This was probably the BEST Lost Explained video I’ve ever watched! I had so many questions and contradictory thoughts about the ghosts appearances throughout the series. This video really broke it down for me especially the part about the on and off island appearances as well reaffirming that there is no when in the purgatory Flash-sideways world when ghosts appear after they let go!!! 😍❤
I LOVE everything in this video about Jack’s off-island character arc in S4&S5 and how he was starting to experience his first real onslaught of “island visitations”. Essentially he was starting to experience everything Locke had experienced since S1 and which Hurley started to experience in S4, except instead of accepting what he was seeing like Locke or volunteering himself to a place where he might receive help for what could be interpreted as hallucinations or a mental breakdown as Hurley did, he instead chose to shut it all out and keep soldiering on. That’s such a great point, I love that! I’ve always wished they had gradually set up Jack’s spiritual connection to the island - to me it always felt like S5 just suddenly “got it” and I never completely bought that he would just flip to a man of faith so quickly. But your take here completely makes me re-evaluate that - if his self medicating was not just a subset of repressing hallucinations and coping with his depression it could be more that the island was really trying to connect with him at this stage. He was gaining a power of sorts and he was fighting it every day - it wasn’t that he was just sad inside and felt like he lacked a purpose (that he did and was another part of why he self medicated) but more importantly it was him wanting to shut out the island’s call. So that makes complete sense to me now why, when S5 comes he does finally start to let it in. It’s not a switch that suddenly flipped, it’s a switch that has been trying to be flicked on every day for the last year or two for him, he was having a growing realisation that we didn’t see that he needed to let the light switch stay on, it’s just that we couldn’t see it because he wouldn’t show it, the side he showed to the world couldn’t believe or accept it. So when he does let it in, it all then happens like clockwork and he pivots 180 degrees. Thank you for making this great point, it shows that even after watching the show many times and watching so many reactors on here watch the show and discuss it, there are still so many new takes, theories and ideas which can enrich our understanding of the story. Thank you for that!
I swear if there was such a thing as a master's degree in Lost, you could submit this as your thesis. This must have taken an insane amount of time to put together, both with the editing and writing the whole thing. You answer so many unanswered questions in one video.
43:43 Terry O’Quinn is such an amazing actor. He plays “Locke” but when watching it you feel something is off about him. Very good performance without spoiling the reveal.
Apparently, O'Quinn was not told that he was playing a different character. The only note he was given by director Jack Bender is that the resurrected John Locke is more confident and sure of himself. And Q'Quinn said he went with the idea that Locke was now indestructible and played those notes in the performance. As it turns out, it was a perfect choice that played into the eventual reveal in the story.
wall his knowledge is great i think explanations like this would have killed the ahow for some honestly applying my own theorys ro what is and whats going to happen was the best part ... had the sane thibg with game of thornes
That wouldn't have changed a thing, the problem is the relationship between the writing staff-executives and their agendas/expectations. Things become a mess as a result
@@brentmcgillivray7490the issue with lost to me was that some people were disappointed with the answers provided . As a huge fan this was the first show I really engaged online with the fandom was great but a big group of people didn’t pay attention to the answers given . So many they were always dead what a waste of time!
Another fantastic video. Your readings are more consistent than the creators. If they ever rebooted/renewed lost, they'd have to use you as a writer or consultant. Great work, and thanks 👍
You have surpassed yourself with this one! This was fascinating!! So here's a question: how could Sawyer, of all people, see Jacob as a young boy in season 6? Jacob makes it a point of telling Hurley that no one will be able to see him in the season 6 premiere..so why Sawyer???
It's a great question! I think there are a couple of factors worth noting here that make the Jacob ghost different from normal ghosts. Jacob might be dead but he is still the last (and sort of current) protector. So that means he isn't your average apparition anyway. He is a special type of ghost. And we see this in how he manifests himself at different ages from his life, perhaps because he once had a controlling influence over and access to the light itself. His afterlife learning curve isn't as steep as the other characters. He already knows how things are in death. The other factor that we should note is that during Season Six there is a power vacuum on the island. And the time has come for one of the remaining candidates to step up to the role of protector. But to do that they need to both see and hear him for the crucial handover of power to take place. And all of the candidates are, in some way, special. Because they have been chosen. Therefore, they are now allowed to see a ghostly entity like Jacob. I'd be remiss not to mention that Jacob's ashes are made a big deal of in 'LA X' and then later in 'What They Died For'. Once the candidates are all gathered around the fire, the scene heavily alludes to the idea that his remains still exert special properties. He says that once the ashes burn out in the fire he will be gone for good (i.e. returned to The Source for rebirth). This helps to further demonstrate the connection between a dead person's remains and their "light" or essence. What happens to the bodies after death can have an effect on manifestations, hence why The Others ritually burn their dead (no doubt under instructions from Jacob). So, there are several extenuating circumstances that make the Jacob Ghost different from all the others we have seen before. And any of the above explanations could be a valid way to interpret how the candidates see him in Season Six. As always, really appreciate your comments and support :-)
Concerning Walt appearing to Locke while in the dharma pit, I believe it is Walt but Walt not aware he is there, like in a dream Walt is not in control of, like Walt said, he has had dreams of the island. Also I believe this, Walt appearing before Locke is the island or time corse correcting to get The donkey wheel turned and Locks time skipping path, along with the island. Locke is tied to the past and there for must skip through time then turn the wheel himself before he was able to die. If Walt didn’t appear to Locke in the pit the gun would of jammed or something else would of stopped him. Locke wouldn’t be able to remove himself for the past when events have already happen with him in the 1940’s, before and after that too, when he skips through time. Love your videos!! And this was an amazing one!! Cheers
Great video, as always. I laughed out loud at "DIY acid trip!" Locke should really have his own DIY show. :) Appreciate your coverage of Harper, too. Her appearance always bugged me.
I can't believe I missed this little detail. 55:41 Dave has no shadow. I been meaning to watch this entire series again for a while now. I found most of the other easter eggs but I can't believe I missed this one..
19:32 Jacob (maybe): “If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.” Love your videos! I'm always excited to learn more about how things work on the Island! You're the best and we really appreciate you!
@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 A good way to catch them is to raise a funding for a cameo to Terry O’Quinn or Emily De Ravin, if Hopefully if on the cameo request you present your work they could be willing to forward you to cuse/lindelof. There are a lot of “if” in my scenario but you deserve it
Another amazing video... Thank you very much for your hard work in keeping this truly wonderful story alive and going like it always has with myself as well. You have become a great part of the Lost universe
Another important question: Could anyone have killed Jacob if given the chance? I was always under the impression that the MIB's loop hole required a candidate or someone touched by Jacob to do the deed. It seems unlikely to me that in all of the centuries of manipulating those who arrived on the island that MIB wasn't able to convince anyone to simply kill Jacob for him until Ben finally did it. Is Jacob only immune to aging and no other forms of death?
Personally, I think Emily said, "It's not time yet, Benjamin," to prevent Ben from running into Hostile territory & violating the truce between the Others and the Dharma Initiative. He would have unwittily put himself, Dharma members, and even the world in jeopardy. By leaving prematurely, young Ben is never shot by time-traveling Sayid in 1977. In turn, this would negate the series of events which unfold through time to sustain The Source. If Sayid never shot Ben, the conflict between Roger Linus, Stuart Radzinsky, Horace Goodspeed, Phil and the Losties - which later leads to the Jughead explosion - would never have happened. Ben would not have been healed in The Temple waters and initiated into the Others' camp. Sayid would not have been shot by Roger, later leading the 815 survivors to The Temple in 2007. This was an instance of The Island acting in accordance with Ben's exercise of his own free-will, or "the variables", as Daniel Faraday would describe it.
Man... I am missing one of my discs from season 6... it keeps me from watching any of LOST despite having all seasons on dvd. I just don’t want to have to skip an ENTIRE DISC especially on the last season cause I’d miss so, so much and wouldn’t understand a lot of things... I really gotta get a new season 6...
Everytime we see walt's apparition, it was almost like he was trying to warn people. Part of his powers appeared to be sensing danger with precognition, hence he always seemed to show up before something important or bad was going to happen. I think he was trying to save Shannon, but her fate on the island was likely to die. Apparently Walt's character was intended to be able to communicate with animals through telepathy, maybe that's why he has such a good relationship with Vincent. His warning to Locke to not open the hatch could of simply been him forseeing his father murder Ana lucia & Libby which we know was part of the reason michael could not move on from the island from the guilt. Also playing backgammon, walt predicted double 6s, or he wished for it and it happened. We know Walt has some sort of electromagnetic ability from the birds dying and the knife throw. My guess is the light on the island especially the energy emitted from the swan station magnified Walt's powers on the island which helped him bi-locate, and we already know the light on the island can teleport people to different locations. I actually thought that Walt telling locke he had 'work to do', sounded like something MIB would say, because MIB would need Locke to still be alive to be able to time travel back in time to plant the seed of him being special to Richard for the loophole plot. (sidenote: would the island even let locke shoot himself? Jack couldn't blow himself up with dynamite). since Walt was mostly written off the show a lot of these questions around him are never fully answered and we are just left with the notion that walt is "special" with no clear explanation for these early plot mysteries. In regards to Dave, the showrunners def stated an intentional connection between imaginary Dave and Hurley's issues with his dad. I thought it was pretty clear Hurley off island suffered from mental illness & depression, and the Dave hallucination was a result of that illness. But coming to the island Hurley was mostly healed. I believe the writer for the lost encyclopedia stated on island Dave was MIB, whom scanned Hurley at some point to take advantage of that imaginary person from Hurely's past to make him jump off the cliff, even trying to convince him he never left Santa Rosa, a very MIB type of thing to do. Most importantly, I'd like to point out the significance of the Red flowers used throughout the show. They always seem to appear when smokie/MIB are around. In 'cost of living' When 'Yemi' talks to Eko we see the red flowers very clearly as Eko is kneeling. A scene when smokie attacks our losties in the jungle we see the red flowers, when smokie is randomly ripping trees in the jungle we see red flowers. In "Dave' we see Dave lead Hurley through a patch of those red flowers before jumping off the cliff. In my opinion, a very clear relationship to MIB. Even though Damon L. had mentioned that on island Dave was more a figment of Hurley's imagination, the showrunners have said many contradictory things over the course of the show.
Neglected to comment on my original viewing (for shame!). The Harper situation was always a little muddy for me, but with you reminding me that Juliette was scanned, it pushes me much more strongly in the direction of that being the MIB.
It certainly makes that scene more interesting, doesn't it? I was always hardline about Harper being plain old human Harper, but if you subscribe to the notion that the Man in Black *can* appear temporarily as a living person from a memory capture (with the altar boy Daniel and Walt both being possible examples of this) then Harper should also qualify. I think there are definitely two possible solutions to her appearance as a result, depending on how you interpret the MiB's powers.
@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 with Harper being such a minor character, I could take her appearance as the MIB as confirmation of her death as well, as opposed to us seeing her die.
Great video as always. My comments: - I like what you say about characters visiting Hurley after him going into the Light, because I believe Eko goes to the flash-sideways at the end of The Cost of Living. And then after going to the Light, visits Hurley. - Christian and costume change. Fake Locke also does a costume change, maybe it was for the future when he was about to meet other candidates. Just to further maintain the illusion and dress up as John Locke as they remembered him, and not like dead John Locke in a suit. 24:10 Yeah, I think there is a misconception and absolutely, the freighter was inside the radius. It doesn't travel through time since there were no living being on it. It was just a wreck and stayed in 2004 just like the tents on the beach stayed in 2004. The only piece of wreck that travelled through time was the one with Jin on, since he was alive. There might have been other bodies on different pieces of wreckage, but since they were dead they stayed in their time. Just like Charlotte's body stayed in the time she died and didn't travel. If the bomb didn't blow up and Jin was on the freighter, then the freighter would've moved back in time just like the zodiac raft. Things that they touch, move with them. 28:37 Great point about sensing their upcoming death. You could even argue that MIB-Christian sensed that Jack was almost about to die at the cliff, since he stood in such a spot that, above a grassy slope that would lead Jack directly to death after chasing him. 30:53 - Jack in denial. Brilliant point. I wholeheartedly agree. My headcanon is that I also believe that Jack was the first one to see a glimpse of the smoke monster. When Jack got separated in the Pilot, Charlie mentions to Kate that the Monster was right behind him and Jack. And Jack dove into the bushes, later saying it was right behind him, but he didn't see it. But what if he lied, just brushed aside this as a hallucination, and the Monster managed to scan him? 47:10 Absolutely correct about the senses. He even says later in the show that he likes the feeling of walking, since it reminds him of once being human. 48:30 About Emily. I would like to add one thing, and that is from the script - something that got deleted! During the encounter between young Ben and Richard, Ben explains that he saw his mother and that she is dead. Then this dialogue was cut out of the episode: YOUNG BEN: "Is she... with you?" ALPERT (a beat; then): "Sort of." Ummmm... WHAT?!? (
I wholeheartedly agree with your agreements lol! And that deleted portion from the original script is a great reference to use here. The writers were modulating their mythology throughout the writing process and I think the ghosts and whispers and MiB apparitions all developed over the course of the seasons. In Season One, it was anyones game as to what apparitions could be. Like you say, things were in flux. Sometimes the whispers were associated with The Others but other times they clearly had a supernatural shape to them, hence why we hear the recently dead voice of Frank Duckett whisper to Sawyer in ‘Outlaws’. At this point in the show the writers might not have been sure if The Others were going to be supernatural in nature and kept their options open going forward. Season One writer David Fury confirms as much in an old interview. But they added in “back doors” to various mysteries, allowing room for the evolution of answers and to accommodate the ideas of new writers who joined the staff each season. As always, I appreciate your comments and thoughts on the show. 😊
My personal takes about ambiguous ghost are: Dave is a hallucination, makes more sense, it is the simplest, to think that it is MiB is more far theory crafting Emily is a real ghost, for the same reasons Harper is MiB, it makes sense that MiB scanned Juliet shortly before Walt is Walt in all his appearances
Amazing work, unsurprisingly! After some consideration I'm actually leaming towards MIB in Harpers case, not only because it would have been very convenient for the MIB to release the poison gas, corrupt Juliet and kill candidats in the process (and we're not sure if and how Ben could have given any commands to Harper in the first place) but also because of the events in 3x15 Left Behind. As you pointed out, the MIB scans several people over the course of the show, which is always followed up upon in the story. Obviously with Locke in the very beginning of the show, Eko and Yemi, Richard and Isabella, etc. Yet there is no obvious follow up to Juliet being scanned in Season 3. I'm trying to view this from the persepcitve of the writers room and I'm assuming this was meant as a setup, possible cut short by the writers guild strike in season 4. My guess: In the original draft of the season, Juliet would have realized Harper actually died prior to their encounter, but that arc had to be cut. But since we didn't get that kind of confirmation, we are now left with this ambigious scene. On another note, I noticed your videos are significantly more quiter than other TH-cam videos, in terms of audio normalization. Seems like that has been the case on this channel since the very beginning, but I just noticed it while switching back and forth between different videos. Maybe something to look into? Keep up the great work!
I agree with your comment. The logic is sound. But it’s something I only really started to consider recently, hence why I offer two potential solutions. I definitely lean more towards Man in Black in this analysis. As for audio levels, someone else mentioned this to me recently. Not sure why it’s coming through at a lower level. The recording is done with a Rode microphone and edited on Audactiy, and it sounds normal on my computer. It could be because different people have different settings on their computer setups; yours might be better than mine! Or maybe once I add the Audacity tracks to the video editing suite it messes with the mix. Will see what I can do with future edits. 👍 As always, thanks for your feedback and your support. It means a lot 😊
The question I have about the MiB theory for Harper is that his motivation would be to kill various candidates. However, I think it’s been fairly well established that candidates can’t die until they’ve fulfilled their purpose and the island is “done with them” (most notably seen with Michael). I would find it hard to believe that the MiB would not be aware of this fact. He has access to the cliff side cave, so he would know who the candidates are, so surely he would have tried to kill them in the 150 years since Richard arrived, only to be thwarted by the island itself. In my mind, this tends to negate any motivation the MiB would have to manifest as Harper. This is also one of the reasons I have trouble with the “all manifestations of Christian on the island are the MiB” theory (it also requires that you believe the MiB, who has lied to everyone he’s interacted with in order to manipulate them, was telling the truth to Jack just this one time), but that’s a whole different discussion I won’t further discuss here.
Great and important video for all Losties. Thank you. There is one comment I would like mention. Walt appearing to Locke who was going to finish himself after Ben shot him; what happened was a course correction. Locke needed to go to the past and help Sawyer etc and talk to Richard as well. I’m willing to think that the light used Walt as a tool to guide Locke. Walt didn’t ask him to kill Naomi, he asked him to stop her. Locke took rights to himself as a chosen one and killed her.
I think course correction only applies to Desmond in terms of his apparent ability to changes events in the timeline, and even that is open to debate. I agree that Taller Ghost Walt is speaking on behalf of The Island to motivate John Locke, but that whole series of events aren't being "corrected" per se. Because Locke's kidney was removed years ago so he would be able to survive this event. It was all predestined to happen that way. As was Walt's appearance. I absolutely agree with you that Walt did not ask Locke to kill Naomi. Locke simply interpreted it in an extreme way because his zealotism, for lack of a better word, had been validated in that moment.
Yes, you are right. But corrections happened also when Eloise was present. She was the one who launched that term. But actually I must admit that the case I mentioned is not course correction as Locke was not able to kill himself (similar way as Michael off island). Island was not done with him yet.
Another amazing video, congratulations! I enjoyed discussing with you some major points of the plot in a previous occasion, but now I only have one question (this time, related to the video), let's see if you want to share your opinion: When Locke falls into the well and where the frozen wheel is, he gets hurt in his leg. Christian (smoke monster) is there to guide him so he knows how to turn the wheel. Locke asks him for help to get up, but Christian says something like "I am afraid I cannot help you". Why such response? We have seen the smoke monster (in human form) touch people multiple times, apparently without any restriction. There was clearly some reason behind this line, but I never got it. What do you think?
