Lost Theories – TheoriesOnLost.com – Write your own Lost Theory

First of all… I am aware that this theory is incomplete. It is really just the first idea that made sense to me after watching the finale… Having said that, I would really appreciate your input in either adding on to this theory or completely debunking it… your choice.

The question I am attempting to answer is this:

“So if Jughead didn’t create an alternate timeline, then what did the bomb do?”….

First of all, if the bomb did in fact detonate (now that we know that there was only one timeline), Pierre Chang and Radzinsky would have died in the explosion (along with several others). But we know that Chang lived to make those DHARMA videos and Radzinsky lived to push the button in the hatch…

So the most plausible start to any theory regarding the bomb (though not automatically the correct one), is to assume that the bomb did not explode…… at least in 1977. Here’s what I think happened:

The Island flashed the Losties back into their original time frame right before Juliet could detonate the bomb. The Island had to do this as a last resort because it was the only way left for the Island to stop them from detonating it. So now, there’s an H-bomb sitting at the bottom of the very deep hole that the D.I. has drilled. We know that after the incident, the D.I. had to build a device (the button in the hatch) that would dissipate the electro-magnetic energy that was seeping out of the Island as a result of them drilling into the pocket of energy. As a fail-safe, they connected the hydrogen bomb to a keyhole and gave the failsafe key to the button-pusher. But whoever turned the key would die because no one can survive the electro-magnetic pulse created by a hydrogen bomb… except Desmond.

So the Losties had to go back in time not to detonate the bomb, but simply to put the bomb there so that the D.I. could create a failsafe that Desmond would later utilize to save the world… After all, the bomb was rigged to detonate on impact. If it were supposed to go off in 1977, it would have gone off when it hit the ground after falling for over 100 feet.

So what was the importance of the bomb?… If they had not gone back in time and put the bomb there, the failsafe would never have been created and Locke’s failure to press the button would have lead to the end of the world… So although it didn’t create an alternate timeline as Dan had hoped (although he previously admitted several times that he knew this to be impossible), it did save the world–a feat that I would classify as “pretty damn important.”

Hey Everyone!
I’m sure most Lost fans in the states heard about the Idaho megaball winning numbers amazing similarity to the Lost numbers..
Honestly, my first reaction was, so what? Not big deal…It’s not exactly the same numbers…but then I started thinking, it is kind of amazing, because four out of the six numbers is indeed a very slim chance…

The first thing that is amazing, is 42 was the actual Megaball number… It’s the last number that has to be chosen by the player to win any earnings at all…. And 42 was the Megaball number when Hurley won the lottery! Having 42 be the actual Megaball number (or any select number being Megaball) has less than 1/50 chance itself…I think the calculation is 45/50 * 1/50= which is a 1.8% or 1 out of 55.55 happening! (basically the 45/50 comes from 42 being selected in the first 5 numbers not being Megaball)

And if I can remember my math right, the chances of getting those 4 exact numbers are (50*49*48)/(6*5*4)*(55.55) which is 1 out of 54,444!

I also read that if you played the Lost numbers, you would have won 150bux!

Please correct me on my math if anybody out there remembers permeutations better than me!

I want to begin with something Emzi stated in her theory; the ash was intact around the Cabin while the Smoke Monster roamed the island in Season 1-5, so it’s obvious; the Smoke Monster was not trapped in the Cabin.

It’s easy to fall into thinking he was trapped (i certainly did at first), since we’ve seen the power the ash had in protection from the Monster. Two cases in point; Braum encircling himself with it, and the people at the Temple surrounding the temple with it. So if it keeps him OUT, it could obviously keep him IN if you encircled him without its knowing, right? This is where things could get tricky…

Just like we can conclude the ash didn’t entrap him inside the cabin, we can also conclude it didn’t keep him out. We saw MIB as Christian Shepherd inside the Cabin, during a time when the ash was still unbroken. Which means he CROSSED OVER the ash to go inside, and also crossed BACK OVER to come out when he was Christian Shepherd at the bottom of the well.

So we have two observations here. Braum encircled himself with the ash, and Smokey COULD NOT cross. The Cabin was encircled with ash, but Smokey COULD cross. What is the difference?

