LOST fans, I have theories. Discuss here, if you please.

[Downtown Hound]

There may be spoilers in here, I don't know, but this is all just speculation on my part as to what might be going on in the show, so only read on if you care to speculate with me.

So what the hell is going on in this show? It was funny, but when I woke up this morning, I was hit with an idea out of the blue about why the Others refuse to leave the island when they can, and what they want with Jack, Sawyer, Kate, Walt, and Claire's baby. Anyway, do you remember Rosseau, the French woman, talking about how a plague wiped out her team? And then there was the other guy (forgive the fact that I can't remember his name here) who kept Desmond on the island in a bunker for three years out of fear of an alleged plague on the island? Well here's my thinking. There is, in fact, a plague on the island, and all of The Others are infected with it, and quite possible all of The Lost are too. The same healing force that gave Locke his legs back and cured that black woman (I forget her name too) is preventing them from coming down with the symptoms. But if they leave, they will get sick, and die.

The main purpose of The Others at this point now is to try and find a cure. Could this be why they were so interested in Claire's baby? Why they were seen injecting her stomach with shots when they kidnapped her? What were those shots? A vaccine perhaps? A method of making the baby immune to the plague? And then what, when it's born, what are they going to do then? Are they going to use the baby to try and create a cure for themselves? Or are they trying to create a new generation on the island that is immune to the plague?

The last theory seems to hold more water for me. Because that would explain why they wanted Jack, Sawyer, and Kate. Jack is a doctor, so if this is their plan, his skills would be very useful in bringing it about. Kate and Sawyer are there to, um, produce offspring. Remember when Henry/Ben brought Kate out to the beach when he first kidnapped her and told her that he got her all dressed up and fed her because he wanted her to feel like a woman, to have something to hold onto? And then Kate asks him, "Where's Sawyer and Jack?" And Ben responds, "Now, why Sawyer? Why did you mention his name first?" Had Kate mentioned Jack's name first, she very well might have been locked up with him instead of Sawyer, and they would have been expected to um, breed. But instead they put her with Sawyer, in a very sexy dress, and put them both to work doing hard physical labor. The reason for this wasn't because they needed someone to work for them. They would not have gone through all the trouble of kidnapping them if all they wanted was some free labor. No, they want them to develop an attraction to each other, a bond, an experience in which they will both be broken down and have to rely on each other, and then fall in love, and um, breed. They may act upset when Sawyer goes and kisses kate, but secretly it's exactly what they want. Jack, the doctor, is now to aid in the process of making sure that their child will be free of the plague. That is what Ben wants Jack to aid him in, and his promise to him is that he gets to go home at the end of it. A promise that I feel, is nothing more than a lie.

And that, fellow LOST fans, is where we come to Walt. Walt, as you may recall, seems to have already had some sort of psychic powers before he ever even came to the island. Walt is, in my opinion, the key to unlocking the mystery of the island itself. The island is some kind of massive beacon for mystical or psychic energy, and Walt's power intermingles with it. Remember in the first episode that Walt was reading a Spanish language comic book, and on one of its pages was the picture of a big, snarling polar bear. And not too long after that, the other survivors found a real live polar bear in the jungle. This explains (at least partially) why the The Lost keep seeing visions of their dead relatives and stuff. Walt's power intermingling with the island's is making these things come to life. Like in the Shining, the little boy's power makes the forces in the hotel come to life. Why did I bring up The Shining? Because if you remember the book club that The Others were having at this season's premiere, they were discussing a Stephen King book, and I'm pretty sure just from looking at the cover of it that it was The Shining. A clever little homage by the producers as well as a very subtle clue as to what's going on it the show.

This also explains why The Others were so interested in Walt, and what their original purpose for being on the island is at all. The Others very well may be the descendants of the original Dharma project. The purpose of this project might have been to harness the powers of the island. And what are those powers? A fountain of youth. An unlimited healing source, as we have all seen. But there's a catch. The island is nothing but a rose with thorns. Once you are on it you can never leave, the plague takes care of that. And that may be what the Others want. They want to create a generation that is immune to the plague. One that can come and go on the island as they see fit, and harness the island's healing powers. That is why I think Walt and Michael might be coming back very soon. As soon as they leave the island's influence, they will start to come down with symptoms, and be forced to return. The Others knew that, which was why they were willing to let Walt go even though he may be the key to unlocking the mystery of the island itself. They knew he could never really leave.

