Post your fan-theories for Lost here!
NOTE: For the sake of posterity, please post any theories either Jossed (proven wrong) or confirmed by season six in the folders labeled... Yeah... Spoilers, obviously.
- According to the sixth season premiere, that seems to be true. Only that it's not. But then it is. The time line is apparently split now, making Lost even more confusing.
- According to your interpretation of the series finale, this could still be true. It's implied that the alternate time line might not have actually existed.
- What interpretation? Whatever alternate interpretation you apply to what the ending said about the meaning of the flash sideways "timeline", there's nothing open to interpretation about what it means in terms of the bomb: that it went off and the plan didn't work.
- "Didn't Work" in this case meaning "didn't do what it was supposed to" rather than "didn't go off". Either way, the effect is the same: the flash sideways both does and does not exist.
- It's pretty clear that the bomb did not go off, and was instead a red herring. If you'll remember, the bomb was only for canceling out the pocket of immense energy. Not just to blow a hole in the island. When Pierre Chang said that the construction workers couldn't even drill a centimeter further over at the Swan station, he really meant it was that unstable. Tons of metal, a hydrogen bomb, and a Juliet falling on the pocket would probably be equivalent to drilling a centimeter. Also, even the warhead of a hydrogen bomb wouldn't just toss Kate into a tree thirty years later. That's island energy. Now that we've seen what releasing all of that energy would do in "The End," it's pretty clear what eventually caused the "alternate" timeline.
- The first episode of the season 6 is titled "LA X". You'll notice there's a space between the "LA" and the "X": that's deliberate. So there's two subjects in that title. The "LA" seems fairly obvious (Los Angeles) but what does "X" refer to?
- Or maybe the "LA" is Louisiana. Probably not, but it would be even more of a 'gotcha'. Perhaps Lost is crossing over with True Blood as a precursor to HBO buying out ABC
- The Island moves. That's why the Looking Glass station was built, to locate where the Island will be at a future point in time. The location is indicated by a pendulum that swings across a large map of the Pacific Ocean, and marks the spot with a big white "X".
- Hence, the theory: the Looking Glass station will draw a big "X" over Los Angeles, indicating that the Island will arrive there at some future point.
- Jossed by Word of God. The "X" in "LA X" refers to the Alternate Universe.
- And the station you're thinking of is the Lamp Post, the Looking Glass was the underwater station from the last few episodes of the third season.
- Or the writers played the Legacy of Kain series and the bomb is there in the future to be used to save the day.
- The teasers played at the 2009 San Diego Comic Con are pointing at a Shaggy Dog scenario, at least to start the season off with (Kate not killing her stepdad, Hurley's Mr. Cluck's commercial [having returned from an Australian vacation], Oceanic Air commercial citing a 'perfect safety record'). Not that the writers have ever purposefully misled us before... Right...
- Even if that * does* happen, the undoing could itself end up being undone or... or who knows what!
- Let's make the leap that the monster is the Island's way of interacting with humans. We've seen it show up as the smoke creature, which kicks arse and takes names. We've seen it show up in the form of dead people who give out cryptic advice. But what if the Island just feels like having a conversation in a non-threatening way? Richard is the avatar it has created, one that never ages and has been around as long as any of our characters can remember. As Richard, the Island guides the Others and interacts (relatively) peacefully with the other factions who show up.
- Check this video out.
- Jossed during the season 5 finale, but Locke is apparently not Locke.
- Based on the comments the new guys made when they found the cabin it appears that Esau!Locke/Jacob's enemy was the one using it, which explains why he looked like Locke.
- You're probably right about that. Ben tells Sun that he has no idea what happened to the statue, to which Sun replies "Do you expect me to believe that?" and Ben says he doesn't, really, implying that Ben was lying. So the destruction of the statue must have happened some time when Ben was on the island.
- Given Damon Lindeloff and Carlton Cuse's love of Stephen King's The Stand and The Dark Tower, the end of the series will no doubt draw heavily from the conclusions of those two novels.
- Seriously; Lost already has a disturbing amount of similarities to those books.
- Season 6 sets off on... drumroll please... February 2nd, Groundhog Day!
- Picked up by Darlton and explained as a happy coincidence, despite the fact they both want to pretend it was intentional.
- Jossed. The ending shows Sawyer, Kate, Claire, Richard, Lapidus, and Miles escape on the Agira plane. Christian Shepard's claim that some people died before Jack and some died long after Jack also implies they were successful in returning alive.
- Who says the bomb detonated... all we saw was a white flash... like the ones when they time travelled.
- Juliet's rock fell on the bomb. It fell on it ten times.
- Basically confirmed as of the season premiere! Score two for crazy fan-theories!
- ...maybe. There's no evidence to support that the Swan was prevented from being created per se. Much of the original timeline actually depends on the survivors having been in the 70s, such as the possibility of the skeletons in the cave being Rose and Bernard, or Richard remarking to Sun that he saw all the survivors die in the 70s. Some sort of unspecified blast, after which all the survivors time travel and appear to have vanished, conveniently accounts for this. Not to mention that the title "The Incident" rather directly points toward the detonation being the "incident" referenced by Dr. Chang in the orientation film. Assuming that all the 70s events except the bomb detonating did happen seems unnecessary.
- Is there a world where this was unclear even before Season 6? The Incident was the electromagnetic event that happened before Juliet set off the nuclear explosion. The thing that dragged Juliet into the hole was the Incident. That was clear. It wasn't the detention.
- What if they're actually the same timeline? See, the bomb worked. Then we have the universe where the plane flies over normally, with people like Jack and Desmond having vague (very vague) memories. But Daniel Farraday ( Widmore?) set off another bomb. That changed it back to the island, where the castaways only believe the bomb didn't work. Yeah, you need to be a bit crazy to watch this show.
- Why is this in the "confirmed" folder after the final episode instead of the "jossed" one?
- Because we haven't had a chance to move it yet. (pause) There we go.
- ...maybe. There's no evidence to support that the Swan was prevented from being created per se. Much of the original timeline actually depends on the survivors having been in the 70s, such as the possibility of the skeletons in the cave being Rose and Bernard, or Richard remarking to Sun that he saw all the survivors die in the 70s. Some sort of unspecified blast, after which all the survivors time travel and appear to have vanished, conveniently accounts for this. Not to mention that the title "The Incident" rather directly points toward the detonation being the "incident" referenced by Dr. Chang in the orientation film. Assuming that all the 70s events except the bomb detonating did happen seems unnecessary.
- If it wasn't already obvious by season 6, Stephen King's The Stand was a huge influence on the series' development. Team Darlton freely admit this and claim that a paperback copy of the novel has a permanent home in the Lost writer's room.
- The sixth season is building to a confrontation between those who oppose the Man in Black and those who follow him: a "stand" against evil, if you will.
- Because it would be awesome.
- Jossed. Word of God is that the finale will be titled "The End".
- Alternative theory: This was where they were going until "The Pilot" aired and everyone said, "Hey, I'm smart, they're in Purgatory!" At this point, the writers promptly went back to the drawing board.
- Alternative alternative theory: This is all a shared hallucination. They're still on the plane. The last episode will end with them all snapping back to reality, safe in their seats on Flight 815... just as things start to go horribly wrong.
- Alternative alternative alternative theory: only Locke died. He went to heaven; everyone else just got dragged along for the ride.
- Alternative alternative alternative alternative theory: they've been dead all along, the entire world is actually Hell, and the island is Purgatory (give them an actual chance at redemption).
- By the series finale, this was true of the alternate timeline rather than the island.
- It doesn't explain why Christian appears to Hurley or Michael, though.
- Confirmed. If you can take Un-Locke at his word (which we just about frigging have to, or risk a serious case of Your Head A-Splode) he indicates explicitly to Jack that he, the Monster, was impersonating Christian Shephard in the interests of keeping Jack and the other Losties alive. Conversely, if you take Michael at his word (or, more accurately, Hurley's guess) the appearances of dead people to the living on the Island are usually those of spirits who can't move on. Still leaves open the possibility that Jacob may have been impersonating some of the "dead people" we see, though.
- Jossed. Christian was an apparition from the afterlife guiding the survivors to their ultimate rest. Unlocke is just a filthy liar.
- It's clear by the last episode that while The Monster may have appeared as Christian on the Island, at least some of the time, the Christian we saw everywhere else (remember The Monster can't leave the Island) was a ghost, or possibly an angel.
- If it's Rose and Bernard then why didn't they return to the present with everyone else?
- Since when has "everyone" returned to the present? But this was written before they stopped jumping through time, so is probably not a good guess anymore.
- The producers said in interview that they hid an anagram giving a hint as to the mystery of the Adam and Eve in an episode wherein the phrase "Only fools are enslaved by time and space" is displayed. This can be re-arranged into "Bones of Nadlers may lay lost deep in cave".
- Jossed as of Across the Sea.
- If it's Rose and Bernard then why didn't they return to the present with everyone else?
