ABC’s LOST explained!
Still wondering what the television show LOST was all about? I have answers!
SPOILER ALERT – the following article will completely explain and therefore give away to the most important puzzle pieces from the hit ABC television series LOST. Therefore if you haven’t seen the show and don’t want the end to be spoiled, stop reading this article right here! As for the rest of you who have wondered… what did it all mean? I have the answer for you!
Now that the spoiler warning is out of the way, lets get right to it…
The most mysterious lingering question remaining regarding the television show LOST is… what is the golden light in the cave at the heart of the island?
If only we knew what the light was maybe we could determine what the island was. And if we knew those facts we could piece together all the remaining details. Some might say the question was already answered when Jacob claimed the island was like a cork (when he said that he wasn’t lying which I will explain later) yet saying the island is a cork really only raises another question instead of giving any type of comprehensive answer, after all… if the island is a cork, what does that mean? I for one am glad that the writers didn’t spell it all out for us because if they had, it would have robbed us the opportunity to ponder the larger questions and solve the puzzle ourselves and ultimately that was the fun of LOST.
SO WHAT WAS THE LIGHT?
The golden light in the cave at the heart of the island is the same light that was behind the frozen donkey wheel that the MIB, Ben, and Locke, all were attempting to manipulate or channel to their benefit throughout the show. It also seems to be the same light (or a type of it) that engulfed the island when Desmond flipped the fail safe, when Juliette ignited Jughead, and each time our losties were bounced around when the island was skipping in time.
Most folks assume the light is God, or spirituality, or possibly the personification of goodness, or life, or something similarly vague. None of those solutions help us piece together the puzzle that is LOST.
Drum roll please…
Continue…
Amazing theories here.
This proves yet again the possibility that some fans of the show are doing a better job that the actual writers.
Instead of looking at things on the surface, there is detail here and insight into many details.
Unfortunately, I guess Carlton and Damon or ABC thought the viewers were too stupid to take something like this in.
After all, it would require a bit more dialogue and insight then just a simple line like ‘The island is a cork’.
I’ve written an article myself about hypothetical lost answers.
You can find explanations of the numbers, walt, the cabin and more at
http://rosenoer.com/lost-answers
Hi Eric!
thanx SO much for all the time you put into writing and researching your theory!!!
I waited for the 6th season to end and re-watched from 1 to 5 and then the 6th in 49 days….from the beginning thrilled and intrigued like everybody else – just to feel rather disappointed at the very end.
I must admit I didn’t get it. At all.
Your theory makes complete sense and I LOVE IT!
I’ve gone from “what a crap” to “what a genius” in just a few hours 🙂 !!
I’m sure I’ll re-watched the whole thing again (let some time pass though, haha)…
…and I agree with Diti: pleeeaaase write another blog on all the little mysteries!
So, THANX and I’ll keep reading…
I challenge you to consider that LOST works even better if the Light is not time, but a repository of the life force of the Universe, which is of course unconstrained by time.
That is, the life force, which is immutable and can not be destroyed or created, is the source of new life which takes human form, and the repository of one’s life force when their physical body dies. Religion often names this life force the ‘soul.’ Some religions believe in reincarnation of the ‘soul.’ But it is not necessary to believe one’s life force remains separate from life in general to believe that life regenerates life.
That is why MIB becomes part of the dead smoke monster when he is thrown into the cave. He is dead but not dead due to his mother’s other worldly charm; consigned like other unresolved life forces to remain on the island until they can come to resolution with their life on earth, and can then ‘converge and rise’ onto another plane of existence within the life force.
The Dharma portion of your theory breaks down somewhat (I won’t go into it here), but makes more sense if they are only grasping at the time and teleportation aspects of the island, never really understanding what is going on there. The Hatch was built for the reason they said it was; they drilled into the life force, potentially uncorking it, and so had to cement it up again and allow the electro magnetism container periodic intervals of escape.
I suggest their metaphors become very mixed here, and is one of the sources of discontent of some viewers. That is true regardless of how one interprets the Light. It derives from the fact that the writers used time travel as a plot device (a way to explore early Dharma time with their main characters) like flash backs rather than as a part of the original story plot. It doesn’t fit quite right. It never did.
Regardless of how one views the Light (the writers intentionally leave that to speculation), the ending of LOST becomes untethered for the simple reason that our group of characters fight and die for what they do not understand, against a foe who would do no harm (he was just a ship wrecked kid) if he in fact did leave the island. In other words, the conflict was totally manufactured and meaningless. It made no difference if the MIB left the island. It probably would have been better for all concerned if he did.
