The Importance of Magnetism on the Island[]
I feel like the magnetism of the island has a big effect on everything that happens in the show. Notice how Desmond tried to use a compass to leave the island and failed, and how Henry apparently knows the correct compass heading to escape the magnetic field. Perhaps the magnetism generated by The Swan is specifically for the purpose of keeping the people who are on the island where they are. --Chesteadman 10:53, 25 May 2006 (PDT)
The erratic electromagnetism of the island renders a compass useless, we know a compass follows the magnetic North in a "normal" location. In Season 1, Locke mentioned that he has a compass but it was indeed useless. The said compass was given by Richard to John Locke in the "future" mode in order to identify him as the "chosen" one in the "past" mode when he was a child. Again, it was used a literary device by the writers of theshow.
Ursa Major / Big dipper[]
There was a reference in the article about ursa major which I deleted. The "big dipper screencapture", that's probably in question faces the other way around and can't be seen from the southern hemisphere. Ofcourse, the island is theorized to be moving - but the only place where Ursa Major is facing left is about 200 lightyears away. --skks 16:07, 19 April 2006 (PDT)
I had read earlier today that while it appears in the northern hemisphere all year round it also appears in the southern hemisphere at various points of the year. I dunno it still seems relevant given the appearance of all of the other star references people have thoerised about, the swan, apollo, the arrow etc... Morrison
Regardless, it always faces right instead of left. Constellations don't change no matter where on the globe you are. If you want to add a fan theory that the island is located 200 lightyears from where Earth is - you may do so, but I think that's too big of a leap in a regular article at this point. --skks 16:17, 19 April 2006 (PDT)
Fair play dude I concede this point although you did yourself mention that some are theorizing the island is moving, and I have been building a notion that the numbers relate to a six dimensional coordinate, so maybe 200 light years is possible, lets see.......
It's not about who's right or who's wrong, it's not personal and it's not a competition. The fact is that ursa major faces right, therefore it hasn't been seen in the show. Fan Theories is the place if you want to theorize about something as big as this. --skks 16:53, 19 April 2006 (PDT)
Clean-up & Discussion[]
What's up with this page? It needs some serious rewriting: It starts off like a disambiguation page for instances of compasses even though they don't exist. Then it has an item box for one of the many different compasses it just itemized. Next, it starts talking about magnetic anomalies without referencing the article on it. Then it has a "In Lost: Via Domus" section even though there's no "On the Island" or any other "On" or "In" sections. 
Kevrock talk contribs 10:01, 10 July 2008 (PDT)
compass given to locke by richard[]
Has anyone else noticed that the compass that richard gave to Locke has a "O" on it instead of a "W" for west? There is a good pic of it on the compass page with a close up. (sorry im a newbie to this and not sure where to post things as yet!)--Discostar 23:02, 3 February 2009 (UTC)
- Yeah I noticed this too. I'm sure someone will post here with a good historical or practical reason for it. Hugo815 23:08, 3 February 2009 (UTC)
Ah its a french compass - thats why!! --Discostar 23:17, 3 February 2009 (UTC)
Where does the compass come from? Time paradox?[]
There is one very weird thing about the compass – it has no defined origin. We know that Richard had it, because Locke gave it to him in "the past", and Locke had it, because Richard gave it to him in "the future"; and Richard had it in the future, because Locke gave it to him in "the past"... Infinite loop. Therefore, the compass has no origin, how did it appear in the first place? Does anyone else find this weird? Time paradox? BeŻet 13:02, 23 April 2009 (UTC)
- I have just noticed that this is already mentioned in the article, please ignore this :) BeŻet 13:09, 23 April 2009 (UTC)
- I think there should be more mention of the ontological paradox that this compass represents. In the final podcast for season 5 Lindelof and Cuse mention that this paradox was intentional and important to the overall theme of the show. I can speculate several reasons as to why but never the less the life cycle of this item seems to deserve more attention. It also seems to have some similar themes as the Ouroboros old Eloise Hawking was wearing (an item I think also does not have an article devoted to it).--Tpbaxter 04:24, November 30, 2009 (UTC)
Isn't it possible that Richard brought it with him to the island and then gave it to Locke, who brought it back to Richard, who know had the earlier version of it and the older version of it until he gave the earlier version to Locke? Parableman 05:44, April 12, 2010 (UTC)
- In fact, there's no reason Richard should find it interesting in the least if he'd never seen the compass before. But if it was his own compass, which he already had in his possession (and had yet to give to Locke) then it would mean something to him. Parableman 05:46, April 12, 2010 (UTC)
This is not actually a time paradox, merely an ontological paradox (as stated above). A time paradox occurs when an effect precludes its own cause (like the grandfather paradox). The compass is actually an example of a real-life hypothetical physics construct, called a "closed time-like curve." It describes a situation where a material particle, in this case a compass, experiences a path through space-time that is closed, i.e., it shares an ending and a beginning. I wonder if this should be mentioned in the article itself, as the compass is actually a very good example of a closed time-like curve. Here's a link to the wiki page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Closed_timelike_curve Myxococcus 19:20, April 15, 2010 (UTC)