Okay bear with me here, because its got to the stage now where you have to take into account about two thousand different tangents of plot to ask a question.

They "purged" the Dharma Initiative, and yet Desmond survived? he was living in one of the stations. As suggested by Bens father they took deliveries to different stations, trying to create a 'utopia' of sorts and yet desmond claims it was just him and his bunkmate pushing a button for X amount of years. Wouldn't the initiative have taken Desmond for Processing like they did with all the others? It appears everyone else was killed so why wasnt he? how could they just miss out one of the stations because as we all know now they have blue-prints and plans of the facility and stations. The sheer amount of loose ends now is getting ridiculous, its getting difficult to enjoy the show these days.

I think you have missed it completely.

Desmond arrived on the island quite a while after the purge; hence realistically, he was never in the Dharma initiative - and thus, isn't an "other" or a "hostile"

Well, by your theory, Desmond wouldn't be a hostile or other... he'd be the last member of the DHARMA Initiative. Highly doubtful. He was nabbed off the beach by the true (2nd to last) DHARMA dude. Mikhail would be the only surviving member left. I don't believe the hostiles originally knew about the Flame or the Swan... or didn't bother with them, regardless.

I don't understand how Ben could not have known about the Swan, an "official" Dharma station. He lived with Dharma for years. And how could Kelvin not have known about the purge? He went on little (less than 108 minute) expeditions around the island.

why wouldnt they know about them hatches if they are all connected? seems a little off to me.

Maybe they knew what would happen if the button wasn't pushed. And Ben did know about the Swan because he was watching Jack with the surveillance cameras in the Pearl.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure he knew about the Swan but just didn't know there was anyone still in it. We can't tell from last night's episode just how much of a role he played in the purge-- whether he completely planned it with Richard or if the Hostiles simply told him, "hey, this is what we're doing, here's a gas mask."

This question should be about Kalvin not Desmond. Kalvin did join Dharma while they were active, he was most likely processed like the rest of them and sent on his merry way to the Swan. This probably took place a few months or so before the Hostiles purged the island of Dharma, so how did he 1) survive 2) not notice what happened? The same could be asked of his partner (before Des), whose name I forget.

He was in complete isolation in the Swan and was led to believe there was a disease on the outside. He probably only started to trek around when replacements didn't arrive. Why would the Hostiles replace him? He and his partner provided a valuable, boring service that no one else would want to do.

If Dharma was purged out X amount of years ago, why/how do the Others/Hostiles keep receiving Dharma food drop offs?

If Dharma was purged out X amount of years ago, why/how do the Others/Hostiles keep receiving Dharma food drop offs?

I thought about this last nite and came up with that it's normal, regular outside world food and Ben and his right hand men have a way of slapping Dharma labels on them and sending them via hotair balloons from the island. But this is just my hunch.

I don't think Desmond is/was an Other (it would be cool if he was) but I think Kelvin was recruited by Richard under the guise of the DI to have someone to press the button.

Because that's Mikhail's "deal" with the Hostiles. Keep communications going, and make it look like Dharma's operating just like normal. . . .

And ElMayor is right. The Purge was in the 1990s. Desmond washed up on the Island in 2001. Probably a good thing that Kelvin found him, rather than Ben & Co.

Ok, so we know the Purge happened on Ben's 21st birthday. We also know the map in Swan reference an incident that happened around 1983 I believe. That seems to fit with the current timeline. We know Kelvin was a CIA operative in the first Gulf War as he was the one who handled Sayid. Therefore, Kelvin was not around for the Purge. I believe he said he had been there for 2 years before Desmond showed up, so that would put him getting to the island about 5 years ago, as Desmond said he had been there 3 years. He was just another guy who answered a classified ad, much like Mikhail.

At least the gas used during the purge could possibly explain why Kalvin insisted he and Desmond wear those big suits when they went out.

So perhaps Kalvin was there during the Purge?

I don't understand how Ben could not have known about the Swan, an "official" Dharma station. He lived with Dharma for years. And how could Kelvin not have known about the purge? He went on little (less than 108 minute) expeditions around the island.


They had to have known about the Swan. Roger's jumpsuit had the Swan logo and he was delivering the beer (or whatever he was taking with Ben) to the Flame at the end. Maybe they knew what manning the Swan would entail and just left it up to the Dharma stooge.

As someone mentioned earlier, Desmond was never part of Dharma. He arrived on the island in his boat, and taken to the Swan by Kelvin.

As for station not knowing about other stations, that is understandable considering the fact that the Pearl was there to spy on the swan, and the different stations seemed to be different experiments.