Lost Theories

One of our readers, Macgyver, sent in his theory on dying. This is his unedited theory below:

1. If your future self dies in the past your consciousness is sent to your futuret version. Meaning Charlotte’s mind went back to the kid version in the 70’s just as Desmonds would have been merged with his younger self had not Farraday saved him(the Constant). Of course, if you happen to die and the your consciousness reboots itself into your younger version, you remember nothing. (i.e Charlotte’s and Miles’ total lapse of memory, Farraday weeping for 815 with no recollection, the the note Eloise left Farraday..” I love you no matter what you remeber”).

“You do remember birthdays, Richard?”

WIDMORE: Because come tomorrow, you won’t remember I did. Daniel, the real Oceanic Flight 815 crashed on an island–a special island with unique scientific properties. I want to send you to the Island. It will further your research, show you things you’d never dream of. But more importantly, it will heal you, Daniel–your mind, your memory.

2. The Valenzetti Equation predicts the end of the world and true Dharma mission is to change one of the six core values. In the Sri Lanka Video, Alvar Hanso mentions six specific ways that would lead to the end of Humanity, mentioned in order just before he mentions the Numbers in order. 4 corresponds with ‘nuclear fire’, 8 with ‘chemical warfare’, 15 with ‘biological warfare’, 16 with ‘conventional warfare’, 23 with ‘pandemic’, 42 with ‘over-population’. Each of the six dharma stations has a corresponding number/factor to be researched with the hopes of changing. When this is accomplished they are supposed change the numbers broadcasting from the radio tower.

3. FARADAY: “In about four hours, the DHARMA folks at the swan work site–they’re gonna drill into the ground and accidentally tap into a massive pocket of energy. The result of the release of this energy would be catastrophic. So in order to contain it, they’re gonna have to cement the entire area in, like Chernobyl. And this containment–the place they built over it–I believe you called it “the Hatch.” The Swan hatch? Because of this one accident, these people are gonna spend the next 20 years keeping that energy at bay… by pressing a button… a button that your friend Desmond will one day fail to push……”-
The consequence of keeping this energy at bay is a 108 minute time loop. Think of the energy getting exponentially stronger as if the Donkey Wheel was slowly turning on it’s own. Since we can’t allow that….we simply turn the wheel back every 108 minutes. This creates a time loop effect that might have been unintentional, but surely started the whole “We can’t have babies” drama. It is also the reason for the continuing Dharma food drops, as well as the veil keeping any one from finding the islands location. Why do you think the freighter never came until after the swan imploded.

3. Everyone from the future who dies incident has their consciousness sent to there future self with no memory. SO flight 815 is pure coarse correction for all those that died in the incident.(this of course explains how everyone is mysteriously connected before the crash and why the numbers are everywhere)

4. Daniel is the cause of the incident. Jughead vs. island= bad idea. But……Daniel didn’t know that he/815 survivors cause the incident because he died and was sent to his future self with no memory. How his parents didn’t anticipate this while manipulating everyone from distance is unclear(Yet we all know the lengths Ben will take to keep some one out of the loop) Daniel reacts poorly when he discovers the losties in the wrong time. Daniel is again wrong and it WAS their(815ers) destiny to go back. Only so they can AGAIN all die just to go back again on flight 815. The only way to stop the incident/endgame is to keep their stubborn faithless selves on the island like they where supposed to in the first place . Dan did say that they ARE the variables BECAUSE of free will.

5. They should have listened to John

6. IMO, Lost will end with jack waking up the same way he did in the pilot……alone and in the jungle. They will show us Desmond again pressing the button with penny and Charlie there(killing off either of these two is just a gross miscarriage of justice). We will see the 815ers finally bow before their destiny once denied, and accept the hand fate has given them. They20will Choose to stay on the island to save the world. John will FINALLY convince Jack to just ‘believe’…. even when he has no memory of the reasons why. Who knew one tiny suicide note could capture the whole show.

