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Lost Desmond Hume
Desmond David Hume is a fictional
character on the ABC television series Lost portrayed by Henry Ian
Cusick. Desmond's name is a tribute to David Hume, the famous
empiricist author and philosopher. Desmond was not a passenger of
Flight 815. He had been stranded on the island three years prior to the
crash as the result of a shipwreck. Desmond eventually leaves the
Island with the Oceanic 6 and is reunited with his love Penny Widmore
(Sonya Walger). He is currently in hiding from her father, Charles
Widmore (Alan Dale).
Arc
Before shipwrecking
Desmond is originally from Glasgow, Scotland and is a huge fan of
Celtic Football Club. After being engaged to a woman named Ruth (Joanna
Bool) for six years, Desmond gets cold feet one week before the
wedding. He passes out due to binge drinking and wakes up to find a
monk named Brother Campbell (Andrew Connolly). Desmond decides to join
the monastery, feeling a higher calling. Shortly after completing his
vow of silence, he is assaulted by Ruth's brother. He meets with Ruth
who chastises him for breaking her heart. Guilt ridden, he breaks into
the monastery's wine cellar and starts to drink. As a result, Brother
Campbell dismisses him from the order. Before he leaves, Brother
Campbell asks him to perform a final service for the order, assisting
Penny by loading a number of cases of wine into her car. The two feel
an immediate attraction, and she asks for his help in unloading the
wine in Carlisle. Two years later, they move into an apartment
together.
Desmond visits Penny's father Charles to ask for his daughter's hand in
marriage. While stating his appreciation for the bold gesture, Charles
makes his disapproval of Desmond clear, saying he was not good enough
for her. After being unable to pay for a photograph taken with Penny,
Desmond believes he can't support himself nor Penny and, thinking she
deserves better, breaks up with her. In an attempt to prove himself to
Charles, Desmond joins the Royal Scots Regiment of the British
Army.[2]After being imprisoned for an unknown crime, Desmond is
dishonorably discharged from the army. Outside the prison, Desmond is
greeted by Charles, who admits to confiscating all the letters Desmond
wrote to Penny, and attempts to bribe him to leave her alone. Desmond
travels to the United States, where he meets Libby (Cynthia Watros).
She gives Desmond her boat when he reveals that in order to win his
true love, he must win a boating race, funded by Charles Widmore.
Before setting off, Desmond goes to train at a stadium in Los Angeles;
where he is confronted by Penny, upset that he had not contacted her
since getting out of prison. He asks her to wait for him for one more
year, when the race would have ended. He promptly leaves to run the
stadium. While training in the stadium, he meets Jack Shephard (Matthew
Fox) for the first time. After he enters the race, his boat is caught
in a ferocious storm, and he is eventually knocked unconscious.
Prior to the crash
Desmond washes ashore on the island without his boat. A man named
Kelvin Joe Inman (Clancy Brown) emerges from the jungle in a hazmat
suit and takes him back to the hatch. Desmond watches as Kelvin inputs
the numbers into a computer, claiming it is saving the world. Kelvin
later explains that it releases an electromagnetic charge to prevent
there being a large build-up of electromagnetic energy. He tells
Desmond to inoculate himself with an unnamed vaccine every nine days,
since he was out in the "quarantined" island, and might be infected.
Three years pass, and Desmond desperately wants to go above ground, but
Kelvin will not allow it, although he himself leaves for hours each day
in his hazmat suit. Desmond catches Kelvin drunk one night in a secret
crawlspace below the floor, dangling a key above a fail-safe mechanism.
Kelvin explains that if the fail-safe mechanism was activated, the
hatch would be destroyed, destroying the electromagnetic anomaly with
it.
When Kelvin leaves one day, Desmond notices that Kelvin's hazmat suit
has a tear on its leg. He follows Kelvin above ground, where he
discovers Kelvin removing the suit and finding the air was safe to
breathe. Desmond follows Kelvin to a cove, where he sees his sailboat
in perfect shape. Kelvin had been leaving the hatch to fix the boat a
little each day, planning to escape the island and leave Desmond
behind. Kelvin startles Desmond, revealing he knew Desmond was
following him, and then invites Desmond to escape with him. Desmond is
too worried about the button to leave, to which Kelvin expresses his
doubts about the validity of the button. Desmond becomes enraged that
he may have spent three years of his life on the island unnecessarily
and attacks Kelvin. They struggled, and Desmond accidentally smashes
Kelvin's head on a rock, killing him. Desmond takes the key for the
fail-safe mechanism from around Kelvin's neck and races back to the
hatch, where the timer for the button has already reached zero and the
computer is registering a system failure. A massive electromagnetic
field builds up, attracting all metal objects to the sealed door inside
the hatch, including Oceanic Flight 815. Desmond manages to stop it by
inputting the code, which safely disperses the electromagnetic field,
but not in time to prevent the plane crash.
