Reality War Revisited by Gravastars

In this theory I'm going to ignore what seems obvious. I'm proposing that the ALT timeline is NOT a religious afterlife per se, but a very specific result of the actions taken on-island.

Okay, let's imagine that there ARE in fact two parallel timelines.They look like this:

--------------------------------------------------------------Original
*Jughead*\-------------------------------------------Alt/Afterlife

What we see in LA X are two variations of Juliet hitting the bomb; one seemingly leads to the alt timeline, and one doesn't. It's quantum existence epitomised. 'The End' however, appears to disprove this theory; that the detonation of Jughead has nothing to do with this alternative reality - - it is simply "a place you created so you could all meet up again [before moving on]."

But then we have to figure - what does this actually mean, Christian? Moving on to where? Is LOST so simple as to end with an 'afterlife' sequence, or is there some deeper meaning buried there? We could say, "listen to everything Christian says! Look at the religious imagery! The white light! The Church! This place is purgatory!" Or can we really trust TPTB and suggest - there really is a psuedo-scientific explanation behind all of this.

LOST is all about perspective, and here's mine:

The Numbers and Dharma
----------------------------

So let's revisit the numbers - - The velenzetti equation first, before we talk about alternative realities. 4 8 15 16 23 and 42 are the 'core factor's of the equation that need changing to avoid the destruction of the world. As we find out in 'The Substitute' these core factors may in fact be people! Just as in Desmond's constant, where it was Penny - - these people are the remaining candidates who determine the fate of the world. When we presume this, Jacob's motivations for selecting these people, his 'obsession' with numbers becomes a lot clearer. I'm just going to say it now - - Jacob is Velenzetti. He directly intervened with the Dharma initiative so that they could enable him to bring the candidates to the island. Jacob is the 'very clever man' who designed the lamp post, and also responsible for creating the ingenius lighthouse.

These numbers mean more than they first seem however. The selection of the Candidates isn't entirely random; it's mathematical. Jacob figured that in order to defeat the MiB he needed to bring these factors to the island together. Deep, improbable factors that are fated through precise mathematics which will ultimately save us all. This all comes to a head in the island: Jacob through years of isolation, predicted the very outcome we see play out. It only ends once.

The End Of the World
-----------------------

'The End' made it clear - if the light went out permanently, the island would be destroyed, and it would end the world.

I believe the 'light' is indeed what Dharma makes of it: extremely potent electromagnetic energy buried within the island. Its effects however, make it extremely dangerous.

As we see all throughout season 4, the island has a kind of 'bubble' or 'radius' seperating it from the outside world. An entirely relative dimension, free from the constraints of the outside world. Inside this radius, nature acts strangely; things don't add up. Time moves irregularly, and sometimes skips backwards and forwards, dead people echo through the jungles and can never find escape, and a dangerous monster stalks unseen. This is why Dharma brought Polar Bears to the island - - to test how well they adapt within the environment where universal rules are broken.

When the island is destroyed however, the radius expands as its potent energy escapes into the outside world. This is why pressing the button in the hatch 'saved the world'; because failure to do so would release the energy and corrupt everything outside the island's radius. In this sense, the island is a kind of 'constant' for the outside world. It is the one thing keeping everything else sustainable and 'real'.

The Cork
----------

Evil. Malevolence. All this words you can describe to a man who knows nothing of science, and only of religion. Jacob speaks in allegory of course - this 'evil' is in fact pure liquid magma. It's kept at bay of course, by the electromagnetic energy; the light at the heart of the island. By keeping the magma at bay, the island doesn't destroy itself and the light doesn't spread from its radius.

The cork looks like it was built by egyptians. At some time in the island's history, the volcano must have erupted - - so they made this device (with the guidance of their own Jacob precedent), using the light, the water and the cork to keep the magma at bay. You won't know how it works however, any more than you can figure out how Jacob manage to reflect light the way he did inside the lighthouse. These things take a lot of time, "but I guess that's the point." It's science, but it is far more advanced than we can possibly imagine.


ALT Timeline
------------------------------

Okay, so Christian says that the ALT timeline was created by the Jack and his friends "so they could meet up again". I am going to presume this means that they created it with Jughead, because it's about the only things that's going to make sense of what I'm going to say next.

They "meet up again" because they all take the same flight. I believe Jack always had faith that they would all find each other somehow, after he had 'corrected' reality.

The Timeline Split
----------------------

Before the seventies, there was only one timeline:

-------------------------------------------------------*Jughead*

With Jughead however it split into two seperate timelines:

--------------------------------------------------------------Original
*Jughead*\-------------------------------------------Alt/Afterlife

Now, we all know that when we make a change in the universe something phenomenal happens, and both Daniel and Eloise were well aware of this. The universe has a way of "course correcting" itself. So, with both universes in play, both are playing for dominance. One side is light, the other is dark. One will want to course correct over the other.


