LOST Theories - DarkUFO

Based on reactions so far to LA X, I think too many people are falling hook, line, and sinker for a misdirection of the creators of Lost. People are assuming that we are seeing a Schrodinger's Cat type scenario whereby we are seeing both A) what happens if the bomb goes off and B) what happens if the bomb doesn't go off. I believe this is not the case and I will lay out some real world reasons which are mainly keyed to the creators trying ultimately satisfy the audience.

However, before that I want to propose that, as others have suggested, that the Off-Island 2004 timeline we are seeing will be the result of the On-Island events this season. It is not a Flash Forward, as it happens in 2004 and it is not a Flash Back, as from our point of view it has not happened yet since the causes of it have not happened in our On-Island 2007 timeline. It is also not an ALT timeline as it is dependent on the On-Island timeline events this season for its existence. Both timelines have meaning and both timelines are real. Neither will disappear. On-Island is cause, Off-Island is effect.

In essence, Off-Island is Season 7. It will provide us closure with each of our Losties that would not be possible when they do reset things so that 815 never crashes. If the series ended with a scene of 815 landing safely, there would be zero character growth. Hurley would still be unlucky, Kate would still be going to jail, etc. Let's face it though, if the show was only Off-Island and became solely “After-MASH”, very few would watch it.

On-Island actions in Season 6 (and 1-5) lead directly to what we are seeing Off-Island in Season 6.

To provide some common sense proof for this theory, imagine the challenges of the the Lost creators heading into a final season:

1) Avoid angering a large portion of the fans with a total reset should Jack's plan succeed perfectly. In this scenario, forget Jacob and the 2007 timeline, it would not matter for our characters.
2) Avoid angering a large portion of the fans with Jack's plan failing or at least serving no purpose. In my theory, it was part of “What Happened, Happened” and they always set off the bomb and the incident always occurred and now they are at least in the 2007 timeline for the final battle.
3) Provide the opportunity to see all major characters (not just our 815 passengers) Off-Island to show what eventually happens to them should the island never affect their lives. Closure, but not necessarily Happily Ever After.
4) Avoid at all costs another “We have to go back!” long trudge to the island for our characters. There is no time to waste to get ALT versions of our characters up to speed without some seriously convoluted storytelling. For the same reason there will be no “merging” of the timelines, unless you consider the end of On-Island events running into the beginning of Off-Island events being a merge.
5) The creators can't directly tell the audience what they are seeing Off-Island without telling them that the On-Island plans this year will succeed.

The island being underwater is key to all of this. The bomb went off, but it did not sink the island. The bomb always went off and was always a part of “The Incident”. If the bomb had sunk the island, there would be no opportunity to see Ben, Hawking, Faraday, or countless Others/Dharma folk off-Island this season, unless it was a slowly sinking island. Even in a slowly sinking island scenario, the audience would never get to see, for example, Ben's life without the island ever affecting his life and I believe it is just too tempting a story for the writers. The island being underwater will be the direct result of On-Island actions this season and these actions will take the island back even further to prevent the island from being above water at least before Ben getting there and maybe even before Richard.

So, both the writers and the audience are getting their cake and eating it too. We will be getting answers to the On-Island mythology AND seeing the direct Off-Island results of those actions at the same time.

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