Your Voice: Is Locke Still Alive and Well?
Submitted by Bill Stepec
In Lost’s season 4 finale, we see a very familiar scene play out again, this time revealing a very dead Locke.
While I don’t often frequent message boards, I do know a bunch of people who follow the show religiously. The consensus between them is that Locke is too important of a character to be killed off so suddenly. Most believe that Locke will indeed be taken to the island to be resurrected by the island’s mysterious healing properties.
However, I must point out that Locke’s departure is hardly consistent with the season’s mythology. This season has not been about what will happen, but rather when , how, and why it will happen. We knew the Oceanic Six would get off the island, but under what circumstances? We also knew Jin would die (or at least be assumed dead by Sun). Many were also quite sure Michael’s death wish would be granted before the season was up.
Still, Michael tried to end it all before it had even started, but the island remained persistent and didn’t allow our old friend to die. It wasn’t until Michael had delayed the bomb detonation that he was released, and was finally “allowed” to be blown up. Likewise, the official podcast confirmed Ben and Widmore would be unable to take each other’s lives during that bedroom confrontation, as the island needs them both before granting either lasting peace.
So why was Locke allowed to die?
I believe the O6 and friends will return to the island to find John Locke alive and well. Moreover, John will be somewhat shaken by his seemingly inevitable demise, and will have to come to terms with his death at some point in the final season. As demonstrated by the good doctor washing up on shore prior to his death, the island has a way of distorting time, and we are unsure as to when, exactly, John will be dying. Locke will live for the remainder of the series, perhaps being banished in a very Ben-like manner at or near its conclusion. I think this will save the island for the foreseeable future.
Finding himself in a time before Jack and company had returned, he takes it upon himself to convince the O6 that the island needs attending to. He even visits Walt to say goodbye. Then finally, after saving the island and subsequently setting up the events required to do so, the island allows Locke to die. Knowing what will happen, Locke commits suicide to return to the place that he loves, and set the chain in motion once again.
I think it’s a decent theory. How about you guys?
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Time loops and time travel hurt my brain. I enjoyed reading your theory though.
Comment by TrillianM — June 13, 2008 @ 6:07 am
So it’s A jump To Conclusions Mat! Hmm
Comment by Peter — June 13, 2008 @ 6:50 am
I agree completely with respect to time. In fact, I think Locke’s death is the end point of his timeline - in other words, he does die for real at that time. Therefore, the island must have moved to the past - perhaps when the Dharma folks arrive on the island as has been often suggested on this site. The big question for me is - Why is bringing Locke’s body back to the island important? Is it religious related (ie, souls, spirits) or does it help to solve some complicated science based theory of time paradox, the numbers or the Casimir Effect?
Personally, I’m hoping that Locke doesn’t come back alive on the island - hopefully he’s already alive. I will be disappointed if there is some form of reincarnation or religious based plot.
Comment by THinIL — June 13, 2008 @ 6:51 am
When Locke is off the island, who thinks he was in a wheelchair? The use of his legs started to fail him on the island at one point (Season 1, I think) supposedly because he was losing faith? Knowing whether he was in a wheelchair or not would go a long way in determining whether he was still in sync with the island or whether he had abandoned it or been banished by it and therefore whether he’s “really” dead.
Comment by richard — June 13, 2008 @ 8:48 am
A very concise and probably very accurate description of what is to come. I commend you on your theory.
Comment by Michael — June 13, 2008 @ 11:57 am
Interesting question, Richard.
My crack-pot theory on the wheel chair thing is that Locke’s father was brought to the island PRIOR to the incident in the apartment. Therefore, Locke was never pushed from the window, and thus no longer needs the wheelchair.
Of corse, then he never would have met Abbadon in the clinic, and wouldn’t have gone on the walkabout. So that theory has some pretty gaping holes…..
Comment by Bill S. — June 13, 2008 @ 12:04 pm
Wait til you see my new theory! Serious theory at THAT! lol
Anxious to see what people think of it.
Comment by Gary — June 13, 2008 @ 4:23 pm
As I stated above I think this is a pretty accurate description except for Locke being banish though that may happen I think he will probably realize that his death will be what ensures the continue safety of the island and chooses to leave. As you stated this will be something he must come to grips with during the course of next season. God(island) so love humanity that he gave his only begotten son(Locke)so as to preserve humanity. A Christ/Locke parallel would make a a lot of sense within the context of a very biblical like story that is taking place. This also ties into a few other theories floating around that if include in this great analysis would complement it well.
