Time Travel and Lost: An Attempted Explanation

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Jeff Jensen's latest preview of tonight's episode -- in which he tries to sort out the island's time travel rules -- inspired me to write this. There's been (by design) a lot of time travel confusion throughout this season so far, and this is my attempt to clear things up -- for myself as well as anybody reading this.

The basic problem with time travel is that it's so easy to create a paradox. The classic example: you go back in time and accidentally kill your grandfather when he was a kid. Except...if you kill him, that means you wouldn't be born. So you just cease to exist, right? Sure -- except, if you never existed, how would you kill your grandfather in the first place? Any way you look at it, it makes no sense.

Stories that feature time travel have dealt with this in various ways -- using various theories about how time travel might work. There are three different theories that stories tend to use:

1. The Consistent Theory

There's only ever one possible timeline. If you go back in time, you'll have "always" been there -- anything you do will have already happened, and thus, you can't change anything. Additionally, if you attempt to do anything that would alter the timeline or create a paradox, you will inevitably fail.

This theory is popular in stories because it completely avoids the paradox problem -- but it does raise questions of fate and free will. If you can't change anything in the past or the future, then doesn't that mean the entire history of time is already mapped out and unchangeable? And doesn't that mean we don't really have any free will?

Popular example: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Harry and Hermione travel a few hours into the past to save Buckbeak and Sirius. Except, you realize that they were always there -- they're not actually changing anything. Hermione sees Harry's past self and throws a rock at his head -- while, 100 pages earlier, Harry got hit in the head with a rock. Everything's consistent, and nothing changes.

2. The Anything Goes Theory

You can change anything -- but be prepared to accept the dire consequences of your actions, because you could totally change the present and future by altering the past.

Popular example: Back to the Future. Marty goes back in time and accidentally prevents his mom and dad from meeting and falling in love -- and Marty and his siblings start slowly fading out of reality. He has to get them back together to correct the present as he knows it. (They address paradoxes, in Part II, as things that could "destroy the whole universe" -- so presumably, going by their rules, if Marty had accidentally killed his grandfather, the entire universe would suddenly cease to exist and be replaced with a giant "ERROR" alert.

3. The Elasticity Theory

Sure, you can change the past -- but fate will intervene and create a future that's similar enough to the future that existed before. If you go back in time and succeed in killing Hitler, someone just as bad will replace him and do the same things he did. Tiny details, though? You might be able to sneak those through.

Popular example: Lost -- at least, that's my theory. As Mrs. Hawking explained to Desmond in Season 3, "the universe has a way of course-correcting itself", which sounds a heck of a lot like the Elasticity Theory. The important distinction from the Consistency Theory is that you actually are creating a separate timeline and changing things -- if you go back into the past, you haven't "always" been there. It's just that you're not changing things in an incredibly meaningful way. So Faraday can sneak back and tell Desmond to go visit his mother, and yes, he is cheating fate and changing past events -- but if he took that too far, for example if he tried to kill Desmond, the universe wouldn't let him.

Parallel Timelines

This idea goes hand in hand with the Anything Goes and the Elasticity theories but is impossible with the Consistency theory. The idea is that when you go back and change the past, a new timeline branches off from the main timeline. So if you go back in time to kill Hitler, you're creating a new timeline in which Hitler never existed -- but in an alternate universe, the regular timeline in which he did exist, still exists. The question becomes which timeline you're in, whether you can jump back and forth, and whether you can merge the new timeline back into the old one.

My Lost theory is that there are small deviations that occasionally branch off from the main timeline, but always return to it -- and anything that's been changed gets incorporated into the main timeline.

Putting this to practical use: is Jin's arrival in Rousseau's past something that "always" happen, or something that's changing the past? The latter -- Rousseau certainly gave no indication that she remembered Jin when she met him in earlier seasons. But at the same time, Jin won't radically alter what happened in her past -- her teammates will still all die, and her baby will still be stolen by the Others.

Great, So Where Did the Island and the Others Go?

So far I've been talking about the ramifications of time-traveling in the past. But none of it explains what happened when the island disappeared, or why the Others didn't time-travel along with the castaways.

My originally island theory is simply that the entire island jumped ahead in the future, and simply didn't exist in the interim. But I've got a new one, now: when Ben turned the Frozen Donkey Wheel, the island moved into a parallel universe. I've been talking about parallel timelines -- think the same thing, only instead of time, think space. The island returned to whatever dimension it (and Jacob!) originally came from, along with its inhabitants -- and the cosmic force of such a manuever threw Ben halfway around the world, forward in time, while the castaways were thrown out of the timeline and are now bouncing through time haphazardly.

