Hey guys, Tapdawg here!
After watching the premier for the umpteenth time as well as watching Season 4’s episode, “The Constant” again, I’ve realized that the Island needs its constant to become stable again. There is no mistaking the similarities between the Island and Desmond: both are traveling randomly through time, both have damaging affects (Desmond nearly died, those stuck traveling through time with the Island are also dying) and thus both need their constant to to bring stability back to themselves.
So who is the Island’s constant? Well there can only be a handful of choices for whom or which group is the Island’s constant. Let’s take a look at the choices:
1. Benjamin Linus (Odds he is the Island’s constant: 75%)
I think Ben is a likely choice to be the Island’s constant due to his deep connection with the Island. He knows the layout, the inner workings and the special powers/properties of the Island better then anyone else, and he is afterall the leader of the on Island others. I think what Ben stated in the Season 4 finale was only partially true. Ben stated that once he turned the wheel he could never return to the island. I think he needed to finish this statement though “Once I turn this wheel i can never return to the island, without everyone else who also leaves it too”. Why else would Ben be so desperately trying to gather the O6 and make it pivotal that everyone (including dead Locke who left the island) needs to return to restore order. Well I guess the other reason why he would put the important on everyone returning is a part of the next potential constant group…
2. Everyone who left the (85%)
Imagine if you would your computer’s has just turned off do to a poweroutage. When the power is restored your computer turns back on but will not boot to your operating system. It turns out some files on your hardrive are corrupt and missing from the computer’s memory. What do you do to fix the problem? You do a restore to a previous date when you know the files were around and if that doesn’t work you reinstall the entire operating system to get your computer working again. In much the same way, maybe when the wheel was turned it was a way to turn off the power of the island and when it turned itself back on it was missing files (ie those who left the island) and the only way for the Island to recover is to have all of these missing files returned to their proper place. But if this is the case, why not need Walt to join too? He technically has left the Island and could be a missing file. I think that since he exited the Island on the right cordinates he basically sent himself to the Island’s “recycle bin” and is thus free from the Island’s hold. So what did Mrs. Hawkins mean when she said Ben only has 70 hours? Maybe Ben only has 70 hours until the Island does a total system wipe and reinstall… thus killing everyone and everything on it. Or maybe not?
3. Just the O6 and Locke (50%)
If we are to take Ben at his word then in order for Jack and Co to get back to the Island they must go together as a group and lug around John Locke too. We don’t know if Jack has knowledge that Ben told Locke that he can not go back to the Island, however, it would appear from Jack’s interactions with Ben that Jack assumes Ben will be joining them on their trip. This theory thus has a lower chance of being correct because the viewer is also lead to believe that Ben will be joining the O6 and Locke on their trip.
Do you have any guesses as to who is the Island’s constant? Feel free to make your guesses or comments down below!
Tags: Premiere
29 Responses to “The Island NEEDS its Constant”
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“Imagine if you would your computer’s has just turned off do to a poweroutage. When the power is restored your computer turns back on but will not boot to your operating system. It turns out some files on your hardrive are corrupt and missing from the computer’s memory. What do you do to fix the problem?”
That JUST happened to me! I had to replace my mother board.
Also, on topic, I agree with this theory here. I had actually thought the same thing. I was also thinking, if Jacob is a physical manifestation of the island, could it be that Jacob himself needs a constant?
I thought of a similar thing: There is this mysterious list of Jacob’s. Maybe it has something to do with who’s the island’s (or Jacob’s) constant?
I don’t think that the island needs a constant. The island isn’t traveling, the survivors are traveling. I think if anyone needs a constant it is them so they can stick to one specific time. That would make sense as to why the O6 need to be back, maybe it needs to be them because they are not unstuck in time. I am not sure why it needs to be all of them or what the danger to the world is of not getting them back so this theory does have some holes in it.
As Ambivalentman stated, and as the producers have also noted… both the island and the survivors on the island are moving through time. How else do you explain the vanishing island for those on the helicopter? Maybe those that have gone through this type of event before are stuck with the island (hence Alpert doesn’t disappear but Locke does) instead of being skipped along with it. This could explain why Juliet, an other, is skipping through time too.
