The LOST Pool

I say Aaron is the new Jacob, And some of the losties get systematically killed off while searching for the final candidate. The island gets moved again, but this time completely out of time/space and Ben is the one to do it getting stuck with the island. The few losties survivors get off someway and get happy endings.

I have nothing to add other than I like your The Stand take on the ending Devin. I would actually be satisfied if it ended that way. Though some autistic kid's dream would be just as good.

Alt-timeline Locke becomes a full time teacher. About a year after Helen dies, he decides to take a flight to Tahiti on Ajira Air. His consciousness jumps timelines and he wakes up in his body on the Island, only to suffocate in his grave.

Or, more likely: He manages to claw his way out of his grave before dying (again) and assumes Jacob's mantle. He allows everyone else to leave the Island and permanently seals it off from the world, trapped for all time with Not Locke (still in Locke form). I almost want them to merge somehow and have the final shot of the series be a close up of his face with one black eye and one white eye, like in Claire's dream from Season 1.

This is more of an epilogue idea, and its very silly, but there are waaay too many kids on this show for some of them not to be important. I predict we'll have a scene of Aaron, Ji-Yeon, Charlie Hume, Clementine (yes, Sawyer's kid) and an older Walt all somehow ending up on the Island after the main conflict with our current character is resolved.

Should clarify that they'll all be older, not kids in this epilogue.

My Theory:

MiB and Jacob are extensions of both the the metaphysical conflicts and the personal ones explored throughout the series: Faith vs. Science, Destiny vs. Self-Determination, Logic vs Emotion, The Others vs. The Survivors, Widmore vs Ben etc. The two sides exist as balancing forces on the Island to prevent its immense power from being in the hands of "one side".

MiB is tired of the "game" and wants to just leave. He was once a man who was "destined" to be the "other side" on the Island, was brought there to play his role and wants no more of it. He can't leave as long as Jacob and the potential for the extension of his "side" and the "other side" exists.

The "candidates" aren't just for Jacob's role but MiB's as well. Because of the Rules, MiB has to eliminate these candidates and break this chain of succession before he can be set free.

The Alt Timeline is the result of the MiB's endgame. The "game" is ended and the lineage is broken. This creates a shattering effect that results in the Island's destruction and a paradox creating two timelines that will eventually unravel both. Desmond saves the day by being able to transport himself between the two, somehow fixes the lineage and the game by moving pieces from the alt timeline to the "original", we end up with a new Jacob and a new MiB (and a new Richard too acting as the fulcrum for the opposing forces as the Island's "avatar) that comes out of the "candidates". With the possibility that the new Jacob is Jack and the new MiB ends up being Sayid or even an Alt Locke.

Then the Ewoks have an intergalactic bonfire/keggar and everybody gets laid.


And I feel like I just wrote some really bad fan fiction. I guess I can take solace that I didn't have Hurley and Jin tonguing each other.

But they'll all be played by kids aged through traditional Lost "Crap-CGI", right Syd?

Anyway, I posted this in the other thread, but I think it's possible it will play into the ending so I'll throw it up here as my theory for part of what might happen:

According to some, the numbers represent the current values of the variables in the Valenzetti Equation, which purports to predict the end date of humanity. One of the aims of the Dharma Initiative was apparently to attempt to change at least one of the variables in order to stave off the end of humanity.

Now, Jacob's motive is apparently to protect the island because it is presumably important to the world's safety. Now we find that certain losties, whom Farraday has referred to as "variables in the equation" are tied into the numbers that are the current values of the equation. Now, with the alternate timeline we even have alternates of these variables (different values, possibly?). Maybe Jacob is working the same idea as Dharma from a different angle.

So ultimately it comes down to Goofy science. How it plays out is anybody's guess, and I wouldn't have a problem with it playing out like Devin's theory.

On the island, the Smoke Monster continues to do his damnedest to get off the island. He's a bad dude, but not necessarily evil. More like a personification of chaos or some shit. He and Jacob, some sort of order entity, have been on this island as a form of penance. Maybe Jacob trapped them there, maybe it was space elves.

Jack and crew chill with the temple folks and learn about how they help the "gods" continue their ever-long duel by resurrecting or killing or enabling possession. This will have something to do with the nature of Jacob and Smokey, like maybe if one is to eternally die, the universe is totally fucked.

At the end of it all, someone, more than likely Jack, Sawyer or Saiyd will be given some ultimate choice to make, vis a vis preservation of this eternal battle and the life of the island. That person will tell them to eff off and this time loop will cease to be. There will be some sort of tender moment as the realization sinks in that they're done for, but most will accept the end and rejoice in grasping destiny by the balls and telling it to go to hell.

