The Rules/Theories

From Lostpedia

General Thoughts

• There seem to be 3 different types of "rules" that govern Lost
  • The first set of rules involve the Others and their link to the Island. One of those rules is "Whoever moves the island can never come back" however I believe that Ben was lying when he told this to Locke. All of Ben's actions so far in season 5 lend me to believe that he has found a way back to the island himself. Another one of these rules is that members of the Others cannot kill one another. This is evidenced by the "trial" that Juliet was subjected to in season 3 after killing an other while helping Kate and Sawyer escape Hydra Island. I also believe this is what Ben means when he says that he cannot kill Widmore. As we saw, Widmore was an Other back in 1954.
  • The second set of rules involve all the issues surrounding Time Travel. It has been clearly underlined by both Faraday and Dr. Chang that one cannot alter the future by changing the past. The catch to this rule is that there are apparently certain individuals who are "outside" of time and therefore the rules do not apply to them. I'm thinking of Richard and Mrs. Hawking here but also Desmond and perhaps Faraday as well.
  • The third set of rules involve basic morals/ethics by which all of the survivors live. As we have seen over and over again in this series, characters are constantly placed in difficult moral situations on the island that mirror something that occurred in the past. How one deals with these situations influences their standing on the island. I believe this is why the idea of good vs. evil is so prevelant in the show.