A very good question! You're right. We know that the Man in Black can touch candidates (as long as he doesn't intend harm) and we know that he is corporeal in that scene because he lights and holds the lantern. He is physically there. So, why can't he help John Locke up? In my video on "The Cabin", I explain that the wheel chamber scene between Locke and Fake Christian is taking place in 2007 after Ajira has already come back with John Locke's body. That's the reason why Fake Christian knows about Eloise Hawking and how to bring back the Oceanic Six, because this event has already happened. And he has already scanned Locke's body, learned the relevant info, and turned into the man up top. Fake Christian is therefore repeating the exact movements and words that Real Locke remembered Fake Christian saying to him. The Man in Black is essentially recreating Locke's memory in real time as it happens, if that makes sense? He's following a script in a way. It's part of this causal time loop in which the snake eats its own tail. The Man in Black doesn't help Locke up because that is not what happened in Dead Locke's memory of this event. Furthermore, the Man in Black cannot risk contaminating time travelling John Locke in any way by doing something differently in these time travel meetings. In case that somehow disrupts or alters the timeline in some way. For instance, he couldn't send Ben instead of Richard in the compass hand-off scene by the beechcraft because Fake Locke knows that it was Richard who gave Real Locke the compass in that moment. So, he is following the script, priming Richard with what to do and say, then letting it play out as it did. If he tries to alter the script for some reason, it could blow up his loophole. So, he follows Real Locke's memories of these events precisely. Including not extending a hand of help in the wheel chamber.
First off, kudos for providing such an astute analysis and interpretation on the story of ‘Lost’. Like millions of others I’ve been captivated and fascinated by this story since day one, but I’ve just watched it again in its entirety and found it to be as brilliant as I did the first time I watched it and consequently sought out some of the additional material that is scattered across TH-cam, which is how i found your videos. Your work on this is inspired and i think you hit the target in a great many areas, however, it seems to me you failed to take into account the duality that is at work in this story. There seems to be a great emphasis on the strategies and motivations of the dark twin, and not enough consideration of Jacob. The two boys represent this duality, this yin and yang that’s at play here. The white and black stones on the scales are in balance. These two forces were locked in a stalemate in a kind of chess game, and both are capable of utilising resources in a similar, albeit different way and do so periodically during the course of the story. The difference is, that as the custodian Jacob is in communion with the island itself, whereas his opposite is merely using the power the island has bestowed upon him due to Jacob’s initial “mistake,” for his own ends, i.e. to extinguish the island once and for all and escape into the wider world. Fake Locke cannot cross water in his true form, he can only do that if he takes physical form and uses a BOAT. Therefore the Christian that Michael sees just before the C4 detonates isn’t the ‘Man in Black’ it’s actually Jacob’s doing. Previously Michael couldn’t die because he’d been touched by Jacob via the power the island has bestowed up on him as custodian, and only the island through Jacob can release him from this fate. That’s why he tells Michael, he can go now once Michael has completed his mission, a mission Jacob has orchestrated. Why Christian? If Walt had been killed, it would probably have been Walt, so this was really for our benefit, to clue us in that two conflicting forces were at work here, not just one. We were familiar with this particular apparition even if Michael wasn’t. This seed of uncertainty as to which side was manifesting Christian continues to blossom as the story unfolds. ‘The Man In black’ believed that if if he could manipulate Ben into killing Jacob, that would be the end of him and his final obstacle to achieving his aim would be removed, but of course he’s not in communion with the island. That’s why he’s so surprised when he first encounters the spirit of his murdered brother in the jungle, and fearfully pushes away the significance of it. Jacob knew when he ordained Jack that Jack would probably die in his attempt to stop his brother, that Jack’s ordination was temporary. This is what lies at the heart of Hurley’s story. Jack, with the help of Desmond, was the instrument by which his brother would be thwarted, Hurley was always going to be the long term custodian of the island. Why Hurley? Hurley was the joker in the pack. While loved or at least liked by pretty much everyone, no one really started to take him seriously until the final season. No one regarded Hurley as a threat, rather he was more a comedic character for the most part, and yet Hurley over and over again displays exactly the right characteristics you’d want in a custodian over the greatest power on the planet; it’s a power and responsibility he doesn’t want or crave, unlike Ben, and yet his innocence, his goodness and his morality is on display from day one. This is probably why Hurley was simply released on the jetty when Jack, Sawyer and Kate had been captured by the ‘Others’. In all likelihood that instruction came from Jacob via Albert and ultimately Ben. Hurley was being prepared for what lay ahead in a completely different way than that of Jack, Sawyer and Kate who were being strengthened for the ordeals that lay ahead. In the context of this struggle, both brothers could manifest Christian, or whoever else served their strategies, the difference is the ‘man in black’ manifested them from memories using the deep emotions and guilt complexes of the targeted individual to manipulate them; whereas Jacob using his communion with the island and the force therein, could actually manifest their friends and loved ones for real as part their candidacy. That’s my take one it anyway. Thanks again for some stellar analysis of one of the best stories ever brought to television drama.
Firstly, thank you for the compliments and your own detailed analysis. It's worth noting that I have discussed (in extensive detail) the duality between Jacob and the Man in Black in multiple videos (my most recent one on the channel on "The Ancient Past" delves into a lot of it) and my upcoming video will focus exclusively on "the game" between these two players. I suggest you check that one out next! Secondly, while I respect your own reading of the show, I do disagree with you on a fundamental point regarding Christian's manifestation on the freighter. There is no evidence in the show to suggest that a protector could manifest themselves as a dead person, or that they could specifically summon real spirits. They are conduit to The Source and have their own powers, yes. But those powers are tied to the living world. The dominion of the dead belongs to the Man in Black. Which actually is more reflective of this duality and dichotomy that you speak of between Jacob and MiB. For the purposes of disambiguation, let's call this hypothetical Jacob-related Christian "Light" and the proven MiB-related Christian "Dark". If Christian Shepherd on the freighter was really Jacob in disguise (or even the Real Christian summoned back from the afterlife) then why is he wearing the same clothes that the Man in Black had been wearing in the cabin when Locke first met him? Surely, he would manifest in the suit he died in, or something else? There is no reason for Dark-Christian and Light-Christian to be wearing those same cabin clothes at all. Even just for visual optics it would make more sense for your Light-Christian to look different to MiB's version. Just to help us recognise that these are two different versions. But that's not the case. They dress the same and act the same. Because they are the same. And why would Light-Christian manifest to Michael -- a man he had never met -- to tell him he could now die? Why was the scene played so ominously? Yes, I agree that Michael was a candidate and that only The Island can decide when someone's time is up. And that's what we see happen. Michael's whole purpose was to stave off the bomb long enough so the other candidates could make it off the freighter (because they couldn't die until they served their purpose in the time loop). Michael's purpose in the living world had reached its completion. What we see happening in that moment is the Man in Black appearing to see off one more obstacle to his escape. Also, this bomb exploding in a confined space and killing a candidate is the likely inspiration for MiB's plan to kill the other candidates with a bomb in a confined space in Season Six on the sub. I discuss in this very video how the Man in Black absolutely *can* travel across water and why he lies to Sawyer about that fact. Maybe he can't travel across it as smoke, but we know he can teleport in and around the bubble of the island (something demonstrated more than once). And when Fake Christian appears on that freighter, it's clearly from having teleported. There's no point in me rehashing it all here. But it's worth rewatching that section of the video to hear the evidence and reasoning: 23:26 Another point about that scene on the freighter: it is definitely played as a malevolent moment; the music stinger especially indicates that. It's not a Jacob-style moment at all. Also, Michael's final words to Fake Christian are: "Who are you?". Which echo Mr. Eko's last words to Fake Yemi in Season Three before his death. He says the exact same thing: "Who are you?" And then he dies. That's the real clue to Fake Christian's identity. I remember first watching that freighter scene at the time and thinking "Uh oh, this is definitely NOT Ghost Christian, and he does not have anyone's best interests at heart." And it made it even more worrying because the island had been moved under his instruction. It's the first real moment when we see that whoever is occupying the cabin might not be someone we should trust. Further to this point, it is also worth mentioning that Damon Lindelof discussed in an interview last year that sometimes the smoke monster was actually responsible for whispers too, as he was the equivalent of a "quasi-ghost" and carried the voices of many of the dead on the island. And we hear whispers stir in the room before Fake Christian manifests. Anyway, I like your thoughtful take on all of this. I just don't personally align with this particular part of your interpretation.
Thanks for reading my comment and for the insightful response. To be clear I didn’t mean to suggest that Jacob was masquerading as Christian in Michael’s death scene, rather that it was actually the spirit of Christian himself. I suppose I prefer to think of Christian’s words to Michael at that moment to mean ‘you can go now, you’re redeemed for what you did’, rather than the MIB telling him he can go now because he’s fulfilled some nefarious purpose as part of some evil plan. For me the whole show is about redemption. The only major character that didn’t find it was the MIB himself, for whom I have to admit i had some empathy despite who and what he was. At the end of the day he was a human child who discovered that his real mother had been murdered by his foster mother, who then lied to him and sought to keep him on the island against his will rather than let him rejoin his own people. Jacob was the one that made him what he was. For the MIB the island was a prison, which fuelled his hatred and desire to destroy it. I digress. Our varying interpretation not withstanding, your films are greatly appreciated, thanks for making them.
Liked and shared! Your best analysis yet imo. Would love to see a spin-off video about the appearances of animals on the island. I know you've said that you think Sawyer's boar from S1 might have been smoke-related. But there were many more strange animals popping up throughout like Mikhail's cat, the Hurley bird and Kate's horse, etc. Could be worth an exploration maybe.
I’ve discussed Kate’s horse in a previous video on “The Magic Box” but I take your point about the animals having various interpretations available to them. That video might be on the cards at some point!
@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 Then there's Walt's dog, forgetting his name at the moment. His not an island manifestation or anything, but he always seems at little too smart and involved for just a dog. The island seems to flow though him as if to act as a source of reliable comfort for the losties during trying times.
Vincent was the best! Would have been great to get a Vincent-centric episode to follow him on some of his adventures around the island. Could have been a neat way of answering and expanding upon a few mysteries.
Incredible video! You went above & beyond as always, you changed my mind on quite a lot here just based on the hard, concrete facts presented. Thank you for your amazing work, the Source loves you
This show was amazing. So deep, so mythological, so full of knowledge, yet I remember watching at 12/yo and loving it. It’s crazy how you can create something that’s enjoyable for children (not always appropriate, but hey) and also deeper than the depths of the ocean for adults. This show is basically a concentration of our reality, except I don’t believe in ghosts, just demon and angelic spirits. And I do believe in Jesus Christ and hell so not everybody returns to the light and you can’t atone for your own sins. Which I think on some level the writers agree but it seems like Catholic doctrine. But the whole show is about Cain and Abel, good and evil, protect light (life) and cultivate its flourishing or snuff it out (death) and destroy life altogether for its seemingly arbitrary suffering. Every single person wakes up in the morning and goes through this experience of choosing to embrace life and suffering; give yourself as a sacrifice to the good and truth, love and peace, cultivating it into something beautiful (chaos into order) or manipulate and lie, steal and kill in order to bring about greater suffering and destruction for life’s seemingly arbitrary existence. Whether you are aware of this or not really is an expression of someone destined to protect the island or destroy it or weather your just a regular person who never comes to be aware of the islands existence…we really live in a magical world. Although I don’t really know if the evil actually wants to completely destroy life or just control it on their own terms but that’s the same thing as eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Instead of allowing God to rule over life and determine good and evil for life itself, we rebel and desire to control and determine good and evil for ourselves and use it to rule over others or destroy it altogether. Anyways this show is insane and there’s never going to be anything like it ever again. If they ever re-make it or run a spin-off, I think it would be a disaster. It would need the same writers and most of the same characters unless they just did a complete copy with new characters. It’s just so specific and complex that any change that doesn’t correlate exactly with the set structure it would destroy the entire plot. Not to mention all the Woke garbage and propaganda they would add for their own agendas. They also almost NEVER say “Oh my God” and “Jesus Christ” as swear words which is remarkable. I can only remember one instance someone says “OMG” but it’s been a while since I watched the show. But I’m a Christian so that’s not important to everyone. Although I won’t watch a show that blasphemes my Savior. Sorry, this show proves it’s not necessary to use Jesus’ name as a cuss word in your artistic pieces. Everyone that does that is doing it on purpose and people should be upset about that. What if we used the name of Buddha, Muhammad or Allah as a swear word? Or what if I used your mother’s name in place of sh**? People would flip tables. Probably even kill over it. Anything to profane the Christian God though, no problem with that. Alright that’s enough for me... Repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. The Kingdom of God is here. Amazing video, very informative and helpful, God bless you!
Thank you for such a long video! It was very exciting. I'm looking forward to new releases! 😁 The theory that Man in black can take on the appearance of living people by scanning other people's memories seems implausible to me. If we follow this theory, Man in black can scan Jack, see Locke in his memories and take the form of Locke. Then Man in black wouldn't need Ben to kill Locke. Perhaps you will say that Man in black can take the appearance of living people from scanned memories only if they are not on the Island, but I don't understand why. This is even more striking if I would follow the theory that Man in black scanned Juliet and took the appearance of Harper, who was definitely on the Island. Of course, it is easier to assume that the boy died, because if he is alive, it raises more questions, but his death went off-screen without any hints. Usually when we answer the questions of the show, according to the principles of this channel, we are guided by information from the canon and nothing more. But this time we have to completely theorize without having any leads. What do you think about this? Also, can you please answer two questions that I have: 1. Why didn't Claire start time travel in season 5? Maybe the linear sequence of time is most important for the Island, and if Claire wasn't at the earliest point in time, then it makes no sense for the Island to move her in time. However, she is the only exception, everyone else moved in time, even Neil Frogurt and other unnamed people. It could have been anyone instead of Claire. How can this be explained? 2. Why is the inscription "quarantine" only on the doors of the Swan and the Arrow? I don't think the reason is the geographical location of the stations. According to the ultraviolet map, the Arrow and the Swan are located far from each other. I think the reason is that the Arrow and the Swan are the only two stations that were not used by Others, and they were used by Radzinsky after the Purge. He wrote the inscription "quarantine" on the Arrow when he hid a fragment of the orientation film on it. The Arrow appeared in 2x07, the Staff in 2x15, the Pearl in 2x19. It is no coincidence that there are inscriptions on the doors of only two stations.
I actually discuss this very issue about the Man in Black (and whether or not he can appearing as living people) in this very video when discussing Eko's warlords and John Locke. Not sure if you've watched the whole thing yet but I explore that question, and its solutions within. I don't argue that the memory capture power of living people is definitively fact, only that it is possible due to a couple of ambiguous appearances and quotes from the creators. If those apparitions of living people are unsustainable beyond short periods of time then it would explain why the Man in Black needs people to be dead, otherwise he cannot make anyone believe that he really is that person walking around. Again, I delve into more detail in the actual video itself. As for your questions, Claire doesn't move through time because she never appeared in the past. Only people who appeared in the linear history of the island pre-2004 will time travel after the wheel is pushed. It's the same reason why Sun doesn't travel back in time in Season Five. Because she was not part of the "whatever happened, happened" time loop. Claire stayed in present day time under the Man in Black's tutelage for three years, having various encounters and conflicts with The Others at the temple. I discuss the reason for the Quarantine signs in both my video on DHARMA and my video on Jughead. They are to designate certain sectors as high-risk for electromagnetic activity and possible contamination following The Incident. Areas that DHARMA deemed to be "hot zones", perhaps because they are in close proximity to known pockets of electromagnetic energy, such as beneath The Swan. It's absolutely possible that you're right and Radzinsky is the one who made those signs. We know that he told Kelvin to wear the hazmat suit when going up top for pallet runs, so he considered fallout to be a real risk to some extent, otherwise Kelvin would never have worn it at all.
I understand. Nobody likes ads! But they are a necessary evil. The ad revenue generated from them is the only thing keeping this channel alive. I couldn’t afford to make the videos without that financial incentive.
It's an amazing channel to explain lost series..i want to ask a question about how Richard was able to visit Locke in the 1950's when the time travel engine didn't exist yet. The others were not in control of the DHARMA submarine yet, so how did Richard get off the island in 1950s'?
Well, there were most likely boats that The Others used back in the 1950s. Remember, Richard had to recruit and bring some of those Others to the island, like Charles and Eloise. It's likely that he had a sailboat or marine vessel of some kind to come and go from the island, and they traded that up for the DHARMA submarine in the 1980s.
I have had a couple of people say this recently. I've tried looking into what the cause could be but the volume is whacked up to full on audio tracks in my editing suite. Can't get it to go any higher. And then the sound comes through fine on my computer, so I'm not 100% sure what else I can do to boost the volume further. Any ideas? Are you tech-savvy?
I always assumed that Mother was the original smoke monster and that she appeared to MIB as Claudia to con him into killing her. She was likely stuck on the Island for a very long time just like MIB and wanted to be freed. The reason she was stuck was because she tried to take from the light. Reasons for this are the fact that she kills Claudia, she says if you try to take the light its a fate worse than death, she somehow destroyed the whole village and the well MIB was digging, and she thanked him when he killed her. A very long con indeed!
I would argue that the way Claudia presents to The Boy in Black (bathed in light, lacking malevolence, calm and happy to see him, just as we saw Isabella with Richard) and the fact that Mother looks genuinely perturbed and shocked when the Boy in Black confronts her with his newfound knowledge, and how devastated Mother is by this (she cries into the morning on the beach), I think it was the real Claudia’s ghost. It was the show’s way of demonstrating that there is a supernatural force at play beyond the games of protectors and smoke monsters.
Your explanations about Christian are FANTASTIC. You totally convinced me since that small little dispute we once had in the comments. Actually, this whole video is brilliant. That Alex part beneath the temple with Ben always reminds me of my little Trailer 😅 That fan made "You Found Me" thing I've made. I don't know if you've seen it already.... Still a bit proud of it, how I edited that and with the music and all.