The explanation why the Others went with the island and Locke et al didn't is harder to explain, but might ultimately be more revelatory. There's no unifying characteristic behind the difference -- I would say the Others disappeared because they originated on the island, but it's been heavily hinted that Charlotte (and probably Miles) were born there, too.

So the solution must be a little more wishy-washy -- the Others disappeared along with the island into the parallel dimension because...the island (and Jacob) wanted them to. Because they were supposed to. And the castaways...weren't. I submit to you that no one except the original band of Others were ever meant to ever be on the island -- that the entire Oceanic 815 plane crash was a blip, a deviation from the timeline, that was never supposed to happen. But once it did happen, the island incorporated them into the timeline -- only to have them throw it off again when the Oceanic Six left.

And this is where I'll stop, before I get carpal tunnel. Anybody less confused yet?

TAGS: Season 5, Theories, Time Travel
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[ READER COMMENTS ]

1

Forest said:

KINDLY CONFUSED

Posted at 08:20 AM, on May 9 2010

2

tim said:

I like the overall explanation but I must contracdict one part.

"that the entire Oceanic 815 plane crash was a blip, a deviation from the timeline, that was never supposed to happen"

That can't be a blip because Jacob wrote their names on the wall and was "somehow tracking" their status as candidates. Jacob mentioned he crossed of "what's her name" (I can't remember) in the cave wall. Also, the lighthouse that was able to "watch" each candidate had to be setup or programmed intentionally.

Posted at 12:15 PM, on May 21 2010

3

Dapaperboy said:

The explanations of the time travel theories are very useful because I can apply them to other things besides Lost. But now Lost is even more confusing. ?_? Thanks for the theory explanations though.

Posted at 11:02 PM, on May 23 2010

4

Dapaperboy said:

The explanations of the time travel theories are very useful because I can apply them to other things besides Lost. But now Lost is even more confusing. ?_? Thanks for the theory explanations though.

Posted at 11:06 PM, on May 23 2010

5

cAlTh3mad said:

The 'Others' were rooted to the island so thus when the jump happened, wherever the ended up displayed the Others that were where there at the time i.e. Richard appearing timeless. Only the Oceanic 815 team/crew/passengers moved through time.

Jacob brought many to the isle to prove his point of all being initially good but he was not omniscient to the nth degree and eventually failed with Ben.

Secondary thought...why was Penny there and Mr. Eco not? Eco was a survivor as a tailee but Penny was never on the isle. There is always the argument that contractual obligation prevented this but I am curious.

Posted at 03:56 AM, on May 24 2010

6

Andrew said:

The point is this... The writers deliberately introduced as many unsolved issues as they could possibly get away with. They even introduce more at the end.. What is the plug really doing and who put it there? Which plane did Jack see fly over? What was the white light? But it is all for a good reason. To make YOU realise that no matter what the ending or how many unsolved questions, the journey is the most important thing. Doing the best you can on the way matters. For all of us, and for the cast of lost, the journey IS the destination. They tell us that searching for meaning in every detail is a waste of life and time. They have taken 6 years to try to tell you this. On the way they have also taught you morals. After all this time as a LOST viewer, haven't you learned to relax on the details? Don#t you feel you relate to or envy the charachters? Don't you get the urge to forget about the answers and just go out and just do good and be good? To enjoy the journey?

Stop wasting time looking for answers before you live and just get out there. If you haven't learned that after 6 years of LOST, you never will. How much longer will it take? The writers have done a great good for you. It took a long time for you to realise this. They are kind in that they have ended the lessons and have stopped wasting the time of those of us who simply "can't see the light". Whether you get that message or not, they gave us great stories and good morals. They want you to interpret the story in a way that is meaningful to you. And by the way, isn't all this what the bible does too? Some accept it. Some demand precision before acceptance. All can see the morals.

Now.. There are two ways to react: 1) "who are these people thinking they're saintly enough to write a bible-type story?" or 2) "Thanks for the lesson. I'm better off for having been a part of it. I'm gonna get on with my life in a good way".

(Itś a modern and contemporarily relevant bible type story. Hence all the side stories. Clever writers.. those always get the readers/viewers.)