Back to the Temple. The Others encircled the Temple with ash, so they could be protected from the Monster; similar to when Braum encircled himself. They knew the ash would protect them because the ash’s power was somehow linked to Dogen being alive. The ash lost it’s power when Dogen died, as we all know from the episode Sundown. And just as the sun went down, the Monster freely entered and raised hell.

During that episode, Flocke and Claire approached the Temple and had a discussion right at the ash boundary. I remember thinking at that moment; Oh man, here we go…this is so obvious… Claire will stoop down and make a break in the ash so her friend Mr. Smokester can penetrate through and raise hell inside the Temple. But no, Flocke held back, to launch a bigger strategic move.. He recruited Sayid to go back inside and kill the man who’s life held the power behind the ash, then he entered to raise hell.

So what would have happened if Claire had broken the ash for the Monster, before Dogen’s death? I believe if that would have happened, he still could have freely entered and raised hell
. But regardless if the ash is intact or not, I also believe Dogen couldn’t be harmed by the Monster. He was alot like a candidate; in fact, he probably was a candidate. Flocke had him killed just like he had any other candidate killed; at the hands of another candidate; Sayid.

Nevertheless, I bring this point up only to say; the ash was an extension of Dogen’s power. By having the Temple encircled in ash, his friends at the Temple were also protected by the same rules that enforced Dogen’s protection. This makes sense.

Back to the Cabin. The Cabin was encircled in ash, in which MIB could freely cross back and forth. The Temple was encircled in ash, in which MIB could also (after Dogen’s death) freely cross back and forth. See the connection?!

OK…here is where I really step from observations to theorizing. Hang with me. Suppose there is more than one Ash substance. There is Ash that has its power because of Dogen. Maybe Braum’s ash had it’s power because of Braum, or somebody else? Who knows? Maybe if the candidates hung out on the Island longer they could have had some ash that had it’s power because of them.

What I’m stretching for here is; perhaps the Cabin experienced an identical scenario to the Temple. Somebody was alive in the Cabin; who spread their own powerful ash around the Cabin for protection. Not for their own protection; by encircling the Cabin it allowed the protection to extend to others inside the ash visiting the cabin. MIB came up with a plan to “recruit” somebody who could enter the cabin and kill the person who holds the power of the ash. Soon afterward, the Smoke Monster could come in and kill all the Cabin visitors, while the ash ring still being INTACT.

Final thoughts. Why would MIB want the ash ring still intact, either around the Cabin or around the Temple? The Cabin, with its ring still intact, was a place of trapped souls; the ones who Hurley saw, and the “Help Me” ghost Locke heard; those souls were of the people killed in the Cabin ring. Similarly, the temple would be haunted with the trapped souls of the ones murdered inside the temple ring.

Honestly, I don’t know how this could help MIB… But I think it’s a good explanation of to how the Cabin got its spookiness. Thoughts?!!

Unfortunate that October/November 2010 has been so thin on theories thus far. AND The Cabin was a great subject for discussion. Have we lost LOST or have we lost the Others and Losties? Hopefully it is/was just a blip wrt trend.
In any event, I shall not be stopped from asking if the idea I’m about to propose, if not as good as The Cabin, be considered for upcoming Theories of the Month…
That said, if we could discuss Season 5, the Hatch and the Losties. For example, what do we suppose happened when and if Jughead detonated or not?
Did nothing happen? How did the Hatch return to its post Desmond state in Season 6 E1, if indeed it did? Was this a case of what happened, happened? Would things have been different, if during the 1970s something had happened differently? Could something have happened differently? Could the 70’s be to blame? Could this confusion have been averted if it wasn’t for the 70s?
I’m certain some of this had been discussed at an earlier point, however since Lost ended, I don’t believe it has extensively.
It may be interesting to play with a full hand as it were, now we have the series behind us. Just to mention; having a full hand is by no means the same as having a full deck (to speak of the 70s).
IF the admin and community (as it is) likes the idea, nice people could spend time on Facebook while the debate flares on 🙂

Let’s take a look at what we do know about the cabin.

