Desmond Hume

Template:Infobox Lost Character-1 Desmond David Hume is a recurring fictional character on the ABC television series Lost played by Henry Ian Cusick. Desmond is a man who was living in the DHARMA Initiative research station — the Swan — under the mysterious hatch.

Biography

Prior to the Island

Desmond had previously served in the Royal Scots Regiment of the British Army, dishonorably discharged for refusing to follow orders. He served a prison sentence which kept him away from his love, Penelope "Penny" Widmore, daughter of wealthy industrialist Charles Widmore, who did not approve of Desmond. Among the few possessions Desmond had returned to him upon his release was the book Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens. When asked by the guard releasing him why he didn't take it with him to prison, he replied that he intends it to be the last thing he ever reads. Charles Widmore approaches him and reveals that he intercepted and hid every letter Desmond wrote to Penny from prison. Thinking that he has forgotten her, Penny becomes engaged to another man. Charles bribes/threatens Desmond to stay away from his daughter.

Desmond travels to America to compete in a race around the world, hoping to win it to regain his honor and anger Charles, who is hosting the event. Desmond needs a boat for the race, which he gets from Libby, whom he meets in a coffee shop soon after arriving in America. She acquired the boat when her husband David died, and believes that Desmond was meant to have it.

Before training one night by running the steps in a stadium, Desmond is approached by Penny, who has tracked him down. She asks why he never wrote, but instead of explaining himself, Desmond tells her to wait one year for him (when the race will be over). When running the steps, Desmond meets Jack, who is also running. The two have a brief but meaningful conversation where Jack explains about a patient that he can't "fix". Desmond tells him to believe in miracles, and then talks about his training for the race.

During the race, Desmond's boat, Elizabeth, is caught in a fierce storm. He is knocked unconscious.

On the Island

Desmond washes ashore on the island, his boat in pieces. A man named Kelvin Inman (played by Clancy Brown) emerged from the jungle in a HAZMAT suit and took him back to the hatch. He asks if Desmond is "him" and is upset when he realizes that he is not. Desmond watches as Kelvin inputs the numbers into a computer. When Desmond asked, "What was all that about?" Kelvin responded, "Just saving the world." He tells Desmond to inoculate himself with an unknown vaccine every nine days, since he was out in the "quarantined" island for so long, and may be infected.

Kelvin trains Desmond about the operations of the hatch, including the button (which he explains safely discharges an unusually strong magnetic fluctuation situated beneath them) and ways to trigger a lockdown. Desmond also witnesses Kelvin painting the blacklight picture on the bulkhead doors, which was started by Kelvin's old partner, Radzinski. Desmond asks what happened to him. Kelvin points to a stain on the ceiling, explaining it was left when Radzinski shot himself.

Two years pass, and Desmond desperately wants to go above ground, but Kelvin never allows 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 is activated, the hatch will be destroyed, destroying the electromagnetic fluctuation beneath them.

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 finds the air is safe to breathe. Desmond follows him 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. He invites Desmond to escape with him, but Desmond is worried about the button. After Kelvin expresses his doubts about the validity of the button, Desmond becomes enraged that he may have spent two years of his life on the island unnecessarily and attacks Kelvin. They struggle, and Desmond accidentally smashes Kelvin's head on a rock, killing him. Desmond races back to the hatch, where the timer has long since reached zero and the computer is registering a system failure. A massive magnetic field builds up, attracting all metal objects to the sealed door inside the hatch. Desmond manages to stop it, which turns off the magnetic field.

After awhile Desmond falls into a deep depression to the point of even contemplating his own suicide. As he opens up Our Mutual Friend, being the last book he will ever read, he finds a note that Penny had hidden inside, telling him not to despair, as well as reminding him that she will always wait for him and that she loves him. Desmond then hears someone shouting from the top of the hatch. Unbeknownst to Desmond, it is Locke asking the hatch for help after Boone's death. 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 the survivors enter the hatch, they accidentally break the computer after a brief firefight with a panicked Desmond. Convinced that the world is going to end, Desmond frantically flees the hatch. Jack catches up with him; Desmond tells him the code, and to enter it every 108 minutes. He begins to recognize Jack from their encounter at the stadium, and he asks him about the patient he had mentioned operating on. Desmond leaves saying, "See you in another life, yeah?" as he had in their first encounter. Although it was not shown exactly how, Desmond manages his way back to the Elizabeth and attempts to sail to Tahiti. However, his plans go astray.

A drunken Desmond returns in his boat in "Live Together, Die Alone", unable to escape the sight of The Island, making him compare it and its waters to "a bloody snowglobe." Later he is confronted by Locke who tells him of the station 5 (The Pearl) orientation film he and Eko saw, and Desmond begins to lose his faith in the button. While Desmond wavers back and forth with his conviction on the button, him and Locke trigger another lockdown, trapping Eko outside the computer room, and wait for the countdown to hit zero, to see what will happen. At that point Eko uses dynamite from the Black Rock to attempt to get back into the computer room but fails.

As the countdown reaches zero, 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 a magnetic 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. Contrary to the cowardily actions of his past, Desmond uses the key to "blow the dam". As he does so, a giant white light envelopes his face, leaving his fate in uncertainty. However, the hatch cover falling on the beach with the survivors may be a hint as to what happened to him.

Mythology

• Desmond's girlfriend shares her name with Penelope, a character from Greek mythology. In The Odyssey, Penelope is the faithful wife of Odysseus, waiting ten years for his return from the Trojan War (twenty years if one includes the duration of the war itself). Desmond's story parallels that of Odysseus; he has been marooned on the island for three years so far, unable to return to his beloved.

Trivia

• In keeping with the shows habit of naming important characters after important philosophers who's philosophies are broadly consistent with their namesake characters (John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau), Desmond David Hume is named after the famous Scottish Enlightenment philosopher, economist, and historian. David Hume.

Episode appearances

• "Man of Science, Man of Faith"
• "Adrift"
• "Orientation"
• "Live Together, Die Alone: Part 1"
• "Live Together, Die Alone: Part 2"