“I wish you had believed”

-Macgyver

I know many of you may already be watching these weekly videos from Al Trautwig on msg.com, but I’ve been meaning to finally post a link for those who have not. I have not watched them all myself, but enjoyed the few that I have seen so far.

You might know television personality Al Trautwig from the Knicksgame, but he’s also an avid fan of “Lost.”

Link: http://msg.com/lost/

A reader sent in this interesting theory that Will and I thought warranted a post. I have posted the full text of the email below.

Namaste!

I have been following the Lost Blog for a couple of years now and I truly enjoy reading everyone’s comments and theories. Since it’s a popular site with hundreds of posts per episode, I mostly keep my thoughts to myself to save others the trouble of reading one more opinion that’s probably already expressed. Having said that, I would like to share how my boyfriend and I were able to patch things up in the increasingly intricate plot that Lost has been throwing at us. The theory below may have many holes, which is precisely the reason why I’d like to share - so that others can pick it apart and help us in our quest to understand what exactly is going on in the world of Lost…

Over dinner tonight, we got into a heated debate over the meaning of something Faraday revealed when we first confronted time travel: “it doesn’t matter what you do..” We tried to make sense out of how doing something differently in the past could not possibly change the course of events in the future. We think that it may be because instead of being just ‘parallel’, time also progresses in a ’spiral’ - sort of like the double-helix! To put this in a tangible context, we took Eko’s brother’s small plane that ended up killing Boone as our event of reference…

As we know from the current season, John Locke lands at the bottom of the cliff that holds the drug-laden plane. We don’t know this for sure, but when Locke sees the plane in the past, it is likely that the thought of bringing the plane down crosses his mind in order to save Boone’s life in the future. That thought gets quickly wiped off by Richard’s bullet that leaves John Locke temporarily paralyzed in the leg. So, Locke never gets to bring the plane down himself - and Boone ends up dead as we know it in 2004.

Now, suppose John Locke succeeds in bringing the plane down and Boone never dies in 2004. That would mean that John’s actions do indeed determine what happens in the future. If so, then should John Locke ever travel back to a time where the plane is still hanging atop that cliff, he will likely leave it untouched, having no recollection of that plane ever harming anyone. Then, come 2004, the plane remains at the cliff and ends up killing Boone. Hence, time progresses in a parallel fashion that spirals towards one ‘vortex.’ In other words, “it really doesn’t matter what you do”…

Cycle back to a time when the plane is at the top of the cliff and you’ll have John Locke bring it down again to save Boone’s life in the future…

Boone will die in one time spiral and survive in the next.

The same theory can likewise be applied to Ethan’s birth that Sawyer and Juliet unknowingly facilitate in the current season (in 1974). At the time they save Ethan’s would-be-mom, they have no idea who she is pregnant with… Then the baby turns out to be Ethan, who penetrates into the group of our survivors in 2004 before getting killed. If Juliet and Sawyer get a chance to go back to 1974, knowing that Ethan is the baby in his mother’s womb, they may not choose to help her out when she is harassed by ‘the others’ - meaning, Ethan is never born and our survivors never meet him in 2004. If they ever go back to 1974, however, having never come across with Ethan, they will once again rescue his mom and facilitate his birth. And so on and so forth.

That’s our theory in a nutshell. I apologize in advance if this has already been brought up, or it makes no sense, or it’s incoherent…

We look forward to having fellow Losties pick it apart.

Best,
Zeynep & Mert.

Thoughts?

This theory was sent in by our friend Hammer.

Valenzetti came up with a formula that predicts the end of the world. The numbers are the factors. What if DHARMA or anyone for that matter messed something up by changing something in the past?

Valenzetti’s equation found the resulting ‘D Day’ so to speak. DHARMA used the island to try to find a way to change one of the factors to ’save’ the world, but was stopped by the purge. Now, Ms. Hawking has found the island and now knows that they have 70 hours until the end of world. In effect, Ben’s group is trying to change a number to ’save us all’.

Is Ms. Hawking’s scribblings actually Valenzetti’s equation?

