desmond is now MY constant...how did daniel know he would be the only link?

I don;t know that Daniel knew that he;d be the "only" link but he knew Desmond was coming back from 2004. So he knew he'd be around in 2004 in order to be the constant.

What's more imprtant is that we now know that Des, Dan and Minkowsi are/were all suffering the same affects. This might suggest that Dan and Minkowski were on the island previously.

Minkowski said that him and another guy were bored and took something out, but had to come back cause the other dude was acting strange. I figured they got close enough to see it or something.

yeah, I think Dan has been to the island before.

desmond is now MY constant...how did daniel know he would be the only link?

I'm also wondering why anyone he was familiar with in his past, or future, couldn't have been used as a constant.. such as Mr. Widmore? Obviously that guy would stir some feelings up in Desmond. lol
Why does it need to be Penny?

I'm also wondering why anyone he was familiar with in his past, or future, couldn't have been used as a constant.. such as Mr. Widmore? Obviously that guy would stir some feelings up in Desmond. lol
Why does it need to be Penny?

Would you have any motivation to survive if Charles Widmore was your constant? desmond wouldn't.

Dan said your constant should be something you care about, which brings up the question why Desmond would be Dan's constant.

Back to Dan.... I got the feeling that Oxford Dan didn't have many friends, so he wouldn't have anyone to connect to in both time periods.

So the Oceanic 6, they are able to leave the island and survive because they have a constant? Will they become constants so that the others can leave?

I'm also wondering why anyone he was familiar with in his past, or future, couldn't have been used as a constant.. such as Mr. Widmore? Obviously that guy would stir some feelings up in Desmond. lol
Why does it need to be Penny?
im thinking we will see a faraday / widmore ->desmond connection...im sure widmore paid for the school in some fashion...

Would you have any motivation to survive if Charles Widmore was your constant? desmond wouldn't.

Dan said your constant should be something you care about, which brings up the question why Desmond would be Dan's constant.

Yeah, Des needed someone he knew he could trust and he knew he couldn't trust Mr. Widmore and could trust Penny.

So the Oceanic 6, they are able to leave the island and survive because they have a constant? Will they become constants so that the others can leave?

What a great question!! If they could exchange information about how it all works (which up to this point hasn't been something that's happened) then this could very well be how they all get off the Island!!

Ok, let me see if I can explain this without rambling. Daniel knew that at one point he would have to travel to the Island. Because future Daniel sent Desmond to see 1996 Daniel. Daniel knew he would need a constant when he got to the Island, and the only thing he could connect to would be Desmond, because it would be the only thing on Island that he knew from his past.

I think these side effects happen because of various intersecting factors. First, if you always take the right bearing, you are OK. Secondly, even if you get off the bearing a bit but haven't had prolonged exposure to electromagnetism or radiation, and you don't make lots of trips back and forth, you are OK. Third, if both these factors are working against you, a constant in both time periods will cure you. That's why Des had to meet Charlie in FBYE. He was OK on the island as long as Charlie was alive.

But this begs the question of Minkowski and Brandon getting sick so fast. I guess they took a really wrong heading.

The Orchid, I think, can get you on and off without all these bad effects, or Ben would be toast.

Cardie

Would you have any motivation to survive if Charles Widmore was your constant? desmond wouldn't.

Dan said your constant should be something you care about, which brings up the question why Desmond would be Dan's constant.

In addition to the reasons that bringerofchills gave, I would say that this time device was Daniels life's work. If someone walks in who you have never met and just hands you the answers to your most important goal in life, I would guess that person becomes pretty important to you.

i am an absolute hopeless dunce when it comes to time travel. if dan met desmond in 1996, why wouldn't he remember him in 2004? i realize that it was 2004 when he sent des back to meet him, but once he did, it had already occurred in '96, so why would he not remember it? (unless the answer isn't time travel related, but related to whatever is wrong with dan's memory...)

I think these side effects happen because of various intersecting factors. First, if you always take the right bearing, you are OK. Secondly, even if you get off the bearing a bit but haven't had prolonged exposure to electromagnetism or radiation, and you don't make lots of trips back and forth, you are OK. Third, if both these factors are working against you, a constant in both time periods will cure you. That's why Des had to meet Charlie in FBYE. He was OK on the island as long as Charlie was alive.

But this begs the question of Minkowski and Brandon getting sick so fast. I guess they took a really wrong heading.

The Orchid, I think, can get you on and off without all these bad effects, or Ben would be toast.

Cardie

Spoilers!