That, or Hurley makes some goofy/impassioned statement and Jacob and Smokey are moved to let things end and be friends. It will be super cheesy but people with say they cried.

As it turns out, the alt 2004 timeline is kind of a "what if" mixed with a "maybe that's what REALLY happened". It give them opportunity to tell happy/better endings for these characters if destiny Jacob and crew hadn't been such douches. But, if they'd actually done the last 5-8 episodes like that, people would've been super pissed off at the ROTK style ending, so they're having their cake and eating it, too.

Ultimately, it be like an inverse of the BSG ending. Not so much that God did it, but gods coulda done it, and the awesomeness of the human spirit made them realize they shouldn't or some horseshit.

This is all bullshit, but I wouldn't be surprised if elements of it pop up during the season. I have absolutely no faith or trust in the Lost creators. Oh, it's a show that I like and have really like a lot, but I still think they're completely winging a bunch of it and the whole thing will be less than the sum of it's parts. They listen to their damn fans, the shitty ones anyway, too much and for a show like this I think that's a major mistake. Anyway, I'm on the ride until the end.

The series ends very similarly to the Dark Tower. Jack wakes up in the same position as in the beginning of the series, only armed with knowledge to make things work this time, a literalization of Jacob's line "it only happens once, the rest is progress".
This is not a good idea, but it might happen.

This is probably completely wrong, but it's been nagging at me for three or four seasons now.

It's the early part of John Byrne's Next Men. They're all in some kind of virtual reality experiment being run by Jacob and MiB.

THe monster, aided by Claire, and Sayid, will go on a killing rampage, killing all the others. Sawyer will kill Hugo, Sun, and Jin leaving Jack and Kate. Sawyer will kill Kate in front of Jack and there will be a final battle between Jack and Sawyer that Jack (aided by Ben and Des) will win. Ben again kills Locke, causing the Monster to go into Sawyer. Jack becomes Jacob on the promise, that if he does all the Killed people will come back and the island will sink. Jack and Sawyer continue what ever Jacob and the monster did, but off the island.

Bob Newhart wakes up in bed next to Susanne Pleshette, turns to her and says, "I just had the weirdest dream."

I think the kids are much more crucial to the endgame. Ben and Locke will have several of the children in their classes, and I'm also guessing that Daniel Faraday will also be part of the faculty.

Meanwhile, Desmond will be rounding up the others. Desmond will then arrive at the school, and after some side-drama due to his anger towards Ben for shooting him (since he'll be the only one that remembers), Faraday will then have a five-minute exposition-filled monologue that will establish why they all need to go back, which I hope won't be too hilarious.

Once they get back to the island, I think some, if not all of the main characters will die (at each other's hand, by sacrificing themselves, etc) and then be revived / resurrected somehow. From there, the endgame will unfold pretty much how Devin describes it.

Of course, considering how ABC's version of Life on Mars ended, there's no way I'm right.

I'm just curious as to why you thought of that. Or what information you had to support that theory?

Devin's theory about the end seems pretty probable, however more than guessing what the end is I'm more curious about just what the true nature of the island is (and Jacob and MiB). I guess that's the harder thing to guess.

Jack is sitting on the beach, eating fish. Real Locke (or, perhaps, Sawyer) approaches and sits on a nearby rock. They both gaze out over the ocean and we see a ship off the coast, although my love of symmetry would love to see a passenger jet breaking up in the sky above the Island. They then engage in the "It only ends once" conversation.

*Boom*

Lost


Additionally, I remain convinced that the blood on AlternaJack's neck indicates that he's going to be visited by the Ghost of Faraday Blast(ed).

Additionally additionally, several years will pass and we will have a sequel series, "The Hunted Ones".

No real info, it's just a feeling I get every now and then from the show. It popped up again when they showed the numbers and names on the cave wall. Seeing the numbers next to the names like that, it made me think of subjects in an experiment: "Subject #15 - Ford". Little things like that. I haven't sat down and tried to incorporate everything to fit it, it's just a nagging notion that's stuck with me.

Like the Hollow Men: not with a bang but a whimper.

That's not in the spirit of the topic, but I don't have much concrete to posit. I think the ending will be underwhelming. Either Jack or Sawyer will choose to stay on the island, alone*, and the other will ride off into the sunset with Kate. They'll explain why Aaron matters with some throwaway about other kids.

*I'm thinking Sawyer, although they've already done that once.

