Daniel Faraday

"Daniel" redirects here. For other uses of "Daniel", see Daniel (disambiguation).

Dr. Daniel Faraday was a physicist and professor who parachuted onto the Island from a helicopter sent by the freighter Kahana. He was distinguished by his polite demeanor and his scientific insight into the Island's mysterious properties. He was the son of Eloise Hawking and Charles Widmore, who were both former leaders of the Others. Faraday spent his entire adult life studying space-time.

Daniel Faraday understood and explained how time travel would work, even according to real-world physics: "Time is like a street. We can move forward, we can move in reverse, but we cannot ever create a new street. Whatever happened, happened."^[1] This statement is the foundation of the whole 5th season, and it is never contradicted.

His experiments with time travel debilitated his girlfriend and damaged his memory, forcing him to flee his Oxford professorship, but his illness was healed when he arrived on the Island. He harbored romantic feelings for science team colleague Charlotte Lewis until her death from temporal displacement. When the time flashes started, he assumed an early leadership role in Sawyer's group due to his expertise in quantum physics and protectiveness of Charlotte. When the flashes through time stopped, stranding James "Sawyer" Ford's group in 1974, he joined the other survivors in becoming part of the DHARMA Initiative. Under unknown circumstances, he became a DHARMA Initiative scientist working in Ann Arbor but returned to the Island in 1977, where, after a frenzied attempt to change the past, he unwittingly was shot and killed by his mother, who was with The Others at the time. His plans to detonate the hydrogen bomb Jughead were carried on by Jack Shephard.

Before the Island[]

Childhood[]

Daniel was born on the mainland (as there is a birth certificate for him) and was the son of Eloise Hawking and Charles Widmore, although he did not know the identity of his father (that was left blank on the birth certificate). Eloise also changed his last name to Faraday so Charles could not find him. He was a very gifted scientist but enjoyed music even more. One day, when Daniel was playing the piano, his mother, Eloise, told him that he should not waste time on such things as music, focusing on science instead. To prove it, she asked how many beats of the metronome had Daniel counted since he started playing. Daniel responded that he counted 864 beats (8x108). Eloise told Daniel that he had a unique destiny and must develop his skills. Daniel tried to convince his mother to let him continue playing music, claiming that he could "make time," but Eloise disagreed. ("The Variable")

Education[]

Several years later, Daniel graduated from a doctoral program at Oxford University. He was the youngest doctor to ever graduate from Oxford. As Daniel and his girlfriend, Theresa Spencer, walked out of the college they were met by Eloise, who requested to have dinner alone with Daniel, without Theresa. Theresa complied despite Daniel's protests, leaving Daniel and Eloise to go to the restaurant.

At an Indian restaurant Daniel expressed his discontent with Eloise's behaviour towards Theresa, as she was his girlfriend. Eloise told him that he had no time for women, and that he must focus entirely on his work. Daniel mentioned that he had received a grant from Charles Widmore. After hearing this Eloise relented, apologizing to Daniel and telling him that she was not there to argue with him. Before she left she gave Daniel a wrapped gift. When opened, it was revealed to be a leather journal. ("The Variable")

As a professor[]

In 1996, Daniel Faraday had become a professor at The 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. (He tested it on a rat named Eloise). His research was funded by Charles Widmore. ("Jughead")

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 unerringly 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; failure to find a constant results in instability of consciousness, and the resulting stress can lead to brain aneurysm and eventual death. At some point, Daniel identifies Desmond as his constant, noting so in his journal. ("The Constant")

During his days as a Professor, Daniel also studied the DHARMA Initiative and wrote all he knew about it in his journal. This would later help him when he eventually joins the DHARMA Initiative. ("Because You Left") ("LaFleur")

Eventually, after testing his theories on himself, Daniel performed the same experiment on his girlfriend and lab assistant, Theresa Spencer. The experiment apparently resulted in Theresa becoming permanently mentally 'unstuck' in time, with her condition deteriorating to the point that she became permanently bedridden. Soon after this accident, Daniel left Oxford for America, and all records of his stay at Oxford were deleted. Charles Widmore agreed to pay for Theresa's care, but Daniel never saw her again. ("Jughead") Daniel's experiments on himself also appear to have wreaked havoc with his memory. ("The Variable")

In the US[]

As of 2004, Daniel was living in Essex, Massachusetts under the watch of a caretaker. Daniel appeared to be suffering from a medical condition related to memory loss, brought on by years of time-travel experiments. When he saw a news report covering the discovery of the Oceanic Flight 815 wreckage, he became visibly upset, but didn't know the reason. ("Confirmed Dead")

Soon after this, Charles Widmore visited Daniel. Widmore told him that the plane Daniel saw on TV was not Oceanic Flight 815, but rather a fake plane, planted underwater by Widmore himself.