We were first introduced to the Cabin when Ben took Locke there to “meet” Jacob. Ben proceeded to talk to an invisible chair and tried to pursuade Locke that Jacob was sat in the chair. Just as an unimpressed Locke decides to leave the Cabin, all hell breaks loose. Things begin to move around the room, things break etc. and Ben is pushed accross the room and we see for a split second someone sat in the chair. We also here someone saying “Help me”. Locke is the only one who hears it and this then annoys Ben. In Season 5 we find out that Ben had never even met Jacob, and when he took Locke to the Cabin he was pretending to talk to Jacob in the empty chair.

Another thing we know about the Cabin is it is surrounded by an ash ring, which at some point gets broken. From meeting The Temple Others we know that the ash was used as protection against The Smoke Monster / MIB. So, the ash around the Cabin was either keeping Smokey out, or keeping Smokey in.

My theory is, it was used to keep Smokey out. Smokey was surveying the island since The Pilot and I think the ash circle around the Cabin was broken after that time (more on that later), so it couldn’t have been used to keep Smokey in.

So, if it was to keep Smokey out, was it really Jacob in the chair? My answer is no.

Think back to Room 23 – the “brainwashing” room that we’ve seen. We know that was a part of some Dharma experiment, and I think that this room is somehow linked to The Cabin. I think that whoever gets put into the “brainwashing” chair can somehow project themselves to The Cabin. At that moment when Ben and Locke are at the Cabin, no one else is present in the room. But around that time someone is being “brainwashed” in Room 23. I’m not entirely sure who, but whoever it was was able to project themselves for a couple of seconds to The Cabin when Ben and Locke were there, and asked them for help.

Walt was also being “brainwashed” when The Others kidnapped him, only Walt is “Special”, and was able to project himself in places where is wasn’t supposed to be. That is, any place in the world, any place in time. I’m going off the subject, but I believe that when Walt appeared to Locke and told him he had work to do, this was when he was being “brainwashed” in Room 23. I know he wasn’t on the island at that time, but when we was being “brainwashed” he could project himself to the future. He could also project himself to the past (when Shannon saw him).

Anyway… back to The Cabin. Ben knew of the Cabin, he’d helped with some of the experiments, but he’d only ever witnessed things that happened at Room 23. He’d never seen the effects of these experiments at The Cabin. So when he went there, he never expected things to start flying around the room and was just as in shock as Locke was.

So, why didn’t Ben hear the voice ask for help? That, I believe, is down to Jacob.

Long before the experiments started, Jacob used The Cabin as a place to go when he was bored of looking out to sea. He placed the ash around it to prevent his brother from going there. When Dharma came and found the Cabin they decided it would be a great place to try their “brainwashing” experiments. They didn’t touch the ash. They knew something or someone had placed it there for a reason and didn’t want to tarnish it.

However, after The Purge, instead of getting his cabin back like he’d hoped, Ben and the Others decided to make use of the “brainwashing” technology. So, because of Ben’s involvement, Jacob punished him by not allowing him to be so “in-tuned” with the Island. On this miracle Island Ben got a tumour, he had to have an operation to have it removed and took a week or two for him to fully heal. Jacob made him like this.

So when a voice said “Help Me”, Ben couldn’t hear it because he wasn’t as “in-tuned” with the Island as Locke was. Of course, Ben had a hissy fit when he realised just how special Locke was when Locke told him he’d heard someone in the Cabin. Ben knew it was part of Jacob’s punishment.

When Illana and her crew arrived at the Cabin, they were expecting to find Jacob there because he had used it often before Dharma showed up. When they saw the break in the ash circle they knew that it’d been used by MIB and that’s why they burnt it down.

Locke broke the ash circle when he and Ben left The Cabin. When he broke the ash it caused a temporal anomaly due to the power of the ash and the experiments that had happened there. Just like Room 23 allowed its victims to project themselves to The Cabin, The Cabin was also able to project itself somewhere else on the island. But only for a short amount of time, and only once the ash was broken. When Hurley stumbled upon The Cabin it had already taken occupancy by MIB (in the form of Christian Shepherd). But it was still shifting around on the Island which is why Hurley saw it in two different places in a short period of time.

MIB was using The Cabin as part of the bigger plan to kill Jacob. He knew that Locke now thought it was Jacob who had asked him for help, so he knew he could manipulate Locke on his next visit to The Cabin.