Comment by Michael — June 13, 2008 @ 5:29 pm
Interesting theory. I can find some scientific bases to support this theory. Please find hereafter the details.
It has been assumed that any time difference between the island and the remainder of the world was either constant (31 minutes) or linear, both timelines drifting at a regular pace.
The theory of relativity states that time goes differently for an object moving at speeds approaching the speed of light. As an example, if a planet or a celestial object was drawn by a black hole, this object would accelerate to very high speeds. Seen from the Earth, we would be able to observe it thrugh telescopes on a regular basis until the time it gets “swallowed” by the black hole. An observer on the planet or a celestial object would have his/her speed increase to the point where time passes at a different pace, to the point that from the observer’s point of view, it would take an infinite amount of time for the planet/celestial object to reach the black hole.
Now let us go back to LOST. One significant mission of the DHARMA initiative was to determine and alter, if possible, the date of the end of the world, with the assumption that this date was set by the Valenzetti numbers.
I can imagine that if the island is somehow moving at a very high speed, the time on the island moves very very slowly and the few years (earth time) during which John Locke is reigning over the island are perceived as infinite by the inhabitants of the island.
Consequently, the Oceanic 6 may very well see John Lock alive and kicking when they return to the island.
Comment by McMahon — June 15, 2008 @ 6:33 pm
So the Island moved back in time but it threw Bne into the future?
And when the O6 come back they will meet up ith their past selves?
Remember you are saying it moved back in time.
So how far?
And will there be two Jacks and two Kates?
Do you see the potential absurdity in this?
How about this, very simply. Go with what the show has showed you.
The show told us where and how far the Island moved in ‘The Shape of Things To Come’. And John Locke will die in the future off the Island, just liked they showed us. Why he dies and what happened on the Island between the O6 rescue and John leaving is what will be shown in Season 5. Just like the show displayed.
Comment by Potty Stick — June 16, 2008 @ 2:41 pm
Locke isn’t dead. Here is how…
Between when the O6 leave the island and his death, Locke is told by the island that everyone needs to come back. Locke thinks the only way to do this is obligate Jack to return by faking his death. Pill popping Jack is already trying to go back but what will commit him to returning is his realization that Locke had been right all along, that their destiny was to lead the island with balance. A man of science and a man of faith.
Locke makes contact with Ben, who he knows will do whatever it takes to get back to the island. The obituary is fake. The funeral home is staged. Ben moves in, pushes the right buttons and gets Jack on board. Ben says they have to take dead Locke who is the coffin. So how is Locke alive?
Well, before Locke left the island he managed to bring along one those spiders that makes you look dead for hours after it bites you. Nikki and Paulo style! And all of us know this is possible because we all know that these spiders make you look really dead.
So when does Locke wake from his spider-venom induced paralysis? And when he does, will he still be half paralyzed? And will Jack still want to go back after he realizes he’s been tricked. If anything, I think he’ll be glad that Locke is alive so they can all return to the island together.
I’d prefer this instead of all this “resurected by the island” crap.
Comment by losted — June 16, 2008 @ 11:23 pm
Locke may have faked his death, that’s plausible.
The idea that the Island moved back in time is non-sensical.
I mean, let’s just say that the Island moved back to October 2004.
Locke would be alive and outside of the MASSIVE paradox element, not only would Locke be alive but the Oceanic Six would be there too.
So if Ben and Jack took dead Locke and Kate, Sayid and all the rest, there would be two Kates, two Jacks, two Aarons, two Hurleys, two Sayids.
Paradox out the wazoo. This theory is toast.
Comment by PS — June 17, 2008 @ 2:01 pm
The idea was that only Locke gets transported in time, not everyone else.
In ‘the shape of things to come’ we know Ben takes a bit of a temporal trip, but we don’t have any idea what happened to other survivors or the island. May I remind you that “non-sensical” would also describe Ben turning the frozen donkey wheel to make the island magically disappear.
The Orchid video proves without a shadow of a doubt that the same object or person can exist at the same place due to the cashmir effect. Hence, I feel my theory to be 100% legit.
But to each his own.
Comment by Bill S. — June 18, 2008 @ 10:41 pm
I really think Locke is dead. The writers haven’t been afraid to kill off major characters before, and this happens several years into the future, so it’s not like he is dead right now, in show time.
If Locke were to be transported at the end of the season it would make sense if he did it purposefully, knowing that he had to go back in time to get the O6 back to the island, but that results in serious paradoxes which the writers have said they try to avoid.
