The Answer to the Ashes by Halloweenqueen

Whatever the Island's power, it has been manipulated by man for thousands of years. Some ancient civilation seemed to know how this power should be contained or gate closed. (of course, it could be aliens)

We see many remnants of these people throughtout the Island. There probably were other devices, like the cork, to manipulate. A place like the Temple.

Michael told Hurley he was stuck on the Island. A ghost who couldn't move on because of what he did. The Island seems to collect Lost souls. What if the Others learned they could manipulate these Lost souls? We see Richard taking Adam's body. We see Ben leave his father in the jungle and the open Dharma pit. When Pickett's wife's body was burned and set out to sea. I think this all points to how the Others knew about these Lost souls.

Maybe they knew that people that were troubled at the time of their death became the whispers. Maybe the same people who made the cork made the Temple to control these Lost souls. Perhaps the protector of the Temple could command the Lost souls. People who die were bound to this person's will.

That is why Ben told Rousseau to run if she heard the Whispers. That meant the Smoke Monster was near. I think the Temple guardian used the Lost souls to confuse the Monster. Maybe they could contain the Monster as some sort of barrier.

I think the sonic fence worked as a Lost soul amplifier. That's why he couldn't just go over it. The voices of the dead torment him in some way and provents him from going forward.

The ashes became a form of "instant" army. The Others used this to control MIB in the cabin and protect the Temple.

Dogen may have been the last Temple protector. When he died the whispers were no longer bound to his will. That's why MIB could now enter. The Lost souls were now free.

That's why Michael goes to Hurley for the first time....after the Temple was destroyed and Dogen killed.

Pickett's wife became a floating funeral pyre because the Others hoped she would escape the graps of the Island and be at peace. I think when the Freighter blew up it was within the boundary of the Island. That is why Michael is a Lost soul.

Michael also told Hurley to tell Libby he was sorry. I think Ana Lucia is a Lost soul on the Island. He probably already talked to her.

I think one of Hurley's first tasks was to free the Lost souls. Or maybe one of this successors. That's why we see Ana Lucia in the ALT.