There's No Place Like Home, Parts 2 & 3/Theories

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Theories about There's No Place Like Home, Parts 2 & 3

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Theories may be removed if ...

Stated as questions or possibilities (avoid question marks, "Maybe", "I think", etc). More appropriate for another article. Illogical or previously disproven. Proven by canon source, and moved to main article. Speculative and lacking any evidence to support arguments. Responding to another theory (use discussion page instead). This does not include responses that can stand alone as its own theory. Usage of an indented bullet does not imply the statement is a response. See the Lostpedia theory policy for more details.

Zodiac Passengers

Those on the Zodiac who were in transit back to the freighter were "moved" along with the Island. Daniel Faraday has too much more to offer to the story to be gone now.

• The idea that Faraday "has much more to offer...to be gone" sounds more like wishful thinking from a fan than a viable theory. I suggest that he has actually done enough in helping Desmond.
  • Point taken, but I stand by it.
  • The producers have said he has a recurring role in season 5 and could turn out to be a series regular.
• It's possible, as was foreshadowed in Daniel's journal, this is when "something goes wrong" and Desmond (who's now off the Island) becomes his constant.
  • That wouldn't be advantageous to the story as that Desmond is with Penny off island, and presumably not going anywhere near the island, and Daniel would die within a short time period (half a day?) and probably wouldn't find Desmond in time.
  • But, Daniel would be "unstuck" in time... so whenever his other timeliness is, he may have the opportunity to contact his constant, Desmond.
    • But a constant is something that exists in both time periods one's consciousness is travelling to. Desmond would be in Faraday's past, but not in his present on the island.
    • Ben states they must all go back, all of them. So Desmond must return. It's possible that being on the island prolongs the onset of the symptoms associated with following an incorrect bearing. The only people we've seen with negative effects have been off the island when they occurred.
      • Not Quite, Jack got sick on the island (appendix)...
      • Desmond most likely is not included in that bunch. Ms. Hawking said that pushing the button is the only great thing he will ever do, and one would think Ben would add Desmond's name when he said Locke had to go back too.
        • Ben mentioned Locke because they needed to remove him from the funeral home at that time, he wasn't providing a laundry list of people who have left the island.
      • I think Desmond's role in the future (or present or past) of Lost is protecting Penny from Ben.
        • Also, Desmond has done some great things since then, shepherding Charlie to a meaningful death, travelling in time to give Faraday the correct setting for his machine (becoming his constant), not to mention that it was his connection to Penny that allowed the Oceanic Six to pull off the lie they use to protect the island.
      • Desmond also is not likely included because he was not on Oceanic 815, but rather arrived due to his own shipwreck a few years prior. This likely separates him from the Oceanic Six.
        • Locke's dead body wasn't one of the Oceanic Six either (he is officially dead), but he has to go back according to Ben. It seems to be anyone who left the island at that point, including Desmond and Lapidus (who just weren't mentioned).
          • Not necessarily - it may only be the ones who crashed on Oceanic 815, which would not include Lapidus and Desmond. Desmond probably has more important things to do off the island, with Penny, such as opposing Widmore.
    • Ben could be artificially requiring his own defined "all" of them returning to the Island, for other selfish reasons.
      • This is what I was thinking. He could be using this whole story to assemble everyone who left the island, including Desmond. By linking up with Desmond, this will lead him directly to Penny, who we know he wants to kill now that he is off the island. Ben can't touch Widmore for some reason, but he CAN try to murder his daughter. --Warplayer 09:54, 30 May 2008 (PDT)
  • There's no indication so far that Ben even knows that Desmond made it off the island, so his inclusion in Ben's "all" is pure speculation. On the other hand, Ben does know about Walt.
    • We also don't even know that Ben knows who Desmond is.
    • True, but there was not much happening on the Island that Ben did not know about.
  • Also, Daniel and the people on the Zodiac seem to have moved with the island. There's a shot grouped in the "bright light" sequence of people on the island seeing the light, and the sequence of flashes seem to move further away from the Orchid. First showing the flash with Locke and the Others, then Juliet and Sawyer, then the Zodiac, and ending with a flash of the people on the helicopter. Then the Island is shown one last time as it vanishes, and nobody is seen after that, seemingly indicating that the Zodiac went with the Island.
    • The "bright light" is not the only cue of who travels and who does not; there is also a "paper ripping" sound that accompanies the light. First, the Others with Locke see the light, and the sound is played. Next, Juliet and Sawyer on the beach see the light, and the sound is played. Then the members of Faraday's raft, who see the light and hear the sound. The Losties in the helicopter see the light...but hear no sound. Presumably, they are the only group to remain in the ocean / in the present.
  • Also, when Juliet tells Daniel that she'll look for him "when he comes back," Daniel chuckles to himself about the word "when." Either Daniel has been to the island previously, or he expects to come back at a time other than "immediately."
• The last group on the Zodiac, including Daniel, moved with the island and will return there. Before Frank ditched the helicopter, there was nothing between the ship wreakage and the island and nothing near the place where the island was. Either Daniel and the Zodiac moved with the island or 1) there is a monster plot hole, 2) Daniel and the redshirts were killed in the lamest was imaginable, and 3) the writers - who have been sticklers for details - completely overlooked a major character.

