Kelvin Inman/Theories

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Theories about Kelvin Inman

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Theories may be removed if ...

Stated as questions or possibilities (avoid question marks, "Maybe", "I think", etc). More appropriate for another article. Illogical or previously disproven. Proven by canon source, and moved to main article. Speculative and lacking any evidence to support arguments. Responding to another theory (use discussion page instead). This does not include responses that can stand alone as its own theory. Usage of an indented bullet does not imply the statement is a response. See the Lostpedia theory policy for more details.

"Hostiles"

• Kelvin was still working for the CIA. He wasn't working for Dharma or the Others or Widmore etc. He worked for the US Government. The Government has had an interest in the island dating back to the 1950's. Kelvin came to the island very soon after the Purge which happened a year after the gulf war ended. Radzinsky presumably began living in the Swan in 1992 after the purge. The Others (not even Ben) had been inside the Swan and knew of what was going on inside the station...Radzinsky and the members of Dharma who built the swan station were the only ones who knew about its purpose or about the button. Kelvin may have come to the island undercover to infiltrate the Others who like Dharma before them still recruited people in the outside world. Perhaps upon being discovered he hid out in the jungle using survivor skills until he was eventually found by Radzinsky. I assume Kelvin came to the island shortly after the Purge because Radzinsky would have had trouble staying alive if he could only sleep in between intervals of 108 minutes for a prolonged period of time. I think sleep deprivation eventually caused Radzinsky to go insane and kill himself or perhaps he was killed by Kelvin in self defense. Kelvin wasn't really Dharma any more than Desmond was or the 815 people who took Desmond's place pressing the button. He wore the Dharma suit because that's what they wore in the Swan station (it was probably cold in there and it was the only thing to wear with long sleeves).
• Kelvin wasn't officially DHARMA. Radzinsky manipulated Kelvin into helping him save the world AFTER the purge. Radzinsky needed help with the button. The only thing Kelvin knew about Dharma was what the Orientation tape and Radzinsky told him. Radzinsky edited the tape to keep Kelvin from learning key facts about the Initiative.
• Kelvin was in reality one of the Others, aka "the Hostiles" (based on theories from the JoshMeister's LOST Blog).

• The fact that the DHARMA Initiative ended in the late '80s and he was in the Gulf War, which ended in 1991, would theoretically eliminate the possibility of him being part of the Initiative.

• The D.I. could have recruited right up until the Purge, 1992.

• Perhaps Kelvin was banished to the Swan to continue protocol, much like Bonnie and Greta were banished to the Looking Glass.
• Perhaps he was sent there to make sure the electromagnetic force would not build up, much like Mikhail was sent to the Flame to control outside communications.

• His partner Radzinski WAS a DHARMA member, therefore Kelvin lied to Radzinski about his origin, just as he lied to Desmond. --Integrated (User / Talk) 02:51, 24 June 2009 (UTC)

• If Kelvin was simply working for DHARMA, he wouldn't have known that Desmond's boat had crashed on the island. It's unrealistic to think that Kelvin just happened to explore the beach at precisely the right moment to find Desmond still unconscious. As an Other, Kelvin may have had access to the island's surveillance system and potentially other resources, which he kept hidden from Desmond.
• Like Juliet, Kelvin was not a "fully indoctrinated" member of The Others, hence he kept the boat secret from the rest of them in the hope that he could use it to escape from the island.
• Kelvin taught Desmond about the fail-safe, which ultimately led to the destruction of the hatch. This long con parallels (and even coincides perfectly with) Ben conning Locke into thinking that the hatch was fake in order to trick Locke into letting the hatch destroy itself.
• Kelvin used the same term ("hostiles") to refer to his own group as Mikhail did when speaking with Sayid and Kate.
• Kelvin and Radzinsky seemed to have trusted each other at least somewhat. This "unattainable" information could have been gathered through teamwork. Desmond was able to maintain the Swan for a long while, and there is nothing to suggest that either of them could not have done so as well, while their partner explored. It was revealed by Kelvin that Radzinsky had/has a photographic memory, so scouting and map-making wouldn't be a problem.

• Kelvin referring to the Others as "hostiles" and actually knowing they were on the Island too could mean he Kelvin and possibly even Radzinsky encountered them in the past.

