ENDINGS, BACKGAMMON, POWER CONVERSATIONS, DIFFERENT STATES OF DEATH, LOCKED LOOPS. PART 1 OF 3 Dishyvaeda

‘Two endings to Lost would be nice…one light, one dark.’
I hope this provides a different slant on some theories that have already been put out there. No doubt Lost will yet again demolish most of my ideas, probably by the end of episode one, Series 6.
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There are two sides in the game of backgammon, in which opposing players try to get their pieces home first. A good strategy leaves the other player’s pieces largely immobilised, needing a specific throw of the dice…..a loophole, to even move, let alone win.
In Lost, one side is led by Jacob. The opposing side seems likely to be represented by an unnamed bearded rival, with whom Jacob spoke in Series 5 finale. Their conversation by the statue revealed the long term conflict for control of the island, its secrets, and ultimate purpose. It seems that Jacob has held a backgammon type advantage over Bearded Rival for a long time, but the latter claims “One of these days we’re going to find a loophole.”
Their clothing, and the ship on the horizon both suggested 19th century, but they spoke with modern accents, which might indicate that Jacob and Bearded Rival were from the future. Or that the makers of Lost thought the words spoken were too important to be made ambiguous by accents of that era.
“They come, fight, they destroy, they corrupt. It always ends the same.” Bearded Rival appears to be cynical of human attempts to live peacefully and responsibly on the island.
“(If) it only ends once, anything that happens before that is just progress.” Jacob’s reply suggests that he has repeatedly brought people to the island, in the hope that the ‘ending’ can be avoided. It’s as if the island will decide our fate at some future pre-ordained time, and Jacob is trying to show that humankind is worthy of saving.
We look forward to a spectacular, shocking and thought provoking ending to Lost. Involving not just the predicted ‘war’ and the outcome for the story’s main characters, but also the destiny of humankind itself.
One scenario is that the human race has been an experiment, instigated by some higher power. The aim was to evolve an intelligent, civilized species, capable of protecting this superb planet. But the experiment is about to be reviewed, the time for our appraisal is imminent, and the island will be the instrument of our judgement. Perhaps the black smoke monster occasionally ‘scans’ the minds of individual humans (John, Eko, Kate, Juliette) in order to assess our progress. If we survive judgement, then we go on, perhaps rewarded with the next evolutionary step.
If we fail, if we continue to fight, destroy and corrupt, then we may be purged. Just imagine the final scenes of Lost showing smoke monsters pouring out of every cerberus vent (CV on Blast Door Map), to terminate the experiment and cleanse the island of the living, as the world begins to shake with one final electromagnetic catastrophe. It would be visually fantastic, an ending of biblical proportions.
“…and God saw that humans had spurned the time granted to them. So where there was light, He caused darkness to prevail again...”
Another scenario is an imminent global disaster. It might be the ‘war’ that Widmore, and Hurley’s psychic referred to. It might be incurable pandemic, environmental, asteroid or other event for which we are unprepared. The ending has been revealed to just a few individuals over the centuries, who realized that the only survivors would be from the island. Therefore the island becomes the most important piece of real estate on the planet.
How? Well, if the island can be moved back in time, it can avoid imminent global disaster. Eventually it would return to the future as a catalyst, from which life on the planet could regenerate. Those who controlled the island would effectively inherit the earth. The main reason for fighting over it.
A third scenario is similar to the first, except that instead of being purged after failing judgement, the human race will be abandoned, and left to the malevolent forces that seek to work through the island. These have been held at bay by Jacob, while he continued with his work, trying to ‘save us all’.
“You’re trying to prove me wrong, aren’t you?” Bearded Rival believes Jacob’s work is futile, having witnessed human failings on the island many times. The time of judgement is also known to Bearded Rival. Believing that the human race would not survive the judgement, he and his followers had instead made a deal with the ‘dark side’.
It’s as if they have traded in their human spirit, probably by undergoing some kind of ritual in one of the island’s temples. In return, the malevolent forces have changed them into a form that can endure the oncoming darkness, after humans fail judgement. At first they are allowed to exist as replicas of their former selves, still functioning physically as before. They would gradually become apparitions, and eventually enter the realm of whispers, but more of that in part 2.
If Bearded Rival’s side were to win, a new order would spread out from the island, and malevolence would prevail on the planet. We would have to ‘change’ to survive. Ruled by a terrifying security system in a Godless, dark, barren world of undeath, devoid of free will.
Anyway, two endings to Lost would be nice….one light, one dark