I used to believe that whatever happened, happened, with the one exception being Desmond. I believed that he, alone, had the ability to "change" or "alter" the way that people got from 'point A' to 'point B'. But I still never believed he had the power to change the destiny that is 'point B'. But then something occurred to me. And I don't know why I never thought about it this way before.
How can anyone say for certain that Desmond changed the past when he re-experienced some 1996 events during 'The Constant'?
How do we really know for certain that he didn't always have Penny's phone number? What if he knew it all along, but since his 2004 conscience was AWOL, he had to re-live 1996 events over, in order to get it again?
Think about it. In 'The Constant', Desmond didn't have a single memory of anything in his life that happened *after* that day in 1996, that his conscience traveled to. He thought he *was* in 1996. And he thought the things he was experiencing in 2004 "weren't real".
So if he thought he was really in 1996, and didn't have any memories beyond that point in time, then that is why he couldn't remember that he actually already knew Penny's telephone number. He just couldn't recollect it, because his 2004 conscience was AWOL.
So who is to say he didn't always experience those visions of 2004, when he was in 1996? And that he didn't always meet Faraday at Oxford? And that he didn't always go to Penny's apartment to get her phone number?
Desmond couldn't recall those encounters when he was on the freighter in 2004, because his conscience was stuck in a time in 1996, prior to those encounters happening. And even though he bumped into Faraday *very briefly*, right before he got onto the chopper, maybe he just didn't recognize him. He didn't recognize Jack immediately, either, when Jack first went down into the hatch. And he had met Jack just 3 years prior, in Los Angeles.
His first meeting with Faraday, on the other hand, had happened 8 years ago.
And Faraday obviously didn't remember Desmond because his brain was fried from all of his experiments. In 'The Variable', he made it very clear, while talking to Charles Widmore, that there was a great deal about his past that he couldn't remember. People, in particular.
At the end of 'The Constant', we saw that Faraday had it written in his journal, to use Desmond as his constant, should anything go wrong. And call me crazy, but I have a hard time believing that that writing just magically appeared there because Desmond "changed the past", like something out of 'Back to the Future'.
Now, there is one small hole in all of this. And that's the fact that maybe Desmond should have remembered Sayid from when he was having visions of the future in 1996. But I think it's fair to say that given his fragile state of mind during these "conscience jumps", it's highly possible that he suppressed those visions of the future. And that the only memories he kept from those two days in 1996, are the parts that he was actually conscious for (in other words he had forgotten what he witnessed during the blackouts/visions of 2004).
Faraday: Alright, this, this future version of me...uh, he referenced this meeting, right? Obviously so, so I would remember you coming to Oxford, right? I would remember this, here, right now?
Desmond: Actually, um, no.
Faraday: No?
Desmond: Maybe you just forgot.
Faraday: Yeah, right, how would that happen?
Desmond: So this, this is changing the future?
Faraday: You can't change the future.
And Faraday was right. You can't change the past *or* the future. And neither one of them did so in 'The Constant'!
How can anyone say for certain that Desmond changed the past when he re-experienced some 1996 events during 'The Constant'?
How do we really know for certain that he didn't always have Penny's phone number? What if he knew it all along, but since his 2004 conscience was AWOL, he had to re-live 1996 events over, in order to get it again?
Think about it. In 'The Constant', Desmond didn't have a single memory of anything in his life that happened *after* that day in 1996, that his conscience traveled to. He thought he *was* in 1996. And he thought the things he was experiencing in 2004 "weren't real".
So if he thought he was really in 1996, and didn't have any memories beyond that point in time, then that is why he couldn't remember that he actually already knew Penny's telephone number. He just couldn't recollect it, because his 2004 conscience was AWOL.
So who is to say he didn't always experience those visions of 2004, when he was in 1996? And that he didn't always meet Faraday at Oxford? And that he didn't always go to Penny's apartment to get her phone number?
Desmond couldn't recall those encounters when he was on the freighter in 2004, because his conscience was stuck in a time in 1996, prior to those encounters happening. And even though he bumped into Faraday *very briefly*, right before he got onto the chopper, maybe he just didn't recognize him. He didn't recognize Jack immediately, either, when Jack first went down into the hatch. And he had met Jack just 3 years prior, in Los Angeles.
His first meeting with Faraday, on the other hand, had happened 8 years ago.
And Faraday obviously didn't remember Desmond because his brain was fried from all of his experiments. In 'The Variable', he made it very clear, while talking to Charles Widmore, that there was a great deal about his past that he couldn't remember. People, in particular.
At the end of 'The Constant', we saw that Faraday had it written in his journal, to use Desmond as his constant, should anything go wrong. And call me crazy, but I have a hard time believing that that writing just magically appeared there because Desmond "changed the past", like something out of 'Back to the Future'.
Now, there is one small hole in all of this. And that's the fact that maybe Desmond should have remembered Sayid from when he was having visions of the future in 1996. But I think it's fair to say that given his fragile state of mind during these "conscience jumps", it's highly possible that he suppressed those visions of the future. And that the only memories he kept from those two days in 1996, are the parts that he was actually conscious for (in other words he had forgotten what he witnessed during the blackouts/visions of 2004).
Faraday: Alright, this, this future version of me...uh, he referenced this meeting, right? Obviously so, so I would remember you coming to Oxford, right? I would remember this, here, right now?
Desmond: Actually, um, no.
Faraday: No?
Desmond: Maybe you just forgot.
Faraday: Yeah, right, how would that happen?
Desmond: So this, this is changing the future?
Faraday: You can't change the future.
And Faraday was right. You can't change the past *or* the future. And neither one of them did so in 'The Constant'!
