This isn't a WHH vs. ALT theory, I just really liked the title.
I believe that everything went terribly wrong when Ben turned the wheel. But first in “Previously on Lost” fashion, it’s necessary to look at what Eloise Hawking said in Season 5 before explaining what I think was supposed to happen, and what didn’t.
1) In “316” Eloise Hawking states that the island moves in space AND time.
2) In “Because You Left” she emphasizes that if ALL of the O6 don’t go back, then “God help us all”
Now, the implications of her first statement are that these two things (the island moving in space AND time) happen simultaneously and apparently in some form of pattern that is able to be recorded or at the very least estimated through the pendulum in the Lamppost. This belief is shared by her son and probably by everyone else familiar with what is supposed to happen when the wheel is turned. Basically, when it goes to Time A, it also moves to Space A. Conversely, when it goes to Time D, it also moves to Space D.
The implications of her second statement are that everybody must go back.
This is what was supposed to happen.
We, (as well as the O6) saw the island disappear when Ben turned the wheel. Now, if the Island had only moved in Time, then it wouldn’t have disappeared. The foliage may have changed, there may have been different people walking around, but it would have stayed in the same place. So, it obviously moved in Space because it wasn’t there anymore. What I think didn’t happen is that because Ben jacked up the turning of the wheel, the island didn’t move, in time, at the same pattern as it was supposed to move. To be clear, the Island may have moved to Space A, but it might have gone to Time D. The pattern of moving in Space may have been following the standard pattern, but the skipping of the wheel caused the Time pattern to get off course. Eloise Hawking would have NO clue that the Time pattern was jacked up, she could only assume that since the Island was following the set pattern, that it was in the correct time also. That’s why she was confident that in 70 hours! , in 2008, the Island would be in the 316 window.
In “Because You Left”, she stresses to Ben that he must bring all the Oceanic 6 to the island on Ajira 316, at that particular time. Her exact words were that if he didn’t, then “God help us all”.
I confess that I don’t know how she knows this or why, but I do know that what was supposed to happen was that all of the Oceanic 6 and Locke were supposed to go back to the Island. That didn’t happen. And the result of that not happening, I believe, is why Jack, Sayid, Hurley, and Kate went back to 1977 while Locke, Ben, Sun, and Lapidus stayed in present time. Technically, the only O6’er that didn’t go back was Aaron, so her fear of total calamity didn’t happen either, but things didn’t happen the way she had hoped. Unfortunately, because all the Oceanic 6 didn’t happen to be on Ajira 316, they got split up. Some ended up in the right time while others did not. If you notice, nobody else from Ajira 316 went back to 1974 other than Jack, Kate, Hugo, and Sayid. Why didn’t any of the other passengers go back to 1974, and why didn’t Sun go back to 1974 with the other Losties? That’s the question that helped me form this theory.
So the question now is what happened when John Locke turned the wheel? I think the answer is simple. When Locke turned the wheel, he synced up the Time and Space patterns. He put the Island exactly WHEN it was supposed to be in the pattern (1974), and WHERE it was supposed to be (who knows?). This is why, when Hawking predicted that the Island would be in the flight path of 316, she was absolutely correct.
Now, I’ll save my speculations for the comments section and depending on if this theory isn’t shot full of holes that I can’t plug, I’ll explain in another theory how (and by whose hand), I think they’re going to all sync up to the same timeline.
Have at it!
I believe that everything went terribly wrong when Ben turned the wheel. But first in “Previously on Lost” fashion, it’s necessary to look at what Eloise Hawking said in Season 5 before explaining what I think was supposed to happen, and what didn’t.
1) In “316” Eloise Hawking states that the island moves in space AND time.
2) In “Because You Left” she emphasizes that if ALL of the O6 don’t go back, then “God help us all”
Now, the implications of her first statement are that these two things (the island moving in space AND time) happen simultaneously and apparently in some form of pattern that is able to be recorded or at the very least estimated through the pendulum in the Lamppost. This belief is shared by her son and probably by everyone else familiar with what is supposed to happen when the wheel is turned. Basically, when it goes to Time A, it also moves to Space A. Conversely, when it goes to Time D, it also moves to Space D.
The implications of her second statement are that everybody must go back.
This is what was supposed to happen.
We, (as well as the O6) saw the island disappear when Ben turned the wheel. Now, if the Island had only moved in Time, then it wouldn’t have disappeared. The foliage may have changed, there may have been different people walking around, but it would have stayed in the same place. So, it obviously moved in Space because it wasn’t there anymore. What I think didn’t happen is that because Ben jacked up the turning of the wheel, the island didn’t move, in time, at the same pattern as it was supposed to move. To be clear, the Island may have moved to Space A, but it might have gone to Time D. The pattern of moving in Space may have been following the standard pattern, but the skipping of the wheel caused the Time pattern to get off course. Eloise Hawking would have NO clue that the Time pattern was jacked up, she could only assume that since the Island was following the set pattern, that it was in the correct time also. That’s why she was confident that in 70 hours! , in 2008, the Island would be in the 316 window.
In “Because You Left”, she stresses to Ben that he must bring all the Oceanic 6 to the island on Ajira 316, at that particular time. Her exact words were that if he didn’t, then “God help us all”.
I confess that I don’t know how she knows this or why, but I do know that what was supposed to happen was that all of the Oceanic 6 and Locke were supposed to go back to the Island. That didn’t happen. And the result of that not happening, I believe, is why Jack, Sayid, Hurley, and Kate went back to 1977 while Locke, Ben, Sun, and Lapidus stayed in present time. Technically, the only O6’er that didn’t go back was Aaron, so her fear of total calamity didn’t happen either, but things didn’t happen the way she had hoped. Unfortunately, because all the Oceanic 6 didn’t happen to be on Ajira 316, they got split up. Some ended up in the right time while others did not. If you notice, nobody else from Ajira 316 went back to 1974 other than Jack, Kate, Hugo, and Sayid. Why didn’t any of the other passengers go back to 1974, and why didn’t Sun go back to 1974 with the other Losties? That’s the question that helped me form this theory.
So the question now is what happened when John Locke turned the wheel? I think the answer is simple. When Locke turned the wheel, he synced up the Time and Space patterns. He put the Island exactly WHEN it was supposed to be in the pattern (1974), and WHERE it was supposed to be (who knows?). This is why, when Hawking predicted that the Island would be in the flight path of 316, she was absolutely correct.
Now, I’ll save my speculations for the comments section and depending on if this theory isn’t shot full of holes that I can’t plug, I’ll explain in another theory how (and by whose hand), I think they’re going to all sync up to the same timeline.
Have at it!
