It is dangerous posting a theory the day of a new episode (that starts in a few minutes for those in the eastern time zone) but…
I've had this theory for a while, and others may have as well. This theory seems to be contradicted recently by the rule that "you can't change anything" (unless you're talking to Desmond) but… perhaps someone else can expand or refine the theory. If this is a common theory, I've just wasted a bunch of time, but at least the start of LOST tonight will come sooner.
There have been about 1.2 zillion mentions of "this wasn't an accident" and "we were meant to be here" and "you needed a spinal surgeon and one just happened to fall out of the sky?" etc. The more generic ones are common in life, in fiction… and are probably interpreted here as being spiritual statements concerning a greater purpose, the work of God, or at the very least references (probably unknown consciously by the speaker) to Jacob and his power.
But what if these statements are, on another level, statements of knowing by the writers/producers? Similar to when, in Season 1, Michael says, "He can't grow up here. He can't grow up in this place." On a literal and character level, Michael is saying: "This is a crappy place for Walt to grow up, I've got to get him out of here." But it is true on another level that Michael the character is unaware of, but that the writers/producers are completely aware of: Walt literally cannot grow up on the island. He won't age there. He can't.
In that sense, statements about destiny may have a more literal meaning as clues.
Back in season 1, especially, a lot of characters HAVE to be on that flight. Jack says it directly, "I have to be on this flight." Claire is given a ticket and told she HAS to be on that EXACT flight. Sayid is (if I remember correctly) given tickets for that exact flight. This is fairly simple and ordinary (well, maybe not for Claire) but on another level, as clues, what could it mean?
Suppose that some factions and/or persons either knew the plane was going to crash, or were going to make flight 815 crash. These could be The Others, or Jacob, or just Ben, or Widmore (who does manage to get Desmond on the island, perhaps) or some other more normal, human element. Not Fate or Destiny necessarily, and for whatever reason. I'll describe a few possible scenarios:
Perhaps the plane crashes, and from the manifest it's known who survives, what seats they were on. Then a person or group goes back in time and puts the people they want to get to the island into those seats. Hit and miss, to be sure… some unnecessary people survive (who are expendable, like in the tail section) or perhaps more than one person (Ben and Widmore?) are stocking this doomed plane with people they want or need, for whatever reason, and Widmore's people were in the tail section, which is why Ben's Others kill so many of them right away. This would now seem to contradict the Law of Time Travel we've been given. (The jumping in time also probably explains why a lot of people or things appeared and disappeared in earlier episodes.) But maybe Faraday's Law isn't entirely correct, since there ARE exceptions (Desmond).
Or, one or more parties stock the plane with the people they need and then they make the plane crash. It's about the only way they can get so many people to the island, for whatever reason or reasons they have. Not just to get a spinal surgeon for Ben, either—and maybe not even that. (But if that were the case, perhaps there were 10 spinal surgeons, and Ben or Jacob or—for all we know, Fred Flintstone—was counting on at least one of the surgeons to survive.)
What led me to this theory, or really, this messy-spaghetti of possible theories is how everyone got on that plane. Why them? And WHO or WHAT got them on that plane? Is it so difficult to believe that Ben went to the psychic and said, "A pregnant girl named Claire is coming to see you. Here's $10,000. Tell her you can't do her reading and give her back her money. Or I will kill you." Then Ben goes to the boyfriend and says, "Here's $10,000. Break up with Claire or I will kill you." Ben might have gone to Claire's friend and said, "Take Claire to this psychic or…" Ben (or a member of his seemingly infinite army of soldiers in the "real" world) went back to the psychic and said, "When Claire comes back, tell her this, and give her THIS plane ticket, and make sure she gets on this flight, or I will…"
If you go back and watch seasons 1 and 2 there are a lot of people who could have been easily gotten on to that exact flight, whether or not the flight was destined to crash, made to crash, known to crash, or some combination thereof. There aren't that many flights. I've flown from Sydney to LA (where I got off) on a Qantas flight (Oceanic being based on Qantas) that continued to NY (where Michael was going). There were one or two per day. You would just need to make sure the person flew out that day. Sun's father could have been paid to put Jin on that exact flight, not realizing that his daughter would be going along too… and perhaps other elements were trying to keep her off the flight.
I don't know why these people were picked, or by whom, but there are so many of the Losties who did NOT end up on that plane by accident. They were put on that exact flight by people we've seen do it, even if the reasons seemed independent of anything else at that time. And if we've seen SOME people do that, I'd bet that there are others we didn't see who were scheduling and making sure at least some of the Losties (if not all) were on that plane. It doesn't have to be anything mystical, it could be part of a Widmore/Ben battle, or something else entirely, but carried out by humans. It just seems to fit with SO MANY of the circumstances surrounded why certain important characters were on that exact flight, regardless of WHO the puppet masters are, and regardless of HOW the puppet masters knew the plane would crash on the island.
Now, however, if we accept Faraday's Law, the time-travel element of the theory is impossible, because that would mean changing things. It is still possible that Faraday is wrong, or that the plane crash was pre-arranged by someone. Widmore and/or Ben are the two likeliest suspects. I'd like to get a screen capture of the receipt, showing WHEN Widmore bought the dummy plane to plant in the deep ocean trench. If that date is before the date of the crash, or perhaps immediately after. And there are other potential clues I'm sure are there—if this theory has any merit.
