I think we should do what Ashes To Ashes did and create a Lost Spoilers page.

I think having spoilers for the latest season is a pretty good policy; I know some people haven't had the opportunity to see the last episodes yet (being in another country or something) and I don't think it's entirely fair to say "if you don't want to be spoiled for things that haven't aired yet where you live, stay off the page". I do think that spoiling for things that have been out on DVD for a while is kind of silly, though, and people who are just starting the show now should know better than to go to the page.

Agreed. I'm sorry to whoever wrote the whole summary, but it's not really the place for it.

All right, here's what I cut out for starters. If anyone wants to move this to a synopsis or recap page, be my guest, and good luck with the Wall Of Text.

, that can heal the crippled and dying. There is a hatch, where a Scottish guy named Desmond furiously types in a "cursed" set of numbers every 108 minutes to release electro-magnetic energy from a botched experiment conducted by a scientific research organization named "The Dharma Initiative". But more important, there are other people on the island. Led by the villainous Benjamin Linus and his mysterious master known as Jacob, "The Others" have been living on the island for a long time and are not afraid of using violence to kill those they consider to be tresspassers on the island.

At the end of season three, the flashbacks give way to "flash forwards", as we skip ahead three years to the revelation that six castaways escaped the island. Season four tells two tales: how the "Oceanic Six" are forced to flee the island when Billionaire industrialist (and former leader of "The Others") Charles Widmore sends mercenaries (and a quartet of civilians) on the freighter Kahana to secure the island in the name of "rescuing" the castaways, and the Oceanic Six's attempt to return to their normal lives, even as Widmore and the treacherous Benjamin Linus seek to force the six back to the island.

Season five reveals that John Locke "moved" the island backwards in time, ultimately taking the remaining castaways/freighter science team with him when they arrive on the island all the way back to the year 1977. There they accidentally cause the events that turn a twelve year old Benjamin Linus into the sociopath he ultimately became, as fight the Dharma Initiative as they try and prevent the incident that caused the creation of the hatch and their plane crash. Meanwhile in the present, Linus confronts his master Jacob as shocking revelations about Locke's death and resurrection following his moving of the island. The Smoke Monster returns, as Jacob's role in everything that has happened leading up to this point has the castaways forced to fight to survive as the Smoke Monster schemes to eliminate the castaway that Jacob has designated as his replacement as guardian of the island.

Okay, here it is, what you all want. With all the BS taken out, this “short” spoiler explains the “Lost” universe and it’s plot in the most succinct way I can think of. It's not a prank or a cop-out, I assure you. Hopefully it will give closure to those who don’t want to wade through hundreds of pages of explanation. If anyone feels they can explain more succinctly, please, don’t only feel free to edit this, feel it is your duty to clean this up and make it as clear and simply stated as possible. Also, mark whatever tropes you see please. BEWARE, THIS SPOILS THE ENTIRE SERIES. At the center of the island is a well. The well glows with energy. At the bottom of the well is a magical keystone that acts as a cork. The well and keystone are the source of all life and energy on earth, of course they refer to it in a more artsy way, “Life and rebirth…” blah, blah, blah. When the keystone is taken out of its place the energy dissipates, the Island starts to sink, and the earth starts to be destroyed. So there you go, that’s the setting of this universe, magic island with magic cork that’s the center of the earths existence. The Island can travel through time because...well, it’s the center of existence, it’s just that powerful. (A lot of it involves electromagnetism, which is connected to the island's power and strange properties, seems to give it an aura that makes it effectively alive and sort of a character in the show, and creates an energy bubble around it that makes it invisible to anyone who isn't real close.) The island has a human protector with superpowers to make sure the cork isn’t taken out. For thousands of years it was a woman. The woman eventually stole 2 kids and raised them, planning to make one of them the new protector. One of the kids turned evil. The protector woman transferred her power to the good one, Jacob, and then was killed by the bad one, whom is only ever given the name "The Man in Black". Jacob confronted The Man in Black for committing the murder and fought him, eventually dragging him to the well. Jacob dropped the Man in Black into the well because the previous protector had told him before she died that falling into the well is a “fate worse than death”. Jacob probably thought it would destroy his soul or something, but it turns out that falling into the well turned The Man in Black into an immortal monster (The black smoke monster to be exact) and gave him the ability to take on the forms of anyone who has died. For thousands of years, Jacob tried to remedy his mistake and find a way to kill The Man in Black. Using his supernatural powers, he drew people to the island time after time via shipwrecks, planecrashes, and other methods. His reasons for doing so were to: (#1) help him destroy The Man in Black (a task now necessary since the Man in Black had become chaotic evil, and intended to take out the keystone and destroy the earth); (#2) prove to The Man in Black that people are not inherently corrupt and can change for the better and do not all deserve to be destroyed; and (#3) because he was trying to find a worthy replacement for himself as protector of the island. Eventually, after some time travel, one of the people who crashed on the island (Ben) stabs Jacob because of a Xanatos Gambit The Man in Black was running that fooled him into thinking Jacob was the bad guy. Jacob's ghost gathers and talks to the remaining survivors whom he'd brought, explains to them about their candidacy and all, and appoints one of them (Jack). Jack becomes the new protector. Then, with Jacob out of the way The Man in Black forces the remaining survivors and someone else (Desmond) whom it's best not to get into here, to help him take out the keystone. This sets in motion the destruction of earth, but also makes the Man in Black mortal. Jack kills the Man in Black, but gets injured himself and dies. They put the keystone back and all is well. The protectorship is transferred to a candidate named Hurley. The end. Also, there was this group of scientists called the Dharma Initiative who used to be stationed on the island. They were trying to harness the power of the island to change the date of doomsday (which is somehow calculated using the 4-8-15-16-23-42 numbers, which had become a common code or motif throughout the show, and were supposed to be the core values of an equation predicting when the world will end) to never. They failed, but the world doesn't end (or hasn't yet by the end of the show). The Dharma folks were also behind the polar bears on the island, which were among their genetic modification experiments.

How about the guardian of a creepy magical Island makes a plane crash onto it to find a replacement?