Desmond Hume

Desmond Hume
Actor	Henry Ian Cusick
First	"Man of Science, Man of Faith"
Last	N/A
Flashback	"Live Together, Die Alone, Part 1"
Age	Unknown
Place	Scotland
Status	Alive
Profession	Former soldier in the British Armed Forces
Island Reason	Crashed during a race around the world.

Desmond David Hume was the lone resident of the Swan, at the time of the Flight 815 crash. He was discovered by Locke, Kate and Jack a month later, in the events of blowing the Hatch open. After his failed attempts to leave the Island, Desmond joined the camp of survivors, and soon became an integral part in their missions.

Before the boat crash

Desmond Hume served with the Royal Scots (the Royal Regiment). During the time he served, Desmond managed to reach the rank of a Lance-Corporal, before getting discharged, and serving time in the Southway Garrison military prison, for failing to "follow orders". His exact offense, however, is still unknown. At his release, Desmond gained back his belongings, among which his copy of Charles Dickens' Our Mutual Friend; the book he chose to be the last thing he reads before he dies, and thus did not check it in prison, to "avoid temptation".

Desmond, talking to Libby over coffee, where she offers him the Sailboat

Outside the Garrison, Desmond was met by Charles Widmore, a business tycoon, and the father of Desmond's love, Penelope. In his limo, Desmond discovered that every letter he had sent to Penelope from prison, were intercepted by Widmore, who then attempted to bribe him into keeping away from his daughter. Widmore was assured of Desmond's acceptance, as he perceived him for a coward. Desmond, however, declined, and entered himself in a world sailing race, which is sponsored by Widmore, to challenge him.

Desmond then traveled to America, where the race was set to start. He arrived, however, short of money and a sailing boat. In a twist of fate, he met Libby in a cafe, where she insisted on buying him coffee. In their ensuing conversation, Desmond confided in her his shortcomings at joining the race. Libby then surprisingly revealed her ownership of a boat, named Elizabeth, which belonged to her late husband.

Desmond wiping Penelope's tears, in their last conversation

Upon her insistence, Desmond eventually accepted Libby's offer of the boat, promising her to win the race "in the name of love".

Before training later at an LA stadium, Desmond was approached by Penelope, who revealed her success in locating him by employing her great wealth. Penny asked him if he had read his beloved book yet, and inquired on why he did not write to her. To evade her questions, Desmond confronted Penny of his knowledge that she is getting married, adding that he will be back in a year, after wining her father's race. When Penny questioned his motives of what she felt as an attempt to run away, Desmond insisted that he is running to get back his honor.

Not long after, Desmond met Jack Shephard, while training at the same stadium. During their short conversation, Desmond confronted Jack with an introspective realization, that he is running because of a woman. When Jack talked to him about his patient, Sarah, whom he he had no hope in fixing, Desmond pointed to the possibility of miracles, which was soon put into question, with the Sarah's subsequent unexpected healing.

Whilst sailing on the race across the Pacific, Desmond's boat was hit by a strong storm, during which Desmond wrapped his book in plastic, before getting knocked unconscious and falling off the deck. Soon, he was washed up at the Island's shore.

On the Island

Before the plane crash

Desmond, initiating the "Lockdown" sequence

During the events proceeding his boat crash, the half-conscious Desmond was dragged from the beach into the Swan, by a man in a biohazard suit who later identified himself as Kelvin. In the Swan, Desmond was told by Kelvin that the outside environment is contaminated by a mysterious sickness, which he may have been exposed to. Desmond then received a vaccine labeled by the numbers from Kelvin, and was told to inject himself with it every 9 days.

In the subsequent events, Desmond learned the "pushing the button" routine, and watched the Swan Orientation Film repeatedly, which raised many questions in his head, but mostly remained unanswered by Kelvin. Desmond also learned how to initiate the Lockdown sequence, which Kelvin used to complete the invisible blast door map started by Kelvin's previous Swan partner, Radzinsky. One night later, while drunk in the Swan's passageways, Kelvin revealed to Desmond the reality of the Incident, and the function of the fail-safe key, which he carried at all times but was never able to find the courage for using it.