John Locke

• Locke is known on the mainland as Jeremy Bentham because he wants to keep the lie that the Oceanic Six made to look truthful. If he went around known as John Locke, people may figure out he was on Oceanic 815 and question the story the O6 gave. Locke is the one who initially told Jack to lie to the public so it makes sense why he would use an alias.
  • "John Locke" and "Jeremy Bentham" are both names of English philosophers; Bentham (19th century) lists Locke (17th century) as an influence.
  • Jeremy Bentham had many areas of interest, one of which was economy. Jeremy Bentham, was an economist. Could Locke be The Economist that Elsa was working for?--Jestyr 08:01, 30 May 2008 (PDT)
    • Unlikely that Ben would want to kill Locke. Also, Ben would know that it would be a problem when Sayid discovered "the Economist" was Locke, because it clearly would no longer be a cut and dry assassination given that Sayid knows Locke.
      • The same Ben who shot Locke and left him for dead? The same Ben who is jealous over being dethroned?
  • This can't totally be ruled out, but it's unlikely - she spoke German to 'the economist' on the phone. While Locke could have learned German, it's not the most viable situation.
• He travelled to the mainland much like Ben, Richard, etc.
  • He's taken over the leadership of the Others, so this makes sense. He would now have the capability and possibly the responsibility to travel back and forth to perform duties for the Island. Such as, visiting all of those who had left, letting them know that they must return.
    • Perhaps he inherited the resources that Ben once had (wealth, phony identification, etc) along with his leadership position. His ability to move about in the world under the alias of Jeremy Bentham, an alias apparently air tight enough to withstand the scrutiny of a public funeral with an obituary announcement, seems to bare this out.
      • But John Locke has no one who cares about him from his past, so it seems unlikely that anyone would care about him or make any efforts to find him. And, if Jeremy Bentham doesn't exist, then this could not be proven wrong.
  • We never saw Ben on the mainland while he was leader, so Locke may not be able to travel until he is dead. Ben (now as an agent of Locke), can travel like Tom did. This "dead" Locke is the best way to pull the Oceanic 6 together and back to the Island.
    • Didn't Ben say right before he moved the island that if you moved the island, you could never return to it.
      • I interpreted this to mean that you wouldn't know where it was and would have to find it again, not that there was a force preventing you from EVER returning again.
    • We saw Ben's secret room full of fake passports and IDs for himself along with all the suits, and apparently he had some apparatus in place to become a millionaire, so it was at least implied that he had been off the island before.
      • Not to mention that Miles has a picture of Ben with a vest on next to a computer monitor when he alerted the Losties that he was here to "find Benjamin Linus". If Ben had never left the island, there wouldn't be a photograph of him.
        • It is possible that the photo was what left the island. Not Ben.
        • We also know that both Miles and Charlotte have some previous history with the island that is yet to be seen. It is possible that the picture of Ben was taken on the island.
  • Why would they show all of Ben's fake passports if he never leaves the island? The obvious implication is that he did leave, as we know that Richard and a few others also were able to leave the island.
    • Agreed. Tom left the island to persuade Michael.--Warplayer 10:03, 30 May 2008 (PDT)
• The "John Locke" we saw was actually a multiverse version of John Locke, must like the duplicated rabbits, and his name actually was Jeremy Bentham. The "John Locke" we saw in the coffin didn't seem to have the same facial scars as John from the island, much like Jack was missing his appendix scar. Maybe a long shot, but possible if we are thinking about multiverse/string theory.
  • It's been months since last seeing Locke on the island, facial scars would have healed, esp being on the island.
  • Correction, it had been three years.
    • When was it ever shown or stated Jack's appendix scar was missing?
• Could explain Wickmund, Candle, Halliwax and the physical distinctions, but is this theory going too far from other events?
  • The pancake make-up they put on dead people is so thick, it would cover Locke's scar.
• Sayid says about his death that "they said it was suicide". Perhaps it was because he had just moved the island (hence telling Jack about all the bad things that have happened since the O6 left) and couldn't deal with not being allowed to return to the island again.
  • However, Ben tells Jack that they must bring Locke with them when they return to the island, indicating not only that Locke can return, but that he must.
    • Perhaps while he was off the island, Widmore or his cronies killed John Locke since he is now Widmore's enemy. Widmore made it look like a suicide of course so he wouldn't get caught, and as we know Widmore is great at cover-ups.
      • The way they say it was a suicide, as though that's merely the official story, indicates that at least the Oceanic Six believe it was something more. Perhaps they think that Locke would never kill himself, or know someone (Widmore) that most likely killed him. If Locke is the new Ben, it makes sense that he would be a hunted man off the island.
        • And let's not forget the scene where Sayid came and rescued Hurley, telling him they were being followed and that paranoia is the only thing keeping him alive. O6 are starting to be hunted, seemingly starting with Jeremy Bentham--Warplayer 10:29, 30 May 2008 (PDT)
      • Is Locke able to walk after returning to the mainland? If not, how can he hang himself from a ceiling beam? Seems extremely difficult to do without being able to stand up - he surely would have opted for another suicide method if he couldn't stand up. He may have been murdered by someone else.
        • Locke was supposedly traveling around quite a lot, visiting all the Oceanic Six under his alias. He certainly still could be paralyzed off the island, but Charlie and Christian appearing off the island indicates that the island's power (including possibly its healing properties) extends to the outside world, and he sounds pretty mobile.
• If/When Locke is returned to the Island, he will either be alive again in the physical sense, or alive in the sense that Christian Shepard appears "alive".
  • This is something I've noticed, people who have died off-island (Christian, Ben's mom) have appeared on the island alive and well, and people who have died on-island (Charlie) have appeared off the island.
    • Christian has appeared both on and off the island
• Locke isn't dead, he is alive and well. This is just a master plot to get the Oceanic Six back to the Island for whatever purpose(s) Locke has in store.
  • He is alive, but not well. Locke has developed a spinal tumour and needs Jack to remove it. Ben sympathizes with Locke and decides to help him return Jack to operate on him.
• Locke could not have committed suicide as the Oceanic 6 are led to believe. The Island won't let him just as it wouldn't let Michael until Jacob allowed it. Having said that, it is possible Jacob had something to do with Locke's death.
• Christian Shepherd was a "special person" (like Ben, Locke and Hurley), he died off the Island, but once his body was returned to the Island he slowly became able to act as if alive again (at first he did not talk, but in the current series, he interacts as if alive, even holding Aaron), it seems perfectly reasonable that if Locke's body were to be returned to the Island, as Ben suggests is necessary, Locke would be capable of the same feats.
  • Since "Cabin Fever," Christian replaces Jacob as the Speaker of the Island, who can reveal information to other special people but presumably cannot act on them. As noted elsewhere, at the end of season 4 it seems that Locke is replacing Ben as the leader of the Others. However, we know that Locke will leave the island and eventually die elsewhere, as Christian did. At this point, Locke's body would need to be returned to the island so that he could become an apparition (noted above). Locke would replace Christian as the casket on the plane, and eventually, the Speaker of the Island who can protect the island by revealing insights to alive special people on the island, namely, Walt, who as a survivor of 815 must also return with the rest.
  • It is possible that Christian Shephered's body being present on the plane (and his status as a "special person") was what allowed them to end up on the Island in the first place, and Locke's body would also give them this ability and that is why his body must also be taken.
• It made me wonder what Locke must have done for the Island to let him die. Jack and Michael was both unable to commit suicide so Locke must have fell out of favour with the Island
• I don't get why Locke was off the island. Possibly because of the "bad things" and he was trying to get all of them to come back.
• If Locke went back to the mainland, wouldn't he be in a wheelchair again?
  • I don't think we know yet. Cures may be permanent but the patient not understand that. For example, Rose is happy on the Island.

Moving the Island

• The writers said, that the four-toed-statue would be further explained in the finale, obviously, the frozen wheel was made by the same people that made the statue. There can be only one explanation: The Island is the "LOST" Culture of ATLANTIS.
  • I seriously doubt it. Lost is a unique show with creative writing. I can't see them having it all boil down to the lost conitinent of Atlantis. I think they are more original than that.
• There are buildings in the reflection of the water in the Season Four photograph. Atlantis was said to have sunk into the sea similar to the depiction of the moving island from the helicopter's view. Even in the Disney version of Atlantis, there was a power kept secret underground guarded from most of its people and the outside world. Dharma stations would be red herrings, similar to Ben's experiment comment in the two hour finale.
  • The buildings reflected in the water are the skyline of a modern city, possibly New York.
    • Could we elaborate on the buildings? I'm not sure what you are speaking of.
    • Try this

      

      Season Four promo poster

      • I see a "6" in the water right below the buildings. I'm assuming the buildings and the "6" are referencing the Oceanic Six and the flash-forwards back home that happen in Season 4.
• Did the island move in space, time, or both? Taking the whole "the rabbit seems to disappear for a moment" comment from the Orchid Dharma video into account...it seems likely that the Island is going to pop up right back where it was when October 2005 comes rolling around.
  • True, but keep in mind that the rabbit in The Orchid video from Comic Con appeared on a shelf in the background, not back in the chamber like it probably should have. I'd say anything goes.
  • I think the island will move forward in time a few years. In the meantime Ben will try to kill all the Widmore people and when the island arrives 3 years in the future then the losties will get back on the island and it will be like they never left. Walt will go with them and he will appear older because he spent 3 years in the real world while the island travelled in time.
    • From the Orchid video rabbit clip, it would seem that the same item could exist twice in the one place and time - but that there is a danger in them seeing each other or being close to each other.
      • Since that video was referred to as "outtakes" from the orientation video, it makes me think something did not go how it was supposed to in the process. The official orientation film tells us they are simply shifting the rabbit seconds into the future.
• The orientation video states to never put anything non-organic into the booth, exactly the opposite was done by Ben
  • Perhaps the island will reappear in the same spot, in the latter part of 2007, so next season when the O6 return, it would seem as though no time has passed for the people on the island.
    • I would think that Ben's arrival in Tunisia would sync up with the Island's new time, as they were moved by the same force / anomaly.

