Time Travel, Jughead, and the Alternate Timeline
We’ve found many questions when it comes to the detonation of Jughead and its connection with the 2007 jump as well as the alternate timeline. Luckily, I’ve done some pseudo-scientific pondering and have come up with some interesting ideas.
It starts in 2004, when the Oceanic 6 leave the Island and the wheel is pushed, knocking the Island off its time axis. It seems here that the wheel itself is in its own timestream, for it the Losties flashed to a time where the wheel was stable, they would’ve stopped flashing. Anyway, in the 70’s, when the flashes stopped, we’ll say that this left a link between the time periods due to the constancy of time in the wheel chamber. So, in 1977, they detonate Jughead. This is the critical moment. Anyone who knows the history of black holes and wormholes knows the theory that such things link to parallel worlds, or possible create them. Either a wormhole or black hole can form from the intense concentration of energy in one point. This is Jughead’s run-in with the electromagnetic pocket. At the moment of the explosion, an amazing thing happens. The energy of the explosion and the energy of the electromagnetic pocket combine to form a singularity, which creates a second timeline. This singularity actually pulls all of the Jughead energy with it into the alternate timeline, crashing the Island and killing Jacob and Not-Locke.
At this point, things change in the alternate timeline. Jacob does not touch anyone, and the energy (inspired by , great idea) actually causes young Jack’s appendix to contract appendicitis, causing him to have it removed. This affects his future memory (the young age, Island boom, and painkillers), causing him to forget for years.
Back in the original timeline, the Incident still occurs. However, the violent spacetime event under the Island twists the wheel’s time connection and sends the Losties back to 2007. Due to the nature of time travel, they should’ve also been sitting by the hatch for 30 years in between, but in the LOST universe, time travel happens in jumps, not smooth (albeit contorted and shrunken) temporal movements.
Back to 2004, alternate timeline. Jack and Rose are talking on the plane. The temporal link in the original universe at the time of the Jughead detonation left a scar here, causing Jack’s melded memory and the rougher-than-expected turbulence. Nothing stange here.
Now for the future. Imagine the timeline being like a road, with a curve off the side that eventually folds back. This will happen in 2007. The link between the timelines eventually pulls Jack, Kate, Hugo, Sayid, and Sun in the alternate timeline to the Ajira 319 flight. At the time it crashes in the original timeline, they hit the original timeline take its place, to later land in Guam. There they are greeted by Charles Widmore, who takes them aboard his submarine to the Island.
This theory is amatuerish, I admit, but I like it. It seems to make sense with what we’ve already seen. I have no clue if this will be right, but it’s interesting to think about.
This is really well thought out and i agree with almost everything you mentioned.. The only thing i disagree with is them being in the submarine.. I have no reasons to say why, only that it took me by surprise and i need to think about it before i get on board haha
Really good theory
Nothing like a quantum singlarity to explain a fork in the space-time continuum, huh? 😉
I like the sub idea. I’ve theorised that Ajira will have to come into play before – and I still think it (or something like it) will. There needs to be a simple way of merging the timelines.
How do you explain the people from the second flight being on the island already? Does this mean that we should expect to see 2 Jacks running around on the island?Also would you not agree that someone could not have a role in changing their past during time travel?For example YOU could not go back in time and kill your father before you were conceived,because the act of killing your father would cause you not to exist to be able to kill your father.This is why Jacks plan to detonate Jughead at the construction site could never work. Same principle applies here: how could he go back in time to stop himself from coming to the island if he never came to the island?Jughead caused some sort of time distortion, and i guess we will find out what when they let us know.My guess is we are now seeing the means for them to still come to the island in the alt reality.
This is a neat theory… good job…
Did you suggest in there that Young Jack in the alternate timeline absorbed the energy of the jughead explosion in his apendix and that’s why it needed to be removed? Awesome.
Thanks for the support, guys. Here’s some elaboration:
@SawyersGirl45: Actually, I’m not even sure about the sub part, but I figured I might as well throw out everything I had.
@foreverpuzzled: I’m not entirely sure what you’re asking with your first question. And I’m still not sure we will see Alternate Losties running around the Island. However, I will say that I don’t think anybody with a predetermined motive can change the past. I’m not so sure about spontaneous changes, though.
@highbrow: In a way, I say that Young Jack felt a ripple from the explosion in his appendix. I was actually inspired of that by the “Jack’s Appendix” theory by emzi.
forever puzzled makes a valid point.
Essentially in the latest episode Dr Linus, the timelines have already merged! or have they not?
What I mean is, Hurley, Jack (from 1970s as they were in the picture of the Dharma team and we know this anyway) meet with Sun, Ben, Illana etc (who landed in 2007 or whatever date it was).
So, yes there has already been a merging between time travellers. In the entire series we have seen doubles when one of the bodies was a dead one,
Perhaps that is significant within the time travel elements of the show and future merging scenarios.