Desmond lived in the station for the next two years, whilst Kelvin continually left in his suit, under the pretense of analyzing the outside environment. However, on the day of Flight 815's crash, Desmond noticed that Kelvin's suit was ripped, yet he continued his trips. Desmond's first adventure in the jungle, was during his subsequent following of Kelvin, whom he saw taking off the suit, before marching towards the cove. At the cove, Desmond found his sailboat, apparently repaired by Kelvin, by which he seemed to be aiming to escape the Island.

File:2X24-DesmondKelvin.jpg

Desmond confronting Kelvin at the cove

Desmond then confronted Kelvin, after realizing the charade he was subjected to, and in the struggle that follows he accidentally slammed Kelvin's head against the rocks, resulting in his immediate death. After grabbing Kelvin's fail-safe key, Desmond ran back to the Swan, where he found the countdown has reached zero, and a flow of system failure messages appearing on the computer's screen. Although eventually Desmond managed to push the button after to stop the failure, unbeknownst to him, his actions inadvertently caused the close by Oceanic Flight 815 to break in the air and crash on the Island, due the released electromagnetic charge that built up in his absence, as later revealed in "A Tale of Two Cities".

In a moment of despair, Desmond then contemplated ending his life, after feeling trapped, unable to leave the station nor to use the key alternative. Sitting down with a gun in his hand, Desmond questioned whether anything in his world is real. He moved to open his Dickens' novel, when a letter fall out of it: a hidden letter from Penelope, in which she wrote Desmond to never give up, emphasizing her love and her decision to always wait for him. In a fit of rage, Desmond, started to sabotage the Swan's contents, when he suddenly heard pounding on the Hatch above. Turning on the bright light ("Live Together, Die Alone, Part 1"), Desmond looked up as the traumatized Locke peered down ("Deus Ex Machina") in return, causing both men to regain their hope.

Season 2

Desmond, found by Jack, Sayid and Sawyer in the Sailboat

In the events of blowing up the Hatch and their ascending to the Swan, Locke and Kate confront the suspicious Desmond, who held them both at gun point. Led by Locke into believing that Kate is the most dangerous of the two, Desmond ordered him to lock Kate up in the pantry. However, this gave Kate a chance to escape through the ventilation system, to later intervene with Desmond's holding of Locke, and Jack who joined them, and consequently resulting in Desmond's accidental shooting of the Swan's computer. After failing to fix it, Desmond decided to flee the station, claiming that everyone will die soon, but was followed by Jack. On their confrontation, Desmond recalled his off-the Island encounter of Jack, and asked him about Sarah, before reciting to Jack the Numbers, in case they ever fix the computer.

In the preceding events, it is assumed that Desmond set off on the sailboat, in an attempt to escape the the Island. Desmond's attempt, however, was unsuccessful, and after two weeks, the boat sailed back towards the Island. When the boat emerged to the survivors, Jack, Sayid and Sawyer swam to it, only to find Desmond inside, who by then believed the Island to be the last thing left from a long lost world.

Desmond listening to Locke about the Pearl

He was soon approached by Sayid, who asked for his help in his plan of sailing to the Others' camp, but Desmond refused. Desmond was sought out later by Locke, who brought him the Orientation video from the Pearl, debunking his whole conception of the Swan's function. Desmond then agreed to join Locke on his mission, to let watch the Swan's countdown end once and for all, without interference, and see what would happen. In their attempt, they locked Eko out the computer room, using Desmond's experience in triggering the lockdown. However, in their ensuing conversation, Desmond learned from Locke the truth about the pounding he heard earlier on the Hatch door, and about the [Pearl]]'s Log printout as well.