- The supposed twist of the last season is that there are now flash-sideways, between a universe where the bomb supposedly didn't work and one where it supposedly did. But what if these really aren't different universes, per se, but rather, a sequence of events? What if there is a "present day", which is taking place on the Island, and a regular "flash-forward" which takes place after they "fix" whatever they didn't during the Incident and caused Oceanic 815 to land safely? My guess is that the Current!Losties will eventually manage to reverse what had been done, thereby sinking/obliterating the Island (which is why we saw it underwater miles below 815). They will have succesfully changed history to an undetermined point, which explains why Desmond was on the plane and Ethan was working in a hospital in LA: there was no Island to go to, so their lives were altered to accomodate the change. It might also explain why Jack had blood on his neck: we'll see blood somehow get blood on his neck a few moments before time snaps back.
- So Jack has a teenaged son he's literally never mentioned before?
- No, no. Clearly, things are different in this timeline. Helen is alive, Sawyer is a cop, etc. Perhaps the Man in Black escapes in the end and, trying to create a better world, gives the Losties what they want most.
- The Others are really on the side of Esau- not Jacob.
- Jacob is the 'darkness' that has 'claimed' Sayid. Esau had been trapped in the cabin until the ash was disturbed so that he could not foil Jacob's plan of bringing "them" to the island.
- Jacob was always in favor of outsiders coming to the island, yet all the Other/Hostiles ever want to do is kill or capture anyone who comes.
- Why do people say "everything has suggested this" while conveniently forgetting Desmond suddenly remembering that Daniel Faraday contacted him 3.5+ years prior to his 'dream' telling him to find Faraday's mother. "But Desmond is special" people say... my butt.
- Or maybe in their return to the island, they have created a separate timeline in which, I dunno, Past!Ben could die while Ben could still live, unaltered. I dunno. Time travel is screwy.
- If time travel caused the past to change, then Desmond would not have suddenly remembered stuff that happened 3 years ago, he would have always remembered it in the new timeline. The sudden recollection suggests that he is unstuck and not experiencing time in a linear sense, which is, you know, explicitly stated to be what is happening to him.
- As of season 5 episode 5, this has been confirmed. Daniel Faraday's mother is Eloise Hawking.
- Makes sense. After all, Esau!Locke (I like the name) was conveniently missing when Ben met Cerberus/Smokey.
- Also, when Ben calls the monster, it's Esau!Locke that shows up, with Smokey nowhere to be seen.
- "I'm sorry you had to see me like that" indeed.
- For further evidence of this, look all the way back to Flashes Before Your Eyes, the very first time travel episode in season three. Desmond jumped back a few years, but the things he saw were subtly different from his memories (the football game ended differently, the angry guy came into the pub later than originally and ended up hitting Desmond instead of the bartender, and Mrs. Hawking appeared and pressured him into following his original fate). This made little sense at the time and got worse when we started to hear about "Whatever happened, happened", but if he was actually in another timeline at the... time, then the minor changes could have been from the butterfly effect and Mrs. Hawking may be trying to merge the timelines.
- And then, once the smoke monster is again sealed (or whatever), he's going to revive John Locke. Or maybe...
- That's why he's so important. His ability to withstand severe electromagnetic anomalies (i.e. this by-product of the Source affecting the real world) means that if he were to go into the Source, he'd be perfectly fine, as opposed to the Man in Black, who went into the Source and turned into the Smoke Monster (and it's implied that their Mother did the same thing).
- The same thought has occurred to me. Don't know whether it'll turn out to be true or not, but I have definitely thought it plausible.
- Confirmed—sorta.
- He often has sudden insight and is sensitive to undead visitations. He is more astute than he gets credit for (even from himself). Locke was deluded (as shown by the events of season 5) to believe that he was special, but in fact the special one has been Hurley all along.
- Sarcastically confirmed in "What Kate Does" by Miles.
- And now confirmed, in a way, by the show itself in the final episode. Hurley became Jacob's (and ultimately, Jack's) replacement, with Ben as his second-in-command.
- Sarcastically confirmed in "What Kate Does" by Miles.
- We don't see him die, nor do we see his body. We very deliberately do not see either of those things. More than likely, the idea is more to have the characters believe he's dead.
- With the submarine destroyed, the only way off the Island is via the Ajira plane. So if the writers plan to have anyone get off the Island, it's gonna have to be on the plane, which is gonna need a pilot, and the only pilot is Lapidus.
- And in a way, it did. As in, the finale is very similar to the series ending of NGE, isn't it? (Also, it was pretty weird even for this show.)
- But Richard visits Locke as a child back in the 1950s, twenty-odd years before Dharma was started. The theory still holds water because we don't really know all about how the time travel works yet, and that could go towards explaining it.
- Ricardus is more likely from the Black Rock.
- Confirmed on all counts ... although his immortality only goes back to the date he had a chat on the beach with Jacob.
- And now that the keystone in the heart of the island has been removed (and put back in), he's aging again, and thus no longer immortal. Unless he stopped aging again when the keystone was put back in.
- Ricardus is more likely from the Black Rock.
- He is named after Dorothy's uncle in The Wizard of Oz and flies a balloon (as the wizard does in the story). Coincidence? Maybe he really is Uncle Henry from The Wizard Of Oz and went on the alleged world tour after Emma breaks the curse) and is lying about being from Minnesota to protect Storybrooke's location... Considering he doesn't come back, as he is dead is a bit sad if it is true...
- Surprisingly close. There was a movie-length episode called "The End", where everyone got hugged and turned into white light.
- There seems to be a lot of confusion over exactly how the Man in Black was transformed into The Smoke Monster when he went into the cave, and it has even gone so far as to lead many to say that the two characters are not one and the same after all, even though the podcasts, the info on the "enhanced" versions, and the show's own dialogue have all confirmed it. Well, it seems fairly obvious to me, at least upon a single moment's reflection, that what happened is this: The light in the cave, which is supposed to exist inside everyone, apparently swallows up—that is, absorbs into itself—your own inner light if you let it suck you in (notice the light swelling and brightening if you look carefully just as Nameless gets close). When Jacob threw Nameless into the cave it did just that, leaving only the darkness inside him. Apparently a loophole in death created by him and Jacob not being able to kill each other resulted in his consciousness taking on this darkness as its new body because its old one was now uninhabitable and lifeless. Hence Jacob himself describing the Monster as an entity made of evil, of darkness. The light in him is now part of the rest in the cave: there is none left in his self proper. The Monster is living darkness.
- Some of them were transplanted from the Old Forest.
- Only the entwives!
- And Charlie is on the island because he's descended from the Old Forest's long-ago guardians.
- And Ethan/Devil is also the Monster. And the Polar Bear. And Jack's dad. And... yeah.
- Mysterious underground areas with ancient technology in them? Other mysterious underground areas with more modern technology in them? Animal life that may or may not necessarily belong there? People who find themselves in a bizarre setting exploring the remains of various groups that had gone through previously, and trying to slowly piece together what had happened? Sooner or later Atrus will show up and explain everything; all that's missing is a Linking Book taking them to yet another island. Maybe they're saving that for the zombie season?
- According to Wikipedia Myst was one of the inspirations for the show.
- Lost is about Flight 815. There is a Tintin book called "Flight 714". 8-1=7 and 15-1=14.
- Left without the creator/shaper of the island, the piece of land was left to amuse itself, and now fulfills wishes or nightmares as it pleases. The mroe powerful the person (like Locke) the more likely the Island is to obey you.
- "Aw, they took my freakin' kidney!"
- This troper votes for Charlie. He's the resident Brit, and he can't die. It was only a flesh wound. He'll regenerate. The only reason he hasn't done so yet is he's in a perpetual state of drowning.
- As per the recent episodes, This troper wishes to expand this particular WMG to "Massive EM Field exposure has turned Desmond into a Time Lord."
- Can't we have one fricking page on this whole site without someone speculating that such-and-such is a time lord??!!
- Jacob, or whoever is the leader of the island is! The island is their Tardis and they regenerate from time to time!
- Wow, the Island is kind of like a convertible Tardis with the top down.
- The big assumption is that Jacob is a goodie and Esau (or the Nemesis, or whatever you wanna call him) is the baddie. Based on their conversation at the beginning of "The Incident", I'm gonna say that yeah, Esau = bad.
- The other big assumption is that Esau is Smokey the Monster. I'm calling this based on stuff in S5, when the Monster and Esau!Locke are explicitly not shown together.
- The Others work for Jacob.
- Jacob's goal is the preserve the Island, an Eden-like place where everything is plentiful and people can be cured of any injury or disease.
- Uh, maybe it * was* at some point, but now it's at least as much a deadly location full of monsters, maniacs, and polar bears. You could say that this was the result of some fall (those corpses were dubbed "Adam and Eve") yet if Jacob is trying to * preserve* the Eden-like quality of the place then he wouldn't be leading the group which presumably made the spot so much more un-Eden-like.
- Jacob's goal is the preserve the Island, an Eden-like place where everything is plentiful and people can be cured of any injury or disease.
- The Losties, from as early as the fifth episode of season 1, are manipulated by visions of dead people. It's implied in an early season 3 episode, and confirmed in a season 5 episode, that these visions are, in fact, the Monster taking on the appearance and mannerisms of the dead people (this adds credibility to the theory that Esau is the Monster, since Esau spent half of season 5 in the form of a dead person).
- Esau's goal is the destruction of the Island—more specifically, his goal is to expose the Island's existence, bring people to it and make people destroy the Island.
- I don't know if that's true or not but he does indeed seem to need the help of an external party to destroy Jacob, at least.
