My new theory on "The Rules" (if they exist, of course): So imagine a giant chess board. There are two sides (Charles Widmore and Ben). This chess is different from regular chess because the rules and situations are different:
- Instead of having the king killed (or placed in checkmate), the island is on one side and the other side either wants it or needs it.
- Back then, before the plane crash, Ben had the island because he banished Widmore (for unexplained reasons??) and, obviously, Widmore wanted the island back.
- There can be more than two sides (maybe Jacob is one side or maybe the Black Rock or Henry Gale)
- I believe that when the plane crashed, it created another side (more or less a third side), which was the survivors of 815. Since Ben had the island and Widmore didn't, Ben waas trying to kill off the "third side" so that the island would be his again.
Just to be clear, "the rules" are, to this metaphor, the rules to the game of chess. Yes, this still doesn't explain why Alex dying changed the rules, but I would love to hear some ideas. NOTE: This was thought up when I started typing. I don't have a lot of support, but then again, I'm sorta torn between thinking that "the rules" actually exist to thinking that Ben made it all up so he was the victim in the situation. Comments would be helpful.