Locke was right.
The survivors of Oceanic 815 were brought to the island for a reason. There is not just one reason in the aggregate, but rather they individually have purposes. But now that six have left, all hell has broken loose.
It started with a slowly festering problem: the Dharma Initiative found the island and began exploiting its power. By appropriating the island's power for their own purposes, that power began depleting at an exponential rate. So, those dedicated to protecting the island orchestrated the Purge, effectively killing off all those who were responsible for what was, for lack of a better term, "killing" the island.
To further insulate the island from the threat posed by Dharma, these protectors of the island - the Others - did something they hoped to never have to do again: they moved the island, effectively hiding it from its oppressors. But we'll get back to exactly what doing so achieved later.
With the island freshly moved, the Others set to work trying to fix the island. Evidence of what was happening was everywhere. Pregnant women were dying. People began dying natural deaths on an island whose greatest power was the ability to heal - to prevent such things from happening. This power wasn't completely lost, but it was fading. However, the Others' new leader, Ben Linus, was doing the equivalent of putting a band-aid on a bullet wound: he was trying to find out what was causing pregnant women to die and fixing it. What he needed to be doing was fixing the problem, and not the symptoms.
What's worse, the Others did not know how to help the island without reluctantly utilizing the very stations that drained it of its strength, adopting the Looking Glass station to jam communications from the island, such as the numbers station communication broadcasting the island's secret coordinates, and adopting the Hydra and the Staff to conduct their experiments. These efforts were met with little success.
But many Others still had faith. So did the island. Which is why when Ben got a tumor on his spine, and the island couldn't help him, the island brought him a spinal surgeon, one Jack Shephard. But even Jack's removal of that tumor didn't halp Ben achieve his goal. Something - some vestige of Dharma - was still holding on.
Ben didn't know about the Swan. It remained hidden - the last Dharma station the Others would find. And while the Others continued to try to help the island, Desmond David Hume - a shipwreck survivor stuck in a hatch that was largely abandoned* - continued one of Dharma's missions, inhibiting the island's once-unfettered power by venting the island's electromagnetic energy.
And then, without warning, Hume used the failsafe to destroy the electromagnetic anomaly altogether, dealing a terrible blow to the island while simultaneously exposing it to the world - and the powers behind the Dharma Initiative, such as Charles Widmore. Without hesitation, Widmore sent a freighter to find the island and reclaim it. The island lost faith in Benjamin Linus.
So, it began cultivating its relationship with another man brought to the island for a reason: John Locke, the ace in the hole. The island brought Locke to it, granted him the use of his legs, and made sure he survived in case he was needed. When Locke began doubting himself, the island would take away the gift it gave him, slowly making his legs fail him. When his faith was renewed, his legs were given back. When Locke vocalized his loss of faith to others, the island took his voice until that faith was restored.
And the very first time Locke met the island, it said two words to him, in its weakened voice: Help me.
So, Locke began his quest to do just that. With Widmore's freighter people looking for the island, he had to take action fast. If the freighter people were to find the island, it would mean the end. There would be no one left to protect it, as Keamy and his team would kill everyone, leaving the island for Widmore exclusively. So when Naomi went to call her people, Locke killed her. When Jack did the same, he would have killed him - except he had no bullets in his gun to do so. Thus, Jack called the freighter people, bringing the island closer to its demise than ever before.
Widmore now knew where the island was. There was only one thing left to do: move the island again. But the island knew it still needed Jack - and all the survivors - to save it**. So, when Jack, as leader of the Losties, was about to get them all off the island, it used what little strength it has left to make him sick with an afflicting that requires immediate surgery to remedy. However, the island was incapable of overcoming even the will of ordinary men. Indeed, it had become quite weak.
Thus, the Oceanic 6 escape the island. To illustrate precisely how far Ben had fallen out of touch with the island's needs, Ben actually lets them go, forgetting the crucial fact that EVERYONE was brought to the island for a reason.
Locke receives instructions from the island to move it again. Since Widmore knows where the island is again, it is necessary to do so. Thus, Ben is concerned very little with the fact that Keamy and his men would move with the island. He is less worried about the 6 men with guns on the island than the dozens, or even hundreds, more that would follow when Widmore failed to obtain the island. So the island gets moved.