At his reading of the Log, Desmond then connected the date of the plane crash to the earlier system failure he witnessed, leading him to conclude that he may have unintentionally caused the crash. Desmond then decided that the button must be pushed, but Locke, however, intervened and destroyed the computer. With no other resolution, Desmond felt compelled to use the fail-safe key, and thus descended to the Swan's passageways to turn on the switch. With the words "I love you Penny," Desmond turned the key, causing the discharge, and the unavoidable implosion of the Swan.

Season 3

Naked Desmond talking to Hurley in the jungle

In the events of the the Swan's implosion, Desmond woke up in the jungle, wearing no clothes, and was later found by Hurley, who let him borrow a t-shirt of his, before the two returned to camp. On their way, Desmond was asked about the discharge events by Hurley, who expressed his worries about his captured group. To calm him, Desmond commented about Locke's intentions to go after them, referring to Locke's yet to happen "speech". At their arrival, Desmond separated from the survivors, and stood by the sea, while the previously confused Hurley listened to Locke's rousing words about saving the missing Jack and his captured group, leaving Hurley in a shock looking back at Desmond.

Later, Desmond approached Claire, in an attempt to persuade her to move down the beach, to allow him to fix her roof, but Charlie intervened. At his failure to convince them, Desmond borrowed a golf club from Paulo, which he used in constructing a lightning rod that he placed very close to the tent. Shortly after, the camp was caught up in a sudden storm, when a bolt of lightning struck the recently built lightning rod, on its way to the tent, leaving Charlie in a shock, similar to that previously experienced by Hurley.

Desmond and Locke were later joined by Sayid, in a meeting to discuss a rescue plan for Jack and his group. Desmond explained to Sayid that the stations equipment can be used as well in communication, and thus they required Sayid's technological skills in helping them search for a station where Jack could be possibly captured. They three head to the Pearl, joined by Paulo and Nikki, where Desmond helped Sayid in patching the monitors with available feeds from other stations, leading to the temporal appearance of the mysterious eyepatched on one of the screens. Moments after, Desmond heard Monster's familiar sound, and hurried above with the rest, to witness the last moments of the dying Eko, where he was then left with Paulo and Nikki at, as Sayid accompanied Locke on his way back to camp, to get shovels for the burial.

Connection to David Hume

Desmond's character seems to present an interesting antithesis to his historical namesake, David Hume, who was a philosopher of skepticism and, perhaps to a lesser degree, naturalism as well. From the Wikipedia page on David Hume:

• Like Desmond, David Hume was Scottish.

• David Hume was heavily influenced by the empiricist philosopher, "John Locke".

• From 1763 to 1765, Hume was Secretary to Lord Hertford in Paris, where he made friends with and, later, fell out with the infamous "Rousseau".

• One of Hume's main philosophies was that a person's perception comes from ideas and impressions. This could be understood by considering that things may not be what they seem, and that what one believes to be reality might actually be a figment of one's imagination, which coincides with the enigmatic nature of the Island.

• However, unlike Desmond, David Hume had a strong views against miracles, which he considered as violations of the laws of nature, and consequently to be of a very low probability of occurring.

Trivia

• At the time he reached America, Desmond required $ 42,000, to enable him to compete on the race. (Numbers)
• The record Desmond puts on, before he hears the explosion sound from the blowing up the hatch, is "Make Your Own Kind of Music".
• The lyrics of Monty Python's "Philosopher's Song" (A parody of allegations against western philosophers' capacity and incapacity for imbibing liquor, and often used as a drinking song) include: "David Hume could out-consume Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel".

Unanswered questions

• What did he do to get dishonorably discharged from the military?
• How did he escape if the Swan imploded?
• Why was he naked?
• How did he know what Locke was going to say?
• How did he know that a lightning rod needed to be built?
• What did he see when he turned the key?

See also

• Our Mutual Friend
• Premonitions
• Desmond's photo
• Desmond's letters
• Sailboat ("Elizabeth")
• Log printout
• The discharge
• The listening station