• • The time shift may be used as a plot device -- this would allow the flashforwards which may now be the present to stay closer in time to the on island events we will see.
• Ben showed up in the time-stream after utilizing the orchid in my approximation anywhere from a year to three years after the Oceanic Six were picked up and held the press conference. I was attempting to put the flash-forwards together, and we know that Ben popped up in Tunisia/Iraq and very soon afterwards drafted Sayid to become a killer after Nadia died. At this point Sayid had already been rescued, been through the press conference, been to Hurley's party with Nadia (which most likely happened after Kate's court dates since she would have gone into custody right away and that in itself would have taken a while), married Nadia, bought a house, and lived with Nadia for a time before she was killed. Only after she was killed and Sayid was back in Iraq did Ben "appear" in the time stream. Since the island's travel and Ben's travel in time are tied directly together, the island would have popped back in time approximately one to three years (three years being the upper limit because of Kate and Jack's conversation in the flash-forwards at the airport and Jack seeing Ben later on at the funeral parlour, and it was obvious that Ben had already been around and had drafted Sayid/confronted Whidmore).
  • Ben showed up in 2005, and this season takes place in December 2004. It's entirely possible that Ben showed up in January 2005 making his jump very small or nonexistant.
    • He's in Tunisia October 24th 2005, he asked the woman in 'The Shape of Things To Come.'
• Kate was probably arrested in Hawaii and transported to California in the custody of a deputy marshall. Once in California she was allowed to make bail, because having "her son" made her less of a flight risk. She acquired a home before her trial and hired a nanny at some point. At her trial, Kate accepted a plea bargain for justifiable homicide (the exact charge is unclear) and punishment of time served plus ten years in-state probation. She attended Jack's father's funeral, and Jack later said that he didn't want to be with her initially but changed his mind after the trial, so presumably they had some time together before she was in custody. As the victim of a disaster and a reputed heroine (having rescued the others and had a baby on a desert island), she was probably out on bail until the trial.
  • Ben arrives in Tunisia in October 2005 (he asks the hotel receptionist about the date).
    • Which would be...approximately 9-10 months after the rescue, if the rescue was on day 108?
    • Also, the obituary is from the April 5th, 2007 LA times. Jack visits the funeral parlour on April 8th, 2007.
    • Well...when we see Ben 'land' in Tunisia, that could be some time before he goes to the hotel.
      • True--he needed the time to go to L.A. and kill Nadia first
        • When Ben shows up at the hotel in Tunisia he is wearing the same clothes as he was in the desert, including the same bandage he made from the guy's scarf. It's HIGHLY unlikely that he left the desert, went to L.A., killed Nadia, and then came ALL the way back without at LEAST changing the bandage. He came to the hotel DIRECTLY from the desert after waking up.
        • I don't think he did though, and here's why - he asked the lady at the hotel the date and year. If he would have gone directly to L.A. and killed Nadia, he wouldn't have asked her that and been visibly surprised by the date. I think this pretty much confirms that he came straight to the hotel from Tunisia, the first place he could have asked the date safely, so it's probably pretty close to October 2005 that he "fell" into Tunisia (basically travel time)
        • We don't know that he killed Nadia, this is pure speculation. We don't even know that he went to LA - someone else may have taken the photograph. Sayid says of Nadia's death "you used that to recruit me", but even he has not accused Ben of killing Nadia. Interesting theory, but needs more substance.
          • Ben's secret smile after he successfully recruits Sayid is plenty of substance.
          • No, Ben's smile could just as easily reflect his satisfaction at having duped Sayid.
• Now that we know what the "frozen donkey wheel" is (the wooden wheel used to move the island), I was wondering about the significance of the "Donkey" in the name (For those uninformed, the "frozen donkey wheel" is the name that the writer's have been using for an event in the season four finale. It is based on an inside joke. I believe that when one of the writer's suggested the idea of a large wooden wheel, he explained it as a donkey wheel, as in the first Pirates of the Caribbean film, where a donkey is tied to a large wooden wheel in a blacksmith shop. The frozen part obviously relates to the temperature in the cave beneath THE ORCHID.
  • They called it "the frozen donkey wheel" because it is so hard to push/pull that you would need the strength of a mule.
    • It IS a 'donkey wheel.' Thos holes in the spokes are for tieing up donkeys to turn it. Not sure if it was used that way in the place that it is now, but it's possible.

• Does anyone noticed the hieroglyph-like carvings on the pillar when Ben enters the icy room ? Two of them are pretty clear : a bird-like one that looks like the duck in "Sa-Rê", one of the religious names given to pharaohs to mark their god-like status (possibly related to resurrection or immortality) ; and a square one depicting a "water piece" (possibly the ocean surrounding the island, or maybe an underground spring next to the Orchid). The latter has some "horns" on top of it though, so maybe it has a different meaning. There are finally three vertical slashes, possibly refering to three people, or three "something else", whatever it is. Anyway, these are still clear hieroglyphs, linking this room to the Swan station and countdown clock, and possibly to former (and possibly egyptians ?) Island inhabitants.
  • the vertical slashes, or tally marks, could be keeping track of how many times the island has been moved in that fashion.
  • Furthermore, why is there only one pillar featuring these carvings, why isn't the rest of the room covered with them, especially the wheel ? A marking of some sort ? Some map indications ?
• The island has already been moved several times before. That would be an explanation how the Black Rock got it´s position in the middle of the island. The island just appeared in the open sea and lifts the ship up.
  • Was it just me or did the island appear to "sink" into the ocean when it was moved? So it's certainly plausible that it "rises" up to wherever it reappears. This could also add water (pardon the pun) to the theory as to why the Black Rock is so far inland. Rather than "popping" into existance, the island lifted it up when it reappeared there.
  • I noticed what looked like the island sinking. Did anyone notice the ripple effect in the water afterwards? Perhaps this will be the explanation (in the LOST world) for the December 2004 tsunami. The timing of the events on the island and timeline to coincide with that major disaster.
    • That was just the ocean water filling in the space that used to be occupied by the island.
    • The timeline places the event of moving the island after the Boxing Day Tsunami, closer to New Years Eve [i.e. Dec 30th/31st]. Additionally, i find it unlikely that the producers would show disrespect to the people and families affected by this tragedy by alluding its cause to events occurring within a ficitious world.
• The polar bear in Tunisia (possibly the same spot Ben ended up) could be an indication that DHARMA moved the island in the past, or experimented in the frozen chamber anyway. They could have used the polar bear as a guinea pig to test the properties of the frozen chamber.
  • The Island was moved before, but whoever moved the island the first time did not have to leave the isand. The polar bear was used to turn the wheel. This explains the remains of the Polar Bear found in Tunisia by Charlotte. Tunisia serves as a dumping location whenever the wheel is turned.
  • DHARMA has not experimented in the frozen chamber before, but Ben knows it exists beneath the lab. The DHARMA scientists have used the anamoly to experiment with time travel etc. via the chamber/pod in the laboratory. Ben put the metals (inorganic) into the chamber/pod to cause the explosion that allows him to access the frozen chamber below.
  • The polar bear in Tunisia is more likely Dharma's work. I'm sure when they had to "work out the kinks" in using the chamber. So it's very plausible that they might have some animals go where they didn't intend them too. The orchid video shows that it's not a flawless system (the two rabbits at the same time).
• The frozen chamber has a rickety ladder and a gas lamp in it. These are not the sorts of things that DHARMA would have put there. Was this chamber used by the Others, or maybe by the crew of the Black Rock in the past?
• Charles Widmore was on the island before and moved it before, this is why the black rock is in the middle of the jungle on the island, because the island appeared where the black rock originally was. this is why Charles Widmore does not join his team travelling to the island because he can't just as Ben can't return to the island. Was Charles Widmore once the leader of the others and is this why Richard does not age, because when the island is moved something stops people on the island from aging.Locke 'n Load 08:56, 30 May 2008 (PDT)

The Island has not moved physically. Take note of what the Orientation video showed: they shifted the subject 100 ms ahead in four-dimentional space. For the briefest of the moments, the animal will seem to disappear, but in reality AND REWIND. It was actually sent into the future and when the present catches up (100 ms' worth of time) it should in theory appear again. This is a clever plot device postponing the reveal for one of the next two seasons.

