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Show Theories
Excuse our mess...The Show Theories section is currently undergoing a cleanup effort. When we're finished, you'll be able to easily find theories by category and be able to add a personal theory, letting everyone know what you think about LOST. Unitl then, it might be a little messy, but thanks for your patience. |
There are many theories about how and why events are unfolding. Check them out and share your thoughts or add a new theory.
Theory on a Cracker | Support for the Theory | Poking Holes |
| “Purgatory: They’re all dead” In essence: Everyone on the island is actually dead and their actions on the “island” determine where they end up; heaven or hell.. | Everyone on the island has a serious set of issues, with the island working at times as group therapy. Also, Gary Troup, the author of "The Bad Twin" is an anagram for purgatory. | Although this is the favorite theory seized upon by every viewer new to the show, the new evidence of the existence of the outside world destroys this theory. more holes |
| "The Future Effecting the Past" In essence: Some major disaster has happened in the future, and some how those in the future have managed to alert some people in the past by sending messages back in an attempt to prevent it. They are altering the past in very many tiny ways hoping that it will cause a chain reaction that will eventually lead to the prevention of the disaster. Everyone on the island has a part, big or small, to play in eventually stopping this disaster. The island because of its strange magnetic field is somewhere where these future messages are focused so they can be understood, but it leads to lots of strange things happening. This was discovered by Dharma, or possibly the original Others (the Black Rock?) To some these future messages are just images, random things like the numbers appearing. Other people can understand the messages better, such as the Others on the Island and possibly those on the List. To them they are clearer and they are attempting to stop the disaster. | In the last few episodes the issue of past and present and time have become quite important, especially with Desmond's developing story. Sub-conscious messages from the future could also explain how certain characters and supporting characters seem to know what is going to happen, or why everyone in the show appears to be some how connected. The future disaster is probably something to do with fertility. The Others have always seemed interested in children, especially Claire's baby. In S3E7 we are shown a scan of a 27 year old with the womb of a 70 year old. The Others keep saying they are the good guys, which implies they at least believe that they are doing good work. The List they have might be warning about who is useful in preventing the disaster, or who might cause the disaster. It is possible that they have also wrapped the work up in a religious context and believe that they are doing the work of God (if they don't understand who is sending the messages to them) | This wouldn't explain all the spiritual questions in the show, such as Eko's brother appearing to the girl who nearly died. It also wouldn't explain the Island's monster, as if that is a scientific thing and not just imagination, it is clearly quite advanced. comment |
| “Abducted by Aliens” In essence: The survivors are no longer on Planet Earth. | It would explain the monster and all the other strange goings-on. | Lindelof shot down that theory cold. “There are no spaceships. There isn't any time travel,” he told Sci-FiWire.com. |
| “It’s All in Someone’s Mind” In essence: A variation on the purgatory theory, with everything happening in the mind of one of the castaways. Or perhaps some sort of virtual group therapy in which in the real world they are all plugged into some kind of matrix. ''That theory is absolutely correct,'' Lindelof joked to EW, ''and the character is JJ Abrams.'' | Polar bears, black smoke monsters, people who aren't there and horses that appear out of nowhere would sure make a lot more sense if they're all in the mind of one person. | Again, it would rob the actors and the viewers of any real emotional payoff. Lindelof clarified in an e-mail interview at Lost-TVforum.com, "This is not a fictional reality that is playing out in someone's brain. To this I say, "Yes. I saw Identity, too. And I did not like it." This theory received a shout-out, too, in an episode devoted to the premise. |
| “It’s All a Government Experiment” In essence: Yes, they have all been brought here for a purpose, and the island is functioning as an elaborate Skinner Box to gauge their reactions. If this were true, some of the inhabitants of the island, probably the Others, know that it is an experiment, because they have information about the castaways and the outside world. | The discovery of the various hatches and the sketchy Dharma Initiative, which is still delivering food to the island, lend credence to this theory. When you look at why the castaways are on the island you will see that each of them has been told to get the flight by someone else or someone else’s influence has had them make that flight. ''It's a piece of a much bigger picture,'' Abrams said back in November 2004. ''It's not the big answer." more support | If each person was handpicked to be on the island, that’s a whole lot of planning and coincidence. If, however, each person is there by chance, the theory holds more weight. more Also, the plane crashed due to a magnetic surge because of the button not being pressed at the correct time, so how could anyone know the button would not be pressed? |