But where? This is the wrong question to ask. The real question is when. And when the island moved to is approximately three years into the future. Therefore, even though the departure of the Oceanic 6 was alleged by Jeremy Bentham*** to have devastating consequences on the island (imagine even healthy people dropping dead on the island for no apparent reason, and an island slowly slinking away from existence), Mr. Bentham does not start soliciting their return for three years. In reality, Bentham left the island immediately after the O6 left, as the consequences of their leaving and the toll moving the island took on it were immediately apparent.
So where will the story go from here?
In Season 5, the "present" of the show will be our present. It is unlikely that flash-forwards will be employed, but flashbacks will fill in gaps in what happened with the Oceanic 6, show Ben on his quest to kill Penny (keeping Desmond on the call sheets!), and briefly depict the consequences of moving the island and the O6's departure from it (including Locke leaving the island and soliciting their return). By the end of Season 5, everyone necessary will finally make it back to the island.
Season 6 will depict, in some way I cannot yet ascertain, how their return will put the island back to normal. In the final season of Lost, there will be no flashbacks. Instead, we will have a linear story that gives us the end of Lost. However, there could be some flash-forward at the very end, depicting how Jack and Kate end up dying, hand-in-hand, to be known as Adam and Eve, after the island gets moved a third time - well into the past - to try to stop Dharma from ever reaching the island in the first place.
Anyway, I certainly don't suggest that this theory is 100% accurate, but with the exception of the ambiguous parts that I cannot get a firm grasp on myself, I think it is quite possible that this represents the general timeline and idea of Lost's mythology.
__________________________________________________________
*This theory cannot explain the who, how, or why of the pallet of Dharma food. I've got news for you... I don't think the show will ever satisfactorily explain it either.
**This theory does not purport to explain exactly what further purpose many of the 815ers will serve in saving the island, but accepts the suggestion that it is true.
***Bentham's true identity will remain a mystery for the purpose of not ruining everything about the S4 finale for those who haven't yet seen it.
Theory by Ryan
The survivors of Oceanic 815 were brought to the island for a reason. There is not just one reason in the aggregate, but rather they individually have purposes. But now that six have left, all hell has broken loose.
It started with a slowly festering problem: the Dharma Initiative found the island and began exploiting its power. By appropriating the island's power for their own purposes, that power began depleting at an exponential rate. So, those dedicated to protecting the island orchestrated the Purge, effectively killing off all those who were responsible for what was, for lack of a better term, "killing" the island.
To further insulate the island from the threat posed by Dharma, these protectors of the island - the Others - did something they hoped to never have to do again: they moved the island, effectively hiding it from its oppressors. But we'll get back to exactly what doing so achieved later.
With the island freshly moved, the Others set to work trying to fix the island. Evidence of what was happening was everywhere. Pregnant women were dying. People began dying natural deaths on an island whose greatest power was the ability to heal - to prevent such things from happening. This power wasn't completely lost, but it was fading. However, the Others' new leader, Ben Linus, was doing the equivalent of putting a band-aid on a bullet wound: he was trying to find out what was causing pregnant women to die and fixing it. What he needed to be doing was fixing the problem, and not the symptoms.
What's worse, the Others did not know how to help the island without reluctantly utilizing the very stations that drained it of its strength, adopting the Looking Glass station to jam communications from the island, such as the numbers station communication broadcasting the island's secret coordinates, and adopting the Hydra and the Staff to conduct their experiments. These efforts were met with little success.
But many Others still had faith. So did the island. Which is why when Ben got a tumor on his spine, and the island couldn't help him, the island brought him a spinal surgeon, one Jack Shephard. But even Jack's removal of that tumor didn't halp Ben achieve his goal. Something - some vestige of Dharma - was still holding on.
Ben didn't know about the Swan. It remained hidden - the last Dharma station the Others would find. And while the Others continued to try to help the island, Desmond David Hume - a shipwreck survivor stuck in a hatch that was largely abandoned* - continued one of Dharma's missions, inhibiting the island's once-unfettered power by venting the island's electromagnetic energy.