I couldn’t wrap my head around why the world (yes I am assuming that Ms. Hawking means the world and not just her people) is in trouble if the group doesn’t get back to the island. I mean to ask, “What is the REAL reason why they have to get back?” Yes to save the world, but WHY? What does it un-change or better yet change? So I started pondering recurring themes. And BANG, the numbers. They told us about them early on for a reason.

I am thinking that the Swan’s caretakers really were saving the world, then Desmond turned the key and we had the purple sky event with a huge discharge, which set off the chain of events that has us where we are today, trying to fix everything and save the world.

Sent in by the always insightful poster Hammer, he explains his theory on the whispers and we posted his unedited thoughts below. Thanks, Hammer.

As most of you are already aware there are whispers that are often heard when apparitions appear, when manifestations of Smokey appear, when Smokey as the black cloud appears and as RGS recently pointed out here sometimes when Others appear. These whispers seem to be from characters that have died on the island (and maybe some that have died off the island). I theorize that when characters die, some or maybe even all of them become Whisperers. Many of the interpretations (done by folks with the needed equipment and accuracy has not been verified) seem to be comments that would or could be made by characters that have died.

For example Boone could have been in the following exchange Sayid and Shannon were in the jungle in “The Other 48 Days”:

**”Shannon”
“She likes the guy, she likes the guy”
“Shannon”
“Your life and time is up”
“Help me”
“Shannon, meet me on the other side”
“Her song” (’Ana-Lucia’ when reversed)
(Gun shot)

This second example seems to show that the Whisperers are part of the security system because of the “intruder” statement and alarms going off. Also one of the Whisperers may by Yemi speaking from experience of a plane crash:

**”There may be something, but it may be slack”
“Let’s go”
“Has he seen us?”
(Alarms go off)
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry”
“Intruder, Intruder”
“Hide against the bushes”
“Open the door”
“I know what it’s like for a plane to crash”
“Complain, complain, complain”
“I know what you said, but…”

There are many more examples.

Because jaime recently pointed out here that the hieroglyphics may be a hint that Ben summoned Smokey and the fact that the whispers and Smokey often appear separately, I now believe that the Whisperers and Smokey are related in that they are both part of the island’s security system but are separate entities.

Danielle Rousseau at one time referred to the “Monster” as the security system. I feel that Ben sort of proved it by inviting Smokey into camp to stop the attack from the freight folks.

Admittedly, the validity of this theory relies heavily on the accuracy of the interpretations of both the whispers the hieroglyphics transcripts.

Please help improve or debunk.

**Quote taken from lostpedia.com.

Given the amount of discussion devoted recently to the possibility of time travel and/or distortion, a good friend emailed me a link to the following theory - some of you may have already seen this, and even though it has a few holes in it, this theory definitely has some sound thought behind it.

Further, I think Ben’s comments about Widmore “changing the rules” apply pretty well under some version of the theory outlined above. Anyway, I thought I would point this out to get your thoughts, and because though I do not whole-heartedly embrace everything behind this particular theory, I definitely believe the general idea is plausible.

Let me know what you think.

-Jeff Jensen of EW.com recently posted an interesting theory related to a special ability that Ben might possess, an interview with actor/director/Lost fan Kevin Smith and some other info related to our favorite show:

Like Desmond, Ben receives flashes of the future, too. Of course, while Old Bug Eyes has been on The Island longer, and has actively cultivated a deeper rapport with The Island (or is that just Jacob?), Big Bad Ben has banked many, many, many more flashes than the formerly Hatched-trapped Scot.

Jensen goes on to further support the theory, but I do think that it could at least provide the rationalization for why Ben continues on in his current state of existence. It would also explain why he was so adamant about the demise of the Island which the people that are coming at the conclusion of Season 3 represent.

Related to the other reference of The Island and Jacob above, I have also noted this theory found on Dark UFO, which suggests they may be one in the same. I think the prospect of Jacob being a manifestation and communicable form of the Island is more likely than he actually being a living/breathing person with supernatural abilities, specifically given Cuse’s recent comment about the depiction of Jacob in Season 4, etc.

