I am absolutely convinced that LOST is actually a video game. And I believe that the following description explains just exactly how the game is played. For ease of use, the top part of this page has been designed as a "Quick Start" reference. A more detailed explanation continues below it
I am thrilled to be able to say that each Season of LOST has only made my theory stronger and stronger. And I defy any fan out there to show me another comprehensive theory that is as strong as mine, or one that can so consistently predict what will happen on LOST.

"Two players. Two sides. One is light. One is dark." Locke S1E2

The Light player is 'good' and the Dark player is 'bad'. At the start of each level, the LOST characters are in a mixture of 'good' and 'bad' roles.

The Light player is required to manipulate the characters into 'good' roles by choosing the actions that they take when they are faced with a variety of obstacles and situations. The way in which the character responds to these obstacles and situations determines which role that character takes on.

The Dark player attempts to manipulate the characters into 'bad' roles by placing obstacles in their way. The obstacles can be the various versions of the monster or they can be introduced into the game by creating situations via game prompts that can result in 'bad' choices being made.

The two players help to create the details about the main characters' everyday lives on the island. And, the players also create the characters flash backs and flash forwards by responding to a series of prompts during the game. A list of pre-set options to choose from actually results in all of the duplications that occur on LOST

The cross connections between the characters that appear in their flashbacks and flash forwards are created by the game.

There are specific instructions/rules that are being provided at different times in the game. The instructions have been provided over the course of the game. There were were very few rules evident in Level1, but they have been increasing in the frequency at which they are provided as the game progresses.

Points can probably be won for a variety of accomplishments such as finding items like the Dharma hatches & stations, the power sources and maps & keys. Points could also be won for actions such as cooperating or saving people.

There are six levels in the game and there are time limits for completing the levels. However, additional time can be earned when a character accomplishes certain objectives.

The Numbers (4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42) are many things in the show, but one of the most important things that they represent are the time limits for each level.

Level 1 = 42 days, Level 2 = 23 days, Level 3 =16 days, Level 4 = 15 days, Level 5 = 8 days and Level 6 = 4 days. Making the total number of days in the game that our LOSTies will spend on the island= 108.

A level is completed when the time limit for the level has passed, when all of the objectives for that level have been accomplished and when the character in the role of the White Rabbit actually goes down the hole.

Level 1 , Level 2 , Level 3 , Level 4 , a Time Out and Level 5 have been completed. See the discussion below for information o of what to expect in Level 6

All characters are Reset to their original 'good' and 'bad' roles at the beginning of the next level. S3E8 is a great example of a character being reset. And S4E6 actually shows us the words "Master Caution Reset" on the computer in the Tempest.

Memory losses and eye color changes often result when a character switches to a different role.

The game is won when all six levels are completed.

I also believe that the game may be designed so that is could also be played by just one player. In that case, the game itself would take on the player position of either "Light" or "Dark"

I had also thought that we were given a hint early in Season 1 when Claire stated that she has searched through over 20 suitcases and still couldn't locate a hair brush. I thought that perhaps this was an indication that Locke was a 'game player' since he has no need of a brush. I now think that is is simply a case of a brush not being on the list of the pre-set options to choose from for the actual contents of the suitcases and items in the cargo hold.

I had also considered the fact that perhaps the use of the different eyes in the opening sequences of several of the Season 1 episodes actually represented different 'Points of View' on the part of the 'game players'. A new Eyes page has been added that discusses the opening eye shots, the peculiar appearance of the main characters eyes in several episodes and most notably their eyes in the Season 3 Promo Poster.

I have completely dismissed the idea that any of the LOST characters are playing the game, in favor of there being unidentified 'game players' completely outside of the game.

"Two players. Two sides. One is light. One is dark." Locke S1E2

Who knows? It could even be JJ Abrams and Damon Lindelof who are playing!

Considering the fact that the second "J" in JJ Abrams' stands for Jacob, I am starting to lean very heavily toward Abrams and Lindelof being the players.

And what about the planned final show of the series that TPTB have told us they have known from the very beginning? It may very well have the camera pulling back to reveal them in a surprise ending that is as big of a surprise as the endings of two other noted TV shows: St. Elsewhere's SNOW GLOBE and The Bob Newhardt Show's DREAM. It's interesting to note that snow globes and dreams have played a big part in the LOST mythology.

And when they do show us that LOST is, in fact, a video game during the very last show of the series, it is entirely possible that they will start with this shot of the game's circuitry from "LOST Connections" on the Season 2 DVD and have the camera panning back to show us the players.

By the way, it's interesting to note that when the "LOST Connections" first appears on the screen, Carlton Cuse is asking the question "...or could there be a larger picture still to come into focus?"

It also gives a whole new meaning to Sawyer's quote from S1E3: "You're just not looking at the big picture, Doc."

LOST has levels just like many other video games. There are six levels. And that my friends is why there will be a definitive end date as was discussed in a January 14, 2007 AP article. When all 6 levels are completed, it will be "GAME OVER". Whether the show's fans like it or not.

108 will be the the number of days spent on the island by all of the LOSTies and does not include the number of days shown in the Flash Backs, Flash Forwards, or the days spent by the remaining LOSTies on the island when all of the Oceanic 6 were gone. Only those days when all of the LOSTies are present on the island count toward completing a level, and therefore, all of the Oceanic 6 will have to return to the island to complete their full 108 days on-island.

The game levels are as follows:

Season 1 = Level 1= 42 days

Season 2 = Level 2 = 23 days (Days 43-65)

Level 3 = the first 16 days of Season 3 (Days 66-81)

Level 4 = 15 days (Days 82-96) began during the last part of Season 3 and continued into the beginning of Season 4

Level 5 = 8 days (Days 97-104), suspended on Day 102 when the Oceanic 6 left the island and the game went into a TIME OUT until the Oceanic 6 returned. The Time Out ended when the Oceanic 6 returned to the island. The two last days of Level 5 were completed and the change to Level 6 occurred just as predicted, after Day 104 had been completed.

Level 6 = 4 days (Days 105-108)

At the end of each level, a major reset of the characters occurs at the beginning of the next level. And the crash of Flight 815 is seen at the beginning of a new Level.

"I was unsuitable on several levels" Desmond S2E2

The Reset (aka "Loop dude, loop" Hurley S2E17)
The concept of resetting is very important to LOST. It was vitally important in Season 2/Level 2 that the clock had to be reset each time the 108 minutes had counted down. It also represents another very important part of the game, as it describes what happens to the characters during the game.

In the May 26, 2006 podcast, there is a discussion of the fact that the characters' personalities are constantly being reset to the original personalities that they had at the beginning of the show. That the characters are on the island are to be tested over and over again and that you have to go back to square one over and over again. 

And that is exactly what happened between Season 1/Level 1 and Season 2/Level 2. The characters were completely reset to the roles that they had at the beginning of LOST Season 1.

A reset also occurred between the end of Season 2/Level 2 and the beginning of Season 3/Level 3, and after all subsequent Level changes. Where, once again, the characters were completely reset to the roles that they had at the beginning of LOST Season 1/Level 1.

In fact, in S5E16 Sawyer says "Let me get this straight. Jack sets off the nuke, which somehow ...resets everything. ", an indication that the end of Level 5 will occur when Jughead's core is exploded.

What was so important about the entire episode of S3E8 "Flashes Before Your Eyes"? I believe that we have now seen the mechanics of the reset.

Desmond's entire experience with the flashes was actually him experiencing his own character being reset. Think of Desmond's "flashes" as being similar to what happened to the clock in the Swan Hatch when it would reset after the button was pushed, the numbers flashed by while it was resetting. And when the button was not pushed, the hieroglyphics flashed by.

Listen carefully when Desmond has his "flashes" in S3E8 - the sound of the Swan Hatch clicking as it resets can clearly be heard as the "flashes" occur.

Desmond's reset just took a little longer than it took for the other characters to reset. And for some reason, he was much more aware of it than the other characters. Perhaps it was a consequence of the force of the implosion.

Level 4 began in Season 3 on the night of day 81 on the Other's side of the island with the reset that occurred when Kate and Juliet experienced the flashes. There were four flashes, one for each level. This reset was also accompanied by the same sound heard when Desmond reset, that is, the sound of the Swan Hatch timer clicking as it resets.

As an interesting note, there have been some curious camera flashes that were seen in Level 4. The first occurred near Hurley in S3E17, the second near young Ben in S3E20 and the third flash was near Mikhail Bakunin/Patchy in S3E22. The fourth flash was a red flash that was seen in S4E3 when Locke is trying to locate Jacob's cabin. I had said that I expected that there should be a total of five of them to signal the start of Level 5. And in S4E5 we saw the fifth flash- a red flash that occurs on Sayid's face as he is standing on the deck of the Kahana. Is the fifth red flash that indicate that Level 5 has begun? No I don't think so. But I do think that they are indicative of the fact that Level 4 is ending.

As for flashes, well S4E5 had more flashes occurring in it than we have ever seen in any other episode before now. Just as Desmond had problems with his reset in S3E8, I think he is just having problems again with resetting. But this time, he starts to reset prematurely as a result of the lightening storm and gets "stuck" in reset just like Eloise and Minkowski. As a matter of fact, there are a number of flashes that occur on the helicopter before Desmond has his initial Flashback, here are 5 of them (#1, #2, #3, #4, #5). And although he gets back to the helicopter in 2004, subsequent flashes from the thunderstorm continue to send him back to 1996 (#6, #7, #8, #9). When he gets to the boat, he flashes back in time when the doctor shines the flashlight in his eyes. Even Desmond knows that it is the flashes in his eyes that are sending him back, and later in the episode he tries to get back by flashing his own eyes.

