Who Knew What? by EmilyG

I was rewatching Season 5 and it got me thinking: who knew what, and when? By this I mean, how were the actions of the Losties interpreted by the Others and Dharma, and what did each group know about the future as a result of this?

Daniel was researching at Dharma HQ in Ann Arbor for three years, and when he saw the photo of the O3, he immediately jumped on the sub. Now, from the time when that photo was taken to the time he arrived was...what? A day? Maybe two? Ignoring the mystery of how the sub travels, it seems clear that his departure was a) unplanned and b) occurred very quickly. So what happened to his research on time travel? I'd imagine he did his best to destroy the evidence, but he couldn't have had a lot of time. So after the Incident, Dharma is going to be looking very closely at Daniel, 'Lafleur,' and the rest. They'll look at Daniel's lab, and what will they find? A rough, partially destroyed timeline of the next thirty years, perhaps?

And how will Dharma interpret the Incident? I don't mean the pocket of energy---I mean Sawyer et al. It's interesting that Radzinsky seemed shocked at the idea that 'they' knew where the Hostiles were. They were very interested in Kate, probably because they thought she was leading James outside the fence (while the opposite was true). I believe Radzinsky (or someone) called what was going on "a possible insurrection." You'd think "these people are Hostiles in disguise!" would've been the first thing Dharma thought! So why didn't they?

Dharma knows next to nothing about the Others. They think the Others are uncivilized, don't know about Jacob, probably think Richard is the leader, and have no idea that Richard is semi-immortal. You'd think a scientific research group would be interested in a man who doesn't age. Heck, the Losties learned more about the Others' membership, purpose, and leadership structure in three months than Dharma apparently learned in seven years.

Dharma knows Juliet is a doctor, James is well-read, etc. That these people could be "hostiles" is just too alien to Dharma's worldview. Plus, there's the fact that Sawyer was in charge for three years and Dharma never had any trouble. Yet they'd still see a mystery: if the Losties weren't members of the Hostiles, then why were they so friendly with them? After all, to Dharma, the Hostiles are a bunch of ignorant, violent savages.

So how will Dharma interpret the Incident? They might step up time travel experiments in an attempt to avoid Sayid's prophecy. If Daniel left behind a timeline, they might interpret "The Purge" as Dharma killing off the Others.

And what did Widmore really know about what happened to the Losties? About Desmond? When he met the Losties in the 50s and the 70s, they knew his name---he'd probably assume they met him on the Island in the future, knew him as one of the Others. Maybe he kept leaving the Island because he thought he COULDN'T be exiled, because people from the future hadn't met him on-Island yet? Only to be exiled, and then assume he was still meant to be the on-Island Leader when the Losties arrived? Maybe that's why he sent Keamey to kill 'everyone on the Island'---maybe his initial orders were only geared toward the Others, and he wanted the Losties to live "as they were supposed to"; Keamey just went psycho on everyone. Maybe he saw his return to the Island as course-correction. Or maybe Widmore was trying to kill the Losties so they would never travel back in time and Daniel wouldn't be killed---except he needed Daniel to get Keamey to the Island to 'change' the future, and of course en! ded up causing it.

And did he ever know that Desmond had joined the Losties? Daniel's journal contained equations, info about Dharma, etc. But he could only include info that's he'd acquired---he wouldn't have known about Desmond joining up until he'd met him on the Island, and Daniel's entry about Desmond was rather cryptic. Maybe he never added anything about Desmond's time with the beach crew. He wouldn't know about the early days of the crash of 815 because he didn't witness them---anything in the journal would've had to have been dictated by another of the beach crew. None of the Losties mentioned Desmond to Widmore, and Widmore never traveled back in time. The O6 were found far, far away from where the Island and Freighter had been; maybe Widmore never knew that Penny rescued them?

I think Widmore thought Desmond was meant to push the button, but didn't know he'd joined the Losties. That's why he didn't send Locke to visit Desmond, why he told Desmond to take Penny and hide, why Eloise told Penny that Desmond wasn't a part of what's happening. Neither Hawking nor Widmore ever really knew Desmond's true importance (that is, aside from pushing the button).

We haven't seen too much of Daniel's journal, but I think it contained just enough info to give a reader the illusion of knowing the future 100%. That's why Eloise believed the universe course-corrects: she saw events unfolding in a way she didn't anticipate and simply assumed her future had changed; and when the end result remained the same, she interpreted it as course-correction, rather than events happening that had always happened.