Was the hositles attack "the incident" or was the purge?

Obviously the Dharma people were all over the island- did the hostiles believe they got them all?

I don't believe that DHARMA knows that the Purge happened. Not to mention, the incident was mentioned in the orientation film for the Swan, the Swan was around MUCH before the Purge. Evidence of this... Ben and Roger were driving supplies for the Pearl, the Pearl was created to monitor other stations, the Swan was one of those stations. Case closed. Sorry, good reasoning though.

I don't believe that DHARMA knows that the Purge happened. Not to mention, the incident was mentioned in the orientation film for the Swan, the Swan was around MUCH before the Purge. Evidence of this... Ben and Roger were driving supplies for the Pearl, the Pearl was created to monitor other stations, the Swan was one of those stations. Case closed. Sorry, good reasoning though.

I actually think the attack when Ben was a child was the incident, but I thought it would be interesting to debate.

As for your reasoning, don't you think they could make a new orientation video if needed? You're also forgetting that in the Pearl orientation film, Marvin Candle had both arms, but in the Swan film he was missing one of them. Why would they make a new film for the Swan, but not the Pearl? Because the Swan was the station that was actually important and necessary and was kept running. Ok, now I think the purge WAS the incident!

We have to go dig up the black light room map that Locke drew inside the hatch to begin matching dates and events.

When the episode started tonight, I thought maybe we were going to see the Incident somewhere in there. But now I'm not sure that we did.

The attacks on the Dharma camp by the hostiles... that seemed to be referred to as a more prolonged thing than just a single "incident". That was the impression I got, at least.

When the episode started tonight, I thought maybe we were going to see the Incident somewhere in there. But now I'm not sure that we did.

The attacks on the Dharma camp by the hostiles... that seemed to be referred to as a more prolonged thing than just a single "incident". That was the impression I got, at least.
That's true, it did seem like something the other kids and the teacher were prepared for- like they'd had "Hostile Attack drills". I still think the Purge was the incident.. .I wonder what that had to do with computer communication.

Is the gassing of the Village the Incident that Dr. Candle refers to? So now, after
that happened, it is a requirement to enter a code every so many seconds to prove
to Dharma that someone is still alive. Notice that the Numbers stopped being entered
and now a freighter shows up to check on things.


I'm thinking it could be related. If that was not The Incident then, knowing what we
now know, does anyone have good ideas about what it might have been? Does this
episode change any opinions?

Being discussed in another thread. The Swan orientation film was created much before the gassing. The incident has not been explained, but we're all assuming that it was much like the fallout in the Season 2 finale... Swan station in orientation.

I too believe that the "Incident" and the "Purge" are two seperate events.

However, it does explain why the Swan was so heavily armed.

The Swan orientation film was made in 1980. The Incident must have happened shortly before that (late 1970s? early 1980?). It's connected with the EMT power source, which somehow went berserk.

The Purge was, well, a purge. It happened in the 1990s. Mikhail said he'd arrived on the Island 11 years ago. It is 2004 in LOST time. So, 1993 or so. So the purge was maybe mid-to-late 90s? (That'd have given Kelvin time to get to the Island, too, as Gulf War I was in 1991.)

There was an "incident" in 1985, too, involving Hanso and DeGroot (according to the map sketched out by Kelvin and Rad). Could've been connected to the "catastrophic malfunction" of Cerberus (Cerberus generally is considered to = Smokey).

There were three "system wide failures of Dharmatel Intranet" as well, in April 2000, August 2001, and January 2003. So there was SOME kind of intra-Island communication going on! Of course, the purple sky event of December 2004 put the kibbutz on THAT, if it wasn't gone already!

So we've got quite a history going here. Dharma's time on the Island certainly seems rather, um, cursed. Too bad the Purge happened. Dharma and Hurley could've commiserated with each other! :D

If Dharma was still on the island in the 90s, how did Danielle's team never meet them?

As for your reasoning, don't you think they could make a new orientation video if needed? You're also forgetting that in the Pearl orientation film, Marvin Candle had both arms, but in the Swan film he was missing one of them. Why would they make a new film for the Swan, but not the Pearl? Because the Swan was the station that was actually important and necessary and was kept running. Ok, now I think the purge WAS the incident!

If you noticed, Candle was also missing the arm in the video they were showing while Ben's fatehr was getting his job and everything sorted out.

I just assumed the "Incident" was another purple haze kind of deal where Candle lost his arm and Jacob lost his substance but gained a whole lot of mental power...

After watching the first dharma video, Marvin Candle says the dharma initiative was created in 1970. The swan "started out as a labratory to study the unique electromagnetic fluctuation emanating from this sector of the island. Not long after the experiments began however, there was.... an incident."
Does that mean that the incident happened in the 70's? Would that fit Ben's timeline?

Dharma Swan Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYJf5rZQgb0

Does that mean that the incident happened in the 70's? Would that fit Ben's timeline?

I assume that it does fit into Ben's timeline. It looked like he was born somewhere in the mid to late 60s. By the time he was on the island it was in the 70s.

Rousseau's ship crashed on the island in 1978, which could have been around the time that Ben was in cahoots with the Hostiles and helped with the Purge...but I don't know. I'm not sure how young they were trying to make Ben at the time of the Purge.

It would fit the timeline perfectly. It would also explain why, after a huge electromagnetic whammy (the incident) they had to start pushing the button every 108 minutes...so they would not have another incident - until Locke and Desmond came along....

If Dharma was still on the island in the 90s, how did Danielle's team never meet them?


Good point. Ideas?

Rousseau's ship crashed on the island in 1978

16 years before 2004 is 1988.

I'm not sure how old Ben was supposed to be during the purge, either... I mean, why couldn't they have feathered someone's hair, or been playing CCR... or Nelson... or the Spice Girls... ? I need more clues!

I need more clues!Ah, the problem with Lost in a nutshell. It's unlikely Marvin Candle would have lost his arm in a gas attack. The "incident" and the "purge" are two separate events.

According to Lostpedia we have the purge dated at December 22nd 1992. I believe the "incident" was way way before this.