• Given that the Flame computer system was prepared for an incursion by the hostiles, it seems like the presence of hostiles was known for a long time and he would have been warned.

• Kelvin was not one of The Others, and was truly a member of the DHARMA Initiative as he claimed to be.

• Ben seemed surprised to find out that there was a sailboat, which indicates that Kelvin never said anything to him about it.
• Kelvin referred to The Others as "hostiles," and DHARMA scientist Marvin Candle used the same term to refer to The Others in the Flame computer video.

• Kelvin was an Other, and not part of the DHARMA Initiative and was in charge of The Swan after the Purge in an analogous manner to Mikhail

• He refers to himself as a "Hostile" because this is the term Dharma used to refer to the group led by Ben Linus and Richard Alpert. The Losties are the first to refer to that group as "Others".

• • Technically Danielle is the one who coined the term Others. The losties kept using the name. Kelvin called them Hostiles because his partner Radzinsky was Dharma and Dharma folk referred to the natives as Hostiles. Personally I suspect the term Hostiles is what the US Army called them first and that the fact that Dharma uses that term indicates a connection between the military and Dharma...at the very least Dharma's knowledge of the natives comes from information they gleaned from military sources (and is why the Lamp Post has a picture of the island taken by the military back in 1954). Whoever in Dharma who first began searching for the island did so armed with information from the military.
• Kelvin thought he was hired by the DHARMA Initiative, but was in reality hired by the Others/Hostiles to keep up appearances after the purge (and by keeping him in the dark he would never be suspected of being a mole by Radzinsky). Thus, by maintaining a two-man crew at the Swan, the Others were able to keep the ruse that the DHARMA Initiative island facilities were not completely overrun by the Hostiles.

True Identity/Deeds

• Kelvin killed Radzinsky. (See Radzinsky/Theories for more details.)
• Kelvin taught Desmond everything he knew about the Hatch because he knew that, when he left, it was very unlikely that there would be anybody else to replace him. That is why he waited for 2-3 years until he left.
• Kelvin was expecting Desmond. He was wearing the hazard suit when he first dragged him from the beach. Kelvin of course knew the suit wasn't necessary but wanted the person he was expecting to meet to believe that it was.
  • He may have found Desmond first without the suit, then returned to the hatch to put it on for the same reason.
• At some point in time, Kelvin turned the fail-safe key, giving him the ability of premonitions. He therefore knew that Desmond would end up on the island, that he would be able to train him to take over the Swan station, and that all of his actions before the crash of Oceanic 815 were for some larger purpose.
  • If this is true, and if Kelvin is not dead, then this was all planned by Kelvin as a way to get away from the Swan. (Seems like a tedious job to do for years by oneself.)
• Kelvin must have known that Desmond was going to crash on the island because he came there almost immediately and it seemed as if he knew where he was going.
  • He said, when handing Desmond the vaccine, that he could have been out there awhile and the he hopes he isn't too late.
• Kelvin was left unharmed in the Swan station because Ben or The Others needed him to keep pushing the button.
  • If Ben wanted the button to continue being pushed, why would he have tried to convince Locke not to push it?
• Kelvin wore a gas mask when he went in to the outside world. Was this to scare Desmond, or did it have to do with the purge?
• He was the last living member of the DHARMA Initiative on the Island, besides Desmond who was a substitute.
  • It is later learned in "The Man Behind the Curtain" that Ben Linus is one of the last surviving members of the DHARMA Initiative proper, and it is unknown if Kelvin could be considered officially "DHARMA". (Official Lost Podcast/May 11, 2007)
• was recruited by Dharma to push the button in part due to his military service in following orders no matter what. After The Purge, The Swan station was left alone by The Others to carry on the work (push the button). Kelvin, accustomed to following orders continued to push the button expecting a replacement to arrive at some point, when Desmond arrives, he can finally move on.

