The ALT is now the prize for Widmore by lespl2009

My apologies if this repeats any similar theories.

"Happily Ever After" was jammed full of new answers. Here is my take on how some of those answers fit together.

The Island has powerful properties of time travel and fabric-of-the-universe ripping in general. Faraday accidentally created the ALT by detonating Jughead, where the fission explosion combined with the power of the Island to create the alternate reality. Widmore and Eloise somehow figured out their dual existence (another theory might have that explanation.) The Island's properties can be used to bridge the two realities, and it happens in minor ways naturally, such as Sun's loss of English, or the apparent effect that human touch has with special beings like Jacob and Desmond, but a strong burst of electromagnetism can bridge them intentionally. The only problem is that this amount of energy burns most people to a crisp. Widmore discovered that Desmond can withstand it, and is using Desmond to this advantage.

Widmore knows about both realities and wants to remain in the ALT ultimately. Eloise is waiting there for him in a sense, and her job is to make sure events in the ALT transpire to Widmore's advantage in destroying the MIB in the original reality. Eloise also knows about both realities and her counterparts in both are working together along with Widmore (both counterparts) to make sure the ALT is where they end up, with the original time line Island destroyed.

The ALT is their Nexus and they will do anything to preserve it. Destroying MIB will ensure that preservation. MIB wants the opposite -- to destroy the ALT, which gives him the Losties (though I am not quite sure how that works exactly), and gets him off the Island. Apparantely MIB cannot cross over into the ALT. That's gotta suck.

The problem is, for Widmore and Eloise to communicate with themselves in the other universe is almost impossible -- that is until they discovered Desmond who seems to to be able to survive a forced crossover using Widmore's high energy coil device.

Eloise is not MIB's crazy mother. I find it hard to believe that Eloise, Widmore, Faraday, and MIB are all one big happy family. MIB is the evil enemy who wants to foil everyone's plan to settle in the ALT, and his motivation is to destroy the ALT in order to obtain the Losties and escape from the Island.