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THEORY: The Flash-Sideways is a something that exists as a result of actions by Eloise Hawking
We know Eloise mistakenly shot her son. Now she is using her knowledge of his research to manipulate the creation of the flash sideways time-line where her son is never put in harms way.
Remember when Ben Linus asked Eloise at the Lamppost station "What happens if I can't get them all?" and she replies "Then God help us all." The reason SHE needed all to return to the island is so the flash sideways would affect all the required participants.
This is why she's fully aware of events in both time-lines as evidenced in Flashes Before Your Eyes (season 3 episode 8) and in Happily Ever After (season 6 episode 11).
Her sole reason for creating the flash sideways is to recover her son and has no intended bearing on the main struggle between the MiB and Jacob.
Of course there will be an affect, and Desmond is the variable in this equation. But one consequence will be that the smoke monster is no longer trapped on the island, but comes to the civilized world and begins a death spree. Desmond is in a race against time to get the Losties to remember their true timeline selves.
THEORY: The Flash-Sideways is a combined result of the detonation of Jughead and the actions of Eloise Hawking
In the OT, the detonation of Jughead Succeeded and the EM erruption was negate and was called "the incident". In this timeline Eloise in 1977 believes that the sacrifice of Daniel is inevitable for the Island and its residents and so she prepare him (and later Desmond)for his task. By this, she affects past events: transformation of future information to the others in the past by Daniel's Journal,which contains information about the time "jumps", Desmond's abbilities, the constant theory, the Donkey wheel under the orchid (that's how Ben knew about it)etc. She affects also the building of the lamp post station by Daniel (Daniel worked outside the Island during 1974-1977), and most probably Daniel left a letter for her during this period to read in the future about this facility and how it worked. The FST is a result of failure of the detonation of Jughead, which lead Eloise to believe that the sacrifice of Daniel is not necessary. By this, she changes main events : Ben is not being shot by Sayied, Ben is not joining the "others",The Oceanic 815 does not crash, The others and Ben have no knowledge of the donkey wheel, the time jumps etc.It also somehow caused the Island to sink (By the EM or by untimely detonation of Jughead). The OT is ncessary for the survival of the island, and MIB used it to kill Jacob (the "loophole").
THEORY: The Flash-Sideways *IS* Reality
... or rather the flash-sideways is what reality will become.
At the end of this season all of the characters will leave the Island to live out a life as if Jacob had never interfered with their life to begin with. The Island will be destroyed (as we saw in the first flash-sideways), what is playing out on the Island now is MIB/Fake Locke cleaning up the mess that Jacob has created.
Jacob is a “god” (we will not get an explanation of what this means and will be left to accept this as a fact) and has been banished to the Island by the other “gods” for interfering in human life too often. MIB has been placed on the Island to watch over Jacob and to make sure that he behaves himself, which Jacob has not done. Jacob has continued to interfere with the lives of human beings, much to the annoyance of MIB (and to the annoyance of the other gods?).
At some point Jacob went too far and MIB decided to end the charade, so setting up a scenario where Jacob could be “killed” (in a sense that perhaps we don’t yet understand) and thus Jacob could once and for all be stopped from interfering. Over the remaining episodes we will see the story of who Jacob/MIB are and how they’ve come to be in this position and all the time we will see the future lives of the Islanders off-Island in what the producers call a “flash-sideways” but is actually what is going to become their reality (the advantage of this from the writers’ perspective is also that they call finish telling us each character’s story – we will get to know their futures and won’t know that we’re learning their futures until the very last episode.
Their future lives will become, to an extent, what they “wish” for so Sayid will ask MIB to get Nadia back (as he’s just done in Sundown) … and will get Nadia back. Kate will ask that she didn’t kill her dad … and she won’t have. Hugo will ask that he be lucky … and he will be. Claire just wants Aaron. Sawyer will get Juliette (who I reckon is married to Jack in the flash sideways but that’s another theory). Jack will get nothing particularly because he is going to find himself aligned with Jacob rather than MIB and Jacob no longer has the power to change things.
The MIB will grant certain of the Islanders their “wishes” because it’s within his power and in some case it’s what their life would have been in any case if Jacob had never interfered to begin with. And once they’ve all left the Island, then MIB will destroy it, bringing the whole story to an end and ensuring that Jacob can never come back and that the humans can be in control of their own destiny once again.
