A reader, Hugo, has pointed out a discrepancy with my location of Rousseau’s camp and the position given by Sayid in the 1st season episode “Numbers,” and I feel like it’s a discrepancy worthy of discussion. But be forewarned. This one could get a little lengthy.

The location Sayid indicates is marked with the red dot on the map. The map itself indicates the location of the submarine cable, marked with the red line.

Before sitting down to write this entry, I re-watched the episode “Numbers,” as well as the 5th season episode “This Place is Death,” which deals with the French science team’s first two months on The Island.

First of all, we need to look at the context of the discussion between Jack, Hurley, and Sayid. They’re asking Sayid to take them to meet the French woman, and he’s coming up with various reasons why he can’t, or won’t, do it. Jack asks if all her notes and equations point to a location on The Island, and if so, could it be pointing to Rousseau’s location. Sayid agrees that the clues are pointing to something, but then says this:

“If this map is pointing to her, then you should know she resides here, in this area.”

The important word to note here is “if.” Sayid knows the map is pointing to something, but he is not absolutely certain of what it is. He has already admitted that he was unconscious when he was taken to her camp, and disoriented when he returned. He then goes on to explain that Rousseau calls the area the “Dark Territory.”

Now, we know that Danielle doesn’t like the Dark Territory. The Monster is very active there. The only real reason she goes in there is to get dynamite from the Black Rock. Based on this reasoning, I find it hard to believe that she would actually choose to live within the Dark Territory.

Now, here’s the part where we have to use logic in helping to solve this discrepancy. Rousseau’s map indicates the position of the cable. Sayid had followed this cable a short distance into the jungle when he was captured and incapacitated by Rousseau. From this position, it is about a fifteen mile hike over mountains to reach the red dot position. Now Danielle seems very fit, and capable of surviving in harsh conditions, but I don’t think she would have had the strength to carry or drag a full-grown man fifteen miles through the jungle and over mountains.

If anything, I’m thinking Sayid’s position and my original position for the camp are both incorrect. I was basing my location on the assumption that her camp was close to the cable, but that isn’t necessarily the case. She did carry Sayid through the jungle for some distance when he was captured. The much more logical location for her camp would be on the eastern side of the mountains, closer to the coast. One of Danielle’s primary goals is to avoid encounters with the other Island inhabitants, and there is very little happening in this area of The Island.

Now, let’s move on to the Dark Territory. What do we know? The Dark Territory is an area where the Monster is highly active. The Black Rock is within the Dark Territory. Montand lost his arm at the Temple, and Rousseau says that he lost his arm within the Dark Territory. Now, I did say that we should disregard most of what Rousseau says about locations, but in this case, let’s assume that she is correct. We can therefore conclude that the Temple is also within the Dark Territory. However, we have already established the location of the Temple based on Ben’s map. Mr. Eko was killed by the Monster in the vicinity of the Pearl, and we have also seen the Monster several times near the Barracks. The Dark Territory has unspecified boundaries, but based on all of those facts, this is my best guess as to its area.

As for the location of Rousseau’s camp, I’m still thinking about it. I’ll probably end up splitting the difference between my original position and Sayid’s location on the map.