The big question is not why did Eloise get "un-stuck" when she was flashed by Daniel's light, but why didn't it also "un-stick" Desmond? Is it that Desmond has been exposed to a larger dose of radiation or electromagnetism than Eloise has been? It's also curious that Daniel's light was purple, in essence Eloise's flash was the same as making making her "sky turn purple".

As I predicted, S4E6 showed the end of Level 4 and the beginning of Level 5 on the morning of Day 97. The biggest difference with this Level change is that we actually saw the words MASTER CAUTION RESET appear both on the Tempest system map and on the computer that Daniel was working on. In fact, we also see Juliet and Charlotte being reset under the blinking lights as they leave the Tempest. When they arrive outside, they have been reset to the roles they were in when they first arrived on the island, Charlotte as a Lifeguard and Juliet as a prisoner.

S4E11 gave us a curious flash that occurred as Jack ran for the satellite phone that was dropped by Frank Lapidus. it was similar to the types of flashes that occurred in Level 4 in S3E17 through S3E22 as detailed in the paragraph that is six paragraphs above this one. This may be a sign that Level 5 is coming to an end. And we may have had the Hurley bird as there were birds chirping in S4E10 that served to cover over the sounds that Aaron makes and to help hide him from Keamy and his men. This could indicate that the monster is working to protect Aaron or it could be the Hurley Bird for Level 5.

Besides all the flashes of the cameras at the Press Conference, S4E12 gave us some more more curious flashes. There is a curious red flash seen on the side of a tree as Jack and Kate walk through the jungle and there is a red ring seen around the sun in one scene. These flashes all occur before the Level change so they are not related to characters resetting, and the red one on the tree may be the only one that is important since it may signal that Level 5 is coming to an end. And although Ben used a mirror to signal the Others on the mountaintop with mirror flashes, I do not believe that they have any thing to do with the Level changing.

S4E13 gave us many, many flashes. Most were red. Several red flashes can be seen in the scopes of the guns (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6). But there were also several more flashes that were seen: there are a red and a blue flash seen above and to Hurley's right as he is walking, and then a red flash near his left arm, there is red flash seen just above Kate's head when she is on the helicopter and a second red flash is seen when the camera comes back to her, there is a white flash seen over the island just before it disappears, and the white/purplish flash that appears as Ben turns the gear. Perhaps the most important flash occurs in S4E13 along with the high pitched noise after Ben has started to move the island. This the white flash that we see here. And it was not referred to as "when the sky turned purple" as it was at the end of Season 2/Level 2.

S5E3 was filled with all sorts of red flashes during the scenes where Miles, Daniel and Charlotte are being taken to The Others military camp. Although at first they looked like they could be caused by the sun, I don't think they were. See the red flashes here and here. Both of these are very distinct and are located in the same places, at the very bottom left hand corner of the screen. They are very similar to other red dots and red flashes that have appeared in some Levels.

S5E5 was just full of flashes again, we have the flashes seen when Locke is turning the wheel (1, 2, 3 ), the on-island time travel flashes experienced by the LOSTies, a red flash in the lower right hand corner as the voice from the smoke monster's hole says "help me" and also lots of flashing lights seen off-island in the marina and also when Jack and Sun are in the car with Ben.

S5E6 gave us one very big flash, the flash seen on Flight 316. This Flash was the flash that indicated that the TIME OUT had now ended and that Level 5 would now continue.

Level 1

Level 1 Roles
You may want to read Roles, before you continue reading this or it may not make sense to you.

When Season 1/Level 1 opened, the characters were in the following roles:

Level 1 Objectives
Level 1 is 42 days long. During Season 1/Level 1 the LOSTies were required to take care of their most basic of needs: to find food, water, shelter, medicine, defensive weapons and to build a rudimentary social structure (Live Together, Die Alone). They constructed temporary shelters, Sun began farming (Jack and Kate helped by collecting seeds), Jack and Sun set up the caves as a hospital, they designated a cemetery and Michael designed the water purification system for the caves. Besides the caves, additional locations discovered include Danielle's shelter, the rope bridge, the Swan Hatch and the location of the Black Rock in the Dark Territory.

During the course of Season 1/Level 1 their roles began to change, often frequently, and usually into a completely different role than they had previously been in.

To proceed to the next level, the Losties needed to work together to find the hatch, to locate the dynamite and to open the hatch.

But several other things were needed to complete Level 1:
1) All of the LOSTies had to be in 'good' roles
2) They had to be cooperating with each other for "The Greater Good"
3) Someone had to take on the role of the Leader
4) The Fail Safe had to be identified and utilized
5) The Hurley Bird needed to appear
6) and the White Rabbit needed to go down the hole
7) We needed to see the plane crash again, and it was seen at the beginning of the Level 2 to confirm our Level change

And here's how the requirements were met

1) Good Roles - The Season 1 Finale/Level 1 ended with the characters in the following 'good' roles:

You can cross reference the situations and quotes listed in the chart above by checking the Another Life section of this website or by reading the Season 1 Finale transcripts

2) Cooperation - The Season 1 Finale had all of the LOSTies banding together in unprecedented cooperation and working toward "The Greater Good" to launch the raft and to get everyone to a safe place. All of the LOSTies were in 'good' roles at the end of S1E24. The only LOSTie that is rude and insists that only he, and he alone, can perform a particular task is Arzt in S1E23 when they are moving the dynamite. Just before he blew to pieces. No wonder he died. He would not have been able to move on to Season 2/Level 2.

3) The Leader - Jack has finally taken over the role of the Leader

4) The Fail Safe - Locke tells Jack in S1E23 that they should split up the dynamite "It's not smart to keep it all together. So we split 'em up. If we need 3 sticks to blow the hinge, then we should bring 6... 3 and 3... failsafe, in case one of us..."

5) The Hurley Bird appears in S1E23

6) The White Rabbit - Kate, the White Rabbit, goes down the hole into the Swan Hatch (occurs in S2E1)

7) We needed to see the plane crash again, and we did in the Season 1 Finale

As a final note on Level 1, Locke nearly became the White Rabbit in S1E24 when he was being pulled down the hole by the black smoke monster. All of the objectives had been met at that point except for the fact that they still had not opened the hatch. If Kate and Jack had not pulled Locke up out of the hole, it would have been GAME OVER.

Level 1 Instructions
There is an interesting quote by Carlton Cuse in an interview with James C. Poniewozik, the TV critic for TIME magazine, regarding the fact that the LOSTies and the lack of instructions given to them in Season1/Level1. The article is also of interest because Lindelof and Cuse compare the structure of LOST to a video game.

What we do know regarding the rules is that the Level 1 objectives centered around finding food, water, constructing shelters and cooperating to build a social structure. There are disastrous results when Sawyer, Jin, Michael and Walt attempt to leave the island on the raft and disregard these objectives. Walt is kidnapped, the raft is fire-bombed by the Others, and Sawyer & Michael are separated from Jin. The indication is that not following this on every basic rule of focusing on building up the LOSTies social structure and instead attempting to escape the island has somehow gone against a basic rule of the game.

Level 2/Season 2

Level 2 Roles
Season 2/Level 2 started, and guess what happened? The game reset the main characters - and all of our LOSTies are reset back to their original roles:

Level 2 Objectives
Level 2 is 23 days long. Season 2/Level 2 had the Losties continuing to build up their social structure as Rose began organizing a makeshift pantry/kitchen on the beach with the newly arrived supplies from the food drop, they constructed more substantial tents & shelters, Eko began building the church and the bathroom and laundry were discovered.

Level two introduced completely new environments for the LOSTies to explore, the Dharma Hatches and Stations.

The objectives for this level included continuing to enter the numbers every 108 minutes as stated by Marvin Candle in the Orientation Video, locating and entering the Pearl Hatch, joining up with the remaining Tailies (more Live Together, Die Alone) and joining up with Desmond.

Just as before, the same things were needed to complete Level 2:
1) All of the LOSTies had to be in 'good' roles
2) They had to be cooperating for "The Greater Good"
3) Someone had to take on the role of the Leader
4) The Fail Safe had to be identified and utilized
5) The Hurley Bird needed to appear
6) and the White Rabbit needed to go down the hole
7) We needed to see the plane crash again, and it was seen at the beginning of the Level 3 to confirm our Level change

And here's how the requirements were met

1) Good Roles - The Season 2 Finale/Level 2 ended with all but one of the characters in 'good' roles. There was one character in a 'bad' role, Michael the Daddy. More on him below.

You can cross reference the situations and quotes listed in the chart above by checking the Another Life section of this website or by reading the Season 2 Finale transcripts

2) Cooperation - The Season 2 Finale has all of the LOSTies banding together to get Walt back and they all are in 'good' roles, except for Michael who is in the 'bad' Daddy role. Like Arzt at the end of Season 1, things do not look good for Michael at the end of Season 2. Although absent in Season 3 and slated to return in Season 4, Michael probably has little chance of living for very long before he dies as a consequence of his actions.

