"CV IV?"
Decoded: Well, see prior posts about these references (and, please, if you have any ideas, send them my way.)
Mysteries: What does "CV" stand for? Why the Roman numerals? Why is the mapmaker so unsure of this location?
Degree of Certainty: Not a lick.
"The Pearl?"
Decoded: By now we know quite well that the Dharma Initiative's two-person video monitoring station, codenamed "The Pearl," is actually located under the giant "?" both as drawn on the map and as seen from the cliff face above. What is interesting from this notation, way off to the side is that the mapmaker knew 1) that there was a station called "Pearl" and 2) that something important lay beneath the central spot on the map, but didn't manage to connect the two. On the other hand, this could be a notation suggesting that The Pearl is located beneath the "?", but I prefer the interpretation that the island (as manifest to both Eko and Locke as Yemi) felt these two were worthy of finding The Pearl while the mapmakers were not.
Mysteries: How did the mapmaker know about the Pearl if he or she had not been there? What key to the facilities is out there that we have not seen? And what provided the clue to place it here, off to the Southeast of the actual Pearl?
Degree of Certainty: This is one of those rare situations where I feel like we the viewers actually know more than the mapmakers.
"Hic Sunt Dracones"
Decoded: "Here there are dragons." Dragons, mystical monsters from all sorts of mythologies, are sources of wisdom, solitary guardians, and dangerous beasts. In this Southeastern portion of the map, we have encountered the whipsers (both Rousseau and Sayid heard them here), and got our first Smokey sighting. Either or both of these could be the "dragons."
Wikipedia has this to say about the phrase: ""Here be dragons" is a phrase used to denote dangerous or unexplored territories, in imitation of the infrequent medieval practice of putting sea serpents and other mythological creatures in blank areas.
...
In another context, software programmers sometimes use it to indicate especially difficult or obscure sections of code in a program so that others do not tamper with them. [2]
The title of a short science fiction story by Ray Bradbury, 'Here There Be Tygers' is an allusion to this expression."
Mysteries: As we know from Rousseau, this area is what she called the "Dark Territory." What is so mysterious or dangerous about this part of the island?
Degree of Certainty: Hey, if it's on Wikipedia, it's gotta be right!
"CV III"
Decoded: See above - but note that "CV III" is not followed by a "?".
Mysteries: See above.
Degree of Certainty: See above.
"Primary Nexus of Cerberus-Related Activity"
Decoded: As we've speculated before, "Cerberus" seems to refer to the Smokey monster, referred to by Rousseau as a "security system." The presence of this notation near other sightings of Smokey serve to confirm this connection.
Mysteries: If Cerberus is smokey, why is this a primary nexus in this spot? Why the name "Cerberus," i.e. Greek mythology's underworld guardian? What is being guarded?
Degree of Certainty: I'm feeling pretty comfortable about this one.
"Sightings Coincide with Emergency Shutdown of Intranet Services of Heightened Security."
Decoded: This one is rich. Given the location on the map (i.e. next to the prior note), I will go out on a limb and say this refers to sightings of Cerberus/Smokey. The map is riddled with references to "emergency shutdowns" and "intranets." Is there some phenomenon we have not yet seen that predicts the appearance of Smokey, something link to the various computer and telecommunications networks put in place by Dharma?
Mysteries: The bad grammar alone begs some questions. What emergency causes the shutdown of intranet services? How on Earth was this correlation spotted?
Degree of Certainty: Rife with speculation, but if the Cerberus fits...
"Known Final Resting Place of Magnus Hanso/ Black Rock"
Decoded: After many strange references to a "black rock" in the first season (Charlie's dream, the black and white stones found with the skeleton's, and Rousseau's French-language recording), we finally saw "The Black Rock" was a wooden tall ship somehow marooned in the middle of the jungle in what Rousseau called "the dark territory." During this Summer's "Lost Experience," we learned that the Black Rock was a slave ship bound for Africa from England owned and captained by Magnus Hanso, ancestor to Alvar Hanso.
