Given the fact that the FDW, The Well, The Temple and Ben’s Secret Door all feature Egyptian/Mayan glyphs, it would appear that there was a civilisation on the Island that pre-dated the DI and yet had mastered Time Travel - in other words - Aliens.
And yet ... the DHARMA-built count-down timer featured Egyptian glyphs and the DI/Hostiles/Linus/Richard Family seems to have whole-heartedly “adopted” various Buddhist/Hindu notions of Reincarnation, Karma, Nirvana plus Christian Messianic leadership into their Island Culture. Note that Ben’s bookshelf included the Quran, VALIS and possibly everything in between.
So ... maybe (like Doc Brown) we all have to think a little more four-dimensionally.
I’m thinking that the DI - in the early/mid 70's - mastered Time Travel (how?) and travelled into the Future - to discover the horrifying Death of All Human Life.
In an effort to prevent this Disaster, the DI travelled back in time to discover the circumstances leading to this Future Disaster and then maybe travelled even farther back in time to try to Rewrite History. We know that the DI sent a Polar Bear to Tunisia far enough back in time (thousands, maybe tens of thousands of years) for it to have become worthy of an Archeological Dig.
I’m thinking that the DI travelled far enough back to have CREATED, or to have INFLUENCE, or at least to have incorporated ancient Egyptian, Mayan, Buddhist, Roman, Christian, Druid and Viking practices/beliefs into their Island Culture - which included speaking Latin. In other words, it wasn’t Aliens who built the FDW Well. It was the DI.
I think that the DI tried repeatedly to avert the Future Disaster and failed every time. Somewhere along the line, the DI noticed that each failure to Save The World resulted in a “Reset”, where events repeated themselves (as dictated by Buddhist philosophy) during which something else could be tried ... some Change could be introduced (into The “Past”) which could help lead to eventual victory over the Future Disaster.
Note that the DI designed and built the Swan, including the fail-safe key and that Ms Hawking, in FBYE, knew all about it and told Desmond that it was his job to eventually turn it. Note also that she corrected Desmond when he told her that he would take the ring. She told him that he changed his mind and walked out the door (which is exactly what he did in a previous Iteration of these events).
Note also that Ben told Locke in “Lockdown” that he didn’t push The Button and that there was a loud, scary humming noise followed by some shaking ... and that the countdown timer then reset itself to 108 without any interference on his part. In other words, Ben knew what would have happened had he not pushed The Button. He had experienced (or at least heard about) the Swan Implosion in a Previous Iteration of these events. Note also that during the Swan Implosion, when Ben was on the Pala Ferry dock with his captives, that he didn’t miss a beat during The Discharge. He’d been through this Time Loop before and knew what to expect.
The point I’m getting at is that the DI designed and built the fail-safe key, knowing that sooner or later, during one or another of the Time Loops to come that a properly-selected and motivated “Desmond” would be sent to the Island and would be forced to turn the fail-safe key, thereby becoming Uniquely Special, and therefore able to help The Good Guys succeed where all previous efforts had failed.
I’m also convinced that the Good Guy DI/Jacob/Hawking/Linus team found itself up against an opposing Bad Guy team with formidable powers who were in favour of the Death of All Humans. Yikes!
The Final Success of the DI/Jacob/Hawking/Linus team is what we will see in Season 6. Theory by Roland
And yet ... the DHARMA-built count-down timer featured Egyptian glyphs and the DI/Hostiles/Linus/Richard Family seems to have whole-heartedly “adopted” various Buddhist/Hindu notions of Reincarnation, Karma, Nirvana plus Christian Messianic leadership into their Island Culture. Note that Ben’s bookshelf included the Quran, VALIS and possibly everything in between.
So ... maybe (like Doc Brown) we all have to think a little more four-dimensionally.
I’m thinking that the DI - in the early/mid 70's - mastered Time Travel (how?) and travelled into the Future - to discover the horrifying Death of All Human Life.
In an effort to prevent this Disaster, the DI travelled back in time to discover the circumstances leading to this Future Disaster and then maybe travelled even farther back in time to try to Rewrite History. We know that the DI sent a Polar Bear to Tunisia far enough back in time (thousands, maybe tens of thousands of years) for it to have become worthy of an Archeological Dig.
I’m thinking that the DI travelled far enough back to have CREATED, or to have INFLUENCE, or at least to have incorporated ancient Egyptian, Mayan, Buddhist, Roman, Christian, Druid and Viking practices/beliefs into their Island Culture - which included speaking Latin. In other words, it wasn’t Aliens who built the FDW Well. It was the DI.
I think that the DI tried repeatedly to avert the Future Disaster and failed every time. Somewhere along the line, the DI noticed that each failure to Save The World resulted in a “Reset”, where events repeated themselves (as dictated by Buddhist philosophy) during which something else could be tried ... some Change could be introduced (into The “Past”) which could help lead to eventual victory over the Future Disaster.
Note that the DI designed and built the Swan, including the fail-safe key and that Ms Hawking, in FBYE, knew all about it and told Desmond that it was his job to eventually turn it. Note also that she corrected Desmond when he told her that he would take the ring. She told him that he changed his mind and walked out the door (which is exactly what he did in a previous Iteration of these events).
Note also that Ben told Locke in “Lockdown” that he didn’t push The Button and that there was a loud, scary humming noise followed by some shaking ... and that the countdown timer then reset itself to 108 without any interference on his part. In other words, Ben knew what would have happened had he not pushed The Button. He had experienced (or at least heard about) the Swan Implosion in a Previous Iteration of these events. Note also that during the Swan Implosion, when Ben was on the Pala Ferry dock with his captives, that he didn’t miss a beat during The Discharge. He’d been through this Time Loop before and knew what to expect.
The point I’m getting at is that the DI designed and built the fail-safe key, knowing that sooner or later, during one or another of the Time Loops to come that a properly-selected and motivated “Desmond” would be sent to the Island and would be forced to turn the fail-safe key, thereby becoming Uniquely Special, and therefore able to help The Good Guys succeed where all previous efforts had failed.
I’m also convinced that the Good Guy DI/Jacob/Hawking/Linus team found itself up against an opposing Bad Guy team with formidable powers who were in favour of the Death of All Humans. Yikes!
The Final Success of the DI/Jacob/Hawking/Linus team is what we will see in Season 6. Theory by Roland