I think next week's ep clearly indicates that Dan and Charlotte believe the Orchid is the holy grail for transportation to and from the Island. They make it there, only to have Juliet pull a gun on them as she is under orders from Harper (IMO) to track and stop them at all costs. Who knows what the current side effects of using the Orchid is though?

The way Minkowski said something like, "I've got to go/get back" makes me wonder about Jack saying that at the end of TTLG. It sort of made my head spin when I thought of that, because it took me right back to Jack's very first eye-opening scene on the Island.

I hope that makes sense, but if not, well... I'm still in shock here.

Sorry, this is probably the wrong thread for this.

I thought Daniel McCowsky and Desmond experienced this because they had been exposed to high levels of radiation... why would everyone on the island have the same experience? Also, just to point out, in 4 years of LOST, this is our first episode that includes no flashbacks! (if you consider the 1994 flashbacks happening at the exact same time as now)

Dan said your constant should be something you care about, which brings up the question why Desmond would be Dan's constant.

Desmond obviously had a major impact on Daniel's life by bringing him the info to make his time shift experiment work. So that would probably be enough to qualify him as someone Daniel would care about.

I think these side effects happen because of various intersecting factors. First, if you always take the right bearing, you are OK. Secondly, even if you get off the bearing a bit but haven't had prolonged exposure to electromagnetism or radiation, and you don't make lots of trips back and forth, you are OK. Third, if both these factors are working against you, a constant in both time periods will cure you. That's why Des had to meet Charlie in FBYE. He was OK on the island as long as Charlie was alive.

But this begs the question of Minkowski and Brandon getting sick so fast. I guess they took a really wrong heading.

Great analysis of the "rules" governing how/why it happens. There were differences with FBYE and this episode, though. In FBYEpresent Desmond traveled to the past instead of past Desmond being brought to the future. The cause was also different -- in FBYE, Des got sent to the past from massive electromagentic exposure (I think), whereas this time it was that history of exposure combined with getting off the bearing when leaving the island. I really like the idea that Desmond coincidentally made contact with a constant (Charlie) in FBYE and maybe that's why he was able to get back.

Do we really know that Minkowski and Brandon got sick extra fast? Minkowski was fine when they first made contact with Jack and for a while after that since we head him on the phone a number of times. And how long has it been since then? A couple days? Desmond had only been sick for maybe a few hours and had already advanced to the nose bleed.

i am an absolute hopeless dunce when it comes to time travel. if dan met desmond in 1996, why wouldn't he remember him in 2004? i realize that it was 2004 when he sent des back to meet him, but once he did, it had already occurred in '96, so why would he not remember it? (unless the answer isn't time travel related, but related to whatever is wrong with dan's memory...)

Well they're definitely breaking away from typical time travel rules with this, so I don't think we can explain it yet.

Normally, the answer would be the creation of an alternate timeline: 1996 Daniel had never met Desmond until 2004 Daniel told Desmond to go meet him in 1996. Then once that meeting takes place, an alternate timeline is created that will eventually have a 2004 where Daniel and Desmond know each other. But if our story was sticking with the original timeline, they would still never know each other.

BUT, we kind of have to throw out those rules of time travel since Daniel actually found that note about Desmond in his journal. That note being there implies that the rules of time travel in this story are that a change in the past creates an instant change to the future within that same timeline. And if so, Daniel and Desmond should have known each other.

I don't know what to make of it :D

Do we really know that Minkowski and Brandon got sick extra fast? Minkowski was fine when they first made contact with Jack and for a while after that since we head him on the phone a number of times. And how long has it been since then? A couple days? Desmond had only been sick for maybe a few hours and had already advanced to the nose bleed.



Desmond had had three years exposure to electromagnetism in the hatch and then got a massive dose when he turned the failsafe key. Minkowski and Brandon did not seem to have any previous risk factors and yet Brandon started to freak out when they got near the island, and he died almost immediately. So looking at my variables, I'd say they got on a very wrong heading so that they more or less equalled the progression of the bad effects suffered by a Des who only got a bit off course but had all that previous exposure. Unexposed Sayid and Frank were not adversely affected by the slight deviation in the bearing.

Cardie

I don't think Brandon and Minknowski were privy to the coordinates that would keep them frmo experiencing side effects and so they headed towards the Island and God only knows what they experienced. It could be that Minkowski & Brandon at some time in their life had been exposed to electromagnets and that made them super susceptible to the properties as they neared the Island.
As far as Sayid goes, as far as we know, he hasn't been exposed to those elements and the side effects are negligible if they even happened.