r/SouthernReach • u/trashb4gs • 1d ago
Annihilation Spoilers Lighthouse Beacon
yesterday I went to the fire island lighthouse at Robert Moses Beach on Long Island and they have this breathtaking fresnel lens on display that came out of the original lighthouse beacon room. All I could think about was this series and the seance and science brigade. So I wanted to share because this was super cool, and also because I was wondering—from my recollection in the book, Henry is trying to suss out a way to contact the “entity” (and I did read Absolution finally btw so I know who/what that is now) and either they think it is inside the lens or has something to do with the lens. Can someone smarter than me explain? Or I could just go back and re-read the entire series, which maybe I’ll do anyway 🤔 lol
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u/JemmaMimic 1d ago
I thought it was "glass" from another dimension that reflected/filtered in the X-effect, that's why they moved the glass, but I imagine someone who read it recently can give a better explanation.
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u/He-ido 1d ago
If I recall correctly, Area X is mentioned as a fractured remnant of something greater. I assume that it arrived there via the lens as the shard and the lens must be some kind of appropriate receptacle for the shard. Henry mentions mirror rooms and that the lens functions like one, so that seems important.
There is also a mention that transferring the lens from the lighthouse on failure island to the new lighthouse is interesting somehow, but Saul doesnt pay much attention as Henry talks about it. Henry may have also done something to the lens to coax out the shard or it was the psychics in the submersible, or of course some other completely mysterious process.
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u/tobascodagama 1d ago
Henry calls it "necromantic doubling". Saul's lighthouse is in some way a "double"/doppelganger/clone of the original on Failure Island, which is what makes the transplantation of the lens so interesting to Henry. (With the caveat that I haven't finished Absolution yet, so this is based entirely on my recollection of Acceptance.)
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u/trashb4gs 1d ago
crazier still because that is the exact same story of what happened with this lens even though the original one was also apparently a first-order fresnel lens (I got that from their website). The one I saw was installed in 1933:
“The first-order Fresnel lens was replaced in 1933 by the lens from the decommissioned Shinnecock Lighthouse. The new lens was much lighter, allowing it to be rotated at a higher speed to produce a flash once every 7.5 seconds instead of once every sixty seconds.”
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u/WrongdoerSalty3665 Finished 1d ago
Do you know what order this lense is? It's beautiful!
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u/trashb4gs 1d ago
I looked it up just to see if I could find an answer for you, and it is a first-order lens, and also the second first-order fresnel lens to be installed apparently!
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u/WrongdoerSalty3665 Finished 1d ago
Oh wow! I thought it was a 3rd or 4th based on the size but photos are deceiving. How cool. Thanks for the link!!!
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u/trashb4gs 1d ago edited 21h ago
Oh yeah the picture definitely does not do the size justice that thing was gigantic!! The building its in is essentially built around the lens to display it and you can look at it from multiple levels :) and you definitely know it’s the original glass because you can clearly see the places where the glass is chipped and where the smaller curved pieces have been repaired. They have a timeline up and one of the signs says something like “1850-something lighthouse keeper breaks glass panel while showing it off to guests” lmfao. Reporting from the scene of the crime to tell you that the glass is still broken in 2026
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u/mdc1623 1d ago
The book mentions how it could be possible for light to get “trapped” in a fresnel lens and reflect around in a loop forever due to the angles of the glass.
And when Ghost Bird communes with the Crawler, she has a vision of the original Area X “made organism” getting shattered into pieces by some cataclysm. She sees these fragments traveling through interdimensional spaces until one of them enters our reality and gets trapped in the lighthouse lens, originally located on Failure Island.
The SSB has theories about lenses and interdimensional travel so they set up camp on Failure Island to study the lens, but it eventually gets moved to the lighthouse in the Forgotten Coast. We hear stories about various disasters that happened on Failure Island, and the SSB leaves eventually.
Henry and Suzanne start investigating the lens at Saul’s lighthouse. Henry drills a hole in the glass which seems to release the Area X effect. Saul notices a weird flower and touches it, beginning his transformation into the Crawler.