How does time move on the Island? Does it move slower? Faster? Backwards? Does it move at all?
(If you are expecting a concrete theory explaing how time moves on the Island, please go back in time and don't read this)
For a moment, forget the relationship of time on the Island vs. off the Island. Let's just talk about on the Island. Here is some of what we already know:
1. There are seemingly old things on the Island without explanation (Black rock, 4 toed statue, Adam and Eve)
2. A pallet drop occurred randomly
3. The healing properties of the Island can speed up recovery (or is that Jacob?)
4. Crackers do not go stale on the Island (remember, near the Orchid)
5. The Island has been moved, most likely in Time!
Ok, that's enough. Let's look at how these things contradict each other. Jack finds Dharma corpses and estimates that they are at least 50 years old. However, this is not possible since Dharma arrived in the 70's (the purge occurred in 1993, which is most likely when they died - only 11 years before the crash). So this implies a rapid rate of decay, or somehow the temporal distance between their death and 2004 is much greater than it should be. And yes, they could have travelled back in time and died, making the corpses 50 years old like Jack thought.
However, why would locke's hand heal super fast after Anthony Cooper bit it? Why would the 15 year old crackers still be fresh? Given the Adam and Eve scenario, shouldn't the opposite happen? If so, wouldn't that make the Black Rock so decayed that it wasn't even recognizable?
And the crackers unsavory? (It's not like they're Ritz)
We know from the arrival of the freighter that the relationship of on-Island time and off-Island time is conflicting, too. The rocket-clock arrived 31 minutes late, but Doc Ray's body arrived almost a day early. Also, both 815 and the Helicopter managed to switch from night to day when arriving/leaving the Island.
Due to these inconsistency, I'm inclined to think that time doesn't run very consistently on the Island. It seems like dead people decay faster, old things can appear in strange places and people on the Island can heal faster. Let's not forget what Faraday said, "Your perception of how long your friends have been gone, it's not necessarily how long they've actually been gone."
What if there are rules for how time operates on the Island? Like a different rule for living things, dead things, non-living things, traveling things, ect. It seems that there is already a rule that if you move the Island you cannot return, so perhaps there are rules for the people/things that stay on the Island after it moves. I'm not sure what they are, but these rules would apply to and explain the black rock, the statue and the crackers. There seems to be a rule about traveling on the correct bearing when leaving and arriving on the Island. Can these rules be changed?
I'm going to continue to look for patterns throughout the series that might reveal these rules more clearly. Either way, I hope TIME on the Island will all make sense when the series is over. (let's not forget the season three anagram 'lost time' from Mittelos)
Theory by Dharmacide
(If you are expecting a concrete theory explaing how time moves on the Island, please go back in time and don't read this)
For a moment, forget the relationship of time on the Island vs. off the Island. Let's just talk about on the Island. Here is some of what we already know:
1. There are seemingly old things on the Island without explanation (Black rock, 4 toed statue, Adam and Eve)
2. A pallet drop occurred randomly
3. The healing properties of the Island can speed up recovery (or is that Jacob?)
4. Crackers do not go stale on the Island (remember, near the Orchid)
5. The Island has been moved, most likely in Time!
Ok, that's enough. Let's look at how these things contradict each other. Jack finds Dharma corpses and estimates that they are at least 50 years old. However, this is not possible since Dharma arrived in the 70's (the purge occurred in 1993, which is most likely when they died - only 11 years before the crash). So this implies a rapid rate of decay, or somehow the temporal distance between their death and 2004 is much greater than it should be. And yes, they could have travelled back in time and died, making the corpses 50 years old like Jack thought.
However, why would locke's hand heal super fast after Anthony Cooper bit it? Why would the 15 year old crackers still be fresh? Given the Adam and Eve scenario, shouldn't the opposite happen? If so, wouldn't that make the Black Rock so decayed that it wasn't even recognizable?
And the crackers unsavory? (It's not like they're Ritz)
We know from the arrival of the freighter that the relationship of on-Island time and off-Island time is conflicting, too. The rocket-clock arrived 31 minutes late, but Doc Ray's body arrived almost a day early. Also, both 815 and the Helicopter managed to switch from night to day when arriving/leaving the Island.
Due to these inconsistency, I'm inclined to think that time doesn't run very consistently on the Island. It seems like dead people decay faster, old things can appear in strange places and people on the Island can heal faster. Let's not forget what Faraday said, "Your perception of how long your friends have been gone, it's not necessarily how long they've actually been gone."
What if there are rules for how time operates on the Island? Like a different rule for living things, dead things, non-living things, traveling things, ect. It seems that there is already a rule that if you move the Island you cannot return, so perhaps there are rules for the people/things that stay on the Island after it moves. I'm not sure what they are, but these rules would apply to and explain the black rock, the statue and the crackers. There seems to be a rule about traveling on the correct bearing when leaving and arriving on the Island. Can these rules be changed?
I'm going to continue to look for patterns throughout the series that might reveal these rules more clearly. Either way, I hope TIME on the Island will all make sense when the series is over. (let's not forget the season three anagram 'lost time' from Mittelos)
Theory by Dharmacide