• The last time the Island was moved was when the Swan imploded. It was the same flash of light and this explains the discrepancy between those on the island and those in the outside world about how long those on the island have been there.--Dannyboy2322 11:46, 30 May 2008 (PDT)

The original time-travelling mechanism (including the frozen donkey wheel) was created at one of the earth's poles, hence the extreme cold temperaturea, and also pointing to some relationship with the strange electromagnetic effects experienced on the island, since the field is different at the poles (could contribute to Sayid's compass errors). Turning the FDW moves the island in time and/or space, but the FDW stays in its place of origin. Bird1234 12:21, 30 May 2008 (PDT)

The Frozen Dharma Wheel?

• The wheel that Ben turns to move the island (called the frozen donkey wheel) very closely resembles whats called the Dharma Wheel in the Hindu/Buddhist canon. Here's a picture: [1]. Like the "Donkey wheel" it has 8 spokes, but the one shown in the finale has no outer circle. But, if you look closely, there are holes in the spokes where the outer circle should be: [2]
• It's really very simple. The wheel is designed to hoist the anchor that is securing the island to the bottom of the ocean. Turn wheel, anchors away, island moves... oh, I forgot to mention. We didn't see the part where Ben started up the inboard jet motors causing the island to speed off into the sunset. That's a flashback in Season Five.
• It seemed to me that the frozen wheel is the failsafe mechanism for the Orchid, the main mechanism being the chamber that they blew up. Desmond turned the failsafe for Swan and was sent into the past, Ben turned the failsafe for Orchid and was sent into the future - making the stations polar opposites.--Warplayer 12:28, 30 May 2008 (PDT)

Orchid Orientation

• The movie starts to go backwards after Ben activates the vault.
  • Something (someone) didn't want Locke to see the full video.
    • There's not any reason Locke shouldn't have seen the whole video, especially since he would become the leader of the Others a few minutes later. It most likely is "TV magic"; the director/writers didn't want us to see the entire video so they made some technical problem with the tape as the excuse to end the segment.
  • Time started to move backwards for a while after the vault was activated with all that metal inside.
    • The vault wasn't activated until a few minutes after the video started rewinding.
      • The vault wasn't activated until quite some time after the video started rewinding and finished entirely. They didn't activate the vault until after Keamy was dead and Locke was about to leave.
        • Time was not moving backwards, the tape was rewinding...the screen even had the little lines on it, like when you rewind a tape.
        • The Rewind button on the VCR was lit as well.
          • The video simply had no more information on it the tape had ended. or a part had been removed a little like the swan orientation video where part of it was missing. Because that part was missing the video had no more tape and so rewound like a normal tape would.Locke 'n Load 08:51, 30 May 2008 (PDT)
            • That is not the normal way a tape rewinds when it reaches the end of the tape. The video would go out and it would go into its "fast rewind". Instead it rewinds as if you were playing the tape and hit rewind, a "slow rewind". Bird1234 12:26, 30 May 2008 (PDT)

True location of the Island

As a passing comment, Hurley asks Desmond why they are "sailing 3000 miles to 'another' island"

• If Membata is the 'another island', the true location of the island is ~3000 miles away?
  • It is 3000 miles away from Penny's Boat not the island Itself. Also, they had been drifting in the raft for quite a while, so we have no idea where Penny's boat is. Finally, the island has now moved so it could be 3000 miles from just about anywhere.
  • This is another of those comments that should not be taken to literally. We should not assume the the Searcher travelled 3000.0000000 miles. The vessel travelled about 3000 miles from the point where the survivors were located. This location was close to where the Kahana exploded because Penny used her radio location equipment to determine the starting point of Desmond's call. Frank, Penny, and others knew the reported location of the crash of 815 in the Sunda Trench. The ship then travelled from point A to point B to release the raft at a location that would make the cover story look good.
• Hurley was exaggerating a bit, thats all. 3000 miles is quite a way.
• The island has been in the past, the garden of Eden, Atlantis, Shangri-La, Cortez’s fountain of youth ect. it has the ability to move around the world by way of the vile vortices. The island has no set location because it can move and has moved many times over the years. the vortexes could explain how yemi's plane, got there, how the black rock got there, how the polar bear ended up in Tunisia and many more anomalies on and off the island. The four toed statue foot could actually be one of the ancient wonders of the world...the colossus of Rhodes. As for the position of the island during this current time line i believe it is/was in the south pacific.

The Island has not moved physically. Take note of what the Orientation video showed: they shifted the subject 100 ms ahead in four-dimentional space. For the briefest of the moments, the animal will seem to disappear, but in reality AND REWIND. It was actually sent into the future and when the present catches up (100 ms' worth of time) it should in theory appear again. This is a clever plot device postponing the reveal for one of the next two seasons.

• • But if things are moved in time and not in space how did ben wake up in the desert with absolutly no foot prints around him?
    • The videotape rewinding is a clue, indicating that the island has moved into the past.
    • The rewind is a tool to tell Locke just enough about the Orchid to think Ben is doing the wrong thing.

Ben's Knowledge

• Ben has done this before. But he was in Locke's role, and Charles Widmore was in his role.
  • Unless Dharma rebuilt the Orchid station the door would have already been blown by Widmore, if he had "seen" it.
    • If Widmore had moved the island before, he wouldn't bother looking for it since he wouldn't be able to go back anyway.
      • HE wouldn't be able to return. And Widmore wasn't on the boat, his knowledge of the island could point the boat in the right direction. The trust involved in learning about the wheel would mean that the leader of the others wouldn't use it against the Island. Widmore betrayed that trust.
        • There is no absolute proof of how literally we can take Ben's statement about the person who moves the island having an inability to return. It simply could have meant it's next to impossible, as that person would be shifted somewhere in the world, and thus wouldn't know where/when the island moved to. It isn't definite that he meant he couldn't literally, physically return to the island. In fact, the final scene would suggest he plans to return with the Oceanic 6, and perhaps he is already working with Sun to re-find its location.
• Perhaps Widmore was at one time the leader of the Others, and like Ben had the ability to leave the island frequently. At some point, Widmore departed on one of his journeys, but when he left Ben and the Others wiped out the Dharma’s via the Purge and Ben “moved” the Island.
  • • Because of Ben's knowledge of Dharma (he did grow up with them) he knew that metal in the chamber would blow it up. And someone told him (Richard Albert, or maybe he was there with Widmore) that the wheel was behind the Orchid Station
      • The fact that the parka had the name "Halliwax" on it means that Dharma must have known about the frozen donkey wheel.
        • Those two facts are entirely unrelated. The parka says "Halliwax" because Ben took it from The Orchid, where Halliwax worked at one time. Nothing at all serves as proof that DHARMA was aware of the wheel concealed beneath. Try to keep this to viable theories, not outright conjecture.
          • Excuse me, what I meant to say was this: The fact that the parka had the name "Halliwax" on it lends itself to the theory that Dharma knew about the wheel. At this point there is no other reason with any evidence to support it that there would be such a parka. You seem to have missed my point, which is that Halliwax had a parka for such cold conditions because he intended to wear it. Halliwax in fact worked for Dharma. Try to keep this theories, not objective flames.
          • Why have a parka on a tropical island? The point is Halliwax had a parka because he needed to keep warm when going to the frozen donkey wheel. Seems pretty viable to me.
  • Ben matter-of-factly taking the preceise steps necessary to move the island suggest he has seen it done before. Ben's conversation with Widmore in his bedroom suggests that Widmore once moved the island while Ben watched.
    • How? If Widmore moved the island while Ben watched then he wouldn't claim it as "his island" and that Ben "stole it". He would have decidedly left.
      • Unless Ben tricked Widmore into turning the wheel to get rid of him. He's very devious, that Benjamin Linus.--Voodoochild138 13:04, 30 May 2008 (PDT)
  • Ben is physically able to return to the island, he just doesn't know where (and/or maybe when) the island is located. The same is true for Widmore. That's what Ben meant by the one who moves the island cannot return - s/he cannot return because s/he doesn't know where/when the island is after the move.
  • Dharma clearly knew about the frozen donkey wheel as evidenced by Halliwax's parka. The Vault was likely built as an experiment to attempt to harness the power of the FDW.
• Ben was (as usual) not being completely truthful to Locke when he said he cannot go back to the Island. He has been going back or, at least, is being contacted by the Others. That's how he knows what has to be done.
  • Ben told John that the person moving the island can never return, so that John would stay. Ben can still return to the island, but he must find it now that it has been moved, and he must find it before Widmore.
    • Ben was visibly upset at when he turned the wheel. Why would he be sad if he knew he could return?
      • Well, it was obviously hard to push. That and his arm. He could have just been in pain.
      • Ben has been beaten many times throughout the series without so much as whimpering. A little cut on his arm isn't going to cause him to cry now. He was emotional because he knew what he was sacrificing.
      • Ben was emotional because they thing he was doing was his last act as leader of the Others.
        • The word "never" seems pretty definitive.

