"LOST" Spoilers: Dharma Initiative Is Extinct!

TV Guide spoiled tonight's episode of ABC's "LOST" with the revelation that a character we had previously seen on the show, and we all know who that is, will utter the following line: "I am the last surviving member of the Dharma Initiative."

The DHARMA Initiative (Department of Heuristics And Research on Material Applications Initiative) is a mysterious research project, which appeared to have a large presence on the LOST Island.

According to information from the previously seen orientation films found at the Swan Dharma Initiative Station (a.k.a. The Hatch) as well as The LOST Experience game, the initiative was founded in 1970 by Gerald and Karen DeGroot, two doctoral candidates at the University of Michigan.

The initiative was financially backed by the mysterious Danish industrialist magnate, Alvar Hanso and his Hanso Foundation.

The purpose of the Initiative was to create "a large-scale communal research compound where scientists and free-thinkers from around the globe could pursue research in meteorology, psychology, parapsychology, zoology, electromagnetism, etc."

The Sri Lanka Video has revealed that the DHARMA Initiative was part of a project tied to the Valenzetti Equation.

The purpose of the DHARMA Initiative on the Island was to use scientific research to manipulate the environment to change any one of the core factors of the Valenzetti Equation in order to change the course of the human race.

The DHARMA Initiative conducted its research and activities on the Island through a series of stations. According to the Sri Lanka Video, they were created to help scientists "save the world as we know it" via research in various fields.

According to orientation films there are six stations, however the blast door map and subsequent discovery of the Pearl station could indicate there are at least seven or more stations.



In the feature, "Secrets of the Hatch" on the Lost: the Complete Second Season DVD it is said that the Arrow is the first Hatch and was discovered by the Tailies.

They had temporarily used it as a shelter, but as many of them have now been killed the station is now being used for storage. It is largely empty except for several boxes.

The Swan was the hatch Losties discovered with Desmond in it at the beginning of season 2. It is believed to be station #2 or #3.

The Swan was originally a laboratory "where scientists could work to understand the unique electromagnetic fluctuations emanating from this sector of the Island".

However, after an "Incident", a protocol had to be followed in which two people would take shifts pressing a button (inputting the Numbers into a computer) every 108 minutes for 540 days, at the end of which replacements will arrive to take the place of the previous inhabitants.

The Staff appears to be a medical station. Claire was taken there after being abducted by Ethan. Presumably, the fully operational staff was preparing her for to give forced birth, to deliver Aaron into the clutches of the Others. After her escape (assisted by Alex Rousseau), the station was abandoned.

The Hydra was revealed to be the station on a much smaller second island next to the main Island, and it is not mentioned on the blast door map. It is under the control of the Others, and from Karl's testimony, is a place where they work on projects, away from their home (Othersville) on the main Island.

The Pearl is DHARMA Initiative station number 5, discovered by Locke and Mr. Eko. The task of this station, according to its orientation video, is to monitor the Swan station and possibly other stations via a remote viewing system.

However it is presumed the work the Pearl staff was conducting was in fact useless, the notebooks they were asked to fill ended up at a dump.

There was also a hidden camera present in the Pearl, indicating them, and not the Swan residents, were the subject of the experiment.

Tonight, we will for the first time see The Flame station. Its name and symbol were depicted on the blast door map, and its location seems to be next to a place where a river splits or two rivers join.

According to spoilers, a man named Mikhail Bakunin (a.k.a. Patchy) lives in the station and may be the last living member of the Dharma Initiative. He will reveal the connection between Dharma and The Others.

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