ALT Losties are Redeemed in Death part 2 by B3

This theory hinges on a previous theory of mine, "ALT Losties are Redeemed in Death", although I am far from the only one to theorize that this sideways-timeline could be where the characters end up when they die in the main timeline (as is evidenced by Charlie and Juliet's comments in the premiere). After new knowledge from this episode, I've found a few more potential connections...


When Richard first told us the island was "hell", (an age-old fan theory that the episode Dave did a pretty good job of disproving) I was immediately disappointed we weren't going to get a real answer there (although we finally did later, and it certainly made better sense of his "hell" statement)... It appeared that Richard had just lost his faith when he said that, and it turns out, he did....

But what is really interesting about the hell reference is that it might be a hint of what they are trying to protect; "heaven" (or just as Jacob says about "hell", there are many words for this too; reincarnation; nirvana, or really any idea of potential for enlightenment, peace, and/or afterlife). So maybe this reference does indeed hint at the sideways-timeline being the place that is worth saving...

One could really argue that the Losties have been going through hell all along, both on-island and off, with all of the suffering they have had to endure... But in this ALT set of circumstances, it is finally within their control to truly act upon their free-will to make things better for themselves.

This isn't to say that they won't need to better themselves in the island-timeline too, but maybe, just maybe, some of our more pure characters (like Hurley) might already have bettered themselves, prior to going over to this consciousness... Could this be why Hurley isn't forced to remember what he's done, and can live on blissful ignorance?

What do you all think about that idea?


But one question definitely remains... Is the ALT the timeline where they've already saved the world from Smokey, or is he still a threat to this sideways? That part is still a bit unclear.