| “Everything Happens for a Reason” In essence: All the survivors were fated, as John Locke has said, to be on the flight, and to end up on the island. In other words, the island chose them. | The pre-island connections between castaways keep adding up. And incidents like Claire’s psychic convincing her to take the fatal flight (and playing a part in Eko getting on), Hurley making the flight despite all odds, Jack talking his way (or, his dad's body's way) on board and Sawyer getting deported lend a lot of creedence. more | The producers have said there’s a rational, scientific explanation for everything that’s happened so far, a statement that’s been held up to a lot of skepticism with each passing episode as the faith and mysticism have been piled on. Evangeline Lilly thinks, "Lost is a very big metaphor for every single character's mental state of being, psychological, and emotional state of being ..." more |
| “The Chosen One” In essence: Somehow the island, or someone on the island, wanted only one passenger on Flight 815 (perhaps Walt or the unborn Aaron) and arranged for the flight to crash to deliver that passenger to the island. | The Others wanted, and took, both Walt and Aaron, and their ultimate plans for each have not yet been revealed, and possibly won't be, now that they seem done with both. Will they want Sun and Jin's child next? | The Others made a list of people that they wanted on several occasions. If they wanted only one person, the list would consist of only one person. |
| "The Truman Show Theory" In essence: All the world's a stage, including the Island, and at the end of the series, the camera crews will reveal themselves and everyone will have a good laugh. Goes with the "Snow Globe" idea mentioned by Desmond. | Repeated viewings of The Truman Show and Survivor. The videotapes in the Pearl Hatch. | A trick ending like that -- so, Shannon and Boone aren't really dead? -- would present the same problems as the purgatory and matrix theories, i.e. a bummed-out audience. Producer Carlton Cuse has debunked the theory. |
| "The Time Machine" In essence: Oceanic 815 flew through a rift in the time/space and are now lost in the past somewhere. | Would a distress signal really play for sixteen years with no one finding it? How outdated are the records in that hatch? This theory got some big support at the 2006 ComicCon in San Diego. ... more | The records may be outdated, but that I know I'd love to have a washer/dryer as shiny and new as the set they have! We seem to have met Alex now, and she doesn't seem to be 16. With the introduction of Penny, we know (well, assume) that someone's looking for the island. New Episode "The Glass Ballerina" have proven that it is modern times, with Ben telling Jack that they know about current events and are in contact with the outside world. |
| "It's Virtual Reality" In essence: The people on the island are all part of a virtual reality. This could be from playing a game, as in eXistenZ, from being in suspended animation, as in Vanilla Sky or Philip K. Dick's novel Ubik, or due to some evil force consigning them there, as in The Matrix. more | In the season two finale, Kelvin tells Desmond that with the turn of the key, everything just goes away. When Desmond turns the key, the island stays right where it is, albeit with a sky that temporarily turns violet, which may be an homage to Vanilla Sky. Perhaps it was a way to leave Virtual Reality temporarily. Same with when ... more | If this were a game, it is hard to understand the point of it. There is also something arbitrary about the way that Shannon's death was engineered. Perhaps her real-life persona bounced a check paying for her participation? New Episode - Although Vitrual Reality is still a possibility, it wouldn't have enough of a pay-off for viewers-done to death at the moment. |
| ""The 30% Theory": The remnants of Dharma Initiative are engineering a virus they think can help them change the Valenzetti Equation (the Numbers) by reducing the world's population. | Much of the Lost Experience pointed in this direction. It neatly ties together virus and Numbers theories. | How do apparitions like the smoke monster fit in? If DHARMA is trying to kill 2 billion people, and others know about this, why aren't they alerting governments? Or is the UN (which originally commissioned the Equation) in on it? In that case, shouldn't the project be better funded/equipped and guarded? |
| "Man vs. Nature" The whole plot is a commentary on humankind's place in the universe and the steps that people will go to to feel in control of their surroundings. | See Link | |
