Life, Death, Time and Jacob by jhisc9999

Life and death is a huge theme in Lost. I’ve been wondering what the rules are regarding changes in the timeline. We’ve heard Faraday’s explanation of pebbles and boulders, albeit in a deleted scene, and I can’t help but wonder about Michael and why the “island” wouldn’t let him die. It’s as though the island was protecting the timeline because Michael was needed at a later point. If that’s the case, then “boulders” don’t seem to be allowed. Why didn’t Michael have the free will to off himself?

Sayid shoots Ben. You could say that the island wouldn’t let Ben die, but why did it let him get shot in the first place? Why didn’t the gun just jam? Perhaps because it was ok to be shot as long as he didn’t die. Such an event would then only amount to one of Faraday's pebbles and self-correction would occur. In other words, somehow Ben would get back to Dharmaville and eventually everything would go back to normal. Similarly, Michael was allowed to wreck his car (and himself). He just couldn’t die. His gun jammed because the universe or island had limited options in keeping him alive at that point.

If Sayid had killed Ben, clearly that would have been a boulder. If Michael had killed himself, that may have been a boulder also. So are boulders not allowed? Is time change permitted? I think it is. I think it is something else that is not allowed. I don’t think you can kill someone before it is their time to die. Likewise, you can try to save someone, but the universe will get him/her sooner or later. Their time is up and that’s that.

So what does this mean? Boulders are allowed only so long as they don’t change life and death. People with their free will are variables, but life and death are constants. This means that the H-bomb could not explode. If it did detonate, then it’s energy was absorbed. Otherwise, people would have died before their time. If it succeeded as a boulder, then everyone who would have been spared in the future will still die around that time, but by another means.

Others have posted similar suggestions. What I’m saying is that there are no pebbles and boulders in the sense that Faraday suggested. There are just different size rocks that have relative and varying lasting effects. Eventually the effects fade because no matter how big the rock is, it is subject to the rules. To put a twist on the metaphor, think of life and death as boulders in the bottom of a stream. You can divert water from one side of the stream to another, but eventually the presence of the boulders will re-establish the current through resistance.

Finally, my theory. How is it that so many people survived the crash? They survived because they were not allowed to die. Even Locke pointed out that they shouldn’t have survived that crash. They were manipulated by Jacob to be on that plane, which he knew was going to crash. I don’t think they were supposed to be on the plane. It wasn’t their time to die, so they didn’t. It is Jacob who is changing time and using the rules to his advantage.

What do you think?