Season Six introduced the concept of the alternate timeline, a depiction of what could have been for everybody. And with the conclusion of What They Died For, we know that there will be a meeting between the two, a convergence, that will result in some amazing outcome. So here's my take on what will happen.
Initially, the FST appeared to be what everybody wanted. They all wanted to land in LA and go on with their lives. In the original timeline, there was one or a few important things that each character wanted more than anything in their lives.
- Jack wanted to be the father that he never had. He wanted to be able to fix everything.
- Kate wanted to become a mother, not a criminal.
- Sawyer wanted to find the man responsible for his parents' death and make him pay. He wanted to have never become like Sawyer. He wanted to have never killed the wrong man.
- Ben wanted a family of his own, an Alex to raise on his own. He wanted the respect he deserved. He wanted to be together with his father.
- Sayid wanted to be together with Nadia.
- Claire wanted to raise Aaron herself with someone, either a husband/boyfriend.
- Hurley wanted to be rich and famous but to have good luck, to be able to bring happiness to people without fearing that he would bring doom. He wanted to be with Libby.
- Charlie wanted to end his heroin addiction.
- Locke wanted to be together with Helen and to have a good relationship with his father. He wanted to be out of his wheelchair.
- Daniel wanted to be together with Charlotte.
- Desmond wanted to be good enough for Widmore and to be together with Penny.
- Jin wanted to please Sun's father and be with her.
- Sun wanted to be with Jin.
- Rose wanted to be with Bernard forever.
- Bernard wanted to get over Rose's cancer and be with her forever.
- Vincent wants food and somebody to care for him.
- Michael wanted to be a good father.
- Walt wanted to have a good father.
- Jacob wanted to have never made the mistake of taking away his brother's humanity.
- Jacob's brother wanted to have been allowed to leave and discover things on his own.
However, as the course of events has continued forward in the flash-sideways timeline, we have begun to see that while some got what they initially wanted, it truly was not the best thing for them, it wasn't exactly what they wanted.
- Kate still became a criminal on the run. She was not able to become a mother.
- Sawyer is still searching for Anthony Cooper, but Cooper has already paid for his actions. Sawyer is still becoming like Sawyer. He is a con-man at heart.
- He is still lying and manipulating to get what he wants.
- He takes part in an undercover con-art operation.
- Kate tells him that he doesn't look like a cop, he looks more like a con-man.
- Ben became a teacher with a doctorate. He earned people's respect. But he is in a lowly teaching job. People keep calling him Mr. Linus. Alex is Danielle's daughter, not his. He is with his father and has a good relationship with him, but his father is disabled and near death.
- Sayid got to be with Nadia again. But then he made a decision that led to him being arrested and most likely incarcerated for life, taking him away from Nadia again.
- Claire will be able to raise Aaron herself, but she still has no one to do it with.
- Hurley gets his fame and fortune, but he doesn't get Libby until he is shown the other possibility.
- Charlie solved his heroin addiction by trying to kill himself, but Jack saved him. He then realizes that this is not what he wanted, that he wanted to have solved it differently, with a happy ending.
- Locke is happily together with Helen and has a good relationship with his father. He wants to be out of his wheelchair and is in the process of achieving this.
- Daniel can't be with Charlotte.
- Desmond proved himself to be good enough for Widmore, but he can't be with Penny, the thing that he wanted more than anything else.
- Jin was incapable of pleasing Sun's father, and he lost Sun.
- Sun was unable to be with Jin because the chain of events on the Island led her to realize that she did love him. These never happened, so she never came around to loving him truly.
- Rose still has cancer (I think) and she is able to be with Bernard, but for a short time.
- Bernard hasn't come to terms with Rose's cancer and can't be with her for long either.
In the original timeline, they didn't exactly get what they wanted in all cases, but they learned to let go and to fix that part of them that was the source of the problem.
- Kate becomes a mother, but at great cost. She learns that she made mistakes, terrible mistakes as a result of her quest for revenge.
- Sawyer finds and kills both the wrong man and Anthony Cooper. He still becomes a con-man, but he is also made aware that his quest for revenge is futile. He realizes the consequences of his actions.
- Ben is sort of up in the air. The closest thing he ever had to a daughter was Alex, who was murdered. He is seemingly getting the respect that he wanted, but at what cost?
- Sayid doesn't get to be with Nadia, but he is able to get rid of the interrogator/torturer that he wanted to escape from. He is able to make an ultimate sacrifice for his friends.
- Claire doesn't get the chance to raise Aaron, but she realizes that there is a man out there for her: Charlie.
- Charlie solved his heroin addiction via Claire and ultimately sacrifices himself for his friends.
