I think that there are two main mysteries in Lost. Part 1) What/Who are Jacob, the man in black (MIB) the Others and what is the island? Part 2) What is going on with Dharma and our Losties? The former will probably not be explained at the end of Lost IMO. Having these things explained will be like explaining the Force in Star Wars, a disappointment. This is the area we will be left pondering for months to come after the end of Lost. A lot of what I am theorising here has been said before but I hope I’m presenting it in a way which is comprehensive and ties all the aspects together. Hopefully there are some new ideas too.
There is a large amount of possibly naturally occurring electromagnetism (hereby referenced as EM) in ONE pocket under the island which is accessible at both the Swan station and the Orchid. I say “possibly naturally occurring” as the explanation of its origins may tie into the unanswerable Part 1 above. We know from the Lamp Post that the island moves in time and space. I am saying that this is controlled by the pocket of EM. It has also been responsible for the skipping of the island (when Ben turned the FDW), Desmond’s trips through time (after turning the failsafe button), the experiments with time travelling bunnies, turning the wheel which involves moving the island manually and transporting it’s user to another place and time (Tunisia). All of these occurrences have had the same theme - travel through space and time therefore this is a property of the EM.
Daniel for years has been studying EM and has discovered it’s time travelling abilities. We see this in his experiments with Eloise the rat. He was not successful completely with his experiments in humans though because we saw the results of his failed attempts in his ex-girlfriend who was in hospital. Theresa Spencer is apparently permanently mentally 'unstuck' in time as a result of his experiments. He too had memory problems when he first came to the island, we see him and Charlotte doing memory puzzles. He must have conducted the same experiments on himself. So when Daniel goes to Ann Arbour in 70’s he is able to understand what Dharma are planning including how they will be experimenting on and studying the EM. If Dan comes back knowing that a bomb will prevent the build up of EM then Dharma must have known that the EM could be offset by radioactivity. The Orchid is to harness time travel abilities of the EM and the Swan to study the effects or to control the side e! ffects. To use the EM they will need to drill into the pocket, harness it at the Orchid and release it a little at a time. The Swan was probably used to dissipate the EM as and when they were conducting their experiments with time travel. This was probably at certain planned times, not regularly, every 108 minutes like we see it when the Losties discover it. It was the incident that changed that as we know from the orientation video. I think that when they drilled into the hole they released the EM and it starts to build up to a catastrophic level. I don’t think that they were prepared for that. Luckily the detonation of Jughead’s explosive device releases radioactive material which when combined with the build up of EM renders both inert. They then will cover the hole in concrete to seal the hole (Sayid’s comment about the Swan looking like Chernobyl).
Sealing the hole was a temporary measure IMO. Either that or once the pocket had been damaged the EM was then unstable. This would mean that controlling the EM while Dharma was experimenting on time travel at the Orchid would be much more unpredictable and the pocket of EM more unstable. Perhaps the concrete leaks when strain is put on it every time they conduct an experiment. The procedures they’d originally designed for the Swan to control the build up of EM were therefore not enough and the new protocol of entering the numbers every 108 minutes was introduced. If they didn’t already have the failsafe in place then it will be now. So when Des turned the failsafe key he was detonating a bomb like Jughead, since there was the same bright flash of white light after the incident as after Des turned the failsafe key.
When Ben turned the FDW it malfunctioned probably due to the unstable EM as a result of the incident. The incident was most likely caused by the Losties travelling back in time, doing what they did which panicked Radzinsky into moving his plans forward to drilling the hole before certain security measures had been made. This resulted in the incident which caused the FDW to malfunction which sent our Losties skipping through time and ending up in the 70’s when John turned the wheel again. Then if they hadn’t gone into the past Radzinsky wouldn’t have got panicked…self consistent time loop! WHH with exceptions. The main exception is if one has been exposed to high level of EM, like Desmond. I am open to the idea that there are small changes being made in a time loop which changes each time it plays out (most likely due to Dan’s diary being passed back in time). That’s another theory though!
So how do they get back? What happens in series 6? Being in the immediate vicinity of the incident our Losties are exposed to a large amount of EM. The same thing happened to Des to cause his time travels. The failsafe was in the event that the numbers were not inputted. Offsetting a small amount of EM every 108 minutes requires only a little radioactivity but if it gets a chance to build up to the same proportions that happened in the incident then you need a larger amount of radiation to offset it. So when Des first doesn’t manage to push the button a fairly large amount of EM leaks out of the pocket before he gets a chance to enter the numbers, causing the 815 Flight to crash on the island. The next time it happens of course, when the button isn’t pushed there’s another build up of EM which could destroy the world (apparently) but the failsafe key is turned. The EM is offset by radioactivity from a device like Jughead, implosion of the Swan, bright flash of white li! ght, etc, etc.