We can read that moment in a couple of different ways. The first and most likely answer is that Sawyer was sick with fever and he was hallucinating. And when he woke up, he didn't see Kate. He saw someone else. Could be his father, or who he imagines the real Sawyer to look like. But it could even be the Other who shot him on the raft, since that bullet almost does kill Sawyer. The point is: Sawyer is delirious with fever and seeing things, and Kate is projecting onto the moment with her own issues. Sawyer reminds her of Wayne already. The second way of reading this moment is Man in Black related. If you subscribe to the notion that MiB could infect and influence people on the edge of death then this scene plays out more like Sawyer being pulled towards the dark side of the scale within himself. The Man in Black is being channelled through him to get to Kate. Now I don't necessarily subscribe to this reading myself but it's certainly an interesting way of looking at the scene if you so wish.
@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 bro you are one of the smartest people I’ve ever met. I never thought about it like that but we do project are experiences on to situations. Thank you so much for clearing this up!
I think the altar boy was dead when Eko saw him, and became a manifestation of his guilt for MiB to use. Along the same lines as "Who are you?" indicating MiB was present, Christian saying "Follow me" to Sun at the barracks (which Boy in Black & MiB Alex also said to Jacob & Ben) indicates that was MiB as well, not Christian appearing through the source. Something I never noticed was the similar pattern between Dave's robe & Hugo's dad's shirt when he left him as a kid. Another thought I had was that if MiB could use non-human forms to scan people, the "Hurley bird" would be a strong candidate, given how much attention is given to it in that scene.
All salient points! I agree that the altar boy being dead is a far cleaner explanation. But that also means Harper and any Walt appearances couldn't be MiB either. Again, makes for a cleaner read on smoke monster manifestations and those specific appearances. Harper was just Harper, Walt was just Walt. But I don't think there is any question in my mind that Christian at the barracks was the Man in Black. All island appearances of Christian are MiB as far as I am concerned. Good catch with the Dave/David fabric patterns!
do you believe there's any meaningful differential why Jacob's young boy ghost appears to the MIB sometimes with blonde hair and sometimes with dark hair? or just that that's what the actor playing him happened to have in real life at each given time? also, assuming the hospital lobby appearance of Christian was indeed "just a ghost", do you think the writers were simply teasing us by having that moment immediately preceded by a nearby smoke alarm going off (and Jack investigating that)?
About taller ghost Walt...an important detail to observe is that he's wearing the same thing he wore on the raft and when he was in the hands of the others. I doubt he is wearing the exact same attire in the future as he projects himself back in time just by chance. This is what he was wearing when Juliet knew him so it makes sense that it's a MiB appearance. I dont think we see him appear as a scanned memory to a person who isn't the original subject that he scanned. Ekos scanned memories were only presented to Eko, Richard's memories to Richard. But this would've been a scanned memory from Juliet shown to Locke...maybe thats why he's taller? Idk Only other theory I would have is that when he was in room 23 he actually projected FORWARDS in time to a moment that needed him. It's an equally unsupported theory and doesnt explain why hed be taller. But given the attire I cant accept that it's him off the island having dreams and astral projecting on the island because of it.
I totally get what you’re saying. I go back and forth on Walt all the time! And your logic is sound enough. But there are problems with both solutions. So, if he really is Walt then why is he in those clothes and taller and telling Locke to stop the freighter? I mean, the clothes could still be dream-related in that he is wearing what he remembers wearing on The Island. But still, it’s an imperfect solution. I have the same problems with him being the Man in Black though. First of all, why appear as Walt? Why not Boone or Eko or Christian? Someone dead? And if MiB could appear as living people then why did he never use that power outside of these moments? Second of all, we have an in-show confirmation about the rule of MiB only being able to appear as dead people, which annoys me because that was clearly supposed to be an answer yet we have contradictions to that answer with Walt (and potentially Eko’s altar boy Daniel). Also, if Walt is MiB in this scene, why does he want Locke to stop the freighter? MiB needs that conflict on The Island to motivate the wheel turn. There’s just so many things that get thrown up by it. There’s holes and questions that come with both of these interpretations, and I’ve never been able to find an elegant solution to either. I don’t take a hardline approach to either interpretation because of this. I’m actually re-exploring Walt and his powers in the upcoming video, and I shall be addressing some of these notions. 👌
@LOSTEXPLAINED108 If it's Walt it could be the island guiding his psychic spasms or dreams in a way to give Locke further instructions in a moment that he needed it. If it was MiB it could be that he knew at that point that Locke wouldn't die which is in my opinion his main intuition (same way the whispers know that the moment is about to come). At this point he gives Locke instructions to stop the freighter from contacting the island and return to the cabin for further instructions where the MiB would be waiting to instruct him to turn the wheel and get away from the freighter. If they've found the island then they will find a way ashore. I think there are motivations that work both ways but yeah nothing explains why he's taller. And I agree that if it was MiB it would've made wayyyy more sense for him to use Boone. I actually posted a super long comment on your cabin video about my personal theory for how much the MiB knew about the time loop and why exactly I think he sent John to turn the wheel. I'm not sure it ever actually went up in the comments section though. Did you see it? I can resend. Very much looking forward to your next video though. My fiance just started S5 so we're in the thick of it now and I'm buzzing with theories again!
Just imagine if both Shannon and Locke had both seen Boone! Would have solved all of these issues lol. Why Darlton? Why?! 😆 I have another theory as to why Walt might be there at the grave pit but I shall leave that for the video. I feel like what makes these Walt appearances so frustrating is that they are both so close to making sense as being either depending on how you decide to headcanon the explanations. Haven’t seen your comment about the wheel - is this a recent comment? You can re-post it here if you like. You’re on the golden stretch in your rewatch as far as I’m concerned. Season Five is my fave! Is your fiancé enjoying it? How are you feeling about it upon this rewatch?
@LOSTEXPLAINED108 I think it's too long...gonna do two replies lol As for the rewatch my fiance has been pretty invested since the end of Season 3. Shes super anxious to see Jacob and I cant wait to see how frustrated she gets when she sees him die in the same episode that she meets him in 😂😂😂 And I agree... middle of S3 through S5 is imo the gold stretch. I'm having a great time unlocking a new layer of understanding even still as I watch.
@LOSTEXPLAINED108 Ok here goes new MiB theory but it's quite a change in perspective...bare with me. It's always been a challenge trying to explain how much the MiB knew and how he constructed this master plan or why he would've sent Locke off the island unless he knew he was coming back dead or alive. But any answer anybody has ever come up with that I've seen always seems incredibly convoluted or too much of a stretch for me to accept that it was the writers' intentions. Besides the MiB doesn't care about the island, the source, fate, destiny or the "fabric of time/space" so why would he believe any of the instances of the time travelers was something that was destined to happen? He just thinks things happens randomly. There's no evidence through the memories of corpses such as Charlotte or Horace that Locke returns to the island so why would MiB have any interest in causing the loop. If the island is speaking to him, he wouldnt listen or obey unless it's in his best interest...therefore the island wouldnt speak to him. So what if his reason for moving the island wasn't to initiate this grand master plan, but simply to get the island and Ben away from Widmore's people? And what if he chose Locke to do so not because he knew he'd die and/or come back, but because he simply wanted Locke out of the picture? Lemme explain...Yes, his plan from the moment he scanned Locke in Ep4 until the end of season 3 WAS to utilize Locke's time travel legacy to threaten Ben and make him Jealous. He would know about Locke's time traveling legend even though he wouldn't know/care what caused it. When Ben kills Locke he can take his place and push Ben out then demand to see Jacob as we see in Season 5. As you've said, he almost gets everything he wants at the end of Man Behind the Curtain when Ben shoots him and leaves him for dead. But when it becomes clear to MiB a short while later that the island is protecting Locke and he seemingly can't be killed, Locke becomes a threat to MiB's plan. It's almost like Locke has become an unstoppable force of Jacob's will. Locke would inevitably push Ben out of the leadership role and both Ben and Locke in these new positions are of far less use to MiB. If Locke's body can't be taken then MiB can't use it to demand to be taken to Jacob. And if Ben isn't the leader he can never be taken to Jacob either let alone kill him. And while Locke is easily coerced and does have questionable methods he does NOT have a history of genocide or a blinding compulsion to overthrow/kill those who threaten his power so if he ever did meet up with Jacob it would be much more difficult to for MiB to convince Locke to kill him. Locke cares more about being a part of something important and truly believes that everything he does is in the best interest of everyone on the island thus he is NOT a Jacob killer anymore than Richard is. This is why Ben is MiB's ace in the hole. Ben isn't just a proven killer for power, he's also the leader of the others and far more controllable than Locke as it appears. Plus MiB could probably have someone Kill Ben at whatever point and become the leader of the others (something he can't do with Locke). Ben has potential to be both a ticket to Jacob or a Jacob killer and is far less expendable than Locke. Ben was the MiB golden child. He was doing anything he could to hold onto him in Season 4. If you watch Cabin Fever you can also pick up on the MiB's urgency when he gives Locke directions he says rather frustrated "We don't have time for this. The people on the boat are already on their way back." He is visibly uneasy that he may lose Ben. The last thing he wants is Locke or Widmore in charge of the others and Ben gone. So he sends Locke to move the island killing two birds with one stone and concocts a new plan involving Ben and Claire as Claire is an easy target for manipulation. He has her father's body and memories and Charlie's body and memories (we never see him use Charlie on screen but I believe he did) and he knows Aaron is her #1 motivation for anything. If I had to guess his plan was to use Claire to kill Ben, take Ben's place, and then start demanding to see Jacob with Claire by his side.
Hi again friend. A great video - probably one of your best, and I really enjoyed it. My post will be a little lengthy, but let me say first of all that I agree with almost everything you say, and I don't think that any of the "ambiguous" sightings - Dave, Harper, Taller Ghost Walt etc, are actually the MIB. One point I do want to raise - and I seek your own opinion on this - is to what extent the MIB was aware of the presence of the time travellers at various points in the past. As a "demi- God" I would've expected him to be aware of these appearances, and to also be aware of the catastrophic consequences of allowing any temporal paradox to be created that prevented them travelling (ie, the end of everything). So I can't personally subscribe to the idea that he tried to trick Jack into falling to his death (although Christian clearly was the MIB), or that he tried to trick Hurley into jumping off a cliff. Nor can I accept that he would've tried to persuade Juliet to shoot Daniel and Charlotte as all three still had to time travel. In fact, I can't figure out why he would choose the form of Harper (even if she was dead) to relay this message anyway. Wouldn't it have made much more sense to adopt the form of Goodwin (whose dead body was on the Island), as this would have had much more emotional resonance for Juliet, even although she knew he was dead? He also, of course, had a connection with the Tempest, which would have made the instruction coming from him (or his "ghost", as Juliet may have rationalised it) even more persuasive for her. As for Hurley, my take is that Dave's invention was a consequence of Hugo's guilt over the decking incident, where people fell to their deaths, so it makes poetic sense that his subconscious (ie Dave) would "suggest" death by falling from a height - no need to invoke the MIB to explain that scene away. I'm more relaxed about Ben's sighting of his mother - it can work either way without contradicting anything important, but it's Emily's spirit in my "head canon". Taller Ghost Walt is interesting. I'm with you regarding it not being the MIB, but I'm not sure that I can get behind your claim that, if it was MIB, he would've been happy with Locke dying. Because, again, it's prior to time-travel, so John's death would be a somewhat pyrrhic victory for the MIB if it created a paradox.
Hi Drew! All fair points you make there in regards to Man in Black apparitions (or not, as they case may be). I stay on the fence about Dave because, for me, it's more interesting if Dave is the Man in Black in that episode due to how he baits and manipulates Hurley into an attempted suicide. It just enriches the rather sporadic actions of MiB throughout those first three seasons if he appeared more times in disguise. It's a fun way to look back at certain ambiguous appearances. However, it opens up the need to theory craft a bit too much as I mention in my video. Can MiB scan people whilst occupying other forms? That's a big question. But then another issue with the "Dave is MiB" theory is that we have to workaround the idea that Hurley was not a candidate so, therefore, MiB didn't need to tempt him to kill himself. He could have just killed him. I'll get to your whole take on MiB and the time travel in a bit. The only possible explanation for his tactic is that he knew that the sudden suicide of the happy-go-lucky Hurley -- aka the heart of the Oceanic survivors -- would devastate and demoralise the group beyond repair. Still, we would have to ignore that the showrunners outright confirmed that Dave wasn't smoke-related. And while I don't always use their word as complete gospel, I still lean more to Dave being a hallucination, and I think you summed up the reasons behind that well in your comment. It makes sense. As for Harper, I was always hardline about her being a real person until fairly recently. You and I have even discussed that before as I recall. But if -- and it's a big *if* -- MiB *can* appear as living people temporarily then Harper being a smoke monster manifestation can work nicely, and pays off the "download" sequence in 'Left Behind' when Juliet got scanned. It's way more interesting to me in that context. If he appeared as Goodwin, Juliet would be alarmed and suspicious. Because she knows he is dead. Wouldn't it be better to appear as someone who is still alive but Juliet wronged somehow? Someone that Juliet feels like she owes. But this all comes down to whether or not you believe or subscribe to the notion that MiB could appear in a limited form as still-living people from a memory capture. This is something that I wrestle with to this day. Mainly because of altar boy Daniel's appearance and Damon Lindelof's frustrating sort-of contrary confirmation that Walt's appearances were probably MiB (at least in his mind looking back). So... I think it's only fair to let the question marks remain over Harper and Walt (and Dave) since two possible solutions do exist within the mythology, depending on your own interpretation of the clues and possible powers of Old Smokey. I'm open to the possibilities of both. The place where I disagree with you, or at least dispute your reading in part, is your impression that the Man in Black was aware of the time loop before the Oceanic 815ers crashed on the island. Therefore making him more of a roleplayer in events in which he was simply biding his time until the loop opened up. There is no confirmation nor evidence to back that up. Although nor can I fully refute it. We only know that he became aware of the time loop by 2007, when he shows Frank and Sun the photograph at he barracks. And, by his point, the barracks had been abandoned and accessible to him for three years as the pylons were down and The Others were gone. This gave him more than enough time to explore and study the contents of the buildings and discover the photo. It's worth noting that the Man in Black is engineering his loophole plan in 2007 *backwards* through time. This is not a linear plan. The moments by the beechcraft and down in the donkey wheel chamber are both taking place in 2007, in which Ajira has already returned and the Man in Black already knows what needs to be said and done due to Dead Locke's memories of both these events. It is is like the compass. A self-perpetuating feedback loop. He knows what to do and say because it has already happened. So, he simply follows the script to some extent. He is exploiting this time loop in 2007. Whereas in 2004, his goal is simply to prime Ben as an anti-candidate (which he has been doing for some time) and getting Locke to die, at least so far as we know. He is following the "intuition" from The Island for all of this, but I don't think he accesses future knowledge in the way Jacob does. The smoke monster is more about the sins of the past. It is unknown how much knowledge MiB has of the actual time travelling events before 2007. We can only speculate to what he knew and when. His knowledge of time travel most likely didn't come into full context until after the wheel was turned and fell of its axis in 2004. We see how Fake Locke visibly connects what he is supposed to say and do at the beechcraft with Richard and the Real Locke and the compass. It suddenly all clicks for him. I think he absolutely would have gladly seen Locke die in the pit in 2004. In your reading you claim that MiB wouldn't risk a paradox that could undo reality, but we know he didn't take The Island seriously. He had become so angered and hateful that he saw The Island as nothing more than a prison, which he reiterates again and again. And we know he doesn't care about risking paradoxes or destruction or global annihilation because of what he does in 'The End'. It's uncertain if he even believed that anything bad would happen if The Island was destroyed. So, I don't believe that he cared about paradoxes or upending the nature of fate or time. He literally helps to create a paradox with the compass: his little manipulation of events that becomes baked into history. If we had seen the smoke monster encounter and scan a time traveller in 1977 or 1988 then I would agree with your assessment that he was preparing for all of this for decades and was simply (and knowingly) following a pre-set path. But there is no real evidence of that. There is only evidence of Jacob being aware of the time loop from, at least, the late 20th century and planning for it. I'm going to explore that in more detail in my upcoming redux cuts of "The Theory of Everything".
some of these concepts are interesting, such as Charlie's ghost in season 4, whom as mentioned seems to have come back after 'moving on', after his 'flash sideways' where Charlie has seen what happens 'after', and has wise words for Hugo's future. that version of Charlie seemed to know stuff beyond season 4, which makes sense looking back. makes me wonder if some concepts could have been expanded on, had the writer's strike and the 'show end date' not shortened and hastened things by effectively cutting the last 3 seasons short (where seasons 1-3 had 20+ episodes). there are many things in the show that the show doesn't exactly explain that we are left to kind of assume in the absence of true explanation. filling out the show with another 10 episodes or so could have gone a long way. but at the same time 108 episodes, was perfect haha.
I agree with you that there should have been more episodes, particularly in Season Six. The writers were too eager to cut down the episode orders. It was a conscious choice they made, believing that they only needed so many episodes to tell the remaining storylines. However, I believe they miscalculated. If we could go back in time (and change the past!) and add more episodes, I would add at least four extra episodes to Season Six: An Ilana-centric episode with flashbacks that cover her history with Jacob and The Island (and a scene that would close the outrigger loop once and for all). I always felt she should have had a more honourable death, maybe at the hands of the Man in Black rather than how the show unceremoniously dealt with her. And that could happen in her own episode. A Claire-centric episode that focuses on her and shows us flashbacks as to what happened to her between Season Four and Six, allowing room to explore how the Man in Black and his infection operates. Their relationship unfolding would have been fascinating. An episode that brings back Walt! He should have been on the submarine with Desmond, brought back by Widmore, and a player in the endgame. The on-island story could see him be the one to commune with Ghost Michael and resolve that relationship, so Michael could move on and they could both be in the church at the end, while Walt's flashbacks could show us how he ended up in Santa Rosa before Widmore busted him out. Then a Widmore-centric episode that fits together the final missing pieces of his backstory, particularly in regards to his relationship with Penny and how she came to find out about The Island; the meeting Widmore had with Jacob; and Widmore's change of heart/new purpose. I feel like just four episodes like this could have solved a lot of the complaints that people had about some narrative dead-ends and blindspots in the final season. I imagine if the writers could do it all over again, they would iron out those creases.