He told Daniel that the real Flight 815 had crashed on a miraculous island, and offered him the chance to go there, promising that it would cure him. ("The Variable")

Several days later, Daniel was playing piano at his home, trying to remember the Chopin piece he was playing when he was ten, when he was visited by his mother. She persuaded him to accept Widmore's offer and go to the Island, assuring him that she would be proud of him if he did so. Daniel agreed to accept the offer. ("The Variable")

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[]

Days 91–100 (Season 4)[]

While flying to the Island, the helicopter Daniel was traveling in encountered electrical problems and the passengers were forced to bail out. Miles pushed Daniel out first, who encountered Jack and Kate in the jungle upon landing. He introduced himself and claimed to be there to rescue them. He explained that he had lost his pack which contained his phone when he bailed out, so Kate gave him the phone she had taken from Naomi. He called Minkowski to report contacting the survivors. Minkowski asked Daniel if he was on speaker, causing Daniel to then excuse himself to talk privately to him. While he was talking to Minkowski, Jack and Kate saw the gun he was concealing. Daniel explained that the rest of his team all had GPS units which were tracked by the phones, and enlisted Jack and Kate's help in finding the rest of the team. ("The Beginning of the End") ("Confirmed Dead")

While walking through the jungle they found a metal box from the chopper. Jack opened it up, revealing a gas mask and other quarantine equipment. Daniel said that he could not explain what it was there for since he was not in charge of packing. Jack remained doubtful and suddenly asked him why he brought the gun, prompting Daniel to reveal that rescuing the survivors was not their primary objective. As Daniel was about to explain what they were doing on the island, Miles' signal appeared on the satellite phone. They reached the cove where Miles appeared to be dead. Miles surprised Jack and held him at gunpoint, convinced Kate had killed Naomi. Daniel told him to stop, that they were good people who were trying to help, only to have Kate try to steal his gun. They travel to Naomi's body where Miles "talked" to her to confirm that Jack and Kate were not the ones who killed her.

Daniel paid attention to the Island's unique physical properties, observing that the scattering of light on the Island seemed unusual. Kate noticed Daniel's harmless nature and asked him to put away his gun, though Daniel claimed that Miles would kill him if he did. As Charlotte's signal appeared on the phone, Jack ordered them to put their guns down as Juliet and Sayid had taken up shooting position on Daniel and Miles. They complied and began to follow Charlotte's signal into the jungle. Sayid questioned them, allowing Daniel to reveal his name and his profession as a physicist, though he "doesn't like being pigeonholed." Sayid took Miles' phone to see that Charlotte's signal was moving quickly toward them, only to find Vincent with the GPS tracker, revealing that Locke had captured her.

The group then saw Frank's flare. When they reached him, they found him unconscious, though he woke up and said that he managed to land the chopper just over the hill. Daniel and Kate retrieved Naomi's body and brought it back to the chopper, which had landed safe and sound. ("Confirmed Dead")

Daniel, tired of sitting around the helicopter, began unloading pieces of equipment. He set up a tripod with a guidance apparatus on top, and phoned the freighter to ask Regina for a 'payload'. He was visibly upset when it didn't arrive at the expected time. When the payload (a rocket) arrived later, the clock inside it reported a different time than its synchronized partner held by Daniel, a difference of 31 minutes. Daniel was somewhat shaken by his discovery of the time differential between the Island and the rest of the world, murmuring "This is not good." He was later happy to see the rescued Charlotte and declined a seat on the helicopter soon leaving the Island. Daniel told Frank that on his flight back to the freighter he should be sure to follow the exact bearing he had flown on their way to the Island, no matter what. ("The Economist")

After returning to the beach with Jack, and Juliet, Daniel and Charlotte played a memory game involving cards. After guessing only two out of three correctly, he felt he was making no progress. He and Charlotte were then questioned by Jack and Juliet about their inability to reach the freighter on the satellite phone, which they used to contact Regina on an "emergency line". She told them that, even though the helicopter took off a day previous, Frank, Sayid, and Desmond had not yet made it to the freighter. ("Eggtown")

After being interrogated by Jack and Juliet all night, Daniel revealed that the survivors perception of the passage of time differed from its actual passing, though Charlotte prevented him from saying any more. Daniel reassured Jack that everything would be fine as long as Frank had stayed on the correct bearing, otherwise there would be "side effects."