Once they’ve been exposed to the EM they will be skipping through time like they were before but this time is most similar to when Desmond was exposed. Instead of skipping from one time to another they will more likely be skipping from 1970 to another time then back to the 70’s then off to another time and back again. The other idea is that they get back to their own time (2007) and flash to different times from there. Most likely is option 1 though and that’s gives the writers a chance to show us what happens immediately after the incident to solve that part of the mystery for us.
They will of course need constants to get back. So is Jacob going to be their constants since he touched them all? It could be possible, but how do they know to look for him if they haven’t made it back to 2007 yet? Well there’s my idea that they are skipping to and from 2007 and they pop up there long enough to see Jacob to tell them that they need to look for him in their past or maybe Desmond gets to the island and tells them how find their constants. The other idea which I prefer is that they are all each other’s constants and that explains why they are all so closely linked! Those connections that are so close that it would just take a bit of walking round the corner or bumping into someone for them to meet another of the Losties to make them their constant. Like Hurley could go to the box company he owns in Tustin, presumably the one Locke worked for, to meet John. Locke inspecting a house that Sayid's girlfriend, Nadia, was planning to buy. Sayid could go to the! house at the same time and meet John. Miles might just die from a brain aneurysm as I cannot think of any constant for him!
The writers have said that season 6 is going to be like season 1 and I think that means we will be seeing our Losties in their past again like the flashbacks of old. What a great way to tie in both the end of Lost and the stories of our Losties past and current situation. A reason why this theory could be shunned is that the writers have said that the time travel element is now over. If so then at the very least I think we will see this all in flashbacks. We’ll see how the Losties have already had meetings in their pasts before the plane crash.
So the advantage of having found their constant is that they can now actually make changes to help Jacob, just like Des is able to do. Not to change the whole of their past like in the reset theory, but more like the small changes Des made which led to the Losties being rescued. Like Lost Dbutz said, “To make fate late”! This could of course lead to the idea that there is a constantly changing loop which is being added to each time it plays out. If this is true then I don’t see the need for Lost to show us everything again, they just need to point out the small changes that should be made at pivotal moments.
There is a large amount of possibly naturally occurring electromagnetism (hereby referenced as EM) in ONE pocket under the island which is accessible at both the Swan station and the Orchid. I say “possibly naturally occurring” as the explanation of its origins may tie into the unanswerable Part 1 above. We know from the Lamp Post that the island moves in time and space. I am saying that this is controlled by the pocket of EM. It has also been responsible for the skipping of the island (when Ben turned the FDW), Desmond’s trips through time (after turning the failsafe button), the experiments with time travelling bunnies, turning the wheel which involves moving the island manually and transporting it’s user to another place and time (Tunisia). All of these occurrences have had the same theme - travel through space and time therefore this is a property of the EM.
Daniel for years has been studying EM and has discovered it’s time travelling abilities. We see this in his experiments with Eloise the rat. He was not successful completely with his experiments in humans though because we saw the results of his failed attempts in his ex-girlfriend who was in hospital. Theresa Spencer is apparently permanently mentally 'unstuck' in time as a result of his experiments. He too had memory problems when he first came to the island, we see him and Charlotte doing memory puzzles. He must have conducted the same experiments on himself. So when Daniel goes to Ann Arbour in 70’s he is able to understand what Dharma are planning including how they will be experimenting on and studying the EM. If Dan comes back knowing that a bomb will prevent the build up of EM then Dharma must have known that the EM could be offset by radioactivity. The Orchid is to harness time travel abilities of the EM and the Swan to study the effects or to control the side e! ffects. To use the EM they will need to drill into the pocket, harness it at the Orchid and release it a little at a time. The Swan was probably used to dissipate the EM as and when they were conducting their experiments with time travel. This was probably at certain planned times, not regularly, every 108 minutes like we see it when the Losties discover it. It was the incident that changed that as we know from the orientation video. I think that when they drilled into the hole they released the EM and it starts to build up to a catastrophic level. I don’t think that they were prepared for that. Luckily the detonation of Jughead’s explosive device releases radioactive material which when combined with the build up of EM renders both inert. They then will cover the hole in concrete to seal the hole (Sayid’s comment about the Swan looking like Chernobyl).
