It seems that we're seeing different types of sickness with Minkowski as Charlotte as Danielle described with her team... or are we? Is it possible that we are seeing the same phenomenon or are they separate things completely? I propose that everything we have seen is THE SICKNESS as it was referred to prior to season 5. Now we get the term TEMPORAL DISPLACEMENT (as was splashed all over the enhanced Jughead episode). These are one and the same sickness and now we understand it. Take a look at what we know.
WHAT IS THE SICKNESS
We first become aware of the Sickness in "Solitary"
SAYID: Your distress signal? The message I heard, you said, "It killed them all."
DANIELLE: We were coming back from the Black Rock. It was them. They were the carriers....
(continued)
DANIELLE: The firing pin has been removed. Robert didn't notice it was missing, either -- when I shot him.
SAYID: But you loved him.
DANIELLE: He was sick.
SAYID: Sick?
DANIELLE: It took them, one after the other. I had no choice. They were already lost.
SAYID: You killed them.
DANIELLE: What would have happened if we were rescued? I couldn't let that happen. I won't.
[Sayid throws the rifle down.]
SAYID: I'm not sick.
DANIELLE: I know.
We the viewers were left wondering for a while. Then we saw another reference to sickness when we saw the Swan Station. There are several references to sickness: the quarantine stenciled on the hatch, the hazmat suit, the vaccines. But we couldn't really figure much out...until we got Daniel. Once Daniel and the freighter arrived, the issue of the sickness came back and now we have more information to work from.
The next time we get a glimpse of what could be the sickness is in "The Constant" When Frank is taking Desmond and Sayid off the Island he is trying very heard to stay on Daniel's bearing. But he's not quite on it seems. He veers toward 310. The storm is making it difficult. Suddenly Desmond has a flash or a jump. We are privy to what's going on. Desmond has gone back, in his consciousness, to his days in the Royal Scots Regiment of the British Army. When he comes back to 2004, he goes ballistic, is disoriented and doesn't recognize anyone. Eventually he begins having nose bleeds which seem to be a sign that things are getting worse.
Minkowski is apparently suffering from the same thing Desmond is. Shortly after he gets his nose bleed- he dies. We find that the only thing that saved Desmond was having a constant. Something to anchor him between times, to orient him.
WHAT CAUSES THE SICKNESS
So how is this sickness triggered? Answer- from shifting in time in one way or another.
If you do not enter or exit the Island on the right bearing (305 at the time the freighter was there) you shift times. How do we know this? Doctor Ray served as an example. He ended up on the Island dead, before he was killed on the freighter. He also had stitches when he arrived on the Island and a healing scar when he was killed by Keamy. How did this happen? He was killed by Keamy, dumped overboard and then proceeded to drift toward the Island. He obviously was on no particular bearing and then arrived on the shore of the losties beach...before he died! This was illustrated for us when Daniel asked, via morse code, "what happened to the doctor?" On the freighter they received the message and at that time- nothing was wrong, he was fine. We saw Omar's phone get the message to confirm this fact. We later seem Keamy kill Dr. Ray.
Whether there is a clear point or line that you cross I'm not sure but we know that as you drift or get close to the Island it starts. This is why Minkowski and Brandon who went out on the zodiac from the freighter were affected. They wanted to get a look at the Island. They were on the wrong bearing and it got them fast!
Daniel helped confirm that leaving the Island at the right bearing was absolutely necessary to avoid...side-effects. This is from "The Constant"
DANIEL: It'll be fine, it'll be fine. As long as Frank flew on the bearings I gave him. If he stayed on it, it'll be fine.
JACK: And what if he didn't?
DANIEL: Then there might be side-effects.
WHY WE SEE DIFFERENT VARIATIONS OF THE SICKNESS
Time shifting is not the only factor that causes the sickness. At least two factors must be present. The second is exposure.
From "The Little Prince"
MILES: Hey. (Sniffles) I just got a nosebleed. FARADAY: What? When?
MILES: Let's just not freak out the others, okay? Just tell me... why--why her? Why me?
FARADAY: I don't know. Uh, I think it might have something to do with duration of exposure. You know, the amount of time you've spent on the island.
When Desmond began experiencing his problems on the way to the freighter they were extreme. He didn't recognize anyone and he was in a panic! Daniel asked Jack and company this:
DAN: Wait, your friend, Desmond? Has he recently been exposed to high levels of radiation or electromagnetism?
