Reconsidering the Events of Season 3 Part 2 by DaKlenke

For those of you who may not have read my previous theory, I would recommend doing so before reading this one, as I am sure it will help to better contextualize the following one. Furthermore, as with my last theory I would like to start by saying that I am aware that this idea may not be entirely original and if there is someone out there who has written a theory similar to this one, then hats off to you.
So today I decided to watch a little more Lost, and this time it is both Greatest Hits and Through the Looking Glass parts 1 and 2 that I will be focusing on. As a bit of a rehash for those of you who may not remember, Greatest Hits is a Charlie-centric episode in which two truly important events happen. The first is Jack introduces his plan to ambush the Others by using dynamite at the camp site. The second is Desmond has another flash (the only one we don't see) and then proceeds to tell Charlie that if Charlie does not sacrifice himself and turn off the jamming equipment in the Looking Glass, Desmond's vision of Claire and Aaron getting on the rescue helicopter will never happen.
Now for those of you who have read my previous theory, you will know that I believe that after the events regarding the fail-safe key and the Hatch implosion, Desmond flashed to an alternate reality in which he was given a second chance to relive his life differently. Because of Ms. Hawkings intervention, Desmond ends up making the same decision in regards to Penny that he did the last time, and shortly there after, our two timelines or realities if you will, reconverged.

After this reconvergence, Island Desmond begins having flashes of potential futures in which in all of them, Charlie dies. Before I continue, I would like to posit that this may not be Desmond seeing potential futures of Charlie's death, but rather, flashes of an alternate timeline in which Charlie never makes it to the Looking Glass station to turn off the jamming equipment. Due to Desmond's repeated intervention, fate is forced to course-correct and try another way to kill off Charlie before he can ever make it to the Looking Glass.
The point of this is as follows: I think that Desmond's flashes were actually manifestations of Desmond's gift; his ability to see fate's plan. Fate had intended for Charlie to die long before he could unjam the signal at the Looking Glass, but Desmond makes a choice different to that of what he did in Flashes Before Your Eyes; Desmond decides to go against fates plan.

So, when Desmond experiences the flash in which Claire gets on the helicopter with Aaron(again, the only one we as an audience do NOT see)he makes a free-will choice to change the course of destiny. He saves Charlie long enough for the events involving both the Looking Glass and the Other's attack on the beach camp to come into fruition, and then he springs his revelation upon Charlie.
Now in the conversation between Desmond and Charlie in regards to his vision of Charlie's loved ones being rescued, I believe that Desmond may not have been entirely truthful. I believe that the reason we as an audience were not made privy to Desmond's final flash was because it did not actually happen the way it was said to have happened.

I believe that in Desmond's flash, he saw his own fate. If Desmond would not have interfered with fate trying to kill off Charlie, then Charlie would not have been there to turn off the Looking Glass equipment. What I think Desmond saw was that with Charlie dead, he would have been the one to volunteer to go to the Looking Glass, and that since he does not have the musical expertise that Charlie does, he would have been unable to disable the jamming equipment. I also believe that when Desmond was telling Charlie actually how he was going to die, Desmond was recanting the events of his own fate apportioned death.

Now as far as why Desmond told Charlie he foresaw Claire and Aaron getting on board the helicopter, I have only one solution. He was lying. Desmond knew by means of his final flash that he was destined to swim down into the Looking Glass station and that he would be unable to to disable the jamming equipment. Desmond was going to die in the Looking Glass, thanks to Mikhail, and his death would be in vain. So instead, Desmond decided to make Charlie's fate-apportioned death actually count and told Charlie about Claire and the helicopter as a means of motivating the rockstar to sacrifice himself in Desmond's place. Desmond's vision of Claire and the helicopter was a complete fabrication, but it was necessary in order to actually convince Charlie that he needed to die for a higher purpose.

In fact, I imagine that in Desmond's vision, he saw himself swim down to the Looking Glass where he was captured by the two female Others, just as Charlie was. The two Others would have reported this to Ben, just as they did with Charlie (which by the way, when they did this, Ben was very concerned that it was Charlie down under the ocean, and he subsequently ordered them to kill the rockstar. Ben knew it was supposed to be Desmond and not Charlie, and he ordered Bonnie to kill Charlie because he knew that the musician was the only one who could unlock the code and change destiny.) But I digress. Ben would have then ordered Mikhail to go to the Looking Glass, just as he did with Charlie and would have ordered Mikhail to kill Bonnie and the second Other for the same reasons as he did in the iteration that we saw. Finally, Mikhail would have flooded the Looking Glass, with Desmond still inside it. The reason I say this is because in the iteration in which Charlie was t! he one down in the Looking Glass, Mikhail asked Bonnie what would happen if he were to flood the station. She told him that the jamming equipment would continue to work. In the iteration, or reality, in which Desmond was the one held captive in the Looking Glass, Mikhail would have killed the two Others and then flooded the station, leaving Desmond to drown.

Now I do not know if in Desmond's flash he was able to free himself from being tied to the chair or if he was able to even make an attempt at unjamming the signal, but I would wager he was. How else would Desmond have known that Charlie would have been the only one able to unjam the signal unless Desmond foresaw his own failed attempt at it? I believe that Desmond did not convince Charlie to take his place in the Looking Glass because Desmond was afraid of dying (he would know better than anyone that fate would course correct and kill him anyway), but rather because Desmond knew that Charlie was the only one who could figure out the code, unjam the signal, and change destiny. Maybe Desmond knew that if Charlie was able to disable the jamming equipment, that a big enough change in the timeline would occur and that maybe Desmond and the other losties would be able to escape the Island, and Desmond would be able to be reunited with Penny.

Now the reason that Desmond did this was because I think he knew that if he went down into the Looking Glass and died, unable to turn off the jamming equipment, that none of the other losties would escape the Island. He knew this because he can see fates plan. So Desmond convinced Charlie to make a free-will choice to sacrifice himself and change the course of destiny.
To be continued...