Discharge

After Desmond triggered the Fail Safe, there is some kind of discharge.

The Discharge, chronological

Electromagnetic Anomaly Detected

External link to .ogg recording of the discharge

Facts

• A huge, blinding white glow covers the entire island.
• The sky turns violet, as said by Claire and seen briefly by the viewers. (see picture))
• The island shakes, as evidenced by camera movement.
• A painful buzzing sound is heard too, the islanders have to cover their ears.
• Whatever was discharged, it was powerful enough to throw the (very heavy) quarantine door in the air, almost crushing Bernard and Claire; also, other objects were apparently erupted into the sky and then scattered on the ground.
• This event is detected by the men at The Listening Station and reported to Penelope Widmore.

Theories

• The discharge was some kind of explosion, killing Eko, Locke and Desmond, still remaining in the hatch.
  • However, if the explosion was that powerful, Charlie would've never made it out alive. Also, there is absolutely no sort of blast or explosion hearable in the sound recording (see above)
• Rather than being thrown by an explosion, the hatch door could have been lifted by an outwardly-expanding bubble of magnetic fields (similar to a Gauss gun) and then simply fallen once the field dissappated.
• The discharge was the Electromagnetic Anomaly picked up by Portuguese researchers at the end of Live Together, Die Alone.
• Strangely affected Charlie, maybe even Locke, Desmond, and Eko, (if they are still alive), either with the sickness, or some other way, because they were in the direct path of the new incident. It was magnetic, not necessarily killing them, but affecting them somehow.
• Incident caused the change in climate, (the snow storm), at the end of the episode, if it is the same period of time and the same place.
  • Evidence of this could be that Charlie was acting strangely upon his arrival back at camp. He was frantic in the hatch but appeared calm and at peace when he arrived at the beach. Also didn't seem to worry much about Eko, Locke and Desmond's lack of returning.
  • The researchers are in a "tent" that looks specifically designed for cold weather conditions. It wouldn't be surprising if they were on the south pole (or magnetic north?) as that would be a sensible place to look for magnetic anomalies.
• The fake Gale looks very mad about what happens, so why did he tell Locke that nothing happens if you don't push the button? He basically caused the discharge by telling Locke this, even though The Pearl Orientation Video helps Locke further make up his mind about this.
  • If it is true that the fake Henry was coming to get Locke, he may have lied to Locke so that he would lose faith in the hatch and come to join the Others.

• Desmond tells Locke he will "kill us all" , Locke says he "saved us all" and very well could have in the long run by allowing the discharge which is detected by the listening station, ultimately leading to the discovery of the location of the Island by the outside world.
• The discharge may be an Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP). If it is, it will most likely render all electronics on the island useless.
  • If so, it may have destroyed the compass on the Others' boat that Michael and Walt are trying to escape the island with.
• Reversed the polarity of the magnetic field in the hatch- sending all metal objects flying away from it, rather than attracting them. This doesn't explain the other odd effects, though.

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