After the beach was finally contacted by Sayid, Daniel learned of Desmond's becoming unstuck in time. Daniel told Jack and Juliet that people having recently been exposed to high levels of radiation or electromagnetism could become "confused" when traveling to and from the Island. He only clarified by saying the condition was "not amnesia." He asked to speak to Desmond and asked him what year he thought it was, learning that Desmond's consciousness from 1996 had jumped forward in time. Daniel tells Desmond to travel to Oxford when he returns to 1996 in order to find Daniel. In order for Daniel's past self to believe Desmond, Daniel gives him information from his journal that only he would know: a setting of 2.342, an oscillation of 11 Hertz, and the name of Eloise. This information was used by Desmond in the past to establish his constant. Daniel told Jack that the displacement was unpredictable, ranging between minutes and years for different people. That evening, he was seen on the beach, leafing through his diary. He found a note he had written for himself back in 1996: "If anything goes wrong, Desmond Hume will be my constant." ("The Constant")

That night, he and Charlotte slipped out of the beach camp in order to venture to the Tempest in order to shut it down and prevent the possible threat of toxic gas being spread by Ben. At a stream, Daniel expressed doubt in his ability to perform his task, but was reassured by Charlotte. They were confronted by Kate en route to the beach from the Barracks, who became suspicious at their obvious lies. She searched through their pack and found a gas mask, only to be knocked out by Charlotte. Daniel and Charlotte continued on to the Tempest and broke in by sparking the wires outside the door. While Daniel struggled to neutralize the gas, he was confronted by Juliet, who was subsequently knocked into a brawl with Charlotte. With minutes to go and his gas mask ripped off, Daniel frantically typed the keyboard, and stopped the disaster with seconds to spare. He remarked that it was "a close one" and stayed behind to shut down the station while Juliet and Charlotte left. ("The Other Woman")

After returning to the beach, Daniel attempted to fix the satellite phone (which was broken during Charlotte and Juliet's confrontation the previous day), and was approached by Sun. She told him of her pregnancy and asked him if they were actually going to rescue the survivors, to which he answered that it was not his decision and would not reveal whose decision it was. ("Ji Yeon")

Daniel was among the people on the beach who ran to the edge of the water in response to Bernard's cries for help and Vincent's barking. After the body had been pulled onto the sand, Daniel shared Ray's identity as the freighter's doctor.

Daniel was provided with the materials to fix the satellite phone enough to communicate in Morse code, and they attempted communication that night. Daniel transmitted "What happened to doctor?" and when the freighter replied, he told Jack the response was "Friends are fine. Helicopters coming in the morning." Bernard, however, knew Morse code and said Daniel lied because the real reply stated, "What are you talking about? Doctor is fine." Under pressure from an angry Jack, Daniel revealed the freighter never planned to rescue any of the survivors, which left Jack stumbling away, upset and in apparent pain. ("The Shape of Things to Come")

Daniel and Charlotte were still being interrogated by Rose and Bernard the next morning over the rescue situation when Jack stepped in to calm the crowd, only to collapse with pain. Juliet gave Sun a list of medical instruments to get from the Staff in order to perform an appendectomy on Jack. Daniel stepped in and offered to help, explaining that he had performed some animal dissections and knew what the supplies looked like. Though aware of the survivors' distrust of them, Juliet agreed for Daniel and Charlotte to travel with Jin and Sun. Upon reaching The Staff, he volunteered to go inside the station first in a gesture of chivalry toward Charlotte. Jin noted that Daniel seemed to have a crush on her. Daniel collected the supplies and brought them back for Jack's surgery. ("Something Nice Back Home")

When Jin discovered that Charlotte spoke Korean, he threatened to break Daniel's fingers one at a time if they didn't take Sun off the Island when the helicopter arrived. ("Something Nice Back Home")

He was then asked by Jack to call Frank's satellite phone, where they heard Keamy ordering Frank to land the copter. Daniel, hearing The Orchid mentioned, realizes that they need to get off the island immediately, because Keamy is following the secondary protocol. After Jack and Kate set off to follow the signal, Daniel witnesses Sayid returning on the Zodiac raft. While Sayid attempts to follow Jack and Sawyer, Daniel volunteers to begin ferrying the survivors back to the boat. Sayid reluctantly agrees. After Kate returns and gives Aaron to Sun, Daniel takes off on the Zodiac raft with Jin, Sun, and three other redshirts. They reach the boat, and as soon as everyone is on the Kahana safely, Daniel turns the raft around and returns to get more people. ("There's No Place Like Home, Part 1")