- Esau's goal is the destruction of the Island—more specifically, his goal is to expose the Island's existence, bring people to it and make people destroy the Island.
- Jacob and Esau are playing some kind of game, with rules and loopholes. If you think of it like chess, then Jacob's pieces are the Others, while Esau's pieces are the Losties.
- Esau is cheating; he's turned the leader of the Others, Ben, into one of his pieces. Events in season 5 indicate that Esau was the one who healed Ben when he was shot as a boy, and at that time Esau exerted his influence over Ben. Additionally, Ben seemed to think that Jacob was the individual in the cabin—an individual who appeared as Christian Shepard, a dead man.
- Furthermore, Esau's influence over Ben likely led to him excommunicating Charles Widmore from the Others, which in turn led to Widmore sending the freighter to the Island and trying to kill everyone on it.
- It's likely that Jacob is also cheating, by leaving the Island and meeting—specifically making some kind of physical contact—with a whole bunch of the Losties.
- Jacob also seems to have cultivated a faction that works off the Island (the "what lies in the shadow of the statue?" group) on his behalf, the equivalent of how Charles Widmore works for Esau off the Island (though without realising this).
- Jossed on many counts; The 815 survivors were Jacob's chosen, Widmore is apparently on Jacob's side, The monster believes that Humans Are Bastards, with Jacob taking a more optimistic stance. The monster leaving the island could destroy the world, and he's proving to be little more than a violent, Manipulative Bastard.
- Esau is cheating; he's turned the leader of the Others, Ben, into one of his pieces. Events in season 5 indicate that Esau was the one who healed Ben when he was shot as a boy, and at that time Esau exerted his influence over Ben. Additionally, Ben seemed to think that Jacob was the individual in the cabin—an individual who appeared as Christian Shepard, a dead man.
- By the end, it's still not clear exactly who were the straight-up no-chaser good guys. This is a series that runs on Grey-and-Grey Morality.
- The Ancients built it. The Others are their descendants, who gradually de-evolved because they lost technology and with it their history.
- Building off of that, The Monster (AKA Esau) is a partially-descended (similar to Anubis) human. During Jacob's flashback, he appears fully human because he had not yet ascended by that point.
- Jossed. He's a human being (Jacob's brother), specifically, or at least was until Jacob threw him into the lit cave, creating the Smoke Monster. Nice job breaking it, Jacob.
- Building off of that, The Monster (AKA Esau) is a partially-descended (similar to Anubis) human. During Jacob's flashback, he appears fully human because he had not yet ascended by that point.
- Jacob and Nemesis/Esau/the Smoke Monster are aliens sent to Earth for some kind of an experiment. The pocket of electromagnetic energy is the core of the ship, and the frozen wheel is a piece of it's technology. In LA X, the Smoke Monster says he wants to go home, which is pretty obviously off the Island. This would also fit in with Jacob and Nemesis' conversation by the statue.
- And, building off of that:
- It's either Time Lord technology or a piece of Gallifrey that ended up on Earth after it "burned" in the Time War. The pocket of electromagnetic energy/the frozen wheel could be a kind of pre-TARDIS time-traveling technology. In the season 3 finale of Doctor Who we see that time-travel without a capsule really isn't a good idea. This would explain why the LOST time-travel tends to kill people, especially if the teechnology is pre-TARDIS.
- Adding onto that, Jacob and Nemesis are Time Lords who escaped the Time War, probably through the use of a Chameleon Arch like the Master in Utopia. Also, Jacob didn't regenerate when Ben killed him because he'd already used up all of his regenerations. Or, alternatively, only one of his hearts was working at the time. It's been stated that if both of a Time Lord's hearts are killed simultaneously, they wouldn't be able to regenerate. It could work the same way for Jacob if he only had one heart working.
- Richard Alpert said that Jacob made him what we're calling 'immortal'. What if Richard was a human who became Gallifreyan using some kind of Chameleon Arch technology? Gallireyans apparently age very slowly, which would explain why Richard always looks the same- no one's tried to kill him and he hasn't had to regenerate from old age yet.
- This one is Jossed. However, we don't know whether Jacob & MIB's mother was Gallifreyan. If so, she must have been out of regenerations.
- Adding onto that, Jacob and Nemesis are Time Lords who escaped the Time War, probably through the use of a Chameleon Arch like the Master in Utopia. Also, Jacob didn't regenerate when Ben killed him because he'd already used up all of his regenerations. Or, alternatively, only one of his hearts was working at the time. It's been stated that if both of a Time Lord's hearts are killed simultaneously, they wouldn't be able to regenerate. It could work the same way for Jacob if he only had one heart working.
- And they're both Jesus. Healers called "Shepherd"? Come on!
- Hell, in the space of one week, we got to watch them both die (OK, Derek got better, but), so...
- This jibes well with the moving island, since the continent of Mu is variously described as being in the Atlantic, Pacific and other oceans.
- To make decisions on "what will happen next", they brainstorm a bunch of options, then look at all of the forums out there with pet theories, and choose the one option on their list that wasn't mentioned on the forums.
- Alternately, it's not on Earth, but in the Avatarverse, in the ocean that makes up a huge part of the other side of the planet.
- Alternately, the Island is somewhere on the Grand Line.
- Alternately, the Island is Bali Ha'i. "We have to go back", anyone?"Bali Ha'i may call you,Any night, any dayHere am I, your special islandCome away, come away."
- How many uncharted islands? You might be surprised.
- You forgot about the Russian general who hunts human beings.
- Think about it: both have no clear motivations, both refuse to give straight answers even under torture, and both are experts in screwing with people. IT MAKES PERFECT SENSE.
- "Of all the legends whispered about the monster-infested, swamp-riddled jungles of Chult, the most eerie is that of the Uluu Thalongh, a name whose meaning has been lost along with the tribe that bestowed it." —Forgotten Realms Manual, p. 107.
- The Uluu Thalongh is a highly mysterious... something... that controls plants, imitates voices, and eats people. It's impossible to kill. It can appear out of nowhere. It's found in the jungle. No one has the faintest idea what it is.
- What about the part in season 4 where Ben's daughter gets shot and killed?
- That may have just been because Widmore 'changed the rules' to alter the time stream in some way.
- What about the part in season 4 where Ben is trying to get Juliet to love him and all of his attempts fail? Also, Faraday plainly states in season 5 that you can't alter the past when traveling through time.
- Come on, we know his constant! It's the wooden figurine he got from the sweet girl when he was a kid!
- There have been a few very subtle crossovers between Lost, Cloverfield, and Heroes. Anyone for Slusho?
- The theory that Cloverfield is the One-Winged Angel form of Ben Linus is awesome.
- Not bad.
- In the season 6 alternate timeline Desmond is married to someone, but it's unlikely to be Penny
- That assumes any of us were sane to begin with.
- Taking a step further, the two series are part of the same universe and The Others are all Cylons. Or at least Richard is.
- Jossed; Hurley asked Richard point-blank if he was a robot and he said no.
- This is my personal favorite Lost-related theory of all, although I don't think it very likely and I'm still not at all sure that whoever posted it didn't mean it as a joke. I just think it's awesome.
- Her last name wouldn't be so secret if it wouldn't blow our minds.
- There is, according to a semi-canonical tie-in novel, an American branch and a British branch of the Widmores.
- Isn't it convenient how Widmore— wait. NO. NO. See below.
- Wouldn't it be convenient if a Widmore gave Desmond a boat?
- Technically true. As far back as 2007, the show's producers were saying that it was intended to have a beginning, a middle, and an end. The conclusion in 2010 has been planned for at least three years.
- Confirmed by Word of God — sorta. While working on the pilot with J. J. Abrams, Damon Lindelof was sure the series wouldn't go further than 13 episodes, and it'd just wind up being one of those awesome DVD collectables. That's why there wasn't a solid idea of the series' mythology or plot structure in season 1, just vague notions of where the show might go and what the answers to the mysteries might be. Then it got popular, Abrams left the show, Darlton took over, they mapped out most of the show's mythology and plot structure, and the rest is history.
- An expansion of this: Hurley is still in the mental hospital and having a hallucination. Everyone he's ever met since 815 crashed - 815ers, Others, Freighties, The Dharma Initiative and assorted characters like Rousseau, Penny and Desmond - are all patients, staff or visitors at the mental hospital.
- I had a similar theory: the entire story isn't in Hurley's head per se, but is actually a shared or collective hallucination by various patients in the ward. (It could be the result of telepathy among the patients, or simply the power of suggestion as they tell one another what they are experiencing.) This would explain the odd dreams and visions that various characters, not just Hurley, have on the supposed island.
- An expansion of this: Hurley is still in the mental hospital and having a hallucination. Everyone he's ever met since 815 crashed - 815ers, Others, Freighties, The Dharma Initiative and assorted characters like Rousseau, Penny and Desmond - are all patients, staff or visitors at the mental hospital.
- Haven't we seen the island from the air? It didn't look like a peninsula then.
- Given what the rest of the statue is revealed to look like at the end of Season 5, then Sawyer's appearance through the years has been... embellished a little.
- She the person who's DNA the used to make Delenn more human.
- Or maybe baby Charlie is Charles Widmore as an infant. At some point, he gets adopted (most likely by the Others) in the past, so he does not recognize Desmond as his own father.