| "The Commercial Theory" "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain..." Whoever wrote this crap is an idiot. Please ignore it. This is not a theory of the plot, but rather an opinion that the producers are merely securing an audience with no real payoff at the end. | LOST is actually a TV show with a storyline that becomes increasingly absurdly complex, like a Rube Goldberg machine. The purpose is to suck viewers in with a mysterious plot by never giving away a sensible storyline. Despite the shows allusions to philosophers and religions, LOST actually has the intellectual content of a sitcom, and its success is the result of expensive special effects, competent acting, and well paid writers. It would be a fallacy to actually have a logical theory or truth to the show, because this is not the point of the show, rather the point is for viewers to trying to find the plot, which is half of the entertainment, but the actual "truth" behind LOST is meaningless. Perhaps the actual truth is guarded so well because it does not exist because it is so empty. | A very unsatisfying ending may result. There are many open ended questions to the Lost show, however this is the very thing that drives viewers to watch again and again. Many questions may be answered in the near future, but laying claims to the 'increasingly absurdly complex' plot says more about your expectations not being met. The truth behind the show is that everyone on the island is lost is some way: physically, psychologically, spiritually, and even philosophically. |
| Got another pet theory? Click the "Add a new page" icon in the Page Toolbox to introduce it. | | |
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| Started By | Thread Subject | Replies | Last Post | |
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| Modem_815 | Brothers? | 7 | Oct 9 2008, 7:02 PM EDT by agent099 | |
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Thread started: Aug 1 2008, 9:09 PM EDT
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I was thinking it would be interesting maybe if Widmore, and Ben were some how brothers. It's unlikely, but maybe they something related to each other through Jacob.
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| Anonymous | The Government and Atlantis | 6 | Sep 27 2008, 7:09 PM EDT by colbykalsbeek | |
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Thread started: Jan 2 2007, 3:01 PM EST
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Could it be that some government agency stumbled across the Lost City of Atlantis? That would explain the strange statues, and maybe at this point they also discovered a POWER on the island and ran experiments for years... the others could be the decendants of scientists long gone and are now a community of their own with their own agenda... As most of us know I'm sure, there really is a DARMA Initiative... it began in the 40's as a defense research branch of the US government... the symbols are very close to actual DARMA seals from decades ago.
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| iluvcatsyo | Did anyone hear..... | 17 | Sep 27 2008, 5:47 PM EDT by colbykalsbeek | |
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Thread started: May 31 2008, 3:47 PM EDT
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I heard from a show that I was watching that the writers didn't really know what was going to happen. But then, one of the writers said that "I was actually thinking that those sounds that would sound, like on the first episode wasn't the black cloud in the end, it was a turtle. In the end they may be living on a giant turtle." Of course I think that is the most rediculous ending ever, and I'm sure they won't dare do that ending, but I was wondering if anyone else hear that theory too.
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| Anonymous | TIME TRAVEL | 10 | May 30 2008, 3:45 PM EDT by Downhilldude | |
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Thread started: May 20 2007, 2:56 PM EDT
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Okay, so back whenever it was, Damon Lindelof said "There are no spaceships. There isn't any time travel,” Okay, so does that mean that what Desmond experienced is Time Travel? Lindelof also said (after "flashes before your eyes" had aired) that "~Desmond did indeed have that experience in the year 1996" (im paraphrasing) So does this mean that they have changed their mind as to whether time travel is plausible in the show or is it still NOT time travel. If someone could help me clear this up once and for all, i think it would REALLY help, not jsut in solving a mystery, but also in generally theorising about the show; pseudoscientifically, realistically or otherwise.
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| amiishere | what do we have? | 1 | May 17 2008, 8:03 PM EDT by ScarClaw | |
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Thread started: May 13 2008, 9:52 AM EDT
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We have black smoke ,appearing animals,apparitions, numbers, jacob --all a bit supernatural?
We have captured children, child bearing research, a man to have a baby (blondes research), cancer curing techniques--child obsessed? we have survivors from a plane , experiemented on but not killed--tests? We have 'others' and 'boaters',that seem to be against each other. We have dhamma project (teacher). The dhammapada is a teacher in buddha/buddism We have a hatch with a button pushing need, an island with magnetic problems We have what seems to be time travel or at least in ones own mind. What does it all equal????????????????????????????????????????????????????
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