Friends and Fellow LOST Watchers,

Last night, several friends and I participated in a heated discussion about the television
phenomenon known as LOST. Although we usually don’t end up debating theories that attempt
to explain everything, we stumbled upon one by mistake. Normally, I tend to dismiss these as
pointless speculation, but I feel what we’ve come up with is one of the more clever ideas out
there. Of course, knowing how LOST is, we’ll probably end up way off the mark, but here it
goes.

The “Narnia” Theory.

Think all the way back to the pilot episode when we first see our favorite characters on the plane.
Over the course of flashbacks that we witness throughout several seasons, we discover that
almost all of them have different aspects of their lives that are terrible. I’ll make a short list:

Jack: Marriage + Daddy Issues + alcohol

Kate: Murdering her father, no family support, under arrest
Sawyer: Murdered an innocent man, con man, orphan
Locke: Mega-Daddy Issues, Wheelchair, people telling him what he can’t do
Jin and Sun: Marital problems
Claire: Unwanted Pregnancy
Rose and Bernard: Cancer situation
Hurley: unluckiness and number curse
Sayid: dark past of torture, murder, love life issues
Charlie: Drugs and family problems
Eko: family issues
Anna-Lucia: issues with her mother, murder
Libby: Mental hospital
Michael and Walt: Father-son issues, etc.
Boone and Shannon: issues with each other and personal lives

I might have forgotten somebody, but you get the general idea. Their lives basically sucked.
Then, Oceanic 815 crashes. The first instinct of the majority is that they need to leave the island
and would do anything to leave. The exception would Locke and perhaps Walt. As he says,
“it’s a place where miracles happen.” I don’t think he could be any more right. I believe that the
writers of LOST have taken a direct cue from C.S. Lewis, and that the island is extremely similar
to Narnia. I’ll explain this further in a bit.

Fast forward to the end of 2004 (the crash was in September) when Ben moves the island. He is
sent off of the island as a sort of banishment. This moves the island, and sends those that remain
on a trip through time, while those outside of the radius were left behind and ultimately rescued
by Penny’s boat. However, throughout season 4 we witness “flash-forwards” of what the
Oceanic 6’s lives are like when they leave. I compare this to the classic film, “It’s a Wonderful
Life.” In the movie, Jimmy Stewart’s character sees what the world would be like if he were
never born. It is a very cold, desolate reality in which nobody’s lives are better off. The Oceanic
6 were never meant to leave. We see their version of Stewart’s reality. Because they left, their
lives are even worse than when the plane first crashed.

Jack: Alcoholic, acting as though he has no reason to live

Kate: raising a child that is not her own and living in constant paranoia
Sayid: hitman for Ben
Hurley: back in the mental hospital
Aaron: being raised by a false mother
Sun: separated from her husband, cold, almost ruthless

Ultimately they realize that it was a mistake to leave, and although they have different motives,
all return except for Aaron. Those on the island, meanwhile, appear to have found a sense of
peace and security that they had never experienced in their lives. (i.e Sawyer and Juliet).

Now, if we fast-forward to the season 5 finale, this is where things start to get extremely
interesting. I believe that the bomb detonating caused the incident and ONLY THE INCIDENT.
What we see when Juliet performs her final heroic act is simply the cause of what the Dharma
folks described as The Incident. Somehow, the bomb, combined with the electromagnetism of
the island blasted our people back to the present (2007). But, it DID NOT cause what we are
seeing now at the beginning of season 6, where the plane never crashed.

So, what is this “reality” where the plane never crashed? It is what I believe to be the future.
Many assume that at the beginning of this season, when we see the island under water, we are
seeing an “alternate universe” in which the bomb sunk the island, thus preventing the crash and
all events leading up to it. I, however, believe that we are yet to witness the event that sinks the
island. I think that what is currently happening on the island this season is leading up to a
cataclysmic event that will both save the outside world, as well as send the island to a watery
grave.

This season is clearly building to some type of “war” or battle. It might be between Jacob and the
Man in Black, or it might not, but clearly we are beginning to see that the characters that crashed
on the plane way back in season one most certainly have a destiny to fulfill on the island. They
have built up the “specialness” of these characters for far too long to abandon the concept of
destiny.

I believe, that after we witness this cataclysmic event at the end of season six, we will see the
event that sinks the island, and fulfills these people’s destinies. This will be their exit from
“Narnia.” When these people fulfill their destinies, they will be “rewarded” with new lives, as
we see in the scenes off the island in this season.