- It's possible that all Charlie, Charlie, and Charles are all one and the same, either through some sort of unstuck time manipulation (has it yet been claimed that meeting yourself in the past is bad? Is there any indication you can't exist twice in the same time?) or, more likely, reincarnation.
- Furthermore, Locke is very happy, as he is "special" here, and regarded with respect by the Others... but his mother called him special as well, if only to use him. The Island is also playing Locke, making him out to be special, only to control him. He's always been naive, so the Island "sensed" this in him and decided he would be easiest to manipulate. Once he runs out of usefulness, expect a quick and ironic death to follow. Wouldn't it really fit his character development?
- Oh, Jesus, you might have really hit the nail with this one.
- And now with Jack taking up the role of New!Locke, we can expect more to come. Dang it, why can't people be logical on this show? Just because you were "meant" to go to the Island doesn't mean it can be trusted. I mean, nobody even knows who's doing the meaning.
- And in the most recent episodes, it looks like the characters themselves are finally picking this up. Or Ben at least is. He makes the connection that once Ilana's usefulness was exhausted, she was killed, and then he speculates what the Island's got in store for them once it's done with each of them.
- Jack is Superman. Since in this universe no one (or very few people) have powers he fulfills his urge to save people through medicine.
- Kate is either Lois or Wonderwoman simply by virtue of being the female (leaning towards WW since she does kick some butt on occasion)
- Catwoman? They look more alike, and the criminal mindset works. Ben cannot be Batman.
- Ben is either Luthor or Bruce Wayne. It's not quite apparent if he is a good guy or a bad guy and he always seems like the most 'in the know' guy in the room.
- More likely, Sawyer is Bruce Wayne. Lost his parents to a petty criminal (conman drove them to murder/suicide), studied their methods (became a con man) and he's been holding that grudge for a pretty long time. Also, has a strange rivalry with Jack/Superman. And, as demonstrated, he knows how to pull off Batman Gambits!
- Hurley is...crap, I don't know. Help me out here folks!
- Matter-Eater Lad?
- Plastic Man?
- Beast Boy?
- Charlie's the Flash.
- Seeing that the statue he lived in was of Tawaret, that might be a better suited Egyptian god for him.
- Anubis actually seems likely, since the Tunnels had a carving of Anubis facing the monster, and the monster is the Man In Black/Esau.
- We never really get an answer as to why there's so much Egyptian iconography on the Island, but perhaps some people from Egypt came to the Island and assumed Jacob was the human incarnation of Anubis/Tawaret?
- The Egyptian presence on the island was presumably at least several centuries before Jacob's Roman mother arrived.
- Anubis actually seems likely, since the Tunnels had a carving of Anubis facing the monster, and the monster is the Man In Black/Esau.
- As of Season Six, this is strangely plausible, since the island has sunken, in one timeline
- Obviously, this new business about killing Jacob is all about stopping the Greymarch and Ben is going to end up as a Priest of Order. Locke will ascend to the level of Mad God and take Jacob's place.
- Because they lacked Desmond the first time around. But now that they know that...
- Nobody's responsible for anything. Ben loves this place.
- For an unknown reason, the Island's weird geographical (and magnetical, electrical, psychological, terrestrial...) phenomena caused it to gradually draw people to the Island way back when, when it snagged a bunch of Egyptians. A thousand or so years later, it snags the Brothers Grim. Then the process begins to accelerate with the arrival of the Black Rock. The more people drawn to the Island, the stronger its influence and the faster the rate at which people get sucked in. The Others arrived at least a hundred years before the Losties, the Dharma Initiative thirty, the balloon and plane roughly ten to fifteen, Desmond three, and with the arrival of Flight 815 the process practically motors along with everyone and their grandma turning up. The Island is just gearing uo for the stage where it swallows everyone and everything in existence. * SLLLLLUUUUUUURRRRRP* !
- After spending the better part of the season inundating viewers with "You can't change the past; whatever happened, happened", Daniel suddenly decides that maybe he can change the past if he tries hard enough (The Variable).
- The first time time travel was brought up in Lost (Flashes Before Your Eyes), we were told (by Daniel's mother) that — it's not that you can't change what happens, it's that "The universe has a way of course-correcting itself" So The Incident was never supposed to happen, and the events of Lost are the universe's attempts to Set Right What Once Went Wrong.
- Possibly supported by Daniel's statement that Jack was never supposed to go back in time, and the fact that the writers on Lost are big fans of Half-Life. "The right man in the wrong place (or the wrong time) can make all the difference in the world."
- Obviously whatever property of the island that is caused Desmond's time travelling is also affecting the other main characters, but to a lesser extent, explaining why they cannot remember the trip afterwards. Desmond's premonitions/time travel are just a side effect of whatever happened to him in the hatch allowing him to remember his trips forward and backwards as well as remembering his present, on the island, timeline. The fact he can remember everything that's happened to him up to being on the island that lets him attempt to change the past, for example choosing to buy an engagement ring that had opted not to buy the first time around. The other characters trips play out as flashbacks as they don't remember anything that happens after the event and so without a new frame of reference would make the same decisions or mistakes all over again.
- Then how did Pierre Chang survive an atomic bomb? We saw his hand get injured and we know there are more orientation videos he has to film with his fake hand. For that matter, how would anyone (Horace, Radzinsky, etc.) survive?
- It was at the bottom of a deep hole with a mysterious energy field, and burying it was the original plan to keep it safe. It's not too hard to handwave away that the radiation levels were low enough to be survivable.
- Besides, it's a tropical island with polar bears. Realism isn't an issue here. Did I mention the polar bears? With, y'know, dark skin and clear fur explicitly designed to trap heat? On a muggy, hot, sweaty tropical island?
- It was at the bottom of a deep hole with a mysterious energy field, and burying it was the original plan to keep it safe. It's not too hard to handwave away that the radiation levels were low enough to be survivable.
- Further evidence that we're still in the same timeline are the Adam and Eve skeletons from season 1. The writers have claimed that these were put in so that at the end they will have evidence that the main plot was planned from the start. It makes very little sense to explain this in flashback, especially if the main characters have never visited the island, so the origin of the skeletons must come in the characters' subjective futures. But if history really has been changed then nothing anyone does can possibly lead to the events of the erased first five seasons.
- Also, it wasn't a complete atomic bomb that was detonated, "just" the warhead. Still less firepower, though
- No wonder Ben's confused.
- Either Locke's soul in in that fish or... it's that glow in the Source Cave?
- The Others have been living on the Island for longer than any other faction we've seen so far.
- The flashback at the beginning of "The Incident" shows an 1800s sailing ship—almost definitely the Black Rock—arriving on the island, seemingly brought there by Jacob. From the conversation between Jacob and Esau, we can assume that the arrival of the Black Rock was the first move in this game that the two are playing (or infinitely more likely, playing again).
- The Others are an important part of the game. Jacob sends his emmisary, Richard, to give the leader of the Others his instructions.
- And it's a bit of a thin one, but the leadership structure of the Others is similar to the chain of command on a ship.
- Richard took young Ben to the Temple to be healed as a child, and the experience "changed" him. It's sort of a given that whatever happened in the Temple resulted in Ben becoming the Magnificent Bastard that we all know and love.
- There were still traces of it before the healing. "Hello, I'm little!Ben; I encourage my pet rabbit to hop through a sonic fence to see whether it's active or not. Later on, I'll steal my dad's keys and crash a burning van into a house as a distraction."
- If we assume that Smokey the Monster is Esau, then the Temple is Esau's domain, in the same way that the Statue is Jacob's.
- The theory goes that Richard asked Esau to heal Ben, and Esau agreed to do it because he could use the opportunity to change Ben from an ordinary DHARMA boy into a Magnificent Bastard, the perfect Unwitting Pawn for his scheme to kill Jacob. The Temple is almost certainly part of Jacob's domain, not Esau's.
- When Ben and Locke returned to the Island, the natural assumption is that Locke was the leader of the Others since he had been declared as such before he left. But the real Locke is dead, and the Locke who interacted with everyone was Esau!Locke. Therefore, in the absense of anyone of "higher rank," Ben was technically the leader of the Others. Esau!Locke has no problem with seeing Jacob, because he's frakkin' Esau. And to quote Richard, "only the leader can request an audience with Jacob." So Esau!Locke convinces Ben to kill Jacob because Ben, as the leader of the Others, is literally the only person who can do it.
- Up until the Incident, pretty much everything that happened to the Losties involving them seeing people from their past could be equated to "The Island did it." or "They're hallucinating." However, now that Jacob has officially entered the picture as a material character, it has been made clear that he has played an active role in shaping all of their destinies. Jack has seen his father several times, and his father, or at least the image of his father, has now taken residence of Jacob's cabin, with Claire in tow. You could tally this as a substantial example of either Jacob or his nemesis, taking the form of someone dead. Other examples include Boone speaking with Locke in his sweat lodge(Jacob), and Yemi speaking with Eko before his death(Nemesis). Note the line that Yemi says, "You speak to me as if I were your brother." (paraphrasing) That, combined with the telltale eerie Lost sound, sends a pretty clear message that there was something significant about it.