The Reality War
--------------------

The 'reality war' is this: which timeline crosses over which? And the answer to this is rooted in the island. More specifically, whether they destroy the island or not.

In the ALT timeline, Jughead destroyed the island. We see that in LA X - - the island is destroyed. MiB is well aware of this and wants this ALT timeline to 'course correct' over the original timeline. In order to acheieve this, he has to recreate the conditions of the alternative timeline as best he can: he has to sink the island within the original timeline at whatever cost.

MiB's pretense of going home is metaphorical in a sense. 'Going Home' across the sea seems a bit oxymoronic, but not if we imagine that his 'home' is the light at the heart of the island. By releasing the island's energy, MiB's domain will be the universe. The chaotic and doomed universe free for him to corrupt how he pleases.

And this is exactly what the ALT timeline is! Time doesn't flow correctly: in the space of a week, John gets a new job, enters corrective spinal surgery and recovers from it. And hours after the precedure? He can walk again! Just like on the island, nothing plays out how it should.


The End of the World
--------------------

Jack's on-island sacrifice matters, because without it, both universes are doomed. The course correction happens as such:

Original-------------------------------*Island saved*--------------
Alt/Afterlife-------------------------------------------/

By saving the island, Jack ends the world of the ALT universe. The final scene with Jack dying in the bamboo, and the white light engulfing the universe indeed happen simultaneously. The ALT people have to 'move on' and face up to the realisation that their world - their make-shift afterlife - is now coming to an end. When Christian says, "all things die" to Jack what he means to say is that, "We have gathered here to spend our last living minutes together."

Evidence for this course correction - a gradual process - happen as a 'bleeding' from one universe to the other and vice-versa (Jack's scars, Sun's inability to speak english). Before one succeeds over the other, both fates are still in play. It is up to Jacob to guide our candidates into doing the right thing and saving the original timeline.

Why is this all so important? Because otherwise:

Original------------------------*Island Doomed*/
Alt/Afterlife-------------------------------------*Reality breaks down*/

If the light at the heart of the island ever goes out. All lights in the universe will also cease to exist. The 'light' is the one thing keeping the universe sustainable for as long as possible.

MiB is Christian
--------------------

In both the ALT world and the Island, Christian's image has always been the monster playing out his little games of deception.

Yeah I said it. The alternative timeline mirrors the island directly, by reintroducing the empty coffin and the seemingly miraculous revival of Jack's father. We can pretend it's different this time, but I really don't think it is.

Ultimately, the more people in the ALT universe choose to cling to its failing reality, the more it physically exists. I think, by this time, MiB had given up after destroying the island and successfully going home. He accepts his fate within the doomed universe and finally chooses to die. That's right - he redeems himself.

This is important - MiB MADE himself vunerable as the two realities drew closer and closer together. By temporarily 'destroying' the island, MiB almost succeeded in 'course correcting' his ideal universe into existence. But the resulting leakage cost him his powers, and ultimately his life.

Want more proof of this leakage?

Where else have we seen Christian? Helpfully guiding Jack in the flashforwards of the original timeline - - whhha-? Yeah, that was the smoke monster too. Except in THAT particular time, he leaked from the alternative universe, just as Charlie did to Hurley. In fact, ALL these ghosts we've been seeing, and the whispers we hear are in fact parts of the ALT universe attempting to cross over into the original timeline.

What other way does it make sense that these signs of bleeding are all over the place in season 6, and suddenly forgotten about when all ends meet? They definitely have an important storytelling significance, and I believe Christian and the MiB are at the heart of their answer.

What it means to 'move on'
-----------------------------

The end of the world is not as simple as it seems however. As we've seen in all these flashsideways, the characters experience everything within this distorted reality with their own subjective viewpoint. What I said before - LOST is all about perspective. Jack even deludes himself into having a son, apparently.

The ALT is real, I'm not contesting that. But this strange reality is easily manipulated, just as the on-island reality once was (magic box metaphor anyone?). With the light everywhere, it means that our characters have to make a sacrifice in the ALT universe - they have to choose to end it by their own means.

'Moving on' means dying, so that the ALT can die with them. It is as simple as that.

It 'feels' like an afterlife, because it would do. Everything is leaking and course-correcting on top of you, and you have to allow it to do so. You have to stare into that mirror and step straight through it.

Finally, you follow the MiB for the last time. You exit into the light, and engage in the most epic suicide pact ever. At the end of it all, it is clear to see the victor above all else. Jacob's 'white' reality, in which the rules are rarely ever circumvented or loopholed, course corrects into a stable existence. We see this represented by the 'white light' at the end of it all.