This one might be out there:
Dan left the Island for a while between 1974 and 1977. He is the man behind the theory of "What happened happened." He says you can't change the past, but after Charlotte's death he has a reason to. He says that the one exception to his rule is Desmond. Is there a chance that while he was gone, Dan was making contact and somehow causing Desmond to be "miraculously and uniquely special" using his machine. This would be interesting.

Pros for this theory:
- Daniel is a scientist who studies time travel.
- Daniel created a machine that can make people's minds TT.
- Theresa, Daniel's former assistant and experiment, suffers from almost the same ability that Desmond does. She could be Daniel's 1.0 to Desmond's 2.0.
- Daniel mentions Desmond in his notebook before he meets him on the Island. They did meet in Oxford, but there is no reason for Dan to write that Desmond is his constant from THAT meeting.
- Desmond is Daniel's constant, so it would be a good idea for Daniel to always keep tabs on him, no matter what time he's in (even in 1977).
- Daniel is pretty sure he can send messages to different times through Desmond. Even if Desmond is a child this should still work.

Cons for this theory:
- Desmond presumably in Scotland, no where near Ann Arbor.
- Would Daniel really do experiments on a child (Desmond would be about 5 - 10 years old in 1977)?
- The old "why wouldn't Desmond remember 'crazy old Faraday' like Charolette did?" Though we've seen Daniel and Desmond both having memory problems.

I was always under the impression that Desmond's properties came from his exposure to Swan Radiation.

I was too, but in this crazy WHH world, I'm starting to rethink that. What came first in chronological time, Desmond turning the failsafe key, or being contacted by Faraday in the Hatch? The failsafe, or going to visit Faraday at Oxford? The failsafe, or remembering the Island around the time he proposed to Penny. Turning the failsafe key might have unlocked his potential, but after that happened time doesn't really matter for Desmond. He can mentally go from one time period to another. If "what happened happened" then these things all came before he turned the key.
If his mind from on the Island linked to his body in other time periods, as we have seen, them potentially Desmonds mind from '08 can "visit" his mind in '77 or vise vera. I think that this will happen with Desmond again and it might catalyst might be Daniel in '77.

The way you worded your title, I thought you were going to say that Daniel was Desmond's father. He was eyeing young Ellie alot in Jughead... :laughing:

I was always under the impression that Desmond's properties came from his exposure to Swan Radiation.
Someone had a theory along the lines of long stays in the Swan would do it. As if to imply that the entire Swan function was an attempt to create another Course Corrector or uniquely special "rules don't apply" type.

It's a pretty cool thought, actually.

He says that the one exception to his rule is Desmond.
Daniel never actually specified what "rules" he's talking about that don't apply to Desmond. I don't personally agree with the theory that Desmond can change the past.

But I'm very interested to find out what all Daniel has been up to in 1974-1977. It would be cool if he did visit Desmond for some reason, though I wouldn't bet on it.

well, Eloise has known that Desmonds future can be changed. She changed it when he bought the engagement ring. and she must've known he was going to go into THAT jewelry store. Lets think about this (talking to myself)...... Eloise looks a little old to be Daniels Mother......Are we sure Daniel is from this time? Maybe he is from 10-20 years earlier?.....maybe she is from the future? Is his dad Brother Campbell? (from the monastary) He sure looks like they could pass for Father and son. And Brother Campbell just found Desmond lying in middle of the road, huh?

- Daniel mentions Desmond in his notebook before he meets him on the Island. They did meet in Oxford, but there is no reason for Dan to write that Desmond is his constant from THAT meeting.
I think Dan did have reason to list Des as his constant right then.

When Desmond went to Oxford, he told Dan that he had been to the future and that Daniel Faraday himself told him to find him in 1996 and tell him to set the device to 2.342, oscillating at eleven hertz.

Daniel set his device, tested it on Eloise the rat, and it caused her to be unstuck in time. This proved to Dan that Desmond knew him in the future and had returned to the past.

Next scene with them, Eloise is dead from being unstuck and having no constant. Dan knows he will be in the future with Desmond on this island he mentioned. Not knowing how or when he gets there, I imagine he jotted down that note to himself right then, just to be safe. Desmond just proved to be someone he knows in both time periods.

Desmond also told Daniel that future Daniel had no memory of this meeting. All the more reason for him to make the note of Desmond as his constant.

Don't forget that Mrs Hawking (Daniels mother) also visited Brother Campbell at the Monestary.


http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/lostpedia/images/7/7f/Camhawk.jpg

This might possibly have had something to do with it, though I think he's just special from birth - remember we don't know who his father or mother are yet - there could be some revelation about this which sheds more light.

Hmm, very interesting. I like your thinking.

Daniel never actually specified what "rules" he's talking about that don't apply to Desmond. I don't personally agree with the theory that Desmond can change the past.

But I'm very interested to find out what all Daniel has been up to in 1974-1977. It would be cool if he did visit Desmond for some reason, though I wouldn't bet on it.

Can anyone remember the exact context of Daniel saying the rules don't apply to Desmond?

I'm guessing the rules not applying either refers to Desmond's perception, or memory, not working in a linear fashion, or that Desmond is able to interact with reality without causing macro-scopic wave-function collapse.

sometimes I think that Daniel made up the "rules" just to keep his fellow time travelers from doing weird things while they were waiting to get back to regular time. If he says you cant change what has already happened, then you wont do a Biff and give yourself the names of all the superbowl winners. But then again. his Mama has always said the universe causes corrects itself.

Can anyone remember the exact context of Daniel saying the rules don't apply to Desmond?

To answer my own question... From the episode Because You Left (taken from Lostpedia):

DESMOND: Do I know you?
FARADAY: Yeah... in a way. But listen, that's not important. What is important, Desmond, is what I'm about to say to you. I need you to listen. You're the only person who can help us because, Desmond... the rules... the rules don't apply to you. You're special. You're uniquely and miraculously special.

So he never says what rules don't apply to Desmond and certainly doesn't necessarily imply that Desmond is exempt from WHH.