Daniel Faraday
From Lostpedia
- "Daniel" redirects here. For other uses of "Daniel", see: Daniel (disambiguation)
Portrayed by Jeremy Davies
S1 - S2 - S3 - MP - S4
Daniel Faraday is a physicist and professor who parachuted onto the Island from a helicopter sent by the freighter.
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Before the Island
In 1996, Daniel Faraday was a professor at Queen's College, Oxford University. He was conducting unauthorized experiments involving time travel, and had created a machine that allowed a living creature's consciousness to travel through time. When visited by Desmond Hume, who claimed to know about the machine, Daniel initially believed that a colleague was playing a practical joke on him, but when Desmond mentioned Eloise, Daniel's lab rat, he believed Desmond.
In his lab, Daniel tested the numbers Desmond supplied to him. He used the machine on Eloise, enabling her to inerrantly complete a maze that she would not be taught how to run for another hour. Daniel's blackboard revealed his interest in the Kerr metric as part of his theory of time-transported consciousness.
A being that undergoes time-transported consciousness, according to Daniel's explanation to Desmond, must identify a constant, something existing in both periods of time travel that can serve as an anchor for the being's consciousness;
Eight years later, Daniel lived in Essex, Massachusetts under the watch of a caretaker. When he saw a news report covering the discovery of the Oceanic Flight 815 wreckage, he became visibly upset, but could not say the reason. ("Confirmed Dead")
Shortly thereafter, he was recruited to a team, organized by Matthew Abaddon and led by Naomi Dorrit, that was sent to the Island aboard the freighter Kahana. ("Confirmed Dead")
On the Island
Season 4 (Days 91-98)
While flying to the Island, the helicopter Daniel was traveling in encountered electrical problems and the passengers decided to bail out. Miles pushed Daniel out first. On landing he then encountered Jack and Kate in the jungle. He knew Jack's name from the conversation Jack had earlier with Minkowski. He explained that he lost his pack which contained his phone when he bailed out. Kate says that they have a phone and gives it to him. He calls Minkowski and says that the communications went dead when the chopper went dead. Minkowski asks Dan if he is on speaker and Dan then excuses himself to talk to him privately. When he was talking to Minkowski, Jack and Kate see the gun he is concealing. Dan explains that the rest of his team all have GPS units which are tracked by the phones. ("The Beginning of the End") ("Confirmed Dead")
While walking through the jungle they find a metal box. Jack opens it up and finds a gas mask and other quarantine equipment. Dan says he cannot explain it, since he is not in charge of packing. Jack then abruptly asks him why he brought the gun, prompting Dan to say that their primary objective isn't to save them. While beginning to explain what they were doing on the island, Miles' signal appears. They reach the cove where Miles appeared to be dead. Miles surprises Jack and points a gun at him. Dan tells him to stop, that they are good people. Miles says that Naomi used the code for if they had a gun to their head. Kate tries to get Dan's gun but Miles stops her. They end up going to Naomi's body where Miles "talks" to her to confirm that they didn't kill her.
Charlotte's signal then appears on the phone and Jack stops to tell them to put the guns down and that his friends are out in the jungle with guns to their heads. They don't believe him but then Juliet and Sayid shoot a couple of warning shots. Dan and Miles then give up their guns to Jack and Kate. They then go look for Charlotte. While in the jungle Sayid questions who they are. Dan tells him his name and that he is a physicist from Oxford. Miles says not to reveal his last name. Sayid takes Miles' phone to see that her signal is moving quickly towards them. Vincent then appears with the GPS tracker to reveal that Locke has her.
