This theory attempts to address the "What is The Island?" question and explain some of its properties.
"A crash landing" -- Millions of years ago, a spacecraft's engine malfunctioned and crash landed somewhere on Earth on land, covering the craft with some degree of earth, soil, + plants (and possibly a few animals) -- even phasing with some rock. As a last ditch effort to relocate the crashed spacecraft elsewhere outside of earth in time + space, a surviving passenger turns the frozen donkey wheel. But the engine has been damaged, and its spatial + temporal effects are limited -- and instead of returning to its origin in time + space, the spacecraft only travels back slightly in time and lands in the ocean elsewhere on Earth.
"The sands of time" -- Time passes. Many, many years go by. The earth + plants overgrow on this crashed vessel floating in the ocean as eons pass. Fish swim into the radius of the spacecraft, and feed on the newly forming reefs on the parts of the spacecraft extending below the water. Birds find a path into the "island's" field, and bring seeds with them; more trees + plants grow. Time passes even more, tens of 1000s of years -- millions even -- and the ship is no longer visible. Covered by rock, sand, reef, trees, ... its own living, breathing environment. Just an island in the ocean.
"Land, ho!" -- As humans evolve on this planet, they eventually manage to make it to The Island. Potentially thousands of year prior to present day, as evidenced by the four-toed status. People have been living there a long time. And there, people live a long time. Flash forward to the 20th century. Increases in technology make it harder and harder to keep the island safe and hidden, and more people stumble upon it. Yada, yada, yada (another theory outside of the scope of this one) -- we find ourselves to present day.
Assumptions about the spacecraft:
- contains a field that renders it impossible to find/access from outside of the field. This was damaged in the initial crash, allowing safe entry at 316 degrees.
- engine uses/bends spacetime to travel trhough space + time; is damaged from the crash, but has limited capacity still (frozen donkey wheel)
Items we've seen in support of this theory:
- Many of the interesting properties of the island exist in hatches deep "underground": i.e. Swan, Orchid, Pearl, maybe even the Looking Glass technically (close to the outer edge of the ship)
- Frozen Donkey Wheel seen _behind_ wall in schematics in S5E01 that Pierre Chang looked at in the intro scene, implying it was already there + DHARAM didn't cuild it. If DHARMA didn't build the wheel, who did? And when was it built? Who, besides an extraterrestrial source, would have the knowledge to build something like that which would "move the island"?
- Another "underground" example: smokey trying to drag Locke into the hole in Season 1. Is the Smoke Monster what Rousseau said it was? A security system (of the spacecraft) -- a system that survived the crash and is able to analyze its subjects to make decisions if they are threats to the ship's saftey?
- The sheer nature + concept of the island moving is a lot cleaner if it is not attached to the ocean floor tens of thousands of feet at the ocean's base -- if it was attached, wouldn't it have to move to another location in the ocean of the exact same depth, otherwise it would stick way out of the ocean (or be completely submerged)?
I'd like to hear what everyone thinks about this. Sorry if it is similar to theories already proposed. I'm sure I left a lot out, but this is a good start I think.Theory by You Locke It Up!
"A crash landing" -- Millions of years ago, a spacecraft's engine malfunctioned and crash landed somewhere on Earth on land, covering the craft with some degree of earth, soil, + plants (and possibly a few animals) -- even phasing with some rock. As a last ditch effort to relocate the crashed spacecraft elsewhere outside of earth in time + space, a surviving passenger turns the frozen donkey wheel. But the engine has been damaged, and its spatial + temporal effects are limited -- and instead of returning to its origin in time + space, the spacecraft only travels back slightly in time and lands in the ocean elsewhere on Earth.
"The sands of time" -- Time passes. Many, many years go by. The earth + plants overgrow on this crashed vessel floating in the ocean as eons pass. Fish swim into the radius of the spacecraft, and feed on the newly forming reefs on the parts of the spacecraft extending below the water. Birds find a path into the "island's" field, and bring seeds with them; more trees + plants grow. Time passes even more, tens of 1000s of years -- millions even -- and the ship is no longer visible. Covered by rock, sand, reef, trees, ... its own living, breathing environment. Just an island in the ocean.
"Land, ho!" -- As humans evolve on this planet, they eventually manage to make it to The Island. Potentially thousands of year prior to present day, as evidenced by the four-toed status. People have been living there a long time. And there, people live a long time. Flash forward to the 20th century. Increases in technology make it harder and harder to keep the island safe and hidden, and more people stumble upon it. Yada, yada, yada (another theory outside of the scope of this one) -- we find ourselves to present day.
Assumptions about the spacecraft:
- contains a field that renders it impossible to find/access from outside of the field. This was damaged in the initial crash, allowing safe entry at 316 degrees.
- engine uses/bends spacetime to travel trhough space + time; is damaged from the crash, but has limited capacity still (frozen donkey wheel)
Items we've seen in support of this theory:
- Many of the interesting properties of the island exist in hatches deep "underground": i.e. Swan, Orchid, Pearl, maybe even the Looking Glass technically (close to the outer edge of the ship)
- Frozen Donkey Wheel seen _behind_ wall in schematics in S5E01 that Pierre Chang looked at in the intro scene, implying it was already there + DHARAM didn't cuild it. If DHARMA didn't build the wheel, who did? And when was it built? Who, besides an extraterrestrial source, would have the knowledge to build something like that which would "move the island"?
- Another "underground" example: smokey trying to drag Locke into the hole in Season 1. Is the Smoke Monster what Rousseau said it was? A security system (of the spacecraft) -- a system that survived the crash and is able to analyze its subjects to make decisions if they are threats to the ship's saftey?
- The sheer nature + concept of the island moving is a lot cleaner if it is not attached to the ocean floor tens of thousands of feet at the ocean's base -- if it was attached, wouldn't it have to move to another location in the ocean of the exact same depth, otherwise it would stick way out of the ocean (or be completely submerged)?
I'd like to hear what everyone thinks about this. Sorry if it is similar to theories already proposed. I'm sure I left a lot out, but this is a good start I think.Theory by You Locke It Up!
