The latest Lost theory...

Earlier today I read a Lost theory over at Doc Jensen's column on EW.com, and I immediately fell in love with it. Click below to get the details, with my thoughts. There's nothing particularly spoiler-ific in it, but I suppose you best not read it if you haven't yet viewed "Meet Kevin Johnson."

I'd also like to thank everybody who voted in the Aaron/Oceanic Six poll. I was surprised by two things: The amount of people that voted, and that somebody other than me still feels strongly enough to argue that Aaron isn't part of the group!

Anyway, click below for the super duper awesome theory.

So according to this new theory, the past, present, and future concurrently exist on the island. However, they exist on a different plane, preventing any given character from running into their former or future selves.

This theory carries some weight, if you think about it. It may explain why the island doesn't allow certain people to commit suicide. Perhaps the future IS written in stone. If it has already been determined that Michael and Jack arrive on the island in the future, nothing they do in the past can prevent them from reaching that point. Therefore, they can't die simply because, in the future, they've already returned to the island. This may also explain how Locke has managed to survive numerous wounds which would have likely killed a normal man.

This can also be demonstrated on the reverse side of the coin with Charlie. Recall that no matter what Desmond did, Charlie was still destined to die. If he wasn't struck by lightning, he drowned attempting to rescue Claire. If he didn't get shot in the chest with an arrow, he gave up his life to save everyone else. It's the same principle: In the future, Charlie is dead. And no matter what, in some form or fashion, that will come to fruition.

The other thing I like about the "past, present, and future existing all at once" theory is that it may just explain Taller Ghost Walt. He was unquestionably taller, but what if he wasn't a ghost? It's already been theorized that the "present" and "future" characters cannot co-exist, but what happens when a present character leaves the island? If his future counterpart is on the island, would he magically appear?

This requires you to use your imagination (not an unreasonable request given the premise of the series). Lets say the Oceanic Six does return to the island, but they take Walt with him (perhaps he finds out what Michael did, and decides he wants to reconcile with his father, realizing that he wants redemption). When Michael and Walt left the island, perhaps the future Walt suddenly gained the ability to communicate with the "past"/present characters.

This leads to a really fun possibility: When the Oceanic Six DO leave, imagine if future Jack, Kate, Hurley, Sayid, Sun, and (ugh) Aaron suddenly emerged from the jungle?

The other really fun possible explanation: What if these "jungle whispers" are actually the voices of the characters from the future? Perhaps when the past and future characters are at the same place at the same time, one side "echoes" to the other....

Of course, this theory isn't without its share of flaws. First off, we've already seen Walt, at his original height, make numerous paranormal island visits. I'm also curious about what happens when one of The Others makes their frequent trips off the island. Does Richard Alpert, from the future, fill Ben in on what's going to happen in the future? It may explain how Ben gets some of his information, but if the future truly is set in stone, why would he bother trying to alter it (surely he of all people would know the rules of the island)?

Like many Lost theories, this may have you saying "that explains it!" just as often as it has you scratching your head. I'm not fully sure that I believe it to be true, but it's definitely a fun possibility that explains many of the show's mysteries.