Everything ends up a lot more Christian-themed than we're all comfortable with. Like Jesus shows up and high-five's Jacob and says "Ok, you can all come into Heaven now. Even you, Smokey."

Two things, then I'm done:

- Considering the timelines, instead of the children being in the class, it'll probably be just Walt;
- Sawyer and Juliet will be Adam and Eve.

At this point, I would love for that to be true.

I think that Walt and his ability to "appear in places he shouldn't" will become integral in relating the two realities. I think the "flash-sideways" is 3 years behind right now, and we will jump ahead to a point where it will allow him to appear on the show.

I do think that in the end we will see the destruction of the island in order to save the world and its sinking will be epic-bad Lost CGI that we know and love.

The MiB, having failed in his attempts to unravel the time paradox that linked him inextricably to Jacob, the Black Rock inhabitants, and the flight 815 passengers, discovers a way to "escape" the island by exploiting the newly-created dual timelines. Enlisting the help of a few hapless Losties, he plans to [SOMETHING - let's just call it "divide by zero" for now] that will negate existence and effectively push the universe's off button - collapsing BOTH timelines and releasing him from the game's infinite loop.

Desmond and Alt-Desmond join forces to recruit Faraday, who merges timeline consciousnesses and kicks off a race to prevent the MiB from clicking "off". Comforted in the knowledge that their experiences on the island will be preserved in the minds of their alternate timeline counterparts, the losties sacrifice themselves to stop the MiB, which permanently unravels the time loop. The surviving others call Jacob - who is now mortal, having become unstuck from the time loop - to task for the deaths of hundreds of "candidates" killed in the service of his ego-driven game. The dead candidates range from Slave ship passengers to Egyptian refugees.

That's actually kind of awesome, Trevor (if not far beyond the budget and scope remaining).

Some great theories here. I just wish that the one I think closest to my feelings wasn't this one:

Not necessarily. Most of that could be done using the techniques Lost has already established. There's no huge battle sequence or anything.

Here's what I got:

Jacob is the last surviving member of the human race in the far future. The predictions of the Valenzetti equation have come true, and human civilization has ended. The last habitable place in this future world is the Island. Jacob has discovered how to become unbound from time and space, and has begun transferring his consciousness to various eras of human civilzation in order to change the variables in the equation. He is playing a very long game in order to produce the correct collection of variables (the Losties) in order to break the destiny of humanity.

He has tried with many different groups of people from many different cultures, locations, to varying degrees of success. The MiB was the closest he has come, attaining a great deal of power. However, his goals became domination of the world and chaos, and Jacob imprisoned him on the island. The Losties will learn of the truth from the MiB, and confront Jacob. Everybody will learn a valuable lesson regarding free will, take one for the team and die destroying the island, Jacob, and the MiB. Jacob, however, is not bound by time and space and will travel to the alternate reality, setting up the experiment again. "LOST"

I think Devin's is the most likely scenario presented so far. If I have any problems with it (likelihood-wise, if not also story-wise), it's that it seems too soon for another race-to-nuke-something finale. The nuke is still out there, though, so who knows.

-I think Sawyer will be groomed to be the next Man In Black. One constant theme in Lost is that there are two sides, dark and light. Just as there is the need for an island caretaker (or Jacob), there is a need for an antagonist (or Smokey). I think Smokey wants Sawyer to help him escape the island, but he will trick or screw over Sawyer somehow, leaving Sawyer to take up his mantle.

-The Losties will be shown visions of their alternate selves. They will be given a choice to either accept that reality as their true reality, or accept their island reality and find their ultimate destiny

-The Alt Losties will eventually all meet up at some point. They might have recollections of their alternate lives, or they might not. They will continue to be connected to one another and affect each others lives

-The Losties will become the Others. One thing that has only been touched upon is the fact that there is currently another flight on the other island. Those that accept their island fates will have to deal with these people

-I think the series might end with a total mind fuck. We will see an ancient ship (not the Black Rock) crash on the island. We are not sure at first what date it is. The ships captain will come off the ship. A man with a long beard, wearing some type of armour. Whether this man is actually Jack is not yet know, maybe it is a distant ancestor. But it will suggest that perhaps his connection to the island goes back centuries.


L O S T

Kudos, Devin, for starting this thread. I know you soured a bit on the show, but I hope the writers hold true and make the resolution of the show revolve around the main characters' arcs.

Lots of great theories (Matches Malone, that's an especially wild theory!)! I don't have so much a big theory as a prediction for the ending for the show. However, Mattioli beat me to it. I can see the show ending with Jack and Locke sitting on the beach, replacing Jacob and MIB (or maybe it's still MIB in the form of Not-Locke) watching the next group of castaways arrive.