- Partially Jossed. Michael agrees with Hurley's guess that the whispers — and Michael, for that matter — are those who've died on the Island and can't move on for whatever reason. It's also explicit, going by Un-Locke's words, that the Monster impersonated Christian Shephard at least once. It's still an open question who, if anyone, Jacob impersonated.
- Everyone is going on about how Jacob's enemy staged this huge Ganbit Roulette to get rid of Jacob which makes him the Big Bad of the series. But no one remembers that Jacob said "they" were coming, which made his enemy nervous. I think "they" are going to be the real Big Bad of the series, and Jacob used his enemy and the main cast to stage an even bigger Gambit Roulette so everyone will be able to take on whoever "they" are, including his nemesis. Who are they: space aliens. Of course, given how duplicitous everyone on this show is, Jacob could be pulling off some other trick and still be the massive Island avatar jerk everyone thought he was.
- It's pretty much implied THEY are the losties that are in the 70's!
- [[Main/YMMV YMMV]]. This troper thought it was Ilana's group of people.
- It's still uncertain, but it seems likely that he's referring to the 70's Losties, since they were sent to 2007.
- In "The Incident," Jacob is reading Everything That Rises Must Converge by Flannery O'Connor. Great care is taken to make sure the audience can read the cover. However, the point isn't the book itself, but that the title is a quote from Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, who originated the concept of the Omega Point—the cause and end state of the evolution of consciousness in the universe. Somebody—Jacob, Hanso, DHARMA—is trying to hasten humanity's evolution into/joining with the Omega Point, and the Island is the means.
- Faraday, too.
- This is also why pregnant women always die. According to the CDC, radiation doesn't cause the effects seen in the show, so maybe the island is manipulating the radiation to prevent the Others from having more offspring.
- And the hydrogen bomb caused it all. Yes, it's fitting together, I think....
- Unfortunately for this theory, Ricardus ain't evil to anyone except himself, going by his backstory.
- And the monkeys we never see.
- Oh jeez... if this means we're headed for a NGE-style ending...
- One of the recent flash-sideways has shown that he has a son, at least in them; if said son exists in the main universe, then he is most definitely Shinji.
- Except, of course, that Dogen is named for Dogen Zenji, a Japanese Buddhist teacher of the 13th century whose most famous written work was The Treasury of the Eye of the True Dharma.
- There's also little Charlie Hume, who wasn't born or conceived on the island, but his father spent awhile on it and he's named after someone who died there.
- Threesome of Fate?
- Also revealed in the 6'th season premiere is the fact that Jacob's rival is the Monster, AND an Eldritch Abomination. This makes the Monster C'thulhu.
- The Monster then goes on to explain that the whole reason he manipulated Ben into killing Jacob is because he wants to go home. This assumes then that Jacob had a hand in keeping the Monster imprisoned upon the island.
- Thus, the main underlying plot of Lost centers around Jacob, a guardian assigned to prevent C'thulhu from escaping the island and ending the world.
- The Monster then goes on to explain that the whole reason he manipulated Ben into killing Jacob is because he wants to go home. This assumes then that Jacob had a hand in keeping the Monster imprisoned upon the island.
- Holy crap! I never made that connection! In that story the monster is a sort of Eldritch Abomination version of a vampire. Interesting...
- By detonating the bomb, Juliet is the only person to successfully change the timeline. Everyone else is unable to avoid You Already Changed the Past, but Juliet can change things because she is exempt. This is also how she knows that the plan succeeded while everyone else believes that it failed.
- This may have been Jossed already as she dies in the season six premier... But she may still survive in the other timeline so...
- Alternatively, it's the energy buried beneath the Swan station that is exempt from the rules, not any particular person. Desmond gained his powers after being exposed to this energy, and the alternate timeline was created by detonating a bomb right in the middle of it.
- Which is to say, Ol' Smokey is both the spirit of the Island and its "security system". With this in mind, consider his/its conversation with Jacob in "The Incident". It has a very dim view of humans — this is probably because it is a nonhuman that lives on an isolated island. Our reputation probably procedes us, and therefore Smokey mistrusts humans by default. That's why it/he keeps judging people. Smokey is not malicious — it/he may not even have a concept of evil — it/he is just acting in self-defense.
- Let's see here. A mysterious group with shady intentions; check. Possibly in allegiance with a larger, far shadier organization; check. Operating from a remote location that ninetheless has state-of-the-art facilities; check. Obsessed with children and kidnapping them to run experiments on them; check. Possibly looking for a special ability that only the children posess; check and double-check.
- For the curious, more Lost/His Dark Materials paralells can be read here. A little old and a little outdated, but still worth mulling over.
- Everything you see on the island is built on its back, as vegetation has formed over the centuries that this ancient Turtle has slept. The Turtle is an immortal force of nature, having come from before our universe began and will continue after this universe ends. The Earth to it is nothing but a nice resting area. The Turtle's power is so immense and elemental that its dreams affect the time and space of our own reality, thus explaining all the time travel and multiple universes. Jacob and the Man in Black/Smoke Monster are actually just characters in the dream, everybody else is "real" but they have been entangled in the subconscious chaos formed by the Turtle's waking. In the final episode the Turtle will awake, and all will know its might.
- Jacob was trapped in the cabin and asked Locke to help him. Once the circle of ash was broken he was able to travel freely about the island. Before that the smoke monster had free run of (most of) the island and since we know that Smokey is Esau then Jacob was definitely in the cabin. Jacob may be a smoke monster as well or he may be able to take another form (such as a flash of light). They both have the ability to inhabit/duplicate freshly dead bodies as Jacob has seemingly done with Sayid. The only question I have then is who has been inhabiting/duplicating Christian?
- When Jacob died, he did not fight back, suggesting that he had a plan that Esau was not aware of. It is possible that Jacob holds the ability to possess bodies while having access to the host's memories. Presumably he wants to use the rest of the Losties as a way of defeating his nemesis and restoring his place as the one running the island.
- Well, we know he's "claimed" by something, but due to the reaction of the people in the Temple, it would seem that it is not Jacob, but something malevolent, possibly Esau.
- This theory could still be valid, though. In earlier episodes, the Others always seemed to get anxious whenever any mention was made of Jacob and don't forget that his first appearance was pretty scary.
- Well, we know he's "claimed" by something, but due to the reaction of the people in the Temple, it would seem that it is not Jacob, but something malevolent, possibly Esau.
- Due to their reactions at the darkening of the water, the water used to be clear. The water represents who is in control at the time: when Jacob was alive, the water was normal. Now that he's out of the picture, Esau is now in control.
- The disaster everyone is trying to prevent is the disease that kills off all of the males.
- The war that is coming is actually the battle of the sexes.
- Jossed. Hurley can be seen reading a Spanish-language edition of Y in one episode.
- This is why Ben closed Horace's eyes out of respect but no one else's. He wanted Horace to be possessed (possibly an order given him by Jacob)
- Also- burning a body prevents any chance of 'claiming'
- The Man in Black is a substitute teacher?
- The conversation between Jacob and the Man In Black at the start of "The Incident" indicates that the events occuring in the series are merely the latest iteration of a cycle of events. Both characters talked about the cycle ending at somepoint.
- In particular, when Un-Locke suggests "it never ends", Jacob's response is "It only ends once."
- The Man In Black wants to "go home", which presumably means leaving the Island. If that's his ultimate goal, then presumably it's also the point of contention between him and Jacob. In effect, the Island is a prison, the Man In Black is a prisoner and Jacob is his warden. Following the analogy, the Others (and it's been all but comfirmed that they originally arrived on the Island as slaves being transported on the Black Rock) are Jacob's "deputies".
- Jacob is dead. If the Man In Black is going to remain imprisoned on the Island, someone needs to replace Jacob.
- The above two were partially confirmed in 6x09. Though Jacob uses the analogy of a cork in a wine bottle, he effectively admits that the Island is a prison for the Man in Black (a force of evil who cannot be allowed out into the world), who will remain imprisoned as long as the island has a guardian, either Jacob or someone else.
- So, my conclusion on what's going on and how the series will end:
- The "cycle" that Jacob and the Man In Black refer to is the latter's attempts to escape the Island by manipulating people into setting him free and/or killing his jailer. Jacob has to combat this by convincing people to help him, or at least by using the Others to stop those who would free the Man in Black.
- The current cycle is almost complete. The Man In Black has manipulated the Losties and Ben into killing Jacob and he's probably almost finished whatever he's doing to get off the Island.
- Somehow, the Losties will figure out a way to trap the Man In Black again and stop him from trying to escape for a while. Someone will need to stay on the Island and guard him, taking up Jacob's old task, and Jack will wind up with the job. He'll gain whatever immortality or powers Jacob once had.
- To stop any immediate threat, everyone except Jack will leave the Island. That includes Richard, all the Others, all the Losties, the Ajira 316 survivors—everyone. That'll just leave Jack and the Man In Black, alone on the Island for years.
- The final scene(s) of the series will be the beginning of the next cycle: whether it be a shipwreck or a plane crash, more people will arrive on the Island by accident. Jack will try to deputise them, creating a new group of Others, while the Man In Black will try to manipulate them into setting him free and/or killing Jack.
- I imagine that one of the last scenes of the finale will be almost identical to the opening of "The Incident", with Jack instead of Jacob.
- Jack's name on the cave wall is listed as 23. The first line of the 23rd Psalm is "The Lord is my SHEPHERD".