Anyway, that be my theory. Waddaya think? What be yours? If you have one?

[MorningGlow]

1. That is a REALLY good theory!

Hey Hound,

I like that a lot! That would explain a whole lot of things. It seems just as reasonable as any other theories out there--actually, more reasonable. I don't have one of my own--I gave up trying to figure it out and now I spend all my energies just trying to remember all the pieces of the puzzle, and I just roll with it.

I'm excited to see if your ideas are borne out in the coming eps--now I'll be watching the show with that in the back of my mind. Good work!

:toast:

[Ravenseye]

2. Nicely developed Theory. Here's mine.

Yours is well thought out and nicely developed.

Here's mine. It depends more on Occam's razor...They're making it up as they go along, and even the writers don't know what the hell is going to happen.

What do you think?

[Tyrone Slothrop]

5. I think it's pretty obvious that a great deal of planning and thought

Has gone into every episode. And I really don't understand this accusation about them making it up as they go along. Everyone I know who watches it is fairly certain that it's very well planned out. (The producers even said that all the Charles Dickens references lately have been a response to that; Dickens also published everything in serialized format and was constantly being accused of making up his novels as he went along.)

As a writer myself, it seems glaringly obvious that this isn't concocted on the fly. It wouldn't turn out so well if it were. Likewise, you can't embed important little nuggets of info into a narrative and then have them turn out to be huge clues without having a fairly decent idea of where you're headed. Ask any mystery writer. (ie Widmore Labs/Industries appeared in little background shots (Sun's pregnancy test, the basket on Henry Gale's balloon, the building where Drive Shaft were recording their video) like 10-20 episodes before it was revealed that Desmond was trying to win a race sponsored by Charles Widmore, wealthy industrialist and father of his estranged girlfriend Penelope Widmore.)

Or the fact that it's mentioned in one of the very first episodes that there are no hairbrushes or combs among the luggage of the planes -- and then some 40+ episodes later, we realize that the plane was downed due to an elctromagnetic/static electricity pulse of some sort.

Anyway, before I ramble too much more -- that's what I think.

:hi:

[Ravenseye]

11. Well I watch it.

I think there is some planning going on to make things tie together, but as far as overarching stuff, I don't buy it. Just because the producers put in references to Dickens and say that they know what's going on, doesn't make it so.

As far as the things you mention they don't mean they aren't making it up as they go along. It just means that they use things, and then intentionally try and tie stuff together. They create some backstory, or the interrelations of the characters, and part of that is a couple of companies. Sure they show up.

And what does no brushes have to do with an electro static discharge?

No, sorry. They have written in too many mysteries that haven't been answered, before they move onto the next.

The monster was integral at first. Where's it been lately? Eko stared it down? John did that too and it didn't disapear. What about the plague, rousseu, the four toed foot, walt's psychic powers, kate's horse, the black rock, and so on and so forth. When do you think we'll see those two guys in the arctic again? Do you know what one of the producers remarked when someone asked about that? "Are you sure that's what you saw?"

Sorry, I may be hooked on it, but it doesn't read to me like a good mystery, but a very bad one, where they keep trying to make new mysteries, ignore old ones, and tie everything together to make it more confusing, while completely forgetting other things that happened before.

And oh yeah, they just happened to have planned that they'd kill the two new characters who were busted for drunk driving on the same night, in the same episode.

The first season was good, but they lost their way, and J.J.Abrams is notorious for starting stories but not finishing them well (see Alias).

At best they have some general idea of what the island is, and how they want to end it, but they'll get there by hanging too many extra clues that make no sense. The black smoke monster ties in to the electromagnetic thing how? And the polar bear animal experimentation? The dharma initiative which apprently came there after the others, and the black rock and four toed statue foot, and the plague, and all the coincidences tieing everyone together at every conceivable level? No way they explain everytyhing, because they're making shit up as they go along.

That's what I think.

:hi:

[LostinVA]

15. MIchelle Rodriguez had a one-year contract, non-renewable

That was HER idea, and was way before the DUI.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

21. Well, I won't try to address everything here

Obviously, we have differing opinions about how they're writing the show.

I still think that most of it will tie together fairly well at the ending.