After making it back to The Island for more people, Daniel tells Miles and Charlotte that they have to be on the raft with next group if they want to leave the island. Miles says he wants to stay; Charlotte, on the other hand, isn't sure. When Daniel returns, Charlotte tells him that she's staying for now. Daniel replies that there might not be a next time and that she may never get off the island. After Charlotte kisses him goodbye, he gets the raft and begins ferrying more people to the Kahana. When the Kahana explodes and the second purple sky event happens, Daniel and the people on the Zodiac raft are seen out in the ocean just before the Island moves. ("There's No Place Like Home, Part 2")

Season 5[]

Time flashes[]

Daniel and the rest of the passengers on the raft were shocked when the sky became engulfed in bright white light. Neil became panicky but Daniel assured him that they must have been "inside the radius." He rushed back to the camp on the Zodiac and reunited with Charlotte and the others. He explained to them that the camp structures haven't gone, they just "haven't been built yet". He and a group headed towards the Swan to try and analyze where in time they are. While on the way Sawyer assaulted him and demanded an explanation as to what was happening. Daniel found it difficult to explain, and used an analogy that the island was like a skipping record, effectively dislodged from time due to what happened at the Orchid station. He theorized that they were all moving through time.

Arriving at the hatch, Daniel deduced they were at some point after Flight 815 crashed onto the Island. He explained to the others the rules of time travel, the main one being that no matter how hard one tries, they cannot alter the past in any way. He admitted to spending his "entire adult life" studying spacetime and the DHARMA Initiative. He believed there was no way they could stop the time shifts occurring. After another 'time shift' sent them back to between 2001 and 2004, Faraday separated himself from the group and frantically flicked through his journal. Finding what he was looking for, he slammed on the Swan's door for twenty minutes before Desmond emerged. As time started shifting again Daniel quickly told Desmond that when he leaves the island he must go to Oxford and find Daniel's mother in order to save them. Before he could say her name he was transported through time once more. ("Because You Left")

Two hours later, Daniel returned to the beach. Sawyer asked him why he took so long, and Daniel told him he simply got lost. Daniel began calculating the position of the Island in time in order that they might find a new bearing in order to safely leave the island on the Zodiac. Later that night, while Daniel was performing calculations and going through his journal at the edge of the beach, Charlotte came and gave him a mango she found in the jungle. He thanked her, but when she started complaining about her headache and memory loss he became concerned and quiet. He at first reassured her that she was just stressed, but after she directly asked him if he knew what was happening to her, he was momentarily silent before Miles interrupted them. Shortly after, unknown foes attacked the people on the beach, who fled to the jungle. Daniel helped Charlotte when she fell over. Those that survived scattered and went to regroup at a nearby creek. ("The Lie")

When Daniel, Miles, and Charlotte reached the creek, Charlotte began to feel dizzy and had double vision, and asked Daniel why he looked so worried about her. Daniel revealed to her that he knew what was happening to her, and assured her that he wouldn't let it happen. Before they could discuss this further, another survivor tripped a wire that set off a trap, killing the other survivors who had reached the creek and leaving only Daniel, Miles, and Charlotte. The three were then ambushed by The Others. A woman, apparently the leader of the group, asked who their leader was. Miles pointed to Daniel, and the girl turned to him and asked why they couldn't have stayed away. They were brought to the camp where they were thought to be part of a U.S. military expedition. They went along with it, saying they were scientists there to inactivate the hydrogen bomb that Daniel presumed was there due to radiation burns on one of the Other's hands. When Richard Alpert had suspicions that Daniel would instead detonate the bomb, Daniel won his trust by telling him that he was in love with Charlotte, and telling them he wouldn't do anything to put her in danger. When the Others left, he confessed to Charlotte that he had not been lying to them, and that he truly was in love with her. Daniel was then led to the bomb by Ellie, the girl who had captured them.

On the way there, he remarked that she reminded him of someone he used to know. At the site of the bomb, after carefully examining it, Daniel found that it was leaking radiation. He then told Ellie that the crack in the casing of the bomb needed to be filled with lead and that it then needed to be buried. He assured Ellie that as long as their people did this, the bomb wouldn't go off. She then asked him how he was so sure. Daniel then revealed to her that he was from the future and that because the island was still there in the future, if they did this, the bomb would not go off. Ellie then held him at gunpoint, but Sawyer and Juliet came to his rescue. After a flash, the group was reunited, but the Others' campsite was deserted. Charlotte then suffered a nosebleed and collapsed, and Daniel ran to her aid. ("Jughead")

Daniel managed to revive Charlotte, and Locke suggested that they travel to the Orchid in order to try and stop the time flashes. Daniel travels with the group which is heading to the beach camp to use the zodiac in order to get to the Orchid faster. After dark, while traveling through the jungle, the group sees a beam of light emanating from the ground some distance ahead. Recognizing it as the light which emanated from the Hatch the night Boone died, Locke led the group through a different route in order to avoid the light. A short while later, they heard a woman crying. Daniel stayed with everyone else as Sawyer went to investigate. The group then shifts through time once more and they make their way back to the beach. Miles suffered a nosebleed and he asked Daniel about it. Daniel responded that it is related to how much time you spend on the Island. Miles then pointed out that the survivors from Oceanic Flight 815 had been on the Island for a few months before the freighter arrived. Daniel asks Miles if he is sure that he has never been to the Island before. Upon returning to the beach camp, they find that the camp exists at that moment, but seems disheveled.