Also, it had to have moved physically close enough for Eko’s brother to crash there.
What if it’s not any of the people above?
What if it’s Desmond… it seems vitally important that he goes to the island… he’s seen in the past, present and future doing things to help Daniel who has a connection with the island.
Just a thought… ?
A possible 4th candidate for the island’s constant could be Jacob. Though we have yet to see him this season or know exactly what he is, he is, no doubt, an integral part of the island. Good theory!!
If Ben didn’t already know he would need the Oceanic 6 before he turned the wheel, why would he tell Kate that they can go on the helicopter? He must have known he would need them to restore order to the island. He let Michael and Walt go and ended up recruiting Michael afterwards. I wonder what would have happened if the Oceanic 6 never left and Ben turned the wheel, would the island still skip through time, would Ben come back alone? I hope they do bring Walt back too. How did Ben actually end up in Tunisia? Did he simply teleport? How will that be explained? I know they are in a different time, but why did the island disappear? Wouldn’t it still exist in the same spot for thousands of years? Did the island always move?
“I know they are in a different time, but why did the island disappear? Wouldn’t it still exist in the same spot for thousands of years? Did the island always move?”
numbersarebad: I’ve been wondering this very same thing. How can moving through time make the island actually disappear to those who aren’t on/near the island? Someone please explain!
because of the great wipe out. if they do not return to the island, at the same point in time they left, the island will destroy itself. the missing islanders (not just the 6) have to return.
I think that the O6 need to come back because they had not quite left when the island moved. I don’t remember the time but Ben said they had better get going and be off the island by the end of a certain time period.
If you think of the the bearing they had to travel as a pipe to get to and from the island they were in the middle of the pipe when Ben turned the wheel. They had landed on the boat and were headed back to the island when it happened. As long as they were in the pipe they would not have the ill effects of moving back and forth but the problem was created because the end of the pipe (the island) was no longer there.
Them not being there is a creating a rift in time and the only way to fix it is to be back on the island.
If the island does need a constant, I think another very likely choice is Richard Alpert. The ageless wonder seems to appear on the island at various stages (the Dharma initiative with Ben as a child, during the plane crash and the survivors’ time on the island, and in the future to remove the bullet from Locke’s leg). Also, when he is removing the bullet from Locke’s leg, John asks him where he went and he says that Locke is moving through time, not him. Wouldn’t that make him a constant for the island, since he is in all time periods?? Any thoughts?
“So what did Mrs. Hawkins mean when she said Ben only has 70 hours? Maybe Ben only has 70 hours until the Island does a total system wipe and reinstall… thus killing everyone and everything on it. Or maybe not?”
First, I think your definitely on the right track, but I wouldn’t limit it to just the island being destroyed. Many of the “in-the-know” characters have spoken of what happens as much more serious in nature, perhaps a world ending event of some sort.
Second, working a possible “island constant” out at this point would be kind of tough considering the mysterious necessity of the 6 coming back. Why them, and not others? I think, and hope, there is something much more intricate regarding the back story of why certain people need to be on that island at a certain time, than merely them being a constant. But hey, your guess at this point is as good as any!
Eric said that it is the survivors who are moving through time, and not the Island. At the same time, the Island did move physically when Ben turned the wheel. The Oceanic Six saw it. So, it must be moving, too. I really like this theory a lot. The writers seem to have been implying that the Island is a sentient organism for quite awhile now, so the idea that it would need a constant makes a lot of sense.
Also, who’s to say that the Oceanic Six are the only ones who have to go back. Ben said that all of them have to go back. That leaves room for Walt, Lapidus, and Desmond, too. I don’t think getting the Oceanic Six together will be the only complication in Ben’s plan — the writers are too smart for that. And definitely smarter than my theory as well.
