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Main Article Theories about
The New Man in Charge
Main Discussion
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Taking Care of People[]

When Hurley realises he is now the new Jacob, Ben helps him understand by telling Hurley that he should do what he does best, what he has always done - take care of people. The scope of this could broaden out dramatically. He may see his role as taking care of people in the past as well as the future of the Island.

  • When the French Team were marooned on the Island, Montand picked up the Numbers being broadcast. On listening to the audio of that, it sounds like Hurley's voice reading the numbers. Yet this was before the Dharma Initiative, so who was broadcasting the Numbers? The theory is that Hurley now realizes how the Numbers were linked with Jacob's final group, but also that only he seemed to have an awareness of how they permeated the events on the Island. As someone who always thought they were bad luck, he may now ironically find that it is he that begins their broadcast, as an early beacon or pattern to the Candidates.
    • The DHARMA Initiative was on the island from the early 70's, the French Team didn't arrive until '88. DHARMA were either active or dead by time the French team arrived (since people disagree on the year of the purge), it was definitely DHARMA who were broadcasting the numbers from the radio tower.
    • I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss this, as Jorge Garcia confirmed on his podcast that he did record a take of the numbers being read. He was never told if it was ever used, but it lends credibility to the theory that the recording that sounds like him, is in fact him. There's all sorts of fun to be had with that idea.
  • With Ben's help (and knowledge of what the DI were trying to do), Hurley makes use of the Island's power to move himself in time.
  • There was always the question of the continuing DI food drops, even though the the DI had ceased to be and there was never the sound of a chopper. As a previous organizer for the food, and a cook with the DI, he would know what to include in the drops. It may now be a simple matter for him to construct a time loop to continue the drops for the Losties and Others.
    • The video shows that the food drops were an automated Dharma process, which the Others made use of.
      • Closing down the food drops would seem to indicate that there was no longer a large group of people on the Island.
        • Or it could indicate that Hurley is setting up a less complicated and secretive way of delivering food to the Island, since secrecy was "Jacob's way" of doing things, and Hurley is going to do things differently (as seen in his conversation with Ben right after he was made the "new Jacob", in the episode "The End").
        • He probably also would prefer a mechanism that doesn't involve two people wasting their lives in a warehouse.
    • The Lost time travel aspect is more sophisticated than this. Hurley just doesn't get to pop in and out of time 'fixing' things. For one thing, Lost acknowledges that out of bad events can come good consequences (for both others and the protagonists). But also Lost recognizes that all events that might change time have an on going legacy. That's why, as far as I can tell, almost every time event in Lost (except MiB giving the watch to Locke) ended up being passive (i.e. observational). That means that while we gained a different perspective it didn't change anything.
      • As Ben says, "I can't change the past. I can only take responsibility for it."

Whispers[]

  • Hurley will try to resolve and free the people like Michael, who are "unable to move on" and held as the Whispers.
  • Walt will help him.

Being Special[]

  • Walt is special because he always was going to be a Protector.
  • Walt is special because he was going to help Michael and everyone else stuck as whispers.
  • Walt is going to help the walking dead on the Island by lifting the corkstone and becoming Cerberus. Like The Man in Black, Walt was never supposed to leave because his powers have a specific purpose in a specific place. His ability to influence reality allows him to phase between the worlds of the living and dead, just like the Man in Black did, and are possibly dangerous outside its confines. It takes a powerful being to become Cerberus, one who can exist beyond the confines of a single soul. While it is precisely Jacob's, his Mother's, or Hurley's value that they are of roughly human capacity, Walt is something more. He can help Michael and other "whisperers" by unclogging the "well of souls" in the heart and becoming the ferryman between the lands of living and dead.
  • Special means you can talk to the dead AND you are an immediate candidate and are most likely to be Protector.
  • Walt might only have four fingers on one hand in these scenes.

DHARMA DVD's[]

  • Ben states that the DHARMA Initiative hasn't existed in almost 20 years. But he opens up a folder, filled with numerous DVD's and papers, all badged with DHARMA Initiative logos. So where did this folder come from? Ben could not have simply "appropriated" it from a DHARMA office - the DI has not been running, and no one would have made DVD's 20 years ago. It is much more likely that Ben made this elaborate prop to help convince the two guys that he was legitimate and official in closing down the warehouse. He represents the head office of the DI, but says they are no longer in existence.
    • Were the DVD's all full of D.I. orientation videos, or only that one he selected - the rest being blank?
    • Interesting that Ben apologizes for the quality, explaining they were transferred from Betamax. That is how he would have found it on the Island. Yet the video shows many dust-spots, clues that it was originally transferred from film, which would also explain some of the uneven cuts and sound slurring.
      • Ben stops the DVD before the copyright date screen is shown.
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