There are a lot of conflicting theories floating around about what X, Y or Z means on Lost and how it will be resolved. However, the ultimate question is, how will Lost be resolved? Was anything changed in The Incident? My guess is no.
The introduction of Jacob and the MiB in the Season 5 finale, along with the flashbacks (or forwards, in their case?) on some of the Oceanic survivors, indicate they're supernatural beings; opposing forces, using humans as pawns in their game. It's not yet clear what the endgame is for either force, although the circle of ash that presumably trapped MiB and the fact that Jacob has been seen off-island indicates (to me) that MiB is an evil force that Jacob is trying to keep from escaping the island. There are clearly rules, such as the loophole MiB exploited to kill Jacob, and the circle of ash that seems to be protecting the cabin from something, or vice versa.
My theory is actually my dad's theory, but I believe the MiB's name is Murphy. Why? Well, in the game of Backgammon, there is a rule you can invoke called the Jacoby rule. Admittedly, it isn't anything cool or relevant to the nature of Jacob, but there's still a connection. There's also a rule named the Murphy rule in Backgammon, which leads me to believe that the symbolism there is that Jacob and Murphy are playing their own game of Backgammon. Interestingly enough, the idea of Backgammon is to get all of your pieces off the board, and if my theory is corect, this is Murphy's intention (to get off the island). There's more to my Backgammon relevance/theories which I'll get to later; for now I want to talk about The Incident.
Sometime during Season 5 (it's been awhile so I forget the specific episode), Richard told Sun that he recognized people in the photo she was holding, a photo of the Dharma crew which included Miles, Kate, Jin, Jack and other Losties (curse my fuzzy memory!). Richard stated that he witnessed all of the people in the photo die.
Now, Richard is an interesting person. He's presumably ageless, although he, or at least his memory, was affected by the time travel skips. I think Richard is a special piece in the supernatural game, but I'm not sure if he's Murphy's or Jacob's. By special piece I mean he has unique skills that other pawns don't have, and I believe that he may be immortal, or at least immune to death/disease until the game is over.
This made me think about how The Incident could have played out. The electromagnet disturbance clearly already happened, so Juliet's detonation of the bomb either altered the future or it didn't. Once again, I give credit to my dad for this part, but imagine if, due to the island's many time skips, a polar bear got stuck on the island, unnoticed by its inhabitants. This polar bear found itself in the cavern with the giant wheel, which it unwittingly turned at the exact moment the bomb was set off. The bomb did indeed go off and it nuked the island, but it didn't prevent the electromagnetic disturbance from occuring. When we first see Desmond in Season 2, he wears a hazmat suit while entering the surface of the island and gives himself regular injections of a strange orange liquid. If the timeline fits, it makes sense that the island was radioactive because Juliet detonated the bomb, which didn't change anything. Meanwhile, the polar bear turned the wheel, landing itself i! n the Tunisian desert where Ben and Locke both found themselves upon turning the wheel, and the Losties that were on the island skipped either to the past or future, where the radiation didn't kill them.
This brings me back to Richard. He may have somehow been unaffected by the time skip and witnessed the nuclear fallout of the bomb (being immune, as he's a special piece) and believed everyone on the island at the time died. This explains the polar bear in Tunisia, the radioactivity on the island that Desmond needed to protect himself from, Richard's statement to Sun that they were all dead (or so he thought) and how everyone can still be alive without altering time in one single incident.
However, while the pawns are unable to change anything, Jacob and Murphy are still playing Backgammon. As I mentioned before, Richard is a "special piece". I kinda like Richard and I also assume Jacob is the "good guy" so I'm gonna go with the theory that he's Jacob's special piece. At first, I thought Murphy's piece might be Ben, but it's increasingly obvious that he's been lying to seem more important than he really is. Therefore, Murphy's special piece could be Widmore, or even Eleanor. But probably Widmore. As I mentioned before, the pawns were unable to change history, but that doesn't mean Jacob and Murphy can't. As Jacob said, "It only ends once. Everything before that is just progress". While they are witnessing the repeating timeline, they are also actively working on a way to change it, each so they achieve their respective goals.
I would like to see in Season 6 that when the bomb went off and the polar bear transported the humans across time, they were transported to a time in the past where Jacob could meet them on the island and shed some light on the endgame. Season 6 will be all about Jacob and Murphy finally altering the timeline and one of them achieving their goal, hopefully Jacob.
This doesn't resolve everything, such as the apparitions that appear on the island (Christian, Smokey, a horse, etc.) or the whispers, or what exactly Walt did when he was kidnapped, but I fear many of these questions will remain unanswered anyway due to changes in storyline mid-series. Feel free to comment on whether or not anything makes sense, is plausible, etc. Other than that, enjoy!