Kelvin's name

• Inman is the last name of an Egyptologist, Thomas Inman [1], who is credited with a much-cited hyypothesis of the origin of the ankh symbol, which is an important symbol in LOST mythology, since it is a predominant feature in the four-toed statue seen in "The Incident."
• Kelvin is the SI's (International System of Units) unit of temperature.
• The SI unit derives from work of the Irish-Scottish scientist Lord Kelvin, aka William Thompson (1824-1907), who created one of the first temperature scales, and did critical research on subjects like electromagnetism, thermodynamics, cross-continent communication, etc.
• In James P. Blaylock's novel "Lord Kelvin's Machine", Lord Kelvin invented an electromagnetic device which would negate the earth's magnetic field for a brief time in order to avoid a collision with an iron-bearing comet. The hero spends the first part of the novel trying to prevent the machine from being turned on, as the result would be cataclysmic. Also of note, the book, which takes place in an alternate Victorian era, makes use of Maxwell's Equations, a series of equations that describe electricity, magnetism, and their relationships. In the real world, Maxwell only came up with 4 equations. To account for all the impossible science that exists in the alternate world, Blaylock had his Maxwell come up with an additional 12 laws, bringing the total to a Swan-friendly 16.
• Inman is the name of a major character in Charles Frazier's novel "Cold Mountain."
• Kelvin is the last name of the main character in Andrei Tarkovsky's 1972 film Solyaris. Similarly, both Kelvins are left alone in solitude and isolation on remote stations or outposts. Chris Kelvin tends to a damaged space station in orbit around Earth, while Kelvin Inman is forced to continue to input the numbers at The Swan by himself after Radzinsky's suicide.

Arrival on the Island

How and when did Kelvin arrive on the Island?

• Kelvin arrived on the island prior to the purge, as a member of the DI.
  • This is problematic, as he participated in the Gulf War which ended in 1991. He could only have come before the purge if the purge happened after 1991.
    • He didn't necessarily serve until the end of the war. DHARMA could have recruited him out of the military.
• Kelvin arrived after the purge as a member of the DI, which suggests that some part of the DI remained intact.
  • This begs the question of in what form the DI survived and how it recruited Kelvin; all of its front organisations such as Mittelos Bioscience appear to have been taken over by the Hostiles.
• Kelvin was Ben's man in the Swan, posing as a member of the DI. Kelvin seems rather cynical about the Dharma initiative.
  • Kelvin told Desmond he was a DI member, and there is no reason why he would lie. Desmond had no idea what the DI was, so there would be no reason for Kelvin to pretend he was a DI member.
  • It seems that Ben didn't even know that the Swan existed.
• Kelvin was Widmore's agent in the Swan.
  • This assumes that Widmore knew about the discharge, and wanted to prevent it. However, if Ben/the Hostiles didn't know about the Swan, that suggests Widmore didn't know either.

Other

• Kelvin's body was washed out to sea by a tide soon after he was killed by Desmond.
  • Looking at the picture at the article for the Cove where Kelvin was "killed", it seems unlikely that the tide would get up high enough to reach him.
• This article's main page states Kelvin was a former DIA agent. If that's the case, he may have been involved with or at least familiar with intelligence on nukes and atomic weaponry. His knowledge of that area may have been the Dharma Initiative's reason for bringing him to the island - they realized there was a hydrogen bomb buried on the island and wanted someone familiar with the technology around to make sure it didn't detonate.
• Kelvin was neither a pre-Purge member of DHARMA or a Hostile/Other. He came to the Island because he was directly recruited to assist Radzinski. The Others were unaware of the Swan, or at least of its location and function, so could not have recruited him for the job. Also, given the paranoia displayed by Radzinski, it is highly unlikely that he would have willingly cooperated with the Others for any reason. Radzinski was alone in the Swan during/after the Purge. He used the Swan computer to contact the remains of Dharma in the outside world and told them he needed help pushing the button. As to why he did not simply use the Fail-Safe, I can only assume that he and/or Dharma had their reasons. At some point before Kelvin's arrival, Radzinski edited the orientation film so that nobody else would know that the computer could be used to contact the outside. Either he simply didn't want anyone (including Kelvin) to know, or he learned that the Others had control of The Flame and was concerned that they were intercepting all communications. Kelvin was air-dropped (just like the supply drops) and was given the passphrase so he could gain entry. Radzinski may have led him to believe that he was supposed to get relief at some point, but after a few years Kelvin realized the truth and/or Radzinski became increasingly paranoid. At some point, they got into a massive fight and Inman killed Radzinski. From then on, he had no choice but to await some relief. Radzinski's paranoia is evident in the Blast Door Map. He made it in such a way that almost nobody would ever even know it was there except himself. Perhaps Kelvin discovered it during a drop, and that was what triggered the fight that ended in Radzinski's death.