“2. Everyone who left the (85%)
Imagine if you would your computer’s has just turned off do to a poweroutage. When the power is restored your computer turns back on but will not boot to your operating system. It turns out some files on your hardrive are corrupt and missing from the computer’s memory. What do you do to fix the problem? You do a restore to a previous date when you know the files were around and if that doesn’t work you reinstall the entire operating system to get your computer working again. In much the same way, maybe when the wheel was turned it was a way to turn off the power of the island and when it turned itself back on it was missing files (ie those who left the island) and the only way for the Island to recover is to have all of these missing files returned to their proper place. But if this is the case, why not need Walt to join too? He technically has left the Island and could be a missing file. I think that since he exited the Island on the right cordinates he basically sent himself to the Island’s “recycle bin” and is thus free from the Island’s hold. So what did Mrs. Hawkins mean when she said Ben only has 70 hours? Maybe Ben only has 70 hours until the Island does a total system wipe and reinstall… thus killing everyone and everything on it. Or maybe not?”
That’s a great analogy.
“So what did Mrs. Hawkins mean when she said Ben only has 70 hours? Maybe Ben only has 70 hours until the Island does a total system wipe and reinstall… thus killing everyone and everything on it. Or maybe not?”
I reckon she means they have 70 hours until the island moves to a place where they can get to it, i.e. in their timezone. They all have to be together by then so they can go back to the island. Also, I think Hawkins is Faraday’s mother, and there are two bens now walking around (watch the dvds deleted scene of ben getting his money and passports, that proves there are two bens), one in L.A. and another in Manchester, England. He walks into Simon’s butchery (Simon of course being Charlie’s father, the butcher), then goes to see Mrs Hawkins, who met Desmond in England, and I believe is now at Oxford University.
How about Charles Widmore for the island’s constant. Ben trying to get him there would be quite the turn of events.
>“So what did Mrs. Hawkins mean when she said Ben only has 70 hours? Maybe Ben only has 70 hours until the Island does a total system wipe and reinstall… thus killing everyone and everything on it. Or maybe not?”
I think, that the 70 hours is how long the “event window” the computer determined stays open (just like the time slot space shuttles have for launching in order to successfully get to the correct orbit). To return within this window makes it possible to reach the island from a certain point on the globe. Maybe they will travel the way back from Tunesia thru the center of the planet to the point where the island will be again (I believe in the “antipodes theory”). You must consider that there are apparently several possible locations of the island. And they have to arrive at a time in the past in order to correct or change things or whatever before they go wrong. This is what Mrs. Hawking (and hey, for sure she’s Daniel’s mother) is figuring out at the chalkboard. So if the O6 + Ben don’t make it now, it could last years for the next event window.
I like the idea that the island needs a constant. Though there’s a difference to Desmond – he used to jump only between something we considered as “now” (around Christmas 2004) and a certain slot in the past. According to Daniel, the island is jumping around between past, future an what else there might be.
One more thing: Am I the only one who recognized Daniel not only as a worker at the orchid station, but also as the guy behind the camera (with grey hair, around 50) during the film shoot?
Isn’t it Aaron? He was the first person born on the island and we already know he has a special connection to the place.
Was Aaron the first born on the Island? Has the show made this clear?
Alex was born on the Island as well, wasn’t she?
Maybe Desmond could be the islands constant. He was on the island longer than any of the 06.
[...] CTC which was dislodged from the worldline in “the Constant” (much like the island is disconnected now), and was reconnected with Penny (turn the jet pack off and run in the same plane as everything [...]
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What is the black object laying beside Jack in the very first scene of Lost in the pilot episode??? Have the writers addressed this or not?? Sure resembles Ben’s weapon of choice, that he handed to Jack just before surrendering to the freighter folks at the Orchid last season. Any thoughts?
actually Ben gave the weapon to Locke. watch that scene again. once they’re both inside the station, he even asks Locke if he can have it back as Keamy is heard activating the elevator.
anyhow, that ben’s weapon is actually what’s lying next to jack in the pilot seems highly questionable to me. its probably just a branch.
Thanks for the correction august. However to me it seems highly likely that whatever the object actually is, is there for a reason. Especially seems possible with all this time travel going on now.
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