I know there is still a lot of speculation in regards to the official air date for Season 4, and though there is still no “official” word, I am seeing reports that suggest it will remain on Wednesday night, with the time slot TBD. My understanding is that the date and time will be made official within the next few weeks, one way or the other, with the day either being Monday or Wednesday. Which would you prefer?

I am using this post to list a few books you may want to read during the hiatus (if you have not already). Please feel free to contribute your thoughts about previous readings and make your own recommendations:

Flashforward

A science experiment that unwittingly shuts down all human consciousness for two minutes is the catalyst for a creative exploration of fate, free will and the nature of the universe in Sawyer’s soul-searching new work (after Factoring Humanity). In April 2009, Lloyd and Theo, two scientists at the European Organization for Particle Physics (CERN), run an experiment that accidentally transports the world’s consciousness 20 years into the future. When humanity reawakens a moment later, chaos rules. Vehicles whose drivers passed out plow into one another; people fall or maim themselves. But that’s just the beginning. After the horror is sorted out, each character tries desperately to ensure or avoid his or her future. Trapped by his guilt for causing so much destruction and driven by a need to rationalize, Lloyd tries to prove that free will is a myth. Theo discovers that he will be murdered and begins to hunt down his killerAtempting fate as in the Greek dramas of his ancestors. Some people start on their appointed roads early, others give up on life because of what they’ve seen. Using a third-person omniscient narrator, Sawyer shifts seamlessly among the perspectives of his many characters, anchoring the story in small details. This first-rate, philosophical journey, a terrific example of idea-driven SF, should have wide appeal.

More Info

The Moon Pool

Set on the island of Ponape, full of ruins from ancient civilizations, the novel chronicles the adventures of a party of explorers who discover a previously unknown underground world full of strange peoples and super-scientific wonders. From the depths of this world, the party unwittingly unleashes the Dweller, a monstrous terror that threatens the islands of the South Pacific. Although Merritt did not invent the lost world novel, following in the footsteps of Jules Verne, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Burroughs and others, he greatly elaborated upon that tradition.

Link to Read

Living Lost

Miracles, viruses, plane crashes and acts of terror perpetrated by a group of Others. This is the perplexing and radical world created by J.J. Abrams in his hit television show, LOST. Joley Wood, with wit and insight, explores the show’ss quirky details, and argues for an idea as weird as the show itself: That we’re all stuck on the island.

This book is a little dated, but if you have read J Wood’s blog then you know this book is definitely full of insight.

More Info

Here is a link to another great resource related to all of the books that have been alluded to or specifically referenced in Lost. What other books would you recommend? Thoughts about those you have read already because of the show?

Thanks to contributor “Aonghus Fallon” for this particular theory that covers multiple mysteries related to the show in a thought-provoking manner (minor editing by me):

Two of the most ancient myths known to man deal with exile. The first man and woman lived in a beautiful garden, immortal and unchanging – until they were tempted to eat the forbidden fruit of knowledge by the serpent. They were driven out of the garden and prevented from ever entering it again by an angel. The second myth concerns an angel who rises up against his father/creator and is exiled from heaven as a result. Some day he and his minions plan to storm the gates of heaven once more.

I think ‘Lost’ combines these two myths and tries to establish that they have a common ancestry.

THE ISLAND.
The island is the origin of all possible realities – as it is the origin of man and woman. It is also the location of the ‘Garden of Eden’, and the inhabitants of the island experience the beneficial effects of the island’s peculiar reality in the same way as did Adam and Even. To live on the island is to live in a state of stasis, immortal and unchanging, but equally unable to reproduce. Adam and Eve only procreated after leaving the garden.

THE GARDEN.
The ‘garden’ is located on the far side of the island. This is inhabited by a being who had a crucial role in the evolution of the human species, intentionally or otherwise. The actual nature of this ‘garden’ has become shrouded in myth. It might not be a ‘garden’ as such, anymore than it might contain a literal ‘tree of knowledge’ – but it does contain something worth having.