Comments?--JAKLost 14:01, March 3, 2010 (UTC)
THEORY: The Flash-Sideways *IS* Reality/Present - Just not the one you think
Flash-Sideways: Sometime in 1977, there is an incident on the island. The DHARMA Initiative drills into a pocket of exotic matter, and creates an explosion which results in the sinking of the entire island.
"Main" Timeline: Sometime in 1977, there is an incident on the island. Before the DHARMA Initiative can drill into a pocket of exotic matter, a group of time-travelers detonate a hydrogen bomb. ("The Incident, Part 2") This creates a magnetic instability which the DHARMA Initiative is able to contain via a dead-man switch on a 108-minute timer. Over twenty years later, this containment system is neglected long enough that a plane flying overhead is ripped from the sky. Some survivors from this plane crash will eventually go back in time to 1977 to detonate the "Jughead" bomb.
In other words, events as we have seen them -- over the course of the entire series -- are their own self-contained paradox (just like Locke's compass).
--TravisSeitler 05:27, March 18, 2010 (UTC)
THEORY: The Flash-Sideways is the original timeline
The Island is destroyed and without Jacob or the island to contain the MIB untold badness is released into the world.
Despite the seeming idyllic outcomes so far shown in the flash sideways it will prove that the timeline where the island still exists is the preferable one.
I agree. So far, in the flash-sideways, Flight 815 doesn’t crash, and we’ve seen that the Island is underwater. We’re seeing what would have happened to the characters if Jacob had never interfered with them, drawing them to the island. That being said, how has Jacob been bringing people to the island? Does he simply scan boats, planes and other forms of transportation passing by the island in a split second, pulling them in when he finds a few people who would make good candidates aboard? I think not. Two quick theories on how this is possible:
-Jacob is able to see into the future, seeing who is aboard these planes, boats, etc. Then, he researches them, sometimes even visiting them and gracing them with his “touch.”
-Jacob time-traveled to the future at some point, finding out that the island was underwater. He then traveled back to his own time, began researching who had come close to the island over the years, researching them, sometimes even visiting them and gracing them with his “touch.”
Either of these could explain how he has been bringing people to the island for a while, possibly even since the Black Rock. The Flash-Sideways reality is actually the original timeline. It’s what would have happened. However, because of Jacob’s interference, the flash-sideways timeline has been re-written. What we are viewing, are the effects of Flight 815 NOT crashing on the Island. However, Jacob had already seen this future, and he has interfered in order to change the ultimate outcome. We can’t forget that the island was underwater in the Flash-Sideways timeline. I think Jacob would go to lengthy measures to ensure that it does not happen. --Manix 14:14, March 26, 2010 (UTC)
THEORY: The Island characters and Flash-Sideways characters exist in the same world
Per the Lost Podcast; the flash-sideways is NOT an alternative timeline, and that the two timelines are not mutually exclusive. Since the Nuclear detonation the, only outside world scenes that have been shown are from the flash-sideways world. Whatever caused the flash sideways destroyed the world the original Jack, et all, knew. Now there exists two versions of each of the characters. It should be possible for the characters to meet their counterparts, an unusual way to resolve the Jack-Sawyer-Kate love triangle peradventure?
Counter-argument: The flash-sideways island is underwater, remember?
just my theory on the flashes, but it seems the flashes are what has happened once MIB gets off the island, and that eventually the people will realize that something is wrong with this life, that it is a fake, like in the matrix, and that they need to go back in time to re-correct the timeline and never let MIB off of the island in the first place.
THEORY: The Flash-Sideways and Island are cosmically balanced
Jack is conflicted on the island, and more at peace in the FST.
Claire is "Evil" on the island, and her old "Good" self in the FST.
Locke was unhappy and alone on the island, and has Helen and his father in the FST.
Sayid was an assassin and torturer on the island, and is a good man in the FST.
Kate does not fit this explanation, which may be an explanation in itself. Kate is a good person who does bad things in both timelines - in balance. ---- [[User:Nimmirraj|Nimmirraj]] 16:34, March 3, 2010 (UTC)
THEORY: The Cause of the Flash-Sideways
The flash sideways was either caused by the Nuclear detonation or by the killing of Jacob or a combination of the two factors. The detention may have prevented Oceanic 815 from crashing thereby causing the paradox/flash-sideways or Jacobs death could have had retrospective effect meaning he never manipulated events to bring the characters onto the island.
- The island at the bottom of the ocean can not be a result of the detonation of the Jughead. If it were, Charles Widmore and Eloise Hawking would have died in 1977, which is impossible because we have seen them in the FS in "Happily Ever After".