3) The Leader - Fake Henry is the Leader

4) The Fail Safe - To move on to Level 3, Desmond identifies the Fail Safe Key as a way to eliminate the need to continue to push the button.

5) The Hurley Bird appeared

6) The White Rabbit - Desmond, the White Rabbit, went down into the hole to use the Fail Safe Key.

7)We saw the plane crash again at the beginning of S3E1

As a final note on Level 2, when the computer is shot in S2E2 Desmond says "It's over". The Level 2 objectives had not been completed at that point and it would have been GAME OVER if Sayid had not fixed the computer.

Level 2 Instructions
Season 2 Level 2 begins with Sawyer, Jin and Michael being returned to the island, albeit, to the Tailies side of the island. This is the first indication that attempting to leave the island before all Levels have been completed is not an option in this game.

In S2E1, we met Desmond and saw the Swan Hatch Orientation film that instructed the LOSTies to type in the numbers and then push the "enter" button every 108 minutes. This video came complete with Dr. Marvin Candle providing instructions. This video also served to explain one of the main objectives for Season 2 /Level 2.

In S2E9 we get to see what is assumed to be a missing piece from this video (found in the Arrow Station) spliced into it. Again, the LOSTies are told that they must enter the numbers every 108 minutes.

Early in Season 2/Level 2, Desmond attempted to leave the island in Libby's sailboat, the Elizabeth. In S2E23, just as Sawyer, Michael and Jin had been returned to the island, Desmond is also returned to the island. This is the second indication that attempting to leave the island before all Levels have been completed is not an option in this game.

In S2E21 the Pearl Hatch Orientation video is found. The video is narrated by Mark Wickman. After watching it, Mr. Eko is now convinced that pushing the button is important because they are meant to do it. That is, it is their purpose or objective.

Locke, on the other hand, decides that it is a useless activity. He not only decides that he will no longer push the button, but he actually sabotages Eko's efforts to continue doing so. Desmond is then forced to use the Failsafe key that he had been told about by Kelvin Inman. Employing the Failsafe Key stops the need for the button to be pushed. It also completes the objectives for Season 2/Level 2 and allows the game to progress to Season3/Level3.

The Hurley Bird appears in the Season 2 Finale. In the same way that the Hurley Bird indicated the end of Level 1 in Season 1, this second appearance by the Hurley Bird is an indication that Season 2/Level 2 is coming to an end.

Michael and Walt are seen leaving the island in a boat provided by the Others at the end of Season2/Level 2. However, we can fully expect to see Michael and Walt again since we know that the Others lie and that they most likely lied to Michael about his ability to escape, and we have also been shown that attempting to leave the island before all Levels have been completed is not an option in this game.

Level 3/Season 3

Level 3 Roles
Our LOSTies have once again RESET to their original roles. As of S3E2, we had Jack the doctor, Kate the prisoner, Sawyer the Con Man, Sayid the Terrorist, Sun and Jin the Star Crossed Lovers. I originally thought that the Box Man hunted but, after S3E3, I now realize that the Hunter is its own role and I have made this adjustment. S3E3 gave us Locke the Hunter, Eko the Man of Faith, Charlie the Rock God, Hurley the Millionaire and Desmond the Prisoner.

S3E3 is the best example to date of the game roles being clearly identified. At least 18 game roles were referenced, including the following: Hunter, Farmer, Murderer, Lumberjack, Dead, Rock God, Drug Dealer, Fruit Picker, Criminal, Man of Faith, Sacrifice, Sheriff, Arsonist, Daddy, Special, Psychic, Suicide and Lifeguard. And it is interesting to note that Locke actually worked his way through many of these roles during this episode.

Level 3 Objectives
Level 3 is 16 days long. Like Level 2, Level 3 introduced us to completely new environments to explore. These include the Others' side of the Island, the inside of the Hydra Station, "Alcatraz" island and the Flame Hatch. We actually had a foreshadowing of "Alcatraz" in S2E16, when Ana Lucia was discussing Ben/Fake Henry's map with Sayid and said "... but at least we know we're on the right island".

According to the May 26, 2006 podcast, the focus of Season 3/Level 3 was why The Others kidnap Jack, Kate and Sawyer, where they take them (Alcatraz) and what happens there. It also seems that the LOSTies will band together and cooperate with each other to get Jack back from the Others.

Perhaps in order to "Live Together, Die Alone", the LOSTies will have to learn to cooperate with The Others. And perhaps, The Others have become a permanent part of the remainder of the game.

Level 3 covered 16 days. Level 3 ended on Day 81 (81=42+23+16). See the Numbers & Time for more info. I had thought it interesting that 16 days was roughly equivalent to the time frame that Ben/Fake Henry referred to when he told Kate that "The next two weeks are going to be very unpleasant."

S3E15 covered Days 80 and 81 on the LOSTies side of the island, and Days 81 and the beginning of Day 82 on the Others side of the island. See the Numbers & Time for more info.

To proceed to the next level, the Losties needed to work together to get Jack back from the Others

But several other things were needed to complete Level 3:
1) All of the LOSTies had to be in 'good' roles
2) They had to be cooperating with each other for "The Greater Good"
3) Someone had to take on the role of the Leader
4) The Fail Safe had to be identified and utilized
5) The Hurley Bird needed to appear
6) and the White Rabbit needed to go down the hole
7)We needed to see the plane crash again at the beginning of Level 4

And here's how the requirements were met:

1) Good Roles - Level 3 appears ended with all of the characters in 'good' roles.

You can cross reference the situations listed in the chart above by checking the Another Life section of this website or by reading the S3E15 transcript

2) Cooperation - S3E15 has all of the LOSTies on the LOSTies side of the island enjoying the luau, complements of Sawyer. On the Other's side of the island- Kate, Sayid and Juliet were cooperating to get Jack back.

3) The Leader - Sawyer stepped up to be the Leader (with a little help from Hurley)

4) The Fail Safe - Juliet enters numbers into the key pad

5) The Hurley Bird - A bird can clearly be heard chirping in S3E15 as Juliet walks past the window of the rec room to deliver the tray of food to Kate.

6) The White Rabbit - Kate was the White Rabbit when she hides herself and Juliet in the trees and yells "Get down". Note that the handcuffs can not be seen at this time.

7) We saw the plane crash again in S4E14

So what about Locke being in the 'bad' role of Lawyer when we last saw him before the reset occurs? He was not in a 'good' role at that point. once again we have him saying "I'm sorry" to Kate as he walks out the door. It is getting to be habit for him to apologize when he does something that is not for "The Greater Good". However, in S3E19 when we saw what he was doing later on during Day 81 and 82, he was in the role of the Man of Faith. Locke had decided to believe that Ben/Fake Henry would share the secrets on the island and that is why he decided to stay with the Others.

Level 3 Instructions
Level 3/Season 3 was very important to further understanding just how the game is played and what some of the rules in the game actually are.

During Level 3/Season 3 several characters, including Juliet, Boone, Mrs. Hawking and Nadia the cat, have shown us just how important these characters are to understanding the game.

In S3E1 Juliet has a thick file folder in front of her from which she relates bits and pieces of Jack's life history to him. Jack questions her about what information is in the file.

Jack: "What is that?"
Juliet: "This Jack, is your life."
Jack: "Do you... Is it just about me or is it about my family too? My friends?"
Juliet: "It's pretty much about everything."

I believe that the file folder is a physical representation of the rules and instructions for the game. Juliet is consulting the instructions to learn what will motivate Jack so that he can be manipulated into performing the surgery on Ben/Fake Henry. Juliet also tells Sayid and Sawyer in S3E16 that she knows all about them, indicating that she has seen their files as well.

S3E3 is named "Further Instructions". In this episode, Locke builds the sweat lodge and Boone visits him there. Boone gives Locke instructions on what he must do next, save Eko. Boone's appearance should be viewed as a game prompt, a prompt that gets Locke to do the next thing required of him.

S3E8 introduced us to Mrs. Hawking. While it appears, at first, that Mrs. Hawking is simply another character in the role of Psychic. She is actually the most important development to date to the understanding of how the game is played and what can and can't be done in the game. And is actually one of the most important people that the game has to date. She is in the role of "Teacher " and provides Desmond with some of the most basic of rules.

Mrs. Hawking gives us the following game rules:

1. The characters have pre-ordained paths that they must follow

2. A character can not save another character's life, if the game determines that they are supposed to die (such as Mrs. Hawking & Red Sneaker Man or Desmond & Charlie)

3. The universe has a way of course correcting when someone takes an action that they shouldn't such as attempting to leave the island. Desmond has apparently attempted to change the future each of the three times that he has saved Charlie's life. In S3E17, Desmond chooses to save Charlie. Charlie says to Desmond, "You'd have gone and sacrificed me" and Desmond replies "If the flashes don't happen exactly as I saw them, then the picture changes. I was supposed to let you die Charlie" and "It means it's pointless. I keep saving your life. It's gonna keep happening again and again. Maybe that's the point, maybe it's a test like God testing Abraham?" Desmond seems to have changed the future so much by saving Charlie's life that he actually changes who shows up on the island. Penny had appeared in his flashes as being the rescuer that would come to the island, but the person who arrives on the island is Naomi instead of Penny.

In S3E9 we again see Juliet with a file folder. She takes a picture of Ben's infected incision out of it when she is speaking to Jack, She is obviously looking for instructions for what to do for Ben.

