I will start out by saying I am well aware that Lostpeida has splashed all over it that the Purge took place on December 19, 1992 at 4:00 PM. However, I do not believe that is correct. I will share what I think and why and I'd like to see what others think.
First, let's look at why those dates and time? The 4:00 is pretty easy. That comes from Ben looking at his watch. He kills his Dad at 4:00 and we are led to believe this purging was a coordinated event. That seems accurate from what we are shown. December 19 comes from the basic timeline on the show using dates and times given. 815 crashed on September 22, 2004. There are all kinds of day/ night and time clues in most episodes and for the most part I think we can accurately know how many days and nights it has been since the crash (up to the point of the time jumps of course! Then is gets confusing) Ben and Alex confirm that on day 89 it's Ben's birthday and the purge was committed on Ben's birthday as seen in TMBTC. Up until the episode Cabin Fever, we weren't sure what year the purge occurred. Then while looking for the cabin, Locke has an Island-induced dream. In the dream he sees Horace. Here is the dialogue:
HORACE: Hello there.
LOCKE: Who are you?
HORACE: I'm Horace. Whew!
LOCKE: And what are you doing out here?
HORACE: Oh, building a place--a little getaway for me and the missus. No, I mean, sometimes you need a break from the D.I., y'know? The DHARMA Initiative? (Laughs) I'm not making any sense, am I?
LOCKE: No.
HORACE: That's probably because I've been dead for 12 years
Now everyone did the math real quick. Horace died 12 years ago, 2004 - 12 years = 1992. There is was. The ever ambiguous date of the purge was now final. Or was it? Right before Horace says that he's been dead for 12 years, he admits he might not be making any sense. So should we believe that he has been dead for 12 years? And having died in the purge, that the purge was in 1992?
We definitively know, from Danielle that she arrived on the Island in 1988. This matches everything we've always known about her. It matches how long her distress call has been playing. Sayid was the one who did the math and how may iterations it had been playing. He determined it had been playing 16 years. It matches Alex's age and Danielle’s story of coming to the Island 7 months pregnant and Alex being born on the Island. Then of course we know that Alex was kidnapped shortly after birth and raised by Ben. So, if the Purge took place 4 years after Danielle arrived to the Island, how did she survive an Island wide gassing? She claims to have never seen another person and while that may or may not be true, we have no other clues as to why she would be spared from the Purge. It also seems that on the day of the purge Ben doesn’t have a daughter. We see him in his house that he shares with his dad. There is no hint of him having a 4 year old daughter.
If that doesn't cast doubt then this ought to. The radio tower was build by DHARMA. We learn about it in the Sri Lanka video from The Lost Experience. The radio tower was to broadcast the numbers continuously and if DHARMA ever "changed" any one of the 6 values of the Valenzetti equation, they were to change the transmission. Danielle changed the transmission in 1988 and it stayed there for 16 years. If DHARMA was still in business, so to speak, they surely would have come to see why it had been changed or to try and change it back to the numbers. But they didn't? Why- Because they'd already been purged.
That was enough proof for me, but then we got a little tidbit more. In LaFleur after Juliet and Sawyer shoot the two Others who have already apparently killed Paul, Juliet makes a quick assessment of "when" they are.
JULIET: [To Sawyer] Her friend's wearing a DHARMA jumpsuit. That put us '70s, '80s.
Even by Juliet’s assessment, DHARMA wasn’t around after the 80’s. She knows about the purge. She’s an Other. She had their best interests at heart at that time, so I think we can trust her assessment!
I believe that Purge occurred sometime prior to Danielle’s arrival in 1988. I believe it was between 1985 and 1988. So don’t believe the user edited Lostpedia. It’s wrong on other things as well, but this one seems to have almost everyone fooled! Theory by Lostmommyof3
First, let's look at why those dates and time? The 4:00 is pretty easy. That comes from Ben looking at his watch. He kills his Dad at 4:00 and we are led to believe this purging was a coordinated event. That seems accurate from what we are shown. December 19 comes from the basic timeline on the show using dates and times given. 815 crashed on September 22, 2004. There are all kinds of day/ night and time clues in most episodes and for the most part I think we can accurately know how many days and nights it has been since the crash (up to the point of the time jumps of course! Then is gets confusing) Ben and Alex confirm that on day 89 it's Ben's birthday and the purge was committed on Ben's birthday as seen in TMBTC. Up until the episode Cabin Fever, we weren't sure what year the purge occurred. Then while looking for the cabin, Locke has an Island-induced dream. In the dream he sees Horace. Here is the dialogue:
HORACE: Hello there.
LOCKE: Who are you?
HORACE: I'm Horace. Whew!
LOCKE: And what are you doing out here?
HORACE: Oh, building a place--a little getaway for me and the missus. No, I mean, sometimes you need a break from the D.I., y'know? The DHARMA Initiative? (Laughs) I'm not making any sense, am I?
LOCKE: No.
HORACE: That's probably because I've been dead for 12 years
Now everyone did the math real quick. Horace died 12 years ago, 2004 - 12 years = 1992. There is was. The ever ambiguous date of the purge was now final. Or was it? Right before Horace says that he's been dead for 12 years, he admits he might not be making any sense. So should we believe that he has been dead for 12 years? And having died in the purge, that the purge was in 1992?
We definitively know, from Danielle that she arrived on the Island in 1988. This matches everything we've always known about her. It matches how long her distress call has been playing. Sayid was the one who did the math and how may iterations it had been playing. He determined it had been playing 16 years. It matches Alex's age and Danielle’s story of coming to the Island 7 months pregnant and Alex being born on the Island. Then of course we know that Alex was kidnapped shortly after birth and raised by Ben. So, if the Purge took place 4 years after Danielle arrived to the Island, how did she survive an Island wide gassing? She claims to have never seen another person and while that may or may not be true, we have no other clues as to why she would be spared from the Purge. It also seems that on the day of the purge Ben doesn’t have a daughter. We see him in his house that he shares with his dad. There is no hint of him having a 4 year old daughter.
If that doesn't cast doubt then this ought to. The radio tower was build by DHARMA. We learn about it in the Sri Lanka video from The Lost Experience. The radio tower was to broadcast the numbers continuously and if DHARMA ever "changed" any one of the 6 values of the Valenzetti equation, they were to change the transmission. Danielle changed the transmission in 1988 and it stayed there for 16 years. If DHARMA was still in business, so to speak, they surely would have come to see why it had been changed or to try and change it back to the numbers. But they didn't? Why- Because they'd already been purged.
That was enough proof for me, but then we got a little tidbit more. In LaFleur after Juliet and Sawyer shoot the two Others who have already apparently killed Paul, Juliet makes a quick assessment of "when" they are.
JULIET: [To Sawyer] Her friend's wearing a DHARMA jumpsuit. That put us '70s, '80s.
Even by Juliet’s assessment, DHARMA wasn’t around after the 80’s. She knows about the purge. She’s an Other. She had their best interests at heart at that time, so I think we can trust her assessment!
I believe that Purge occurred sometime prior to Danielle’s arrival in 1988. I believe it was between 1985 and 1988. So don’t believe the user edited Lostpedia. It’s wrong on other things as well, but this one seems to have almost everyone fooled! Theory by Lostmommyof3