- OR:
The events/reality of flash-sideways timeline are a result of the absence of influence exerted by Jacob or the Island post Incident. For instance, when Jack was a resident, he didn't meet Jacob, so his life played out differently and he wound up with a son. --Roger.barret 06:28, March 26, 2010 (UTC)
THEORY: The Flash-Sideways include some flashbacks
Certain flashbacks conflict with other information we have been told. For example,in "Pilot, Part 1", Jack's story of a spinal surgery did not mention that his count to five was at the direction of Christian Shepherd. However, in "The Incident, Part 2", we see that Christian told Jack to count to five. Perhaps, the two versions of events are not inconsistent but reflect different fact patterns of the flash sideways.
- It's not inconsistent anyway. An omitted detail is not the same thing as a contradiction. This a basic matter of definition.
THEORY: Where are Jacob and the MIB in the Flash-Sideways Universe?
All evidence suggests that the MIB is loose from the Island in the Flash-Sideways Universe. This means that contemporary or future Dharma Initiative scientists may have created the island to contain the MIB and sent it skipping off in time and location. Jacob himself may be from the future.--Roger.barret 06:23, March 26, 2010 (UTC)
- Jacob is not from the future. There has been plenty of evidence to support this. 1. He was around when Richard arrived at the Island in Ab Aeterno. 2. He dresses in cloth, along with MIB. 3. He was using a tapestry wheel from the past.
THEORY: Flash Sideways leads to death of the characters?
In season 3 Mrs. Hawking stated that the universe "has a way of course correcting" whenever something is out of order time wise. Also, Daniel Faraday came to the conclusion that "whatever happened, happened". Knowing this and the fact that after The Incident there seems to be a alternate timeline in which the main characters lead a slightly different life than we know from the original flashbacks, could it be so that the flash sideways will lead to the death of all the main characters in this timeline? The universe will course correct and already we're seeing the lives of the main characters intertwine in this timeline. There are only a few episodes left en the writers cannot elaborate too much on the flash sideways, so it seems accurate that they will wrap this timeline up in one way or another. Because the universe will course correct it seems therefore obvious that it will lead to the daeth of all of the main characters.
THEORY: Flash Sideways are a vision seen by Juliet after the detonation and before she dies.
Miles tells Sawyer that Juliet's final thoughts, presumably the "really really important" thing she hadn't told him earlier, was the message for Sawyer: "it worked."
The reason why she knows "it worked" is that she had a vision of all the other characters defeating their demons. This vision Juliet has comprises the Flash Sideways portions, where each of the characters has defeated his or her demon. Ben chooses selflessness both in terms of his conduct toward his dad and Alex, Sawyer shows a desire to let go of his debilitating anger, John Locke comes to accept his condition, Hurley has lost his timidity, and Rose is at peace with her coming death, etc. Juliet can see this future before it happens in a way similar to how Desmond was able to see things before they occurred after he was (similarly) causing an explosion to stop the electromagnetic power in a bid of self-sacrifice at the hatch.
The parallel here is breathtaking: In each case there is imminent danger from the electromagnetic energy at the hatch. In each case the person triggered an explosion designed to stop this event. In each case the character thought doing so would be their death, and in each case the person is able to see flashes of the future.
Juliet sees this vision and knows that their action has had the desired effect. If Juliet ever shows up in the Flash Sideways, it will probably be at the very end, going dutch with Sawyer.
Prediction: This vision of Juliet's will come true when Jack (and perhaps Kate?) ends up doing something at the end of the 2007 timeline that allows him to choose to change history. At the end of the season, all the main characters except Jack (and perhaps Kate) are dead, but Jack somehow has the option of rewriting history and his action cause the Darma folks to leave the island earlier, leading to the future we see in the Flash Sideways (the future Juliet already saw). When this happens, Jack finds himself on the plane with what he assumes is a daydream version of his life (the life we have witnessed over the course of the series), this explains his confusion about the appendix. The reason I keep indicating that Kate may also be in the same boat is that some of her reactions suggest that she is experiencing some deja vu.FireBones 23:54, March 28, 2010 (UTC)
THEORY: The Flash-Sideways *IS* Reality/The Future - A kind of different take
The "flash-sideways" we are seeing, is the future. We are operating on two timelines here. The stuff on the island, is what happened after the plane went down. The flash sideways, is what's going to happen AFTER the end of the events on the island in season 6.
