Did anyone with TiVo get the chance to count up Desmond's tally marks on the wall? I'm curious as to how long he's been waiting there. It sounded like a while...
Thanks :)

It will be 108 weeks/months or something like that

Granulated made some nice screen caps, including the tally marks. Perhaps he/she can get a screen cap of the whole wall.

The real question is "What is being counted?" Days, weeks, # of times the #'s have been entered, the # of times it's been a close call?

Right...what's being counted exactly? I think they'll get more info out of him next week and he'll just end up telling them how long he's been there.

I think it's time, since Desmond said something to the effect that he'd been there a while, then the camera flashed to the wall. My guess would be days-- or at least hatch-days (since Desmond seems to rise at night)--because it would be pretty confusing to keep track of weeks. The number of times the Bad Numbers have been entered... hmmm, that's definitely a possibility.

Question relating to entering the numbers-- Desmond entered them when he woke up, and then sometime later-- looked like only a couple hours-- he got Locke to re-enter them. However, is it my imagination, or had the counter gone UP to 237, and was moving down to 236? Seems a little odd.

Did anyone with TiVo get the chance to count up Desmond's tally marks on the wall? I'm curious as to how long he's been waiting there. It sounded like a while...
Thanks :)

Hi there - new poster here.
I am thinking it's been 12-13 years that he's been in the hatch (at most) because: the day Jack operated on Sarah is the day he met Desmond AND the day that Shannons father died - she said her father died when she was 8 (1992-ish).. I think Shannon is about 21 now - so that is 13 years ago....supposing Desmond left soon after he met Jack. Sorry if I am not being real clear.

Could Jack have met Desmond 16 years ago in the stadium and he's been on the island ever since then? I wonder if Desmond was part of Danielle's crew?

Fter he entered the numbers, the counter went to 108 (the sum of the numbers), so every hour and 48 minutes he has to enter them again. So he can never sleep more than 108 minutes at once, so he probably has no concept of days anymore. and he does not rise at night, he rises all the time (every 108 minutes).

I think the fact that Desmond entered those numbers when he got up and again when Locke was with him goes back to the shot and the question of "is anyone sick." I believe Desmond programed a timer...when it runs down...if he is NOT sick and dying he can reset it..if he is infected and dying and not of right mind he would not be able to stop the countdown by entering the numbers and the shaft and everything in it would self destruct..taking the virus with it as he is the last survivor. Thoughts??

That is a cool idea. I would imagine that at some point the hatch and contents will get destroyed as there would be no reason to include that timer\device in the story if it wasn't going to asplode.

I find it funny that Desmond is scratching marks on the wall when he seems to have enough supplies in there to say, write it on a piece of paper maybe.

If it was 13 years ago then you would think he would have a CD player.. or at least a cassette deck.

What does the 108 have to do with the sun? it's in the mural.

If it was 13 years ago then you would think he would have a CD player.. or at least a cassette deck.[/quote]

Right - but I don't believe that Desmond was the 1st "Hatch guardian" - I think he'd come there to pick up his "shift" from someone who had been there before him - maybe the person(s) who helped to outfit the hatch years before or maybe there had been several before that. Desmond, seemed to think Locke was there to releive him, of his post - a reasonable thought if that's what had been done before.

Perhaps the number sequence and the button prevent something GOOD from happening. If Walt tried to tell Shannon that the button was bad, perhaps it would be beneficial to prevent Desmond from entering the numbers...

http://www.lost-media.com/modules.php?name=coppermine&file=displayimage&album=736&pos=150

I tried counting the marks and from what I have counted its 370

Hi there - new poster here.
I am thinking it's been 12-13 years that he's been in the hatch (at most) because: the day Jack operated on Sarah is the day he met Desmond AND the day that Shannons father died - she said her father died when she was 8 (1992-ish).. I think Shannon is about 21 now - so that is 13 years ago....supposing Desmond left soon after he met Jack. Sorry if I am not being real clear.

actually, Shannon's dad and Boone's mom got married when Shannon was 8. according to the date on Jack's ID badge it was 1997 when he met Desmond in the stadium, so Des couldn't have been in the hatch for more than 7 years and 10 months maximum.