With no one nor the Zodiac in sight, the group wondered where everyone has gone. Noticing a pair of wooden outrigger canoes, they think that the other survivors may have fled from attackers. The group gets into one of the outriggers. After a short while, they noticed that unknown people are pursuing them in the other outrigger. As the other canoe gained on them, the people in it begin to shoot. After trying to escape for a while, Juliet returned fire with a rifle. Before the pursuers can get any closer, there is another time flash. In this time period, it is raining very hard. The survivors successfully come to shore at nightfall. Daniel listened as Charlotte alerted the group to debris from a ship on the beach, noting that it appears to have wrecked recently. ("The Little Prince")

Daniel traveled with the group into the jungle and they experienced another time flash just before discovering Jin. After everyone greeted Jin, they resumed traveling toward the Orchid Station. After walking for a while, the group experienced a few flashes in rapid succession. After the fourth flash, Charlotte collapsed and began to speak incoherently, partly in Korean. Daniel asked for help carrying Charlotte to the Orchid, but Locke refused and said that she would only slow them down. Daniel decided to stay with Charlotte while the rest of the group moved on to the Orchid. Still unable to move, Charlotte told Daniel that she grew up on the Island but left at a young age with her mother. Though her mother tried to convince her she had imagined the Island, Charlotte has been searching for it. Charlotte told Daniel that she remembered a scary man who, when she was young, told her that she must leave the Island and if she ever came back, she would die. That person, she believed, was Daniel. After mumbling about not being allowed to have chocolate before dinner, Charlotte died. Daniel could do nothing but watch helplessly with tears in his eyes. ("This Place Is Death")

1974–1977 (with DHARMA Initiative)[]

Daniel, along with Sawyer, Juliet, Jin, and Miles, time traveled to 1974 when Locke moved the frozen wheel. When the rest of the group found Daniel, he was still crying over Charlotte's death. When Juliet asked where Charlotte was, Daniel told her that she had died and her body had disappeared, meaning that during the flash, it had been left behind in the previous time frame. A mournful Daniel traveled with the rest of the group on the way to the beach camp they encountered Amy, a member of the DHARMA Initiative who was in the midst of a conflict with some of the Hostiles. Having saved her, Amy took the group to the Barracks but, on their way, Juliet was forced to stop Daniel in his tracks as he nearly walked through the active sonar fence. The group maintained the story that they were shipwrecked on the Island and, as Sawyer negotiated with Horace, an awestruck Daniel saw a young, redheaded girl walking across the grass with her mother and guessed her to be Charlotte. ("LaFleur")

To continue his research, Daniel left the Island to go to Ann Arbor before 1977 when Jack, Kate, and Hurley become part of the DHARMA Initiative, while Sayid was mistaken for a Hostile. ("Namaste") However, soon after the Oceanic Six arrived, Miles and Pierre Chang went to the dock to greet the scientists arriving on the Island via the submarine and Miles was perplexed to find Faraday among them. He said, "Long time no see" to the clearly shocked Miles. ("Some Like It Hoth") Daniel explained his return to Miles by showing him a picture of Jack, Kate, and Hurley as part of the DHARMA Initiative, and demanded to be taken to Jack's house. Once there, he questioned Jack on how he and the rest of the Oceanic Six had returned to the island. Jack told him that it had been Daniel's mother who helped them, and that she had told them they were supposed to return. Daniel ominously told him that his mother was wrong, and that the Oceanic Six were in fact not supposed to be there. He then set off to the Orchid with Miles to meet Pierre Chang. He followed Pierre into the station, disguised himself as a workman, and then observed him from afar. ("Because You Left")  ("The Variable")

As Pierre began to leave the Orchid, Daniel caught up with him and recommended that he order the island to be evacuated. When Pierre asked why, Daniel explained that later the drill at the Swan hatch would hit a large pocket of electromagnetic energy, which would cause catastrophe for everyone on the island. When Pierre asked him how he knew all of this, Daniel revealed to him that he was from the future. Although at first disbelieving, Daniel nearly managed to convince him by telling him that Miles was his son. However, Miles told Pierre that Daniel was out of his mind, and Pierre dismissed him and left. When Miles questioned why Daniel had told him they were from the future, Daniel replied that he was simply making sure that Pierre "does what he's supposed to do".

