Reverse time — not time travel.
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By NowImLost
- Reverse time — not time travel.
- Created: May 29, 2007
- Last updated: Aug 13, 2008
- After episode: 3.22: Through The Looking Glass
- Status: Current
- Flag this theory:
Everyone grab a pen and paper and draw
— NowImLost
Ok so people who know me are gonna say… What the heck? I thought he said he based his theories on actual facts????
Well… something ProfOzone once said in a previous post of mine changed my outlook on things,it went something along the lines of “The ones who have fun with Lost enjoy the little game that’s being played between the writers and the viewers. They have fun guessing.”
Well I guess we can all have fun with this one. It started out as a sarcastic thought of mine but the more I think of it the more I find it interesting and here is why: (feel free to find holes in it… God knows there are many to be found lol.)
Just think if time flows backwards on the island rather than forward this could explain a few things like:
1- The reason why Richard is still young and has short hair now rather than long hair when he first met Ben… So why did Ben and the rest of the Dharma initiative continue to age you might ask? Because they were living behind the electromagnetic fence witch nullified the reverse time effect. Duh!
2- Childbirth doesn’t come to full term… Why? Because the babies get to the second trimester then start to revert back causing complications that ultimately kill mother and child. Duh!
3- The four toed statues? They are monuments from the future where the human race evolved into beings that only have four toes and three fingers and a thumb… (like in the Simpsons).
4- It could also explain why wounds heal faster and cancer doesn’t exist because instead of growing, the cancer shrinks to nothingness.
5- (And this is a doozie) The skeletons found in the cave are actually Jack and Kates skeletons from the future. I think I lost some of you so here is an explanation:
Everyone grab a pen and paper and draw two parallel lines equal in length, one is our time line and the other is the islands. At one end of both lines make an arrow shape on one of the two lines to represent a direction and at the other end of both lines draw an arrow shape on the second line going in the other direction and write the word future next to both arrow heads. By now we should have something that looks like two arrows of equal length pointing in different directions with the word future at the tip of both arrows. Put a dot in the middle of each line, they should be side by side. This represents the day the plane crashed onto the island and write the word past at the other extremity of each arrow. The top arrow will be our time line and the bottom one the islands time line. Now draw a dot on the arrow that represents our time line… somewhere between the dot of the plane crash and the head of the arrow. This represents Future Jack and Kate finding the island again in the future. Draw a perpendicular line from the dot you just added towards the islands time line. Where do you end up on the islands time line..? Precisely… Somewhere in the islands past … before the plane crashed. This will be Jack and Kates ultimate fate they will become the two skeletons that they discover in the cave. You follow?
6- Jakob … Well I’m still working on that one… I think it’s someone we haven’t met yet. Or someone from the island who returns with Jack and Kate in the future… Maybe an older version of Locke or Desmond? Or maybe its little Aaron all grown up?
Key characters
| Short Name | Full Name | Episodes | Theories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aaron | Aaron Littleton | 378 | |
| Desmond | Desmond David Hume | 2.23, 3.17, 4.5 | 898 |
| Jack | Jack Shephard | 1.1, 1.5, 2.11, 1.11, 1.16, 1.20, 3.9, 3.22, 3.1, 4.10, 4.12, & 3” href=”/episodes/theres-no-place-home-parts-2-3/”>4.13 | 1505 |
| John | John Locke | 3.3, 2.17, 1.4, 1.19, 3.13, 3.19, 4.11, & 3” href=”/episodes/theres-no-place-home-parts-2-3/”>4.13 | 1292 |
| Kate | Katherine “Kate” Austen | 3.6, 1.2, 1.3, 2.9, 1.12, 1.16, 1.22, 3.15, 4.4, 4.12 | 734 |
Key episodes
| # | Title | Aired | Central character | Theories |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.22 | Through The Looking Glass | 5-23-2007 | Jack | 1265 |
Interesting slant on the storyline and well typed–-just a few typos. Unfortunately TPTB said that the conclusion(s) would have a plausible scientific explanation and I don’t believe that traveling backwards in time as a whole would be considered such! I think opening portals to a point in time is more likely an answer though that would steal from the Stargate theme in a way. Time-space continuum storylines are always iffy though it is interesting that when Jack used the satellite phone the person who answered said his name was Minkowski. Hermann Minkowski was a mathematician/physicist who had radical ideas on relativity concerning time and space.
They DID say that there would be a plausible scientific explanation. However, time travel, odd as it may seem to many, is widely believed by science to be theoretically possible. The issue is not the theory of time travel, but rather the amount of energy that would be required to make it actually happen… my point being simply that time travel could still be an answer to the show and still be considered scientifically plausible.
Well it was worth a shot … everyone else had neat time related theories… I kinda felt outta tha loop ya know… So I came up with this one witch seemed plausible at the time. But as I continued writing , it became more of a joke…
Don’t diss my typos for I am a french canadian. My english is a little, how dzou youz say ? Horrifique by tzimes euh!
Aaaaaanywhoooo … I think what they meant by plausible scientific explanation was to be well within the realm of the average viewer capacity to understand… so maybe we should rule out all time traveling and/or portals or anything involving space-time continuum’s of any sort. Because it reaches well beyond the grasp of the average American viewer… Besides… all those time travel theories and parallel time lines and wot not are based on science fiction and theories that remain unproven and not science fact. Unless you actually know someone who can bend space and time therefore opening inter-dimensional portals ?
And on another note.. Your taking all the fun out of it… loosin’ up a bit … you sound like Mr. Spock man. I bet you have huge glasses with white tape holding the frame together.