So the Smoke Monster is basically 'Evil Boo' from Dragon Ball Z when Boo split "his" evil self from his being. Come to think of it, Boo was also able to mimic people by altering his appearance, even so it wasn't as sophisticated as the Smoke Monster's. And Evil Boo had a grayish dark 'skin tone'. Boo was also able to alter his state of aggregation, becoming solid or foggy or smoke-like even. Wow...
Very, VERY good! But see, I thought you were going to say the Man in Black needed to be locked (Locked?) in corporal form because once the Island's power was turned off, (he actually knew) he wouldn't have powers any longer, but could finally leave. I would also think that with the Island turned off temporarily, the stuck ghosts (such as dead Others) could also move on. Just my thoughts.
Judging from the Man in Black's surprised and pained expression after Jack punches him and draws blood, he had no idea he was going to be made mortal again when the light went out.
Thank you, Julian! To answer your question, The Man in Black didn't need to hide Locke's body in Season Five because, technically, the body was already hidden in the cargo hold of the plane. He didn't know that passengers on Ajira were working for Jacob. To him, the chances of anyone actually opening up a dead man's coffin in the cargo hold were highly unlikely. The Ajira passengers might look for other things amongst the cargo, but who would want to desecrate a stranger's coffin? So, he left Locke in there.
Because MiB had a psychic gift. He was special like Walt or Hurley. Whereas Richard did not have that particular gift and needed a spiritual translator. Most characters could not see or speak to the dead, but there were a few who demonstrated psychic sensitivity throughout such as Jack and Locke.
@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 thanks for the quick answer! Since I’m not sure where else to ask, what are your thoughts on the Huth Truth video series? Do you have different views that him?
Ah interesting question! Generally, I try not to feed myself other people’s LOST theories as I feel like it will only pollute my own thought process and I’m happy with where I’m at in interpreting the mythology. That said, I remember watching a few Huth Truth videos back in the early days of building this channel based on a commenter suggestion. I found myself in total opposition to Huth Truth's interpretations on the subjects I watched (not sure if it was just those unfortunate selections or if we really differ that widely on everything). I don’t think we agree on some of the base fundamentals of what was happening in the overall series, which creates a lot of disconnect on the smaller details. He also went a lot further in adding head-canon explanations than I would, whereas my interest lies squarely with taking what was presented and running with that, even the seemingly contrary plot details. However, this also makes us very different as explainers and therefore gives LOST fans more variety to choose from when looking for theories and explanations. I think it leads to a healthy variety of ideas, even if I don't personally agree with the specific ideas he puts forward. And, ultimately, it's all helping to keep a positive legacy of LOST alive and well.
@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 i watched a chunk of his videos as well, and I believe he interprets that the island is not its own entity, and that everything we see is either MIB or Jacob. I was kind of disappointed with that view point when I first heard it, and it felt like it made the show less exciting. I’m glad to find your channel as I like your interpretation better
That's good to know! :-) Yes, he seems to dismiss the idea that The Island has its own will, even though it is demonstrated throughout the show time and again. From what I understand, he puts many of these events down to the Man in Black's machinations. While I like that idea of giving MiB more of a overarching role in everything we see happen before he graduates to uber-villain in the final two seasons, it requires diminishing the role of the actual Island and skating over its influence on events. Definitely interesting alternate takes to my own that provide healthy counterpoints for the fanbase, but just not something I can personally get on board with.
Interesting in the part where you say that Ecko is not a candidate and when the Smoke Monsters kill him before he could be a potential candidate (I think that decision is from the writers when the actor did not want to continue in the series, if that had not happened, I am sure that if he would have been a candidate of Jacob and who knows how his participation in the final of the series of TV)
Don`t know about Boone.. He seemed a little...I don`t know...arrogant? The way he sarcaticly uses John`s words. " I was a sacrifice the island demanded". Making John climb the stairs. Probably a callback to 1x19. That time when John couldn`t walk so Boone had to climb up to the plane all by himself. Boone also used these words:" So you can bring the family back together" Meaning Eko and Yemi. And we all know that It wasn`t Yemi. It was in fact The Smoke Monster. This "Boone" wanted Eko saved so that he could manipulate him into killing Jacob. Anyway. With that being said. I`m pretty sure this wasn`t Boone. He`s just way too creepy and unnatural in that scene. But this is just one of many Lost`s storylines that were left ambiguous... Edit : Awesome video. As usual. :)
I agree that Boone in the dream is not Real Boone. But I don't believe he is the Man in Black either. I made a video about how the dreams work and their likely source being The Island rather than MiB. There are several dreams throughout the show that have that same aloof, uncanny quality to them in which characters don't behave as normal. That's because they are ciphers for a message that The Island is trying to communicate to them. In 'Further Instructions', The Island is trying to get Locke back on track again. If the Man in Black wanted Mr. Eko "saved" so he could judge him or test him later then he could have just extracted Eko from the cave himself. Smoke Monster vs Polar Bear would have been an interesting smackdown lol. Regardless, he didn't need Locke for that.
So I'm laying here watching the episode when Charlie appears to Hurley at the mental institution. I'm not quite understanding how he can be there but yet also be in the last episode and not remember his island past. I read somewhere an explanation that when he showed up at Santa Rosa he had already gone through his sideways life and had gone back to the source. So I guess my question is is the whole purpose of showing the sideways world to show how Jack was able to let go? Are the other people who appear in the sideways just figments of Jack's post death imagination? The way Christian explains it to Jack is that the sideways world is a place they all created together to meet up and remember and let go but if Charlie already went through that and returned to the source and was able to make appearances in the real world, how is he also there in the sideways. I need some help. I've watched all your videos but I can't remember if you did one addressing this.
I do explain the process at 1:37 in this video under the Ghosts & Whispers section, albeit in a compact way. I appreciate that I throw out a lot of information in these videos so it can be easy to lose a specific thread that you're interested in. I have also explained the sideways in detail in my video on the Flash Sideways here: th-cam.com/video/hsHPV6dIjsM/w-d-xo.html And in even more detail in my FAQ on "Were they dead the whole time?" here: th-cam.com/video/lz7Vs-ZnBGM/w-d-xo.html There will be a video this year that will delve into "The Supernatural" side of the island in greater detail too.
So, around the 35:47 mark, you say the man in black cannot risk that Jacob might ordain Eko as a candidate. But in the Lighthouse, Eko is 76. It has a line through it, but doesn't that mean at one time Mr. Eko was indeed a candidate? See lostpedia Candidates with complete list of Cave and Lighthouse names and numbers. It says: The names on this list come from screenshots of the cave ("The Substitute") and the lighthouse dial ("Lighthouse"), as well as prop pictures of the lighthouse dial that were released at auction. Therefore, whether or not some of the names are canon is disputed. For individual lists of candidates revealed during the show only, please see: Cliffside cave and The Lighthouse. So there seems to be some disagreement on all the names. Do you think Eko is one that is in dispute? At any rate, another excellent video, thanks.
Hello! This is a fair question and I have discussed this a few times in the comments elsewhere on other threads, so apologies if I repeat the same information from them. There are several problems that I have to address with this theory. I think it is partly based on Eko's popularity as a character rather than any canon proof within (or outside of) the actual show. Lostpedia is a big part to blame in perpetuating this, I feel. It's a superb resource, don't get me wrong, but it's edited in places by various admins who don't always pay due diligence to the details. Yes, there is indeed a picture on there that shows a very, very low-res image of the lighthouse dial. I don't know how anyone makes out any names on that picture tbh. Barely any of the names are legible. Furthermore, no one has been able to source the picture's legitimacy as far as I'm aware. That being said, let's assume that the photo is of the real prop from the actual 'Lighthouse' episode. In its current quality, I can see how one might read the name listed alongside #76 as reading "Eko" since it appears to be a short name beginning with E. Although it looks more like “Elmo” to me. But, regardless, the problem with assuming this reads as "Eko" is that Jacob wrote candidate names on the dial by their *surname* not first name. Yes, he calls himself Mr. Eko (based on his bad ass gangster moniker from Nigeria) but *Tunde* was Eko's surname as Tunde was Yemi’s surname, and Eko goes by Father Tunde once he becomes a priest. Whatever the word is scrawled for 76 it does not look like Tunde. But let's ignore the photo from Lostpedia and look at the show itself. I have painstakingly gone through the screencaps of both the cave wall and the lighthouse dial from the actual show. Frame by frame. And Eko's name is nowhere to be seen on either. Now, this is very interesting. Because it means that his name was omitted by the writers intentionally. They must have known we would have all studied the names on there with eagle eyes, looking for specific names. Especially Eko. So, why don't we see it in the actual show? Well, his name isn't shown or highlighted so it does not contradict the fact that the Man in Black could kill him. And the Man in Black could kill Mr. Eko because he was not a candidate. Once someone is ordained as a candidate they stay a candidate until either they die or someone takes over the island protector role. Jacob confirms as much to Kate in the penultimate season six episode ‘What They Died For’: "It's just a line of chalk on a wall. The job's yours if you want it." What matters is Jacob's touch: that's the protection. And Eko hadn't been "blessed" with that touch... yet. And we know that there are major characters on the island in 2004 who also have yet to be touched and activated as candidates, including whopper characters like Sayid and Hurley. Both of whom are ordained *after* they leave the island in 2004. And Hurley turns out to be the next protector. Anyway, all of this to say that the misconception of "Eko was a candidate" comes from a mixture of fan favouritism, unreliable sourcing, and a misreading of that unreliable source. I might make a bigger video about this (or include it in my redux of old videos) because it comes up a lot and I feel it's worth spreading the word. I hope this all makes sense. Sorry for the essay response to your concise question.
@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 ... Fair enough. That sounds reasonable to me. I will give lostpeida some credit for including, "Therefore, whether or not some of the names are canon is disputed." So, they seem to agree there's some question about the validity of the some of the names.
Forgive me bur wasn't the whispers the others ? When we are first introduced to them in season 1 / 2 everytime we see them barefooted there's always whispers when they ambush Jack sawyer and locke in the jungle they whisper and Ben tells russo in S5 whenever she hears whispers she's to turn and go the other way
In Season Six episode 'Everybody Loves Hugo', the whispers are ultimately explained as being the voices of the dead on The Island in a scene between Hurley and Ghost Michael. However, the history behind the whispers is a little more complex. It's a misconception that the whispers appeared whenever The Others were around (that only happens a couple of times in the show) when they actually appear more frequently alongside supernatural events involving ghosts, apparitions or the Man in Black. In my next video (due out soon) I actually go through every major whisper scene to analyse them in the context of their origin being supernatural versus coming from The Others. Keep an eye out for it!
Great vid, but I have a question- you say Fake Locke is just a physical illusion, and that there is no blood or organs beneath the flesh, only darkness. But then how does he bleed once the light is turned off in the finale?
@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 gotcha-is there some sort of explanation as to how it works with him going from pure projection to having blood and organs and such? Like do the insides of Locke’s body materialize inside of him? Or is it his own blood from his original body? Or am I being dumb and can it really only be explained by island magic? Follow up question: I’ve watched most of your vids (and loved them) and I might have missed this explanation but why is it that MIB can only take on Locke’s body like Ilana says?
When the light goes out, the power source within the smoke monster goes out too. So Fake Locke goes from essentially being an empty shell manifestation (made up of smoke monster particles) to a fully corporeal, living organism. The smoke monster essence (which presents the illusion of John Locke) has been completely converted into the form it is currently occupying, right down to the atom. I've never actually considered whose internal organs are appearing inside that MiB-Locke shell before lol. However, considering he has imitated Locke's exact form, I would assume that includes the full physiology of John Locke. So, those are John Locke organs getting ruptured and shot right there! As for why MiB is stuck as Locke, I have indeed discussed this in a couple of videos. Basically, MiB and Jacob formed a battery together, of sorts. When Jacob died, the battery was broken, and MiB became limited in some of his powers/abilities. And one of those abilities was shapeshifting into other forms.
I've always had a little bit of an issue with Michaels explanation of 'the whispers'. He says it's the people that can't move on. But in previous episodes, we're led to believe 'the whispers' are The Others, i.e. when Danielle Rousseau had captured Sayid, she said she hears them, whispers. The tail section people also associated 'the whispers' with The Others, and when Ben is shown taking Alex from Danielle, he tells her, when you hear whispers, you run the other way. So, is it one kind of whisper when it's the people that can't move on, and another kind of whisper when it's The Others? It always seemed like maybe the writers screwed that up a little bit. Or, do you believe it's only one kind of whisper, the people that can't move on, and they are just around when there's conflict?
I explore these very questions in my video on Faith and the Supernatural. I start discussing the whispers specifically around the 1:31:00 mark and get into the nitty gritty of how they are presented and how many times they appeared alongside The Others versus alongside supernaturally adjacent events. I go into a lot of detail so you are likely to find some answers there. Follow the link to the video: th-cam.com/video/DHAWeG_0hPk/w-d-xo.html
The smoke monster could kill Mr. Eko because he was not a candidate. I've discussed this a bit in other videos but the very next video (coming very soon!) will delve into why this common fan-held believe isn't based on anything canon from within the show itself. I'll present all of the evidence in that video. Basically, there is no discrepancy regarding Eko's death and no need for us to theory craft.
Why is “the real Walt” fuhhuuuucking DRIPPING ASS HHHHWET!?! If he’s so rea- oh. Oh you’re explaining that now. As I type. .. ... .... ... huh. Yea, ok, I’ll buy those theories. Lol this comment is quite genuine, I really was asking you about Walt being soaked if it’s the real Walt, and not a hallucination or apparition, and you began answering while I was mid sentence lol I DID, however, add the hyphen to make the cutoff word I paused in disbelief on make sense. That’s too funny, man.
Would Smokey be able to return to the source upon his death in the finale of season 6 or is he forever disconnected from the source upon becoming a smoke monster?
In my latest video -- 'The Theory of Everything Part Two: The Ancient Past' -- I explore this idea a little bit further. What comes out of the cave in 'Across the Sea' is the darkness of the Man in Black's soul: his worst memories, darkest emotions. The most negative parts of who he was. So, we can assume that the light that was within him -- the good part -- was absorbed back into The Source upon his physical death.
MiB as Locke couldn’t kill Jacob though, he had to get Ben to do it. The rules still applied to MiB no matter who he appeared as. The reason becoming Locke was so important was because Locke was a legend amongst The Others and was destined to be their leader. And that would mean he would be able to get access to Jacob via Richard. Jacob was in hiding for years and only Richard knew where he was, and that the statue had a secret chamber within. You can’t kill someone that you can’t find, so Locke was MiB’s key to finding Jacob.
Are you referring to the Horace we see in Locke’s dream? The dreams come from The Island, so whenever a familiar face appears in a dream they are merely a vessel for information to the characters to get them to do things.
Ah ok . Thank you. I think he was building a cabin in the woods. I didn't realise that was a dream. Thank you for all the videos. Really enjoy. Great stuff 😍
Always a treat to come across a new Lost explained video in my subs! I can’t explain how much I love your channel! Keep up the great work!
Same and the fact it’s a long one!!!
Same here!
This was probably the BEST Lost Explained video I’ve ever watched! I had so many questions and contradictory thoughts about the ghosts appearances throughout the series. This video really broke it down for me especially the part about the on and off island appearances as well reaffirming that there is no when in the purgatory Flash-sideways world when ghosts appear after they let go!!! 😍❤
I LOVE everything in this video about Jack’s off-island character arc in S4&S5 and how he was starting to experience his first real onslaught of “island visitations”. Essentially he was starting to experience everything Locke had experienced since S1 and which Hurley started to experience in S4, except instead of accepting what he was seeing like Locke or volunteering himself to a place where he might receive help for what could be interpreted as hallucinations or a mental breakdown as Hurley did, he instead chose to shut it all out and keep soldiering on.
That’s such a great point, I love that!
I’ve always wished they had gradually set up Jack’s spiritual connection to the island - to me it always felt like S5 just suddenly “got it” and I never completely bought that he would just flip to a man of faith so quickly. But your take here completely makes me re-evaluate that - if his self medicating was not just a subset of repressing hallucinations and coping with his depression it could be more that the island was really trying to connect with him at this stage.
He was gaining a power of sorts and he was fighting it every day - it wasn’t that he was just sad inside and felt like he lacked a purpose (that he did and was another part of why he self medicated) but more importantly it was him wanting to shut out the island’s call.
So that makes complete sense to me now why, when S5 comes he does finally start to let it in. It’s not a switch that suddenly flipped, it’s a switch that has been trying to be flicked on every day for the last year or two for him, he was having a growing realisation that we didn’t see that he needed to let the light switch stay on, it’s just that we couldn’t see it because he wouldn’t show it, the side he showed to the world couldn’t believe or accept it. So when he does let it in, it all then happens like clockwork and he pivots 180 degrees.
Thank you for making this great point, it shows that even after watching the show many times and watching so many reactors on here watch the show and discuss it, there are still so many new takes, theories and ideas which can enrich our understanding of the story.
Thank you for that!
Thank you 😊 You stated it even more eloquently than I did!
I swear if there was such a thing as a master's degree in Lost, you could submit this as your thesis.
This must have taken an insane amount of time to put together, both with the editing and writing the whole thing. You answer so many unanswered questions in one video.
43:43 Terry O’Quinn is such an amazing actor. He plays “Locke” but when watching it you feel something is off about him. Very good performance without spoiling the reveal.
Apparently, O'Quinn was not told that he was playing a different character. The only note he was given by director Jack Bender is that the resurrected John Locke is more confident and sure of himself. And Q'Quinn said he went with the idea that Locke was now indestructible and played those notes in the performance. As it turns out, it was a perfect choice that played into the eventual reveal in the story.
@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 wow that’s really good direction then. Kudos to both of them because it certainly pays off on rewatches.
We didn't get much of Isabella but I absolutely adored her.
I put the like before whatching it, because you are what i needed since 2005. Simply amazing!
All the people here,we need to promote this brilliant channel, kind regards!
Wow...what more can I say ??? I have no more words I have not used already to praise your work, so I'll just say a veeery big thanks !!