In S3E9 we also learn something about the Others from Alex "We're pretty strict about killing one of our own" and that there is "an Eye for an Eye" justice amongst the Others. It is also possible that when Ben said in his note that "the rules don't apply" to Juliet, that perhaps the "Eye for an Eye" rule only applies to the Others.

Nadia, Mikhail Bakunin/Patchy's cat actually provides information to Sayid by scratching at the rug. By paying close attention to Nadia the cat, Sayid is able to discover the entrance to the Flame Hatch. Kate also realizes that Ms. Klugh is important to finding Jack since she knows where he was taken. Unfortunately, when Ms. Klugh tells Mikhail Bakunin/Patchy to kill her (in Russian), and he does, Ms. Klugh is eliminated as a source of instructions.

S3E11 provides us with more instructions. Locke plays chess with the computer and wins. He then views the Flame Hatch video. Once again it features a character who looks exactly like Marvin Candle/Mark Wickman but this time, we are not given his name. Locke dutifully follows the instructions given in this video. He enters 77 into the computer because it instructs him to do so if there has been "an incursion by the Hostiles".

Locke's actions result in the Flame Hatch being blown to pieces and the Dharma Instruction Manuals are destroyed along with it. Fortunately, Sayid has retrieved the maps of the cables and the barracks which will lead them to the Others and Jack. Therefore, the maps will help the LOSTies achieve their main goal for Season 3/Level 3, getting Jack back and learning to live on the island with the Others.

Level 4/Season 3 and Season 4

Level 4 Roles
Level 4 began on the Others side of the island when Kate and Juliet saw the flashes during their reset during the night of Day 81/early morning hours of day 82.

The objectives of Level 4 appear to be to learn more about the Others, the island and the Dharma Initiative, to save the pregnant women from the Other's and to make contact with the BOATies. Lindelof and Cuse discuss much of this in the May 11, 2007 podcast.

We have several characters whose reset roles can be identified at the beginning of Level 4

On the morning of Day 82 Kate and Juliet are seen with the handcuffs clearly visible. Even though the handcuffs were deliberately not shown in some scenes or hidden by conveniently placed branches the night before as Kate went through several role changes including the White Rabbit and the Nurse.

Although Sayid was last seen, before the reset, handcuffed to the swings as a prisoner, Juliet says to Kate "Sayid's in a backyard. I'll get him". Sayid was never seen in handcuffs after the reset, instead he appears with a backpack containing a machete.

As of S3E16, we also have Jack as the Doctor, Sayid confirmed as the Terrorist with the machete, Claire as the Mom, Sawyer as the Con Man, Juliet as the Prisoner and Charlie as the Rock God. Charlie is first seen walking down the beach in a Grateful Dead t-shirt, which means he reset to the Rock God. Watch this episode to see how carefully Charlie always covers up the front of the t-shirt when he is holding Aaron and is in the role of the nursemaid

In S3E18 Juliet tells Sun that it has been 90 days since the plane crash, but when she leaves the message for Ben/Fake Henry she says that it is 6:00am on Saturday morning, which would make it Day 88. Juliet is conning either Sun or Ben/Fake Henry about the actual date.

In S3E19 Locke tells Sawyer "I'm on my own journey now" which means that he has decided to stop acting for the "Greater Good". This is just one more thing that is putting Locke in jeopardy of dying. See Deaths below.



Level 4 Objectives
Level 4 is 15 days long. The objective of Level 4 appears to be to learn more about the Others, the island and the Dharma Initiative, to save the pregnant women from the Other's and to make contact with the BOATies. Lindelof and Cuse discuss this in the May 11, 2007 podcast.

In S3E19 we saw a new location on the island, the Ruins. Ben/Fake Henry tells us "We're moving to an new place. Well, an old place actually." We then see Anthony Cooper tied to a ruined stone column and the indication is that we are now going to be seeing the Ruins area where the four toed statue is located.

The second new location in Level 4 is Jacob's House with the curious line of ashes around it that was seen in S3E20. Locke picks up some of the ashes to examine them. Ben/Fake Henry and Locke are careful to step over these. The ashes are also seen on Jacob's empty chair.

Lindelof and Cuse said in the May 11, 2007 podcast that the ashes around Jacob's House are probably linked to the eruption of the island volcano that is discussed in the Dharma classroom when we see Olivia demonstrate a volcanic eruption.

The third new location that we see in Level 4 is the Looking Glass Hatch that is found by Charlie in S3E21. We also see the inside of the hatch as Charlie enters it and the two women who take him prisoner.

The fourth new location that we learned about in Level 4 was Pascal Flats which was identified on the map that Ben/Fake Henry used to determine his route to meet up with the LOSTies. It may be the name of the area where the Others were camping in S3E21 and S3E22.

The fifth new location was the Radio Tower. Although we had heard about it back in Season 1/Level 1, we had never seen it until the Season 3 finale.

The sixth new location was the Boat (the Kahana).

We also learned about the Temple that Ben/Fake Henry told Richard Alpert to move the Others to in S3E22.

The final new location was the Tempest.

Tracking exactly what day it was in this Level became complicated as we started to get some conflicting information. In S3E18 Juliet leaves a strange message for Ben/Fake Henry on the tape recorder in the Medical Station. Juliet says that it is Saturday when she leaves the message for Ben, yet earlier in the episode she referred to the LOSTies having been there for 90 days. Day 90 would actually be a Monday. Day 88 would have been a Saturday.

As of S3E22, when Charlie swims down to the Looking Glass and the LOSTies leave the beach for the Radio Tower, we were apparently only on Day 93 and still a few days away from the day that the level should change (Day 96).

By the end of S3E22 it seemed we were apparently smack in the middle of that change from Level 4 to Level 5. But we were still a few days short of when it should occur.

Here's where we stood at the end of S3E22 when everything was indicating that a change to Level 5 was about to occur:

To proceed to Level 5, the Losties needed to work together once again and meet several requirements:

1) All of the LOSTies have to be in 'good' roles
2) They have to be cooperating with each other for "The Greater Good"
3) Someone has to take on the role of the Leader
4) The Fail Safe has to be identified and utilized
5) The Hurley Bird needs to appear
6) The White Rabbit needed to go down the hole
7)We saw the plane crash again at the beginning of Level 5

And here's how the requirements had been met as of S3E22, it looked like the Level change was about to occur, but it did not actually take place until S4E6 when all of the requirements, including the correct number of days had been completed.

1) Good Roles - All of the LOSTies were in 'good roles' at the end of S3E22

You can cross reference the situations listed in the chart above by checking the Another Life section of this website or by reading the S3E22 transcript

2) Cooperation - S3E22, all of the LOSTies are working together for the 'Greater Good' to save the pregnant women from the Others, to get to the Radio Tower to shut down Danielle's message, to get Charlie to shut down the Looking Glass transmission to use the satellite phone, to call Naomi's boat and to fight the Others. Locke was the only other LOSTie besides Charlie and Desmond who was not with the group. And while Locke believed that he was acting for the 'Greater Good' by attempting to kill Naomi because he believed"She's not who she says she is". And so it was still not a situation of them all cooperating together.

3) The Leader - Both Danielle and Jack were in the role of Leader in S3E22. Danielle is the Leader when she leads the group to the Radio Tower and then Jack takes over as the Leader once they get there. So there was a clearly defined leader.

4) The Fail Safe - Nothing was definitively identified as the Fail Safe in S3E22. However, a strong case could be made for it being when Charlie entered the number into the keypad, shutting down the Looking Glass transmission and/or when he presses the Red Flashing Button to receive the incoming transmission from Penny.

5) The Hurley Bird - In S3E19, there is a loud bird call heard just as Locke and Sawyer reached the Black Rock, its sound was very different than any other birds that have been heard in this Level. The other possibility is the birds that are heard as the LOSTies reach the Radio Tower in S3E22.

6) The White Rabbit - There were several White Rabbits, including Karl hiding in the tress in S3E21 and most notably Charlie when he swam down to the Looking Glass and entered it through the Moon Pool. However, in S3E22 Desmond also swam down and entered through the moon pool. He then hides in the storage locker. If I had to pick one, I would say it was Desmond hiding in the storage locker. Just as a point of interest, the name Pascal (Pascal Flats) means Easter child and it could be a hint about the large number of white rabbits that were seen in Level 4. See Roles

But, the Level change from Level 4 to Level 5 did not occur in Season 3 and was delayed until Season 4.Why, because the correct number of days had not been completed. It has been interesting to note that in we are now seeing that each episode actually covers less island time than previous episodes covered. Days 93 and 94 have taken up several episodes (S3E22- S4E3).

Level 4/Season 4
At the end of Season 3, I was convinced that we were going to see the Level change from 4 to 5 and that it would occur a few days early and I couldn't explain why it would occur when we would be at least two or three days short of when it was expected. However at the start of Season 4, although most of the requirements had been met for the level change, things started to change rapidly.

The biggest change is the fact that our LOSTies have now separated into two groups:s: the LOSTies that are with Jack (Kate, Sayid, Desmond, Sun & Jin, Ben & Rose)and the LOSTies who went with Locke to the Barracks (Hurley, Sawyer, Claire & Aaron, Danielle & Ben, Alex & Karl).

WE had to wait for those last few island days to occur for the change to Level 5 to happen.

