Rousseau's maps and notes

From Lostpedia

Danielle Rousseau kept several maps and notes that she made or acquired during her first 16 years on the Island, containing diagrams, maps, equations, and various notations. They are currently in the possession of Sayid.

After having been held hostage at Rousseau's camp, Sayid managed to escape, taking the maps and notes with him back to the survivor's camp. ("Solitary") He later recruited Shannon to help translate the French notations that accompany the mathematical equations. Shannon was eventually able to recognize what at first seemed like gibberish as being lyrics to the song "La Mer", from an animated children's movie. ("Whatever the Case May Be")

Continuing to try to make sense of the maps, Sayid later realized that he could arrange the maps to reveal a triangle, pinpointing a location on the Island. He theorized that it could be the transmitter sending out the distress signal and its power source, and later thought it could be the "black rock" from the dream Claire wrote about in her diary. ("Special")

In need of a distress beacon to go aboard the second raft, Hurley and Jack later asked Sayid for the maps in order to obtain batteries from Rousseau. Upon seeing the papers, Hurley immediately recognized the Numbers from his winning lottery ticket, and subsequently went out to find Rousseau in search of their meaning. Rousseau confirmed Hurley's belief that the Numbers are cursed, acknowledging that they brought her to the Island, causing her to lose everything she cares about. ("Numbers")

Roughly a month later, while Sayid, Sun, and Jin were on the Elizabeth waiting for Jack to bring his party to their signal fire, Sayid made some notations on one of the maps, presumably trying to orientate himself and make sense of Rousseau's cartography. ("The Glass Ballerina")

Trivia

• When Sayid initially takes the maps from Rousseau's shelter, the visible open map on the table is a reversed image (a horizontal flip) of the true map.
• Smaller islands can be seen apart from the main island. It was confirmed that one of these island is Hydra Island. (Official Lost Podcast/March 26, 2007) This means the producers had planned to include the smaller island since Season 1.
• Danielle's map is included as a prop in the Shannon action figure set.
• The word "Alex" is written on one of the maps near one of the offshore islands. This can be seen when Sayid puts the three maps together revealing the Island with the triangle around it.

See also

• The Numbers
• "La Mer"
• Theories and observations about Rousseau's maps and notes
• Other maps

Danielle Rousseau Portrayed by Mira Furlan v • t • e
Events	Science expedition
Family	Robert • Alexandra
Items	Music box • Rousseau's maps and notes
Places	Rousseau's camp
See also: Supporting Characters