In what is being described as the “alternate timeline/universe” we have seen several key
differences in the first 3 episodes of this season. But, I think the most important thing is that
these differences seem to be positive:

Jack: Drinks less, handles his father’s situation with far more patience, offers to help Locke
Kate: Seems to experience something that gives us the sense she is a changed person
Sawyer: Less angry, helps Kate
Locke: Far more kind, does not appear to be depressed, allows Jack to offer help
Jin and Sun: Appear to be the same so far, but we haven’t seen enough to know
Claire: names baby Aaron for some unknown reason, seems likely to keep the baby
Rose and Bernard: calmer, not worrying
Hurley: Luckiest person instead of unluckiest
Boone: far more relaxed and less hatred towards his sister

With the remainder of the characters, we haven’t seen enough to know how their lives have
changed, but I suspect we will. Also, I saw on lostpedia tonight that the ultrasound of Claire’s
baby in “What Kate Does” is dated October 22, 2004. This is exactly one month after the
original crash.

So, the theory is that the characters entered “Narnia” or, the island, on September 22, 2004 when
the plane crashed and experienced everything we’ve seen so far as well as what we will see in
“Narnia” during the remainder of season 6. Ultimately, in the final episodes of this season, and
event will occur that sinks the island, fulfills the character’s destinies and causes them to exit
from “Narnia”/the island. I believe that they will exit on September 22, 2004! It will be as C.S.
Lewis described in his books, as if they experienced everything, but in the normal world, mere
seconds have passed. One month after they exit “Narnia/the island” they will step onto the plane
ride that we see them experience in the season 6 premiere as changed people, whose lives were
forever changed for the better due to their experiences on the island.

At some point, I think all of the characters will have memories of their experiences on the island.
I think there is already evidence of slight déjà vu. Jack has a strange look in his eyes in the first
few seconds of the premiere, as if something seems familiar. Claire names her child Aaron,
almost as if she had planned it that way. Eventually, the characters will have memories that
flood back. Another interesting case is Juliet. Perhaps in her dying moments, her consciousness
is foreshadowing a future encounter with Sawyer in which they “grab coffee.”

Juliet’s situation brings up an interesting point that I was forced to consider after tonight’s
episode. The lives of those that were not on the plane, but on the island as well serve a very
important purpose. Their lives and deaths are culminating to the ultimate event that will lead to
the sinking of the island and the “exit from Narnia.” They too will be “rewarded” with new lives
off the island. Perhaps, when this exodus happens, Ethan will appear in the real world on Sept.
22, 2004, and get a job working for the hospital, where, one month later, he helps to deliver
Claire’s child. It would not surprise me if we see Ben, Juliet, or Richard in future episodes in
their new future lives after the exit from “Narnia”/the island.

Basically, this theory would in fact confirm that Daniel Faraday was right. The people on the
island ARE THE VARIABLES. The detonation of the hydrogen bomb wasn’t the fulfillment of
their destiny though, and it did not create an alternate timeline. Instead, we are yet to witness this
event. I also believe that Jacob and the MIB, and maybe Richard are entities similar to Aslan and
the witch in “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.” They are the spiritual guidance that helps
these people fulfill their true purpose, and as a result, figure out who they truly are.
One area where the Narnia parallel doesn’t quite fit is that clearly things on the island affect the
outside world. I think the writers borrow heavily from several different science fiction/fantasy
stories, so this obviously wouldn’t be a carbon copy, but instead, a melting pot of ideas. The
Narnia concept may be just one of these stories. I think that what happens on the island will
indeed affect the entire fate of the world, and that the numbers will be involved in some way.
This has been hinted at through the whole “Valenzetti Equation” idea that has been tossed
around in the Lost universe. But, in short, I feel these characters will in some way save the
world, sacrifice the island, and be rewarded with changed lives for the better. The fun will be
watching how the salvation of the world comes to pass, as well as watching as the characters
begin to recognize how their experiences in “Narnia/on the island” changed their lives in this
new, happier future.

Anyways, this is pretty farfetched, but I think it’s a pretty solid theory that would produce one
heck of a resolution. I mean, after all, what we really want is for these characters, who have
been continuously tormented to come out on top in the end, right?

Please let me know what your thoughts are!

Credits: Quinn Zielonko, Kyle Schonewill, Seth Penn