They then see Frank's signal. When they reach him they find him unconscious. He wakes up and says that he managed to land the chopper just over the hill and they see it nearly intact. Dan and Kate get Naomi's body and bring it back to the chopper. ("Confirmed Dead")
Daniel, tired of sitting around the helicopter, begins unloading pieces of equipment. He sets up a tripod with a guidance apparatus on top, and phones the freighter to ask for a 'payload'. He is visibly upset when it doesn't arrive when it is expected, and when the payload, a rocket, arrives later, the clock inside it has a different time than the one he had with him. He mumbles "31 minutes," presumably the difference between the two. He seems to be somewhat shaken, telling himself, "This isn't good." He later tells Lapidus that on his way off the island via helicopter that he should "stick to the exact same bearing as we came in" or else something was going to happen. ("The Economist")
After returning to the beach with Jack, Juliet, and Charlotte, Daniel investigates the island pantry, looking at various foods. He and Charlotte then proceed to play a memory game involving playing cards. After only getting two out of three cards guessed correctly, he feels he is making no progress. He and Charlotte are then questioned by Jack and Juliet about the satellite phone, and learn that Frank, Sayid, and Desmond have not made it to the freighter yet. ("Eggtown")
Jack questions Daniel some more about the helicopter, and Daniel states that there could be "side effects," if Desmond has been exposed to electromagnetism or radiation. He asks to speak to Desmond, and manages to for a brief moment, where he tells Desmond to find himself in the flashes. He is later seen on the beach, leafing through his diary. He then reads what he had written himself back in 1996: "If anything goes wrong, Desmond Hume will be my constant." ("The Constant")
He then ventured with Charlotte, to go to The Tempest, in order to shut it down and avoid the possible threat of toxic gas being spread. On a rest stop at a river, they are confronted by Kate, who searches through their pack and finds a gas mask. Immediately becoming suspicious, Kate is knocked out by Charlotte as a preemptive measure. Dan and Charlotte continue on to The Tempest, breaking in by sparking the wires outside the door. While Daniel struggles to stop the gas, he is confronted by Juliet, who is subsequently knocked into a brawl with Charlotte. With minutes to go and his gas mask ripped off, Daniel frantically types onto the keyboard, stopping the disaster with seconds to spare. He remarks that it was "a close one." He then stays behind to shut down the station while Juliet and Charlotte leave. ("The Other Woman")
As Dan attempts to fix the satellite phone (which was broken during Charlotte and Juliet's confrontation the previous day), he is approached by Sun. She tells him she is pregnant and he congratulates her. She then asks him if they're here to rescue the Losties and he stutters for an answer. When she gets alarmed, he tells her that, "It's not my call." She walks away, convinced they're not here to rescue them. ("Ji Yeon")
Daniel is among the people on the beach who runs to the edge of the water in response to Bernard's cries for help and Vincent's barking. After the body has been pulled onto the sand, Daniel reveals Ray's identity as the freighter's doctor.
Soon after, Kate asks Daniel if the satellite phone works, and he is part of the discussion regarding fixing the phone enough to communicate in Morse code. Daniel transmits "What happened to doctor?" and when the freighter replies, he tells Jack the response is "Friends are fine. helicopters coming in the morning." Bernard, however, knows Morse code and says Daniel lied because the real reply stated, "what are you talking about? doctor is fine." Under pressure from an angry Jack, Daniel reveals the freighter never planned to rescue any of the survivors, which leaves Jack stumbling away, upset and in apparent pain. ("The Shape of Things to Come")
Daniel and Charlotte are still being interrogated by Rose and Bernard over the rescue situation. Later on Juliet gives Sun a list of utensils to get from The Staff, for Jacks surgery. Daniel steps in and offers to help becuase Sun dosen't know what the equipment looks like. He explains that he did some animal disections and knows what the supplies looks like. Though aware of the survivors distrust of them, Juliet agrees for Daniel and Charlotte to travel with Jin and Sun. Upon reaching The Staff, he volunteered to go inside the station first, to see if it was dangerous. Jin noted that Daniel seemed to have a crush on Charlotte. Daniel then collected the supplies and brought them back for Jack's surgery. ("Something Nice Back Home")
Later, when Jin finds out that Charlotte speaks Korean, he threatens to break Daniel's fingers if they don't take Sun off the island when the helicopter arrives. ("Something Nice Back Home")
Trivia
- In the Bible Daniel is known as an interpreter of dreams, able to find the truth and meaning behind cryptic visions.