But who was the person that peered through the hole and looked at Hurley? It certainly looked like MIB was with company. However, I think it was just a trick of MIB’s. He can turn himself into anyone who has died on (or off) the Island, and he knew Hurley was looking through the hole, so he thought he’d have some fun and stare back at him. Only, it wasn’t Christian Shepherd’s form staring back at him, it was someone Hurley knew who had died. (I wanted to say his grandpa but I know it looked nothing like him, and can’t think of anyone else in particular).

So, The Cabin. Mystery Solved?

INTRO
Unfortunately, this theory of mine won’t delve into the spookiness associated with the Cabin; I simply want to layout my thoughts and paint the picture of what I believe happened when Richard Alpert came to the Island. Why Richard? Because the day Richard came was the same day the four toe statue was destroyed, which was the first step in the chain of events leading to the use of places such as the Cabin.

Remember what’s different with Richard; he was the first (and only) of his kind in the game between Jacob and MIB. Remember Richard and Jacob’s first conversation on the beach?:

RICHARD: Before you brought my ship, there were others?
JACOB: Yes, many.
RICHARD: What happened to them?
JACOB: They’re all dead.
RICHARD: But if you brought them here. Why didn’t you help them?
JACOB: Because I wanted them to help themselves. To know the difference between right and wrong without me having to tell them. It’s all meaningless if I have to force them to do anything. Why should I have to step in?
RICHARD: If you don’t, he will.
[Jacob pauses for a moment, taking Richard’s words into consideration.]
JACOB: Do you want a job?

Based on that conversation, I think the “game” up to that point might have been boring. Just imagine Jacob and MIB laying back, eating stone grilled fish on the beach, watching people “come, fight, destroy, corrupt” and/or “make progress”; and every time new people came, it always ended with everyone dying. That’s what Jacob said; “They’re all dead.” And that’s exactly MIB’s frustration; it all ends the same, so why even bring them to the Island?

So with the pieces of the game dying each time, it really doesn’t “win” or “lose” the game they’re engaged in. It’s only a difference of opinion; MIB says they destroyed themselves, Jacob says it ended but there was progress. It’s a stalemate.

So with the arrival of the Black Rock and Richard Alpert, Jacob expanded the game board a little. Jacob chooses to use an intermediary to teach the game pieces how to think for themselves.

THE FOUR TOE STATUE
Before Jacob talks Richard into taking the job, it was actually MIB who made the first bold move in the game; destroying Jacob’s home base, the 4 toed statue. Before I go any further, let me explain the basis of my argument; we all know it’s Jacob who chooses who comes to the Island, but I believe it’s MIB who chooses the manner of how they arrive. That manner always involving a crash; BlackRock, Henry Gale’s balloon, Oceanic, Aijira, Nigerian plane, Desmond’s Sailboat; all crashes with fatalities (except Desmond of course.) So why crashes? To kill as many people as possible, narrowing down the game pieces; MIB’s method of play is to first eliminate the variables.

So by crashing the Black Rock in a storm, he accomplishes two things; making the ship passengers easy prey and destroying Jacob’s home. So what’s the significance of the statue? I believe it served several purposes:

1. Jacob’s home:
Where he slept, ate, sewed, kept warm near the fire etc.

2. Jacob’s place of protection:
Jacob told Richard nobody is allowed inside unless they’re invited. That must be one of the game rules; so as long he’s inside, he’ll always be safe. (The Leader of the Others always had invitation, which MIB of course took advantage of later.)

3. Jacob’s meeting place. I say this because it would have been an ideal place; only people he invites may come in, so it would be a fairly secure place. But until Richard, he never wanted to meet with anybody.

4. A landmark to guide people to the Island:
I’m sure any ship that sees that huge statue, would immediately change course to investigate. That might have been what happened to the Black Rock. It’s similar to the transmission of the numbers to bring Rousseau’s ship in.

5. A place of Magic:
Here’s where things get interesting. It’s not the statue itself that produces the magic; it’s the ash within the fire circle. The ash is key. It’s symbolic. It’s actually the enforcer of the rules of the game.