The answer is YES! Not only did Desmond spend 3 years in the SWAN (where there are "unique electromagnetic fluctuations") but he also turned the failsafe and let out a HUGE burst of electromagnetic energy. The sickness is made WORSE if you meet the conditions Daniel mentioned above. Minkowski worked in the radio or communications room. He was exposed to electromagnetism there. This is why his was particularly bad. He had built up exposure there. He and Brandon likely had no idea that it was important to head in on the right bearing. They may have been way off quickening and magnifying the effects.The whole Island is electromagnetic so all residents ahve been exposed to electromagnetism which in and of itself is considered harmless.
This is also why the inhabitants of the Swan might have had to take the injections. It was a risk if they ever left the Island on an incorrect bearing due to their long-term exposure to the electromagnetsim.
Danielle's team got the sickness over the course of weeks. Perhaps they got in to the Island on a slightly wrong bearing- shifted a little. They sure seemed OK when we saw them arrive in "The Little Prince" Bearing 306 maybe. As the weeks went on they all started getting the sickness because they were being exposed to the Islands electromagnetism and entered at the wrong bearing & shifted a little. I can only assume Danielle was unaffected either because she was pregnant or the Island favors her. Maybe both.
Now that we have our losties and frieghters jumping they're about to start getting the sickness. The ones getting it first are those who have the most accumulated exposure to the Islands electromagnetism. This is what Daniel was getting at with Charlotte and Miles in the scene above. It seems likely they were born there. They have already have some exposure to the Island early in life that makes them prone to the sickness. Juliet is now getting sick. She's been there for over 3 years. Daniel and the rest should be next.
The issue of different types of shifting should also be addressed. Desmond only mind-time traveled when leaving for the freighter but our losties and freighters are actually physically jumping why would they have the same sickness? Daniel was trying to send a rat into the future back at Oxford. All he was able to do was to send her consciousness forward. Why is that? the amount of energy put out by his device was a comparatively small amount of radiation compared to what the time jumping losties and freighters experienced. Their time jumping is directly related to the frozen wheel that Ben turned to move the Island. We know that the wheel is located near a pocket of exotic matter. What Dr. Candle/ Pierre Chang described as nearly LIMITLESS ENERGY. The amount of energy they were exposed to is what is causing bodily travel vs. travel in ones mind.
WHAT'S THE CURE?
The cure for Desmond was to find his constant. But that is probably not the only cure. If one can stop shifting, then I think we will see that is also a cure for the sickness. Hopefully once the Oceanic 6 return and the jumping stops, everyone will be cured!
THE CONDENSED VERSION OF THE THEORY
The whole theory boiled down is this: time shifting + exposure to radiation or electromagnetism = THE SICKNESS Theory by LOSTMOMMYOF3
WHAT IS THE SICKNESS
We first become aware of the Sickness in "Solitary"
SAYID: Your distress signal? The message I heard, you said, "It killed them all."
DANIELLE: We were coming back from the Black Rock. It was them. They were the carriers....
(continued)
DANIELLE: The firing pin has been removed. Robert didn't notice it was missing, either -- when I shot him.
SAYID: But you loved him.
DANIELLE: He was sick.
SAYID: Sick?
DANIELLE: It took them, one after the other. I had no choice. They were already lost.
SAYID: You killed them.
DANIELLE: What would have happened if we were rescued? I couldn't let that happen. I won't.
[Sayid throws the rifle down.]
SAYID: I'm not sick.
DANIELLE: I know.
We the viewers were left wondering for a while. Then we saw another reference to sickness when we saw the Swan Station. There are several references to sickness: the quarantine stenciled on the hatch, the hazmat suit, the vaccines. But we couldn't really figure much out...until we got Daniel. Once Daniel and the freighter arrived, the issue of the sickness came back and now we have more information to work from.
The next time we get a glimpse of what could be the sickness is in "The Constant" When Frank is taking Desmond and Sayid off the Island he is trying very heard to stay on Daniel's bearing. But he's not quite on it seems. He veers toward 310. The storm is making it difficult. Suddenly Desmond has a flash or a jump. We are privy to what's going on. Desmond has gone back, in his consciousness, to his days in the Royal Scots Regiment of the British Army. When he comes back to 2004, he goes ballistic, is disoriented and doesn't recognize anyone. Eventually he begins having nose bleeds which seem to be a sign that things are getting worse.
Minkowski is apparently suffering from the same thing Desmond is. Shortly after he gets his nose bleed- he dies. We find that the only thing that saved Desmond was having a constant. Something to anchor him between times, to orient him.
WHAT CAUSES THE SICKNESS
So how is this sickness triggered? Answer- from shifting in time in one way or another.