Time travel this … time travel that… That is sooooo Star Trek… been there… done that… My theory does not involve time machines or portals, its just backwards time get it? Think of it as a Pacific Bermuda triangle… Somewhere where the laws of nature and physics do not apply. Just because my theory doesn’t involve a time machine doesn’t make it less plausible. In fact it would make it even more plausible… then, even dim-wits could understand the show because they wouldn’t have to try and understand the laws of physics and/or other scientific explanations beyond their grasp. They wouldn’t feel left out of the loop at the water cooler at work where blackspere and mardock are discussing the possibility that black matter was probably a source of fuel for the flux capacitor that powers the time displacement unit… O_O Because in the end it’s all caused by the island… plucko there you go … everyone is happy now.
Let’s run with it NowImLost!
You have me thinking about a book called the “The Once and Future King” by T.H. White.
When you mentioned time running backwards it made me think of it especially in Jack’s case given the flash forwards.
Jack is like Arthur in a sense, drawing the sword (or his destiny) from the stone and losing his way eventually.
Sawyer (the best warrior) is like Lancellot stealing Kate.
Locke like Merlin.
Read the wikipedia.com description of the book and you will see many similarities.
Nice post!
NowImLost, so by he time we are watching season 6 theres a chance they could all be kindergarden age. I can see how this would keep us all amused. good call.
Kindergarten..? I think roughly 90 days (Lost Time that is) have gone by since the beginning of the series.
The once and future King analogy is quite interesting. Never thought of that. Somehow I don’t see Locke dressed as a wizard with the pointy hat and all though. But nonetheless, good call on that one.
(Whisper: Between you and me… It made me think of the last Star Trek the next Generation episode when Picard created an anomaly if the future that travels backwards in time getting bigger and bigger eventually destroying the universe. But the king Arthur one was good too.)
Thanks NowImLost,
I think the writers/producers are brilliant and very well read individuals who have drawn inspiration from a host of novels. Many of which have been seen on the show.
Even though they have said “no time travel” their disclaimer, so to speak, was that it takes place somewhere within the “time space continuum”.
In fact, they seem to have introduced us to the possibility with Desmond when they confirmed that he did indeed re-live a few of his life prior to crashing on the Island.
Anyway, fun concepts to muse about. It’s nice to lighten things up now and then. :)
“Because it reaches well beyond the grasp of the average American viewer…”
Now, now, let’s not be disrespectful.
Sorry if I sound disrespectful, I’m not tryin’ to be… When I say average American viewer, It’s not aimed within the bounderies of the United States of America, for we are all north american even up here in Canada. I just happen to know some people who are fans of the show and they aren
t scientifically inclined if you know what I mean. I just think that if the writers have a scientifically plausible theory it will be one that even these type of people will be able to understand. Dont forget that the show also has a lot of female based fans who watch it because of Sawyer... Im not impliying that they are all bimbos, there are also male bimbo viewers who watch the show for Kate. If you take under account that most of these type of viewers IQ dont quite make it to the tripple digits then they might all be in for a major let down if the ending could only be understood by Trekkies who have a degree in technobabble 101.Just a side note to take under account… The time space continuum is a very vast area witch doesn’t necessarily involve time travel… so maybe yes… maybe no… I believe they purposely said this to create furthur speculation while not really being clear on the actual facts.
On a lighter note…
Funny you should mention books that are related to the show DoubleD (by the way is that your bust size?) because the producers have mentioned The Stand by Stephen King as a major influence on the series in the commentaries found on the first season DVDs. For those of you who haven`t read it, here is a brief description I found on the internet:
“Following the apocalyptic collapse of society after the world is devastated by the “super-flu”, a band of gritty survivors must battle not only the aftershocks of the calamity, but must also find a way to defeat a growing evil faction which wants to take over the decimated world. It is a world of horrors and what’s even worse, it just might fall under the control of a man (?) that appears to be the devil personified”
Just an observation…
Nice name!
I like your pos and think you’ve come up with some good points, such as pregnancies, rose’s cancer, etc, even locke’s legs revering to how they were before.
I also like the idea of time travelling backwards as i think it would be a good route for the writers to take. Personally, never having liked doctor who and such like, i would be very disappointed if it turnd out to be time travel as i think Lost deserves a better conclusion ( and one thats easier to follow! )
then how come aaron has been getting older? and, like, how come walt’s voice was so low when he appeared to locke? :o)
That’s an interesting theory… A “Bermuda Triangle in the Pacific” you say? Turns out there is such a place. It’s called the “Dragon’s Triangle” which is pretty close to Fiji. Interestingly, Fiji has been mentioned by the characters before as an important place (the pilot turning off course to fly to FIJI, Desmond trying to sail his boat to FIJI). Plus, if you look at the map from “Lockdown” you’ll see a part that says “Here there be dragons”. Coincidence? Maybe… The numbers appearing everywhere in the show isn’t.
I love this theory and this is a first time post, as I just found this site today wasted about four hours reading theories.
As I read this one, I drew out the analogy to time reversal and I like the thought. Maybe it goes to say that the show titled, “Lost” isn’t really meant to describe people being lost on an island. Maybe it is meant to describe being “Lost” in time.
As I read over my post it really doesn’t make sense since someone on 4x01 just parachuted out of a helicopter. To comply with the time reversal theory, then he would be from the past in our time (past meaning prior to flight 0815 crashing) and the future in the island.. That makes sense, except they know about the flight 0815 that went down.
Any takers?