And though not really original, I have a prediction for the final shot: a close-up of Jack's eye, either opening, mirroring the first shot of the pilot, or closing, book-ending the series.

I really hope it does not turn out to be a virtual reality experiment.

And for the heck of it, here are two series I had back in season two. One was that the Losties would become the Others. The other theory was the island was the actual Garden of Eden. The Others were some lost tribe of Adam and Eve, possibly descendants of Cain or Able, who found their way back to Eden after exile. They try to keep Eden hidden away from the rest of the evil world. And no I don't believe this theory anymore.

Everybody dies except Jack, in a last ditch battle with MiB, who becomes the shepherd of the island.

Back in LA, everybody lives. Locke walks again due to Jack. Sawyer and Juliet get together. Kate clears her name. Claire keeps her baby. Locke, Jack, and Ben Linus become best buds.

Everyone who has come to the Island before the 815ers exploited the Island for its mystical abilities. Dharma tried to punch into the electromagnetic field and build a time machine and the Temple guys use that spring to give themselves eternal life. The Island represents the things that man always fights over sacred land, eternal life, and unending power. Jacob is the one who has been trying to draw people to the Island to ultimately destroy it not the MiB (who was originally referred to as a security system mind you) and who has been trying to protect it and prove that man will always corrupt itself.

The 815ers are Jacobs chosen few who have already shown themselves willing to destroy the Island and more irked by its mythical properties and enticed. John Locke being the one who seemed closest to the Island was being played by the MiB to keep them all there because he needed the Island to feel important like Dharma and the Temple folk. It ends with the 815ers fulfilling Jacobs wishes and destroying the Island. The alt-time line is the epilogue with Desmond and Faraday finding a way to blend both realities and show the 815ers how much better off everyone would be without the Island.

"It only ends once...everything else is just progress". Those don't really sound like the words of a man looking for a successor.

Also no matter what happens the internet will hate it at first and then come around to kind of accepting it a year or so after its over when its looked back on.

You know what? That seems to be a pretty safe bet!

The island's various heaven/fountain of youth qualities will become apparent to all the characters, and be the focus of the final conflict.

The ending choice could have implications on a planetary scale. Once "Pandora's Box" is opened, or somebody figures out how to fully harness the powers of the island (through the combined efforts of the Jacob/Smokey lineage?), it will become possible to give the entire planet the properties of the island. It will be morally and ethically murky, of course. Will everyone's dead relatives be hanging around all the time? Will only certain people's cancers be cured/sins forgiven, as dictated by the Island's intelligent design, or that of the new combined Jacob/Smokey entity?

Of course, they will leave us hanging before the final choice is decided. And the end shot will probably be someone's eye, with an inscrutable image reflected in it that will lead to much debate.I wouldn't want to see them try to CGI render the Island teleporting into the middle of LA or something on a TV budget and shooting schedule.

Great thread idea, Devin. However, I'm a cynical bastard and I'm not about to read any entries (other than your initial one) because I don't doubt some asshat is going to go hunting for spoilers and dress them up in a fancy, innocent suit.

I'll try to think up my best guess and post it/edit it in here.

Smokey will continue to recruit the candidate folks to get off the island while Dogen and Lennon try to convince them to stay. Smokey will manipulate them by using their dead friends and family (Christian, Michael, Shannon, etc) and this all leads to an epic battle between MiB and the Losties resulting in many deaths (including Sawyer's and Sayid, who sacrifices himself before turning totally evil or whatever).

The alt. timelines converge with the help of Desmond and Farraday. The alt. John Locke somehow comes back to the 2007 island. Meanwhile the monster plans to escape while trying to use the frozen donkey wheel (or something similar).

But the Losties/others are keen to his plans and attempt to stop him. They somehow realize that the real candidate is John Locke, so they feel like they can't win. But then they realize that alt. Locke is still alive (and now on the island) and that gives them hope. They use the bomb or something similar to try and stop Smokey from escaping (blowing up the donkey wheel maybe? I don't know) and while he DOES manage to escape, the entire effect of what the Losties have done somehow sends everyone back to where they were 2004 era Lost style (AKA, the flash sideways we've been seeing all season, so the flash sideways are the end result of what they do THIS season, not last season).

The island is destroyed, smokey has escaped, but whatever Jacob was is also inside alt. Locke as well. He is the personification of the island, the island embodied, IS John Locke. The candidate isn't a replacement for Jacob, but a replacement for the Island. And as long as Locke continues to make that loop, the universe is stable (very Dark Tower).