- The other name/number correlations may refer to The Psalms, or some other Biblical or non Biblical connection to that person.
- That doesn't explain why he is "stuck in that form", but...
- This was specifically Jossed several years ago by the producers.
- Where? I would like to read.
- Someone, somewhere, prophesized he would die the day he crossed one. Much like Arthur Dent
was prophesized to diewas told he would kill someone in a place called Stavromula Beta, and spent the rest of his life avoiding to go to there, which he assumed it was a planet.
- The bomb didn't work, and the flash was merely them traveling into the future, as they conclude in the island timeline. The off-island timeline was not caused by the bomb going off, but is a timeline where the island was sunk by something else that happened in the past. Several things in this timeline are different that would not have changed if the sinking were the result of the bomb, leading to the conclusion that there was some other major difference that led to the divergence of the timeline. Jack has a son, Locke is still with Helen, but most importantly, Ben is alive and teaching history. If the island had sunk when the bomb went off, he would have died as a child in 1977. It's implied that he never went to the island in the alternate timeline, and perhaps the reason for this is because the island sunk some time in the past, and in this timeline, there was no dharma initiative, no island, and thus Ben doesn't end up stuck there with his abusive father, and grows up to be a normal, well-adjusted human being.
- Ah, but think about this: Ben's getting shot is a direct result of Sayid and the other Losties crashing on the island in 2004 and later travelling back in time. So if the bomb goes off, then Oceanic Flight 815 never crashes — and this in turn changes the past to eradicate the time-travellers' influence from the new timeline altogether. So this results in Jack having a son, Locke still being with Helen, etc., and Ben not having been shot in the first place. (Apparently the time-travelling Losties' influence also kept the island from sinking at some point — perhaps in the '50s without Daniel's advice to bury Jughead, or perhaps even in this timeline's version of "the incident" in which nobody set off the bomb.)
- I wasn't referring to Ben getting shot, I meant he would have died if the island sunk in 1977, since he was on it at the time. But obviously things are different in the alternate timeline, so perhaps in that timeline he was never on the island?
- Ah, but think about this: Ben's getting shot is a direct result of Sayid and the other Losties crashing on the island in 2004 and later travelling back in time. So if the bomb goes off, then Oceanic Flight 815 never crashes — and this in turn changes the past to eradicate the time-travellers' influence from the new timeline altogether. So this results in Jack having a son, Locke still being with Helen, etc., and Ben not having been shot in the first place. (Apparently the time-travelling Losties' influence also kept the island from sinking at some point — perhaps in the '50s without Daniel's advice to bury Jughead, or perhaps even in this timeline's version of "the incident" in which nobody set off the bomb.)
- This, to me, is confirmed by the episode "Dr. Linus". If the bomb directly caused the island to sink in one timeline, Ben is dead in that timeline. But we know he is actually alive in that timeline and what's more, he appears to be a good man since he didn't sacrifice Alex for a promotion. This is evidence that he was never corrupted by the island, meaning that Sayid never shot him and the temple never healed him. So to me there are two options: 1) The bomb didn't sink the island. Later in S6 we will find out what did. 2) Blowing up the bomb in 1977 effectively destroyed the island way before 1977 (sometime before Ben and Roger got to the island in the original timeline... probably as far back as, say, the creation of the island?). So the alternate timeline reflects this - Ben and Roger never went to the island and Jacob never touched (changed the lives of) any of the Losties.
- Except that Roger clearly says that him and Ben were members of the Dharma Initiative and that, at one point, they had to leave the island.
- To take this WMG further, this was the entire purpose of the show. Jacob is a die-hard Yankees fan, and he was willing to launch an elaborate plan and kill a few people to keep the Red Sox down. Need more evidence? We now know the Numbers were selected by Jacob because he liked them. Why? Because all of the numbers are ones whose jerseys the Yankees have retired, with the final, key number, 42, being retired by every team in major league baseball (it's Jackie Robinson's number). The Monster opposes him, and so he took the form of Christian Shephard, a loyal Red Sox fan like itself (obviously, the Monster is the Green Monster, too).
- That's why he leads a team called "The Others"
- The island is placed in a pocket universe semi-isolated from real world, like the Other Mother's world.
- Just as Coraline once walked that world and come back to the place she started, Desmond sailed a lot only to come back to the island.
- The world/dimension which the island is placed has some contact points to the real world, like the direction they told Michael to navigate to leave the island with Walt, and like the hole Coraline follow the rats/mice.
- Just like Coraline parents, Desmond realizes "We're stuck in a bloody snow globe!"
- Coraline was the Other Mother's candidate.
- So she said "it worked".
- So in there, she hadn't had to do Jack's appendicitis.
- You can't exactly say this isn't the case...
- Many apparitions of "smokey" can be his.
- He could've killed Mr Eko, for example, instead of Esau/Unlocke.
- Alternatively, Jacob is similar to Smokey, but his normal form is bright white light. This is how Locke described what he saw after the first ever (offscreen) encounter with the apparent monster, and would fit in well with the darkness and light theme that the show has.
- That could be related to a biblical theme: the pillars of cloud and fire that guided the people through the desert, in Exodus.
- Considering what actually happened, I dunno if this qualifies as WMG so much as "obviously true". To date, Claire, who Charlie killed himself for, is stuck on the Island, and is now crazy. Charlie is quite dead, and Desmond seems to have had a happy ending. Hell, even in the alternate reality, Charlie is still screwed.
- How is that Desmond's fault?
- Really, it's the only explanation for much, if not most, of their behavior. Rose is immune for a similar reason that Richard is immune to Kahlan's power; she's truly happy. Granted, I'm only up to season 3, but I've not found anything to countervail this Guess yet.
- Strangely enough, I'll vouch for this. The latest preview had an overlapping of the Tunnel Scene (audio) in the background.
- Cause, let's face it, neither of them is exactly 'good', and they sure as heck aren't honest. They act like The Fair Folk.
- Arguably, Jossed. In the AU it's implied from Charlie's and Desmond's near-death experiences, and extended by the Daniel Faraday of the alternate timeline, that the AU is "wrong", that it wasn't supposed to end up that way. Desmond's work is an attempt to put the timeline back in its correct path.
- Definitely Jossed. Darlton pulled a Shinji.
- Ok, scratch that last bit, the finale made it very clear where the Well of Ascension is.
- This is brilliant!
- There's even more support for this in recent episodes: when Desmond tells Locke he's not afraid, Un-Locke's facial expressions seem to vacillate back and forth between his own and the more cheery expressions of John Locke. To this troper that suggests that John Locke's personality is trying to reassert control. The issue of fear is also significant since the one thing that distinguishes Locke from Un-Locke in the eyes of Sawyer is the fact that John Locke always looked a little afraid, while Un-Locke seems to have no fear at all. Indeed it's Desmond's lack of fear that seems to cause Un-Locke the most consternation.
- This was all but confirmed by "Across the Sea". Jacob sends the Man In Black's body down the glowing tunnel and the Smoke Monster comes out. The Man In Black clearly did not transform into the monster as his body is found later. Hmm...
- The "whatever happened, happened" rule of time travel ultimately condemns Eloise's son, Daniel Faraday, to die at her hand in 1977. The only way she can save him from that fate is by creating an alternate universe in which there is no Island and Daniel isn't a physicist.
- Sam gets hit by a car, wakes up in some version of 1973 that's populated by (past incarnations of) people he knows, and he eventually realises is the perfect place for him.
- Alex gets shot, wakes up in some version of 1981 that's populated by (past incarnations of) people she knows... and I haven't seen enough of the series to know how the rest goes.
- The Losties are at ground zero when a hydrogen bomb collides with an enormous pocket of unstable electromagnetic energy, they wake up in some version of 2004 that's populated by people they know, and this place is kinda perfect for them (and kinda not at the same time).
- So basically, the only person who can stop the Man in Black and save the world is DCI Gene Hunt and his team of armed bastards.
- ...confirmed?
- So basically, the only person who can stop the Man in Black and save the world is DCI Gene Hunt and his team of armed bastards.
- I think this is probably the best theory I have heard and could very well be true.
- An extra that came with the super-shiny DVD release of season 5 was a written copy of the Truce between the DHARMA Initiative and the Others, signed by Richard Alpert. A clause that Richard inserted was very specific about the DI being forbidden from drilling a certain distance (I think about 10 feet below sea level) into the soil of the Island. Which is suggestive, and ties into your theory.
- Jossed. The Smoke Monster was free and active when Richard first came onto the Island, ergo it was already tooling around prior to the truce with the DI. Makes no sense for Richard to demand a "no drilling" clause when the Monster's already loose on the island. On the other hand, the truce might have specified a "no drill" clause so the DI didn't penetrate the electromagnetic anomaly and set off an incident ... oh, wait.
- And now, as of "Across the Sea", it turns out that the Man in Black himself dug at least one well prior to Jacob turning him into the smoke monster by throwing him into the heart of the island, so he might have been responsible for the other ones, too. And he's the one who set up the wheel.
- Sure as hell looks to be Jossed as of the penultimate episode...
- Turns out the entire flash-sideways subplot was all about the dead main characters.