Charlotte Lewis

• She stays because she was born there, and she was destined to return. She is actually Ben's childhood friend Annie.
  • I'm sure her age could be explained somehow but he would still be able to recognize her. I'm sure she was born on the island, but she's someone else. Why would he shoot her?
    • I don't buy the theory that she's Annie (though maybe Annie's daughter and possibly Ben's without his knowledge), but he could have known that she was wearing the bullet proof vest if she had been working for him all along. Shooting her could have been part of a long con.
  • Women can't give birth on the island.
    • So I guess Claire isn't a woman? Or was Aaron somehow born off the island when we weren't looking? Women who GET PREGNANT on the island can't give birth on the island. This was made clear to Sun by Juliet. Sun told Juliet that if the baby was conceived on the island (which meant it was Jin's baby), then she would die.
    • We don't know that it was always this way.
      • There is no indication in any flashbacks that the Dharma Initiative was ever concerned with this infertility problem. At least at the moment, it seems to be something that happened after the purge, or is independent to the Others (possibly something the Dharma Initiative did to the Others, making the purge a retaliatory action).
        • Actually, in the Octagon Global Recruiting advertisement, one of the positions listed is "IVF Consultants". IVF stands for In Vitro Fertilization. This suggests that Dharma might have known about conception issues on the island.
    • Sun conceived on the Island and gave birth off the island later ("Ji Yeon"), whereas Claire conceived off-island and gave birth to Aaron on-island, neither with any problems. Maybe only a critical part of a pregnancy (Juliet: "None of the women made it to their third trimester" ("D.O.C.")) on the island results in the death of mother and child, i.e. children can be both conceived and born on the island as long as that critical part of their development is conducted off-island. --Tom C 13:07, 30 May 2008 (PDT)
  • We don't know if Annie was born on the island, or came there later, like Ben (who also claimed to be born on the Island, before revealing he was not).
  • Charlotte may actaully be Annie's daughter, thus explaining why we haven't seen Annie since Ben's flashback: she died in childbirth.
    • Additionally, Annie could have died in pregnancy, and then Charlotte removed prematurely from her womb.
• She appears first by investigating a Dharma polar bear in the desert ("Confirmed Dead"). This desert area looks remarkably similar to the one in which Ben appears ("The Shape of Things to Come") after moving/leaving the island (in the same "Halliwax" coat). Maybe she knows to look for Dharma items in this "dumping zone" through previous experience. Additionally, the cold/icy area in which Ben pushes the wheel may have connections to the polar bears on the island.
  • The area she was researching was, in fact, Tunisia, the same country where Ben awakens in the desert.
• She, like Richard Alpert, was born on the island; and you don't age on the island while you are on it, or stop aging when you stop growing (more likely you don't die naturally if you where born on the island, which would be when you stop growing/start dying) and so she want to stay there.
  • There is nothing saying Richard was born on the Island - he could have been a crew member from the Black Rock.
    • And we're not sure he's immortal either, he could be time traveling.
      • Richard Alpert is time travelling. How else would he know that Locke was special. He was most likely going back in time to study Locke in order to confirm what type of person he is and if he could be a leader. That's something we could see in Season 5. Alpert could travel back to Locke's childhood after he has become their leader. Perhaps it will be linked to the bad things that happen after the O6 depart the island.
  • Ben clearly aged on the island. So there is no rule that you don't age there. The island seems to be more specific about its choices (e.g. giving Ben cancer and Jack appendicitis, curing Rose, etc).
    • This points back to the "good and bad people" subject. Bad people (Ben, Jack) get bad things (tumours, infections) while good people (Locke, Richard, Rose) get good things (un-paralysed, eternal youth, cured of cancer).
      • If it is immortality and not time travel, then eternal youth could be related to the same kind of healing as Locke (seeing age as a sickness).
        • Lock is dead in a casket, he's not immortal.
          • Which only means that at some point Locke loses favor with the island, just as Ben did, allowing him to grow a tumor.
          • Why are we assuming that Locke had a tumor?
• Charlotte has been on the island before, and originally arrived on the island with Daniel, Miles, and Frank. That is why they had to come back to the island together. This is similar to how the O6 plus Locke have to go back to the island because their original arrival to the island was together, on Oceanic 815. Daniel having been on the island previously would explain some of his recollection of island inhabitants such as Juliet, though his memory has been harmed in some way.
  • If Charlotte, Daniel, Miles, and Frank had all come to the island together previously, Charlotte wouldn't have acted so strange when Miles suggested she stay since she'd been "trying to get back for so long".
    • Also, this theory fails to account for Charlotte saying she was looking for the place she was born, and she wouldn't have told Daniel Faraday that he wouldn't understand her if she tried to explain it to him.
  • Daniel doesn't have a recollection of the island inhabitants as much as he knew who was on the flight manifest, and therefore knew Juliet wasn't on the flight, instead, an inhabitant of the island. Plus, if Daniel did have a recollection of her, then she would have had a recollection of him, as they would have had to previously been on the island sometime around when she arrived. Miles stayed because of his sixth sense, Charlotte stayed because she was there with Dharma back in the day, but because we don't know when Annie left the island, we can't assume that Charlotte is Annie. Charlotte has a pretty developed accent, so if Annie left when she was as young as when we first met her, it's possible she developed the accent, but the later she'd leave the island, the less likely she'd be to develop the accent.
    • Daniel's recollection of island events would be a function of his consciousness traveling through time, impeded by his fractured memory (as seen by the card experiment). He remembers Juliet because he remembers the first time he came to the island with the freighter, which is also this time. He doesn't remember everything, because his brain is fried.
      • Daniel's mind might be gone due to other time experiments he likely performed on himself, he was already fairly scatterbrained when Desmond located him back in time, and may have gotten more future information from Desmond as well in the past about the island.
  • Frank, Miles, Charlotte, and Daniel wouldn't have to know that they first came to the island with each other originally for this theory to work. Someone like Matthew Abbadon tried to get all of these four people back to the island together because he knew they had to come back together, but the four themselves don't know about each other.
• It would be too obvious if she was literally born on the island- the fact that she asks Daniel whether he understands what she means by saying "where I was born" suggests she is being metaphorical and not literal (if it was literal, it would not need to be understood but accepted). Charlotte seems to be a biologist, perhaps an evolutionary biologist, or maybe she is an archaeologist. We have seen multiple examples of there having been a very ancient civilization on the island. Perhaps Charlotte is referring to the island as the birthplace of civilization. This is made more likely by the statue which only has four toes, suggesting some sort of evolutionary trait, or perhaps pre-dating modern humans with five toes?
  • No, Charlotte is an anthropologist. She has a Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology from Oxford University. Naomi also confirms that Charlotte is an anthropologist when talking to Matthew Abaddon. If she was an archaeologist she wouldn't have had to bribe her way into the dig site, and she wouldn't have just hacked away at it with a pick. She's researching people groups (presumably Dharma), which is what anthropologists do, and archaeological evidence is therefore useful to her.
  • Anthropology has 4 disciplines. Cultural Anthropology, Archaeology, Physical Anthropology, and Linguistics. It's required by most universities for an Anthropologist to be knowledgeable in all of these fields, so a Cultural Anthropologist would feel pretty comfortable at an Archaeological dig.
  • The island is the original Garden of Eden!
  • It would seem unlikely that humans evolved from 4 toes to 5, considering no other primate has less that 5 toes. It is more likely that a genetically dominant mutation trait of the original people in-breeding made them be 4-toed.
    • Actually, it is theorized that humans will evolve to lose the pinky toe, suggesting that this statue is from a future civilization.
      • Theorized where?
        • The pinky toe is a vestigial body part like the appendix, humans no longer need it to stabilize themselves. However, primates will not lose the pinky toe for many hundreds of thousands of years.
  • Another option is that a toe was removed in some tradition or rite of passage.
    • This seems unlikely, considering that if one were to cut off his toe there would still be a stub or bone from where the toe got cut off. Look at your foot and imagine cutting your pinky toe off. You still have the rest of the foot that goes along with the toe, unlike in the statue's foot.
• Miles knows Charlotte has been to the island before by listening to whispers from the dead.
• She was born on the island. Remember when she first saw Aaron she asked Claire "Did you have him here on the island?" and she looked very interested seeing somebody who was born on the island like herself.
• It is likely Charlotte is the daughter of Annie, with Ben or Widmore (far fetched, but,if Widmore was ever on the island)or a yet to be discussed character. Annie may have left pregnant and successfully had a child off island. Hence Charlotte's comment to Daniel. That would explain Ben's real reason for knowing Charlotte's bio, besides being a freighter person.
• As it seems that Locke is possibly a reincarnated soul of an original inhabitant of the island, this could also be true of Charlotte. Charlotte seems genuinely confused when Miles asks her why she would want to leave after looking for it or so long, perhaps there is a pre-destiny for her to come back to the island and it is only after Miles says 'What could i mean' that she actually starts to question the possible existence of this pre-destiny and decides to stay.
• Could very well be Charlotte Malkin. Looking at the page for Malkin, she has the same piercing blue eyes that Lewis has. Maybe she has some connection to The Island.
• Charlotte is Des & Penny's grown daughter. Des & Penny are Adam & Eve from the cave.--Voodoochild138 13:08, 30 May 2008 (PDT)
• Charlotte is in fact daughter of Adam and Eve, but Adam and Eve are Jack and Kate, who came back to the Island in past