I love these in-depth analyses of such an old show. Great job!
Very well explained video, your channel is the top content for LOST stuff.
Praise from Jacob himself.
You’re knowledge of this show is amazing, if only you were part of the show running team, more people may have ‘got it’!
wall his knowledge is great i think explanations like this would have killed the ahow for some honestly applying my own theorys ro what is and whats going to happen was the best part ... had the sane thibg with game of thornes
Horace goodspeed, smoke monster?
That wouldn't have changed a thing, the problem is the relationship between the writing staff-executives and their agendas/expectations. Things become a mess as a result
* Your
@@brentmcgillivray7490the issue with lost to me was that some people were disappointed with the answers provided . As a huge fan this was the first show I really engaged online with the fandom was great but a big group of people didn’t pay attention to the answers given . So many they were always dead what a waste of time!
This is going to be a good video there's no better time to talk about ghosts than October
Lol, I'm glad you picked up on the Halloween timing!
Hey, it’s October again! How fantastic a time to watch this, then!
Locke Monster seasons
Another fantastic video. Your readings are more consistent than the creators. If they ever rebooted/renewed lost, they'd have to use you as a writer or consultant. Great work, and thanks 👍
That would be my dream job!
@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 more lost with lost explained as consultant = 🔥 🔥 🔥
I second this. 👍🏼
You have surpassed yourself with this one! This was fascinating!!
So here's a question: how could Sawyer, of all people, see Jacob as a young boy in season 6? Jacob makes it a point of telling Hurley that no one will be able to see him in the season 6 premiere..so why Sawyer???
It's a great question! I think there are a couple of factors worth noting here that make the Jacob ghost different from normal ghosts. Jacob might be dead but he is still the last (and sort of current) protector. So that means he isn't your average apparition anyway. He is a special type of ghost. And we see this in how he manifests himself at different ages from his life, perhaps because he once had a controlling influence over and access to the light itself. His afterlife learning curve isn't as steep as the other characters. He already knows how things are in death.
The other factor that we should note is that during Season Six there is a power vacuum on the island. And the time has come for one of the remaining candidates to step up to the role of protector. But to do that they need to both see and hear him for the crucial handover of power to take place. And all of the candidates are, in some way, special. Because they have been chosen. Therefore, they are now allowed to see a ghostly entity like Jacob.
I'd be remiss not to mention that Jacob's ashes are made a big deal of in 'LA X' and then later in 'What They Died For'. Once the candidates are all gathered around the fire, the scene heavily alludes to the idea that his remains still exert special properties. He says that once the ashes burn out in the fire he will be gone for good (i.e. returned to The Source for rebirth). This helps to further demonstrate the connection between a dead person's remains and their "light" or essence. What happens to the bodies after death can have an effect on manifestations, hence why The Others ritually burn their dead (no doubt under instructions from Jacob).
So, there are several extenuating circumstances that make the Jacob Ghost different from all the others we have seen before. And any of the above explanations could be a valid way to interpret how the candidates see him in Season Six. As always, really appreciate your comments and support :-)
This is your best video yet! finally someone made a comprehensive reference explainer for all the supernatural ghosts or apparitions!
Concerning Walt appearing to Locke while in the dharma pit, I believe it is Walt but Walt not aware he is there, like in a dream Walt is not in control of, like Walt said, he has had dreams of the island.
Also I believe this, Walt appearing before Locke is the island or time corse correcting to get The donkey wheel turned and Locks time skipping path, along with the island.
Locke is tied to the past and there for must skip through time then turn the wheel himself before he was able to die.
If Walt didn’t appear to Locke in the pit the gun would of jammed or something else would of stopped him.
Locke wouldn’t be able to remove himself for the past when events have already happen with him in the 1940’s, before and after that too, when he skips through time.
Love your videos!! And this was an amazing one!! Cheers
Great video, as always. I laughed out loud at "DIY acid trip!" Locke should really have his own DIY show. :) Appreciate your coverage of Harper, too. Her appearance always bugged me.
Thank you, Christy :-) I think Locke would front a great Bear Grylls type of show lol. "Running with John Locke" maybe?
Whooooa this is a heckin chonker of a video. Many thanks!
Fav video of the series so far! Great editing and music. Also your perspective is spot on.
Such a great video, I really enjoyed it. You did a fantastic job ❤
I can't believe I missed this little detail. 55:41 Dave has no shadow. I been meaning to watch this entire series again for a while now. I found most of the other easter eggs but I can't believe I missed this one..
Dave's episode always blew my mind🤣
Did I just finish watching this and became a full member??? YES
That's wonderful! Thank you for supporting the channel :-) Just creating a post for you in the community membership tab now.
As always - Great answers to questions I never had or have thought too deeply into.
19:32 Jacob (maybe): “If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.”
Love your videos! I'm always excited to learn more about how things work on the Island! You're the best and we really appreciate you!
"Now he appears whenever he wants, like Obi-Wan Kenobi."
@@kevinjoyce9574 Jack: "I need to know, is Claire my sister?"
Jacob: "From a certain point of view"
Wasn't Hurley schizophrenic? That's why he saw Dave and then he kinda relapsed in the island
Another wonderful video. Great job.
Cuse and Lindeloft should do a video podcast with you.
They owe you that
I’d love to interview them. I’d ask them the questions that those more traditional interviewers never do!
@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 A good way to catch them is to raise a funding for a cameo to Terry O’Quinn or Emily De Ravin, if Hopefully if on the cameo request you present your work they could be willing to forward you to cuse/lindelof.
There are a lot of “if” in my scenario but you deserve it
Another amazing video... Thank you very much for your hard work in keeping this truly wonderful story alive and going like it always has with myself as well. You have become a great part of the Lost universe
Thank you, Silas! Also, I sent you a message on Patreon regarding your candidacy. 😎
Something just occurred to me, while watching this: Would cremating a body prevent the MIB from being able to use it?
Very well done! Very interesting topic to cover and think about.
Another important question:
Could anyone have killed Jacob if given the chance? I was always under the impression that the MIB's loop hole required a candidate or someone touched by Jacob to do the deed. It seems unlikely to me that in all of the centuries of manipulating those who arrived on the island that MIB wasn't able to convince anyone to simply kill Jacob for him until Ben finally did it.
Is Jacob only immune to aging and no other forms of death?
Personally, I think Emily said, "It's not time yet, Benjamin," to prevent Ben from running into Hostile territory & violating the truce between the Others and the Dharma Initiative. He would have unwittily put himself, Dharma members, and even the world in jeopardy. By leaving prematurely, young Ben is never shot by time-traveling Sayid in 1977. In turn, this would negate the series of events which unfold through time to sustain The Source. If Sayid never shot Ben, the conflict between Roger Linus, Stuart Radzinsky, Horace Goodspeed, Phil and the Losties - which later leads to the Jughead explosion - would never have happened. Ben would not have been healed in The Temple waters and initiated into the Others' camp. Sayid would not have been shot by Roger, later leading the 815 survivors to The Temple in 2007. This was an instance of The Island acting in accordance with Ben's exercise of his own free-will, or "the variables", as Daniel Faraday would describe it.
Man... I am missing one of my discs from season 6... it keeps me from watching any of LOST despite having all seasons on dvd. I just don’t want to have to skip an ENTIRE DISC especially on the last season cause I’d miss so, so much and wouldn’t understand a lot of things... I really gotta get a new season 6...
Everytime we see walt's apparition, it was almost like he was trying to warn people. Part of his powers appeared to be sensing danger with precognition, hence he always seemed to show up before something important or bad was going to happen. I think he was trying to save Shannon, but her fate on the island was likely to die. Apparently Walt's character was intended to be able to communicate with animals through telepathy, maybe that's why he has such a good relationship with Vincent. His warning to Locke to not open the hatch could of simply been him forseeing his father murder Ana lucia & Libby which we know was part of the reason michael could not move on from the island from the guilt. Also playing backgammon, walt predicted double 6s, or he wished for it and it happened. We know Walt has some sort of electromagnetic ability from the birds dying and the knife throw. My guess is the light on the island especially the energy emitted from the swan station magnified Walt's powers on the island which helped him bi-locate, and we already know the light on the island can teleport people to different locations. I actually thought that Walt telling locke he had 'work to do', sounded like something MIB would say, because MIB would need Locke to still be alive to be able to time travel back in time to plant the seed of him being special to Richard for the loophole plot. (sidenote: would the island even let locke shoot himself? Jack couldn't blow himself up with dynamite). since Walt was mostly written off the show a lot of these questions around him are never fully answered and we are just left with the notion that walt is "special" with no clear explanation for these early plot mysteries.
In regards to Dave, the showrunners def stated an intentional connection between imaginary Dave and Hurley's issues with his dad. I thought it was pretty clear Hurley off island suffered from mental illness & depression, and the Dave hallucination was a result of that illness. But coming to the island Hurley was mostly healed. I believe the writer for the lost encyclopedia stated on island Dave was MIB, whom scanned Hurley at some point to take advantage of that imaginary person from Hurely's past to make him jump off the cliff, even trying to convince him he never left Santa Rosa, a very MIB type of thing to do. Most importantly, I'd like to point out the significance of the Red flowers used throughout the show. They always seem to appear when smokie/MIB are around. In 'cost of living' When 'Yemi' talks to Eko we see the red flowers very clearly as Eko is kneeling. A scene when smokie attacks our losties in the jungle we see the red flowers, when smokie is randomly ripping trees in the jungle we see red flowers. In "Dave' we see Dave lead Hurley through a patch of those red flowers before jumping off the cliff. In my opinion, a very clear relationship to MIB. Even though Damon L. had mentioned that on island Dave was more a figment of Hurley's imagination, the showrunners have said many contradictory things over the course of the show.
Neglected to comment on my original viewing (for shame!). The Harper situation was always a little muddy for me, but with you reminding me that Juliette was scanned, it pushes me much more strongly in the direction of that being the MIB.
It certainly makes that scene more interesting, doesn't it? I was always hardline about Harper being plain old human Harper, but if you subscribe to the notion that the Man in Black *can* appear temporarily as a living person from a memory capture (with the altar boy Daniel and Walt both being possible examples of this) then Harper should also qualify. I think there are definitely two possible solutions to her appearance as a result, depending on how you interpret the MiB's powers.
@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 with Harper being such a minor character, I could take her appearance as the MIB as confirmation of her death as well, as opposed to us seeing her die.
Also a fair point! For all we know, Harper could have been killed during the raid on the Oceanic beach camp in the Season Three finale.
Another banger keep them up pls I love all these videos
I like how they used golden orb-weaver spiders to represent Arnstz’s so-called Medusa spiders, probably because golden orb-weavers look pretty gnarly.
Great video as always. My comments:
- I like what you say about characters visiting Hurley after him going into the Light, because I believe Eko goes to the flash-sideways at the end of The Cost of Living. And then after going to the Light, visits Hurley.
- Christian and costume change. Fake Locke also does a costume change, maybe it was for the future when he was about to meet other candidates. Just to further maintain the illusion and dress up as John Locke as they remembered him, and not like dead John Locke in a suit.
24:10 Yeah, I think there is a misconception and absolutely, the freighter was inside the radius. It doesn't travel through time since there were no living being on it. It was just a wreck and stayed in 2004 just like the tents on the beach stayed in 2004. The only piece of wreck that travelled through time was the one with Jin on, since he was alive. There might have been other bodies on different pieces of wreckage, but since they were dead they stayed in their time. Just like Charlotte's body stayed in the time she died and didn't travel. If the bomb didn't blow up and Jin was on the freighter, then the freighter would've moved back in time just like the zodiac raft. Things that they touch, move with them.
28:37 Great point about sensing their upcoming death. You could even argue that MIB-Christian sensed that Jack was almost about to die at the cliff, since he stood in such a spot that, above a grassy slope that would lead Jack directly to death after chasing him.
30:53 - Jack in denial. Brilliant point. I wholeheartedly agree. My headcanon is that I also believe that Jack was the first one to see a glimpse of the smoke monster. When Jack got separated in the Pilot, Charlie mentions to Kate that the Monster was right behind him and Jack. And Jack dove into the bushes, later saying it was right behind him, but he didn't see it. But what if he lied, just brushed aside this as a hallucination, and the Monster managed to scan him?
47:10 Absolutely correct about the senses. He even says later in the show that he likes the feeling of walking, since it reminds him of once being human.
48:30 About Emily. I would like to add one thing, and that is from the script - something that got deleted! During the encounter between young Ben and Richard, Ben explains that he saw his mother and that she is dead. Then this dialogue was cut out of the episode:
YOUNG BEN: "Is she... with you?"
ALPERT
(a beat; then): "Sort of."
Ummmm... WHAT?!? (
I wholeheartedly agree with your agreements lol! And that deleted portion from the original script is a great reference to use here.
The writers were modulating their mythology throughout the writing process and I think the ghosts and whispers and MiB apparitions all developed over the course of the seasons. In Season One, it was anyones game as to what apparitions could be. Like you say, things were in flux. Sometimes the whispers were associated with The Others but other times they clearly had a supernatural shape to them, hence why we hear the recently dead voice of Frank Duckett whisper to Sawyer in ‘Outlaws’. At this point in the show the writers might not have been sure if The Others were going to be supernatural in nature and kept their options open going forward. Season One writer David Fury confirms as much in an old interview. But they added in “back doors” to various mysteries, allowing room for the evolution of answers and to accommodate the ideas of new writers who joined the staff each season.
As always, I appreciate your comments and thoughts on the show. 😊
Now these are what EXPLAINED videos should be! 🙀
My personal takes about ambiguous ghost are:
Dave is a hallucination, makes more sense, it is the simplest, to think that it is MiB is more far theory crafting
Emily is a real ghost, for the same reasons
Harper is MiB, it makes sense that MiB scanned Juliet shortly before
Walt is Walt in all his appearances
I think those are all completely reasonable takes to have. 👌
Amazing work, unsurprisingly!
After some consideration I'm actually leaming towards MIB in Harpers case, not only because it would have been very convenient for the MIB to release the poison gas, corrupt Juliet and kill candidats in the process (and we're not sure if and how Ben could have given any commands to Harper in the first place) but also because of the events in 3x15 Left Behind. As you pointed out, the MIB scans several people over the course of the show, which is always followed up upon in the story. Obviously with Locke in the very beginning of the show, Eko and Yemi, Richard and Isabella, etc. Yet there is no obvious follow up to Juliet being scanned in Season 3. I'm trying to view this from the persepcitve of the writers room and I'm assuming this was meant as a setup, possible cut short by the writers guild strike in season 4. My guess: In the original draft of the season, Juliet would have realized Harper actually died prior to their encounter, but that arc had to be cut. But since we didn't get that kind of confirmation, we are now left with this ambigious scene.
On another note, I noticed your videos are significantly more quiter than other TH-cam videos, in terms of audio normalization. Seems like that has been the case on this channel since the very beginning, but I just noticed it while switching back and forth between different videos. Maybe something to look into?
Keep up the great work!
I agree with your comment. The logic is sound. But it’s something I only really started to consider recently, hence why I offer two potential solutions. I definitely lean more towards Man in Black in this analysis.
As for audio levels, someone else mentioned this to me recently. Not sure why it’s coming through at a lower level. The recording is done with a Rode microphone and edited on Audactiy, and it sounds normal on my computer. It could be because different people have different settings on their computer setups; yours might be better than mine! Or maybe once I add the Audacity tracks to the video editing suite it messes with the mix. Will see what I can do with future edits. 👍
As always, thanks for your feedback and your support. It means a lot 😊
Great explanation!
Audio sounds okay to me.
The question I have about the MiB theory for Harper is that his motivation would be to kill various candidates. However, I think it’s been fairly well established that candidates can’t die until they’ve fulfilled their purpose and the island is “done with them” (most notably seen with Michael). I would find it hard to believe that the MiB would not be aware of this fact. He has access to the cliff side cave, so he would know who the candidates are, so surely he would have tried to kill them in the 150 years since Richard arrived, only to be thwarted by the island itself. In my mind, this tends to negate any motivation the MiB would have to manifest as Harper.
This is also one of the reasons I have trouble with the “all manifestations of Christian on the island are the MiB” theory (it also requires that you believe the MiB, who has lied to everyone he’s interacted with in order to manipulate them, was telling the truth to Jack just this one time), but that’s a whole different discussion I won’t further discuss here.
I like MR Eko .. his final thoughts before dying was very sad ..
Also i like his Accent.
Great and important video for all Losties. Thank you.
There is one comment I would like mention. Walt appearing to Locke who was going to finish himself after Ben shot him; what happened was a course correction. Locke needed to go to the past and help Sawyer etc and talk to Richard as well. I’m willing to think that the light used Walt as a tool to guide Locke.
Walt didn’t ask him to kill Naomi, he asked him to stop her. Locke took rights to himself as a chosen one and killed her.
I think course correction only applies to Desmond in terms of his apparent ability to changes events in the timeline, and even that is open to debate. I agree that Taller Ghost Walt is speaking on behalf of The Island to motivate John Locke, but that whole series of events aren't being "corrected" per se. Because Locke's kidney was removed years ago so he would be able to survive this event. It was all predestined to happen that way. As was Walt's appearance. I absolutely agree with you that Walt did not ask Locke to kill Naomi. Locke simply interpreted it in an extreme way because his zealotism, for lack of a better word, had been validated in that moment.
Yes, you are right. But corrections happened also when Eloise was present. She was the one who launched that term. But actually I must admit that the case I mentioned is not course correction as Locke was not able to kill himself (similar way as Michael off island). Island was not done with him yet.
Another amazing video, congratulations!
I enjoyed discussing with you some major points of the plot in a previous occasion, but now I only have one question (this time, related to the video), let's see if you want to share your opinion:
When Locke falls into the well and where the frozen wheel is, he gets hurt in his leg. Christian (smoke monster) is there to guide him so he knows how to turn the wheel. Locke asks him for help to get up, but Christian says something like "I am afraid I cannot help you".
Why such response? We have seen the smoke monster (in human form) touch people multiple times, apparently without any restriction. There was clearly some reason behind this line, but I never got it. What do you think?