- More seriously, the makers of Lost have gone on record to say how much they like Stephen King's book series. Canonically, Un Locke is the Man in Black. That's not a coincidence, for it would appear that the Man in Black is none other than Randall Flagg. (Or there's a possibility that ol' Smokie is the Crimson King.) Jacob is a Gunslinger — or even Arthur Eld — whose only task is to keep Randall Flagg locked up so he can't escape and start working to free the Crimson King. The Island works as a prison for the Man in Black — because it's a node on a Beam to the Tower. Unfortunately, because Jacob is now dead and the show will probably end on a Downer Ending, the Man in Black/Randall Flagg is then free to commence roaming End-World and setting plans in motion to free the Crimson King ... which is where Roland of Gilead comes into it.
- Further to this: Since they got to the Island, everyone from Jack down has suddenly become really, really good with firearms. They're all Gunslingers!
- Nope, it's just one of the candidates. Jacob touched it in a Chinese zoo.
- This troper thinks that would be the most tearjerking ending possible for the series.
- However, it would certainly ensure that the "cycle" ends. If the Island stays around, then what happened to the Losties will certainly happen to someone else.
- If this happens, the suggestion seems to be that it's quite literally a case of Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies, given that the core thing that makes the Island so magical is pretty much tied to the souls of everyone on the planet.
- This troper seems to remember that summoning the Monster was some sort of emergency mechanism that the Others knew about as an institution to be invoked in the scenario that they were about to be overrun or killed. Makes sense, too; the Monster's trapped on the Island, and pissed off as all hell, which makes it the perfect "death blossom" weapon if you have no other alternatives. As it is, it's implied that what made Ben a loophole was the fact he, not Locke, moved the Island — only the leader of the Others was allowed to do that, and he wasn't the leader of the Others at the time. The effect threw him off the island, which was supposed to banish him forever — but he murdered Locke and sort of took Locke's place as the leader of the Others. He could meet with Jacob, because only the leader can; but he was also an exile and exiles normally can't come back to the Island. He circumvented those boundaries, meaning he's not bound to the island's rules. Ben is Neo, just with a better accent (and better acting ability, too).
- This troper thinks, in hindsight of the fact that the Smoke Monster is a sentient being, that it just wanted to keep Ben a) alive, and b) thinking that the Smoke Monster would help him out when necessary. By playing the role of attack dog, the Monster ensured that Ben would keep playing his part in the master plan.
- That Smokey was manipulating Ben was given a nod in the penultimate episode.
- This troper thinks, in hindsight of the fact that the Smoke Monster is a sentient being, that it just wanted to keep Ben a) alive, and b) thinking that the Smoke Monster would help him out when necessary. By playing the role of attack dog, the Monster ensured that Ben would keep playing his part in the master plan.
- Possibly confirmed as of Across the Sea. The boy that has been appearing before Un!Locke is a younger Jacob, possibly meaning that he was reborn. Plus, the golden light in that cave was stated to be a "physical manifestation of life, death, and rebirth," and Jacob was made into this light's guardian...
- And now confirmed with some aversions and subversions as of What They Died For. The kid demands the ashes because they are his. However, Jacob's new life apparently only lasts as long as the fire into which the ashes got thrown.
- She predicted the rain in the same manner Locke did.
- She and Jacob sacrificed themselves in the same episode.
- Jacob lives under a giant statue of the goddess of fertility. Juliet is a fertility doctor.
- Jacob is essentially a loner, as is Juliet.
- She faced down the Man in Black as if completely unafraid.
- The changes in personality of Desmond since he was hit with another EM experiment. He's as cool and calm as Jacob, and seems to have that same "fate will have its out" shtick that Jacob did.
- Additionally, Jacob's turned into something of a manipulator - consider how he (apparently) avoids getting killed by Sayid.
- Above all things, he's completely unafraid of Un-Locke. Indeed it's that aspect of his character that puzzles and/or troubles ol' Smokie the most.
- The only creature that never had any fear of the MiB was Jacob.
- Desmond has also survived a fall from a great height into the well, suggesting Island-favoured health. Possibly his own immortality as granted by the Island is a reason for his lack of fear.
- We haven't seen any apparitions of Jacob since Widmore's EM experiment.
- The latest episode has Jacob kill his brother, showing that they can indeed kill each other and that their mother was lying about many more things than she let on. When Jacob kicked his body into the light at the end of the tunnel, the Smoke Monster was able to escape since he then had a body. It absorbed the Man in Black's memories and took his form, but they are completely separate beings. He is not anyone or anything; just a collective consciousness of whoever he has imitated.
- I think the implication is that MIB's mind, his consciousness, was made manifest as the Smoke Monster, which meant his body was kinda leftover. Which leads into...
- The way she insists with such strength and conviction that Jacob and MiB should never go down into the Cave of Light has this implication that she knows from personal experience that it's a bad idea. And lo, when MiB gets tossed into the Cave, he gets transformed into a Smoke Monster. (see the above theory on reconciling MiB becoming a Smoke Monster with the fact his dead body was buried in the cave)
- Voldemum note appears to be a middle-aged woman, yet she's able to destroy a human settlement and kill everyone there. Doesn't that seem a bit much? Wouldn't people have fought back? Yes... unless she was a Smoke Monster, in which case it's all easy as pie.
- But I hear you all asking, "Bronzethumb, you sexy devil, how was the Man in Black able to kill Voldemum if she was a Smoke Monster?" The Man in Black stabbed her with the same dagger that would later be given to Richard and then to Sayid. And what's more, he stabbed Voldemum before she could say a word to him.
- On the other hand, the Island seems to grant enormous physical strength and stamina to those who are protecting it. And it's arguable that the massacre of Un-Locke's people didn't take place until after she'd shown Jacob the Source and made him one with her. One middle-aged woman taking down a bunch of people on her own is a bit incomprehensible, but if it's her and Jacob together ... what? It worked for Lucius Vorenus and Titus fuckin' Pullo! :D
- Also, there's one big hole in the argument: Voldemum isn't Jacob and Un-Locke's mother. And their genetic mother ain't invulnerable to everything except the Ajanti dagger, her kryptonite seems to be large rocks.
- When we say "Jacob and the Man in Black's mother", we are referring to the woman who raised them, played by Allison Janney, and not the woman named Claudia who actually gave birth to them.
- After all, he was the guy who started building the wheel in the first place. And we know it works, so the question is, why hasn't he used it already? Perhaps THAT is why he needs the Candidates dead, because while they're alive, it won't work for him... somehow.
- Confirmed as of Across the Sea. The reason he didn't go on to use the wheel was because he thought it had been destroyed by Voldemum after she single-handedly slaughtered all of his people and filled in the well.
- Leading to a Mirror Match between Lockes for control of the island.
- First, Sawyer and Co. mentally experienced exactly 3 years of time since the island was moved to the night that Jacob died. When the bomb went off, they went to their “real timeline” in 2007.
- When Locke turned the wheel and stopped the island from skipping, Sawyer and Co. time-jumped to exactly 3 years before the 1977 incident. EXACTLY 3 years, to the second. For that to occur, whatever/whoever was controlling the time travelling knew exactly when Jacob would die (exactly 3 years after the island moved) and exactly when the incident occurred.
- Perhaps Jacob was causing the time travel, but he was actively causing it in “real time” according to the 1977 Losties’ internal clocks. When he died he was unable to keep them in 1977 and so they came back to when he died. That’s also why he said “They’re coming”. So it’s coincidence that the Losties were detonating a nuclear bomb at that point. This could mean that the bomb didn’t even go off.
- Second, Sawyer and Co. didn’t necessarily time-travel to their “real time”, they time-travelled to the moment of Jacob’s death. They did not necessarily experience exactly 3 years of time from the moment Ben turned the wheel to the moment of the incident.
- Right before he died, Jacob caused the 1977 Losties to end up in 2007. Hence, “They’re coming”.
- Jack, Kate, Hurley, Sayid, and (most importantly) Daniel came in 1977 a few days before the incident, while Sun, Ben, Lapidus, etc. came in 2007 a few days before Jacob’s death. Both groups of people directly led to the incident and Jacob’s death, so it’s not that big of a stretch to say it’s a coincidence that they occurred at the “same time” according to the Losties’ internal clocks.
- After verification, when Jack and Hurley were at the lighthouse, if you were looking carefully you could see that the name associated with the number 108 was Wallace. I love Wild Mass Guesses.
- Alternatively, it's Locke's soul.
- Which would make Locke a Time Lord.
Egypt precedes Rome historically: The Man in Black is the son of a Roman. He was born (and thus transformed) well after the Egyptian structures were constructed. So there must be another smoke monster who is depicted in the hieroglyph.
This is the Smoke Monster helped Mother destroy the Roman camp. This is how Mother knows entering the cave is a fate worse than death.
Against: there's no explicit evidence that MIB's people are Romans - that only rises from the implication that Teh Dagger is a Roman gladius or something similar. MIB's people are never identified by name. If anything the implication is that MIB's people are some sort of superintelligent "Atlantean" folks, given unlike virtually anyone else before or since they actually seem to have worked out how the Island functions sufficiently to create teleportation effects. Second, while the Egypt of the "classic" period might have preceded Rome, hieroglyphic language does not necessarily do so. Third, "Across the Sea" doesn't show us any statues or Egyptian structures, therefore we can't be certain they were around prior to that episode.