Michael, Sun, Jin, and the Freighter

• Michael is dead, but Jin survived and is now on the Island.
  • I don't see how he could make it back in that short amount of time. If anything, he's floating on a piece of metal somewhere out there.
    • It's possible he could get picked up by Daniel and the 815 red shirts in the Zodiac.
    • After the island was moved, the wreckage of the freighter could still be seen from the beach.
      • We didn't see the island after it had been moved, we only saw it before Ben turned the wheel (Sawyer and Juliet were both on the beach when the light from moving the island hit).
• We could see Desmond's yacht, we could see the freighter. Both were still within the island's "dome of space" We didn't see the frieghter after the move because then it wouldn't be a cliffhanger. Jin was close enough to the tiny part of the deck the helicopter took off from that didn't explode, but later burned. Jin is alive, Sun knows, and uses Widmore to find the island and Jin.
• The episode had a lot of shots and dialog about the boat moving and being closer to the island, which makes me believe that is within the islands zone of influence and that those on the zodiac and the survivors of the freighter explosion were also moved with the island.
• Christian told Michael he "can go now" meaning he is now allowed to die.
  • The same words Miles used to tell a ghost(?) that it was free to leave the house
  • When Walt visited Hurley he asked why everyone was lying and Hurley said to protect those still on the island, like your dad (Michael). So he could possibly still be alive, in an island sense.
    • The way Hurley responded to Walt's question "like my dad?" sounded somewhat solemn, like he was covering for the fact that he knew Walt's dad was dead.
      • Hurley would only know of Michael's survival if someone - Charlie, Eko, Locke - had told him so. From Hurley's view on the chopper Michael is toast.--Voodoochild138 13:08, 30 May 2008 (PDT)
  • Or, he meant that Michael could literally go home, having proved that he was willing to sacrifice himself for his friends. How he survived the explosion is unknown.
    • More likely, he could die. He made it home before, so that's no problem, but the island wasn't allowing him to die.
      • More to the point, standing a few feet away from a massive pile of C4 as it explodes does not teleport one home, but rather kills them and sends their bits into the ocean.
        • We can't be sure that Michael was standing next to the C4 when it actually exploded, Christian told Michael he could go and then the edit cuts to the explosion. It cannot be assumed that this is a real-time edit.
          • Why wouldn't it be?
            • Because the creators of lost like to mess with your head! They use flashbacks, flash forwards and all sorts of other editing tricks. Keep you on your toes. It's all part of the show's appeal.--Voodoochild138 13:08, 30 May 2008 (PDT)
• Sun tells Michael she is pregnant because Michael is the real father.
  • She says this because she wants Michael to feel an extra sense of responsibility of keeping her baby safe from the explosion.
  • Pretty unlikely as we've seen the baby, and it certainly doesn't look like Michael was the father.
    • Not to mention that Juliet confirmed the date of conception.

Looking at the episode "Ji Yeon", it's pretty obvious that Ji Yeon s Jin's daughter, not Michael's. However, at that point in her pregnancy, Sun may be concerned that Michael is the father. (ie. They hooked up.)