As of S4E2, there are several groups operating on the island: Locke's group, Jack's group which consists of the bulk of the LOSTies headed for the beach, the Others who are supposed to be headed toward the Temple, and Naomi's team on the island which now appears to be led by Miles.

As of S4E4, we are on Day 95 on LOSTies beach and on the morning of Day 96 in New Otherton (Locke tells Miles to "Enjoy your breakfast" when he places the grenade in his mouth).

S4E5 bring us to Day 96 on the island and curiously to what appears to be Day 94 (December 24, 2004) on the BOATies' ship, the Kahana, and also Day 94 back in England. Desmond believes he calls Penny on Christmas Eve, just as he had promised to do 8 years earlier. So here we are again folks, trying to reconcile the same two day difference in time that has plagued us as fans since Season 2.

But here's a question, we know it's Day 96 on the island, but is it really Day 94 on the ship? Or did Sayid and Desmond only experience a shift backwards in time that would be roughly equivalent to a few hours. We know they left at dusk and arrived at mid-day. But in the middle of which day did they arrive?

We know it took the payload 31 minutes to reach the island from the ship, Assuming you calculated using the speed of the payload vs. the speed of the helicopter, did Desmond and Sayid actually only travel back in time a few hours? Or might it have taken them back just a day and it is now actually Christmas Day, Day 95?

What about the comment by Minkowski that the sabotage to the equipment occurred two days ago? Does that simply mean that no one has marked the calendar since the day of the sabotage and that it may actually be Day 96 on the ship as well? Also, there is no confirmation that it is actually Christmas Eve for her when Penny answers the phone. All we know is that she is standing in front of a Christmas tree.

So yes, we have a time controversy on the ship, but there is one thing for sure, it is Day 96 on the island and the change to Level 5 is due to occur between Day 96 and Day 97.

We have also already had what may be the equivalent of a Hurley Bird (see Monster S4E4 ) and a White Rabbit (see Games S4E4) for a Level change to occur. During the next few episodes we should finally get the change from Level 4 to 5.

Which brings us to the morning of Day 97 (S4E6). The day of the Level change from 4 to 5.

To proceed to Level 5, the Losties needed to work together once again and meet several requirements:

1) All of the LOSTies have to be in 'good' roles
2) They have to be cooperating with each other for "The Greater Good"
3) Someone has to take on the role of the Leader
4) The Fail Safe has to be identified and utilized
5) The Hurley Bird needs to appear
6) The White Rabbit needs to go down the hole
7)We saw the plane crash again at the beginning of Level 5

And here's how the requirements were met as of S4E6

1) Good Roles - All of the LOSTies were in 'good roles'

You can cross reference the situations listed in the chart above by checking the Another Life section of this website or by reading the S4E5 and S4E6 transcripts

2) Cooperation - Although they are separated into two groups, all of the LOSTies within each group are working together within their groups for "The Greater Good"

3) The Leader - Juliet steps up and decides to move ahead to the Tempest without Jack and Kate

4) The Fail Safe - Daniel working on the computer to render the gas inert and stop it from being released

5) The Hurley Bird - I think we had the equivalent of a Hurley Bird when Kate stops and turns to listen to a bird as she delivered food to Miles (see Monster S4E4 )

6) The White Rabbit went down the hole- There were a few White Rabbits in the last few episodes of this Level, including the rabbit on the shelf in Aaron's bedroom (see Games S4E4). I had stated in update on the What's New? page dated 2/29/08 that I thought it might be the White Rabbit for this Level change since we were so rapidly approaching a change at that time. Then there was the rabbit that Locke killed and served to Ben in S4E6. But I believe the actual White Rabbit for this Level change was Juliet entering the Tempest in S4E6.

7) We saw the plane crash again in S4E6 (#1, #2)

Level 4 Instructions
In S3E19, we see that Ben/Fake Henry has a pile of green file folders on his desk, Richard Alpert gives Locke a file on Sawyer, and we learn from Locke that the Others have files on all of the LOSTies.

In S3E20, we see the new Dharma arrivals watching an orientation video in the processing center. They are given instructions about the purpose and operation of the sonic fence.

Additional parts of the Level 4 instructions were the maps included the binder that Sayid took from the Flame Hatch. He used the maps in the binder to locate the Perimeter Fence, the Barracks in New Otherton and the Looking Glass. It will be interesting to see just what else might be in that binder and what else Sayid took with him from the Flame.

S3E22 Walt appears and tells Locke that he has work to do. In S4E2 Locke tells his group that Walt told him what he was "supposed to do"

In S4E2 Matthew Abbadon has a pile of files on his desk that are about Miles Straume, Charlotte Lewis, Daniel Faraday and Frank Lapidus

S4E4 has Ben saying to Locke "You keep hitting dead ends. You couldn't find the cabin, you can't make contact with Jacob, you're so desperate to figure out what to do next, you're even asking me for help". He also tells Locke "You're more LOST than you ever were." and then later on says to Locke "Excellent John, you're evolving".

Regarding that last comment about "evolving", it's interesting to note that in S3E3, as Charlie was standing guard for Locke at the Sweat Lodge, he said to Locke "I'm gonna stand out here in case you devolve into a monkey". Perhaps evolving and devolving is the name that the game gives to the process of the Role changes.

S4E5 gave us even more instructions as we learned from Daniel that "The future cannot be changed". This was also discussed by Lindelof and Cuse during the February 28, 2008 podcast.

S4E5 also provided the instructions on how to locate the BOATies on the Kahana by following a specific heading, and how to become "unstuck" in time by using a constant.

S4E6 Ben shows Locke a file on Widmore and also shows Locke a video tape of Widmore and tells Locke "This is the man whose boat is parked offshore. This is the man that's been trying to find the island". and in S4E6 we see juliet reading Jack's file.

Level 5/Seasons 4 & 5

Level 5 Roles
This Level will include 8 days (97 - 104) and begins with Jack, Juliet, Charlotte and Kate near the Tempest Hatch after Juliet and Charlotte have reset while leaving the Tempest. Desmond and Sayid are on the Kahana.

As I predicted, S4E6 showed the end of Level 4 and the beginning of Level 5 on the morning of Day 97. The biggest difference with this Level change is that we actually saw the words MASTER CAUTION RESET appear both on the Tempest system map and on the computer that Daniel was working on. In fact, we also see Juliet and Charlotte being reset under the blinking lights as they leave the Tempest. When they arrive outside, they have been reset to the roles they were in when they first arrived on the island, Charlotte as a Lifeguard and Juliet as a prisoner.

Sun indicates that it is the night of Day 97 when she says to Jin, "Sayid and Desmond left three days ago". and Sayid says the same thing to Desmond on the Kahana. Which brings up the question again of what day is it really on the Kahana?

We have several characters whose reset roles can be identified at the beginning of Level 5

Level 5 Objectives
Level 5 is 8 days long. In S3E22, we were told about at least one new location for Level 5, the Temple, where the Others are headed. Curiously, the closer the LOSTies got to the Radio Tower, the more abundant the black rocks became. Perhaps the increasing occurrence of the black rocks in that area is an indication that the LOSTies are now in the vicinity of the volcano that has been hinted at.

As for other new locations, we had Rose & bernard's new house and camp, the place where Jughead is stored, the statue and the inside of the base of the statue where Jacob lives.

As for their objectives, back in S4E2 (Level 3) we found out the BOATies objectives when Daniel tells Jack "Rescuing you and your people, can't really say it's our prime objective" and when Miles tells Jack & Kate that they are there for Ben.

I posed the question at that time as to whether or not, the BOATies would force the LOSTies to cooperate with the Others to survive. That's just what we saw on Day 98 when Locke calls the group together for his meeting to discuss why the BOATies are there. And Ben sends Alex and Karl away with Rousseau.

S4E9 takes place on Day 99, the day after Rousseau takes Alex and Karl to the temple. Ben clearly tells Sawyer that he sent them "away yesterday". Day 99 is also the day that Keamy kills Alex, and Ben somehow unleashes the smoke monster.

S4E10 occurs on Day 100 as Jack is operated on and Sawyer makes his way with Claire, Aaron and Miles back to the beach. Day 101 begins when Sawyer wakes up to find that Claire has walked off into the jungle.

In S4E10 we learn from Jack that some of the LOSTies chose to stay on the island and are apparently alive after the Oceanic 6 get back. Jack tells Kate about Sawyer "He made his choice. He chose to stay"

In S4E10 There are birds chirping that serve to cover over the sounds that Aaron makes to help hide him from Keamy and his men. This could indicate that the monster is working to protect Aaron or could be the Hurley bird to indicate that the end of level 5 is approaching (Day 104)

S4E11 takes place on Day 100 for Hurley, Locke and Ben who have "...been walking all day" according to Hurley. When Locke finally enters Jacob's cabin, it is the night of Day 101. We also see the LOSTies on the beach on the night of Day 101 as the helicopter returns with Keamy and his men.

S4E11 also has Ben telling Locke "The island wanted me to get sick. The island wanted you to get better. My time is over". This may mean that Ben is giving up his Leadership role to Locke.

