What Will Happen To Miles by Question Mark

A number of theories have tried to forecast what has happened to the Losties after the bomb exploded, and if they'll be sent forward in time from 1977 to 2007. Jacob's touch as been posited as the reason that they'll be able to move in time, or retain their memories in the event of a time reset, etc.

But those theories only seem to apply to Jin, Sayid, Kate, Sawyer, Hurley and Jack --- the original Losties who were on Flight 815 in the first place. There were two characters in 1977 that Jacob didn't touch. One was Juliet, who we can presume (?) is dead. The other is Miles, who is apparently alive and well. We never saw a flashback of Jacob touching Miles, so if his touch can have some kind of magical effect, it won't do anything to Miles.

Here's my theory: the season will begin with the 815ers all either in 2007 or back on the original flight in a new timeline. But Miles won't be a part of it. We might not see any of him for a few episodes, until the Losties finally make their way to the Temple....and they find Miles, alive and well and in his 60's. Then we'll get a flashback episode of Miles waking up after the Jughead explosion, surprised to find his friends all vanished. He'll then get taken prisoner by the remaining Dharma Initiative before being busted out by Richard and the Others (or freed by his father, Dr. Chang) and Miles will end up at the Temple.

It will be through Miles that the Others will learn the backstories of the Oceanic 815 so they'll be prepared for the crash in 2004. After spending three years living with working with Sawyer, Juliet and Jin, Miles will know all sorts of intimate details about their lives, such as the fact that Sawyer killed that guy in Australia before getting on the flight (a fact that nobody knew about until Juliet revealed it back in Season Three). Heck, Miles might even be the one that recommended Juliet to the Others in the first place when they were looking for a fertility expert.

So why did Juliet not know of Miles during her time with the Others? That's because Miles was kept at the Temple for the entirety of his tenure on the Island. The Temple is a sacred place on the Island and can only be accessed by certain special personages. Richard qualifies due to his immortality, and Miles ends up qualifying due to his ability to listen to the dead. Richard may find this skill particularly useful if he and Jacob are trying to keep tabs on the Man In Black trying to take over another body. When Oceanic 815 finally crashes, Miles doesn't try to make contact himself and interfere since (as you recall) he wholeheartedly believed in the concept of what happened, happened.

This theory takes care of a few different things. For one, it lets us wrap up some of the loose ends of the Dharma storyline by leaving someone behind in 1977 through whom the audience can see what happens to Chang, Horace, Amy, etc. It also explains why we didn't see Miles get touched by Jacob in the last season finale. Miles' 30 years on the Island and as an Other is also a good outlet for explaining why the Others had the intel to stay a step ahead of the Losties at all times.