A very good question! You're right. We know that the Man in Black can touch candidates (as long as he doesn't intend harm) and we know that he is corporeal in that scene because he lights and holds the lantern. He is physically there. So, why can't he help John Locke up?
In my video on "The Cabin", I explain that the wheel chamber scene between Locke and Fake Christian is taking place in 2007 after Ajira has already come back with John Locke's body. That's the reason why Fake Christian knows about Eloise Hawking and how to bring back the Oceanic Six, because this event has already happened. And he has already scanned Locke's body, learned the relevant info, and turned into the man up top. Fake Christian is therefore repeating the exact movements and words that Real Locke remembered Fake Christian saying to him.
The Man in Black is essentially recreating Locke's memory in real time as it happens, if that makes sense? He's following a script in a way. It's part of this causal time loop in which the snake eats its own tail. The Man in Black doesn't help Locke up because that is not what happened in Dead Locke's memory of this event. Furthermore, the Man in Black cannot risk contaminating time travelling John Locke in any way by doing something differently in these time travel meetings. In case that somehow disrupts or alters the timeline in some way.
For instance, he couldn't send Ben instead of Richard in the compass hand-off scene by the beechcraft because Fake Locke knows that it was Richard who gave Real Locke the compass in that moment. So, he is following the script, priming Richard with what to do and say, then letting it play out as it did. If he tries to alter the script for some reason, it could blow up his loophole. So, he follows Real Locke's memories of these events precisely. Including not extending a hand of help in the wheel chamber.
First off, kudos for providing such an astute analysis and interpretation on the story of ‘Lost’. Like millions of others I’ve been captivated and fascinated by this story since day one, but I’ve just watched it again in its entirety and found it to be as brilliant as I did the first time I watched it and consequently sought out some of the additional material that is scattered across TH-cam, which is how i found your videos.
Your work on this is inspired and i think you hit the target in a great many areas, however, it seems to me you failed to take into account the duality that is at work in this story. There seems to be a great emphasis on the strategies and motivations of the dark twin, and not enough consideration of Jacob. The two boys represent this duality, this yin and yang that’s at play here. The white and black stones on the scales are in balance. These two forces were locked in a stalemate in a kind of chess game, and both are capable of utilising resources in a similar, albeit different way and do so periodically during the course of the story. The difference is, that as the custodian Jacob is in communion with the island itself, whereas his opposite is merely using the power the island has bestowed upon him due to Jacob’s initial “mistake,” for his own ends, i.e. to extinguish the island once and for all and escape into the wider world.
Fake Locke cannot cross water in his true form, he can only do that if he takes physical form and uses a BOAT. Therefore the Christian that Michael sees just before the C4 detonates isn’t the ‘Man in Black’ it’s actually Jacob’s doing. Previously Michael couldn’t die because he’d been touched by Jacob via the power the island has bestowed up on him as custodian, and only the island through Jacob can release him from this fate. That’s why he tells Michael, he can go now once Michael has completed his mission, a mission Jacob has orchestrated. Why Christian? If Walt had been killed, it would probably have been Walt, so this was really for our benefit, to clue us in that two conflicting forces were at work here, not just one. We were familiar with this particular apparition even if Michael wasn’t. This seed of uncertainty as to which side was manifesting Christian continues to blossom as the story unfolds.
‘The Man In black’ believed that if if he could manipulate Ben into killing Jacob, that would be the end of him and his final obstacle to achieving his aim would be removed, but of course he’s not in communion with the island. That’s why he’s so surprised when he first encounters the spirit of his murdered brother in the jungle, and fearfully pushes away the significance of it.
Jacob knew when he ordained Jack that Jack would probably die in his attempt to stop his brother, that Jack’s ordination was temporary. This is what lies at the heart of Hurley’s story. Jack, with the help of Desmond, was the instrument by which his brother would be thwarted, Hurley was always going to be the long term custodian of the island.
Why Hurley? Hurley was the joker in the pack. While loved or at least liked by pretty much everyone, no one really started to take him seriously until the final season. No one regarded Hurley as a threat, rather he was more a comedic character for the most part, and yet Hurley over and over again displays exactly the right characteristics you’d want in a custodian over the greatest power on the planet; it’s a power and responsibility he doesn’t want or crave, unlike Ben, and yet his innocence, his goodness and his morality is on display from day one.
This is probably why Hurley was simply released on the jetty when Jack, Sawyer and Kate had been captured by the ‘Others’. In all likelihood that instruction came from Jacob via Albert and ultimately Ben. Hurley was being prepared for what lay ahead in a completely different way than that of Jack, Sawyer and Kate who were being strengthened for the ordeals that lay ahead.
In the context of this struggle, both brothers could manifest Christian, or whoever else served their strategies, the difference is the ‘man in black’ manifested them from memories using the deep emotions and guilt complexes of the targeted individual to manipulate them; whereas Jacob using his communion with the island and the force therein, could actually manifest their friends and loved ones for real as part their candidacy.
That’s my take one it anyway.
Thanks again for some stellar analysis of one of the best stories ever brought to television drama.
Firstly, thank you for the compliments and your own detailed analysis. It's worth noting that I have discussed (in extensive detail) the duality between Jacob and the Man in Black in multiple videos (my most recent one on the channel on "The Ancient Past" delves into a lot of it) and my upcoming video will focus exclusively on "the game" between these two players. I suggest you check that one out next!
Secondly, while I respect your own reading of the show, I do disagree with you on a fundamental point regarding Christian's manifestation on the freighter. There is no evidence in the show to suggest that a protector could manifest themselves as a dead person, or that they could specifically summon real spirits. They are conduit to The Source and have their own powers, yes. But those powers are tied to the living world. The dominion of the dead belongs to the Man in Black. Which actually is more reflective of this duality and dichotomy that you speak of between Jacob and MiB.
For the purposes of disambiguation, let's call this hypothetical Jacob-related Christian "Light" and the proven MiB-related Christian "Dark".
If Christian Shepherd on the freighter was really Jacob in disguise (or even the Real Christian summoned back from the afterlife) then why is he wearing the same clothes that the Man in Black had been wearing in the cabin when Locke first met him? Surely, he would manifest in the suit he died in, or something else? There is no reason for Dark-Christian and Light-Christian to be wearing those same cabin clothes at all. Even just for visual optics it would make more sense for your Light-Christian to look different to MiB's version. Just to help us recognise that these are two different versions. But that's not the case. They dress the same and act the same. Because they are the same.
And why would Light-Christian manifest to Michael -- a man he had never met -- to tell him he could now die? Why was the scene played so ominously? Yes, I agree that Michael was a candidate and that only The Island can decide when someone's time is up. And that's what we see happen. Michael's whole purpose was to stave off the bomb long enough so the other candidates could make it off the freighter (because they couldn't die until they served their purpose in the time loop). Michael's purpose in the living world had reached its completion.
What we see happening in that moment is the Man in Black appearing to see off one more obstacle to his escape. Also, this bomb exploding in a confined space and killing a candidate is the likely inspiration for MiB's plan to kill the other candidates with a bomb in a confined space in Season Six on the sub. I discuss in this very video how the Man in Black absolutely *can* travel across water and why he lies to Sawyer about that fact. Maybe he can't travel across it as smoke, but we know he can teleport in and around the bubble of the island (something demonstrated more than once). And when Fake Christian appears on that freighter, it's clearly from having teleported. There's no point in me rehashing it all here. But it's worth rewatching that section of the video to hear the evidence and reasoning: 23:26
Another point about that scene on the freighter: it is definitely played as a malevolent moment; the music stinger especially indicates that. It's not a Jacob-style moment at all. Also, Michael's final words to Fake Christian are: "Who are you?". Which echo Mr. Eko's last words to Fake Yemi in Season Three before his death. He says the exact same thing: "Who are you?" And then he dies. That's the real clue to Fake Christian's identity.
I remember first watching that freighter scene at the time and thinking "Uh oh, this is definitely NOT Ghost Christian, and he does not have anyone's best interests at heart." And it made it even more worrying because the island had been moved under his instruction. It's the first real moment when we see that whoever is occupying the cabin might not be someone we should trust.
Further to this point, it is also worth mentioning that Damon Lindelof discussed in an interview last year that sometimes the smoke monster was actually responsible for whispers too, as he was the equivalent of a "quasi-ghost" and carried the voices of many of the dead on the island. And we hear whispers stir in the room before Fake Christian manifests.
Anyway, I like your thoughtful take on all of this. I just don't personally align with this particular part of your interpretation.
Thanks for reading my comment and for the insightful response. To be clear I didn’t mean to suggest that Jacob was masquerading as Christian in Michael’s death scene, rather that it was actually the spirit of Christian himself. I suppose I prefer to think of Christian’s words to Michael at that moment to mean ‘you can go now, you’re redeemed for what you did’, rather than the MIB telling him he can go now because he’s fulfilled some nefarious purpose as part of some evil plan. For me the whole show is about redemption. The only major character that didn’t find it was the MIB himself, for whom I have to admit i had some empathy despite who and what he was. At the end of the day he was a human child who discovered that his real mother had been murdered by his foster mother, who then lied to him and sought to keep him on the island against his will rather than let him rejoin his own people. Jacob was the one that made him what he was. For the MIB the island was a prison, which fuelled his hatred and desire to destroy it. I digress. Our varying interpretation not withstanding, your films are greatly appreciated, thanks for making them.
Liked and shared! Your best analysis yet imo. Would love to see a spin-off video about the appearances of animals on the island. I know you've said that you think Sawyer's boar from S1 might have been smoke-related. But there were many more strange animals popping up throughout like Mikhail's cat, the Hurley bird and Kate's horse, etc. Could be worth an exploration maybe.
I’ve discussed Kate’s horse in a previous video on “The Magic Box” but I take your point about the animals having various interpretations available to them. That video might be on the cards at some point!
@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 Then there's Walt's dog, forgetting his name at the moment. His not an island manifestation or anything, but he always seems at little too smart and involved for just a dog. The island seems to flow though him as if to act as a source of reliable comfort for the losties during trying times.
Vincent was the best! Would have been great to get a Vincent-centric episode to follow him on some of his adventures around the island. Could have been a neat way of answering and expanding upon a few mysteries.
@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 If they had one flash back of Jacob interacting and guiding Vincent to Jack after the crash that would just be sooo perfect.
Hi! I love your channel.
Now I have to pull out those LOST DVDs and rewatch the show….
Do it! Do it! Do it!
Loved this! Fantastic analysis ❤
I was skeptical at first, but these videos are very helpful after-all. How did you come up w this?
These videos are so helpful
What a great analysis video ! Im wondering if Lindelof or the author are watching ur videos and thinking they shouldve hired u for Co-Writing :D
I thought that was Jordan Peterson on the thumbnail
another phenomenal video!
Incredible video! You went above & beyond as always, you changed my mind on quite a lot here just based on the hard, concrete facts presented. Thank you for your amazing work, the Source loves you
Thank you, Mike! Couldn't do it without the support of fans like yourself :-)
This show was amazing. So deep, so mythological, so full of knowledge, yet I remember watching at 12/yo and loving it. It’s crazy how you can create something that’s enjoyable for children (not always appropriate, but hey) and also deeper than the depths of the ocean for adults. This show is basically a concentration of our reality, except I don’t believe in ghosts, just demon and angelic spirits. And I do believe in Jesus Christ and hell so not everybody returns to the light and you can’t atone for your own sins. Which I think on some level the writers agree but it seems like Catholic doctrine. But the whole show is about Cain and Abel, good and evil, protect light (life) and cultivate its flourishing or snuff it out (death) and destroy life altogether for its seemingly arbitrary suffering. Every single person wakes up in the morning and goes through this experience of choosing to embrace life and suffering; give yourself as a sacrifice to the good and truth, love and peace, cultivating it into something beautiful (chaos into order) or manipulate and lie, steal and kill in order to bring about greater suffering and destruction for life’s seemingly arbitrary existence. Whether you are aware of this or not really is an expression of someone destined to protect the island or destroy it or weather your just a regular person who never comes to be aware of the islands existence…we really live in a magical world. Although I don’t really know if the evil actually wants to completely destroy life or just control it on their own terms but that’s the same thing as eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Instead of allowing God to rule over life and determine good and evil for life itself, we rebel and desire to control and determine good and evil for ourselves and use it to rule over others or destroy it altogether.
Anyways this show is insane and there’s never going to be anything like it ever again. If they ever re-make it or run a spin-off, I think it would be a disaster. It would need the same writers and most of the same characters unless they just did a complete copy with new characters. It’s just so specific and complex that any change that doesn’t correlate exactly with the set structure it would destroy the entire plot. Not to mention all the Woke garbage and propaganda they would add for their own agendas. They also almost NEVER say “Oh my God” and “Jesus Christ” as swear words which is remarkable. I can only remember one instance someone says “OMG” but it’s been a while since I watched the show. But I’m a Christian so that’s not important to everyone. Although I won’t watch a show that blasphemes my Savior. Sorry, this show proves it’s not necessary to use Jesus’ name as a cuss word in your artistic pieces. Everyone that does that is doing it on purpose and people should be upset about that. What if we used the name of Buddha, Muhammad or Allah as a swear word? Or what if I used your mother’s name in place of sh**? People would flip tables. Probably even kill over it. Anything to profane the Christian God though, no problem with that. Alright that’s enough for me... Repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. The Kingdom of God is here.
Amazing video, very informative and helpful, God bless you!
Thank you for such a long video! It was very exciting. I'm looking forward to new releases! 😁
The theory that Man in black can take on the appearance of living people by scanning other people's memories seems implausible to me. If we follow this theory, Man in black can scan Jack, see Locke in his memories and take the form of Locke. Then Man in black wouldn't need Ben to kill Locke. Perhaps you will say that Man in black can take the appearance of living people from scanned memories only if they are not on the Island, but I don't understand why. This is even more striking if I would follow the theory that Man in black scanned Juliet and took the appearance of Harper, who was definitely on the Island.
Of course, it is easier to assume that the boy died, because if he is alive, it raises more questions, but his death went off-screen without any hints. Usually when we answer the questions of the show, according to the principles of this channel, we are guided by information from the canon and nothing more. But this time we have to completely theorize without having any leads. What do you think about this?
Also, can you please answer two questions that I have:
1. Why didn't Claire start time travel in season 5? Maybe the linear sequence of time is most important for the Island, and if Claire wasn't at the earliest point in time, then it makes no sense for the Island to move her in time. However, she is the only exception, everyone else moved in time, even Neil Frogurt and other unnamed people. It could have been anyone instead of Claire. How can this be explained?
2. Why is the inscription "quarantine" only on the doors of the Swan and the Arrow? I don't think the reason is the geographical location of the stations. According to the ultraviolet map, the Arrow and the Swan are located far from each other. I think the reason is that the Arrow and the Swan are the only two stations that were not used by Others, and they were used by Radzinsky after the Purge. He wrote the inscription "quarantine" on the Arrow when he hid a fragment of the orientation film on it. The Arrow appeared in 2x07, the Staff in 2x15, the Pearl in 2x19. It is no coincidence that there are inscriptions on the doors of only two stations.
I actually discuss this very issue about the Man in Black (and whether or not he can appearing as living people) in this very video when discussing Eko's warlords and John Locke. Not sure if you've watched the whole thing yet but I explore that question, and its solutions within. I don't argue that the memory capture power of living people is definitively fact, only that it is possible due to a couple of ambiguous appearances and quotes from the creators. If those apparitions of living people are unsustainable beyond short periods of time then it would explain why the Man in Black needs people to be dead, otherwise he cannot make anyone believe that he really is that person walking around. Again, I delve into more detail in the actual video itself.
As for your questions, Claire doesn't move through time because she never appeared in the past. Only people who appeared in the linear history of the island pre-2004 will time travel after the wheel is pushed. It's the same reason why Sun doesn't travel back in time in Season Five. Because she was not part of the "whatever happened, happened" time loop. Claire stayed in present day time under the Man in Black's tutelage for three years, having various encounters and conflicts with The Others at the temple.
I discuss the reason for the Quarantine signs in both my video on DHARMA and my video on Jughead. They are to designate certain sectors as high-risk for electromagnetic activity and possible contamination following The Incident. Areas that DHARMA deemed to be "hot zones", perhaps because they are in close proximity to known pockets of electromagnetic energy, such as beneath The Swan. It's absolutely possible that you're right and Radzinsky is the one who made those signs. We know that he told Kelvin to wear the hazmat suit when going up top for pallet runs, so he considered fallout to be a real risk to some extent, otherwise Kelvin would never have worn it at all.
ADDED TO "WATCH LATER!" Can't view something like this while at work. I won't get anything done! :D
Totally understandable! 😆
I absolutely love your videos. There are so many ads though.
I understand. Nobody likes ads! But they are a necessary evil. The ad revenue generated from them is the only thing keeping this channel alive. I couldn’t afford to make the videos without that financial incentive.
It's an amazing channel to explain lost series..i want to ask a question about how Richard was able to visit Locke in the 1950's when the time travel engine didn't exist yet. The others were not in control of the DHARMA submarine yet, so how did Richard get off the island in 1950s'?
Well, there were most likely boats that The Others used back in the 1950s. Remember, Richard had to recruit and bring some of those Others to the island, like Charles and Eloise. It's likely that he had a sailboat or marine vessel of some kind to come and go from the island, and they traded that up for the DHARMA submarine in the 1980s.
Awesome video! On a unrelated note could up the volume a little bit on your videos? They're hard to hear on speaker
I have had a couple of people say this recently. I've tried looking into what the cause could be but the volume is whacked up to full on audio tracks in my editing suite. Can't get it to go any higher. And then the sound comes through fine on my computer, so I'm not 100% sure what else I can do to boost the volume further. Any ideas? Are you tech-savvy?
Ah yes a really long video. Thank you.
They are going to get even longer in the coming months! 😆
I always felt Walt was the easiest one. He was just astroprojecting. That's why he's aged.
I always assumed that Mother was the original smoke monster and that she appeared to MIB as Claudia to con him into killing her. She was likely stuck on the Island for a very long time just like MIB and wanted to be freed. The reason she was stuck was because she tried to take from the light.