After the crash
Season 2
For forty-one days, Desmond lingers in the hatch. He gradually falls
into a deep depression to the point of even contemplating his own
suicide. As he opens up Our Mutual Friend, (Which he earlier stated
would be the last book he would read before his death) he finds a note
that Penny had hidden inside before he was sent to prison, telling him
not to despair, as well as reminding him that she will always wait for
him and that she loves him. Even more depressed now, he goes into a
rage and makes a mess out of the hatch. As he collapses, Desmond then
hears someone shouting from the top of the hatch. Unknown to Desmond,
it is Locke (Terry O'Quinn) asking the hatch for help after Boone's
fatal plane injury. When Desmond turns on a light to see who it is,
Locke, thinking his prayers have been answered, quiets down. Desmond,
similarly, considers the voice to be a sign that he is no longer alone,
and regains hope.When Locke, Kate (Evangeline Lilly) and Jack (Matthew
Fox) enter the hatch, they accidentally damage the computer after a
brief fight with a panicked Desmond. Convinced that the world is going
to end, he tries to fix the computer, but is unable to. Desmond
frantically flees the hatch. Jack catches up with him and Desmond tells
him the code, and explains that it must be entered every 108 minutes.
Desmond makes his way back to his boat and attempts to sail to Fiji.
However, his plans go awry.
A drunken Desmond returns in his boat, having been unable to navigate
away from the island, making him compare it and its waters to "a bloody
snow globe" . Later he is confronted by Locke who tells him of another
DHARMA station, the Pearl station, where he found an orientation film
suggesting the button pushing was just an experiment. While Desmond
wavers back and forth with his conviction on the button, he and Locke
wait for the countdown to hit zero, to see what will happen. As the
countdown reaches zero, Locke shows the printout he obtained from The
Pearl. Desmond realizes that the date of the prior "system failure" was
the same day as the plane crash, September 22, 2004. Desmond believes
that his failure to push the button that day resulted in an
electromagnetic field that pulled down Oceanic Flight 815. He is
insistent that the button must be pressed, but Locke angrily reacts by
destroying the computer. Desmond retrieves the key to the fail-safe
mechanism, wanting to save Locke because Locke saved him the night he
shouted at the hatch door. As Desmond uses the key, a bright white
light envelops his face.
Season 3
Upon turning the key, Desmond is sent back to 1996, where he relives
the moments leading to his break-up with Penny. He remembers the island
only after seeing Charlie (Dominic Monaghan) busking in the streets. He
is told by a mysterious woman, Eloise Hawking (Fionnula Flanagan), that
it is his destiny to be on the island. He is later knocked unconscious
and wakens back in the present, amidst the hatch's scattered remains
and completely naked. Hurley (Jorge Garcia) clothes him, and Desmond
mentions a speech Locke has made, without realising Locke doesn't make
this speech until his and Hurley's return to the beach. Upon returning
to the beach, he then asks Claire (Emilie de Ravin) to leave her
shelter for the day. When she refuses, Desmond constructs a lightning
rod, diverting the ensuing lightning to strike it instead of her
shelter.
After Mr. Eko (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) is killed by the monster,
Desmond attends his burial with Charlie and Hurley. He leaves suddenly
to rescue a drowning Claire in the ocean despite being in the jungle,
too far to be aware of Claire's predicament. In an attempt to question
him about his clairvoyant gift, Charlie and Hurley get him drunk, but
Desmond retaliates before being interrogated. He informs Charlie that
he has been doing everything he can to prevent Charlie's death, but it
is inevitable.
Several days later, Desmond experiences another vision of Charlie's
death, and asks Charlie, Hurley and Jin (Daniel Dae Kim) to accompany
him on a hike. That night, the four witness a passing helicopter, and
its pilot bailing at the last minute. They trek inland, discovering
various belongings of the pilot, including a photograph of Desmond and
Penny, prompting him to believe that the pilot is Penny. Desmond
prevents his vision from happening by rescuing Charlie from one of
Rousseau's (Mira Furlan) traps. The four eventually find the
parachutist suspended from a tree. Desmond cuts her down and removes
her helmet. However, he is disappointed to find that it isn't Penny
after all, it is a woman named Naomi (Marsha Thomason). She coughs out
his name before passing out. When Mikhail (Andrew Divoff) arrives,
Desmond bargains with him to help them save Naomi in exchange for
letting him walk away free. Mikhail agrees, and manages to tend to her.
The four return her to the beach soon after.
Desmond suggests informing someone about Naomi's arrival, and approves
of Charlie's decision to tell Sayid (Naveen Andrews) over Jack. He
tells Sayid about Naomi's mission to find him for Penny.The next day,
as Jack and Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell) lead the camp into the jungle,
Desmond experiences another vision of Charlie's death, but this time
Desmond must let it happen in order for Claire to be rescued. He tells
Charlie, prompting him to agree to swim underwater to the Looking Glass
station. Desmond accompanies him, and follows the cable into the ocean.
Desmond offers to take his place, speculating that he is supposed to be
dying in Charlie's place, but is knocked out by Charlie. Desmond comes
to, only for Mikhail to shoot at him. Desmond swims down to the station
and hides in a locker. After Mikhail kills the two resident Others,
Desmond shoots him in the chest at close range, but is confused when he
is unable to find his body minutes later. Charlie makes contact with
Penny, and informs Desmond, but before he can enter the room, Mikhail
appears outside the window and sets off a grenade. Charlie realises
that he is meant to die, and Desmond is not, so he locks himself in the
room. Desmond watches helplessly as the room floods, causing Charlie to
eventually drown. Moments before drowning, Charlie writes on his hand
with a marker informing Desmond that the boat is not Penny's.