- Locke gets out of his wheelchair, but his obsession with Anthony Cooper and seeking reciprocation takes Helen away from him.
- Daniel gets the chance to be together with Charlotte, even though they both die.
- Desmond isn't good enough for Widmore, but he is able to be with Penny and to raise a son.
- Jin never pleases Sun's father, but he is happy and completely in love with Sun.
- Sun realizes that Jin is the man that she loves through the chain of events that occur on the Island.
- Vincent... well whatever happened to Vincent?
- Michael becomes a good father on the Island, but ceases to upon leaving the Island.
- Walt finds a father in Michael, but loses faith in him after they leave the Island.
- Jacob realizes the consequences of his mistake and is given a chance to correct it.
- His brother is given the chance to get what he wanted, a means of possibly getting off the Island.
For one individual, they got exactly what they wanted in both timelines. And for another four, we don't know as of yet if they got what they wanted or not.
- Jack became a better man than his father. He started off becoming like his father, but then became the father that he wanted. He is a very successful doctor and is capable of fixing all the patients who come through his operating room. He fixed his relationship with his son. How he feels about what happened between he and his wife is unknown. In the original timeline, he becomes the father/leader that he wanted to become, and he has a chance to fix/heal everything, albeit with a potentially grave outcome.
- Assuming Rose and Bernard are still alive, they have settled down somewhere on the Island and are at peace with one another living out their lives in peace and harmony.
- For both Jacob and his brother, we don't know if they made peace in the past in the alternate timeline.
A major theme in Lost has been the concept of life and death. Jack, as a healer, has had to make the decision between life and death countless times. And each time, he questions what would have happened had he chosen the other path. In the end, he will have to make the ultimate decision: which is the better life for everybody? Is it the life where they were taken away from their family and friends, from a seemingly blissful experience to a bleak and deadly Island, where they would learn the value of their lives and the consequences of their actions? Or is it the life where they don't ultimately get what they want and they are never shown how to correct these errors in their lives? For Jack, the best life IS the flash-sideways timeline. But for the remainder, it is not. Desmond has been trying to show them that this is not the best possible life for them. Jack has to decide which is the best possible life for them. Does he want what he wants, or does he want what they want? One or the other will have to be terminated or ideally, the two could be merged.
- The one anomaly in this is Claire and Charlie. If not for the events on the Island, alternate Charlie would not have realized that he could get what he wants. Claire is unaware of the events in the FST and therefore is incapable of knowing that she could raise Aaron, but without someone to do it with her. They could possibly have their consciousnesses merged with their alternate counterparts and understand that it is a combination of both worlds that is best for them. I'm not sure on this one.
While the mechanism could be almost anything, I can at least postulate as to the turn of events that will happen at the concert.
- During the course of the concert, Desmond, through Daniel's bled-through knowledge of supermath will be able to show everyone the life that they could have had and a chance to get there or experience it. In Pierre Chang's museum, they will discover an ancient artifact alluding to both Jacob and his brother finding peace with one another. Either Jacob and Mother have been right all along and his brother agrees to stay away from the Source, or Jacob and his brother find out that Mother was wrong all along and leave the Island together without the world being destroyed. I'm leaning towards the former because if Mother was right, then going into the Source would have destroyed the FST. If Mother was wrong, then Jack/Jacob and the MiB will realize this and go into the Source, sort of negating the whole purpose of the show. I think this artifact will also finally reveal what the MiB's name is. Prior to all this, Jack will finish fixing Locke and give both of them what they wanted, something that I think will figure in prominently.
- In the original timeline, some epic showdown will occur. At some point though, the MiB/Locke will flash over and see, through Locke, that the world the MiB has created is not the best possible world. At the same time, Jack will realize that both timelines are the best for him, but he will have to choose between one or the other. Ben will possibly have a last second conversion and realize that neither world is best for him, sacrificing himself in both timelines to give everybody the best world. Or, Ben will continue in his devious ways and betray the MiB, taking on his powers and trying to kill Jack.
Ultimately, it could go any way. It's up to the producers to finally reveal this to us. They could all wind up living in the FST. They could all wind up living in the OT. They could all wind up living a combination of both worlds. They could all just die. I'm hoping for a combination of the two, with those who have died in the OT having their consciousnesses merged with their alternate counterparts and crossing over to the OT. I say this because it would be harder for the FST people to fix their mistakes when they are already undergoing the consequences for their actions. Who knows? It's part of the mystery of the show, and I for one am looking forward to seeing how it will all turn out.
I do realize that there are lots of holes in this theory and that it can be picked apart. I know that I've left out some important evidence somewhere. So let me know what you think, and what your final conclusion is. I'd love to hear your thoughts.