And then, without warning, Hume used the failsafe to destroy the electromagnetic anomaly altogether, dealing a terrible blow to the island while simultaneously exposing it to the world - and the powers behind the Dharma Initiative, such as Charles Widmore. Without hesitation, Widmore sent a freighter to find the island and reclaim it. The island lost faith in Benjamin Linus.
So, it began cultivating its relationship with another man brought to the island for a reason: John Locke, the ace in the hole. The island brought Locke to it, granted him the use of his legs, and made sure he survived in case he was needed. When Locke began doubting himself, the island would take away the gift it gave him, slowly making his legs fail him. When his faith was renewed, his legs were given back. When Locke vocalized his loss of faith to others, the island took his voice until that faith was restored.
And the very first time Locke met the island, it said two words to him, in its weakened voice: Help me.
So, Locke began his quest to do just that. With Widmore's freighter people looking for the island, he had to take action fast. If the freighter people were to find the island, it would mean the end. There would be no one left to protect it, as Keamy and his team would kill everyone, leaving the island for Widmore exclusively. So when Naomi went to call her people, Locke killed her. When Jack did the same, he would have killed him - except he had no bullets in his gun to do so. Thus, Jack called the freighter people, bringing the island closer to its demise than ever before.
Widmore now knew where the island was. There was only one thing left to do: move the island again. But the island knew it still needed Jack - and all the survivors - to save it**. So, when Jack, as leader of the Losties, was about to get them all off the island, it used what little strength it has left to make him sick with an afflicting that requires immediate surgery to remedy. However, the island was incapable of overcoming even the will of ordinary men. Indeed, it had become quite weak.
Thus, the Oceanic 6 escape the island. To illustrate precisely how far Ben had fallen out of touch with the island's needs, Ben actually lets them go, forgetting the crucial fact that EVERYONE was brought to the island for a reason.
Locke receives instructions from the island to move it again. Since Widmore knows where the island is again, it is necessary to do so. Thus, Ben is concerned very little with the fact that Keamy and his men would move with the island. He is less worried about the 6 men with guns on the island than the dozens, or even hundreds, more that would follow when Widmore failed to obtain the island. So the island gets moved.
But where? This is the wrong question to ask. The real question is when. And when the island moved to is approximately three years into the future. Therefore, even though the departure of the Oceanic 6 was alleged by Jeremy Bentham*** to have devastating consequences on the island (imagine even healthy people dropping dead on the island for no apparent reason, and an island slowly slinking away from existence), Mr. Bentham does not start soliciting their return for three years. In reality, Bentham left the island immediately after the O6 left, as the consequences of their leaving and the toll moving the island took on it were immediately apparent.
So where will the story go from here?
In Season 5, the "present" of the show will be our present. It is unlikely that flash-forwards will be employed, but flashbacks will fill in gaps in what happened with the Oceanic 6, show Ben on his quest to kill Penny (keeping Desmond on the call sheets!), and briefly depict the consequences of moving the island and the O6's departure from it (including Locke leaving the island and soliciting their return). By the end of Season 5, everyone necessary will finally make it back to the island.
Season 6 will depict, in some way I cannot yet ascertain, how their return will put the island back to normal. In the final season of Lost, there will be no flashbacks. Instead, we will have a linear story that gives us the end of Lost. However, there could be some flash-forward at the very end, depicting how Jack and Kate end up dying, hand-in-hand, to be known as Adam and Eve, after the island gets moved a third time - well into the past - to try to stop Dharma from ever reaching the island in the first place.
Anyway, I certainly don't suggest that this theory is 100% accurate, but with the exception of the ambiguous parts that I cannot get a firm grasp on myself, I think it is quite possible that this represents the general timeline and idea of Lost's mythology.
__________________________________________________________
*This theory cannot explain the who, how, or why of the pallet of Dharma food. I've got news for you... I don't think the show will ever satisfactorily explain it either.
**This theory does not purport to explain exactly what further purpose many of the 815ers will serve in saving the island, but accepts the suggestion that it is true.
***Bentham's true identity will remain a mystery for the purpose of not ruining everything about the S4 finale for those who haven't yet seen it.
Theory by Ryan
