First a couple of examples, then the theory.
First example: Okay, so Sawyer, gives up on knocking on Desmond's hatch door. Desmond doesn't see Sawyer, because, in the future, Desmond doesn't know Sawyer, therefore, could never have met in the past. Another explanation is that Faraday convinces Sawyer to walk away and they never meet. I found two things strange about this scene:
1) Sawyer gives up so easily
2) When Desmond answers the door, he says to Faraday something like "you've been knocking for 20 minutes" -- however Faraday had only knocked a couple of times. It was _Sawyer_ who had been knocking for 20 minutes. In other words, Desmond could hear Sawyers knocking. This is significant because it suggests that Desmond could hear Sawyer through time. We're not sure if he could see him or not -- none of the Lostie or Others time travelers have tried to interact with people they knew -- yet.
Second example: Sawyer watches Kate deliver Claire's baby without trying to help or communicate with her.
1) Again, he gives up so easily. Perhaps it is because he doesn't want to interrupt the birthing process, but he tells Juliette later that he is convinced he can't change the past. For someone who is usually so defiant, Sawyer is certainly quick to accept "the rules" that Faraday gave him.
My theory is that, we will next see the smoke monster when one of our time traveler gang tries to interact with someone from their own past. I think it will probably be Sawyer. He will try to prevent something terrible from happening in his own island past. How it will look is, from the time traveler perspective, the person Sawyer is trying to communicate with will freak out. From the perspective of the person in the past, they see the smoke monster.
For example, if Desmond had gotten his chemical suit on in time to open the door and see Sawyer, what he would have seen instead is a huge roaring pillar of smoke. Smokie acts as a barrier to communication between times. Likewise, if Kate or Claire had looked into the forest where Sawyer was, they woud have seen smokie as well.
I think the "flashing" that the smoke monster does checks to see if there has been any time contamination. For example, in the scene with Kate and Juliette handcuffed together and fighting in the rain, smokie is obscuring the sound of the helicopters from the freighter that are flying near the island. Smokie flashes Juliette to see if she heard the helicopters, she had not, so she was not contaminated and was left alone. Why didn't it flash Kate as well? Perhaps because hearing or seeing someone from the freighter would not be significant for Kate, but it would be for Juliette. In other words, Juliette has a significant relationship in the future with someone from the freighter, I personally think it's Daniel Faraday, and smokie needs to confirm that she hasn't been in contact with anyone from her own future. The same is not true for Kate -- she has no future with freighter people on the island, since she escapes with the O6.
The only people the smoke monster has killed are Eko and the Pilot. I believe this happened to prevent them from contacting people from thier own past, and if Smokie hadn't killed them, something else would have. In the case of Eko, perhaps it was Sawyer. In the case of the pilot, perhaps it was one of the Others.
To flesh this out a little, I think Sawyer will see something about to kill Eko, and will try, from the future, to save him. So, if we take the example of Eko, perhaps a tree branch was about to fall on him, or an escaped Dharma polar bear was about to strike. Future Sawyer, watching from the sidelines decides "to hell with this timeline b*llsh!t, I am going to save Eko." I believe this forces the smoke monster's hand, Eko must die at that point, because he did die (like Charlie was supposed to, and the man in red shoes did die). So smokie swoops in and makes sure it happens. Smokie ensures the island "course-corrects."
Ben is sort of like this also, he believes the O6 leaving the island needs to be corrected.
So far, Faraday, Desmond and Alpert are the only people who can communicate with the past or the future without any repercussions from Smokie. They seem to be above the law of course-correction. It could be that the others, by building the sonic fence and keeping smokie out, for a time were able to be above the law of course-correction. By building the fence, they were not "enslaved by time and space." At that time, when the fence was operational, perhaps they could have children on the island. However, once the laws of course-correction applied to them also, after the gas-attack and Ben was in charge, they had to abide by the rules again, so, for some reason, no children. The population had to remain constant. For one person to arrive, one had to die, or be killed. Anyhow, I am getting onto a different track.
Also, smokie reanimates people who "still have work to do." This relates to course correction. Smoke kills people who were not meant to live past a certain point in time, and smokie also re-animates people who need to (or are destined to) have an impact in the future. For example, Christian Shepherd and perhaps Locke.