The way to avoid time travel paradoxes it to only let people go forward in time. If we examine all occurrences of time travel we will see this is the case. Desmond had flashes into the future. Ben was thrown into the future. Even in the constant 1996 Desmond was the mind traveling ahead, 2004 Desmond never went back.
The only instance of backwards time travel was the doctor washing up on shore before he was killed and this could be reframed as the island moving ahead in time and then waiting for the outside world to catch up to it.
There is also pretty reasonable scientific backing for the theory that time travel to the future is possible while to the past is not.
The island may have moved in time but it was absolutely not backwards. If it was backwards it would not have disappeared, it would have stayed the same but things on it would have changed. To disappear the island must have moved into the future, or moved in space.
Back to the point I really hope that they don’t resurrect Locke or something like that. It would be a really easy way out, I would consider it a cheap way to avoid following through on the story they have set up, and I don’t think the writers have any problem killing off major characters.
Locke is definitely around for next season and will probably be in the last season in some shape or form as well. I wouldn’t worry about seeing him. But I do think he is dead.
Comment by Eric — June 19, 2008 @ 5:12 am
Obviously Locke is not dead or he will rise again as a Jacob/Christian ghost type figure once returned to the island. There would be no reason for Ben to suggest they need to bring him if there wasn’t a reason for it, this is Lost people. What, are they going to bring Locke back and bury him and that’ll be the end of it?? C’mon, do any of you really think that they’re going to bring him along for any other reason than to bring him back to some sort of living state?
Also I’m really doubting they’re going to take another commercial airliner to return to the island. It would make much more sense to just take a small plane or even a ship. Why would they want to bring along a whole airliner full of people to either die in the crash or get stuck in the middle of all this crazy island business?
Comment by Battlecat — June 21, 2008 @ 3:28 am
Does anyone else not think that lost is like the Lord of the Flies. The ureaka moment when i saw locke dead, i was sure that he is Piggy!!! think about it, monster in the jungle, two seperate tribes, no hope of being rescued!! and then they will eventually stat killing each other. Just a thought!!! no real evidence
Comment by found! — July 5, 2008 @ 2:18 pm
So…
This is my first theory post ever.
Potty Stick and Eric hit it on the head.
All this fine and dandy, but if I have learned anything about LOST over four seasons, it’s that the most obvious solution to a ‘mystery’ is usually the right one. For example, remember when we saw Keamy getting the ‘dead man switch’ tied to his arm, and there was all that wild speculation about what it could be? Turned out to be the most logical thing, given the facts provided by the show.
Spider-Paralysis? Time-Traveling Locke? A dead guy in a coffin came to the island. He got up and started walking around, and even contributed to the advancement of the plot. BEN is the one who said they had to bring him. Who ALWAYS has a plan?
Exactly.
While I’m not a fan of it, I definitely see a lot more of the whole seeing point A and point B of the story, and working towards a climactic middle point somewhere. If they’re going to kill off anyone, it’ll be Juliet. They’ve pretty much used up any story they could get from her.
And…
Just putting it out there…
Maybe JACK was the one who was always supposed to ‘lead’ the island. Maybe the ‘bad things’ that happen are Locke(and our merry band of travellers from the boat?) screwing it all up. Regardless, I don’t think S5 will have much to do with island events because
A) Ben JUST moved the isalnd. Do you really think they’re going to tell us what happened so quickly? This is LOST. Not a damn thing happens in every episode except MAYBE the last 30 seconds, in which we get a startling(although never concise) revelation, or a dramatic cliffhanger(sometimes both).
B) Those dudes even said themselves that S5 would focus on how the O6 get back, and S6 would be about what happens when they get there.
I don’t know.
I don’t pretend to be some all-knowing super-nerd who is dead sure about a different crackpot theory before the next episode gives us exactly what we’re expecting.
All I’m saying is that this is primetime television, people. The easiest, most obvious answer is almost ALWAYS the right one. Review the evidence, and go with your instinct. I’ve never posted a theory because EVERY TIME I did this, I was right. Don’t over-think it. The writers aren’t.
Comment by Iansane — July 26, 2008 @ 1:52 am
I don’t think the paralyzing spider theory is too far fetched. What would be cooler than the O6 getting to the island, and before burying Locke, find the coffin empty save for a single spider crawling out of the side?
Comment by Keith — August 5, 2008 @ 9:55 am