Reasons for this are the fact that she kills Claudia, she says if you try to take the light its a fate worse than death, she somehow destroyed the whole village and the well MIB was digging, and she thanked him when he killed her. A very long con indeed!
I would argue that the way Claudia presents to The Boy in Black (bathed in light, lacking malevolence, calm and happy to see him, just as we saw Isabella with Richard) and the fact that Mother looks genuinely perturbed and shocked when the Boy in Black confronts her with his newfound knowledge, and how devastated Mother is by this (she cries into the morning on the beach), I think it was the real Claudia’s ghost. It was the show’s way of demonstrating that there is a supernatural force at play beyond the games of protectors and smoke monsters.
Your explanations about Christian are FANTASTIC. You totally convinced me since that small little dispute we once had in the comments.
Actually, this whole video is brilliant.
That Alex part beneath the temple with Ben always reminds me of my little Trailer 😅
That fan made "You Found Me" thing I've made. I don't know if you've seen it already....
Still a bit proud of it, how I edited that and with the music and all.
Both Ben and Eko suffering the 'Smoke Torments of Hell'.
Great video as always I just have one question. What about the scene in the hatch when Sawyer asked Kate why she killed him?
We can read that moment in a couple of different ways. The first and most likely answer is that Sawyer was sick with fever and he was hallucinating. And when he woke up, he didn't see Kate. He saw someone else. Could be his father, or who he imagines the real Sawyer to look like. But it could even be the Other who shot him on the raft, since that bullet almost does kill Sawyer. The point is: Sawyer is delirious with fever and seeing things, and Kate is projecting onto the moment with her own issues. Sawyer reminds her of Wayne already.
The second way of reading this moment is Man in Black related. If you subscribe to the notion that MiB could infect and influence people on the edge of death then this scene plays out more like Sawyer being pulled towards the dark side of the scale within himself. The Man in Black is being channelled through him to get to Kate. Now I don't necessarily subscribe to this reading myself but it's certainly an interesting way of looking at the scene if you so wish.
@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 bro you are one of the smartest people I’ve ever met. I never thought about it like that but we do project are experiences on to situations. Thank you so much for clearing this up!
@@Booknowlakealmonor You're very kind to say that, sir! Not sure how smart I am, I'm just really into LOST lol.
I think the altar boy was dead when Eko saw him, and became a manifestation of his guilt for MiB to use.
Along the same lines as "Who are you?" indicating MiB was present, Christian saying "Follow me" to Sun at the barracks (which Boy in Black & MiB Alex also said to Jacob & Ben) indicates that was MiB as well, not Christian appearing through the source.
Something I never noticed was the similar pattern between Dave's robe & Hugo's dad's shirt when he left him as a kid.
Another thought I had was that if MiB could use non-human forms to scan people, the "Hurley bird" would be a strong candidate, given how much attention is given to it in that scene.
All salient points! I agree that the altar boy being dead is a far cleaner explanation. But that also means Harper and any Walt appearances couldn't be MiB either. Again, makes for a cleaner read on smoke monster manifestations and those specific appearances. Harper was just Harper, Walt was just Walt. But I don't think there is any question in my mind that Christian at the barracks was the Man in Black. All island appearances of Christian are MiB as far as I am concerned. Good catch with the Dave/David fabric patterns!
You're doing God's work here, brother!
do you believe there's any meaningful differential why Jacob's young boy ghost appears to the MIB sometimes with blonde hair and sometimes with dark hair? or just that that's what the actor playing him happened to have in real life at each given time?
also, assuming the hospital lobby appearance of Christian was indeed "just a ghost", do you think the writers were simply teasing us by having that moment immediately preceded by a nearby smoke alarm going off (and Jack investigating that)?
About taller ghost Walt...an important detail to observe is that he's wearing the same thing he wore on the raft and when he was in the hands of the others. I doubt he is wearing the exact same attire in the future as he projects himself back in time just by chance. This is what he was wearing when Juliet knew him so it makes sense that it's a MiB appearance. I dont think we see him appear as a scanned memory to a person who isn't the original subject that he scanned. Ekos scanned memories were only presented to Eko, Richard's memories to Richard. But this would've been a scanned memory from Juliet shown to Locke...maybe thats why he's taller? Idk
Only other theory I would have is that when he was in room 23 he actually projected FORWARDS in time to a moment that needed him. It's an equally unsupported theory and doesnt explain why hed be taller. But given the attire I cant accept that it's him off the island having dreams and astral projecting on the island because of it.
I totally get what you’re saying. I go back and forth on Walt all the time! And your logic is sound enough. But there are problems with both solutions.
So, if he really is Walt then why is he in those clothes and taller and telling Locke to stop the freighter? I mean, the clothes could still be dream-related in that he is wearing what he remembers wearing on The Island. But still, it’s an imperfect solution.
I have the same problems with him being the Man in Black though. First of all, why appear as Walt? Why not Boone or Eko or Christian? Someone dead? And if MiB could appear as living people then why did he never use that power outside of these moments? Second of all, we have an in-show confirmation about the rule of MiB only being able to appear as dead people, which annoys me because that was clearly supposed to be an answer yet we have contradictions to that answer with Walt (and potentially Eko’s altar boy Daniel). Also, if Walt is MiB in this scene, why does he want Locke to stop the freighter? MiB needs that conflict on The Island to motivate the wheel turn. There’s just so many things that get thrown up by it.
There’s holes and questions that come with both of these interpretations, and I’ve never been able to find an elegant solution to either. I don’t take a hardline approach to either interpretation because of this. I’m actually re-exploring Walt and his powers in the upcoming video, and I shall be addressing some of these notions. 👌
@LOSTEXPLAINED108 If it's Walt it could be the island guiding his psychic spasms or dreams in a way to give Locke further instructions in a moment that he needed it.
If it was MiB it could be that he knew at that point that Locke wouldn't die which is in my opinion his main intuition (same way the whispers know that the moment is about to come). At this point he gives Locke instructions to stop the freighter from contacting the island and return to the cabin for further instructions where the MiB would be waiting to instruct him to turn the wheel and get away from the freighter. If they've found the island then they will find a way ashore.
I think there are motivations that work both ways but yeah nothing explains why he's taller. And I agree that if it was MiB it would've made wayyyy more sense for him to use Boone. I actually posted a super long comment on your cabin video about my personal theory for how much the MiB knew about the time loop and why exactly I think he sent John to turn the wheel. I'm not sure it ever actually went up in the comments section though. Did you see it? I can resend.
Very much looking forward to your next video though. My fiance just started S5 so we're in the thick of it now and I'm buzzing with theories again!
Just imagine if both Shannon and Locke had both seen Boone! Would have solved all of these issues lol. Why Darlton? Why?! 😆
I have another theory as to why Walt might be there at the grave pit but I shall leave that for the video. I feel like what makes these Walt appearances so frustrating is that they are both so close to making sense as being either depending on how you decide to headcanon the explanations.
Haven’t seen your comment about the wheel - is this a recent comment? You can re-post it here if you like. You’re on the golden stretch in your rewatch as far as I’m concerned. Season Five is my fave! Is your fiancé enjoying it? How are you feeling about it upon this rewatch?
@LOSTEXPLAINED108 I think it's too long...gonna do two replies lol
As for the rewatch my fiance has been pretty invested since the end of Season 3. Shes super anxious to see Jacob and I cant wait to see how frustrated she gets when she sees him die in the same episode that she meets him in 😂😂😂
And I agree... middle of S3 through S5 is imo the gold stretch. I'm having a great time unlocking a new layer of understanding even still as I watch.
@LOSTEXPLAINED108 Ok here goes new MiB theory but it's quite a change in perspective...bare with me.
It's always been a challenge trying to explain how much the MiB knew and how he constructed this master plan or why he would've sent Locke off the island unless he knew he was coming back dead or alive. But any answer anybody has ever come up with that I've seen always seems incredibly convoluted or too much of a stretch for me to accept that it was the writers' intentions. Besides the MiB doesn't care about the island, the source, fate, destiny or the "fabric of time/space" so why would he believe any of the instances of the time travelers was something that was destined to happen? He just thinks things happens randomly. There's no evidence through the memories of corpses such as Charlotte or Horace that Locke returns to the island so why would MiB have any interest in causing the loop. If the island is speaking to him, he wouldnt listen or obey unless it's in his best interest...therefore the island wouldnt speak to him. So what if his reason for moving the island wasn't to initiate this grand master plan, but simply to get the island and Ben away from Widmore's people? And what if he chose Locke to do so not because he knew he'd die and/or come back, but because he simply wanted Locke out of the picture?
Lemme explain...Yes, his plan from the moment he scanned Locke in Ep4 until the end of season 3 WAS to utilize Locke's time travel legacy to threaten Ben and make him Jealous. He would know about Locke's time traveling legend even though he wouldn't know/care what caused it. When Ben kills Locke he can take his place and push Ben out then demand to see Jacob as we see in Season 5. As you've said, he almost gets everything he wants at the end of Man Behind the Curtain when Ben shoots him and leaves him for dead. But when it becomes clear to MiB a short while later that the island is protecting Locke and he seemingly can't be killed, Locke becomes a threat to MiB's plan. It's almost like Locke has become an unstoppable force of Jacob's will. Locke would inevitably push Ben out of the leadership role and both Ben and Locke in these new positions are of far less use to MiB. If Locke's body can't be taken then MiB can't use it to demand to be taken to Jacob. And if Ben isn't the leader he can never be taken to Jacob either let alone kill him. And while Locke is easily coerced and does have questionable methods he does NOT have a history of genocide or a blinding compulsion to overthrow/kill those who threaten his power so if he ever did meet up with Jacob it would be much more difficult to for MiB to convince Locke to kill him. Locke cares more about being a part of something important and truly believes that everything he does is in the best interest of everyone on the island thus he is NOT a Jacob killer anymore than Richard is. This is why Ben is MiB's ace in the hole. Ben isn't just a proven killer for power, he's also the leader of the others and far more controllable than Locke as it appears. Plus MiB could probably have someone Kill Ben at whatever point and become the leader of the others (something he can't do with Locke). Ben has potential to be both a ticket to Jacob or a Jacob killer and is far less expendable than Locke.
Ben was the MiB golden child. He was doing anything he could to hold onto him in Season 4. If you watch Cabin Fever you can also pick up on the MiB's urgency when he gives Locke directions he says rather frustrated "We don't have time for this. The people on the boat are already on their way back." He is visibly uneasy that he may lose Ben. The last thing he wants is Locke or Widmore in charge of the others and Ben gone. So he sends Locke to move the island killing two birds with one stone and concocts a new plan involving Ben and Claire as Claire is an easy target for manipulation. He has her father's body and memories and Charlie's body and memories (we never see him use Charlie on screen but I believe he did) and he knows Aaron is her #1 motivation for anything. If I had to guess his plan was to use Claire to kill Ben, take Ben's place, and then start demanding to see Jacob with Claire by his side.
min 31: i thogut that wasnt ghost or smoki, that was jack alucinanting
Hi again friend. A great video - probably one of your best, and I really enjoyed it. My post will be a little lengthy, but let me say first of all that I agree with almost everything you say, and I don't think that any of the "ambiguous" sightings - Dave, Harper, Taller Ghost Walt etc, are actually the MIB.
One point I do want to raise - and I seek your own opinion on this - is to what extent the MIB was aware of the presence of the time travellers at various points in the past. As a "demi- God" I would've expected him to be aware of these appearances, and to also be aware of the catastrophic consequences of allowing any temporal paradox to be created that prevented them travelling (ie, the end of everything). So I can't personally subscribe to the idea that he tried to trick Jack into falling to his death (although Christian clearly was the MIB), or that he tried to trick Hurley into jumping off a cliff. Nor can I accept that he would've tried to persuade Juliet to shoot Daniel and Charlotte as all three still had to time travel. In fact, I can't figure out why he would choose the form of Harper (even if she was dead) to relay this message anyway. Wouldn't it have made much more sense to adopt the form of Goodwin (whose dead body was on the Island), as this would have had much more emotional resonance for Juliet, even although she knew he was dead? He also, of course, had a connection with the Tempest, which would have made the instruction coming from him (or his "ghost", as Juliet may have rationalised it) even more persuasive for her.
As for Hurley, my take is that Dave's invention was a consequence of Hugo's guilt over the decking incident, where people fell to their deaths, so it makes poetic sense that his subconscious (ie Dave) would "suggest" death by falling from a height - no need to invoke the MIB to explain that scene away.
I'm more relaxed about Ben's sighting of his mother - it can work either way without contradicting anything important, but it's Emily's spirit in my "head canon".
Taller Ghost Walt is interesting. I'm with you regarding it not being the MIB, but I'm not sure that I can get behind your claim that, if it was MIB, he would've been happy with Locke dying. Because, again, it's prior to time-travel, so John's death would be a somewhat pyrrhic victory for the MIB if it created a paradox.
Hi Drew! All fair points you make there in regards to Man in Black apparitions (or not, as they case may be). I stay on the fence about Dave because, for me, it's more interesting if Dave is the Man in Black in that episode due to how he baits and manipulates Hurley into an attempted suicide. It just enriches the rather sporadic actions of MiB throughout those first three seasons if he appeared more times in disguise. It's a fun way to look back at certain ambiguous appearances.
However, it opens up the need to theory craft a bit too much as I mention in my video. Can MiB scan people whilst occupying other forms? That's a big question. But then another issue with the "Dave is MiB" theory is that we have to workaround the idea that Hurley was not a candidate so, therefore, MiB didn't need to tempt him to kill himself. He could have just killed him. I'll get to your whole take on MiB and the time travel in a bit. The only possible explanation for his tactic is that he knew that the sudden suicide of the happy-go-lucky Hurley -- aka the heart of the Oceanic survivors -- would devastate and demoralise the group beyond repair.
Still, we would have to ignore that the showrunners outright confirmed that Dave wasn't smoke-related. And while I don't always use their word as complete gospel, I still lean more to Dave being a hallucination, and I think you summed up the reasons behind that well in your comment. It makes sense.
As for Harper, I was always hardline about her being a real person until fairly recently. You and I have even discussed that before as I recall. But if -- and it's a big *if* -- MiB *can* appear as living people temporarily then Harper being a smoke monster manifestation can work nicely, and pays off the "download" sequence in 'Left Behind' when Juliet got scanned. It's way more interesting to me in that context. If he appeared as Goodwin, Juliet would be alarmed and suspicious. Because she knows he is dead. Wouldn't it be better to appear as someone who is still alive but Juliet wronged somehow? Someone that Juliet feels like she owes.
But this all comes down to whether or not you believe or subscribe to the notion that MiB could appear in a limited form as still-living people from a memory capture. This is something that I wrestle with to this day. Mainly because of altar boy Daniel's appearance and Damon Lindelof's frustrating sort-of contrary confirmation that Walt's appearances were probably MiB (at least in his mind looking back). So... I think it's only fair to let the question marks remain over Harper and Walt (and Dave) since two possible solutions do exist within the mythology, depending on your own interpretation of the clues and possible powers of Old Smokey. I'm open to the possibilities of both.
The place where I disagree with you, or at least dispute your reading in part, is your impression that the Man in Black was aware of the time loop before the Oceanic 815ers crashed on the island. Therefore making him more of a roleplayer in events in which he was simply biding his time until the loop opened up. There is no confirmation nor evidence to back that up. Although nor can I fully refute it.
We only know that he became aware of the time loop by 2007, when he shows Frank and Sun the photograph at he barracks. And, by his point, the barracks had been abandoned and accessible to him for three years as the pylons were down and The Others were gone. This gave him more than enough time to explore and study the contents of the buildings and discover the photo.
It's worth noting that the Man in Black is engineering his loophole plan in 2007 *backwards* through time. This is not a linear plan. The moments by the beechcraft and down in the donkey wheel chamber are both taking place in 2007, in which Ajira has already returned and the Man in Black already knows what needs to be said and done due to Dead Locke's memories of both these events. It is is like the compass. A self-perpetuating feedback loop. He knows what to do and say because it has already happened. So, he simply follows the script to some extent. He is exploiting this time loop in 2007. Whereas in 2004, his goal is simply to prime Ben as an anti-candidate (which he has been doing for some time) and getting Locke to die, at least so far as we know. He is following the "intuition" from The Island for all of this, but I don't think he accesses future knowledge in the way Jacob does. The smoke monster is more about the sins of the past.
It is unknown how much knowledge MiB has of the actual time travelling events before 2007. We can only speculate to what he knew and when. His knowledge of time travel most likely didn't come into full context until after the wheel was turned and fell of its axis in 2004. We see how Fake Locke visibly connects what he is supposed to say and do at the beechcraft with Richard and the Real Locke and the compass. It suddenly all clicks for him. I think he absolutely would have gladly seen Locke die in the pit in 2004.
In your reading you claim that MiB wouldn't risk a paradox that could undo reality, but we know he didn't take The Island seriously. He had become so angered and hateful that he saw The Island as nothing more than a prison, which he reiterates again and again. And we know he doesn't care about risking paradoxes or destruction or global annihilation because of what he does in 'The End'. It's uncertain if he even believed that anything bad would happen if The Island was destroyed. So, I don't believe that he cared about paradoxes or upending the nature of fate or time. He literally helps to create a paradox with the compass: his little manipulation of events that becomes baked into history.
If we had seen the smoke monster encounter and scan a time traveller in 1977 or 1988 then I would agree with your assessment that he was preparing for all of this for decades and was simply (and knowingly) following a pre-set path. But there is no real evidence of that. There is only evidence of Jacob being aware of the time loop from, at least, the late 20th century and planning for it. I'm going to explore that in more detail in my upcoming redux cuts of "The Theory of Everything".
Day 1 of asking for a video about your ranking of the seasons of Lost or your favorite episode and why
I promise you that someday this video will happen!
some of these concepts are interesting, such as Charlie's ghost in season 4, whom as mentioned seems to have come back after 'moving on', after his 'flash sideways' where Charlie has seen what happens 'after', and has wise words for Hugo's future. that version of Charlie seemed to know stuff beyond season 4, which makes sense looking back. makes me wonder if some concepts could have been expanded on, had the writer's strike and the 'show end date' not shortened and hastened things by effectively cutting the last 3 seasons short (where seasons 1-3 had 20+ episodes). there are many things in the show that the show doesn't exactly explain that we are left to kind of assume in the absence of true explanation. filling out the show with another 10 episodes or so could have gone a long way. but at the same time 108 episodes, was perfect haha.