In conclusion, perhaps Smokie ensures that the island course-corrects by killing those who are destined to die, as well as reviving those who are destined to live and providing a constant for those who "still have work to do". It also may also keep the island population constant. Furthermore, it prevents cross-time communication and interaction by scanning people to see if they have been in contact with people from their own past or future. Theory by Ginger Doggie
First example: Okay, so Sawyer, gives up on knocking on Desmond's hatch door. Desmond doesn't see Sawyer, because, in the future, Desmond doesn't know Sawyer, therefore, could never have met in the past. Another explanation is that Faraday convinces Sawyer to walk away and they never meet. I found two things strange about this scene:
1) Sawyer gives up so easily
2) When Desmond answers the door, he says to Faraday something like "you've been knocking for 20 minutes" -- however Faraday had only knocked a couple of times. It was _Sawyer_ who had been knocking for 20 minutes. In other words, Desmond could hear Sawyers knocking. This is significant because it suggests that Desmond could hear Sawyer through time. We're not sure if he could see him or not -- none of the Lostie or Others time travelers have tried to interact with people they knew -- yet.
Second example: Sawyer watches Kate deliver Claire's baby without trying to help or communicate with her.
1) Again, he gives up so easily. Perhaps it is because he doesn't want to interrupt the birthing process, but he tells Juliette later that he is convinced he can't change the past. For someone who is usually so defiant, Sawyer is certainly quick to accept "the rules" that Faraday gave him.
My theory is that, we will next see the smoke monster when one of our time traveler gang tries to interact with someone from their own past. I think it will probably be Sawyer. He will try to prevent something terrible from happening in his own island past. How it will look is, from the time traveler perspective, the person Sawyer is trying to communicate with will freak out. From the perspective of the person in the past, they see the smoke monster.
For example, if Desmond had gotten his chemical suit on in time to open the door and see Sawyer, what he would have seen instead is a huge roaring pillar of smoke. Smokie acts as a barrier to communication between times. Likewise, if Kate or Claire had looked into the forest where Sawyer was, they woud have seen smokie as well.
I think the "flashing" that the smoke monster does checks to see if there has been any time contamination. For example, in the scene with Kate and Juliette handcuffed together and fighting in the rain, smokie is obscuring the sound of the helicopters from the freighter that are flying near the island. Smokie flashes Juliette to see if she heard the helicopters, she had not, so she was not contaminated and was left alone. Why didn't it flash Kate as well? Perhaps because hearing or seeing someone from the freighter would not be significant for Kate, but it would be for Juliette. In other words, Juliette has a significant relationship in the future with someone from the freighter, I personally think it's Daniel Faraday, and smokie needs to confirm that she hasn't been in contact with anyone from her own future. The same is not true for Kate -- she has no future with freighter people on the island, since she escapes with the O6.
The only people the smoke monster has killed are Eko and the Pilot. I believe this happened to prevent them from contacting people from thier own past, and if Smokie hadn't killed them, something else would have. In the case of Eko, perhaps it was Sawyer. In the case of the pilot, perhaps it was one of the Others.
To flesh this out a little, I think Sawyer will see something about to kill Eko, and will try, from the future, to save him. So, if we take the example of Eko, perhaps a tree branch was about to fall on him, or an escaped Dharma polar bear was about to strike. Future Sawyer, watching from the sidelines decides "to hell with this timeline b*llsh!t, I am going to save Eko." I believe this forces the smoke monster's hand, Eko must die at that point, because he did die (like Charlie was supposed to, and the man in red shoes did die). So smokie swoops in and makes sure it happens. Smokie ensures the island "course-corrects."
Ben is sort of like this also, he believes the O6 leaving the island needs to be corrected.
So far, Faraday, Desmond and Alpert are the only people who can communicate with the past or the future without any repercussions from Smokie. They seem to be above the law of course-correction. It could be that the others, by building the sonic fence and keeping smokie out, for a time were able to be above the law of course-correction. By building the fence, they were not "enslaved by time and space." At that time, when the fence was operational, perhaps they could have children on the island. However, once the laws of course-correction applied to them also, after the gas-attack and Ben was in charge, they had to abide by the rules again, so, for some reason, no children. The population had to remain constant. For one person to arrive, one had to die, or be killed. Anyhow, I am getting onto a different track.
Also, smokie reanimates people who "still have work to do." This relates to course correction. Smoke kills people who were not meant to live past a certain point in time, and smokie also re-animates people who need to (or are destined to) have an impact in the future. For example, Christian Shepherd and perhaps Locke.
In conclusion, perhaps Smokie ensures that the island course-corrects by killing those who are destined to die, as well as reviving those who are destined to live and providing a constant for those who "still have work to do". It also may also keep the island population constant. Furthermore, it prevents cross-time communication and interaction by scanning people to see if they have been in contact with people from their own past or future. Theory by Ginger Doggie