But go back and watch season 1 and 2… season 1 especially… and you'll start to see Ben (or someone) behind nearly every circumstance that gets someone on that plane…
A.B. Theory by Alex Bursnell
I've had this theory for a while, and others may have as well. This theory seems to be contradicted recently by the rule that "you can't change anything" (unless you're talking to Desmond) but… perhaps someone else can expand or refine the theory. If this is a common theory, I've just wasted a bunch of time, but at least the start of LOST tonight will come sooner.
There have been about 1.2 zillion mentions of "this wasn't an accident" and "we were meant to be here" and "you needed a spinal surgeon and one just happened to fall out of the sky?" etc. The more generic ones are common in life, in fiction… and are probably interpreted here as being spiritual statements concerning a greater purpose, the work of God, or at the very least references (probably unknown consciously by the speaker) to Jacob and his power.
But what if these statements are, on another level, statements of knowing by the writers/producers? Similar to when, in Season 1, Michael says, "He can't grow up here. He can't grow up in this place." On a literal and character level, Michael is saying: "This is a crappy place for Walt to grow up, I've got to get him out of here." But it is true on another level that Michael the character is unaware of, but that the writers/producers are completely aware of: Walt literally cannot grow up on the island. He won't age there. He can't.
In that sense, statements about destiny may have a more literal meaning as clues.
Back in season 1, especially, a lot of characters HAVE to be on that flight. Jack says it directly, "I have to be on this flight." Claire is given a ticket and told she HAS to be on that EXACT flight. Sayid is (if I remember correctly) given tickets for that exact flight. This is fairly simple and ordinary (well, maybe not for Claire) but on another level, as clues, what could it mean?
Suppose that some factions and/or persons either knew the plane was going to crash, or were going to make flight 815 crash. These could be The Others, or Jacob, or just Ben, or Widmore (who does manage to get Desmond on the island, perhaps) or some other more normal, human element. Not Fate or Destiny necessarily, and for whatever reason. I'll describe a few possible scenarios:
Perhaps the plane crashes, and from the manifest it's known who survives, what seats they were on. Then a person or group goes back in time and puts the people they want to get to the island into those seats. Hit and miss, to be sure… some unnecessary people survive (who are expendable, like in the tail section) or perhaps more than one person (Ben and Widmore?) are stocking this doomed plane with people they want or need, for whatever reason, and Widmore's people were in the tail section, which is why Ben's Others kill so many of them right away. This would now seem to contradict the Law of Time Travel we've been given. (The jumping in time also probably explains why a lot of people or things appeared and disappeared in earlier episodes.) But maybe Faraday's Law isn't entirely correct, since there ARE exceptions (Desmond).
Or, one or more parties stock the plane with the people they need and then they make the plane crash. It's about the only way they can get so many people to the island, for whatever reason or reasons they have. Not just to get a spinal surgeon for Ben, either—and maybe not even that. (But if that were the case, perhaps there were 10 spinal surgeons, and Ben or Jacob or—for all we know, Fred Flintstone—was counting on at least one of the surgeons to survive.)
What led me to this theory, or really, this messy-spaghetti of possible theories is how everyone got on that plane. Why them? And WHO or WHAT got them on that plane? Is it so difficult to believe that Ben went to the psychic and said, "A pregnant girl named Claire is coming to see you. Here's $10,000. Tell her you can't do her reading and give her back her money. Or I will kill you." Then Ben goes to the boyfriend and says, "Here's $10,000. Break up with Claire or I will kill you." Ben might have gone to Claire's friend and said, "Take Claire to this psychic or…" Ben (or a member of his seemingly infinite army of soldiers in the "real" world) went back to the psychic and said, "When Claire comes back, tell her this, and give her THIS plane ticket, and make sure she gets on this flight, or I will…"
If you go back and watch seasons 1 and 2 there are a lot of people who could have been easily gotten on to that exact flight, whether or not the flight was destined to crash, made to crash, known to crash, or some combination thereof. There aren't that many flights. I've flown from Sydney to LA (where I got off) on a Qantas flight (Oceanic being based on Qantas) that continued to NY (where Michael was going). There were one or two per day. You would just need to make sure the person flew out that day. Sun's father could have been paid to put Jin on that exact flight, not realizing that his daughter would be going along too… and perhaps other elements were trying to keep her off the flight.
I don't know why these people were picked, or by whom, but there are so many of the Losties who did NOT end up on that plane by accident. They were put on that exact flight by people we've seen do it, even if the reasons seemed independent of anything else at that time. And if we've seen SOME people do that, I'd bet that there are others we didn't see who were scheduling and making sure at least some of the Losties (if not all) were on that plane. It doesn't have to be anything mystical, it could be part of a Widmore/Ben battle, or something else entirely, but carried out by humans. It just seems to fit with SO MANY of the circumstances surrounded why certain important characters were on that exact flight, regardless of WHO the puppet masters are, and regardless of HOW the puppet masters knew the plane would crash on the island.
Now, however, if we accept Faraday's Law, the time-travel element of the theory is impossible, because that would mean changing things. It is still possible that Faraday is wrong, or that the plane crash was pre-arranged by someone. Widmore and/or Ben are the two likeliest suspects. I'd like to get a screen capture of the receipt, showing WHEN Widmore bought the dummy plane to plant in the deep ocean trench. If that date is before the date of the crash, or perhaps immediately after. And there are other potential clues I'm sure are there—if this theory has any merit.
But go back and watch season 1 and 2… season 1 especially… and you'll start to see Ben (or someone) behind nearly every circumstance that gets someone on that plane…
A.B. Theory by Alex Bursnell