- Daniel was the twenty-fifth character to ever have a flashback.
- Daniel's episode count is 9 (as of "Cabin Fever").
- Michael Faraday (September 22, 1791 – August 25, 1867) was an English physicist who researched electromagnetism.
- Faraday invented the Faraday cage, a cage that prevents electro-magnetic radiation from permeating it.
- The Faraday Constant, a constant in electrochemistry, is named after Faraday. The episode The Constant is an obvious reference to this and contains many more references in it.
- The SI unit of electrical capacitance, the farad, is named for Faraday.
- The face of Michael Faraday is visible on the Bank of England Series E £20 note that can be seen in the secret room at Ben's home in the Barracks. ("The Economist")
- Faraday worked on a theory that combined the interchangeability of electricity and magnetism, with the interchangeability of gravity. He was not successful.
- In June of 1832, the University of Oxford granted Faraday a Doctor of Civil Law degree (honorary).
- Flight 815 crashed on what would be his 213th birthday.
- Sean Whalen, who portrays Neil Frogurt, portrayed Jeremy Davies's brother in the movie "Twister". They shared many scenes together.
- His name first appeared as the season 4 clue word for chapter 2 of the Find 815 alternate reality game.
- During casting this character was named Russell. "Russell Faraday" is the alias given to the villain at the end of Stephen King's The Stand.
- The Faraday Institute is a research institute at St. Edmund's College, Cambridge. The institute studies the correlations between science and religion. The belief in and value of science (logic) vs. religion (faith) is a theme often explored in Lost, particularly in arguments between Jack (who usually supports logic and devalues faith) and Locke (who usually supports faith and disregards science). ("Orientation")
- Daniel appears to suffer from memory loss:
- He paused a long time before recalling his name when he first landed on the Island.
- He displayed "word searching" when referring to his pack.
- He was chastised by Miles for not remembering that Naomi gave the distress code---"tell my sister I love her".
- He was unsure why he was crying when Oceanic 815 was found. ("Confirmed Dead")
- He was playing what appeared to be a memory game with Charlotte, in which she would hide three cards, and he would try to remember them. He only got two out of three correct, which she referred to as "progress". ("Eggtown")
- He doesn't remember his 1996 meeting with Desmond and seems surprised upon reading in his own journal that he intended to use Desmond as his "constant" if anything should go wrong.
Unanswered questions
| Unanswered questions |
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- For fan theories about these unanswered questions, see: Daniel Faraday/Theories
- Why doesn't he wear any protective headgear to guard against radiation in the rat experiment?
- Why was he crying about Flight 815?
- Why did Naomi refer to him as a "head case?"
- Why does Daniel have a caretaker?
- What was the purpose of his experiment on the Island?
- What is his significance to the team?
- Why does he seem to have memory problems?
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flashback Episode | "Confirmed Dead" | |||
| Flashback characters | Daniel's caretaker | |||
| Items | Daniel's beacon • Gas masks • Daniel's journal • Daniel's machine • Daniel's map • Payload | |||
| Miscellaneous | The Kahana • Eloise | |||
| See also: Portal:Main Characters | ||||
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prominent members | Daniel Faraday • Kevin Johnson • Martin Keamy • Frank Lapidus • Charlotte Lewis • Miles Straume | |||
| Minor members | Freighter mercenaries • Jeff • Omar | |||
| Deceased members | Brandon • Captain Gault • Mayhew • Naomi Dorrit • George Minkowski • Ray • Regina | |||
| Associated characters | Matthew Abaddon • Charles Widmore | |||
| Items | Black box • Desmond's photograph • Satellite phone • Daniel's beacon • Payload • Gas masks • Helicopter • Daniel's journal • Daniel's machine • Calendar • Daniel's map • Keamy's device | |||
| See also: Freighter | ||||