• • Sun may be telling Michael of her pregnancy because she knows he is truly sorry for his previous actions, and may be offering this information as an extension of friendship. She may also be trying to alert Michael to the fact that Jin is to be a father and thus shouldn't be put needlessly in harms way. [would Michael have been so insistent that Jin leave him with the C4 had he not known he was to be a father?]
• Jin's death is the death that the producers spoke of that would happen in the Season 4 finale.
  • Seems more likely that reference is about Michael.
  • Or even Locke in a sense.
• Jin made it off of the freighter into the water. He will eventually meet up with the Zodiac as its destination was supposed to be the freighter.
  • However, there is no evidence that he is supposed to live. In fact, it is quite possible he is NOT supposed to live considering he is not "innocent" and he has done horrible things in his past (working for Mr. Paik)
• Until we know the extent of Jin's "mission", we won't fully understand whether or not he died. There's a reason why Jin was brought to the island, and I don't believe that reason has been fulfilled. Michael's "mission" has been fulfilled, as he gave his life to save others to repay the debt he occurred by trying to get off the island. Christian telling Michael that he can go, is merely the universe telling him that the debt was fulfilled. As far as any other inhabitants of the freighter...do we care?
  • Clearly, Michael no longer has "work to do." Jin very likely still does. Everyone else on the freighter were red shirts (to mix nerd metaphors).
  • Most of the people on flight 815 were not needed to come to the island. This would include the nearly 300 people who died in the crash and more inconsequential Losties who have died since. It's quite possible Jin has no purpose or that his purpose was only to bring Sun to the island.
  • Jin's "mission" was to impregnate Sun, since he couldn't impregnate her while off the island. Mission complete.
• At first Sun thought that Jin is dead. She even went to his grave with her daughter if she thought he wasn't dead why would she go to a fake grave? But than somehow she learned that Jin is alive and on the island; she started to interesting in finding the island; that's why she went to Charles Widmore and mentioned finding the island as a "interest in common".
  • It is likely that Locke/Bentham visited Sun, since he seems to have visited everybody else. Locke could have told Sun that Jin is alive and on the island, which makes Sun decide to work with Widmore to get back there (their common interest).
• Sun claimed that two people were responsible for Jin's death. One is her father, for putting him on the plane, the other is Ben for killing Keamy and triggering the explosion on the freighter. She knows this because she too was visited by Jeremy Bentham, and was told what happened in the Orchid station. That is why she approached Widmore in London.
• Sun blames Mr. Paik and Ben for Jin's death. She got some revenge on Mr. Paik by taking control of his company, and now seeks revenge on Ben. This is her and Widmore's common interest - finding/punishing Ben. What is interesting is that she is still pregnant when she tells Mr. Paik that two people are responsible for Jin's death. If Locke told her about what Ben did in the Orchid Station, he must have done it relatively soon after she left the island.
  • Except Jack mentions in the end that Sun blames him for Jin's death.
    • Jack just says that Sun blames him. He doesn't say what she blames him for.
      • Technically he doesn't say what she blames him for. But she has plenty of reasons. He didn't believe Locke and Jin was on the freighter because of Jack. Secondly Jack stopped Kate from going to get Jin, quite selfishly. Basically he saved the woman he loved and said "F" it to the Man she loved. If she was referring to Ben, Widmore or anyone else for that matter I think she would have said she blames 3 people. There's no way she isn't mad at Jack.
• Michael couldn't die because the island still had uses for him. When he came back, he made ammends for killing Ana Lucia and Libby by proloning the bomb from going off and saving the lives of Desmond and probably Jin.
• Michael and Jin are both very much dead.
  • Michael is dead because 1) Christian (who speaks for Jacob) tells him he can go now - the island is done with him, he can die, and 2) more importantly, Michael was standing next to an extrodinarily large bomb when said bomb exploded.
  • Jin is dead because 1) no one on the freighter when the bomb went off lived, 2) even if Jin survived the explosion, he would have drown, 3) the Zodiac moved with the island (see above), 4) the wreakage from the freighter did not move - the helicopter was closer to the island than the freighter and did not move, so the freighter was not close enough to move, and 5) no ships had been anywhere near the freighter for something like 10 days - there was no one around to rescue Jin in the slim chance he survived the explosion.
    • 1) This remains unknown. 2) Jin has survived a relatively long swim before when he dove off the raft in Exodus. There's no reason to believe he wouldn't be able to do so again, especially if he had a bit of wreckage to float on OR if he was picked up by the Zodiac. 3) Agreed. 4) If the influence of the Island is shaped like a bubble or a dome it's possible that the helicopter was above the bubble while the wreckage of the freighter was still inside it. At any rate the wreckage is not seen after the Island moves. Until season 5 there's no way to tell whether it moved with the Island or not. 5) Zodiac.

The bad thing that happened to Dharma

• The "bad thing" that happened to Dharma that created so many problems for them and caused issues at the substations was the first time they found and turned the frozen donkey wheel. They would have moved the wheel at some point to see what it did, causing the island to move in time. This would have teleported anyone in the ice chamber to a different place (Tunisia?) and caused issues for Dharma getting back and forth (basically cutting them off from the island until they either made contact with the outside world again or left under the new bearings) and may have wreaked havoc with their substations. The only way Dharma would have known to build the biochamber to move things around was to harness the power in its original form (the wheel) and see the results the first time, then experiment from then on.

Bad things

• What happened after the O6 left the island?
• Based on what we know from earlier episodes, Jacob selects the "good people" from the survivors (who were assimilated into the Others like Cindy the stewardess) & the rest.... Well, apparently they're not allowed to live on the island. Unfortunately, a number of people not chosen by Jacob managed to get onto the island, & their actions have led to these "bad things". The responsible people might be one of the 3 introduced in this episode -- or it might be someone lurking in the background like Neil, the Frogurt guy.
• The 'bad things' happen when Locke fails to 'keep them apart', whoever they might be, perhaps the Others and those who built the four-toed statue.
  • Ben was talking about keeping good leadership and emotions apart from each other. Ben had just remarked how he himself had failed at doing so.
    • Furthermore, I doubt the fact that the O6 left has a huge emotional consequence for Locke (enough for him to have trouble "keeping the two apart, anyway).
• It's also worth noting that the 'bad things' seem to happen halfway through the couple of years that the Losties are off the island. That's when we see a radical shift of character, most notably with Jack, who seems to have noticed that 'bad things' are happening as much as Locke is. This is why he's convinced that he must return. Hurley seems to have given up, and both Sun and Sayid are definitely working in a common interest to find the island again. It's possible that it's a good case of misdirection that they're all working independently from each other; it seems like the only one needing of convincing is Kate.
  • Sayid isn't necessarily looking for the island; He is working for Ben to keep the people on the island safe.
• Locke at least believes that the bad things were caused by the Oceanic Six either by their leaving or by their not being there. If certain Losties are chosen by the island and meant to do something on the island, then bad things would be caused by their absence (this would at least include Hurley's connection to Jacob, and the possibly mystical nature of Aaron's birth).
• If the Atlantis theory is true, Atlantis failed because of their own "bad" actions- getting drunk on power and knowledge, then starting a war. They don't want their power to be found because it will corrupt the world, as it did their advanced civilization.

Kate's Dream

• Kate heard a phone conversation that sounded like someone talking backwards When the audio is reversed, it is a man's voice saying "the island needs you. you have to go back before its too late. "
  • If you put any stock in the "translations" of the whispers (which you must if you are relying on the translation of this phone call) it seems that there are two competing forces. One side wants to "help" the Losties and the other wants to, well, not help them. This would seem to fit in with the apparent conflict between the phone call and Claire in Kate's dream and Charlie's appearances to Hurley. One side wants the O6 to return and the other doesn't. This also fits in with the show's good guy/bad guy themes.
• Claire tells Kate that she can't return Aaron. This is more hinting that the O6 must all return together, but Kate probably perceives it as such that she can't bring Aaron back at all.
  • It's kind of hard to misunderstand "Don't you dare bring him back!" I really don't think this is a case of perception - there is simply no way to construe that sentence in a way that says "You must all go together". This is especially so when we consider how Kate has absolutely no desire at all to go back to the island in the first place.
  • Working off the "Ben is now the Widmore character/Locke is now the Ben character" theory. The whole thing is one long chain, repeating itself over and over. Holding to that theory, if Charoltte was born on the island and left, that makes Aaron the Charoltte character. So now Claire is trying to break the chain.
• There's something unknown at play with Kate's dream about Claire. All of the other visits to the O6 were while they were awake. All of the other visits weren't very sinister, yet Claire wasn't the Claire we knew, instead she was a bit more sinister. We know that everyone has to go back, that would include Aaron. If Kate decides not to bring Aaron because of the dream, then they will have failed in bringing everyone back (assuming they round up Desmond and Lapidus too). If they fail in bringing everyone back, it will be virtually impossible to turn back, grab Aaron, and head back to the island for a 3rd time. Some thing wants them to fail, and they are using Claire to do that.
  • Desmond and Lapidus do not need to be involved in the group returning to the island because they did not come to the island originally with the O6. It is the Oceanic 815 crash that links the O6 in having to go back to the island with Locke, not their departure from the island, as Locke did not leave with them.
  • On the other hand, though, the last time we saw Claire, she was sitting next to Christian in Jacob's cabin, looking very content.
  • The primary difference between Claire's apparition and others (other than Kate being asleep) is that when we saw Christian, Charlie, Yemi, etc. we know they were already dead, but Claire (very likely) has not died.
  • It is similar in style to Michael's dreams of Walt. And Walt was most definitely not dead. And yes, walt was percieved in visions too, but then again, so was Claire, in the shack. The key seems to be the fact that certain characters who are NOT dead have the ability (or just the coincidence) to show up in someone else's dream.
    • Whether these people are dead or alive is not so much the issue as the intention of the visions. It seems there are two separate forces at work, one that wants them to return to the island, and one that doesn't. There are contradictory visions all purported to be from the island (Charlie saying they need to go back, and Claire saying they, or at least Aaron, can never go back).
      • The other apparations working to bring the O6 back are working for the island. Claire's primary interest is not in the island but in the welfare of her son. Perhaps she realizes the island has malevolent intentions for Aaron
• Claire tells Kate to not bring HIM back. She never specifies who. She is indeed speaking of not bringing Ben back to the island. This removes the inconsistency in the message of her dream (i.e. come back but don't come back, see above comment). Aaron of course needs to come back for Kate to even have a chance of returning per Ben's revelation to Jack.--Buettnerck 09:54, 30 May 2008 (PDT)
  • This gives insight that Ben is indeed attempting to return. As Ben said before giving himself up to the mercenaries, he always has a plan. This is why he is so willing to help Jack get the O6 back. He is using them all for his own purposes. Perhaps it is HE who needs everyone back, including John's dead corpse to return to the island.
  • Ben has clearly been removed as the chosen one by the island. The island would have good reason to keep him off.
  • This same trick was played on us when Charlie visited Hurley and told him that Hurley needed to help "THEM." The assumption was that he was going to help the rest of the losties get off the island, but he was in fact telling Hurley he needed to help the O6 get BACK to the island. The producers do love those non-specific pronouns.
  • Claire "is there" for two reasons: To see her son and to deliver a message. Both Kate and she know who "he" is.
• Claire very clearly says, "You can't bring him back," not, "You can't take him back." What she's saying is in reference to Kate bringing Aaron back to the outside world rather than taking him back to the Island. Kate's been having this nightmare (or similar ones) since the O6 were rescued. Aaron was never supposed to be brought back to the world; he was supposed to stay on the Island.

