Jack's Appendix Possible Explanation (and Subsequent General AR/OR Theory) by UniquePocket

The thing I noticed about Jack's appendix is not something I've heard others talking about. I am assuming Jack (in 2004) is approximately 34 years old. He has to be old enough to have gone through the massive education to become a doctor and residency. This is a reasonable age for Jack in 2004.

Unless there is evidence to the contrary, I am supposing Jack was born in 1970 or thereabouts.

Jack's mother's explanation about the appendix was the clue. She tells a brief anecdotal story about how Jack collapsed "at school" and that his father "wanted to perform the surgery HIMSELF but *THEY* would not let him". She also tells Jack he was 7 or 8 when this happened.

The reason this is significant: if this theory is real, it truly defines what happened with the reset/alt & etc.

1) The story mom tells about Jack's appendix as a boy is very similar to what really did happen. Jack collapsed (not at school, but in front of his people on the Beach), Jack was obsessed about being as involved as possible in the surgery, even suggesting he could do it himself, refused to be sedated and made Kate hold a mirror, and Juliet ultimately "would not let him" and demanded Bernard (?) to put him under. Mom's version of events are not exact, but they are similar enough that it seems like a fragmented "memory" and has elements of truth from the Island reality. Of course, Jack's mom does not know what happened on the Island, neither does ALT Jack currently.

2) If Jack was 7 or 8, according to his mother, when the appendix was removed, that would mean ALT Jack had his appendix removed in approximately 1977 - the exact time of The Incident.

3) Jack says (concerning remembering the appendix event) "yeah, I guess I do". As someone else posted here, someone of that age would not "guess" they remembered something like that. They would remember it without doubt.

It is clear from episode "Lighthouse" Jack is struggling with some form of pressing memory of the past event from the OR. We do not yet know what the scrape on his neck was in the plane bathroom, but it was quite obvious it was some strange holdover from the OR. My personal theory is that it mirrors (literally) Faraday's neck graze from the Dharma shootout. Why? I have no idea.

HOWEVER, If the above theory is real, concerning the date of the appendix incident in the AR and mom's version of event, it is possible the "reset" is the moment for ALL the changes. And since it is paradoxically impossible for a grown man to not remember his appendix being taken out, it is therefore possible that many or most or all of the events that happened prior to The Incident are universally deferred back to that time - 1977. Since OR Jack did not have his appendix out as a child, the AR then corrects that discontinuity by placing the appendix event back to the moment when everything changed - The Incident/1977.

The current Islanders are actually the Alternate Reality now. The whole world and possibly the universe has been changed by The Incident, and the Island timeline is actually now a lost fragment/skew with no real future or resolution. It cannot truly merge with the outside world because Jack, the father of Daniel, is a different person, yet, he is the REAL Jack Shepard according to anyone NOT on the Island currently.

If this theory is real, then I suppose the Losties could "return" to the outside world if that is where Locke says he can take them, but they can never return to their lives or anyone they knew previously as Locke claims. Because there exists their double with whom they cannot coexist and a life completely different from the life these people knew previously.

In my opinion, the current Island inhabitants MUST perish ultimately OR remain on the Island. I cannot see a path that could take them back to "the real world" because for them, the "real world" is already occupied with their ALT/REAL selves (depending on how you look at it). For example, how can Sayid really "return" to Nadia in the outside reality? All the history Sayid knows/feels toward Nadia never happened in this new reality. She's married with children, and she is not the woman that was in love with him as she was in the prior timeline before The Incident.

This clue could help reveal what the "other" timeline actually and truly is. I do not believe it is prologue except, the audience may be prompted at the end of the show to accept these "new" characters and their slight changes in exchange for the original characters we've seen for the past 5 seasons. It may not be that much of a mindbend, and may actually be acceptable to true fans. Because the Island events have so ravanged the characters, especially now with the Smoke Monster running loose and people being claimed, etc, the audience may actually be able to accept the "new" version of the characters in the outside world and be thankful their lives were "spared" on some level and be happy for them in the end.

I cannot fathom an instance where the current Island characters can get redeemed somehow and return home or end up with some sort of satisfying resolution to their character plots even remaining on the Island. The "ALT" characters will serve that function in the end. The best of both worlds: devastation, death and war on the Island, and then safe/better/"corrected" lives on the outside.