Daniel then returned to the Barracks, going to Sawyer's house, where he spoke to the assembled group there, asking if any of them knew where the Hostiles resided. Though Sawyer ordered them not to tell, Kate revealed that she knew the way. Juliet shared with Daniel the combination to the sonar fence. Jack agreed to go with Kate and Daniel to meet the Others, and they stopped at the motor pool in order to pick up weaponry. While they were there, however, Stuart Radzinsky and two other armed DHARMA members arrived, and, upon realizing that Daniel had a gun, began ordering their surrender. Daniel refused to do so, however, prompting fire from Radzinsky at his men. One of the shots grazed Daniel's neck, but didn't incapacitate him. After Jack fired at a fuel drum in order to push Radzinsky and his men back, Daniel, Jack and Kate grabbed a DHARMA jeep and headed to the sonar fence. There, Jack patched up Faraday's wound before they ventured into the jungle. Once past the fence and into the jungle, Daniel revealed to them that he had been studying physics all his life, but that his recent research in Ann Arbor changed his entire view of "whatever happened, happened." He stated that he had been so focused on the constants of time that he had completely overlooked the variables: people. He stated that he intended to detonate the hydrogen bomb in order to get the people to evacuate the Island, as well as to keep Oceanic Flight 815 from ever crashing on the Island and for the Kahana to have never come to the Island.

He then went on alone without Jack and Kate, stepping into the Others' camp with a loaded gun, firing a few warning shots at Erik's feet, and demanding to speak to Eloise, his mother. Richard Alpert appeared instead, telling Daniel that Eloise was not there at the time. Richard appeared not to know Daniel and asked "Do we know each other?" Daniel began counting to Richard, demanding to be taken to Eloise and asking where the bomb was. While holding Richard at gunpoint, he was suddenly shot by a hidden Eloise. Richard admonished Eloise, telling her that Daniel hadn't intended to shoot him. Daniel, realizing that it was Eloise who had shot him, told her that she had known all along that she would shoot him, even when she sent him to the Island back in the future. Eloise asked Daniel who he was, and he revealed to her with his dying breath that he was her son. ("The Variable")

Post-death[]

Daniel's mother, Eloise, began reading his diary after his death. During her reading, she came upon a passage written in her own handwriting, which prompted her to ask her son's companions about the man she just shot. They told her about his plans for the bomb, and she agreed to take them to it. Before she left, she reverently closed her son's eyes. ("Follow the Leader")

Just beyond the opening of the Cliffiside cave there was an area in which Jacob had written the surnames of several candidates for the role of Protector of the Island on the walls and ceiling, and a number preceding each one. Daniel's surname, Faraday, preceded by the number 761, had been crossed out. His surname was also written on The Lighthouse Wheel. According to the wheel, the number was 101. ("The Substitute") ("Lighthouse")

Flash sideways[]

In the flash sideways world, Daniel, now carrying his biological father's last name Widmore, was a musician and classical pianist rather than a scientist.

While he was playing the piano, he overheard Desmond ask his mother, Eloise, about Penny Milton. Later, Daniel found Desmond in his limo and invited him to talk. Daniel asked him if he believes in "love at first sight", then told him, a few weeks ago at a museum, he had seen a red-haired woman with "these really blue, blue eyes" eating a chocolate bar. He then said once he looked at her it felt as if he had loved her all along. That same night he awoke and wrote several advanced quantum physics equations and formulas in his journal, but as a musician, he had no idea what they meant. He asked Desmond, what if this wasn't what their lives were supposed to be? What if they had some other life and for some reason they changed it? Daniel told him he doesn't want to set off a nuclear bomb, but that he thinks he already did. He then told Desmond that Penny Milton was his half-sister and told him when and where he can find her. ("Happily Ever After")

While Daniel prepared for the concert, he met Charlotte Lewis, whom he recognized, but he did not remember why he recognized her.