Something is going to happen at the end of this season, on the island, that will put everybody back on the plane. It will reset everything, and it will create a new future for the characters. In one way or another, they're going to get "what they asked for" at some point during their stay on the island.
In this episode, Sayid asked to see Nadya again. He will get to see that, we just saw it on the island. Jack will ask for a normal life, with a family. Hurley will ask to be the luckiest guy in the world, or something like this.
And we'll know what's going to happen when they land, because we've been seeing it all through the season.
The end will probably be some music playing with them in the plane, them landing, and maybe a montage of what we've been seeing in the flash sideways.
- The Flash-Sideways must be the outcome of the show. It is leading up towards the final conflict. At the end of the conflict, regardless of what transpires, we will need to see what happens to the characters. The viewers have too much invested in the show to get a simple "they lived happily ever after...", so we get to see the happily ever after part before the show ends. It also seems as if the ones who choose the right side end up with a better life; Jack has a family, Locke has Helen, Hurley is the happiest man in the world. Sayid appears to not be so happy, as Nadia is not with him. Kate is still a fugitive. Perhaps the choices they are making on the island now are forming the lives they will have in the flash-sideways. The flashbacks used to show why they were making choices that they were on the island; now the choices they make on the island are reflected in the flash-sideways (Ben, for example).
- How can the Flash-Sideways be the future of one timeline when its characters [in the Flash Sideways timeline] have a different past than their characters in the main timeline. In the main timeline, Ben has not killed his father, so it is impossible that in the future he is taking care of his father.
- FST could be a glimpse of what everyone should deserve: Jack, Locke and Ben actually taking care of their fathers, who can no longer hurt because they are dead / brain dead / sorry.
- How can the Flash-Sideways be the future of one timeline when its characters [in the Flash Sideways timeline] have a different past than their characters in the main timeline. In the main timeline, Ben has not killed his father, so it is impossible that in the future he is taking care of his father.
THEORY: The Flash-Sideways *IS* the outcome of the show
The flash sideways are the outcome of the show and therefore no alternate reality. They are similar to the flash forwards, which were giving away the end of season 4 - in part. Now, the flash sideways are giving away the outcome of the show. So, the question has to be: What/who is causing the sideways? When does that happen? As shown in LA X the island is under water, as shown in Dr. Linus Ben left the island with his father, and so on. So the events leading to the sideways happen before the incident. Time travelling or the abilities of Desmond - his consciousness travelling through time - have to be involved.
The course-correction mentioned by Ms. Hawking leads to encounters of the characters and to their death, if seen in OT. The wishes of the characters are fulfilled though, more or less, which has to be the result of the intervention of either Jacob or MIB. As MIB is shown as an entity, which is not able to leave the island, he goes down with it before the incident and ceases to exist. Jacob is the "winner" and leaves the island for good (?).
The whole story unfolds without Oceanic 815 crashing but with some positive intervention of Jacob leading to Jack being a father, Ben being a teacher, Sawyer and Miles being police men, and so on.
- OR: The story of the main characters simply unfolds without any manipulation. MIB and Jacob cease to exist before the incident in connection with the sinking of the island, so that Jacob is no longer manipulating them negatively. The outcome is a better life. Still course-correction explains, why the main characters are meeting, that they are dying. All in all, that is the loophole, that ends the eternal loop. Both entities cease to exist.
- Nonetheless, in the conflict of the MIB and Jacob, Jacob will be proven right, because someone of the main characters will have to sacrifice himself/herself in order to establish the FST as THE time line. That is the proof for the good in people.
THEORY: The Flash-Sideways is to demonstrate what happens if the MiB gets out
The purpose of the flash sideways is to demonstrate the conditions for the release of the MiB, and the effect of it, which is presumably the destruction of the world. In the flash sideways universe, the world is destroyed and there is great suffering. This destruction and the conditions that were met for it to happen are communicated to the main timeline Losties, perhaps by visions or dreams. This is motivation for the final confrontation by all the Losties to unite against the MiB. They are given a choice and heroically choose to save their world by sacrificing themselves to destroy or contain the MiB. -- mattb02
THEORY: The Flash-Sideways is the NEW Reality and is merging into the 2007 island
When Jughead was detonated and Jacob was killed, it altered the main timeline off the island. Jacob does not visit the Losties, the island is sunk, and everyone's life is different. How much it differs depends on the character's interactions with Jacob and other islanders.