Future of the Survivors Left on the Island

• Rose, Bernard, Juliet, and Sawyer will lead the remaining survivors of 815

Locke

• Will become leader of the Others.
  • Ben told Locke how to find the people, that they would tell him what he needed to know, and tyhat they would follow him.
• Will become leader of the Losties
  • The Others and the Losties will merge into one group.
• Will take a bigger role in the losties

Sawyer

• Will become leader of the losties
• Will find a way to contact the outside world
• Believing Kate to be dead, will develop a relationship with Juliet.

Claire

• Will take a bigger role in the losties
• Is dead
• Will go crazy after losing Aaron
  • It seemed like she willing gave Aaron up (or at least didn't complain)

Juliet

• Will take a bigger role in the losties
• Believing Jack to be dead, will develop a relationship with Sawyer.

Jin

• Will be picked up by Dan's raft
• Will take a bigger role in the losties
• Is dead
• Is still alive and will be used by Ben to get Sun back to the island.

Alpert

• Will be in a power struggle with Locke
  • Richard has no intentions of becoming the leader, so this wouldn't happen.
• Will serve the same role as he did for Ben, as consigliarie

Dan

• Will continue to explore the island
• His romance with Charlotte will be further explored

Charlotte

• Will continue to explore the island
• Her romance with Dan will be further explored
• Will be revealed to be Annie's daughter.

Miles

• Will continue to explore the island.
• Will attempt to communicate with Jacob.

Rose and Bernard

• They're still on the island. Neither of them got onto the Zodiac, so they can't be anywhere else.
  • This season has established these two as being the new leaders, reinforced by Rose's forceful approach with Miles. We've yet to get a deeper background other than their trip to Australia which eventually landed them on Flight 815. In the next season we'll learn more about them.
  • The couple are definitely the elders among the Losties.

Walt

• Did Walt tell his grandmother about the island?
• What happened during his meeting with Bentham?
• Since Walt was a survivor of Flight 815, mustn't he also return to the island with the O6 and Jeremy Bentham? (Since Bentham is necessary and not part of the O6, maybe Walt, Leuo Yi, Desmond, and Frank are necessary too.)
• Will Walt be groomed by Alpert to be the next Boy Wonder, as he did for Locke? Once on the island, will Walt become the new Locke (someone with special Island abilities from a young age) to be instructed to move the island after Locke becomes the new Jacob/Christian (the protector of the Island, who is in fact dead, whose corpse is on the island, and who can communicate only to those special enough to hear him?)

Sawyer last words to Kate

• Kate was doing what Sawyer asked her to in "Something Nice Back Home"
• He said 'I have a kid in Alberquerque...' I think. So Sawyer wanted Kate to go see Cassidy and help him out

Sayid and Hurley

• Since Ben said that they all have to get back to the island together, Sayid is probably trying to round up as much of the O6 that he can. Possibly another assignment from Ben.

Origin of the "donkey wheel" / island's mystical power

Isn't the donkey wheel the only thing that is directly linked to the island's "mystical powers"? When the hatch blew up it was a magnetic reaction. But why couldn't Jacob simply use his powers to move the island, but someone had to go there and actually turn the wheel? That could only mean that the island and all that is mystical about it was built by an ancient culture that somehow managed to manipulate space/time.

• It could be that Jacob wanted Ben off the island, so he decided he wouldn't use his powers to move it, rather make Ben use the wheel, thus forcing him to leave the island. Or, it could be that Jacob wanted to test Ben's committment to the island by making him choose between staying on the island and sacrificing himself for the good of the island.
  • Jacob is not all-powerful and does not have many of the capabilities some of us seem to think he does. He is supernatural, but not infinitely so.
• It is possible that the reason we see a polar bear in Tunisia is because someone used a polar bear to make the wheel move. Since they wouldn't want to give up their ability to stay on the island they would use an animal to do the job. This would teleport the polar bear off the island. It would also explain why someone was breeding very intelligent bears. They would need to be smart enough to train to do the task. That way the island can be moved at any time without having a person leave the island who knows about it special properties.
• My theory on this is that the polar bear found in tunisia was indeed used to turn the wheel previously, as it ended up in the same place as Ben, which i might add is the exact opposite side of the globe if you use google maps for a side by side comparison. http://koti.mbnet.fi/ojalesa/koe/opposite.html

This could be explained by a sort of coriolis effect caused by time travel, as the island is out of time the earth continues to revolve about its axis.

• Using the polar bears to turn the wheel would solve several unanswered questions, including how the polar bear ended up in Tunisia, why there was a fish-biscuit dispenser in Sawyer's cage, and why they used polar bears to begin with. (Most other animals would not survive long in the icy cave.)

The Searcher / Membata

• The O6 arrive at Sumba island after spending approximately 9 hours in a raft. They have set up a plan with Penny, Desmond, and Lapidus to say that they lived on Membata. Penny uses her considerable resources to make the island appear "lived on" for over a hundred days by the eight and a half survivors. Journalists, insurance adjustors, Oceanic representatives, and more interested people will want to verify the story and possibly do a TV special on their ordeal. If they go to the island and find it pristine, it will cast doubt on the official O6 story.

The "Arrangement"

• I wonder why The Others needed any help from Kate and Sayid to kill the mercenaries. They had enough weapons and people to do that without making another deal with the Losties.
  • Their moral code dictates that they can't shoot first. Someone else has to start the fight, then they can defend themselves.
    • I doubt the first-blow theory. They clearly start the attack: the guy who is jumping from the tree and strangles one of Keamy's mercs apparently isnt Sayid.
  • They needed a diversion to encourage Keamy to spread his force out over a larger area. I think they still struck the first blow, although they didn't shoot first.
  • The Others sent Kate first because they didn't care if she got killed. If Keamy took one look at her and pulled the trigger -- something Keamy might do -- The Others wouldn't lose yet another of their people.