I agree with you that there should have been more episodes, particularly in Season Six. The writers were too eager to cut down the episode orders. It was a conscious choice they made, believing that they only needed so many episodes to tell the remaining storylines. However, I believe they miscalculated. If we could go back in time (and change the past!) and add more episodes, I would add at least four extra episodes to Season Six:
An Ilana-centric episode with flashbacks that cover her history with Jacob and The Island (and a scene that would close the outrigger loop once and for all). I always felt she should have had a more honourable death, maybe at the hands of the Man in Black rather than how the show unceremoniously dealt with her. And that could happen in her own episode.
A Claire-centric episode that focuses on her and shows us flashbacks as to what happened to her between Season Four and Six, allowing room to explore how the Man in Black and his infection operates. Their relationship unfolding would have been fascinating.
An episode that brings back Walt! He should have been on the submarine with Desmond, brought back by Widmore, and a player in the endgame. The on-island story could see him be the one to commune with Ghost Michael and resolve that relationship, so Michael could move on and they could both be in the church at the end, while Walt's flashbacks could show us how he ended up in Santa Rosa before Widmore busted him out.
Then a Widmore-centric episode that fits together the final missing pieces of his backstory, particularly in regards to his relationship with Penny and how she came to find out about The Island; the meeting Widmore had with Jacob; and Widmore's change of heart/new purpose.
I feel like just four episodes like this could have solved a lot of the complaints that people had about some narrative dead-ends and blindspots in the final season. I imagine if the writers could do it all over again, they would iron out those creases.
So the Smoke Monster is basically 'Evil Boo' from Dragon Ball Z when Boo split "his" evil self from his being. Come to think of it, Boo was also able to mimic people by altering his appearance, even so it wasn't as sophisticated as the Smoke Monster's. And Evil Boo had a grayish dark 'skin tone'. Boo was also able to alter his state of aggregation, becoming solid or foggy or smoke-like even. Wow...
That mango that locke's eating looks so good
It’s the best mango he’s ever eaten! 😆
Indeed
Very, VERY good! But see, I thought you were going to say the Man in Black needed to be locked (Locked?) in corporal form because once the Island's power was turned off, (he actually knew) he wouldn't have powers any longer, but could finally leave. I would also think that with the Island turned off temporarily, the stuck ghosts (such as dead Others) could also move on. Just my thoughts.
Judging from the Man in Black's surprised and pained expression after Jack punches him and draws blood, he had no idea he was going to be made mortal again when the light went out.
How about man in black when in John mode just call him Locke Monster just to help eliminate confusion
Great Video, do u know why Mib didnt hide lockes body?
Thank you, Julian! To answer your question, The Man in Black didn't need to hide Locke's body in Season Five because, technically, the body was already hidden in the cargo hold of the plane. He didn't know that passengers on Ajira were working for Jacob. To him, the chances of anyone actually opening up a dead man's coffin in the cargo hold were highly unlikely. The Ajira passengers might look for other things amongst the cargo, but who would want to desecrate a stranger's coffin? So, he left Locke in there.
Please whats the name of song that starts at 1:06?
Excellent
A+ video
Great video as usual! Question: if Claudia could appear to young MIB, why couldn’t Isabella appear to Richard?
Because MiB had a psychic gift. He was special like Walt or Hurley. Whereas Richard did not have that particular gift and needed a spiritual translator. Most characters could not see or speak to the dead, but there were a few who demonstrated psychic sensitivity throughout such as Jack and Locke.
@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 thanks for the quick answer!
Since I’m not sure where else to ask, what are your thoughts on the Huth Truth video series? Do you have different views that him?
Ah interesting question! Generally, I try not to feed myself other people’s LOST theories as I feel like it will only pollute my own thought process and I’m happy with where I’m at in interpreting the mythology.
That said, I remember watching a few Huth Truth videos back in the early days of building this channel based on a commenter suggestion. I found myself in total opposition to Huth Truth's interpretations on the subjects I watched (not sure if it was just those unfortunate selections or if we really differ that widely on everything). I don’t think we agree on some of the base fundamentals of what was happening in the overall series, which creates a lot of disconnect on the smaller details. He also went a lot further in adding head-canon explanations than I would, whereas my interest lies squarely with taking what was presented and running with that, even the seemingly contrary plot details.
However, this also makes us very different as explainers and therefore gives LOST fans more variety to choose from when looking for theories and explanations. I think it leads to a healthy variety of ideas, even if I don't personally agree with the specific ideas he puts forward. And, ultimately, it's all helping to keep a positive legacy of LOST alive and well.
@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 i watched a chunk of his videos as well, and I believe he interprets that the island is not its own entity, and that everything we see is either MIB or Jacob. I was kind of disappointed with that view point when I first heard it, and it felt like it made the show less exciting. I’m glad to find your channel as I like your interpretation better
That's good to know! :-) Yes, he seems to dismiss the idea that The Island has its own will, even though it is demonstrated throughout the show time and again. From what I understand, he puts many of these events down to the Man in Black's machinations. While I like that idea of giving MiB more of a overarching role in everything we see happen before he graduates to uber-villain in the final two seasons, it requires diminishing the role of the actual Island and skating over its influence on events. Definitely interesting alternate takes to my own that provide healthy counterpoints for the fanbase, but just not something I can personally get on board with.
Interesting in the part where you say that Ecko is not a candidate and when the Smoke Monsters kill him before he could be a potential candidate (I think that decision is from the writers when the actor did not want to continue in the series, if that had not happened, I am sure that if he would have been a candidate of Jacob and who knows how his participation in the final of the series of TV)
Agreed!
Dave is the funniest character
glad to hear your voice !
The latest 8 videos on the channel all make use of my real voice so be sure to check them out too :-)
@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 Ahah don't worry i watched them all by the time i read your comment, i'm eager to watch the remake of the 6hours video though :)
I’m pleased to be able to say that Part One of that remake is coming this weekend 🙂🙏
Don`t know about Boone.. He seemed a little...I don`t know...arrogant? The way he sarcaticly uses John`s words. " I was a sacrifice the island demanded". Making John climb the stairs. Probably a callback to 1x19. That time when John couldn`t walk so Boone had to climb up to the plane all by himself.
Boone also used these words:" So you can bring the family back together" Meaning Eko and Yemi. And we all know that It wasn`t Yemi. It was in fact The Smoke Monster. This "Boone" wanted Eko saved so that he could manipulate him into killing Jacob. Anyway. With that being said. I`m pretty sure this wasn`t Boone. He`s just way too creepy and unnatural in that scene. But this is just one of many Lost`s storylines that were left ambiguous...
Edit : Awesome video. As usual. :)
I agree that Boone in the dream is not Real Boone. But I don't believe he is the Man in Black either. I made a video about how the dreams work and their likely source being The Island rather than MiB. There are several dreams throughout the show that have that same aloof, uncanny quality to them in which characters don't behave as normal. That's because they are ciphers for a message that The Island is trying to communicate to them. In 'Further Instructions', The Island is trying to get Locke back on track again. If the Man in Black wanted Mr. Eko "saved" so he could judge him or test him later then he could have just extracted Eko from the cave himself. Smoke Monster vs Polar Bear would have been an interesting smackdown lol. Regardless, he didn't need Locke for that.
i stilll dont understand why smoke could bee in lockes body and eat like a human been, but not with jacks father for example
So I'm laying here watching the episode when Charlie appears to Hurley at the mental institution. I'm not quite understanding how he can be there but yet also be in the last episode and not remember his island past. I read somewhere an explanation that when he showed up at Santa Rosa he had already gone through his sideways life and had gone back to the source. So I guess my question is is the whole purpose of showing the sideways world to show how Jack was able to let go? Are the other people who appear in the sideways just figments of Jack's post death imagination? The way Christian explains it to Jack is that the sideways world is a place they all created together to meet up and remember and let go but if Charlie already went through that and returned to the source and was able to make appearances in the real world, how is he also there in the sideways. I need some help. I've watched all your videos but I can't remember if you did one addressing this.
I do explain the process at 1:37 in this video under the Ghosts & Whispers section, albeit in a compact way. I appreciate that I throw out a lot of information in these videos so it can be easy to lose a specific thread that you're interested in.
I have also explained the sideways in detail in my video on the Flash Sideways here: th-cam.com/video/hsHPV6dIjsM/w-d-xo.html
And in even more detail in my FAQ on "Were they dead the whole time?" here: th-cam.com/video/lz7Vs-ZnBGM/w-d-xo.html
There will be a video this year that will delve into "The Supernatural" side of the island in greater detail too.
@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 Very much looking forward to that video every time I think about the sideways my head spins😆
So, around the 35:47 mark, you say the man in black cannot risk that Jacob might ordain Eko as a candidate. But in the Lighthouse, Eko is 76. It has a line through it, but doesn't that mean at one time Mr. Eko was indeed a candidate?
See lostpedia Candidates with complete list of Cave and Lighthouse names and numbers. It says: The names on this list come from screenshots of the cave ("The Substitute") and the lighthouse dial ("Lighthouse"), as well as prop pictures of the lighthouse dial that were released at auction. Therefore, whether or not some of the names are canon is disputed. For individual lists of candidates revealed during the show only, please see: Cliffside cave and The Lighthouse.
So there seems to be some disagreement on all the names. Do you think Eko is one that is in dispute?
At any rate, another excellent video, thanks.
Hello! This is a fair question and I have discussed this a few times in the comments elsewhere on other threads, so apologies if I repeat the same information from them. There are several problems that I have to address with this theory. I think it is partly based on Eko's popularity as a character rather than any canon proof within (or outside of) the actual show.
Lostpedia is a big part to blame in perpetuating this, I feel. It's a superb resource, don't get me wrong, but it's edited in places by various admins who don't always pay due diligence to the details. Yes, there is indeed a picture on there that shows a very, very low-res image of the lighthouse dial. I don't know how anyone makes out any names on that picture tbh. Barely any of the names are legible. Furthermore, no one has been able to source the picture's legitimacy as far as I'm aware.
That being said, let's assume that the photo is of the real prop from the actual 'Lighthouse' episode. In its current quality, I can see how one might read the name listed alongside #76 as reading "Eko" since it appears to be a short name beginning with E. Although it looks more like “Elmo” to me. But, regardless, the problem with assuming this reads as "Eko" is that Jacob wrote candidate names on the dial by their *surname* not first name. Yes, he calls himself Mr. Eko (based on his bad ass gangster moniker from Nigeria) but *Tunde* was Eko's surname as Tunde was Yemi’s surname, and Eko goes by Father Tunde once he becomes a priest. Whatever the word is scrawled for 76 it does not look like Tunde.
But let's ignore the photo from Lostpedia and look at the show itself. I have painstakingly gone through the screencaps of both the cave wall and the lighthouse dial from the actual show. Frame by frame. And Eko's name is nowhere to be seen on either. Now, this is very interesting. Because it means that his name was omitted by the writers intentionally. They must have known we would have all studied the names on there with eagle eyes, looking for specific names. Especially Eko. So, why don't we see it in the actual show? Well, his name isn't shown or highlighted so it does not contradict the fact that the Man in Black could kill him.
And the Man in Black could kill Mr. Eko because he was not a candidate. Once someone is ordained as a candidate they stay a candidate until either they die or someone takes over the island protector role. Jacob confirms as much to Kate in the penultimate season six episode ‘What They Died For’: "It's just a line of chalk on a wall. The job's yours if you want it." What matters is Jacob's touch: that's the protection. And Eko hadn't been "blessed" with that touch... yet. And we know that there are major characters on the island in 2004 who also have yet to be touched and activated as candidates, including whopper characters like Sayid and Hurley. Both of whom are ordained *after* they leave the island in 2004. And Hurley turns out to be the next protector.
Anyway, all of this to say that the misconception of "Eko was a candidate" comes from a mixture of fan favouritism, unreliable sourcing, and a misreading of that unreliable source. I might make a bigger video about this (or include it in my redux of old videos) because it comes up a lot and I feel it's worth spreading the word. I hope this all makes sense. Sorry for the essay response to your concise question.
@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 ... Fair enough. That sounds reasonable to me. I will give lostpeida some credit for including, "Therefore, whether or not some of the names are canon is disputed." So, they seem to agree there's some question about the validity of the some of the names.
Forgive me bur wasn't the whispers the others ? When we are first introduced to them in season 1 / 2 everytime we see them barefooted there's always whispers when they ambush Jack sawyer and locke in the jungle they whisper and Ben tells russo in S5 whenever she hears whispers she's to turn and go the other way
In Season Six episode 'Everybody Loves Hugo', the whispers are ultimately explained as being the voices of the dead on The Island in a scene between Hurley and Ghost Michael. However, the history behind the whispers is a little more complex. It's a misconception that the whispers appeared whenever The Others were around (that only happens a couple of times in the show) when they actually appear more frequently alongside supernatural events involving ghosts, apparitions or the Man in Black. In my next video (due out soon) I actually go through every major whisper scene to analyse them in the context of their origin being supernatural versus coming from The Others. Keep an eye out for it!
Great vid, but I have a question- you say Fake Locke is just a physical illusion, and that there is no blood or organs beneath the flesh, only darkness. But then how does he bleed once the light is turned off in the finale?
Because turning off the light makes him mortal. That’s how he can be killed. Without the light on, he is made flesh again.
@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 gotcha-is there some sort of explanation as to how it works with him going from pure projection to having blood and organs and such? Like do the insides of Locke’s body materialize inside of him? Or is it his own blood from his original body? Or am I being dumb and can it really only be explained by island magic?
Follow up question: I’ve watched most of your vids (and loved them) and I might have missed this explanation but why is it that MIB can only take on Locke’s body like Ilana says?
When the light goes out, the power source within the smoke monster goes out too. So Fake Locke goes from essentially being an empty shell manifestation (made up of smoke monster particles) to a fully corporeal, living organism. The smoke monster essence (which presents the illusion of John Locke) has been completely converted into the form it is currently occupying, right down to the atom. I've never actually considered whose internal organs are appearing inside that MiB-Locke shell before lol. However, considering he has imitated Locke's exact form, I would assume that includes the full physiology of John Locke. So, those are John Locke organs getting ruptured and shot right there!
As for why MiB is stuck as Locke, I have indeed discussed this in a couple of videos. Basically, MiB and Jacob formed a battery together, of sorts. When Jacob died, the battery was broken, and MiB became limited in some of his powers/abilities. And one of those abilities was shapeshifting into other forms.
I've always had a little bit of an issue with Michaels explanation of 'the whispers'. He says it's the people that can't move on. But in previous episodes, we're led to believe 'the whispers' are The Others, i.e. when Danielle Rousseau had captured Sayid, she said she hears them, whispers. The tail section people also associated 'the whispers' with The Others, and when Ben is shown taking Alex from Danielle, he tells her, when you hear whispers, you run the other way. So, is it one kind of whisper when it's the people that can't move on, and another kind of whisper when it's The Others? It always seemed like maybe the writers screwed that up a little bit. Or, do you believe it's only one kind of whisper, the people that can't move on, and they are just around when there's conflict?
I explore these very questions in my video on Faith and the Supernatural. I start discussing the whispers specifically around the 1:31:00 mark and get into the nitty gritty of how they are presented and how many times they appeared alongside The Others versus alongside supernaturally adjacent events. I go into a lot of detail so you are likely to find some answers there. Follow the link to the video: th-cam.com/video/DHAWeG_0hPk/w-d-xo.html
By the way how did the smoke monster kill mr. Eko since he isnt allowed to kill the candidates on his own? Did the show explain
The smoke monster could kill Mr. Eko because he was not a candidate. I've discussed this a bit in other videos but the very next video (coming very soon!) will delve into why this common fan-held believe isn't based on anything canon from within the show itself. I'll present all of the evidence in that video. Basically, there is no discrepancy regarding Eko's death and no need for us to theory craft.
Ohh yeah
Why is “the real Walt” fuhhuuuucking DRIPPING ASS HHHHWET!?! If he’s so rea- oh. Oh you’re explaining that now. As I type. .. ... .... ... huh. Yea, ok, I’ll buy those theories.
Lol this comment is quite genuine, I really was asking you about Walt being soaked if it’s the real Walt, and not a hallucination or apparition, and you began answering while I was mid sentence lol I DID, however, add the hyphen to make the cutoff word I paused in disbelief on make sense. That’s too funny, man.
Would Smokey be able to return to the source upon his death in the finale of season 6 or is he forever disconnected from the source upon becoming a smoke monster?
In my latest video -- 'The Theory of Everything Part Two: The Ancient Past' -- I explore this idea a little bit further. What comes out of the cave in 'Across the Sea' is the darkness of the Man in Black's soul: his worst memories, darkest emotions. The most negative parts of who he was. So, we can assume that the light that was within him -- the good part -- was absorbed back into The Source upon his physical death.
@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 That makes a lot of sense!
still don't know why locke was an apparition that could kill jacob, as opposed to other apparitions
MiB as Locke couldn’t kill Jacob though, he had to get Ben to do it. The rules still applied to MiB no matter who he appeared as. The reason becoming Locke was so important was because Locke was a legend amongst The Others and was destined to be their leader. And that would mean he would be able to get access to Jacob via Richard. Jacob was in hiding for years and only Richard knew where he was, and that the statue had a secret chamber within. You can’t kill someone that you can’t find, so Locke was MiB’s key to finding Jacob.
forgot that it was Ben that killed Jacob, makes much more sense now @@LOSTEXPLAINED108
Horace goodspeed , he was smoke monster?
Are you referring to the Horace we see in Locke’s dream? The dreams come from The Island, so whenever a familiar face appears in a dream they are merely a vessel for information to the characters to get them to do things.
Ah ok . Thank you. I think he was building a cabin in the woods. I didn't realise that was a dream. Thank you for all the videos. Really enjoy. Great stuff 😍