Theories

• At some unknown point in the future Ben Linus is destined to travel back in time and save a young Charles Widmore who then later grows up to live into the future and travel back in time help plan the purge. This creates a set of murderous limitations.
  • Ben cannot kill Charles because he still has to go back in time and give the others the idea for the purge.
  • Widmore cannot kill Ben because he still has to go back in time and save him.
    • This is why neither attacked each other in Charles' apartment in The Shape of Things to Come.
  • Alex might also have been very important to the future, maybe she was supposed to be the person who tells Charles he has to go and tell the others about the purge.
  • To settle their makeshift feud, they set up a list of guide lines of things they could do to each other without breaking the laws of physics.
  • When Keamy killed Alex in The Shape of Things to Come, this dis proved Miles' whatever happened, happened theory. It created a new time line, a branch off from the things that happened. Knowing that the rules can be broken with out consequences in the time space continuum, Ben seeks revenge on Widmore but is cuatious of making another disturbance in the time space continuum.
• They are unwritten rules of engagement concerning allowable actions in pursuit of the larger strategic purpose, presumably control of the island and its secrets. They exist because both Widmore (and others off the Island) and Ben (and those on the island) have immense resources at their disposal, but using them without limit can cause bigger problems than they would solve. The two sides are in balance, and while either side could try something different, both know that the other could quickly adapt, in an equal and opposite manner, giving no net advantage. (Widmore could spend millions to send mercenaries after Ben's family, but Ben could use the Island to send assassins after Widmore's associates. The outcome is foreseeable, so neither uses these methods, resulting in a List of Things We Don't Do...at least until recently. ) Without the rules, the conflict would destabilize, possibly turning the struggle into a personal vendetta, attracting the attention of larger and more dangerous adversaries, or destroying whatever they are after.
• Widmore appeared to claim that he did not change the rules when he said that Ben was responsible for Alex's death not him. This might mean that the rules are open to different interpretation i.e. there is no written, definite list.
• The same rules referred to in "Stranger in a Strange Land", when Ben commutes Juliet's death sentence, claiming that "the rules don't apply," and orders her to be marked instead.
• Perhaps the "rules" have to do with time travel. As in, Tom knows Michael can't kill himself, because he knows somehow that in the future he's in the boat heading back to the island (example: in 'Meet Kevin Johnson' Michael is telling his story, which involves a few suicide attempts. As a viewer we know those attempts will unsuccessful because he's telling the story.) Ben and Charles Widmore might know there is an endgame confrontation between the two of them in the future. Therefore, Ben knows he cant kill Charles and vice versa. They might have tried, and when they realized it was futile, they created a set of "rules." (Like, no killing of each others families until the "endgame.")
  • This is further backed up by what Faraday said about rules in "Because You Left". This is also why Ben was so surprised that his daughter was killed. He thought she couldn't die so when she was Ben was really saying "He changed the rules [of time travel]."
• The rules are the things which Ben and Widmore are permitted to do while contesting control of the island. The island (or Jacob) doesn't allow certain things to happen so it's pointless to try them. We saw that similar rules applied to Michael - something stopped him from killing himself so from his point of view there were rules that guided how he was permitted to pursue his redemption. Apparently the rules also say Ben can't kill Widmore.
• The rules were not to involve the "others" in the conflict between Benjamin Linus and Charles Widmore. If Widmore was once the leader of the "others" at some point, it would make sense for both to decide not to harm their own people. Ben sends his people away to the Temple before the freighter arrives and calls them for help after Alex is killed.
• The rules are set between two persons who are competing for the control of the Island like Ben and Charles Widmore. The rules are something ancient and Ben has somehow gained control of the Island by following the rules and there after somehow banished Charles Widmore. Now Charles Widmore is trying to gain control of the Island again but he has to follow the rules which he didn't when he killed Alex. Maybe the rules somehow imply that one have to take control of the Island by outsmarting his opponent and his/hers family, not by killing and threatening them to give up control.
• Ben says the rules were "changed" not "broken" because when they are set however they are, they are like physical laws and cannot be broken - as Michael simply could not die until he had fulfilled the island's purpose for him. There is obviously, however, a process to change these rules that a person can carry out without others knowing. If "the rules" were a gentleman's agreement, Widmore would have broken a rule, and if he had decided to change the rules without informing Ben, well, that would have negated the entire idea of an agreement in the first place; all rules would be off. But...
  • In Meet Kevin Johnson, when Ben is urging Alex to go to The Temple, he does tell her, "These people that are coming - they know who I am, Alex. They're here to capture me. They'll kill anybody that gets in their way. If they knew who you were, that you were my daughter, they would use you to get to me." It sounds like he knows Alex's death on Widmore's orders is a physical possibility.
• The rules are the rules of time travel. In Because You Left Pierre Chang tells the construction foreman that killing Hitler is "absurd" because "there are rules;" Daniel Faraday later explains that new timelines cannot be created. I.e., once you know the future, you can't change the past that leads up to it.
  • This is why Ben is so surprised when Alex gets killed in The Shape of Things to Come; Ben has apparently been to the future, where Alex was alive, and thus he was confident that Keamy could not kill her. When Keamy does so, that means that Widmore has figured out a way to "change the rules" -- that is, Widmore can change the future by altering the past. Ben's knowledge of the future would also explain why he is able to get his way so often.
    • Widmore did not figure out the way to "change the rules"; he and Ben knew how to long ago. Ben and Widmore, however, agreed not to create a logical paradox in time. Widmore ignored that and this is the reason why Losties are skipping through time. All of those involved in things to come (and all of those who are directly involved in the paradox created) are traveling through time Limbo, while Others, and people off the island are not. It leads to a conclusion that all of those who are skipping through time are connected to Alex's existence in the future, which is now not the case.
  • The rules are those of the self-consistency principle as stated by the russian physicist Igor Novikov. Basically, he argued that altough time travel was possible (according to the theories of relativity and quantum mechanics), it would only be possible to interact with the past, not change it.
  • Could it be possible that these 'rules' are written in the BOOK OF LAWS which we have seen in many episodes and is referenced often...** - Tooslo Feb 3, 2009
• "You can't change the past/future"

We've heard multiple people say this on multiple occasions. Eloise Hawking says it to Desmond in Flashes Before Your Eyes but it seems that she was incorrect, at least about this rule applying to him. We also heard Faraday say this to Desmond back in 1996, in The Constant, though he later seems to recant this when he tells Desmond "the rules don't apply to you" in Because You Left. Pierre Chang also says it to the construction worker at the Orchid.

Desmond is the one exception to this rule in the normal world - only he can change time in the normal world. The Island is the second exception - anyone can change time on the island. Faraday doesn't realize that this is the case. He knows that Desmond is an exception, but he has yet to learn that the island provides another exception. Where the losties could not change time back in LA, they can change the past on the island. This is why they end up back in 1977, because the work they have to do, the reason they need to be on the island is so that they can change the past and thereby affect the future.