...Board by RunningFox

“Two players. Two sides. One is light. One is dark.”

Lost is a game.

The Island is the board...

... and the characters the pieces.


Here’s my theory...

Flight 316 landed in an ALTERNATE TIMELINE, one in which the Island’s history is slightly different. This Alternate Timeline was created when Juliet detonated the bomb. This means there TWO VERSIONS of the Incident; the first occurs WITHOUT the Losties, and the second with.

The Incident Version two, the bomb explodes. A NEW TANGENT is created that splits off from the main timeline. This leads to subtle differences in the on-Island history, but one major difference off-Island: 815 never crashes. Instead it lands in LAX, the passengers get off and return to their lives. This is the Alternate Timeline.

Three years later, back on the Island in this new timeline, a plane; flight 316 appears out of nowhere, carrying Sun, Ben, Frank etc. They believe they are back on their original Island... they are, but in this new Alternate Timeline in which 815 did not crash. However, Locke, Ben, Sun etc visit the original 815 wreckage and campsite. So the question becomes; how can this be? The answer to that will come later.

First, let’s look at the sequence of events that led to the creation of this Alternate Timeline. To do that we must start with the main timeline, or, Timeline A.

Timeline A, 1977. Dharma conduct experiments which eventually lead to an incident (Incident A) which will result in them having to push a button for the next twenty years to discharge a highly dangerous electro-magnetic build-up.

Timeline A, 2004. Flight 815 crashes on the Island and events of seasons 1 through 4 unfold. Then, Ben turns the wheel, the Island disappears and begins its journey through time. Meanwhile, a small group escape the Island and spend 3 years in the real world as the Oceanic 6 while the rest of the Losties skip along through time with the Island. That is until Locke turns the wheel and the Island finally lands in ’74 where Sawyer and Co spend that same 3 years in Dharmaville.

Timeline A plays out again, only this time Sawyer and Co are a part of it. Then Jack and Co show up just as the Incident (Incident A) is about to go down. He gets hold of a bomb; it explodes and, whala, you have Incident B. And this gives birth to Timeline B. The Island's history that follows plays out as before, albeit, with a few subtle differences. Off Island, however, when 2004 comes around, 815 does not crash, but lands safety instead.

Now, before we talk about what happens to our characters after 815 lands, let’s go back to the question posed earlier: If Ben, Sun and Frank etc landed on the Island in a dimension when 815 did not crash, then how is it they visit the original wreck and campsite? To answer this we need to return to the “Lost is a game analogy”.

Imagine the Island is a board. The board is divided into grids. Each grid is numbered. Now, let’s imagine that the Losties campsite resides on, for arguments sake, grid 23. But because there are now two timelines running parallel to each other, you could say there are now two Islands, and thus two boards. On one board the 815 camp is present, on the other it is not. Because it never crashed. On the board in which 815 crashed, we’ll call the campsite: grid 23A. On the one it did not, we’ll call it: 23B.

So, if Sun, Locke, Ben etc are on Timeline B, or Board B where 815 did not crash, what would have to happen in order to make those characters believe they are on the right board? It would mean that there would have to be someone with the power to swap out the empty grid 23B, where the camp is NOT there, with grid 23A where it IS. Make sense? There would have to be someone constantly going around and swapping out the various grids in order to maintain that illusion.

The question now becomes; just who is creating this illusion, and, who is this illusion for? Here’s the answer...

The game. The game is being played by Jacob and MIB. Both play the game in very different ways. MIB is the deceiver, the trickster, and he plays the game by manipulating the characters; the pieces on the board. Jacob on the other hand plays the game very differently by manipulating the board itself! Sneaky, eh?

We’ve witnessed MIB playing the game all throughout the show. All the manipulations of the characters on the show are likely his handy-works. And MIB’s goal is to kill Jacob via the “loophole”. That it his plan. It’s hard to detect any evidence of Jacob’s hand in the game. We don’t know of his plan. But he does have one, that’s certain. Right from that moment on the beach when MIB declares to Jacob he’s going to find a loophole and take him out, Jacob would have been secretly devising his own plan. When you play a game, you play to win and I’m sure this is Jacob’s attitude as well. The fact that he dies may just simply be part of that plan.

I’ve always believed that Jacob will win. And he will do it by beating MIB at his own game... Jacob will sit back and watch MIB manipulate the characters/pieces, while he secretly manipulates the board they are playing on!

Now, to briefly explore what might happen when 815 lands. I believe that when the bomb exploded, Jack and everyone around the Swan site were instantly obliterated. Either that, or they went to the Temple. But at the exact same instant as the blast, there was a flash, and their minds; memories, experiences etc were instantaneously zapped to their physical selves on 815. This will happen at the exact same moment that they would’ve crashed originally. Only they don’t crash, they’ll hit a few bumps but that’s it. But at that moment, all will instantly receive their past memories of crashing on the Island. So when the plane lands in LAX, they’ll all get off, but they’ll all know each other because they retain their post crash memories.
How this will work exactly, I can’t say. Maybe their memories come back gradually, and it’s like a strange de-javu recognition of each other. Or maybe their memories won’t come back during the flight but after, I don’t know.

Alas, at some point, they will all realize they need to go back to the Island... again! But, to keep it from getting too repetitive, this will not be as straight forward as jumping on another plane ala 316. Maybe their minds flash back again to their dormant selves who are hiding out in the Temple. Again, I don’t know.

Anyway, have a think about it and tell me what you come up with.