Posted at 11:56 AM, on May 24 2010

7

shakadave said:

These time travel theories are very helpful. I already feel better about having a chance at coming to grips with the finale, and raising my grade of it from a C- to an A-. (It'll still take some time to think before I get there, though.)
Also the post-er talking about The Journey is right. Although it's cliche, one thing the LOST finale seemed to make clear is that the journey mattered --- the island experiences did happen, and in fact it all happened! The flashes of memory that the characters had in L.A. showed that they did possess the wisdom and personal conncections from going through all those experiences.

Posted at 05:15 PM, on May 24 2010

8

Dathan said:

I believe that the entire series was Purgatory. Jack dies at the end in exactly the place he "wakes up" in the beginning. He starts in season 1 as being himself (having just died): driven to help, with a giant chip on his shoulder. He moves through the first few seasons trying to escape from the island (trying to return to his life, only he doesn't know how literal that statement is). He makes it back, but finds that this is not the place for him. He doesn't fit. He doesn't belong. He recognizes the value of the island to his "life" ("this is the meaning in my life", etc.), which at this point is to come to terms with himself, and he finally gets back.

At this point, his journey can turn to the purpose of Purgatory: to come to terms with the life lived and to release the things held on to. The others on the island (Eko, etc.), are others moving through Purgatory at the same time. They also serve as examples to each other. Recall that time is not a factor on the island, enabling the juxtaposition of others' experiences as required to help each person through, including falling in love if it gives you the necessary perspective. If you watch each character's experience throughout the show, the time on the island and the happenings there give them exactly what they need to execute their final immersion in the pseudo "real-world" and then to let go when they are ready.

Death on the island is one method of transition from Purgatory, but you can choose to leave when TWO things are true: you have come to terms with your own life, AND you have played a part in helping all of those who require your participation to come to terms with theirs (which is really just a restatement of the first item, since helping those others gives you perspective on your own experience). Everyone is wearing Dorothy's red slippers.

All the people in any reality outside the island are already dead and have been to the island before. They just aren't letting go (Eloise, Daniel, etc.). The elements of the story (the numbers, the Dharma initiative) are simply the union of the elements the characters are holding on to: for Hurley, an obsession with numerology, for John, the hatch (needing to be let in to the "more meaningful life" he always felt had eluded him) -- the number-punching was the combination of both to create an ultimate manifestation of purpose for Locke and perspective for Hurley. For Ben, it was control. He had no control in his life ever, but upon getting it on the island he realized that it was a lever of fear and it gave no fulfillment. No doubt Ben died as a child at the hands of his father in a portion of the story we did not see.

The smoke and the light? Perspective again. Great, mystical evil (the smoke) only exists as the antithesis to great, mystical good (the light). Take away the existence of good as a self-standing and independent principle (the light in the cave), and you take away evil as a bad and independent principle. Desmond had no belief in fate and therefore no fear that way; he rather held to believe in man and character -- a key view. And so he handily disabled the light -- he was not subject to judgement on any morality but his own. By doing this, he suspended for the rest of the group their belief in fate, a higher purpose, and in the concepts of immortal good and evil: if they can be turned off by a human even for a moment, then ultimately they are controlled by humanity.

With the possibility of a greater good/evil/fate that all are subordinate to having been switched off, those in Purgatory could defeat the bad because they realized that it was their creation, but they could only do it together (another lesson). Jack needed help, as did everyone else, and in that they found the purpose of their lives: to take the meaning in life that they created and the experiences they shared, not the meaning given it by others or some higher purpose.

Brilliant show. Even if I'm upside down completely.

Posted at 09:15 AM, on May 25 2010

9

dafdafda said:

Dathan.

Your wrong, they all survived the plane crash. When the bomb went off it created a flash sideways (purgatory) so they could find themselves, thats why Juliet says it worked. So she could find James (sawyer) even after he died. When Jack died and his eyes shut. He went to purgatory and his mine linked with the on in the flash-sideways. The couldnt go to heaven until their mind from flash-sideway and from the island life connected. Hence the reason Desmond was trying to get them all to realize. It was Charlie that discovered this and was the reason they got out of purgatory. The reason Ben didn't go in, wwas because he had to appoligize to alot more people who hadn't died yet. And Jack saw the plane fly away and Kate and every1 was in it. So they all went on to live their lives but ultimately time didnt matter and they met up with every1 on the island and who was dead within minutes. Though it felt likes years to them.

Woot Woot

Posted at 07:20 PM, on May 25 2010

Time Travel and Lost: An Attempted Explanation

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