My Theory on what the Game/contest is, why there are rules, what I think will happen at the end by Jason McCann

For my theory, I am only looking at the episodes we have seen already, and I am not including anything from the spoilers or episode guides, or anything like that, so no worries there.

I think most of us are sure that the show seems to be focusing on a game/battle. I think we can also agree there appears to be higher powers at work, and that theology has always been a big theme throughout the series. Knowing all that let give you a possible theory on what is going on and what I think will happen.

Imagine if you will, that at the beginning of time itself, a higher power, let's say "God" for this theory, created the Human Race. God's great experiment here was to see if he could give this new creation free will, and in that free will they would chose to worship their creator, or at the very least live out their lives in harmony. However, at some point, Man disappointed God.

That is when God decided to give man one last chance to prove themselves. While God wanted man to be worthy of his "Grace" for lack of a better word, he was not convinced, and so he hatched a plan that in the end would determine their fate forever.

God enlisted the help of several humans, and created a special place for them to play out his scenario. He explained to those chosen that there was a due date for the end of the experiment and that there were some official rules that would need to be followed in order to make sure the experiment was conducted in the proper nature. Those who were chosen would not age, and each would have a unique ability to help them on their quest. One might have the power to influence, heal or judge and become executioner. None, however, could harm one another. Likewise, no one would be able to give up their post until the experiment was over.

This gives us a back story for Jacob. He may have been the first one chosen, and it I believe it was his choice to name who else would help facilitate the experiment. Jacob brought in MIB to act as Smokey/Judge and Executioner, and during a very long period of time, they brought potential candidates to the Island in order to prove that Man was worthy. Since MIB really was human at one time, he started to believe that Humans were never going to be worthy in God's eyes. He grew tired of the Experiment and just wanted to go back to living out his life as a human. But the Rules kept him from doing so, and with Jacob naming Candidates each generation or so, it seemed like he would be trapped forever.

Jacob continued to bring people to the island, and name new people to his team, including Richard. As scene in the beach scene in the Season Finale last year, Jacob is bringing the Black Rock to the island and MIB doesn't seem to want any part of it.

Once we get to our current cast of losties and candidates, MIB hatches a plan to end the experiment by manipulating the rules to his advantage. By manipulating some of our cast, and almost forcing Locke's death and his body's return to the island, MIB would have his loophole which would lead to the Demise of Jacob.

To end the experiment, MIB needs to either convince the other candidates to leave the island and denounce their candidacy, or have them destroy each other before a new successor can be named and new candidates can be chosen. You see the experiment only ends when those put in charge of it have either given up, or are killed by those whom they are trying to protect.

The kicker here is the idea that MIB believes that once the experiment is over, nothing happens to the human race. God will not destroy the humans; they will simply live on, not knowing that they have failed. MIB is content with that. He just wants to live, so the consequence for him is no big deal. In Christian terms, it's like Lucifer saying, sorry God, but I don't like your rules or your game, and defying him. I know there are a lot of references to some items in Christianity, and that is mostly due to my background, but I want to be clear that I am only taking ideas from there, I do not think this theory is exclusive to Christianity.

Given all that information above, I think that this season's Flash sideways are showing us what would have happened if the Bomb had gone off, the island was "Sank" and Jacob's experiment was over. People are living out their lives, not knowing that they are missing something. At times, we see people happy, but I think you will see that start to change. Locke will have surgery, but it will fail and he will not walk. Hurley will realize that even though he has good luck, Money isn't everything. Things for Claire, Kate, Sawyer , Jin, Sun and all the others will start to take a turn for the worst, and they will have no sense of purpose.

Lastly, I think there will be a bridge between the Flash Sideways, and our current on island losties that are still alive. Someone (perhaps DOGEN?) will end up providing a link to their Flash sideways characters memories to see what happens to people who live outside the realm of their creator. This is why those Flash sideways are important. It may even be that once Jacob has marked you as a candidate, there is somehow a link made to see these, but I do think somehow they will be able to see them.

In the end, Jack will become the man of Faith that that he tries so desperately to deny. He will lead the rest of losties in the cause, except those that MIB has manipulated, and a battle will take place. I believe it will be Jack's decision to have Faith in people that will allow him to become the true leader of the island and continue the experiment; he will let MIB go free.

The final scene, in my opinion, will have Jack and other survivors sitting on the beach, as the next batch of new recruits comes in for the next phase of the experiment. And as the show gets ready to fade to black, it will zoom in on his eye, where we will see a hint of white smoke.