At the request of his mother, Eloise Widmore, Desmond did not attempt to make Daniel remember his life. Therefore, he didn't move on with everyone else at Eloise's church. ("The End")

Additional casting[]

• Young Daniel was played by Spencer Allyn. In the casting call he was described as "George, 10 years old, very intelligent, sharp and bright. A child prodigy who is already completing high school level work. Extraordinarily gifted as a science student and musician, he still deep down simply wants to make his parents proud and get their love. Looking for someone with brown hair and brown eyes. Please submit actors that can play some piano..."^[2]

Trivia[]

• Daniel's total episode count is 23 (as of "The End").
• Daniel was the fifth former main character to appear in Season 6.
• Daniel and Penny have the same father. Neither Daniel, Desmond (Penny's husband) nor Penny appear to be aware of this fact.
• Daniel has brown eyes, despite being born to two blue-eyed parents. While extremely uncommon, this is not a biological impossibility.

• "The Constant" references Slaughterhouse-Five through Desmond's experience. Daniel's inexplicable crying at the news is reminiscent of the book's protagonist Billy (who is defined specifically as "unstuck in time") crying on hearing the barbershop quartet. Billy's reason is revealed to be because the quartet reminded him of the guards who told the POWs of the bombing in the past; Daniel's could be because he'll meet the survivors in the future. This and the "Desmond" page of his diary suggest that he may fall victim to similar effects.
• In the Bible, Daniel is known as an interpreter of dreams, able to find the truth and meaning behind cryptic visions.
• Daniel has met all of the main characters, except for Ben, Claire, Boone, Shannon, Ana Lucia, Libby, Eko, Walt, Nikki, Paulo, Ilana and Christian.
  • Claire attended a concert during which he performed a number.
  • See also Last meetings of Daniel.
• Daniel was the twenty-fifth character to ever have a flashback.
  • Daniel Faraday was the last character to have a flashback episode in the traditional format established in "Tabula Rasa". Future flashback episodes were either multi-centric ("The Incident") or broke from the format by telling one continuous flashback story ("Ab Aeterno" and "Across the Sea").
• Daniel was the twelfth main character to die and the second who was not on Flight 815 (The first being Charlotte).
• He was also the seventh character to die in his own centric episode.
  • The other six being: Shannon who died in "Abandoned", Ana Lucia who died in "Two for the Road", Eko who died in "The Cost of Living", Nikki and Paulo who died in "Exposé" and Locke who died in "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham".
  • Daniel is the fourth main character to die at the end of their first and only centric episode (not counting multi-centric episodes) (The first being Shannon in "Abandoned", the second and third being Nikki and Paulo in "Exposé").
• Daniel suffers from memory loss as a result of his experiments:

• 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 the significance of Naomi's distress code, "Tell my sister I love her".
• He was unsure why he was crying when Oceanic 815 was found. ("Confirmed Dead")
• He is referred to by Naomi as a "head-case". ("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.
• He relies on his journal for details.

• Daniel Faraday's statement ("Time is like a street. We can move forward, we can move in reverse, but we cannot ever create a new street. Whatever happened, happened") is universally true in any time-travel fiction. Going against that statement results in plot holes (this particular plot hole is also known as "modifying the past", and many authors and people do not understand that it is a plot hole).
• The casting call described him as "Russell, Late 30s, a brilliant mathematician and deep thinker who is capable of great insights and has a tremendous knowledge across various scientific fields. He sometimes struggles socially by being too direct and disconnected in his interpersonal relationships. While an empiricist by trade he is humbled and fascinated by the magic and mystery of all in this world that cannot be explained by science."
• Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse confirmed in the Official Lost Podcast dated 15th April 2010 that Daniel was born off of the Island, and Eloise gave him the name Faraday in order to hide his identity from Charles Widmore.
• Daniel's first appearance was in the episode "The Beginning of the End," and his last was in "The End."
• Daniel is one of 13 main characters to not have their name appear in a soundtrack title.
• He was born in 1977 and was a professor by 1996. This would make him a 19 year-old professor.
• In THE X-FILES episode "Quagmire" a Dr. Faraday "saves" Mulder and Scully off a rock/island in the middle of a lake with a mysterious monster.
• Last words: "I... I'm your son..."
• Witnesses of his death: Richard, Eloise, Jack, Kate, Several Others

Name[]

