BLACK + WHITE = GOOD GUYS by LZ-128

Many assume that the White rock represents the GOOD GUYS, while the Black rock represents the BAD GUYS.

Yet remember they are showing you them both on a SCALE!

The SWAN symbol wasn't selected by accident. It is a Yin Yang symbol, and in "What Kate Does" note Aaron's Whale when she takes it out of Claire's bag.

Note how the camera shot is set up to exactly match the Yin Yang symbol.

Even so far as to get a white circle in the field of black, and the black fin into the field of white.

There is a common mis perception (especially in the West) that yin and yang correspond to good and evil. However, Taoist philosophy focuses on the idea of balance.

(note the SCALE with black and white rocks on each side)

White doesn't represent good, and neither does Black.

White and Black represent balance, one without the other is bad.

In order for Balance to exist, the scale must have equal black and white. Throwing the white stone off the scale would be the exact same result as throwing the black stone off the scale. No difference.

Each person has both a black and white side.

One John was killed, the other John still lives. Is the John we see the GOOD John or the EVIL John?

NEITHER! He just LOST half of what he used to be.

In one reality, John is always "don't tell me what I can't do" and just wants to do what he can't, and the other John just wants to do everything simple and easy and not fight at all.

One John would pick the green color, just because Helen doesn't want it, (don't tell him what he can't do) and the other John will pick the blue color, he goes along with anything.

But what color does HE like best?

That requires BOTH sides of him to be alive and both minds in communication with each other across both realities.

(the color fabric samples are also a very clever inside joke as to suggest he can't decide what color shirt to wear, as we have seen his clothes change colors back and forth throughout the seasons as they switched back from one reality to the other! Even the DEAD John Lock's suit and shirt keep changing color!)

One John wanted to stay on the island, this one wants to get off of it.

One parks in the handicap space and the other refuses to use a handicap space just because he doesn't want anyone telling him what he can't do.

But what would HE want if both sides of him were alive and his minds could communicate with each other?

There is a time difference between both sides, so they are all having trouble linking up their minds from both sides, because both realities are not going through the same events.

Daniel's rocket experiment showed at that time, both realities were about 31 minutes apart, but from the date of Claire's visit to the hospital in "What Kate Does" to the mention of it not being October yet in "The Substitute" more than once, we see both sides we last seen are now about 30 DAYS apart!

If one of you is in September, and the other in October, how can you ever make a decision of free will if each part of your mind is doing two different things at two different time periods?

Each reality is constantly going in opposite directions!

Because in the one side, you will always chose one way, and in the other, always chose the other way, no mind sync to make any RATIONAL choices.

Thus why Desmond is not supposed to buy that ring. Widmore doesn't hate Desmond, he just knows that in order to sink up both sides, the side that wants to marry Penny can't this time, to try and get both realities in sync, because the side that broke up with her is ahead in time and occurred first.

The side where Desmond is always afraid to stay into a relationship is running ahead of the side that always wants to stay in every relationship. So unfortunately for poor Desmond, he can't be with Penny, until we get things back in sync.

That's why Abadon is forced to lie and say Helen is dead, and show that fake tombstone, because the side where John isn't with her ran first.

If they can get both realities in sync at the same speed, then they can all do what they want. For now, they must all do what they do not want to do.

The smoke monster wants to kill everything from the opposite polarity reality. (see my other "theories")

Thus why he left the one John Locke alone, and wanted to kill the other John Locke. Which again would suggest that both of them are on the island.

But they killed the one John Locke,(White Rock) who wanted nothing but to stay on the island, and that only leaves Jeremy Bentham, (BLACK ROCK) who wants nothing but to leave the island.

There is no rational thought or "free will" for him, he doesn't have the other side of him to sync up minds with and weigh each side.

We have seen Desmond, Charlotte and Juliet sync up and say things out loud from their other reality selves, that were in different time periods. Some times years off from where they were in the other reality.

One side of Kate also can't stay put and must always be on the run, while her other self wants nothing more than to settle down and stay put.

But back to BLACK & WHITE. BOTH are needed to balance the scale, if you remove one, you have imbalance. That is bad.

So you can't say that the white or black side are the good guys, it would be like trying to figure out which is worse, a glass half empty, or a glass half full? Neither.

When Jeremy throws the white rock on the scale into the ocean, that does not represent Jacob, it represents John Locke. He is NOT the man in black or the smoke monster (see my other theory for proof WHY he is neither of those)

We were just recently told who does not have a sense of humor. This is a cue to the time Widmore said he used the name Jeremy Bentham to be humorous. Yet Widmore does NOT HAVE a sense of humor and that would be out of character. You also would never fake a passport to show you were born in the USA, but a Canadian citizen, to send a RED FLAG for someone to inspect the ID and person more carefully. The "J" in the signature is also similar to the "J" in his suicide note to Jack.

Note that no matter which time period they are in, they end up in the same roles every time through the time loop they are stuck in. (it is not coincidence that this season started on GROUND HOG DAY) Some remember being through the loop and know their parts, but are tired of doing them over and over again. Mrs Hawking was the first clue way back when she was frustrated with Desmond2 wanting to stick with Penny, while Desmond1 already broke up with her, and they are trying to get things back in sync.