If you do not enter or exit the Island on the right bearing (305 at the time the freighter was there) you shift times. How do we know this? Doctor Ray served as an example. He ended up on the Island dead, before he was killed on the freighter. He also had stitches when he arrived on the Island and a healing scar when he was killed by Keamy. How did this happen? He was killed by Keamy, dumped overboard and then proceeded to drift toward the Island. He obviously was on no particular bearing and then arrived on the shore of the losties beach...before he died! This was illustrated for us when Daniel asked, via morse code, "what happened to the doctor?" On the freighter they received the message and at that time- nothing was wrong, he was fine. We saw Omar's phone get the message to confirm this fact. We later seem Keamy kill Dr. Ray.
Whether there is a clear point or line that you cross I'm not sure but we know that as you drift or get close to the Island it starts. This is why Minkowski and Brandon who went out on the zodiac from the freighter were affected. They wanted to get a look at the Island. They were on the wrong bearing and it got them fast!
Daniel helped confirm that leaving the Island at the right bearing was absolutely necessary to avoid...side-effects. This is from "The Constant"
DANIEL: It'll be fine, it'll be fine. As long as Frank flew on the bearings I gave him. If he stayed on it, it'll be fine.
JACK: And what if he didn't?
DANIEL: Then there might be side-effects.
WHY WE SEE DIFFERENT VARIATIONS OF THE SICKNESS
Time shifting is not the only factor that causes the sickness. At least two factors must be present. The second is exposure.
From "The Little Prince"
MILES: Hey. (Sniffles) I just got a nosebleed. FARADAY: What? When?
MILES: Let's just not freak out the others, okay? Just tell me... why--why her? Why me?
FARADAY: I don't know. Uh, I think it might have something to do with duration of exposure. You know, the amount of time you've spent on the island.
When Desmond began experiencing his problems on the way to the freighter they were extreme. He didn't recognize anyone and he was in a panic! Daniel asked Jack and company this:
DAN: Wait, your friend, Desmond? Has he recently been exposed to high levels of radiation or electromagnetism?
The answer is YES! Not only did Desmond spend 3 years in the SWAN (where there are "unique electromagnetic fluctuations") but he also turned the failsafe and let out a HUGE burst of electromagnetic energy. The sickness is made WORSE if you meet the conditions Daniel mentioned above. Minkowski worked in the radio or communications room. He was exposed to electromagnetism there. This is why his was particularly bad. He had built up exposure there. He and Brandon likely had no idea that it was important to head in on the right bearing. They may have been way off quickening and magnifying the effects.The whole Island is electromagnetic so all residents ahve been exposed to electromagnetism which in and of itself is considered harmless.
This is also why the inhabitants of the Swan might have had to take the injections. It was a risk if they ever left the Island on an incorrect bearing due to their long-term exposure to the electromagnetsim.
Danielle's team got the sickness over the course of weeks. Perhaps they got in to the Island on a slightly wrong bearing- shifted a little. They sure seemed OK when we saw them arrive in "The Little Prince" Bearing 306 maybe. As the weeks went on they all started getting the sickness because they were being exposed to the Islands electromagnetism and entered at the wrong bearing & shifted a little. I can only assume Danielle was unaffected either because she was pregnant or the Island favors her. Maybe both.
Now that we have our losties and frieghters jumping they're about to start getting the sickness. The ones getting it first are those who have the most accumulated exposure to the Islands electromagnetism. This is what Daniel was getting at with Charlotte and Miles in the scene above. It seems likely they were born there. They have already have some exposure to the Island early in life that makes them prone to the sickness. Juliet is now getting sick. She's been there for over 3 years. Daniel and the rest should be next.
The issue of different types of shifting should also be addressed. Desmond only mind-time traveled when leaving for the freighter but our losties and freighters are actually physically jumping why would they have the same sickness? Daniel was trying to send a rat into the future back at Oxford. All he was able to do was to send her consciousness forward. Why is that? the amount of energy put out by his device was a comparatively small amount of radiation compared to what the time jumping losties and freighters experienced. Their time jumping is directly related to the frozen wheel that Ben turned to move the Island. We know that the wheel is located near a pocket of exotic matter. What Dr. Candle/ Pierre Chang described as nearly LIMITLESS ENERGY. The amount of energy they were exposed to is what is causing bodily travel vs. travel in ones mind.
WHAT'S THE CURE?
The cure for Desmond was to find his constant. But that is probably not the only cure. If one can stop shifting, then I think we will see that is also a cure for the sickness. Hopefully once the Oceanic 6 return and the jumping stops, everyone will be cured!
THE CONDENSED VERSION OF THE THEORY
The whole theory boiled down is this: time shifting + exposure to radiation or electromagnetism = THE SICKNESS Theory by LOSTMOMMYOF3