- We don't know that the structures under the temple were made during the time of Classical Egypt; they could have been made by Others three hundred years ago, or by time-traveling Egyptians two hundred years ago, eighty years ago, and six hundred years ago ...In That Order. On the other hand, Jacob, "Esau", Voldemum, and Claudia all knew Latin, which (along with Mother's and Claudia's clothing styles) reinforces the idea that they are (at least in some way) from the Roman Empire.
- And they will all be zombies.
- "Lo-stie Babies! They make dreams come tru-ue!" I would watch that show and so would you.
- I thought it would be about what Hurley and Ben do now that they're running the island.
- House is doomed to eternal torment in the form of bodily pain and having to constantly deal with his intellectual inferiors. But the torment is a byproduct of his attitude and once he realizes it, his personal hell will become a personal paradise.
- Jim, Pam, and Ryan's characters are all still being tested. Ryan failed his test, having become a Corrupt Corporate Executive and then fallen from grace. Jim was tempted by the dark side but then gave up his management job and went back to sales. Pam's test is yet to come.
- Conan suffered his test at the hands of NBC management and Jay Leno. Having passed, he ascended to a better network.
- And they will all find each other again some day at an Emmy ceremony. It will turn out it was all a construct of their minds to help them find each other again because that fateful night at the Emmys was the most important time in all of their lives.
- They will be miffed when they find out that the Losties formed their own clique and ascended first.
- Yes and somehow the Breaking Bad guys are involved.
- ...Maybe?
- Kate will end up in prison for violating the terms of her parole.
- Miles will live like a king with the diamonds he dug up from Nikki and Paolo's grave.
- Richard will resume his career as CEO of Mittelos Bioscience.
- Sawyer will become a good father to his daughter. (By contrast, Claire will have a strained relationship with Aaron.)
- Lapidus will be fired because nobody at the FAA will buy his crazy story about what happened to his passengers and crew.
- Richard was given some kind of bootleg Exaltation by Jacob to stop his aging, making him a kind of pseudo-Infernal.
- Ben is a Sidereal. Killing Jacob was all part of a plan leading up to... something.
- But then how could he conceive his son Charlie, if he's dead?
- Though it's not like we can apply real world logic to what you can do after death. So maybe conception is possible.
- At least some of those people are implied to be real because the option existed for them to move on (ie: Ana-Lucia was described as "not ready yet" and Eloise begged Desmond not to take Daniel away from her). But others, like Jack's fake son David, are apparently just programs in the Matrix.
- The Man in Black can't cross water, remember.
- Call ABC and pitch this. I know I'd watch it.
- Then what the hell was Jack fighting?
- Resurrected!Locke, obviously.
- Then why was he so evil?
- He was mad at Jack for not believing him.
- Resurrected!Locke, obviously.
- Yeah or someone asked him Would you Kindly crash the plane.
- This is simply brilliant. The final season of the series is obviously after the Vogons destroy it. The passing of the leader of the island to the next is actually simply allowing the hyper-intelligent, pan-dimensional being to inhabit another form. The island was built by the computer in a failed effort to keep the Golgafrinchams away from the main program matrix.
- Walt wasn't dead yet, he was the protector of the Island after Hurley. Once Walt dies, he and Michael will move on together.
- It's not a question of when he died. Everyone died at different points. What mattered what was most important when they were alive.
- In the flash sideways, Michael won legally custody of Walt and is raising him in New York
- Richard moved on in his own section of purgatory with Isabella, since he was shown to finally begin to age.
- Lapidus is actually immortal and is in fact Zeus.
- Eko had already moved on. The "flashback" of Eko and Yemi at the end of The Cost of Living was actually their own purgatory, where they moved on together.
- Christian tells Jack the reason they're there is because their experience on the island was the most important part of their life. Perhaps that isn't true for all of the survivors, and those in this purgatory are the ones for whom it is true.
- Magic exists in the world of Lost, and not just on the Island: Hurley sees dead people, Walt has his strange powers, Richard Malkin predicted the plane crash, etc.
- The Island's Light is the source of all magic. Everybody has a little bit of Light in them, which connects them back to the source on the Island, and the people with more Light and stronger connections (i.e. Hurley, Walt, Malkin) are able to use it to perform miraculous feats.
- The Island itself is imbued with the Light, to the point where the Light actually sustains the Island's existance (when the cork is removed and the Light goes away, the Island begins to crumble and sink into the sea). Because of this, all kinds of miraculous phenomena just natually manifest there, and everyone on the Island is affected much more than they'd ever be on the mainland.
- As a result of taking on the job, the Island's Guardian has a stronger connection to the source of the Light than anyone else on the planet, so strong that he or she can effect people and events on a massive scale. He caused massive weather events to bring ships and planes to the Island, and he was so concerned with secrecy that he was able to shroud the Island and keep it hidden from the rest of the planet.
- If the Light were to be destroyed or "uncorked" or whatever, it would basically eliminate magic across the entire planet. Nothing miraculous, no unexplained phenomena, nothing beyond the understanding of science. Whether or not that'd be catastrophic remains to be seen (it's possible that magic has something to do with the continued existance of the Earth, in which case, "uh oh"), but it'd sure make the world a bit more boring.
- Mind you, there's some evidence that it's actually the force of life/death that Mother implies. Desmond's exposure to the Light in "Happily Ever After" allowed him to see the flashsideways universe, and in "The End", the light that Christian Shepherd releases into the church as everybody moves on has that same hue and glow as the Light from the cave. Maybe it's both, and magic in the Lost universe comes from the power of life and death?
- In the commantary for "Across the Sea", Darlton heavily implies that the construction was done at some point between the events of that episode and "The End". Since it seems that only the Guardian has access to the cave, Jacob must have built it all, or at least directed someone to do it.
- The reason he had this done was so that the Light would have an on/off switch and could be used exactly the way that Jack and Desmond used it in the finale. Tampering with the Light in its natural form would probably be very very bad, but installing the cork allows for the Light to be put out in a (relatively) safe, controlled way and then turned on again by replacing the cork. And surrounding the cork with raw light means that not just anyone can access it, only someone with Desmond's (Jacob-given) ability to withstand its power.
- As Widmore touched on, this was Jacob's measure of last resort: if it seemed like the Man in Black was going to win and everything was in the toilet, the Light could be turned off, making the Man in Black vulnerable, and then turned on again once he's dead. The reason it's a last resort is because even this relatively safe, controlled release of Light causes the Island to start breaking apart within minutes, and there's only a small window in which to replace the cork before the Island sinks to the bottom of the ocean.
- But that reality hastily retconned itself into a quasi-afterlife because everything in it was going against its fate.
"The universe has a way of course correcting."
- The thought crossed my head while I was considering whether or not the 'extras' in the AU will move on in that world, or if they're just figments. But I considered the fact that David was obviously a rebelling teen character, and Jack was extremely worried that he ran away. Then it hit me; David did run away from home, and died without ever reconciling with his parents. He was paired up with Jack to see that even the most stubborn people can really care about you, and it's only a matter of time before David is reunited with his parents, and they all get to move on together.
Thus these fairies are the real reason behind all the weird stuff happening on the island, and do everything for their own amusement. Sometimes this leads to helping people (giving Locke his ability to walk); sometimes this means hindering them; sometimes this means doing nothing if the humans are already doing something that they find inherently interesting (such as The Others attacking and killing the members of the Hanso foundation or killing the Losties); the main thing is to see how humans react to stuff for the sake of entertainment. Even helping people overcome their character defects is for this reason because they find the character growth interesting to watch.
Not even the protectors know about them, nor does The Man in Black.
See also "Jacob didn't create the smoke monster" above, which has the same base but runs a completely different way with it.
In the flash-sideways, Desmond tells Hurley that Ana-Lucia is not ready to move on, but doesn't say why. As discussed above, the flash-sideways was a place for the characters to overcome their flaws before moving on. Ana-Lucia's biggest flaw was that she was never able to forgive people and was always seeking revenge. She does overcome this shortly before her death by choosing not to kill "Henry", but then she gets killed by Michael. Eko later tells Michael the story of the boy who killed an aggressive dog, and was then afraid of dying because he didn't want to encounter the dog again in the afterlife. This would explain why Michael's spirit stayed on the island. He's not trapped, he's just afraid of having to face Ana-Lucia in the afterlife. As implied in the epilogue, Walt eventually helps Michael move on. Michael's biggest desire in life was that he wanted to be the one to raise Walt. Since we don't see them on the plane in the flash-sideways, it's probable that Michael got his wish here and is already raising Walt in New York. Eventually he and Ana-Lucia will reunite in the flash-sideways, they will remember each other and Ana-Lucia will forgive him, overcoming her biggest flaw and making both of them ready to move on.
Well, I mean, it's obvious, isn't it?
- He did drive a flaming van into a house containing a woman and her newborn baby moments before this. This is hardly normal child behaviour to say the least. He put innocent lives into danger for no reason other than to cause a diversion. Not to mention that he also used other deceitful tactics to help Sayid escape. Seems like those traits were already present to me.
Tom knew how long it took for the polar bears to solve the fish biscuit puzzle on Hydra Island. That's because he was stationed there. He had a low-level job at Hydra, probably shoveling the polar bear feces. Some time before the purge, Ben recruited him to join the Others.