• Michael Faraday (1791 – 1867) was an English physicist who researched electromagnetism.
  • Faraday invented the Faraday cage, a cage that prevents electro-magnetic radiation from permeating it.
  • He is accredited for introducing the idea of electromagnetic induction. Although Joseph Henry discovered it at about the same time, Faraday published first.
  • 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 Faraday constant is 23kcal/mol.
  • The SI unit of electrical capacitance, the farad, is named for Faraday.
  • The Faraday Effect is a Magneto-optical phenomenon that occurs in most optically transparent dielectric materials (including liquids) under the influence of magnetic fields. This effect was an early confirmation of the relationship between light and electromagnetism.
  • 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.
  • Michael Faraday gave popular lectures on "The Chemical History of a Candle".
  • 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.
• The film Flight of the Navigator featured a Dr. Faraday.
• David Arthur Faraday was the first victim of the Zodiac Killer in the 1960s. The Zodiac raft in which Daniel Faraday rides on the show is possibly a reference to this.^[3]
• Daniel Faraday was a time traveler in The Outer Limits episode "Final Appeal". [1]. The episode also features a time traveler named Theresa and features Swoosie Kurtz who plays Locke's mother.
• His name first appeared as the season 4 clue word for chapter 2 of the Find 815 alternate reality game.
• 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")
• During casting he was named Russell, and described as "Late 30s, a brilliant mathematician and deep thinker who is capable of great insights and has a tremendous knowledge across various scientific fields. He sometimes struggles socially by being too direct and disconnected in his interpersonal relationships. While an empiricist by trade he is humbled and fascinated by the magic and mystery of all in this world that cannot be explained by science."^[4]

• "Russell Faraday" is the alias given to the villain at the end of Stephen King's The Stand.

• In the novel House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski, on page 90 there is discussion of how the house, an anomaly of space-time, defies the use of a compass much like the Island. The fictitious Footnote 101 on this page regarding this phenomenon states "Devon Lettau wrote an amusing if ultimately pointless essay on the compass' behavior. He asserted that the minute fluctuations of the needle proved the house was nothing less than a vestibule for pure energy which if harnessed correctly could supply the world with unlimited power. See The Faraday Conclusion (Boston: Maxwell Press 1996)."

Equations and notes[]

• Equations: Several Physics equations are visible as props with Faraday.
  • According to the enhanced episode captions for "The Constant-Enhanced", "One of the equations on the chalkboard is the Kerr metric equation which some scientists believe implies the existence of time travel. Faraday's chalkboard includes physicist Enrico Fermi's error in the fine structure constant as depicted in a famous photo ^[5]." Specifically, the elementary charge, ${\displaystyle e}$, and the reduced Planck's constant, ${\displaystyle \hbar}$, are transposed in the expression for the fine-structure constant, ${\displaystyle \alpha}$. The equation should read: ${\displaystyle \alpha = \frac{e^2}{\hbar c}}$, instead of ${\displaystyle \alpha = \frac{\hbar^2}{e c}}$.

• • Some equations appear to relate to black hole theory including gravitational potential energy (${\displaystyle M^2 / R}$), the distance at which light can remain in a circular orbit around a black hole, and the event horizon. Other equations are illustrations of general relativity (point source light emissions in one frame, being observed in a moving frame), and a Minkowski diagram.^[7]
  • Diagrams of a "Mexican hat" potential also appear on Faraday's chalkboard. These "W" shaped curves are often used to represent spontaneous symmetry breaking, such as occurs when using the Higgs mechanism to generate particle masses in the standard model of particle physics.

Unanswered questions[]

For fan theories about these unanswered questions, see: Daniel Faraday/Theories

• What experiment(s) did he conduct on himself, what went wrong and when?
• When did he leave for Ann Arbor and what did he do there?

References[]

v • d • e Daniel Faraday Portrayed by Jeremy Davies and Spencer Allyn Centric episodes "The Variable" Shared and non-centric flashes "Confirmed Dead" Flashback characters Female anchor • Caroline • Frank Lapidus • Charlotte Lewis • Eloise Hawking • Miles Straume • Theresa Spencer • Unnamed ROV operator • Charles Widmore Items Experiments • Gas masks • Journal • Machine • Map • Sextant • Zodiac raft See also Eloise the rat • The Kahana

v • d • e The Kahana Crew Brandon • Gault • Hendricks • Jeff • Kevin Johnson • George Minkowski • Ray • Regina Science team Naomi Dorrit • Daniel Faraday • Charlotte Lewis • Miles Straume • Frank Lapidus Mercenary team Martin Keamy • Kokol • Lacour • Mayhew • Omar • Redfern Associated characters Matthew Abaddon • Charles Widmore Items Black box • Calendar • Daniel's experiments • Daniel's journal • Daniel's map • Dead man's trigger • Desmond's photograph • Gas masks • Helicopters • Satellite phones • Secondary protocol See Also: Kahana

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v • d • e "Dharma Initiative Recruiting Project" Characters Dan Bronson • Daniel Faraday • Hans Van Eeghen • Lara Chang • Pierre Chang • RuckusGuy • Miles Straume Features Comic-Con 2008 • Dharma booth video • Dharma correspondence • Instructors • Tests • The Lamp Post Websites Octagon Global Recruiting • Dharma Wants You • Dharma Special Access See Also: Dharma Initiative Recruiting Project clues