Henry Ian Cusick as Desmond Hume
Desmond Hume is portrayed by Henry Ian Cusick on the show
Lost. Having been preoccupied with helping his three brothers after their father abandoned them, Desmond failed to complete his tertiary education. He worked for the Royal Shakespeare Company as a set designer and was in a relationship with Penelope “Penny” Widmore. The couple waited two years before revealing their love affair to Penny’s father, Charles Widmore. After a while, he realized that Penny was too good for him, so he unexpectedly ended their relationship.
After the break-up, Desmond enlisted for the Royal Scots Regiment of the British Army, but after being insubordinate, was dishonorably discharged. He then spent some time in prison, after which Charles informed him that he discarded all the letters Desmond wrote to Penny, and that Penny had already accepted the marriage proposal of another man. Angered by Charles’ actions, Desmond went to America with the strong intent to win a boat race that Charles was hosting. Desmond acquired a boat from Libby, a widow who he met upon arriving in the United States. While he was training for the race, Desmond came face-to-face with Penny, and she proceeded to question him about his apparent silence in the past years. Instead of telling Penny the whole story, Desmond asked her to hold off her engagement for one year (the total span of the race). Also while in training, Desmond has a brief encounter with Dr. Jack Shephard. Unfortunately, Desmond is caught in a violent storm while in the race, and consequently ends up shipwrecked on the same Island where the Oceanic 815 crashed 3 years later.
Desmond was able to survive in the mysterious island after having been taken in by Kelvin Joe Inman. Kelvin brought Desmond to the hatch, where he ended up staying for 3 years. While Desmond was inside the hatch, Kelvin fixed Desmond’s boat in the hopes of leaving the island. When Desmond discovered the fixed boat, he turned to Kelvin, who shared his doubts about the supposed magnetic field that could emanate from the hatch with one push of a button. In his anger and frustration, Desmond accidentally killed Kelvin, but before he could get to the hatch, the magnetic field had already been activated, which caused the Oceanic 815 to fall to the ground.
Some time after the plane crash, Desmond was able to interact with some of the survivors, but when the hatch imploded, he found himself back in time and living in London with Penny. He was only reminded of the Island when he bumped into Charlie. After trying to undo his mistakes, he was hit in the head, and upon waking up, found himself back in the island with no clothes on and no concrete explanation of what exactly happened to him. The only thing that was certain was that he had developed great psychic abilities.
(Photo courtesy of ABC)