S4E11 gave us a curious flash that occurred as Jack ran for the satellite phone that was dropped by Frank Lapidus. it was similar to the types of flashes that occurred in Level 4 in S3E17 through S3E22 as detailed above in The Reset section. Many additional flashes were also seen in S4E13. Again see the discussion of flashes above, in the Reset section. This may be a sign that Level 5 is coming to an end. And we may have had the Hurley bird as there were birds chirping in S4E10 that served to cover over the sounds that Aaron makes and to help hide him from Keamy and his men. This could indicate that the monster is working to protect Aaron or it could be the Hurley Bird for Level 5.

S4E12 gave us some more more curious flashes, besides all the flashes of the cameras at the Press Conference. There is a curious red flash seen on the side of a tree as Jack and Kate walk through the jungle and there is a red ring seen around the sun in one scene. These flashes all occur before the Level change so they are not related to characters retting, and the red one on the tree may be the only one that is important since it may signal that Level 5 is coming to an end. And although Ben used a mirror to signal the Others on the mountaintop with mirror flashes, I do not believe that they have any thing to do with the Level changing.

S4E12 starts with Jack and Kate preparing to leave the beach on the night of Day 101 and the majority of the episode takes place during the daylight hours of Day 102.

While Karen Decker tells the crowd at the Press Conference that a raft was dislodged from a sunken fishing boat on Day 103 because of a typhoon, and that the LOSTies left the island of Membata on Day 108 and used the raft to get to the village of Manukannga on the island of Sumba on Day 108, we find out in S4E13 that this is not true. The LOSTies actually left the island on Day 102 and spent a week on Penny's yacht before arriving on the island of Sumba on Day 108.

S4E12 also gave us a new Dharma Station, the Orchid. The Orchid had been revealed in the video released at the 2007 Comic Con, but has never been shown before this episode. Here's the video shown at Comic Con, if you haven't had a chance to see it yet. The video was seen in part during S4E13 as Locke attempts to watch it.

Okay, the big question here is did we see the end of Level 5 in S4E13 when Ben moved the island? I think that the definitive answer is no, despite the fact that almost all of the requirements appeared to be met. One very important requirement was not met, the number of days in Level 5. The Oceanic 6 left the island on Day 102, two days before the Level was due to change from Level 5 to Level 6. However, the days spent between leaving the island and returning were actually days in a TIME OUT period.

I think that this is a very similar situation to what we saw at the end of Season 3 when it appeared that a Level change was going to occur a few days early. But the more I think about it, I am convinced that it did not change yet. And my primary reason for thinking it hasn't changed yet is because of the fact that it was two days short of when it is supposed to happen. I know those same two nagging days that always seem to be in question when it comes to LOST. But there are a few more reasons as well. We did not see the plane crash, instead we saw the helicopter crash. And, we also did not see all of the characters reset.

I have gone back and watched Season 4 over and over again. I have painstakingly counted the days. I have even thought of Daniel saying to Jack and Juliet in S4E5 that 'Your perception of time may not be entirely accurate".

As Season 5 progressed it became apparent that the LOSTies still on the island had entered into TIME OUT period during the days spent between when the Oceanic 6 left the island and their actual return. See TIME OUT below. Once the Oceanic 6 returned and spent the additional two days required, the Level is ready to change from 5 to 6 when all of the requirements are met.

Here's how the requirements were met:

To proceed to Level 6, the Losties needed to work together once again and meet several requirements:

1) All of the LOSTies have to be in 'good' roles
2) They have to be cooperating with each other for "The Greater Good"
3) Someone has to take on the role of the Leader
4) The Fail Safe has to be identified and utilized
5) The Hurley Bird needs to appear
6) The White Rabbit needs to go down the hole
7)We need to see the plane crash at the beginning of the new Level

And here's how the requirements were met as of S5E16 & S5E17

1) Good Roles - All of the LOSTies were in 'good roles'

You can cross reference the situations listed in the chart above by checking the Another Life section of this website or by reading the transcripts

2) Cooperation - Although they are separated into several groups all of the LOSTies are working together for "The Greater Good". All of the LOSTies on the main island are working together to use Jughead, and Lapidus and Sun whether they like it or not are currently with the Others

3) The Leader - Jack leads the on-island LOSTies on the quest to set off Jughead

4) The Fail Safe - Jughead's core

5) The Hurley Bird - The incredibly loud birds chirping as they make their final modifications to Jughead's core

6) The White Rabbit - Juliet went down the hole

7) We did not see the plane crash, however we did see the outside of the plane (Flight 815)

Level 5 Instructions
In S4E7, Bernard offers Jin the following advice "You make bad choices, bad things happen to you" and "You make good choices and then good things..." Giving the first indication in the game that bad things will happen to the various characters if they make bad choices. This is part of the discussion where Bernard explains why he and Rose chose to stay with Jack rather than going with Locke "Because it was the right thing to do, Locke is a murderer". Juliet also warns Sun about leaving Jack's group to join Locke saying "This is a bad idea". The implication is that anything bad that now happens to Locke is probably a result of the game punishing him due to his own bad choices.

In S4E7, Kate draws a map to New Otherton for Sun and Jin, although, Sun finally decides not to join Locke as a result of her conversation with Juliet.

Gault says in S4E8 that "The rules of desertion still apply to everyone", this goes along with what we have seen before, that leaving is not an option in the game.

In S4E8, when asks by Sayid why he is on the Kahana, Michael replies "I'm here to die". He also attempts suicide four times in S4E8, by smashing his car into a cargo container, by trying to shoot himself in the alley, by trying to shoot himself in his room and by activating the bomb. In all cases, he fails. Tom/Mr. Friendly tells him in the alley that "The island won't let you" and the note that pops up from the bomb says "Not Yet". Both Tom/Mr. Friendly and Ben essentially tell Michael the same thing, that he has work to do before he can die. This is obviously a case of course correction, Michael will not be able to commit suicide before he completes whatever the task is that he needs to do.

When Michael asks Tom/Mr. Friendly about the ability of the Others to leave the island in S4E8, "So, you people can just come and go?", Tom/Mr. Friendly replies "Some of us". It implies that only some of the Others can leave the island, while some of them cannot.

In S4E8 Tom/Mr. Friendly gives Michael a black file that contains pictures of pictures of the cemetery in Thailand where Widmore dug up the 324 bodies, a copy of the invoice for the used plane and he tells Michael "That's not your plane. It's a phony. A man named Widmore put it down there and he staged the whole wreck".

In S4E9 when Locke asks Ben about the smoke monster again, Ben tells him "You can ask Jacob". Then, when Sawyer asks "Who the hell's Jacob?", Ben answers that "He's the man who's gonna tell us what to do next". Indicating that Jacob is going to provide them with some "Further Instructions".

Alex's Death and The Rules

In S4E9, we were given what appear to be some new rules, those that concern Ben and Widmore killing each other's family members. In the past, when we have been given new rules, they have been pretty cut and dried as to their meaning. However, the whole scenario of Alex's death is curious and somewhat contradictory.

Keamy was holding Alex as his Prisoner and threatening to shoot "your daughter" if Ben did not come out of the house. Next, Ben did a curious thing, he denied that Alex was his daughter and admitted to kidnapping her as a baby from Danielle. But when Keamy killed Alex, Ben was stunned by it and said that "He changed the rules." A little later in the episode, when Ben entered Widmore's bedroom, we learned that Ben was referring to Widmore when he said "He changed the rules".

The question is, if Ben thought that neither he, nor Widmore, could kill each other's family members then why didn't he just continue to insist that Alex was his daughter, instead of denying her as his daughter? If it is true that they can't kill each other's family, then insisting she was his daughter should have kept her safe, but instead, he did the opposite and denied her. apparently leaving Keamy free to kill her.

Ben and Widmore then have an interesting exchange in Widmore's bedroom regarding Alex's death. Ben says "I'm here because you murdered my daughter" and Widmore comes back with "...we both know very well I didn't murder her at all, you did". Ben responds 'No, that's not true" and Widmore says "Yes, it is". Why does Widmore blame Ben for Alex's death?

is there actually a rule against killing each other's family members? If there is no such rule, why did Ben think there was? And why did Ben deny Alex was his daughter and admit to being a kidnapper. And why would Widmore accuse Ben of being responsible for her death?

I'm not sure but here are a few thoughts I have had about all of this.

It may be possible that Ben has become subject to the rule we learned from Bernard in S4E7, that is, if "You make bad choices, bad things happen to you". Perhaps killing his own father somehow left him open to allowing other members of his family to be killed. I'm not sure if that is the case here.

Further, if Widmore could actually change the rules, then why couldn't he change the rule that he and Ben can't kill each other?

Another thought has to do with the concept of their Roles at the time of Alex's death. Ben was in the role of Daddy, Alex was in the role of a Prisoner. Ben stops and appears to be thinking over his options for a second and then suddenly switches to the role of Kidnapper and bang- Keamy kills Alex. It was interesting to note that this was the very first time that Ben admitted to Kidnapping Alex from Danielle.

Did Ben's sudden switch from Daddy to Kidnapper play a part in Alex's death? As the Kidnapper, he freely admits that Alex is not his daughter, and therefore Keamy would be allowed to kill her. Then how would Widmore's comments fit into this? Does it imply that by Ben allowing himself to switch from Daddy to Kidnapper that Ben caused her death? What caused the switch in Ben's roles? If the 'bad' player caused it, what was the reasoning? Could it have simply been done deliberately by the 'bad' player to escalate the war? Could Ben have somehow stopped the switch from Daddy to Kidnapper or was it out of his control? There have been memory lapses associated with role changes in the past. Did Ben have some sort of lapse in his memory of the rules as a consequence of switching roles?

