I wonder if those flashes, when the Losties were jumping from time frame to time frame after the wheel was turned, tally with the times when they get their déjà vu or flashes of future knowledge. In other words when they are on the island physically out of time, their other selves (younger versions of themselves, sometimes off island as children) experience future knowledge at these points. Jacob visits them at those points. Not to enable them to have the future knowledge or to give them future knowledge but to guide them or give them a push in the right direction, to help them to make the correct choice that he wants them to…That’s how changes are made in the time line. When people are travelling through time, their other selves are also affected.
Maybe Jacob wanted to make a change or maybe he set them back on the correct track, to prevent them from making a change in the timeline. IE with future knowledge, at these pivotal moments in their lives, they might have done things differently. Kate’s stealing, Sawyer not chase the man who killed his parents, Hurley going back to the island, Jack to still tell that his father was drunk in the operation that he had to attend, Sun and Jin to stay together – Sun’s change of heart at the airport to go with Jin and not leave him, Sayid wouldn’t have gone back to the island if Nadia was still alive, and Locke…Locke? Is that Jacob’s counter to MIB’s loophole?
I will further theorise that this is similar to how the Others influence and manipulate time. They have been doing so on Jacob’s behalf. I actually think that this is part of the war. Part of the MIB’s loophole is looking for people he can influence to try to kill Jacob. While he’s doing that, Jacob is setting things straight again and instructing the Others to help him. This influencing of the time line has been going on for centuries while Jacob wants to save humanity and MIB has given up. Or maybe somehow their motivations are back to front and that’s another twist to the story…
Maybe Jacob wanted to make a change or maybe he set them back on the correct track, to prevent them from making a change in the timeline. IE with future knowledge, at these pivotal moments in their lives, they might have done things differently. Kate’s stealing, Sawyer not chase the man who killed his parents, Hurley going back to the island, Jack to still tell that his father was drunk in the operation that he had to attend, Sun and Jin to stay together – Sun’s change of heart at the airport to go with Jin and not leave him, Sayid wouldn’t have gone back to the island if Nadia was still alive, and Locke…Locke? Is that Jacob’s counter to MIB’s loophole?
I will further theorise that this is similar to how the Others influence and manipulate time. They have been doing so on Jacob’s behalf. I actually think that this is part of the war. Part of the MIB’s loophole is looking for people he can influence to try to kill Jacob. While he’s doing that, Jacob is setting things straight again and instructing the Others to help him. This influencing of the time line has been going on for centuries while Jacob wants to save humanity and MIB has given up. Or maybe somehow their motivations are back to front and that’s another twist to the story…