One of the powerful magical phenomena the ash can be used for; it allows objects/people to appear/dissapear any place they want to travel. I know this may sound far fetched, but I believe the evidence supports this. Three things I can think of; 1) The cabin appearing/dissapearing 2) Jacob suddenly appearing in the statue when MIB and Ben came in 3)Jacob traveling on and off the Island.

MIB’s DESIRE TO DESTROY THE STATUE
I’ll stretch the traveling phenomena even further; I seriously doubt Jacob slid that huge stone door back and forth every time he exited and entered the statue. He could simply appear out on the beach to go fishing, or appear in the temple to talk with Dogen, or appear in America to give Jack Shepherd an Apollo bar. He’s Jacob for crying out loud. The game player isn’t constrained like the game pieces.

So the only thing MIB could piece together is that Jacob lived in statue, and that he could travel anywhere he wanted. By destroying the statue, Jacob would no longer have that power, or so he thought.

This is where Jacob’s grand illusion begins. When the statue is destroyed, Jacob pretends he doesn’t live there anymore. MIB doesn’t know anything about the living area inside the foot; he’s never been inside the statue. This is why Flocke is so surprised when Richard brings him to the foot:
FLOCKE: What is it? Why are we stopping?
RICHARD: You’ll see.
FLOCKE: Well, it’s a wonderful foot, Richard, but what does it have to do with Jacob?
RICHARD: It’s where he lives.

JACOB ON THE MOVE
After the statue is destroyed, Jacob of course continues to secretly reside in the foot. But to create the illusion he lives somewhere else, Jacob chooses a second home; the cave at the cliffs. When and how MIB founds this out is unknown. I would think the cliffs are difficult to descend down for MIB in smoke monster form. And I would like to think MIB discovered the cave after Jacob had already written candidate names and numbers on the wall; kind of a slap in the face to MIB, letting him know at the right moment how much planning is involved selecting his candidates.

Another place worthy to mention; the Lighthouse. One of the purposes of the statue was to guide people the Island, the Lighthouse replaced the statue for that very purpose. I think it’s obvious the Lighthouse was built long after the temple and the 4 toed statue were built. The temple, tunnels, and statue were likely built from people who were Egyptian; the Lighthouse, absent of heiroglyphics, was probably built during a time when the world was being discovered by ships much like the Black Rock. That being said, Jacob had people build the Lighthouse to guide ships to the Island, and of course for Jacob to use the mirrors to observe his candidates’ lives.

THE CABIN
What is the cabin? It was a place Horrace built to vacation with his family. His wife Amy liked to get away from the Barracks, even on picnics, which we all know got her first husband killed by venturing into Hostile territory. So Horrace built a cabin, which he knew was safely outside Hostile territory, yet far from the Barracks to avoid running into his own people too.

Horrace was the leader of the Dharma Initiative residents. When Richard had a problem he needed to discuss, like the missing bodies of his people, he came to Horrace. So when conflicts arose that needed to be discussed, but not to the point of Richard coming into the Barracks; it makes logical sense that Richard and Horrace would meet halfway at the Cabin.

The ash surrounding the Cabin could have served two purposes. Firstly, it kept the smoke monster from coming in; perhaps Horrace pleaded with Richard on having that since he was used to having the protection of the perimeter fence.

Secondly, the ash was probably used for its mystical transportive powers that I talked about before. Instead of Richard talking to Jacob to receive instruction, then meet with Horrace to go over those instructions; why not bring Jacob’s presence right there at the meeting place? Think of it like this; by laying down a ring of ash, Jacob new exactly where to appear. Maybe that’s how Richard would meet with Jacob each time, even places other than the cabin; lay down a circle of the ash, and Jacob would mystically appear. The circle was only bigger at the cabin because it was used for both transportive powers and smokey protection.

FOOLING BENJAMIN LINUS
Sometime afterward, Ben discovers the Cabin as an established meeting place with Jacob. It could be Richard brings him along for a meeting with the Dharma people, or Ben spies from the woods and sees Richard visit the place often. Regardless, in Ben’s mind, he believes that is where Jacob resides.

Things change somehow, and this is where my theorizing goes flat. Somehow, MIB or “somebody else” is using it (Ilana’s words), even while the ash circle is still intact. Ben, still under the impression that’s where Jacob resides, brings Locke there in the episode “Man Behind the Curtain.”