My answer is, I don't know. But I'm sure we'll be learning more as we go along. Especially since in S5E16 we learn that Jacob's nemesis was able to find a loophole, he found a way to trick Ben into killing Jacob. So perhaps this explains why Widmore couldn't kill Alex but Keamy could do it for him.

S4E10 brings us more examples of files on people. Jack is shown carrying Ms. Berenberg's file, Dr. Erika Stevenson gives Jack a file on Ryan Laker and Jack is later seen examining this file when he is looking at Ryan's xrays.

S4E10 also gave us the fact that even though the smoke monster attacked Keamy's men, they all seem to have survived. When asked about this in an interview on Jimmy Kimmel after the show aired, Carlton Cuse stated that "The monster has different rules for different people". Cuse also answers Rose's question on why Jack got sick on an island that actually cures people and Cuse answered that "Jack gets sick because he is not in communion with the island". This is the first indication we have a possible answer for why Ben got his cancerous tumor and ties in with Richard Alpert's statement to Locke in S3E19 that the Others are concerned that Ben is too obsessed with the pregnancy issues.

S4E11 Locke tells Hurley "Hopefully, the man who lives in the cabin can tell us what to do about the people who are trying to kill us" and when Locke finds Horace Goodspeed, Horace provides instructions when he tells Locke "You gotta find me John, you gotta find me... and when you do, you'll find him" when Locke asks "Who?", Horace replies "Jacob, he's been waiting for you for a real long time". When Locke does find Horace's body in the pit, he finds a map in Horace's pocket that leads him to Jacob's cabin.

S4E11 Captain Gault tells Keamy that it is not protocol for him to open the safe by himself and then Keamy extracts what he refers to as the "secondary protocol" which has the same Dharma logo on it that was seen on Ben's jacket in S4E9. Keamy tells Gault that "It says where Linus is going".

In S4E11 Locke tells Abbadon "You should read my file and he replies "I did read your file"

Finally, in S4E11 Locke asks Christian Shephard, "How do I save the island?" and he later tells Ben "He wants me to move the island"

In S4E12 Ben gives Locke specific instructions on what to do "You're going to go into the greenhouse through that hole there. Once inside you're gonna turn left, go about 20 paces until you see a patch of Antheriums on your left. They're in an alcove against the north wall. Face that wall, reach down with your left hand, you'll find a switch that activates the elevator. The elevator takes you down to the actual Orchid station." There is one other type of instructions that we see, but that is not mentioned. As Desmond leaves the pilot of the Kahana to find out what is causing the RF interference with the fathometer, he passes a set of life jacket instructions that are on the wall near the door.

S4E13 Locke is seen looking at a book of instructions to help him find his way into the Orchid. Once in the Orchid, there are a series of Dharma manuals located on the shelves. Dr. Halliwax provides instructions via the Orchid Orientation Video.

In S4E13 Ben provides us with what appears to be a very important rule in the game when Ben tells Locke "Whoever moves the island can never come back"

In S5E16 we learn that there are indeed rules about there only being one 'Leader' of the Others at a time, that the Leader of the Others answers to Jacob, that Jacob is responsible for Richard not ageing, that Jacob's nemesis needed a loophole to kill Jacob, that Faraday left explicit instructions on how to remove Jughead's core and use it, that the Others attempt to identify candidates- presumably for the role of' Leader'

I do not believe that we saw a Level change in S4E13.

I think S413 may have been a well crafted episode that was designed to confuse the audience into thinking the Level had changed. My primary reason for saying this is that although all of the requirements seem to have been met for a level change, it appears that one big requirement was not met, the Level appears to have been two days short of its required 8 days. As of S5E7 we still have not seen the crash of the Oceanic 815, or the reset of the characters that accompanies a Level change. Most notably, Vincent should be missing as the White Rabbit at the beginning of a new Level, and he was noticeably present in S5E1 and S5E2.

I believe we are in some sort of a "Time Out" period, and will remain in it until all of the Oceanic 6 come back to the island, and then they will have to spend another 2 days on the island (Day 103-104) before the Level changes to Level 6.

Why have a "Time Out"?

I think it represents a penalty because the Oceanic 6 left before the 108 days were up. It appears as if we have already been given the primary objectives for the "Time Out" period. The Oceanic 6 have to get back to the island to complete the 2 days remaining in Level 5 before the change can occur to Level 6. and then they will still have to complete the total number of 108 days required on the island.

During the "Time Out", the remaining LOSTies will have their own objectives. That is, to stay alive, to interact with the Dharma Initiative and for Sun and Lapidus, it will mean finding a way to reunite with the LOSTies that are in 1977.

The beginning episodes of the "Time Out" introduced us to new locations which have included the Army Camp, the Outer Wall of the Temple, and the Well. As Season 5 has progressed we have also been given an inside view of the Dharma Barracks.

The "Time Out" also gave us a new obstacle for the LOSTies to overcome, the on-island flashes. As they move around in time they were faced with many new challenges. For instance, Sawyer, Juliet, etc. flashing back in time, but the after the Swan Hatch imploded, which meant they had to stay there and wait for another flash to bring them to a time when the Swan Hatch was still intact. Or Locke being shot by Ethan near the plane.

One can't help but think that Locke being shot by Ethan as he climbs the cliff is an answer to the question as to why Locke had problems with his legs near the drug plane back in S1E20 when Boone climbs the cliff because Locke's legs are suddenly not working for him, or in S2E21 when Eko climbs the cliff because Locke's legs are suddenly not working for him. We have now learned from Daniel that "Whatever happened, happened" and "If it didn't happen, it can't happen". Therefore, the fact that his legs were not working in S1E20 and S2E2 now makes perfect sense, Locke was suffering from the injury caused when he was shot by Ethan in S5E1.

These new on-island flashes are providing all sorts of answers as our LOSTies go back to some of the locations we have visited before and get to see and experience some things that will provide some answers. Who knows, maybe this is how we'll finally learn who the two dead skeletons in the cave belong to?

The on-island time travel flashes continued into S5E4 where the LOSTies traveled back to the Swan Hatch on the night that Aaron was born which was also the same night that Boone died. They also traveled back in time to find the recent wreckage from Danielle's ship the Besixdouze. Jin was rescued from the ocean by Danielle and her team in 1988. Now that we know that Jin is traveling in time along with Sawyer, Locke, Juliet, Daniel, Charlotte and Miles, I assume that Jin will join back up with the LOSTies.

Sawyer, Locke, Juliet, Daniel, Charlotte and Miles also came across the deserted beach camp. However, no indication was given as to when it had actually occurred. My money is on the idea of this being sometime in the future and that the people in the second outrigger canoe may actually be some of the Oceanic 6 after they have returned to the island.

In S5E5 we get our first look at the outer walls of the Temple and the Well near the Orchid, both are new locations.

The biggest question I got in emails after S5E5 was whether or not Locke climbing down the well in the Role of the "White Rabbit" and as "Sacrifice" when turning the wheel (using a Fail Safe) constituted a change from Level 5 to Level 6.

I stated above that we were two days short of the required 8 days for the completion of Level 5. (Since many fans have asked me if I could include some information about what has happened during the various on-island time travel flashes, I have created a pdf document of the various flashes that you can read here if you are interested.)

We are also faced with the question regarding the fact that the obituary for Jeremy Bentham stated that he (Locke) had a teenaged son when he died. There is a translation of the obituary of the man in the coffin that is posted all over the internet. It claims that the obituary says "The body of Jeremy Bentham of New York was found shortly after 4 am in the 4300 block of Grand Avenue. Ted Worden, a doorman at the Tower Lofts complex, heard loud noises coming from the victim's loft. Concerned for tenants' safety, he entered the loft and found the body hanging from a beam in the living room. according to Jamie Ortiz, a police spokesperson, the incident was deemed a suicide after medical tests. Bentham is survived by one teenaged son. Memorial services will be held at the Hoffs-Drawlar Funeral Home tomorrow evening."

In S5E7 Locke wants Abbadon to find Helen, At first Abbadon claims he can't find Helen, then he shows Locke her grave. Is this just a con? Is Helen actually alive and did she have a son that Locke doesn't know about?

S5E6 showed us the flash that occurred on Flight 316, but in S4E7 we saw that Frank Lapidus was able to land Fight 316, just as he was able to land the helicopter on the island.

I think the fact that Jack woke up in the jungle flat on his back at the beginning of S5E6, just as he did in S1E1, was just another deliberate attempt to mislead fans into thinking that a level change has occurred. In S5E8 we once again had a number of the criteria needed for a Level change to occur appear in this episode. Especially the scene with Jerry starting the tape player in the security center at the Barracks that was so similar to the beginning of Level 2 with Desmond putting on the record, or the start of Level 3 with Juliet putting in the CD. Heck, we even had a Hurley Bird calling out as Amy sits by dead Paul.

For now, I am holding on to my opinion that once again, although most of the criteria seem to have been met, the number of days spent on-island by the LOSTies has not been the required number of days yet.

And based on Mrs. Hawking telling Desmond that "the island isn't done with you, yet", and what Abaddon said in S4E7 about Walt having to return, it looks like at least Desmond and Walt, and possibly Aaron and Ji Yeon may all have to come back.