ANGELS.
The garden is protected by a creature which our ancestors might have described as an ‘angel’ but which Rousseau more accurately describes as a ‘security system.’ The biblical Jacob fought an angel, often believed to be samael, also known as the accuser. I can only assume the two ‘angels’ have been contracted into one. This would explain the peculiar effect the ‘angel’ has on those who confront it – how it takes the form of somebody they mistreated.

JACOB.
Jacob is a being who rose up against his creator, his ‘father’ and who was driven out of the garden as a result. This same Jacob encouraged man (another of his ‘father’s’ creations) to take the vital evolutionary step that resulted in his own ejection from the garden.

Jacob is determined to re-enter the garden, by force if necessary, and with this end in mind is recruiting a tribe of like-minded individuals - in the bible, Jacob was a jewish patriarch. This ‘tribe’ consists of his allies from the original insurrection along with anybody else who has ended up on the island in the meantime.

By ‘like-minded’ I mean Jacob is only interested in people willing to challenge the father-figure. If they have brought about their fathers’ deaths or – even better – killed their fathers, this makes them kindred souls. Just as only a truly holy person can see the face of God, your ability to see Jacob (or his willingness to be seen) depends on how great a role you played in your father’s demise. Ben assumes Locke will see Jacob after killing his natural father, not realising that Locke has only engineered his father’s death rather than killed him outright – ie. he got Sawyer to do the dirty work. Thus Locke only glimpses Jacob. He also hears him. Nonetheless, Ben is furious that Jacob permits Locke even this much, given that Locke hasn’t fulfilled the necessary criteria for tribe membership.

THE DHARMA INITIATIVE.
Direct exposure to the electro-magnetic field (located at the island’s core) leaves an individual with precognitive abilities – e.g. Des. The Initiative was set up with the intention of exploiting this feature for the greater good. People were immersed in this electro-magnetic field and then left the island as agents.Their role was to use their precognitive powers to influence the destiny of the world – ‘their’ world – in a positive way.

JOHN LOCKE.
In time the Initiative became aware of the garden’s existence as well as its importance. A group of precogs, permanently based on the island, established that Jacob’s army would attack the garden at some later stage. An exploration of all possible outcomes revealed that one key individual could successfully protect the garden and ensure that this attack failed – John Locke.

DHARMA VS. JACOB.
The Dharma Initiative’s decision to ensure John Locke’s arrival on the island via their powers brought them into conflict with Jacob’s tribe. A member of the initiative – Ben Linus – was recruited by the tribe and all members of the Iniative present on the island at that time were killed. The apparatus built by the Initiative was then used to create more precogs. However these precogs were dedicated to exploring how Jacob might succeed rather than fail in his attack on the garden. It became apparent that, just as Locke was crucial to the successful protection of the garden, there were others inhabiting his reality who would be crucial to Jacob’s cause.

THE CRASH.
The plane crash was orchestrated by Dharma field agents to ensure John Locke’s arrival on the island. However, Jacob’s field agents ensured a number of potential recruits were also on board.

FREE WILL.
Why not approach the people involved directly? From a very early stage it became apparent that a successful outcome was only possible (for either side) if events unfolded in a specific manner and order, the plane crash being a crucial example. I say either side because, whereas precogs can influence events, they cannot affect free will. Bringing John Locke to the island does not guarantee he will do as he is expected – although (once on the island) it is inevitable that he reach a point where he be given the opportunity to protect the garden. This is his ‘destiny’. Thus Ben’s attempts to sabotage this destiny – by trying to recruit Locke and then kill him – were doomed from the outset and show he is losing his grip.

