The Arrow
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The Arrow is DHARMA Initiative station number 2. Its primary purpose is the development of defensive strategies against the Hostiles. ("Because You Left") It is an underground complex located somewhere east or northeast of the Barracks, and an hour or two from the coastline. It was discovered by the tail section survivors 27 days after Flight 815's crash. It is about a three days' trek from the tail-end crash site to the Arrow ("The Other 48 Days").
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History
DHARMA Initiative
The original purpose of the Arrow station was to gather intelligence and develop defensive strategies against the hostile natives of the Island. ("Because You Left") In 1974, Richard Alpert came through the security perimeter to the barracks, where he informed Horace Goodspeed that he knew the truce had been broken and that two Others were killed. Horace then told Phil to call the Arrow and tell them that they were at "condition one". ("LaFleur") Horace was a mathematician and wore the Arrow logo on his jumpsuit, but the nature of his work there is unknown. ("The Man Behind the Curtain")
Radzinsky, part of the DHARMA Initiative team stationed at the Swan in the 1990s, seems to have visited the Arrow at an unknown time. Kelvin Inman said that he cut out sections of the Swan Orientation film. Those removed sections were later found hidden in the Bible found at the Arrow. ("Live Together, Die Alone") ("What Kate Did")
Orientation film
Pierre Chang hosted the Arrow Orientation film, which was recorded in 1977 at the barracks. In the film, he revealed that the purpose of the Arrow is to develop defensive strategies against the hostile natives of the Island. ("Because You Left")
Oceanic 815 survivors
The Oceanic 815 tail section survivors discovered the station 27 days after the crash. Temporarily using it as a shelter, they found it to be largely empty, except for several boxes. One box contained a number of unusual items carefully wrapped in cloth (a glass eye, a Bible, and a radio). ("The Other 48 Days")
Michael, Sawyer, and Jin were brought to the Arrow station after having been captured by the tail section survivors on day 45. ("Everybody Hates Hugo") On day 47, the combined group moved out of the Arrow station and started their trek across the Island to the middle section survivors' beach camp. ("...And Found")
The station
When discovered in 2004, the word "QUARANTINE" was written on the inside of the door. The station still had power and light, but was in an extreme state of decay. ("The Other 48 Days")
Purpose
In 1977, Pierre Chang was preparing to film the Arrow's orientation video at the Barracks. Before being interrupted with news of an incident at the Orchid station, Chang identified himself as Marvin Candle and explained that the Arrow's primary function was the development of defensive strategies against the hostile natives of the Island. However, like other DHARMA orientation videos, this may not be the true purpose of the Arrow. ("Because You Left")
The station's name and symbol were noted on the blast door map along with a notation, indicating its primary purpose at that time seemed to be for storage and restocking for the DHARMA Initiative/Hanso Group. ("Lockdown") Goodwin suggested that storage was the station's primary function when he and the Tailies first explored it. ("The Other 48 Days")
Contents
A large metal box was the only thing found in the station by the Tailies. It contained the following items carefully wrapped in a cloth:
- A glass eye, with its history and significance still being a mystery.
- A Bible, which Mr. Eko took. Later, it was revealed that it had been used to hide missing pieces of the Swan Orientation film. Kelvin claimed these edits were made by Radzinsky. ("Live Together, Die Alone") ("What Kate Did")
- A (two-way) radio, which Bernard successfully used to made contact with Boone. ("Deus Ex Machina") ("The Other 48 Days")
Pointer
The 3 digit binary number "101" is pointed to by the arrow at the octagon's top.
This "101" top of the octagon is also the eighth of the octagon that is in the direction to escape or find the island when the octagon is used as a symbol to indicate North. Per mapping convention, the longest continuous line pointing away from the center designates North. North, both binary "000" and base-10 "000," (3 digits because bearings are stated that way) would be the eighth of the octagon at 1:30 (o'clock), and to it's immediate left at the top of the octagon is the eighth section containing the binary "101" and also containing both island escape bearings of 305 and 325 degrees, with the arrow pointing at the exact midpoint of both. Whether the escape bearing varies, or whether magnetic North varies is unknown, but in all cases, "101" is the direction sector of both escape and return.
Notable visitors
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| Picture | Name | First visit | Last visit | Reason for Visit | ||||||
 | Horace | Unknown, information obtained in "The Man Behind the Curtain" | Unknown, information obtained in "The Man Behind the Curtain" | According to the logo on his jumpsuit, he allegedly worked in the Arrow.
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| Stuart Radzinsky | Unknown, information obtained in "Live Together, Die Alone" | Unknown, information obtained in "Live Together, Die Alone" | Apparently split the Swan Orientation film and left it in the Arrow. | ||||||
 | Ana Lucia | "Everybody Hates Hugo" | "The Other 48 Days" | Lived in this station for twenty days with the rest of the tail-section survivors until they discovered the middle-section survivors when they moved out on Day 47. | ||||||
 | Eko | "Everybody Hates Hugo" | "The Other 48 Days" | Lived in this station for twenty days with the rest of the tail-section survivors until they discovered the middle-section survivors when they moved out on Day 47. | ||||||
 | Libby | "Everybody Hates Hugo" | "The Other 48 Days" | Lived in this station for twenty days with the rest of the tail-section survivors until they discovered the middle-section survivors when they moved out on Day 47. | ||||||
 | Bernard | "Everybody Hates Hugo" | "The Other 48 Days" | Lived in this station for twenty days with the rest of the tail-section survivors until they discovered the middle-section survivors when they moved out on Day 47. | ||||||
 | Cindy | "Everybody Hates Hugo" | "The Other 48 Days" | Lived in this station for twenty days with the rest of the tail-section survivors until they discovered the middle-section survivors when they moved out on Day 47. | ||||||
 | Goodwin | "The Other 48 Days" | "The Other 48 Days" | Was with the tail-section survivors when they discovered this station. On the same day, he and Ana Lucia traveled to higher ground to try to get a better signal with the radio. Upon discovering that he was one of the Others though, Ana Lucia killed him. | ||||||
 | Michael | "Everybody Hates Hugo" | "The Other 48 Days" | Was taken to this station by the Tailies and slept there for two nights and then left for the main camp. | ||||||
 | Sawyer | "Everybody Hates Hugo" | "The Other 48 Days" | Was taken to this station by the Tailies and slept there for two nights and then left for the main camp. | ||||||
 | Jin | "Everybody Hates Hugo" | "The Other 48 Days" | Was taken to this station by the Tailies and slept there for two nights and then left for the main camp. | ||||||
Trivia
General
- The names of the stations seem to be related to the god Apollo from Greek mythology. Apollo was a god of archery and one of his symbols was the bow and arrow.
Production notes
- On Horace's jumpsuit, there was a slightly different version of the Arrow logo than what was seen on the walls of the station. The jumpsuit has the colors of the inner-circle inverted (i.e., a black background with a white arrow), compared to the logo on the station's walls (i.e., a white background with a black arrow). ("The Man Behind the Curtain") It is unknown if this color-inversion holds any significance.
Unanswered questions
| Unanswered questions |
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- For fan theories about these unanswered questions, see: The Arrow/Theories
- Why was a portion of the Swan Orientation film hidden in a Bible?
- Why was it stored at the Arrow?
- What is the significance of the glass eye?
- To whom did it belong?
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