Timelines, where to begin
I’m sure someone noticed this before, but in regards to what we are seeing as a flash sideways.
I just realized that after we were shown the 2007 world series when we thought the losties were in 2004 I assumed time moved “differently” than off island meaning that the 50 odd days at that point amounted to 3 years off-island, but I am now re-thinking this. There was a flash at the “blackout” moment for all of them. They traveled to 2007 when they crashed. Desmond spent 3 years from the time of his incident until he met the survivors of the crash. Don’t know why it took me this long to figure this out, but they crashed in 2004 and landed 3 years later. so according to time, 2004-2007 for those people was never happened right?
It’s a loophole in time! Locke left the island and died, but no matter when he died he had 3 years still that needed to be filled in order to fill the gap/complete that thread in the timeline. Since he was the only losty and candidate -touched by jacob- to die in the real world, he would be the only one eligible for permanent re-animation by MIB as the timeline would allow him back into the real world in 2004-2007 where we get to see the “sideways” flash. I need to flesh this one into a valid theory…but its 3AM
Interesting thoughts. However…
“Desmond spent 3 years from the time of his incident until he met the survivors of the crash.”
Have we been shown anything to support this?
“they crashed in 2004 and landed 3 years later”
So when Ben told Ethan and the other guy to go and look for survivers, they had to wait for 3 years before they found any?
Ilie, with reference to the last part of your comment I think what All Good Things is saying is that when the plane crashed in Season 1 it was 2004 but the Alt – Timeline, whatever you want to call it, where the plane landed was in 2007. Which in effect would be the loophole that Jacob was referring to, not only to the fact that Jacob could finally be killed.
Haha, I guess I misunderstood everything. I have a problem to understand what the theory is. Could you please explain, AllGoodThings?
no that can’t be the case b/c the oceanic 6 lived off the island for 3 years prior to going back, so they arrived in 2004 when they left… sorry it doesn’t make sense…
ILie,
Tx Theresa, exactly. Correction to the post however Desmond spent 3 years there before the incident occured.
I thought it interesting the way Ben had to calculate the number of days to show Jack the world series etcetera. I was thinking that the incident itself took the losties and Desmond to 2007, the implosion sent the whole island back and lets those looking for the island find it in 2004. explains why radzinskis equipment went haywire and why the wheel needed to be turned.
None of the off-island interaction w/ whidmore began until after the implosion. Whidmore had tracked the planes actual flight path and knew where the island was in 2004, but for the losties and others it was 2007 and they were in a different place because when the implosion happened they went back to 2004 and Ben moved the Island. Loophole is made in time thus jarring the wheel.
Locke has to fix the wheel which is MIB’s plan to get Locke off the island so someone or himself as an act of faith could kill him. We have seen that apparently candidates do not get to die on the Island.
He could then be brought back to the island be resurrected and give Locke a “constant” to keep him from being lost after he makes it back to the island.
So wherever the window is in 2007 when Ajira Flight 316 finds it, it is the Island in 1977 because it is submerged in 2007 from the bomb blast. Now because they hit the pocket they caused the massive energy release that sends them back to the hatch future. One that shouldn’t exist
Now that Locke’s body is back but he lives because time was changed, MIB can inhabit him as a candidate and as the Island does not exist anymore the rules do not apply.
The only problem is that Whidmore and Eloise knew this would happen and have been waiting for the window when the island would exist again after it was destroyed to come back. So as the Writers said it is not alternate timelines, but one timeline with, in the end, multiple Islands since it moves through time.
This would also mean that like desmond the losties in the “it worked” version are beginning to get some sort of bleed over that will eventually get worse until they are brought to the island.
My apologies to all on this one, it’s a brain child for sure that was premature. Will work on it. or drop it as I continue to flesh and explain…
… okay i get where u were going now, interesting…
This is probably one of my favorite explanations of the flash sideways thus far, though I did get a little confused in the original post because I was trying to think back to the timeline pre-time travel and all that… I’d gotten to a point where I stopped trying to make sense of their timeline and assumed time operated differently (as we saw when Faraday and the freighter arrived and saw how time didn’t work the same way as it “should” off-island).
I’d like where this is going, explain further when you get the chance!
So you are saying that when they left Sydney it was 2004 but then when they crashed on the island it became 2007? Therefore they did not experience 2004-2007 and the alternate timeline is filling in that gap?
To be honest, not being a baseball fan, I had no idea that Ben was showing Jack the 2007 world series in 2004.
It looks like they are playing the Cardinals, not the Rockies, which would make it the 2004 World Series, not 2007. But like I said, I’m not a baseball fan…maybe you just have me confused.
i just thought of something else, the people on the freight basically confirmed it was still 2004, the island just seemed to be in the future a few hours, when the doctor washed ashore… Also, if they flashed to 2007 when they crashed it doesn’t explain how Michael got off the island and onto the freighter..
First… This is confusing as hell
2nd… Where do we get the idea that it was the 2007 world series on the tape? Had that world series even happened yet at the filming of season 3?
The episode aired in early 2007…. The world series was late 2007
pretty sure the writers wouldn’t have just assumed the red sox would win
Again, apologies for the post being so confusing. It was the 2004 world series.
Sinister,
Before Michael made it away from the Island, the Hatch imploded sending everyone on the island back to 2004 where he leaves. The time between hatch implosion and the frieghter Kahana’s arrival seems to be right.
Also, the people on the freighter were from 2004 but the island having just returned from 2007 was a little ahead of where they were.
B,
Ben was showing the 2004 world series, but what tipped me on re-watch was the way he said all the things that happened, said “youve been on the island 69 days. That would mean it’s November 29.”… why would he need to calculate what day it was for Jack if he was in/from 2004. He should have just been able to say “it’s nov. 29th so all this stuff happend” but he had to add it up for Jack and then show him a tape to prove he had contact w/ the outside world.
I’m saying that the 50 odd days they spent on the Island prior to hatch implosion were in 2007. They were sent back to 2004 at hatch implosion and that’s when Mikhail lost contact and penny+wid found the island.
so the 50 or so days after the plane would have landed has never happened for the losties which is why Lock can be dead and inhabited by MIB but the universe/time still needs to fill in the blank for him because he died well after the 50ish day gap in 2004.
Sinisters’ comment at #4 says it best, it makes no sense…
The Island is like a hubcap of time and all timelines are like spokes coming off the hub (like how the orchid is a center station and all the other dharma stations branch off). The wheel also looks like a wheel with spokes. somehow the island is able to move along these timelines or they are all stacked up like poker chips and the island can move up and down the stack controlled by the wheel. Not sure of the physics of it, but I think we will find that the Island exists outside of time and all timelines branch off from it. All timelines are just as real as the others but each are a bit different – this is a digression, sorry…
u know i knew something was wrong w/ the date of the world series he was talking about … ben showed jack the first time the sox won the series… Seriously, I know NOTHING ABOUT baseball, so i didn’t want to say that… thought i might be wrong..