And the whole comb-hairbrush thing: combs and hairbrushes build up a fair amount of static electricity; I still personally think that the plane was meant to crash there and that the brushes were removed to prevent any interference. That's just conjecture, however. I shouldn't have used that to try to make my point.

The remark about the arctic: well, those guys were speaking Portugese. The arctic is the N. Pole; why would two Portugese guys be monitoring electromagnetic anomalies in the S. Pacific from way up there? So, I'm pretty sure that's not what we were seeing. We may have been seeing two guys in *Antarctica*; or we may have been seeing two guys stationed at the southern top of S. America. (I seriously have to wonder if people are seeing the same show I am; I still see people asking who those two guys in the plane in the blizzard were. Plane???)

The polar bears have been explained. And I'm sure that most of the rest will be at some point too.

I guess I'm just a man of faith like John Locke...

[Ravenseye]

26. I just don't expect much

If they tie it all together I'll give them due kudos, but not till then.

So if combes and hairbrushes build upstatic because of how they're used, and it still wouldn't explain them being missing, yet have them in the hatch.

The Others seemed mighty surprised that the plane was crashing there, so if it was intentional, it wasn't because it was ordered by the Others. Also they must have some quick way to get around the Island. Goodwin making it to the tailsection is impressive enough. that was far more than an hour's run. And Ethan making it to the other side of the Island? Either they have some additional unseen way to get around the island fast, or they have a really shitty matte artist.

I say 'arctic' just because it was cold snowy and somewhere inhospitable, not necessarily north pole. It could have been many places. Norway. Antarctica. Russia. Canada. Colorado. Utah. Chile. Etc. How do you know what they were monitoring, and where they were? They could be lots of places. Or nowhere. One of the executive produces when talking about it said "Hanging over the storytelling in season 3 is this idea that there is an outside world....or is there? I mean, what did we see?"

What a cop out.

They might get to a planned ending, but there are going to be so many loose threads it's going to look like a sweater knitted by my wife.

ba dum bum.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

28. Ha!

Nice one...

Anyway, I suppose time will tell. Regardless, I'm still (obviously) enjoying it and thoroughly hooked.

:7

[Ravenseye]

30. Oh me too

Totally hooked.

[LostinVA]

6. The writers actually have the framework of the show plotted out

Even -- or specially -- the ending.

[Ravenseye]

10. So they claim

[LostinVA]

16. I believe them -- because I do think we get pay-offs

And, too many things fit too closely together.

Just like JK Rowling. She's had the end of the HP series written for years, along with a general framework.

[Ravenseye]

20. There are payoffs, but too few

For every payoff, there are two questions that remain unanswered, and two more that are raised. Each episode is individually well written, but overall there isn't enough cohesion. Too many questions, not enough answers.

Even if they have the end written, they're going to get there with too many things that remain unanswered, unless the last episode is pretty much a slideshow explanation because of poor plot management along the way.

Or they'll just use the word 'coincidence' alot.

[Xithras]

35. Only a very high level framework.

They admitted in an interview last year that most of the writing on Lost is based on the soap opera model. They'll keep writing, and keep adding to the mystery, as long as people keep watching. They can stretch this thing out for 10 years if the ratings continue to justify it. In keeping with the soap opera writing style, lots of plot details get thrown into short term story lines without any thought as to how they will be resolved. JJ Abrams said that there IS a single overarching storyline that has a conclusion, but that fans shouldn't expect that conclusion to neatly cover every loose thread in the show. Lots of story points have been tossed in simply to add interest, and wrapping all of them up isn't a priority for the writers.

[Ravenseye]

40. It fits

You don't happen to have a link to where JJ Abrams said that or remember where? I just know that no matter what they do in the end there is going to be something like "Well what the hell was X about?"

[akwapez]

3. I agree...

I had the same thoughts about why the Others can't (won't) leave. The Island is keeping them healthy, leave the island and the "disease" attacks. Jack is there to help.
I had also thought about Kate's Dress truely being for Sawyer, but for some reason it never occurred to me about captive breeding. I thijnk you are likely dead-on.
The Stephen King book, however, was Carrie, not the Shining. I still have not figured that part out.

[Downtown Hound]

Well, if you're right about Carrie

That's still a story about a girl with psychic power, so it still kinda fits. Or maybe I'm just reading too much into it. Heh.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

4. Very good theory

My only problem (and this is a problem I've had with every theory I've had) is why the Others are so secretive about everything.

If that is what's going on, why wouldn't the Others just approach them and explain the scenario? Why would they instead drag/kidnap people in the night, dress in costumes, string up Charlie, kill one of The Lost (Scott/Steve) when they wouldn't return Claire for fetus harvesting, etc., etc.?

The Others kind of remind me of Republicans like that. I'm not convinced that they are "good people"; however, they certainly think that they are.

As far as my theories are concerned -- they get thrown out of whack by the show itself. I was pretty happy with my most recent one -- until Ben wheeled out the TV and showed Jack the Sox winning the World Series. Kind of blew what I was thinking out of the water...

[LostinVA]

7. That doesn't explain Mr. Friendly in Jack's hospital just a year

or so before the crash... and, Sawyer seems to recognize Juliet. I think some of them can definitely leave at will -- and come back.

[Downtown Hound]

9. Hmm...good question. I don't recall that scene

But I'll take your word for it that it happened. I don't know is the answer. I used to have all the episodes on itunes, but they got erased when I upgraded to itunes 7, :mad: so I can't go back and review them. But I realize that there are still many pieces left unexplained even by my theory, which for all I know could be completely wrong.

[Ravenseye]

13. I don't think that was Mr. Friendly

Just rewatched it. Different guy, simliar hair.

[LostinVA]

14. We shuttled through it several times -- it was Mr. F

[Ravenseye]

18. I don't think so

I just watched it again. Here's a screenshot.



I think he looks simliar (old, white hair) but different face and body type.

on edit - It looks to me more like Clancy Brown minus the beard, than Mr. Friendly.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

27. Looks more like Locke's dad to me

[Ravenseye]

29. Could be anyone

It's not enough to say it's Mr. Friendly. It could be, but it's not obvious enough to be him. Heck if his dad weren't in that scene, people would also think it was Jack's father...

[deucemagnet]

34. I don't think that was him in the hospital.

[LostinVA]

8. And, why did Danielle's team lose their limbs and become possessed?

They didn't leave...

[Taverner]

12. Good, but keep in mind Rosseau's team died from the plague

and on the island at that...

[LostinVA]

17. Agreed -- I made that point up thread n/t

[Tyrone Slothrop]

25. They didn't die from the plague, though

She wents nuts and killed them all.

[Taverner]

31. We don't know that for sure however

All we know is they got sick, and Rousseau killed them. Whether this is because they turned, or it's because they were in so much pain, or whether she was just nuts - we don't know.

[Ravenseye]

32. Or she was lying

Rousseu certainly acts like a nutjob. She could have been lying about the whole thing.

Plus, why does her daughter Alex seem so separate from the Others, if she were raised by them from a week old as Rousseu claims.

Rousseau is probably lying, and you can't take anything she says as fact.

[LostinVA]

39. You don't know that

She said she had to ki;; them after they became infected and started losing limbs.

She is a bit mad, but I believe what happened to them, and to Alex, is what drove her mad.

[Taverner]

19. My two theories

Theory #1 - The Others are not, in fact bad guys. The plague causes people to turn (or at least that's what Rosseau hinted at) and Rosseau had to kill her shipmates to keep them from killing her. When you are infected, the plague will make your limbs fall off (as described in one of the episodes) see things that aren't there and eventually become disembodied voices that can shapeshift into anything (this goes back to what the Lost creators said that the monster showed up many times before, but was unrecognizable.)

The others are what's left of the DHARMA initiative, and having brought this disease to the island as an experiment they are left to try to contain it. They could use the help of a doctor and all of the losties, but before they do they need to be 100% sure none of the losties are infected and could do them harm.

of course, that runs right in the face of theory #2....

Theory #2 - The others are what's left of the DHARMA initiative, and are plannning to repopulate the world after some terrible event (could be the plague) - and so they are picking and choosing the best of the losties to use to keep breeding.

[akwapez]

36. If Ben's claim to have been on the island his whole life is true

that would apparently predate the Dharma initiative. ??

[Taverner]

38. Well, DHARMA started in '63 or thereabouts

Right after the Cuban Missle Crisis. That would put him at 40-something which does jive...he could have been one of the first inhabitants.

[Ravenseye]

41. I thought it started in 1970

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DHARMA_Initiative

The orientation film they watched in the hatch said the initiative was founded in 1970.

If Ben is the same age as the actor who plays him, and he's lived his whole life on the island, Ben was there a full 15 years before the Dharma Initiative was even founded.

Interestingly though, Elizabeth Mitchell who plays Juliet, was born in 1970. So if her character is also her age, she might be one of the first of the Dharma Initiative's children to be born on the Island.

[CabalPowered]

22. I'd be willing to speculate that Desmond's wife use to be

involved in Dharma in some way and that there was an "event" that caused a rift in the group, she was outcasted and Benjamin took control. At the end of season 2 we see her being notified that they've found Desmond. But they found Desmond because they were looking for a some type of geomagnetic signal. Which I think means that she knows about the island/dharma, probably lived there, but is unable to return because she doesn't know where it is.

I would further speculate that Desmond's wife is actually related to Benjamin by blood. Call it a hunch.

As far as Walter, I don't think he had any connection to the island prior to the crash. I think he's just a wild card that writers introduced. I agree with you that he'll end up being a key piece of the puzzle.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

24. Check out my theory (#23)

It seems to bear some possible relation to yours.

(as I mention, mine has some gaps that need to be filled...)

[Tyrone Slothrop]

23. My very loose theory

(There are still some holes/flaws in this, I know, but...)

So, the Hanso clan (perhaps starting with Magnus Hanso -- resting place at the Black Rock per the Hatch Map) discovered this island that appeared to be inhabited long ago (the foot statue) and had strange powers (healing, electromagnetics, etc.) They funded a team of researchers (DHARMA) to run some experiments on the Island.

The DHARMA people came, and in the course of their experiments, the "incident" occurred and the DHARMA folks learned some sort of great secret about the island. Maybe how the healing works or why/how it's hidden or merely it's history (Altantis, anyone?).

They reconfigured the hatch to prevent further incidents and left two guys behind to man the button. The rest of the DHARMAns were supposed to leave. However, some of them didn't. They stayed behind to live on this utopia where their illnesses were healed, etc.

Hanso et al become upset that these people were staying, living in the utopia on HIS island. However, it's impossible to get rid of them due to the healing, their intimate knowledge/bond with the island, etc. So, Hanso et al hatch a plan to crash a plane filled with all the makings of a small army on the island. (Doctor, tracker, con man, torturer/soldier, cop, etc.) The hope is that these people will be unable to leave/be found and will naturally become enemies with the Others (or the Hostiles as Kelvin/loyal DHARMA refer to them) and will eventually eradicate them from the Island, thus leaving this mystical place open for exploitation by the Hanso Foundation. (also, this may not have been the first group of people sent there to flush them out)

Thus, the DHARMAns aren't really BAD people; they're sort of the good guys. They just want to hang out. However, these people keep showing up on their island and becoming their enemies. The Others try to keep a lid on it by infiltrating them and scaring them into staying on one side of the island -- but the enmity breeds naturally.

[Downtown Hound]

33. It's an interesting theory

I like the part about Hanso putting them all together and then crashing the plane. But it still doesn't explain why The Others would want to kidnap Claire for instance, or be so interested in Walt, Jack, Sawyer, and Kate. Also,if you were Hanso, and wanted to get these squatters off of the island, wouldn't it just be easier to hire a team of commandos to do it?

I got a hunch that we will see Hanso in person at some point though, not just on an old video. He's definitely involved in this somehow.

[CabalPowered]

37. One comment on the button.

It would seem to me that the button and entering the numbers are part of a behavior experiement and not a fail safe. I have a hard time fathoming why the computer wasn't completely automated by the original engineers. I think the system was designed to require human intervention when it could've been easily automated.

Also, I'll have to look back at the DVR but I'm pretty sure Benjamin had the hatch video feed on his panel of monitors. Which means that Benjamin knew Desmond was there the whole time but did nothing. I believe that Desmond didn't have any knowledge of the Others prior to the hatch opening, as some have suspected that he is also an Other. I think more likely is that his wife sought Desmond out, married him because he was a triathlete and would be well conditioned to sail in the path of the Island and survive. So she marries him, he goes on his trip, ends up on the island, pushing the button...

Ehh... this thing could go anywhere.

edit: sp