Typing that all out makes me hope and pray that I'm wrong, because it sounds pretty stupid and I hope the show can do better.

Illana said that Smokey is stuck in Locke's form. So he couldn't appear to anyone as someone else.

I'd just like to make one final prediction. I predict Smokey will not be able to revert to his Smoke form at some point. I've noticed that the special fx for Smokey seems a bit different from when we originally saw him. His last few appearances have looked a bit greyer than usual.

Early season 2



Early season 6



I'm willing to admit that it is probably just an issue with fx, but maybe Smokey is becoming weaker? I think there will come a point where he is not able to transform back to the smoke.

This makes me laugh. Maybe its just the thought that in another life, my best friends have tried to kill me and are the evil leaders of mysterious island people.

I think someone (probably Jack, maybe Ben) will have to make a choice over which timeline gains primacy, and will ultimately do something terrifically sacrificial and noble (maybe to stay in the island timeline as new Jacob, or leader of the others, or something), so that everyone, and maybe the rest of the world, can exist peacefully in Earth 2.

I also think Jacob will be revealed as a negative force, like some kind of super sentient being from Star Trek. MiB a similar being in thrall, and driven mad. They're opposing forces, but neither is remotely 'good'. Maybe like Prospero and Caliban.

Island Timeline cast is wiped out. Earth 2 cast all live, except Jack and/or Ben.

Widmore and Desmond have brief and unsatisfying appearances that minimize their roles in the endgame.

I'd like to add an amendment to my theory to the effect that Jacob and MIB will ultimately be revealed to be something akin to Sirius and Achenar in Myst (ie that they will both be revealed to be much less than honest and neither of them will be good, despite one seeming obviously more evil than the other). There will likely be some third party involved in all this.

Unless this has been expressly denied, I have a feeling we might be seeing the ending right now. If that's the case, the "flash-sideways" have nothing to do with the bomb, and are actually the aftermath of the climax and serve as a way of having an extended Lord of the Rings-style denouement for all these characters we've invested so much time in, wrapping up individual plotlines by allowing the characters to deal with their personal demons "off-Island." Putting it all at this stuff at end would be tedious as hell, but just leaving it open-ended with them arriving in LA would feel like a cheat.

How this ties to Juliet's last words though -- no idea.

[Whoops -- didn't see the deadline!]

Yeah but that's already Devin's theory, and the rules state you can't edit. You're basically editing after having seen the 2/23 episode, so I think you're out of luck, but it's a good theory. I'm going to have to give Devin credit for it, though.

I didn't see this thread, but came up with a theory I posted in the season 6 thread after having seen the 2/23 ep. So this won't count for the contest, but I think Jack's son David may be both the person Jacob says he wants Jack to bring to the Island and the "SHEPARD" from the candidate list. Perhaps Jacob could always sense the existence (or future existence) of David and needed the bomb to be set off in order to send Jack into the other timeline to get him. Why Jack and the others were split into 2 realities, I don't know.

Someone in the other thread noted that it was mentioned that Dharma employed a composer to program the sequence in the Hatch (was that it? I'm sorry, but that thread is so long it would be hard to find the post, although I'd like to credit whoever remembered that). David is apparently a prodigious musician. Perhaps he has the power to [save the world or whatever].

I like the idea of Desmond and Faraday bridging the timelines. I think Jack and the others in the alternate timeline have mixed memories form each of their 2 different lives, and that at some point the memories will be recovered, at which point Jack will have to convince David to return to the island (and journey into an alternate timeline/reality where his ability is needed.

I also like the idea of all the character's children being the truly important ones. They may be the candidates, assuming their last names are the same.

But anyway, that's all with the hindsight of the 2/23 episode, so it doesn't count for the pool. Without knowing of the David character, no one could have formulated an end-theory involving him, although he may be important enough that theories will need to be modified to fit him in.

I forgot about the midnight 2/22 thing. Disregard my post. Not like we're winning anything anyway.

Damn, I can't really post my idea, since it seems that the point was to cast your theory a while ago. After seeing "Happily Ever After" I have some ideas. Oh well. I guess I'll just post it in the Season 6 thread.

Bump.
Any more guesses?

The way Jacob emphasized the candidates' loneliness made me thought the alt versions aren't going to massively arrive to the island.

Looks like this guy came closest to it. What does he win, judges?

Wow, that was pretty close to the ending we got. Kudos, Marlowe!