Who Is He?

If you haven't already, you might want to read my post 108:Restoring the Lost Sun before reading this post. But it's not a must -- I certainly won't tell you what you can't do!

One of the many questions left open by the aforementioned post was who "He" might be. Some tantalizing hints are suggested by the blast door Map, one being a reference in the upper left to the "AH/MDG INCIDENT." Another such clue to His identity is the reference in the lower right to the "KNOWN FINAL RESTING PLACE OF MAGNUS HANSO/BLACK ROCK."

Many plausible interpretations of the foregoing have been advanced. My own is that "He" is Magnus Hanso, an ancestor of both Alvar Hanso and Gerald Degroot. But first, some brief background is in order.

Albertus Magnus
You've probably heard already of Albertus Magnus:



To review, Albertus was a brilliant religious scholar who lived during the thirteenth century and was a major influence on Thomas Aquinas. As cinamin and sgtdraino have noted, the name "Magnus" wasn't an honorific but rather a literal translation of his family name, DeGroot.

Albertus was also reputed to have been a great alchemist with strong psychic powers. According to one legend, he used the fabled philosopher's stone to construct an artificial man (android?). Of particular relevance here, jmberger has noted that Albertus wrote of a mysterious island located in the "western ocean." Albertus also described a magical black rock called "droconites" that could only be mined from the head of a dragon (volcano?).

Many of these myths and writings derive from an influential book of alchemical secrets that was published under Albertus's name during the 16th century. Most historians agree, however, that the book was actually written by a follower building upon his great alchemical knowledge.

Magnus Hanso
My speculation is that Magnus Hanso was a descendant and disciple of Albertus who used the latter's notes to become a powerful alchemist in his own right. Most likely his relation was matrilineal, which is why his first name is Magnus, to indicate his link with Albertus and the DeGroots.

Magnus may even have written the aforementioned alchemical treatise himself, though he was more likely a descendant of the author. He invested the fortune from its publication in an expedition to search for the mysterious island and black rock described by his ancestor. Magnus dubbed his ship of slaves the Black Rock after the mineral they sought, and equipped it with anachronistic technology (e.g., dynamite) courtesy of his alchemical knowledge.



Magnus managed to find the Island, but the rest of his crew perished during the tempest that wrecked their ship. Marooned by himself, Magnus went a little mad, much as Danielle has during her sixteen years on the Island. He eventually died, only to be reborn as electromagnetic consciousness ("Him") in the Island's magnetic field.



The Return of the Sun
As His dominion grew over the Island and its creatures, so too did His mania. He became convinced He'd been chosen by God to fulfill some divine mission -- but what? The same Island magetic field that sustained His consciousness also constrained His influence. The answer finally came to Him around the midpoint of 20th century, when someone else stumbled upon the Island.

One possibility, inspired by Andrew Smith's Black Box theory, is that the arrival of Adam and Eve via their own plane crash served as the catalyst.



Another scenario, inspired by lacenaire's observation that Nazi experiments inspired MKULTRA/Monarch, is that the Nazis established a base there during their search for Magnus's mythical lost island of Thule.



Whatever the key, He finally gained access to the the outside world. That access , however, was limited to dream visions broadcast via the Island's natural antenna. He used these visions to manipulate His descendants, the Hansos and DeGroots, into applying His alchemical knowledge to its most profitable purpose: designing and selling weapons of war.

He then inspired them to invest the profits in various philanthropic causes. After watching us for several decades, however, He became convinced we were hopelessly lost. Much like Thomas Hobbes and the Grand Inquisitor in the Brothers Karamozov, He diagnosed our flaw as too much freedom, and prescribed the cure of a Leviathan-like overmind (i.e., the Lost Sun).



He reunited the two halves of the family, as symbolized by the acronym "DIHG" (Dharma Initiative Hanso Group) and yin yang. Once the pieces and technology were assembled on the Island, He took control through a series of "incidents," one of which likely involved taking command of the Cerberus security system, the design of which was based on His alchemical knowledge.

He now rules over the Island like the old testament creator, an electromagnetic embodiment of the gnostic demiurge.