It is no mistake that Desmond2 breaks up with Penny the moment he takes possession of the instant photo just taken of them, so that the writers can establish that when he takes it with him to the island, it should be impossible for Naomi to have had a computer print out of that photo, and Penny to have a copy on her night stand. This was a clue I figured out WAY BACK THEN, that this was going on, Especially when one Naomi is sent by Widmore and the other by Penny, one crashes in the helicopter well off shore of the island, while the other Naomi lands a very long hike inland in a tree, having an oxygen mask from having dropped out of a high altitude plane coming in the same way the food drops come in. (the flashing beacon on the food pallet was like a NEON SIGN trying to get your attention! It is what Naomi also has, a flashing beacon)

The "flash sideways" SFX are of a crashing plane. No doubt they keep playing that, and then eventually, for a final scene, they use that effect one last time, only this time, they extend it, and finally we see the plane as it crashes at the bottom of the Sunda Trench. And then you will know why Daniel is crying when he sees the crash reported on the news.

And why Juliet says "It worked" in her other reality.

Her comments about going for some coffee sometime, will no doubt be shown in a future episode between her and Ford, just as when Charlotte died, she repeated words she had with Daniel from another time period.

Everything keeps happening the same, no matter what time they are thrown into. So if Jack is a doctor, but then ends up working as a janitor in a Dharma school, no doubt he will lose his job as a doctor off the island and end up as a janitor at the school we just saw Ben and John working at.

Kate, having worked at the mechanic shop with Juliet and Tom on the island, will probably end up going back to that substitute Tom at the mechanic shop she hijacked the cab to, and Juliet probably ends up working there too. Just to keep everything the same. Note when substitute Tom laughs as Kate asks if there is somewhere she could change, was exactly like when it happened on the island and Tom laughed when she asked where she could change into that dress.

The part I have been waiting to see for YEARS, which was so obvious to me, was that Hugo gets his nickname of "Hurley" from Ford. Come ON! It is SOOOOOO obvious! He probably sees Hugo vomit somewhere, then as usual, slings out a nickname.

Let's see, Ford was working security on the island, I wonder what job he will have off the island? Any guesses?

And what about "John"? What have we seen him be on the island. He seemed to be the group's philosopher. He just got a job at the school. I wouldn't be surprised to see him end up as a philosophy teacher at that school.

But then what if we put them all into another time period, say the Black Rock days in the 1800's. What role would he play then? Probably the role of himself. The real life Jeremy Bentham. (The real life John Locke was a 100 years too early)

"Of Mice and Men" was after his time, but books he reads, so the time period would fit, and another reason he isn't from ancient Egypt.

Why doesn't Richard ever age? Who says he doesn't? It depends on your perspective. Think about when Charles Widmore sees "John Locke" back in 1953, and then 50 years later, to Charles Widmore, it seems like "John Locke" hasn't aged since he saw him 50 years ago! Same thing with Richard and Jacob and MIB, if MIB is still around on the island. He most certainly did not take over John Locke's body, since we see that body is dead. At least from the white side reality. Black side "John" is still alive and as he told Sun "I know it seems hard to believe, but I AM THE SAME MAN I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN"

He is still yelling: "Don't tell me what I can't do!" so that is still him, not the MIB, not the Smoke Monster.

Note in the sequence of the Smoke Monster in "The Substitute" there is a FLASH EDIT and the locations on the island are shown edited. Likewise, when it comes to that big knife, a FLASH EDIT and then we see substitute John pick up same knife some time later after the Smoke Monster had left.

We once again in this episode are shown that Ben really didn't want to kill John Locke. You could see it in his face after he killed him, and could see it now again at the burial.

He didn't want to do it, but at the time felt it was something that had to be done to help get out of the time loop. Now he seems like he would not do it if he got another chance. Will he get another chance?

In one reality, after John said he was told he had to die, Widmore assured him we do everything he could to see that didn't happen. Was he successful? Could that version of John in that reality have survived and crossed over to this reality to be his own substitute?

He doesn't seem to know if the KWON on the wall means Jin or Sun. It is Jin. Sun wasn't even supposed to be on that plane, and she didn't go back to '77 Dharma.

Jack wasn't supposed to save Charlie on the plane either. Cindy gives him an extra bottle to get him intoxicated, and Kate steals his pen again, but the bottle spilled and he was sober enough to save Charlie once again, and Charlie is really pissed, because now they have to go through the whole thing all over yet AGAIN!

Eloise showed disgust and obviously is tired of going through "Ground Hog Day" over and over again, and even "John Locke" got to the point where he could tell it was going to rain, to the MINUTE it would start raining, and knew EXACTLY when his other self would show up so he could have Richard give himself the compass.

Telling Jack at the radio tower "your not supposed to do this"

He was smart though. Like the guy in Ground Hog Day, he figured out a plan and went through a lot to end up where he is now.

Claire came on an earlier flight, no doubt, since she was in the Cab before Kate ever got to it, and Claire had to wait for that couple to meet her at the airport for some time before finally giving up and getting a cab. Kate only spent a few minutes in the bathroom and rushed out to that cab.

The SWAN Dharma logo was chosen because it is supposed to look like a Yin Yang symbol, just like Aaron's Whale. The other parts of the Bagua around it, you can see on the German Sub, and on the Ajira tickets.

I don't think I want to mention my theory on the WW2 German connection yet, but they are using guns from them, have a German Sub, and a few other things like killing people with Gas and having a mass grave and all, that's all I will say for now, but it is all connected too, in a different way.

In "the Substitute" we see BOTH swing sets, the one with the slide, and the one with the see-saw, and they are separated with a fence between them. And could they shove that plastic US army canteen in our faces a bit more and be a little more obvious they want us to notice it?

That's all I can think of at the moment, I probably am forgetting something.