Resets and Flashes to the Future by SpLoDGe

Resets happen with escaping electromagnetism (EM) and there may have been several resets, the incident was one of these resets. The incident we know of was when Dharma drilled into the pocket of exotic matter/electromagnetism (I will call this EM from now on) but events did not always occur as we saw them in the episode “The Incident”. At the incident when Dharma drilled into the exotic matter the EM escaped and a reset happened (this could be called Incident 1). The world was reset to a time in the past. No one remembers except the person in the immediate vicinity of the reset because they were exposed to the EM. Proximity matters and those who are there when the EM is released get feelings of déjà vu but those right on top of the escaping EM will get flashes to the future and will be able to make different choices, to change the timeline. Chang and some others in the immediate vicinity experienced the sa! me phenomenon as Desmond. Chang and some of the other Dharma personnel e.g. Radzinsky had flashes to the future and were able to change the events which happened at the incident. This is why in the Swan orientation video it was said that the Swan’s operation had been changed from its original purpose. Instead of drilling into the pocket, releasing the EM and causing a reset Dharma scientists were able to harness the power of the EM and use its power to manipulate time – think bunnies in the Orchid orientation video. In this Incident 2 they used some other way of harnessing the EM other than drilling directly into it and they rigged Jughead into the failsafe mechanism just in case the Swan became compromised.

Physical time travel is different to the mind time travel. Mind time travel occurs after one is exposed to EM. Physical time travel is generally subject to WHH rules because one cannot change things if one is a third party. A time travelling third party doesn’t know all of the events which lead to the future and unless they live forever in the past, not returning to their rightful place in the timeline and constantly changing things then the future will play out like it always did. This is fate, not WHH and that things are bound to happen a certain way when people are confronted with free will. Someone who is reliving time and can make their own choices because, unlike the third party, they are reliving that time and can chose to do something different if they can see the future and make those adjustments as they go to ensure a difference happens. A theory written in the hiatus between series 5 and 6 is a great read to see what I mean here. http://theoriesonlost.blogspot.c! om/2009/07/whh-and-cognitive-cure-by-theron.html

The Swan was now being used to harness the EM so that experiments on time could be done at the Orchid and possibly also at the Swan. Every 108 minutes a little radioactivity (like that in Jughead) was released to offset the build up of EM which would cause another reset. That was the case until Desmond turned the failsafe which was to detonate the core of Jughead which had been preserved from Incident 2. So when Desmond turned the failsafe key he reset the world to 1996 and from then on he was having flashes to the future. Desmond was going to completely change the future but Hawking stopped him.

The Others discovered about the resets. Many theorists have pointed out about Ben’s comments and even Locke who tell the other characters that they shouldn’t do something because that’s not supposed to happen. Ben’s comment to Richard not remembering having birthdays may be in relation to his age or that neither of them bothers to celebrate birthdays anymore because they keep getting reset.

Dharma wanted to see if they could change events, manipulate time, change the Valenzetti equation and so they experimented. The experiments could either have been on the Dharma personnel or on the rest of the world. Did the perimeter fence keep the changes within or without? Perhaps the Dharma personnel within the barracks were the true test subjects and the scientists were observing the car mechanics and janitors to see what affects the resets would have on them. If Dharma were protected inside the barracks from changes in the timeline then it was the Others who were being experimented on. Therefore those people within the perimeter fence were protected from the resets that Dharma initiated. In one timeline Dharma made changes to the past which affected Ben’s life and messed with him. He thought he saw his mother alive because Dharma had reset time and changed the circumstances of his mother’s death and she was brought to the island – that’s how he could see her. Di! d the Others discover the changes, realizing their pasts had been manipulated or did the Others arrive on the island as a result of the changes? Is Jacob an original inhabitant who got involved in Dharma’s messing with time or is his very existence because of the changes in the timeline?

Turning the wheel exposes the person inside the wheel chamber to EM and when the reset happens this provides a greater concentration of EM and they have flashes to the future from the point in time the world has been reset to. EG if Ben turns the wheel and resets time to 1977 then he would be only 10ish when he starts getting flashes to the future and he relives his life doing things the same. Until he decides which thing he needs to change to sort out the future and resolve the problem (for which he turned the wheel in the first place). Perhaps prevent Keamy from coming to the island on the Kahana. Perhaps killing Penny who might never have been destined to be alive at all. I suggest this because when Widmore was banned from the island I believe he abused his power when he turned the wheel and had an affair off island. If this is something which never should have happened then it was one of the many things that Ben could correct and get revenge on Widmore in the process. Th! is is why the leaders of the Others kept changing – it all depended on who’d turned the wheel. If everyone is getting flashes to the future or feelings of déjà vu and could potentially change the future then someone needs to guide everyone to keep them united. The person turning the wheel would have the most insight into the future and could direct the others. Leaders of the island who turned the wheel and caused a reset – Hawking, Widmore, Ben and Locke. This is not something which should be done regularly, moving the island, because it changes the timeline and the island might end up underwater.

Cerberus, the security system, was there to instigate the changes made to the timeline. According to the blast door map Cerberus malfunctioned. Instead of correctly instigating changes that Dharma made to the past, the malfunctioning Cerberus system randomly instigated changes or left them out. The island became a place where many timelines intertwined. Dead people appear alive who should be dead and people die on the island because they never should have come to the island in the first place. When Smokey kills he is only wiping people out of the time line on the island. Someone has been able to harness the power of the Black Smoke and is unleashing it’s abilities as and when they want to. I theorize that this power is given to the person that turns the wheel. This is why Flocke appears to be the Black Smoke and why Ben was able to summon it – because they both turned the wheel. The next time Ben tried to summon it Locke was in control because he had turned the wheel aft! er Ben.

Jacobs tapestry which records events through time. A page out of Faraday’s diary showing imaginary space and timelines intersecting – event A which leads to event C. Hawking kept Desmond on track when he reset time. Sayid was influenced by Inman. Mr Friendly was keeping Michael on track. There were probably many other incidences of interferences we didn't see which were influencing our Losties in the flashbacks that we watched. Jacob was involved in instigating some of these changes. Hawking interfered so that Desmond did not restart a new sequence of events. She was protecting the future from a possible new timeline Des could make in his reset. Since we all know that by marrying Penny and not going to the island that would radically change the future.