Hi there - new poster here.
I am thinking it's been 12-13 years that he's been in the hatch (at most) because: the day Jack operated on Sarah is the day he met Desmond AND the day that Shannons father died - she said her father died when she was 8 (1992-ish).. I think Shannon is about 21 now - so that is 13 years ago....supposing Desmond left soon after he met Jack. Sorry if I am not being real clear.

actually, he didn't die when Shannon was 8, he married Boone's mom when she was 8. according to the date on Jack's ID badge it was 1997 when he met Desmond in the stadium, so Des couldn't have been in the hatch for longer than 7 years and 10 months maximum (that's assuming the flight was on 9-23-04)

actually, he didn't die when Shannon was 8, he married Boone's mom when she was 8. according to the date on Jack's ID badge it was 1997 when he met Desmond in the stadium, so Des couldn't have been in the hatch for longer than 7 years and 10 months maximum (that's assuming the flight was on 9-23-04)

Really? I could,ve sworn she said he died when she was 8. Didn't see Jack's hospital badge - that is great information! Thanks!

Personally, i think Desmond's been in the hatch for at least 4 years, since that seems to be the time when all the Lostaways' lives were set in motion to end up on the island. I think something happened 4 years ago that connected all of these people (including Desmond) and "destined" them to end up here. I think Desmond has been expecting a relief person, whether to take over for him or release him, but that person is overdue. Maybe the relief person was due 4 years ago and never showed up?

Fter he entered the numbers, the counter went to 108 (the sum of the numbers), so every hour and 48 minutes he has to enter them again. So he can never sleep more than 108 minutes at once, so he probably has no concept of days anymore. and he does not rise at night, he rises all the time (every 108 minutes).

Exactly. And, anyone that has ever worked swing shifts know a bit about sleep deprivation. Makes you a little "weird". Throws your idea of time out the window.

So, I can see him, after a few years, getting into the cycle of the routine. Then, the lostaways blow the hatch and basically invade his little world. Kate says 44 days, and Desmond seems to have a problem with that concept. That would be 586.6667 times he has entered the numbers. After a few hundred times, he might be a little hazy on when that really was. If he thinks of the tally marks as a "day", then 44 tally marks is only equal to 198 of our hours. Just a bit over a week, which assumes he marks a tally every time he enters the numbers.

Did that make any sense?

Hi there - new poster here.
I am thinking it's been 12-13 years that he's been in the hatch (at most) because: the day Jack operated on Sarah is the day he met Desmond AND the day that Shannons father died - she said her father died when she was 8 (1992-ish).. I think Shannon is about 21 now - so that is 13 years ago....supposing Desmond left soon after he met Jack. Sorry if I am not being real clear.

Shannon is 20.

Shannon is 20.

Ok, whatever - 20, 21...she was born in 84 though, right? This is info garnered from another persons timeline.

What I really want to know is why he was acting like such a lunatic when getting Locke to enter the numbers. He forgot what number he had just said and then even asked what the last number entered was *as he was standing right by the screen*.

Uh, what? Is he already infected with stupidity or something? haha.

He seemed so non-chalant when entering the numbers at the beginning of the day, so why is he stark raving mad during the number sequence at the end. Why is he saying the numbers so slowly and deliberately? Is this all just for dramatic purposes?

If it was 13 years ago then you would think he would have a CD player.. or at least a cassette deck.

Right - but I don't believe that Desmond was the 1st "Hatch guardian" - I think he'd come there to pick up his "shift" from someone who had been there before him - maybe the person(s) who helped to outfit the hatch years before or maybe there had been several before that. Desmond, seemed to think Locke was there to releive him, of his post - a reasonable thought if that's what had been done before.[/QUOTE]
I think you are correct...I think Lenny (Hurley's friend) may have been the one.... it makes sense if you think about it!
ciao :)

Don't know if it means anything, but 108 months comes out to exactly 9 years.

Perhaps a typical shift for each guardian is 9 years, but they don't tell them that prior to being sent to the island.

Clearly, what Desmond found was NOT what he was expecting when he began training for this mission/race/experiment.

Also, I don't think Desmond would start scratching tally marks (hatch marks?) on the wall until it got to the point where he was expecting not to be there anymore. So I doubt the tally marks start with his first day inside the hatch-itat.