the island. After Charlotte kisses him goodbye, he gets the raft and begins ferrying more people to the Kahana. When the Kahana explodes and the second purple sky event happens, Daniel and the people on the Zodiac raft are seen out in the ocean just before the island moves. The raft is not seen after the island moves, so Daniel's location and health status is uncertain. ("There's No Place Like Home, Part 2")
Trivia
- "The Constant" references Slaughterhouse-Five through Desmond's experience. Daniel's inexplicable crying at the news is reminiscent of the book's protagonist Billy (who is defined specifically as "unstuck in time") crying on hearing the barbershop quartet. Billy's reason is revealed to be because the quartet reminded him of the guards who told the PoWs of the bombing in the past; Daniel's could be because he'll meet the survivors in the future. This and "Desmond" page of his diary suggest that he may fall victim to similar effects.
- In the Bible Daniel is known as an interpreter of dreams, able to find the truth and meaning behind cryptic visions.
- Daniel was the twenty-fifth character to ever have a flashback.
- Daniel's episode count is 11 (as of "There's No Place Like Home, Part 2").
- Daniel appears to suffer from memory loss:
- He paused a long time before recalling his name when he first landed on the Island.
- He displayed "word searching" when referring to his pack.
- He was chastised by Miles for not remembering that Naomi gave the distress code---"tell my sister I love her".
- He was unsure why he was crying when Oceanic 815 was found. ("Confirmed Dead")
- He was playing what appeared to be a memory game with Charlotte, in which she would hide three cards, and he would try to remember them. He only got two out of three correct, which she referred to as "progress". ("Eggtown")
- He doesn't remember his 1996 meeting with Desmond and seems surprised upon reading in his own journal that he intended to use Desmond as his "constant" if anything should go wrong.
- The fact he keeps a journal may be because of his memory problems.
- He has never been seen with his tie off while on the Island.
- Daniel has never met Boone, Shannon, Walt, Ana Lucia, Libby, Mr. Eko, Charlie, Hurley, Locke, Claire, Ben, and Sawyer. He has met every other main character.
Name
- David Arthur Faraday was the first victim of the Zodiac Killer in the 1960's. The Zodiac raft in which Daniel Faraday rides on the show is possibly a reference to this. [1]
- His name first appeared as the season 4 clue word for chapter 2 of the Find 815 alternate reality game.
- Michael Faraday (September 22, 1791 – August 25, 1867) was an English physicist who researched electromagnetism.
- Faraday invented the Faraday cage, a cage that prevents electro-magnetic radiation from permeating it.
- The Faraday Constant, a constant in electrochemistry, is named after Faraday. The episode "The Constant" is an obvious reference to this and contains many more references in it.
- The SI unit of electrical capacitance, the farad, is named for Faraday.
- The face of Michael Faraday is visible on the Bank of England Series E £20 note that can be seen in the secret room at Ben's home in the Barracks. ("The Economist")
- Faraday worked on a theory that combined the interchangeability of electricity and magnetism, with the interchangeability of gravity. He was not successful.
- Michael Faraday (Daniel's namesake) gave popular lectures on The Chemical History of a Candle.
- In June of 1832, the University of Oxford granted Faraday a Doctor of Civil Law degree (honorary).
- Flight 815 crashed on what would be his 213th birthday.
- The Faraday Institute is a research institute at St. Edmund's College, Cambridge. The institute studies the correlations between science and religion. The belief in and value of science (logic) vs. religion (faith) is a theme often explored in Lost, particularly in arguments between Jack (who usually supports logic and devalues faith) and Locke (who usually supports faith and disregards science). ("Orientation")
- During casting this character was named Russell. [source needed] "Russell Faraday" is the alias given to the villain at the end of Stephen King's The Stand.
Unanswered questions
| Unanswered questions |
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- For fan theories about these unanswered questions, see: Daniel Faraday/Theories
- Why doesn't he wear any protective headgear to guard against radiation in the rat experiment?
- Why was he crying about Flight 815?
- Why did Naomi refer to him as a "head case"?
- Why does Daniel have a caretaker?
- What was the purpose of his experiment on the Island?
- Why does he consult a diary containing information seemingly from the future?
- What was his significance to the team?
- Why does he seem to have memory problems?
- When Ben moves the island, what happens to Daniel and the rest of the people in his boat?
- Does the island "move" them with it to wherever or whenever it goes?
- Why was he specifically recruited by Abaddon?
- Why does he need a constant?
- What could "go wrong" that would require him to find a constant?
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