As for the other technical sub-plots; time travel, the Others, the danger of the Light uncorked, these are all left strewn on the floor for viewers to tie together as best they can, which is not very well when one gets into the details.
In the last scene, our characters’ life forces are converging together to rise to another existence. It arguably makes more sense in the context of the Light being a portion of the life force, the universe’s one true constant impervious to time, their characters finally at peace and reconciled with their past, ready to go on in the never ending evolution of life. Ben and Michael and some others still have some things to work out before they join the life force for renewal.
The final critique of LOST? It was a cool story. It just got to be too much for the writers to handle. Their little story about two brothers cheapened the larger story they were trying to tell, and many of their sub-plots were just inconsistent and unresolvable shaggy dog stories to keep us watching. That’s regrettable given the potential they so carefully nurtured.
The other alternative; that the story did not get away from the writers and that they wrote exactly what they intended, implies that the larger conflicts in life are meaningless. All that matters is how we resolve our own smaller issues with those we interact and love. On the contrary, many of us would contend our personal redemption mirrors the authenticity and larger ‘morality’ of life itself. Life in the universe is not subject to the whims of an irrationally constrained shipwrecked man child.
“Great theory… any thoughts with respect to the island being at the bottom of the sea in the alt/sideways reality? Would this just be a function of the detonation of the bomb? Would this not mean that the light is now “out?””
Multiple reasons why the island’s at the bottom of the sea.
1. Representative of there being no Time in this purgatory world.
2. The most important things about the Losties were the relationships to each other that they made due to their plane crashing which helped them overcome their issues of their past. In the flashsideways, they are not granted a crashing plane (thus the sunken/broken island) so that they would have to manually “let go” of their issues and remember the importance of these people they met on the island.
I’ve read a lot of Lost theories and this is one of the absolute best. The real brilliance of the show is how open everything is and with this theory I can see it in a whole new light.
Sorry didn’t notice there was another page of comments where this point was already brought up.
Ben already had cancer before flight 815 crashed. So it didn’t come as a result of Desmond not pushing the button.
Great theory… any thoughts with respect to the island being at the bottom of the sea in the alt/sideways reality? Would this just be a function of the detonation of the bomb? Would this not mean that the light is now “out?”
so , the point that you want to say that the sideways means the future? not purgatory, ?? right?
Thank you wsk.
at first i thought they simply can’t come up with a good explanation to what they’ve raised
now you make me think twice
no right or wrong answer here, but at least it’s perfectly real that i enjoy reading your theory
Eric, pls make another post about ‘smaller details/mysterys’ of the island…it doesnt have to be all of them, but ones that burns ppl inside…like walt etc…
Christopher states…
As I stated in the theory “At that point, Mother is in the role of Father Time i.e., she is the protector of the island…” so yes, “Mother” was in the role of Father Time and it’s also possible that she either was both light and dark (she was in the role of BOTH Jacob and the MIB) or it’s possible that she wasn’t the smoke but could summon it and have it do her will, which is how she could destroy the village and fill the well.
Diti states…
My theory is a overall framework for the major parts of the show i.e., the light, the smoke, Jacob, the island, etc. It is not intended to answer the smaller details of the show. Otherwise my theory would have had to have been a book instead of a blog post.
I like it, but the one bit I had qualms with was about “Mother” being Father Time. did you not think she too was the Smoke Monster? there were a few subtle hints suggesting that she was actually manipulating the twins into replacing her as the Smoke Monster as she had lived through the ordeal of it being “worse than death”.
I think it’s the only bit that doesn’t fit in with this otherwise watertight theory!
Lost finally makes sense??
This was just a theory about light and smoke, nothing else
what about Walt, Hurley’s bird, Outrigger, etc..
I like it! Finally Lost makes sense 😛 😀
In Live Together Die Alone Pt. 2 when Micheal is admitting to the murders of Ana Lucia and Libby, he tells Hurley he didn’t have enough time to think and shot Libby. When Hurley asks if he would have had more time he pauses which is meant to show he is still mourning Libby, but could also be a hint to further prove this theory.
Cool…& thank you. I never watched LOST on network cos I could never deal with commercial breaks but have started to watch the DVD sets — one season a week — & am totally hooked, love the structure & complexity of the series if not the padding & repetition :). Your comments are fascinating & will make a good guide as I proceed — I’m barely in the middle of season 3 & frankly was suddenly starting to lose momentum when I found your blog. So once again, Thank you.