Worlds Collide... Or Continue On Together? His Dark Materials Reflections by Cadence 1

After Happily Ever After, DarkUFO has been flooded with theories about one timeline winning out over the other. This is definitely something that I subscribe to; however, I would like to explain why I think it is possible that both worlds live on. All of my arguments take character resolution into account so it doesn’t really deal with the mythology that much.

1. The ALT alone survives:

Reason against:

Most people assume that for this to work out, our Losties’ minds will have to migrate from the Island world to the ALT. Sure it would lead to the last 5 seasons still mattering… but it would be a little too perfect and sappy. They could make it so that they don’t remember specific events, but rather, how they all feel about each other… but what would be the point of all of that sacrifice? Death would have no meaning. I assume that more of our Losties will die before we are through with the series and having the ALT survive as they all die off and transfer would be kind of lame.

Reason for:

Juliet and Sawyer have to go Dutch on coffee. As simple as this idea is, this is the strongest argument I have for the ALT surviving in some shape or form. What would be the point of a season opening mystery/potential happy ending for Sawyer and Juliet when it won’t actually happen? For Juliet’s statement to matter they will have to go on a date in the ALT and that reality has to continue to exist.

2. The Island world survives:

Reasons against:

I honestly can’t think of one.

Reasons for:

It’s the world that matters most to us.
We have followed island adventures for the last five years and for the island and all of our Losties to just disappear would be unpleasant for many fans to stomach.

Children!
Seriously, we can’t abandon 3 year old Aaron and Ji Yeon. Yeah fate could conspire to give Claire and Sun the same children in the ALT… but it wouldn’t be the same.


Daniel is sketched out by the ALT.
He said that it was wrong somehow. If an entire world is wrong, then it can has to be put right. Perhaps putting things right involves the ALT ceasing to exist in favour of the right world (island world).

3. Both continue on:

If you haven’t read the Golden Compass or its sequels and plan on doing so, then considered yourself alerted to spoilers.

The Golden Compass series involves a bunch of alternate universes. Although the characters can travel between them A) spending too long in a reality that isn’t your own will kill you and B) all of the doors between universes have to be closed (save for one) in order to save all of the universes from destruction. The main characters, star crossed lovers from different worlds, make the choice to leave a door open to save people from the world of the dead. This means that they have to leave each other for the duration of their lives since they can’t stay in one world together, nor can they leave a dProxy-Connection: keep-alive
Cache-Control: max-age=0

r open between their worlds. I was a weeping mess at the age of 11 when I first read it and still would be today.

If Lost ended similarly, it would bring satisfying AND bittersweet endings to all of our character’s stories.

The way this would work out is that our characters will wind up in one of the two timelines depending on their actions. Dead island characters can only exist in the ALT and dead ALT characters wind up in the main timeline. I don’t know what would happen if you die in both. For this to be done effectively, the characters that wind up in the ALT must remember the island timeline to some degree. The other catch is that many of those who wind up in the ALT do so by doing something that will involve sacrificing themselves for their friends in the island timeline.

Examples:

Perhaps someone like Hurley is important to the island world and has to survive there, maybe as an advisor like Richard, or even as the new Jacob. He has a chance at happiness with Libby in the ALT, but he has to do something in the MTL that won’t give him his happy ending.

I see Sawyer as likely sacrificing himself to save all of his friends. Although he gets his happy ending with Juliet, he will never see any of his island friends again.

Jack confuses me within the context of this theory. Maybe it would be better for him to get to the ALT to be with his son (making way for an ultimate island world sacrifice)? This could be effective if Kate is stuck in the island world. It would end the Skater/Jater war and be kind of cool. I say that as someone who doesn’t loathe Kate, so no flaming please.

Locke is an interesting one. I think something along the lines of Locke4God’s most recent theory will happen.

http://theoriesonlost.blogspot.com/2010/04/alt-locke-remembering-will-matter-by.html

This could mean that Locke dies in both timelines, making him ultimately someone who mattered (versus a sad little man).

I see the Golden Compass ending applying directly to Sun and Jin. I think that Jin will survive in the island world. He will make it off the island and his final scene could involve him meeting his daughter for the first time. Sun, however, will not make it, though they should definitely get a brief island reunion before she dies. In the ALT, the doctors save Sun and her baby, but Jin is still whacked by Mr. Paik. Or something. Two instances of Ji Yeon, but each parent is trapped in an alternate world. It’s tragic, cry-worthy, and totally awesome.

Regardless of my examples above, this provides us with reason for the ALT to survive (Sawyer and Juliet) while allowing the main timeline to exist with the likes of Hurley, Jack, maybe Kate, and Jin.

Having these close friends and lovers trapped behind the doors of a universe would be a ridiculously sad, but awesome ending. I don’t see this necessarily playing out, there are too many flaws and potential problems with the idea, but I for one would be happy if it did. This is just some food for thought ☺.

You may now tear it apart.