Mysteries: How did the mapmaker know that Magnus Hanso was aboard? Why did Magnus die in this ship? For that matter, how did a tall ship full of unstable explosives make it so far inland without getting pulverized or blown up?
Degree of Certainty: High. We don't the "how" of this, but we do know the "what."
"Activity Minimal During Lockdown and Restocking Procedures."
Decoded: As we know from the episode entitled "lockdown," from time to time the Swan hatch would go into a secure, shut-in mode, with the blast doors dropping and keeping the hatch's inhabitants locked inside. In fact, it was just such a lockdown that gave us our glimpse of the map. During the one lockdown we witnessed, a huge plat of food and supplies seemingly was air-dropped, which the Losties used to restock the beach. And we learned in the Lost Experience that the Dharma Initiative was set up with perpetual food drops. Again "activity" seems to refer to Cerberus, and, indeed, if Cerberus is the Dharma Initiative's security system, it would make sense for it take a break during these restocking procedures.
Mysteries: Why is the lockdown necessary? Does it prevent the Swan inhabitants from seeing the "man behind the curtain?" Did Dharma really control Smokey? Or is this just a coincidence? For that matter, if stuck in lockdown, how did the mapmaker know that Smokey's activity was minimal?
Degree of Certainty: Pretty good, given what we know. But we don't know about this is intriguing.
"Rev - 4-2-02 Possible Location of Zoological Research Facility"
Decoded: Perhaps, as with the weather notations North of here, the mapmaker assumed from the Swan orientation film that there must be a zoological station somewhere. We don't know where the mapmakers may have thought it was before this, but apparently in April of 2002, they decided it must be near the Black Rock. April of 2002 is during the three-year period when Desmond and Kelvin were in the hatch, so perhaps Desmond will be able to shed some light on this. In any case, this is another situation where we know more than the mapmaker - the zoological facility is about as far from this spot as possible in this island chain - it's all the way around the island to the North West, then a mile or so offshore on a second island. And it's called the "Hydra" facility, where Jack, Kate and Sawyer were taken by the Others.
Mysteries: Is there another facility here that was mistaken? What did the mapmaker detect in April, 2002 that misled him to this conclusion? Is it wise to take the orientation film at face value.
Degree of Certainty: Both what this note refers to, and that it is mistaken - very high.
"Stated Goal Accelerated De-Territorialization of Ursus Maritimus Through Gene Therapy and Extreme Climate Change."
Decoded: As has been discussed on this blog in the past, ursus maritimus is the Latin name for a polar bear. We all know how odd it is to have found at least two polar bears on a tropical island in a jungle. It should be too hot, and too hard for them to feed without their usual ice-shelf surroundings. But, aha! A purpose for their presence in the Hyrda station and on the island - some Dr. Moreau-esque attempt to alter the polar bear genetically and by altering its environment. Why do this? If Dharma is meant to stave off humanity's imminent demise at its own hand, perhaps the polar bears were brought to the island to experiment in breeding the aggession out of one of the most viscious animals on Earth, to see if such a change could be made to humanity, as well. Note to theoreticians - from the polar bear sightings we've seen, they've been successfully deterritorialized, but they're still mighty nasty buggers.
Mysteries: Who stated this goal? Seriously, why would we want to adjust polar bears to tropical climates (since global warming wasn't really an active theory in the 1970s and 1980s)? And what went wrong, since the bears are now free and Sawyer has been living in their cage?
Degree of Certainty: Hey, unless this note refers to some other polar bears on the tropical island, I'm pretty sure I nailed this one.
And speaking of things, I've nailed, that's it for the map. This was a prett exhaustive (and exhausting) look at one "Lost's" most intriguing clues. There's still so much left to uncover, and that's just what the mapmaker thought to tip us off to. I hope you've enjoyed reading these posts at least half as much as I've enjoyed writing them (in which case I will have had twice as much enjoyment as you, so there!)
Next Week: A look at the mural that formerly resided on the wall of the Swan Hatch.
And we're only a month away from new Lost episodes!!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment