The Incident, Parts 1 & 2/Theories

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Theories about The Incident, Parts 1 & 2

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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.

Contents 1 Jacob Theories 2 People brought to the Island 3 Loophole 4 Jacob's enemy orchestrated the Time Flashes to manipulate John Locke 5 Jacob's Nemesis Has Been Manipulating The Survivors 6 Whatever Happened, Happened 6.1 Whatever happened, happened: Pro 6.2 Whatever Happened, Happened: Con 7 The Cabin 8 Juliet and the bomb 9 The black LOST on white background 10 Do the Losties survive? 11 Why Jacob never met with Ben 12 Two Monsters 13 Frank as a "candidate" 14 Locke wasn't The Leader 15 Losties destiny fulfilled 16 Keeping Locke off Island 17 Ben's Role 18 The Coming War 19 Hurley and Jacob 20 Time Loop? 21 Yin, Yang, and Liberation 22 Burning bodies and objects

Jacob Theories

Main articles: Jacob/Theories and Jacob's tapestry/Theories

• This episode was on touching(Jacob touching Jack, Kate, etc) because through touching, Jacob was able to synchronize Jack, Hurley, Kate and Sawyer to his time, i.e. flashbacks/forwards are not actually flashes, but the next series of events in this synchronized time-frame. (Juliet was not touched, so she is the variable, eventually leading her to detonating the bomb and changing this time-frame.)
  • The Losties Jacob touched are still alive. Jacob had the power to make Richard immortal; his touch granted immortality to those Losties. The exception is Locke, but that gift was stolen from him by Jacob's nemesis.
• Jacob and his nemesis spoke in flawless modern American English. No accents, no over-enunciation or use of antiquated terminology, nothing to remotely suggest they were so much as a hundred years old, let alone several thousands of years. They are not from the past, but the future.
  • Jacob has the gift of tongues. Everyone hears him fluently speaking his or her own language.
• Jacob or his nemesis are behind the visions seen by several of the characters; Jacob's nemesis may in fact be behind all of the visions seen, as Jacob's MO is to have people, not visions, do his work.

People brought to the Island

• Jacob brought the ancient Egyptians to the Island before bringing the people in the ship (possibly the Black Rock). What Jacob refers to as progress is human progress: the Egyptians brought some techniques, their architecture and art, their writing and so on. The people in the Black Rock will bring new things, such as gunpowder. That is what Jacob means when he says that in the meantime there is progress.

• It is likely that the Island benefits from exterior human progress through its history, trying to preserve every good it can take from it, battling white against black to take the best from it and evolve.

• Since people are not supposed to be able to find the island, other people who have come to the island may have been brought by Jacob as well. For instance, the DHARMA Initiative.

• Even without having knowledge of this particular island, numerous energy spots can be measured in the world. That's why they (DI) built The Lamp Post (Station #00/01).
• The DHARMA Initiative are an example of human progress insofar as they want to change and save the world. They were brought by Jacob in an attempt to prove to his nemesis that he is wrong about people.(however, Ben speaks of Jacob's disapproval of technology, AKA human scientific progress, like the DHARMA Initiative.)

• One thing that has been made clear about Jacob is that he's looking for a very specific group of people to come to the Island. It seems as if he has good intentions, as he discusses the people on the ship (possibly the Black Rock) as "progress," even though his nemesis is insistent about how Jacob is "wrong." Jacob seems to have finally found his perfect group in the Losties (that is, Jack and the remaining group), which explains why he has spent years making sure they get to the Island, because he knows of their importance. When he says with his dying words that "they're coming," he is more than likely referring to Jack and company coming back to the present; he knows they can and will finally set things right in this "good vs. evil" feud that's been going for countless years between Jacob and his nemesis.
• When Jacob touched each of the Oceanic 6 (and Jin) he passed on a part of his "spirit" or "essence" and it is this that has protected and made each one of them "special". In season 6 we will see that the return of each of them will lead to the reunification and resurrection of Jacob from spirit that they carry.

Loophole

Main articles: Jacob's nemesis and Jacob's nemesis/Theories

Jacob's enemy orchestrated the Time Flashes to manipulate John Locke

While at first the time periods visited seemed random. This is because we were learning about them primarily through the eyes of several different survivors. However, when focusing on John Locke's experiences only, and using current insight regarding the events of the Season 5 finale, a pattern begins to develop: John Locke's experiences during his time-traveling better serve to enhance his faith and his connection to the Island, and these experiences were a direct result of the manipulation of time traveling by an outside force; conceivably and specifically, Jacob's enemy. Let's look at John Locke's final moments on the Island:

• "Because You Left"
  • The Beechcraft First time jump; 1990's-ish. A crucial moment in John Locke's history with the island was the discovery of this airplane and the events that transpired. Look it up. Huge impact on John to experience this crash firsthand. This would likely influence his faith that the Island is guiding him somehow. Then he is shot in the leg and left for dead. Until...
    • Meeting with Richard. And guess who else? Jacob's enemy in John's body, and Ben listening in the distance. Jacob's enemy manipulated Richard to go over there. The words that Richard used to persuade John were the words of Jacob's enemy. He was minipulating all of them. John's mission is to leave the island, retrieve the Oceanic 6 and Ben and bring them to the island for some unknown purpose. This is also where we learn that John might have to die to accomplish this. So the flaw in logic is that the man impersonating John Locke after the return to the Island on Ajira 316 would have to know that John would die, and that the success of this plan would somehow lead to the events of "The Incident" for all parities involved. He would have to know the future. However, conceivably an enemy that had the ability to time travel might know a thing or two about the future or the past.
• "The Lie" and "Jughead"
  • The Flaming Arrows. During "The Lie" the survivors, not including John Locke, are attacked on their camp by a mysterious group or archers. After they escape, They reunite with John, after he saves them from a group of people in U.S. Army fatigues. We learn in "Jughead" that these individuals were a group of people living on the island including Charles Widmore, Eloise Hawking, and...
    • Meeting with Richard, part 2. Part 1, technically. John makes his way into camp and meets with a version of Richard who is meeting John Locke for the first time. We know that John has a history with Richard. We know that Richard visited him in the hospital the day he is born, and that it was this future/past John that suggested he do that. Richard visited him as a boy, and was always telling John how special he was on the Island. Richard has a ton of faith in John. I think that this is the direct result of this experience. My belief is that the individual who is causing the time travel is using this particular experience to manipulate Richard Alpert. He will listen to whatever John Locke says to him. John always speaks the truth, and Richard recognizes this through all of his experiences with John over the years. So when Jacob's enemy comes to town in John's body, no matter how outrageous his demands, Richard will always obey.
• "The Little Prince"
  • The Hatch, dude. The Hatch! After another time switch, John Locke and his people are taken to a night that happened a few months prior during Season 1 of the show. The events of that night at the hatch, where John sees the light from the underground facility is one of the most important moments from John Locke's life. The moment his faith is solidified. John is calling out to God, and God answers. Of course, it's not God. It's Desmond. But that doesn't matter. For the character of John Locke, this seals the deal. He has total faith in the Island. Whatever happens, John is going to go full force. Now he knows what he has to do. He is going to follow the path set out for him by Jacob's enemy without question. He thinks he is doing what is best for the Island, for his friends, and for himself and his devotion, but he's not. We know now that it was a manipulation, and I believe that John had to come to this decision by no other means. The enemy knew that John would have to experience a string of miracles, as he always does, before he would be convinced to do his bidding.
    • Back to the Future The survivors travel through time again. Probably to now. It is a time after Ajira 316 has crashed on the island. They are persued by unknown assailants. They travel again, out of harms way. It's 1988 and Danielle and her team of Scientists are living on the island. There are a series of jumps through time before John finally makes it to the Orchid station to complete his task of leaving the Island. These time jumps do appear to be more random in nature, but the rapid pace with which they occur begin to take their toll on the individuals involved. Charlotte, Miles, and Juliet could be dying. People everywhere are lost and alone. John is the only one who can stop the turmoil. While the current events of the time periods visitied may not have any direct impact on the storyline of John Locke, the well-being of everyone on the Island is his priority as leader. They arrive at a modern version of the Orchid Station, before quickly being transported to an earlier time where they find a well that John Locke enters. While John is going down the well, the group is taken to a time before a well even existed. The result of this is John ending up at the bottom of the well with a broken leg. Very similar to what happened during "Because You Left", John is injured (in the leg), and meets with an eerie individual who instructs him further on his path. This time it is Christian Shepard. We don't fully understand yet who Christian is working for, or the how or why. He has stated in the past to John that he represents Jacob and his desires. We don't know what's going on with that. But he has the information that John needs to return to the island after he has fulfilled his mission. He also tells him how to leave. John leaves with the assistance of a big wheel.
• "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham"
  • John travels to the modern day in our dimension to reunite the Oceanic 6 and return them to the Island. John is a failure in his mission and is filled with self doubt. He discovers that maybe Richard was right. We know what happens after that. John dies. This new guy takes over John's identity. For what greater purpose, we cannot know, yet. Part of that plan involves manipulating Benjamin Linus to kill Jacob, with some assistance from Richard Alpert. Things that have been set in motion for some time, but at least begining with the time traveling.

Jacob's Nemesis Has Been Manipulating The Survivors

• This evidence all assumes that Jacob's nemesis and the smoke monster are the same or closely related. They have both been shown to take the form of other people.

• Ben was "judged" by Jacob's nemesis (in the form of Alex) as a means to scare him into being his puppet.

• I don't think so. It seems more likely to me that the smoke monster is a separate entity from Jacob's nemesis which has it's own separate motivation for wanting Ben to follow Locke. Perhaps Jacob has some influence over the smoke monster, and Jacob wanted to die, which also explains why he didn't defend himself from Ben. The show has consistently had lots of biblical references and Jacob is sacrificing himself for some yet unknown purpose.

• Jacob's nemesis had Richard tell Real Locke to get the survivors back to the island, and that he would die. Richard and Locke were both fooled into believing this came from a reliable source (each other), when the advice was actually coming from Jacob's nemesis.
• The "shape shifting" nemesis of Jacob was the fake Yemi that Eko talked to before being killed. Eko was the original attempt at finding a loophole. When Eko did not perform as expected, he was killed.

• When Eko died he said to Locke "You're next". Eko meant that Locke specifically is the next target for manipulation, rather than referring to plural "you all" being next.

• Jacob's nemesis is responsible for all of this; he has taken the form of every dead person on the island to manipulate the people he needed to create his loophole. It is pretty clear that Locke or the others did not need to go back to the Island because everyone was fine living in 1977. It was their return that ruined everything. Locke accomplished his task of saving everyone when he left the Island. That was his job and he should have been finished. But in order for Jacob's nemesis to create his loophole, he needed Locke to die so he could take over his form. What is amazing is that this man was able to manipulate Ben, who is a master manipulator himself, to finish the job and that Richard was completely unaware of everything that was happening. This plan has been in the making for decades and if you look closely, every little step and everything that has happened thus far has been moving towards his plan to "kill" Jacob.

• The Nemesis was able to manipulate Ben because the only "instructions from Jacob" that Ben received--besides those delivered by Richard--where passed on to him by a vision of Christian Shepherd. Christian is dead, and the Monster/Nemesis takes on the form of dead people, ergo Ben was receiving instructions from the Nemesis instead of Jacob.

• Additionally, during the events of "Whatever Happened, Happened", Ben was taken to the Temple to be healed. Later we discovered that the Temple was where the Monster resided. The conclusion is that the Nemesis was able to begin manipulating Ben at that young age.

• In episode 5 of season 1, it was a vision of Christian Shepherd--a dead man--who led Jack to the caves and their water supply, allowing the Losties to survive on the Island (they were running out of water at the time). Since visions of dead people are actually the Monster, and we're concluding that the Monster is the same being as the Nemesis, then this shows a manipulation of the Oceanic 815 survivors from their first days on the Island, but to their benefit rather than their detriment.

• No one should be making any of those conclusions. 1. We have no definitive evidence that the Monster was responsible for ALL the manifestations of the dead. 2. Neither do we have definitive evidence to conclude that the Monster IS the same dude inhabiting John's body. That's way too many assumptions.

Whatever Happened, Happened

Does detonating the hydrogen bomb changes the Oceanic 815 survivor's past? Do they get to LA in Oceanic 815 or do the crash on the island? Please state your theories only. You are welcome to discuss them on the discussion page.

Whatever happened, happened: Pro

• There is no changing the future. Jack dropping the bomb into the Swan, and Juliet detonating it always happened. As Miles said, what event WAS the incident. There has never been a possibility of changing the future. Daniel was wrong. All chain of events are now set in motion, as of The Incident.
• Juliet setting of the bomb will negate enough of the energy (negative/dark energy) in the pocket to allow for the DHARMA Initiative to construct the Swan to more permanently contain the energy. The effect of this massive collision of the nuclear blast (positive energy) and the negative/dark energy of the pocket will send the Losties, minus Juliet who was too close and would have been annihilated by the blast before it could interact with the pocket, back to the present time. In effect, nothing changed, they could not change anything, they simply contributed to the events which had always occurred.
• Jacob's comment "they're coming" was in reference to those he visited in the past, aka the ones in 1977. He means that they didn't change the past, and will somehow return to the present to stop him.
• If they made it so the incident never happened, they would have never landed on the island. However, if they never landed on the island, the chain of events that sent them to the past to stop the incident never happened and thus the incident happens. However, if the incident happens, then they are on the island, and the incident is stopped, and so on and so forth. That is simply not possible or if possible, makes absolutely crazy gaps in the time line. This is why, what happens, happens. Miles was right, the bomb is the incident.
• There is no reason to think that anything we have seen happen hadn't happened already. The Losties have always been there in 1977, Ellie always helped them get the bomb, the pocket of energy was always drilled into and the bomb was always dropped in, and Juliet always detonated it. Faraday always had his theories and always intended to do what wound up happening...and Ellie always read his notebook. In fact, in 1977, Faraday always claimed that they were the variables and were able to change the future. Nothing that has been attempted has been effective in changing the future. We need to think of ourselves as seeing a flashback when we see the events of 1977...that is all it is. We are seeing past events as they actually happened. We're seeing the present of all of the main characters but the past of the island...keeping this in mind is crucial. Maybe the Losties flash forward, maybe they don't. Assuming that the bomb would act normal on the island when nothing else seems to follow the natural order of things is kind of foolish. There are no safe assumptions when it comes to how things like that will actually occur.
• What Daniel thought to be his own free will and judgment, was in fact his already fulfilled destiny. In LaFleur, we hear Daniel muttering he will never tell Charlotte what she just told him, that he himself tells Charlotte she must leave the island. At this point Daniel was a believer in Whatever Happened, Happened, but at the same time he never wanted to tell Charlotte what he has to say. However, when he comes back in The Variable and starts to believe he can change things, he tries to change the future by telling Charlotte not to come back. He also wants to detonate the hydrogen bomb to stop a catastrophic Incident, but this is the Incident itself. Basically, Daniel had to start believing he had free will, otherwise none of the events would have happened.
• There is no changing the future, for it would cause a paradox time loop: If the survivors undo the future by detonating the bomb, then they never come to the island and can therefore never detonate the bomb, which in turn means that they will crash and eventually detonate the bomb, which again means that they do not travel to the island and therefore cannot detonate the bomb, and so on. They'd get stuck in a mobius loop that way.
• Evidence from 1977 and 2007 that WHH, and you can't the future....

1. After Daniel tells everyone about the bomb detonating theory he goes with Jack and Kate to the Others' camp and Eloise shoots him. This always happens because Eloise remembers in the original timeline (when she encourages him to go to the island) that she shot him, meaning that he always went to their camp in search of the bomb as a part of the time loop.
2. Before this, Daniel tells Chang that he has to evacuate everyone, which later on, Hurley confirms. As a result of this, Miles and Charlotte are sent into the real world which always happened as a part of the time loop as they would not be in the freighter mission.
3. Although this is not quite clear, Richard Alpert says, in the original timeline in 2007, that he saw the Dharma Losties die, which could mean that he just met them when they went to extract the bomb and assumed they died after the blast. This, once again, could mean that Daniel coming to the camp and Jack and Sayid carrying off the bomb always happened, since Richard Alpert remembers it, but it's not all clear in his wording.

• This seems to indicate that Daniel always came to the Island and always told the Losties about the detonation, prompting Jack to try to detonate the bomb, ultimately resulting in Daniel's death, and possibly, Richard Alpert's believing that they died.

• More WHH proof. Eloise Hawking's comment that if the Oceanic 6 doesn't return to the island, "then God help us all". This could be because she knows that her young 1977 self meets the Losties from 2008, and that if they don't go, the meeting wouldn't happen, causing a time paradox of unknown consequences.
• It is true. because if Jack denotates the bomb, he will never crash in the island in Flight 815, and he will never going to be in 1977 and denotates the bomb.
• The Bomb did not detonate. We never saw any evidence that it actually went off. Just a white flash that usually signifies a time jump. This may just have been "the incident" actually happening, not the bomb detonating. That would leave the bomb down at the bottom of The Swan ready to be built into the fail safe for Desmond to set off.

Whatever Happened, Happened: Con

• How about changing the past from the future? We have been told repeatedly that time doesn't flow on the island the way we think it does. Things have been changed before, in the way Faraday's visit to Desmond in the hatch somehow sent the memory of that meeting to "future" Desmond. The way i see it, every attempt of the losties to change the past failed, most notably Sayid killing Ben, but also Jack dropping the bomb into the drilling tunnel, the bomb didn't go off because 'whatever happened, happened' and a bomb wasn't supposed to explode that day. Then Ben kills Jacob, which breaks things, and now the bomb can go off with just a little tap by Juliet. Juliet succeeded because Jacob was dead when she tried, Jack failed because Jacob was still alive when he tried. What we think is past & future, are actually two parallel timelines.
  • What you're seeing on the show is not happening at the same time. Just because a scene in the seventies is shown before a scene in the 00's doesn't mean they're consecutive, or that the future scene is influenced directly by the past scene. The show, after all, is a dramatization, just like we don't get to see what Frank sees in the box before the build up, before it would make the biggest impact on the audience and the plot. There's no "meanwhile in the seventies", it has all already happened in the past from the 2007 perspective and vice versa.
    • As Miles pointed out, the 70's for the Losties IS their present, which is why they can die; it's everyone else's past. This is why what is happening with the Losties in 2007 can correlate with what the Losties are doing in the seventies, because it is simultaneously all their Present.
• Daniel's plan worked and even avoided the paradox. By destroying the energy pocket, Jack stopped Flight 815 from crashing. Because 815 never crashed, Daniel was never sent to the island. He never went to 1954 to tell them how to bury the bomb. One day it detonated and destroyed the pocket of energy in 1954.
  • The entire detonation was Jacob's plan. He knew that his nemesis would use Locke to kill him, so he convinced Hurley and the others to return to the island to detonate the pocket of energy and prevent the crash. That way his nemesis can never use Locke to convince Ben to kill him. This is why Jacob visited, and touched, Kate, Sawyer, Jack, Locke, Sayid, and Hurley, all of whom were essential to the bomb plan. The brilliant irony is that the plan didn't work until the one person Jacob didn't touch, Juliet, intervened. She was the Variable, and acted of her own free will.
    • Juliet is the Variable. Jack always threw the bomb down, but the "first" time through history the bomb wasn't detonated. Desmond detonated the bomb at the end of season 2 (the failsafe was the bomb), which is why the Swan seemed to explode after imploding. Juliet, not having been touched by Jacob, is a variable. When she detonated the bomb she changed everything.
      • 1. Juliet was the only character that got a flashback to herself in an otherwise Jacob-centric episode. 2. In that flashback we learn the reason for Juliet's emotional insecurity. 3. Juliet changed her mind about her participation in the upcoming events no less than thrice. While all the others had set firmly their minds, Juliet was literally a "variable" character. This supports Daniel theory and provides the only window of opportunity to change the future since up to that moment, everything that happened - including Jack dropping the bomb in the well and it not going off - was happening in the way it "always happened" (proven by Dr. Chang losing his hand).
• The only event that is dubious to the WHH theory is Daniel meeting Desmond. This could be a part of the original time loop, and Desmond remembering it when he needed to could be the result of being brainscrewed by the time travel and being "special". Or, it could be indeed changing the timeline, which still wouldn't mean WHH wasn't right, since Desmond is "special", and, as Daniel says, the rules don't apply to him. So, he's a Joker when it comes to these theories.

The Cabin

Main article: Jacob's cabin/Theories

• Horace was the nemesis in Locke's dream about him building the cabin. Nemesis used Horace's body, much like Locke's, to build the cabin, and then used Horace in Locke's dream to start Locke on the path that lead him to moving the island and dying, which lead to Nemesis being able to use Locke as well.
• Jacob's nemesis used the Monster as a way of contacting and interacting with the rest of the island, while physically being trapped inside the cabin. He has been set free, by the ring of ash being broken so now he can physically use Locke's likeness to do his will. That is why it was never done before (speaking of a body never being fully resurected), because Nemesis was trapped and couldn't do it.
• Ilana and Bram saw living Locke (after the crash of Ajira316), and also knew they had his body in the case. Going to the cabin was the initial goal before the Locke issue, and they still went to confirm suspicions: that the enemy had escaped and Jacob had gone. That is why Ilana gave Bram quite a look.

Juliet and the bomb

• Much as Locke, Eko, and Desmond survived the explosion of the hatch, we'll see Jack, Kate, Sawyer, etc. walk away from the original Incident intact (perhaps restored to their original time, as indicated by the white flash). There is a direct parallel between Desmond turning the key and Juliet hitting the bomb. The fail safe Desmond used may have actually involved the detonation of a bomb to counter the release of the electromagnetic energy. Juliet may survive the explosion/flash, but will likely die due to her injuries.
• Juliet had to be the one to set off the bomb; already established that Jack could not kill himself (which is effectively what he would be doing) because he left the island. This holds for all other time-traveling losties... except Juliet, the only one who never left the island (ever). Hugo, Miles, Jack, Kate had all left; Jin was on the freighter; Sawyer either left on the boat the first time or when jumping off the helicopter. The island needed her to set the bomb off, hence the chains that pulled her down put didn't do her in.
  • Juliet (being the doctor who was brought to the island to try to correct the pregnancy issue) prevents the Incident, which was what caused pregnancy on the Island to be deadly. Without the fertility issue, she never needs to be there, so she's not on the Island - she continues her research with her sister.

The black LOST on white background

• While we are just now learning this, the show up until this point has been about Jacob's nemesis' manipulation of events for the purpose of finding a loophole and killing Jacob (black background). The remainder of the series will focus on the struggle of the good side (Jacob's side) to prevail (white background).
• A bright white screen all season long has indicated a time jump. This is what it signifies now. Juliet triggers the explosion, and immediately they all jump in time.
• The color inverting tells us that something has been changed. The white screen is not a time travel or an explosion, but its a transfer from the usual black end cut to the new white version.
  • The word Lost on the white cut screen was not just black, but black like on a photo negative. It is meant to imply some inversion of what has gone on before is coming next season.

• The White background signifies that this is the end of the actual timeline for the show. It is the end result of what happens in Season 6, which is probably to make sure Jacob is not killed by Ben because he is manipulated by his Nemesis.
  • The goal of Season 6 may be for Jacob (or the Others, associated with him) to make sure that the bomb does indeed get detonated by manipulating the time line. They want it to go off because the Swan isn't built, the Losties never crash, Locke never ends up on the island, and Jacob's nemesis can't manuipulate him to kill him and trick Ben into killing Jacob.
  • Daniel must be involved in this process, because he is the one who initiated this with Jack.
  • A bunch of the weird stuff from Seasons 1-5 could be explained if a group were to have kept jumping back to various parts in the timeline to make sure that this happen... the Whispers, people appearing out of nowhere and disappearing, characters' knowledge of future events, etc all could be a part of this.
  • The "war" therefore is between this team who wants to manipulate the timeline on Jacob's behalf and the Smoke Monster/Nemesis.

Do the Losties survive?

• The Losties(and Miles) do not survive the events of this episode. This is supported in Richard's statement that he watched the people in the photo die.
  • The volatile combination of the nuclear explosion and the electromagnetic energy already present results in a final time-flash to which only the survivors are subject. Richard, in learning about the Incident and seeing no survivors, but realizing that the timeline has not been altered, presumes that Jack's plan failed and all present at the site perished.
  • They neither die or time jump. Richard really does see them die, like he says. But it happens at some point we haven't seen yet. He was in the Tunnels at the time of the "explosion" so he couldn't be referring to the Incident as when he saw them die.
• Richard was not lying about seeing them die. Richard changed his mind and was on his way to come help them. He was standing on top of the ditch when the bomb goes off, killing everyone, but keeping Richard alive due to his anti-aging affect.
• They survived and were time flashed because they had finally served their purpose in 1977. For instance, perhaps if Juliet hadn't set off the bomb when she did, the electromagnetic energy would continue to grow and kill everyone. So the survivors had to be on the island when they did to save the DHARMA initiative. But since they are done, now they are going to be put back into their correct time, in 2008.
• The mysterious pocket of energy subdued the bomb's blast and the gun-barrel shape of the hole directed it so that it only killed Juliet and, possibly by concussion, some of the people at the Swan construction site.

Why Jacob never met with Ben

• Ben never met with Jacob because it is not a requirement that Jacob meets with every leader. Richard plays some type of consigliere role, but it also appears that he plays an intermediary between leaders and Jacob. The producers have noted a special relationship between Richard and the Others' Leader. When 70's Widmore asked Alpert about bringing young Ben to be healed, he mentions that he doesn't run on the authority of the leader. All of Jacob's lists were brought to Ben by Richard. It's possible for a leader to see Jacob, but it is not a typical occurrence.
• While Jacob's nemesis thinks he's now in control, this is all part of Jacob's master plan. Jacob knew Ben would be the one to kill him, so he never allowed him an audience and caused him to suffer as leader of the Others.
  • Then, when Ben gives his monologue and says to Jacob, "What about me?" Jacob gives a flippant response like "What about you?" in order to provoke Ben.
    • "What about you?" was not a flippant response at all. "What about you?" is Jacob's way of telling Ben that, despite what he thinks, the island and the universe don't exist in order to make his life wonderful - it's not all about him.
    • Jacob wouldn't meet with Ben, because the way Ben "followed" Jacob was through murder and deception; Jacob is still challenging Ben to make a better choice at that moment - to choose not to follow violent orders. "What about you" was meant to be reflective - what choices have you made? What results have they created? But Ben is beyond hearing this...
    • "What about you?" was merely a response to Ben self-centeredness. Ben is complaining that he was supposed to be so important, as the Leader of the Others, yet he never got to meet with Jacob. He was offended by the fact that he wasn't treated as well as he thought he should have been. "What about me?" is the climax of these feelings in Ben, and Jacob responds "What about you?" - meaning that he needs to fix his feelings of self-centeredness by understanding that he is still only a man
• Jacob would not meet with Ben because he did not choose Ben to lead. Young Ben saw his dead mom in the jungle, and it was this incident that peaked the interest of Alpert later on when young Ben met him in the woods. So the entire reason that Alpert thought Ben was special to begin with was started by Jacob's enemy, not Jacob.
• Ben was chosen by Jacob, but Jacob was aware that Ben would eventually be used as Nemesis' loophole. He chose Ben because he was destined to make a choice of whether or not to kill Jacob, but didn't meet him face to face until it was time for him to make that choice. Remember Jacob believes in free will, and didn't want to influence Ben's decision by allowing Ben an audience before their destined meeting depicted in "The Incident, Parts 1 & 2".
• You can't be DESTINED to make a CHOICE, that's what destiny is, the lack of free will.

Two Monsters

• Jacob's nemesis the Monster that we have seen many times. Jacob is another smoke monster that we have not seen but only Locke has seen in "Walkabout". Locke did see a Monster in this episode as evidenced by the fact that Kate and Sawyer saw the Monster moving in Locke's direction through the jungle, as it made similar sounds and noise as the smoke monster that we have all seen. This happened after the boar stormed them while they were hunting and broke them up. This monster clearly came out of the trees/bushes and revealed itself to Locke. Due to the camera angle, we do not see exactly what Locke see's, but it was inferred to be a smoke Monster.
  • We have seen the smoke monster taking on different colors and performing different roles. The smoke monster that judged Eko was black. The smoke that surrounded and judged Ben was light gray. Also compare Locke's different reactions to the smoke monster in "Walkabout" and when he was dragged by the smoke monster to the vent in the Dark Territory towards the end of Season 1. The first time he was calm and said he saw something "beautiful" and the monster did nothing to him. The second time, when the monster was shown as black, Locke was scared and the monster tried to forcefully drag him into the vent.
  • There is only one Monster. The reason that we do not see the Monster in "Walkabout" is because the director of the episode didn't want us to see the Monster because it was only 4 episodes into the season, and they wanted to keep it as a "reveal" for later. Also, there have been instances of the Monster being "friendly" to people at one point, and hostile towards them at other times (ex: Eko sees the Monster in the woods when it seems to "scan" him and then leave. Then, Eko is later killed by the monster.) The color differences (which are not confirmed, only assumed), of black and light grey (as described above) are due to the audience's perception. Those colors are too similar to say it was a different color.(Also, when the monster is seen "judging" Ben, they are in a very dark room, so it is safe to assume that if it was a lighter gray, it was to make a BLACK smoke monster more visible in a dark room.)
  • There is only one Monster. Locke saw the Monster differently in "Walkabout" as part of the Man in Black's plot to kill Jacob. Locke, who was selected as the "loophole" years earlier (using a strict linear timeline) was given a special vision of the Monster that in his mind established a deep connection between himself and the Island. This enabled the Man in Black to continue manipulating Locke because of Locke's belief that he was special.
    • There are two Monsters, both with the same smoke forms. But that the audience did not see the monster it it's first appearance to Locke in "Walkabout" was a direction choice for the episode to keep the audience in suspense for the monster's first appearance on screen. Locke describes the Monster differently, as a bright, beautiful light, because the show creators had not completed the appearance of the monster at the time "Walkabout" was written and its description was kept vague so anything could be retconned. If the Smoke Monster appeared in a different "bright" form we do not see later that is because the Monster (whether Jacob's or the Nemesis') outwardly reacted to its first meeting with Locke who is important to the Island, Jacob's Nemesis and Jacob.

Frank as a "candidate"

• When Ilana and Bram discuss Frank as a candidate, they know that Jacob is going to die. Jacob visited Ilana and asked for her help; he needed help reviving himself. They also recognized that Locke was the same man that had reappeared and was not on the manifest, but was also in the crate. They made the connection that Locke was possessed by Jacob's nemesis, and that he was going to kill Jacob, and that they needed a body, a vessel, for Jacob's spirit to go into.
• Frank is a candidate for the true leader of the Others. Ben has been exiled and Locke is dead so the Others are leaderless. By bringing the body of Locke to Jacob it reveals the leaderless state of the Others and the need for Jacob to pick a new leader.
• Frank is a candidate to become part of the sect/group that follows the orders of Jacob.
• Frank is a candidate for Jacob's possession.
• Frank is a candidate for filling Jacob's position.
• Frank is a candidate to be the next leader of the Others, because remenber that Frank was supposed to be the pilot of Flight 815, and the Smoke monster (Jacob's nemesis) knew that Frank is going to replace Jacob as leader of the Others, so he want to kill the pilot, and when he notices that the pilot was not Frank, instead Seth Norris, he gets angry and kill Seth.

Locke wasn't The Leader

• Locke assumed the leadership position because Ben told him so before moving the island. Ben assumed Locke was the leader because Richard had said so. Richard assumed Locke was the leader because Locke told him so in the past (and Richard was further manipulated by Jacob's nemesis). That's why Richard never detected anything special in Locke... because he really wasn't special.
• One of the rules could be that Jacob can only be killed by the leader - however the leader is also the most loyal person to Jacob and the island. Locke was never the leader, it was still Ben. By manipulating everyone into thinking that Ben is no longer leader, Jacob's nemesis manages to get past the loophole by getting Ben to become jealous of Locke and lose his faith in Jacob, so that Ben then chooses to kill Jacob.
• Ben was pushed off of the island by Locke, who was either misinterpreting or misled by Christian. Richard assumed Locke would be the new leader, but this was because of manipulations of Locke throughout time by Jacob's nemesis. Ben was still in some official capacity 'the leader'. This is why Ben was special, and could kill Jacob.
• The true, acting leader leaving the island by The Wheel is what causes the island to skip in time. Ben was still the true leader and his leaving caused it. That is why Christian (assuming he is not the Nemesis or a tool of the Nemesis) said it needed to be Locke that left, because he was not the leader.

Losties destiny fulfilled

Each of the Losties that were transported back to 1977 each had a specific purposes that needed to be fulfill, and each one depended on a specific already-seen trait in that character. Jack's initiative, Kate's will to do good no matter what the cost, Sawyer's deceptiveness, Daniel's brain, Sayid's "killer" instincts, Hurley's dim wits, Juliet's persistence, Miles' ability, and Jin's decisiveness.. These purposes are each significant to the flow of time, and will make it so that the events in the "future" unfold as they should. Once these purposes are fulfilled, they will be transported back to present day. Juliet was likely the last one to fulfill hers, so they will all go back the moment the bomb detonates.

• Jack - The one to carry on Faraday's plan of blowing up the bomb.
• Kate - Saving Ben by donating blood and bringing him to the Others
• Sawyer - Helping everyone achieve trust with the DHARMA Initiative when the first arrived in 1974
• Daniel - Bringing up the plan to detonate the bomb
• Sayid - Shooting Ben
• Hurley - Revealing to Dr. Chang that they are from the future, making him evacuate the island
• Juliet - Ultimately blowing up the bomb
• Miles - First discovering the massive electromagnetic forces via the dead body in the body bag
• Jin - Saving Ben by bringing him back to DHARMA-ville

Keeping Locke off Island

• Throughout season 4, there are many instances that seem to imply that Locke should leave the island and never come back. According to Christian, Locke is supposed to turn the wheel and leave the island. Usually this means you can never come back, thus preventing Locke from returning and killing Jacob. Claire tells Kate "Don't bring him back" in her dream, Hurley is told by a vision of Charlie to tell Jack "you're not supposed to 'raise' him." These are not referring to Aaron, but Locke.

• There is additional evidence to suggest that forces, one faction at least, were attempting to keep Locke on the island not expel him off of it. The purpose for keeping Locke on the island was to prevent his death and the usurpation of his identity by the man in black. On the island Locke suffered multiple potentially fatal injuries but was miraculously healed, essentially making it near impossible for him to die on the island. It was only after leaving the island that Locke could die and the man in black's plot to steal his likeness could be realized.

• • Locke destroys the submarine and communication station, two important pieces of equipment necessary for arranging a departure from the island.
  • Locke consistently pleads with Jack and others to not leave the island.

Ben's Role

• A - It is Ben that kills Jacob.
• B - It is Ben that killed Locke.
• C - It is Ben that dislodged the wheel creating time shifts that made all the time travels possible.
• Look carefully. Just after Jacob asks Locke about the loophole and Locke confirms it, the scene immediately goes to Ben's startled face. The implication here is not that Jacob's nemesis in Locke's body was the loophole...rather *Ben is the loophole*--having returned to the Island when he was banished and now about to stab Jacob. Jacob's enemy found his loophole in getting Ben to do the killing.
• Ben was not healed at the Temple. He Died. Jacob's nemesis took his place, the same way as he did with Locke. Also Jacob was able to do the same thing, this is why Ben tells Widmore that he cannot kill him when he meets him at his house. It's because Charles is a manifestation of Jacob. And it's not until Jacob's nemesis leaves Ben body that he can directly attack Jacob. This is also why Ben kills Locke, so than later he can uses him to approach Jacob.

The Coming War

Eloise and Jacob will lead their forces against Widmore and Jacob's nemesis. The Losties are the variables and will determine the outcome.

• On Jacob's nemesis' side: Locke, Ben, Christian, Claire.
• On Jacob's side: Jack and friends, Ilana and friends, Richard, and Widmore

We can assume that everyone Jacob touched in the flashbacks are part of his plan: Kate, Sawyer, Locke, Jack, Sayid, Hurley, Jin, & Sun

Hurley and Jacob

• Jacob needs Hurley to go back to the island because he knew that he was going to die and the only one that can talk to the dead is Hurley (Miles cannot speak with those who have been cremated, and since Jacob's nemesis burned Jacob's body, only Hurley would be able to communicate with Jacob after death), so Hurley is going to be some sort of middleman between Jacob and The Others.
• When Hurley checked out of prison he was given 3 items that Jacob had previously given to the Losties in the other flashbacks. Money (kate), a pen (Sawyer) and a Candy Bar (Jack). This is how these characters, barring Sayid, arrived in 1977.

Time Loop?

• Jacob and his nemesis are not originally from the present or future, they have already experienced it, despite it being in the 19th century. They have been in a LONG time loop, over and over, starting with the arrival of the Black Rock (or likely earlier given the Egyptian elements and Latin) and ending some time in the near future (2007 or later). In each time loop, Jacob and his nemesis are attempting to get the upper hand and control a final outcome in their own favor and defeat the other. In the loop we are witnessing, the nemesis has been working to manipulate and mislead primarily Locke, Ben and Richard to bring about the "loophole" that allows him to have the Others' leader kill Jacob. Meanwhile, Jacob has been manipulating Kate, Jack, Sawyer and Hurley, putting them in positions to reverse or alter this outcome ("...they are coming"). Whatever is in the guitar case will be instrumental to this end. The actions of Jacob and the nemesis are like those of Bill Murray's character in "Groundhog Day": the more he experiences the same day (or time loop), the more expert he becomes at manipulating outcomes of various story lines.
• The Losties will succeed in changing the future - but it won't be their future. They will create a different run through time, in which (in 2004) the crash doesn't happen, or is somehow different. Thus, the pasties will stay in the past, since they didn't change their past, but rather, the Survivors from this new series of events.

• The Incident always happened (it was only an incident and not catastrophic because of the bomb), but there is another chance to stop Oceanic 815 from crashing. The release of energy will cause Jack et.al.to flash to 2004 and find Desmond alone at the Hatch. They will take shifts pushing the button so their plane doesn't crash. But they will be standing on the beach watching their plane fly overhead. It will be their present. When characters flash to a point in time where they already exist, they don't take the place of themselves, they coexist. Miles didn't become baby Miles.

Yin, Yang, and Liberation

• The island is an anomaly that allows for the bending of local time-space. At some point in history (late Roman Egypt?), people learned to control it to a degree and built the wheel. Coincidentally, it also enhances whatever psychic gifts a person might have, causes rapid healing, and slows adult aging to a crawl.

Jacob and his nemesis each have their own special powers. Jacob is capable of leaving the island and can "nudge" people to do the things he wants them to do. Jacob's nemesis, on the other hand, cannot leave the island, but has powers over the natural forces of the island, like the smoke monster.

• The loophole is, in fact, the period of Lost. Jacob and his nemesis are struggling, sometimes together and sometimes separately, to use the loophole to free themselves from the loop. They do so by manipulating the people - especially, of course, the major characters.

Burning bodies and objects

• This episode continues the idea of burning bodies (and cabins): in the same episode, Ilana and her group burn down Jacob's cabin, and Jacob's nemesis kicks him into the fire once Ben stabs him. Both of these are people knowledgeable about the Island's mysteries, which may imply that this has broader implications on the Island. This also may be the reason the Hostiles require the return of dead bodies from the Dharma Initiative, and it may prevent dead people from being resurrected or possessed by either The Island, Jacob, Jacob's nemesis or anyone else.
  • Note that the corpses of the 815 passengers were burned by the rest (without knowing the possible effects) with the fuselage, while most of the survivors who died after the crash were buried (Nikki and Paulo, Ana Lucia and Libby etc). It seems that only the people whose bodies were left intact appear to the survivors in dreams and visions: people who were buried (e.g. Ana Lucia to Hurley), left in pits (Horace), simply decomposed (Yemi), drowned (Charlie) or came in a coffin (Locke and Christian). It's unclear, however, why the Hostiles/Others would just leave the Dharma Initiative bodies, or not warn the survivors against burial, if they knew they could be possessed.
  • This could also mean that Jacob's nemesis could be killed or weakened by burning Locke's body, although he didn't seem to show any interest in finding it after 316 crashed.

v • d • e Theories for Season 5 episodes "Because You Left" • "The Lie" • "Jughead" • "The Little Prince" • "This Place Is Death" • "316" • "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham" • "LaFleur" • "Namaste" • "He's Our You" • "Whatever Happened, Happened" • "Dead is Dead" • "Some Like It Hoth" • "The Variable" • "Follow the Leader" • "The Incident, Parts 1 & 2" Season 1 • Season 2 • Season 3 • Season 4