It has been a week now and the dust has settled (mostly) from the mind-blowing Season 3 finale. Though we are undoubtedly left with many questions to keep us occupied until next February, we were provided some closure as well. In summary:

Charlie is dead

There was a lot of commentary associated with the finale post related to how Charlie died and exactly why he did not try to escape from the control panel room as it filled with water. Ultimately Charlie believed that for the Losties to be rescued from the Island, specifically Claire and Aaron, he had to die in the way that Desmond envisioned. Bringing finality to season-long foreshadowing and in truly heroic fashion, he initiated the catalyst that will inevitably cause some of the Losties to get off the Island.

So are 12 Others, Naomi, and (possibly) Mikhail

The action and body count in this episode was unbelievable. We saw the Others’ rank and file decimated throughout the finale, Naomi literally stabbed in the back by Locke, and Mikhail detonate himself via hand grenade. However, I am not going to make the silly assumption that Mikhail is dead; after all, we have now seen him bounce back from the sensor pylons and a spear to the chest. We will probably see him wash ashore in Season 4 alive, but missing his right hand.

Though I generally agreed with it, I thought that Sawyer’s execution of Tom was the foreshadowing of an even darker descent for the character that we will see next season.

“Not Penny’s Boat”

During Charlie’s brief commune with Penny, we are told that Penny does not know of Naomi, which basically begs the question “Who is Naomi with?”. My first guess would be Dharma, or the corporate entity that financed the Dharma Initiative. She obviously has access to sophisticated technology and knows enough about Desmond’s back story to use that as the means to convince the Losties of her motives. Widmore anyone? Hopefully Desmond can get back in time to save the Losties from whomever is on their way to “rescue” them.

Future Jack is Depressing

As Jack is one of my personal favorite characters, I am hoping the flash forward we saw represents a “possible” future for Jack, and not the absolute. If it is Jack’s future, I would hope he finds a way back to the Island to right the wrong he feels needs to be addressed, and to find some greater meaning for his life. J. Wood, whose blog I have read frequently this season, discussed the flash forward in his TTLG post and it is definitely worth reading:

I’m planting a flag here — when Des saved Charlie, he changed that past and present as well as the future. Charlie couldn’t swim in the first season, and he’s all of a sudden a swimming champion who makes an impressive dive in “Greatest Hits,” a dive that Mikhail needed scuba gear for. Like Charlie’s newfound innate swimming ability, perhaps in the re-made past/present/future, Christian Shepherd didn’t die. And maybe that’s why Kate seems to be conspicuously lacking her trademark freckles.

The flash forward itself implies an even greater question for next season, and that is, did the Season 3 finale represent a change in the narrative angle for the entire series? Was the flash forward a one-time episodic plot device, or is this what we can expect moving forward?

Is Ben a bad guy, or a morally-challenged good guy?

Seeing Jack in his current state of depression made me think that Ben is really the only one who has this whole thing figured out, and is ultimately doing whatever is necessary to protect the location of the Island from the people looking to exploit it. There was obviously some merit to his comments about the company that Naomi was keeping, and his dialogue related to Jack’s need to get back to civilization, though stinging, was the truth. Nevertheless, it was somewhat cathartic to see Jack pummel Ben. For those that haven’t seen it yet, there are some pretty good transcriptions of Ben’s diary out there.

Who was in the casket?

There has been a lot of speculation about this; it could be Locke, Sawyer, or Ben, or anyone else under the guise of a different name. In my opinion, it is probably either Ben or someone we have yet to meet on the series. Jack commented that the person was neither friend nor relative, and the reaction evoked from Kate would indicate it was somebody that there was a general level of contempt for.

Season 4 cannot get here quick enough, and I am excited to learn more about everything referenced above, as well as where Locke has migrated off to, where exactly is this temple that Ben has sent the remaining Others to, and did we really see Walt, or was that a reincarnation of Smokey? Could Walt have some tie to Jacob?

We will continue to try and keep things interesting on this blog, following any information released about the series, the actors, and making some changes along the way to prepare for a better Season 4 Lost Blog experience. We are working on initiating a theory-focused contest and will have more information on that in the coming weeks.

Until then, stay Lost.