The producers have said that Season 6 will be a lot like Season 1. In Season 1, we saw flashbacks, and the flashbacks corresponded to the characters actions on the island. If the character conned people, he would con someone on the island, etc. Whatever your past was, that past influenced your actions on the island. The same thing is happening in Season 6, only the characters are each a little different. Look at Ben - in the alt timeline, he helps Alex, ignoring his need for power, and his actions on the island are reflected by this new Ben. Ben's past is different, so he responds differently to events. I think we are seeing that the characters are all changed due to this new past for them, and as the new past bleeds onto the island and onto our characters, we will see them act more in character with their alt-timeline selves than their previous-timeline selves. We just saw another incident - Sun losing the ability to speak English, because the trauma/knock-on-head pushed her a little more towards her alt-past. It explains why Desmond's time travels are into the alt-timeline now, because the alt-timeline IS the past for him.
Next, Desmond will try to get the characters' timeline-pasts to merge, just like his and Charlie's have. It's why he needs the manifest and why he goes with Sayid. He can work with Sayid on the island, and look up everyone in the alt-timeline and help them remember both realities.
- The flash-sideways originates from the Jughead detonating, where the island has never intervened on their lives, but because the original timeline is bleeding into it they gain the experiences they had on the island. In fact, in the original timeline MiB is stopped, at the cost of lives, but the final conclusion will show that all the deaths in fact led to a "rebirth" in the new timeline. Each character's consciousness from their time on the island carries over to the one without the island, and "see you in another life" becomes literal. This is what each Desmond is planning. The one on the island instigates the event (possibly through electromagnetism) to bleed into the new timeline, while the other is causing the others to have their experiences bleed over completely into the new timeline. This their final happily ever after conclusion, the dead losties are allowed to live their lives with the experience they desperately needed from the island, without the death and destruction that happened. However it is within possibility that the island still exists and needs a caretaker (Jack, or Ben?), or MiB actually does succeed in destroying the island,resulting in it being sunk. The end may be ambiguous, but it means story-wise the majority of the characters will enjoy fitting conclusions after their experiences on the island, a form of reincarnation.
THEORY: The Flash-Sideways *IS* purgatory
After all the characters have died in the normal time line (what we've been watching for 6 seasons) they can meet up in this other plane of existence they created (by Hurley using the light from The Island?). In this time line they live their lives again (without The Island) until they resolve what went wrong in their actual lives. Jack has a son and a good relationship with him. Sawyer got to be a good guy (cop). Kate stopped running (and was caught). Hurley got to be successful. Claire started raising Aaron herself. Ben saved Alex by getting her to college (but still had to think for a bit). Locke had to 'let go' and lose his daddy issues. Sayid realised he's a good person despite all he's done. Libby got sane by getting with Hurley. Other characters like Eko and Michael had already resolved in the normal time line (with his brother and with righting his wrongs with blowing up the freighter respectively) so didn't need to be in purgatory. Shannon had already resolved but was there for Sayid's benefit.
Flash Sideways is an Egyptian Bardo
In ancient Egyptian mythology the heart "...was conceived as surviving death in the nether world, where it gave evidence for, or against, its possessor. It was thought that the heart was examined by Anubis and the deities during the Weighing of the Heart ceremony. If the heart weighed more than the feather of Maat, it was immediately consumed by the monster Ammit. If the deceased was judged worthy, his or her ka (life force) and ba (personality) were united into an akh (living ghost)." What we are seeing in the "flash sideways" is the creation of akhs for each of the survivors, by means of realistic storyline in which each achieved the goal that had been preventing them from letting go of their heavy hearts.
In the final scenes, we understand that all the characters in the TV series are dead and are meeting in a place outside time and space, like a Bardo in Buddhist belief. So, back on the island there are still loose ends (like how did Desmond leave) but in this space none of that matters because either it's all already happened, or will happen. The key then to moving on was accepting that fact, which each was able to do once they'd achieved their remaining goals, and met the people they needed to. Ben doesn't join the rest because his goals are never really achieved and his heart is still weighed down with guilt. Others are still working through theirs.
Perhaps too this Bardo is a creation of the island, affecting only those who came into contact with it. Which belies this idea is the presence of people like Jack's father (Christian Shepherd), who was dead when he came into contact. with it. However, like his namesake, Jack's father helps herd the survivors on to their next destination. LauraEss 04:55, May 27, 2010 (UTC)