Sealing the hole was a temporary measure IMO. Either that or once the pocket had been damaged the EM was then unstable. This would mean that controlling the EM while Dharma was experimenting on time travel at the Orchid would be much more unpredictable and the pocket of EM more unstable. Perhaps the concrete leaks when strain is put on it every time they conduct an experiment. The procedures they’d originally designed for the Swan to control the build up of EM were therefore not enough and the new protocol of entering the numbers every 108 minutes was introduced. If they didn’t already have the failsafe in place then it will be now. So when Des turned the failsafe key he was detonating a bomb like Jughead, since there was the same bright flash of white light after the incident as after Des turned the failsafe key.
When Ben turned the FDW it malfunctioned probably due to the unstable EM as a result of the incident. The incident was most likely caused by the Losties travelling back in time, doing what they did which panicked Radzinsky into moving his plans forward to drilling the hole before certain security measures had been made. This resulted in the incident which caused the FDW to malfunction which sent our Losties skipping through time and ending up in the 70’s when John turned the wheel again. Then if they hadn’t gone into the past Radzinsky wouldn’t have got panicked…self consistent time loop! WHH with exceptions. The main exception is if one has been exposed to high level of EM, like Desmond. I am open to the idea that there are small changes being made in a time loop which changes each time it plays out (most likely due to Dan’s diary being passed back in time). That’s another theory though!
So how do they get back? What happens in series 6? Being in the immediate vicinity of the incident our Losties are exposed to a large amount of EM. The same thing happened to Des to cause his time travels. The failsafe was in the event that the numbers were not inputted. Offsetting a small amount of EM every 108 minutes requires only a little radioactivity but if it gets a chance to build up to the same proportions that happened in the incident then you need a larger amount of radiation to offset it. So when Des first doesn’t manage to push the button a fairly large amount of EM leaks out of the pocket before he gets a chance to enter the numbers, causing the 815 Flight to crash on the island. The next time it happens of course, when the button isn’t pushed there’s another build up of EM which could destroy the world (apparently) but the failsafe key is turned. The EM is offset by radioactivity from a device like Jughead, implosion of the Swan, bright flash of white li! ght, etc, etc.
Once they’ve been exposed to the EM they will be skipping through time like they were before but this time is most similar to when Desmond was exposed. Instead of skipping from one time to another they will more likely be skipping from 1970 to another time then back to the 70’s then off to another time and back again. The other idea is that they get back to their own time (2007) and flash to different times from there. Most likely is option 1 though and that’s gives the writers a chance to show us what happens immediately after the incident to solve that part of the mystery for us.
They will of course need constants to get back. So is Jacob going to be their constants since he touched them all? It could be possible, but how do they know to look for him if they haven’t made it back to 2007 yet? Well there’s my idea that they are skipping to and from 2007 and they pop up there long enough to see Jacob to tell them that they need to look for him in their past or maybe Desmond gets to the island and tells them how find their constants. The other idea which I prefer is that they are all each other’s constants and that explains why they are all so closely linked! Those connections that are so close that it would just take a bit of walking round the corner or bumping into someone for them to meet another of the Losties to make them their constant. Like Hurley could go to the box company he owns in Tustin, presumably the one Locke worked for, to meet John. Locke inspecting a house that Sayid's girlfriend, Nadia, was planning to buy. Sayid could go to the! house at the same time and meet John. Miles might just die from a brain aneurysm as I cannot think of any constant for him!
The writers have said that season 6 is going to be like season 1 and I think that means we will be seeing our Losties in their past again like the flashbacks of old. What a great way to tie in both the end of Lost and the stories of our Losties past and current situation. A reason why this theory could be shunned is that the writers have said that the time travel element is now over. If so then at the very least I think we will see this all in flashbacks. We’ll see how the Losties have already had meetings in their pasts before the plane crash.
So the advantage of having found their constant is that they can now actually make changes to help Jacob, just like Des is able to do. Not to change the whole of their past like in the reset theory, but more like the small changes Des made which led to the Losties being rescued. Like Lost Dbutz said, “To make fate late”! This could of course lead to the idea that there is a constantly changing loop which is being added to each time it plays out. If this is true then I don’t see the need for Lost to show us everything again, they just need to point out the small changes that should be made at pivotal moments.