Season 4
Desmond makes his way back to the beach, where he warns the survivors
there that the people on Naomi's boat are not who they say they are.
When Hurley asks about Charlie, Desmond remorsefully breaks the news to
him about Charlie's death. Despite his clear mistrust in the people on
the boat, Desmond chooses to remain with Jack instead of going to the
Barracks with Locke. After questioning Frank (Jeff Fahey) about Naomi's
picture of Penny, Desmond departs from the island to go to the
freighter with Sayid and a dead Naomi.
As the helicopter that Desmond and Sayid are being transported on flies
through a storm, Desmond begins having perceptions of another reality
of himself as a private in the British Army's Royal Scots Regiment. He
begins flashing back and forth between present day on the freighter,
and his life in 1996 before arriving on the island. Furthermore the
shifting causes Desmond to lose all memories of the Island and Sayid,
who is accompanying him on the helicopter. Sayid radios the island
where one of the men from the freighter, Daniel Faraday (Jeremy Davies)
explains that the shifting perceptions Desmond is experiencing are
actually a form of time travel. He tells Desmond when he reverts to the
memory of him in 1996, he must go to Oxford University and find the
past Faraday, where Faraday was working on a time machine. Here Faraday
tells Desmond he must find a constant, something or someone that is the
same in both 1996 and 2004 that he can use as a reference point. He
uses Penny as this "constant". Desmond realizes that in order to stop
the timeshifting he must make contact with Penny on Christmas Eve 2004,
the date he is on the freighter. In 1996, he manages to find an angry
Penny who does not want to see him. He pleads with her to give him her
phone number, and to not change it as he will phone it in eight years
time, where she must pick up. When he reverts to the present, he makes
the call with the help of Sayid. She answers the phone and tearfully
tells him she has been searching for him and knows about the island,
and that she loves him. On the island Faraday looks through his journal
and finds a page saying that if anything went wrong, Desmond would be
his constant.
With Desmond's situation resolved, he and Sayid meet Captain Gault
(Grant Bowler) only moments after witnessing a female crew-member,
Regina (Zoë Bell), commit suicide by jumping off the side of the
freighter with a chain wrapped around her body. The captain theorizes
that his crew has been suffering from cabin fever due to the close
proximity of the island and would turn the ship around if it weren't
for a mysterious saboteur disabling the engines. Gault tells Desmond,
much to his surprise, that Widmore owns the freighter and is trying to
track down Benjamin Linus (Michael Emerson). When being escorted to
their new room, Desmond and Sayid see Michael (Harold Perrineau) on the
ship, working as a janitor and using the alias, Kevin Johnson. Desmond
and Sayid later confront Michael in the engine room where he explains
to them how he came to be on the freighter, revealing he is now working
for Ben. Sayid blows his cover by taking him to Gault with Desmond,
telling Gault that Michael is the saboteur.
Not long after, Frank flies the helicopter back to the freighter with
Jack, Kate, Hurley and Aaron on board. Sun (Yunjin Kim), Sayid and
Desmond are the only people from the freighter who manage to get on the
helicopter before the freighter explodes. Desmond is finally rescued
along with the Oceanic Six and Frank by the love of his life, Penny..
Season 5
When Benjamin Linus moves the island at the end of Season 4, the
inhabitants of the island (excluding the Others) begin randomly jumping
back and forth through time. During a jump to the past, Daniel Faraday
makes contact with Desmond while he is still living in the Hatch.
Faraday tells Desmond he is "special", and that if he should ever get
off the island he must contact Faraday's mother in Oxford, Ms. Eloise
Hawking, who coincidentally had told Desmond the island was his
"destiny" upon time traveling in Season 3.
Sometime later, Penny gives birth to Desmond's son in the Philippines,
the child being named Charlie. Two years after leaving the island,
while living at sea with Penny and Charlie, Desmond awakens to the new
"memory" of Daniel, and immediately sets off to find Faraday's mother.
At Oxford he learns that it was Charles Widmore who funded Faraday's
experiments, and upon visiting Widmore is given an address in LA. He
then goes to LA only to find Jack, Sun and Ben heading off to the same
address as his. They enter a church which Ben says that inside there's
a woman who knows how to get back to the island. The woman happens to
be Daniel Faraday's mother. Upon finding out that both Jack and Sun are
planning to return to the island and assuming that is what Faraday
wanted him to do, Desmond storms out of the church, keeping a promise
to Penny that he would not return there.
Development
Desmond is named after David Hume, a Scottish philosopher who discussed
the ideas of free will and determinism. These ideas are reflected in
Desmond's time travel where he meets Ms. Hawking, an old lady who
explains that the universe has a specific way in which things must take
place, anywhere that things go off course, the universe will correct
itself.
Cusick was originally hired for only three episodes in the beginning of
season two, but he then returned in the finale and became a regular
cast member from the third season.
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