The introduction of Jacob and the MiB in the Season 5 finale, along with the flashbacks (or forwards, in their case?) on some of the Oceanic survivors, indicate they're supernatural beings; opposing forces, using humans as pawns in their game. It's not yet clear what the endgame is for either force, although the circle of ash that presumably trapped MiB and the fact that Jacob has been seen off-island indicates (to me) that MiB is an evil force that Jacob is trying to keep from escaping the island. There are clearly rules, such as the loophole MiB exploited to kill Jacob, and the circle of ash that seems to be protecting the cabin from something, or vice versa.
My theory is actually my dad's theory, but I believe the MiB's name is Murphy. Why? Well, in the game of Backgammon, there is a rule you can invoke called the Jacoby rule. Admittedly, it isn't anything cool or relevant to the nature of Jacob, but there's still a connection. There's also a rule named the Murphy rule in Backgammon, which leads me to believe that the symbolism there is that Jacob and Murphy are playing their own game of Backgammon. Interestingly enough, the idea of Backgammon is to get all of your pieces off the board, and if my theory is corect, this is Murphy's intention (to get off the island). There's more to my Backgammon relevance/theories which I'll get to later; for now I want to talk about The Incident.
Sometime during Season 5 (it's been awhile so I forget the specific episode), Richard told Sun that he recognized people in the photo she was holding, a photo of the Dharma crew which included Miles, Kate, Jin, Jack and other Losties (curse my fuzzy memory!). Richard stated that he witnessed all of the people in the photo die.
Now, Richard is an interesting person. He's presumably ageless, although he, or at least his memory, was affected by the time travel skips. I think Richard is a special piece in the supernatural game, but I'm not sure if he's Murphy's or Jacob's. By special piece I mean he has unique skills that other pawns don't have, and I believe that he may be immortal, or at least immune to death/disease until the game is over.
This made me think about how The Incident could have played out. The electromagnet disturbance clearly already happened, so Juliet's detonation of the bomb either altered the future or it didn't. Once again, I give credit to my dad for this part, but imagine if, due to the island's many time skips, a polar bear got stuck on the island, unnoticed by its inhabitants. This polar bear found itself in the cavern with the giant wheel, which it unwittingly turned at the exact moment the bomb was set off. The bomb did indeed go off and it nuked the island, but it didn't prevent the electromagnetic disturbance from occuring. When we first see Desmond in Season 2, he wears a hazmat suit while entering the surface of the island and gives himself regular injections of a strange orange liquid. If the timeline fits, it makes sense that the island was radioactive because Juliet detonated the bomb, which didn't change anything. Meanwhile, the polar bear turned the wheel, landing itself i! n the Tunisian desert where Ben and Locke both found themselves upon turning the wheel, and the Losties that were on the island skipped either to the past or future, where the radiation didn't kill them.
This brings me back to Richard. He may have somehow been unaffected by the time skip and witnessed the nuclear fallout of the bomb (being immune, as he's a special piece) and believed everyone on the island at the time died. This explains the polar bear in Tunisia, the radioactivity on the island that Desmond needed to protect himself from, Richard's statement to Sun that they were all dead (or so he thought) and how everyone can still be alive without altering time in one single incident.
However, while the pawns are unable to change anything, Jacob and Murphy are still playing Backgammon. As I mentioned before, Richard is a "special piece". I kinda like Richard and I also assume Jacob is the "good guy" so I'm gonna go with the theory that he's Jacob's special piece. At first, I thought Murphy's piece might be Ben, but it's increasingly obvious that he's been lying to seem more important than he really is. Therefore, Murphy's special piece could be Widmore, or even Eleanor. But probably Widmore. As I mentioned before, the pawns were unable to change history, but that doesn't mean Jacob and Murphy can't. As Jacob said, "It only ends once. Everything before that is just progress". While they are witnessing the repeating timeline, they are also actively working on a way to change it, each so they achieve their respective goals.
I would like to see in Season 6 that when the bomb went off and the polar bear transported the humans across time, they were transported to a time in the past where Jacob could meet them on the island and shed some light on the endgame. Season 6 will be all about Jacob and Murphy finally altering the timeline and one of them achieving their goal, hopefully Jacob.
This doesn't resolve everything, such as the apparitions that appear on the island (Christian, Smokey, a horse, etc.) or the whispers, or what exactly Walt did when he was kidnapped, but I fear many of these questions will remain unanswered anyway due to changes in storyline mid-series. Feel free to comment on whether or not anything makes sense, is plausible, etc. Other than that, enjoy!