In S5E8 we learned that Sawyer, Juliet, Miles, Daniel and Jin flashed to 1974 when Locke turned the wheel and that they have spent three years in New Otherton and that it is now 1977 for them. And that Jack, Kate and Hurley wound up in 1977 after the flash on Flight 316.

In S5E9, we finally learned that it is 30 years later on Alcatraz. Which obviously opens up the door for some additional time travel in order for Sun and Lapidus, as well as Ben to join back up with the rest of the group.

So just how will the LOSTies all join up together again? As of S5E16 & S6E17 , it looks like the flash that occurred as Juliet was banging the black rock against Jughead's core will be the flash that will reunite our LOSTies in one time period.

S5E12 provided gave us several interesting items that are normally associated with a level change. We saw a stuffed bird in the office in the Hydra that could very well have been a Hurley Bird when it was alive, we had Ben and Locke as White Rabbits when they climbed down into the hole beneath the wall of the Temple and then Ben as a White Rabbit when he fell through the floor into the Smoke Monster's chamber. But, we didn't have the other criteria met since, there was no Failsafe, not all LOSTies are acting for the Greater Good, etc.

S5E13 provided us with a curious red flash that was seen in the sky over New Otherton and with lots of birds heard chirping in New Otherton as Roger is sitting on the swing.

S5E14 also gave us birds chipping when Daniel was speaking with Young Charlotte.

Time Out Instructions
During the Time Out we have been given many instructions about the fact that the past can not be changed.

S5E1 Dr. Pierre Chang says "There are rules, rules that can't be broken" when Tony implies that they could change the past by manipulating time,

Daniel also tells us in S5E1 that Ben's actions have dislodged the island in time and that they are now traveling in time. Daniel further indicates that they can move forward or backwards in time when he says "We're either in the past or in the future".

Daniel also tells us about trying to change things in the past. "That's not the way it works. You cannot change anything, you can't." and "Time, it's like a street. We can move forward on the street, we can move in reverse. But you can not ever create a new street. If we try to do anything different, we will fail. Every time.", "Whatever happened, happened" and that "If it didn't happen, it can't happen". Daniel's warning was reminiscent of Mrs. Hawking's warning to Desmond in S3E8 about Course Corrections

We also have Richard telling Locke in S5E1 that in order to save the island, that Locke will have to get the Oceanic 6 back and when Locke questions how he will accomplish that, Richard says"You're going to have to die"

Daniel instructs Desmond that the LOSTies are in trouble and that Daniel must find his mother at Oxford.

One of the most telling things about the Roles to date is when Daniel says to Desmond "The rules don't apply to you. You're special. You're uniquely and miraculously special."

I have been battling with another major issue since the end of Season 2 that I have not wanted to bring up until now. It has to do with Walt and whether or not he is in danger of dying. The following information has also been added below in the Deaths section.

As many of you know, I correctly predicted the deaths of a few characters. Although no one seemed to care when I predicted that Michael would die within a few day of getting back to the island, or when I predicted that some of the rest of the LOSTies would die. But, I have to say that I have never had as much angry email as when I correctly predicted that Charlie would die. Or that Locke would die.

And so, I haven't wanted to say anything about Walt possibility being in danger of dying, because I was concerned with the possible backlash I would get. But there have always seemed to be limited options for Walt to be able to survive.

It has to do with the number of days he will have spent on the island. The LOSTies have to spend a total of 108 days on the island, and they are just few days short of the total (only 4 on-island days remain in the game. If Walt is required to go back as well as the Oceanic 6, he doesn't possibly have enough time to make up the days since he left the island. He left on Day 65, that would mean he would need to have another 43 days on the island.

There seems to be only three possible options for Walt:

1) If Walt has to go back, and had gone back with the Oceanic 6. There would not have been not enough time left for him to complete 108 days on the island before Season 6 ends. He would have to die because there is no way for him to complete this game requirement.

2) The only way that seemed likely for Walt to complete the 108 on island days would be for him to get back to the island at least 37 island days before the rest of the Oceanic 6 arrive. That didn't happen before the end of Level 5.

3) This is the best option for Walt's fans. He is not required to go back because of some rule we are unaware of, or because he has been designated in the role of special so many times. Fortunately, S5E1 gave us this possible reason for Walt to be able to live, when Daniel says to Desmond "The rules don't apply to you. You're special. You're uniquely and miraculously special." If Walt is also special, then perhaps the rules don't apply to him either.

So go ahead, email away. I've cleaned out my inbox so I can get all the angry emails that will be yelling at me for even suggesting he could die.

Further instructions appeared in S5E1, where files and manuals can be seen in the room that Sun is locked in at the airport.

Mrs. Hawking is back in S5E2. We first saw her in S3E8 when she provides Desmond with specific instructions (see above) . In S5E2 she tells Ben something very important. She has been working on the computer, where we see the words "Event Window Determined" across the screen. She warns Ben that he has only 70 hours left to get The Oceanic 6 back to the island. The implication is that Mrs. Hawking has identified a way for Ben and the Oceanic 6 to get back to the island, but there is a time limit. She uses several maps and a Foucault Pendulum to draw intersecting lines for her calculations.

There are several instruction manuals seen near Mrs. Hawking which seem to have Dharma logos on them, although the actual type of Dharma logo can't be clearly seen; in S5E6 we finally learn that this is the Lamp Post Station.

Other instructions in S5E2 include Ana Lucia's instructions to Hurley about getting "...new clothes, then you need to go to a safe house and take Sayid to somebody you trust" and delivers a warning to Hurley "...stay away from the cops and do not get arrested". Sayid warns that Hurley should do the opposite of anything that Ben tells him to do. When Hurley comes face to face with Ben, he ignores Ana Lucia's instructions about being arrested and follows Sayid's instructions by turning himself into the police.

Instructions in S5E3 include Daniel's instructions to Ellie to seal the leak in the H-bomb with lead and to bury Jughead in concrete. Curiously, below Jughead there is an octagonal concrete pad that has what looks like a man hole cover, indicating that something is already below Jughead.

There were also some files in S5E3 scattered across the floor of Daniel's old lab at Oxford.

S5E4 was just chock full of files and instructions. Everybody seemed to be dealing with files of one type or another. Sun has a file, Dan Norton carries files to his meeting with Kate and Dan also gives a file to Ben, Dr. Evelyn Ariza has a file, files are visible in the hospital, Dan Norton gives Carole Littleton a file and Tony caries a file into Sayid's room that he refers to as orders. By far the most interesting of these was Sun's file. Be sure to see the game references for S5E4 on the Games page to read about what was hidden inside of Sun's report.

By far, my favorite instruction reference was Hurley telling Jack "Dude, I'm totally cool. I'm in County lockup... and tell Sayid I did exactly as he said. I'm totally safe, Ben's not gonna get me now". I can't wait to see Hurley's reaction when he sees the rest of the Oceanic 6 cooperating with Ben.

in S5E5 Charlotte supplies instructions when she tells Locke to "Look for the well" and "You'll find it at the well".

S5E5 shows us Christian Shepard giving Locke instructions about what to do "On the other side of this column here, is a wheel that's slipped off its axis, all you have to do is give it a little push" and "There's a woman living in Los Angeles. Now, once you get all of your friends together. and then once you've persuaded them to join you, and it must be all of them, everyone who left. This woman will tell you exactly how to come back' and Locke asks "What if I can only convince some of them to come back?"

S5E6 has Mrs. Hawking giving us lots of instructions on how the Oceanic 6 can get back to the island. She explains the use of the pendulum (1, 2, 3, 4,), the equations on the blackboards (1, 2), the unique pockets of electromagnetic energy located around the world, the windows that are only open for brief periods of time and a binder that contains a list of flights and their air routes that will fly directly across the coordinates of the location of where the island should be at a particular time (including Ajira Flight 31), a stack of manuals near her computer and more files in her office (1, 2, 3).

Of course, Mrs. Hawking's instructions that "If you want to return, you need to recreate as best you can, the circumstances that brought you there in the first place" probably produced one of the best scenes ever to show just how important props and the Roles are on this show. All we have to do, is see the prop they are carrying or see what they are doing and we know who they are attempting to recreate. Locke is wearing Christian's shoes to act as his proxy. Hurley carries a guitar case, like Charlie did. Hurley comforts Caesar, just as Jack comforted Rose. Jack is carrying a letter just as Sawyer did. They are all transporting another body to the island, just as Jack transported his father's body. Sayid is in handcuffs and has a Marshall extraditing him, just as Kate did. Sun is touching Jin's wedding ring, just as Rose touched Bernard's ring. Ben gets up and moves around, just as Charlie and Bernard did. Ben was late boarding, just as Hurley was. Caesar is of Middle Eastern decent, just like Sayid and, based on his condolences to Jack in the airport, may be a priest and therefore a proxy for Mr. Eko. They are all now millionaires thanks to the generous settlements they got from Oceanic Air, just as Hurley was a millionaire. Lapidus is the proxy for Seth Norris the pilot. Ben's injured arm represents Locke's injured legs. The stewardesses are proxies for Cindy. There are kids on board that are proxies for Emma and Zack.

Which raises the final question- who is Claire's proxy? Is it the blonde who was in the airport that looked so much like Claire? Or does it mean that one of the females on Flight 316 is pregnant? Is it Kate? Or could Ilana, the Marshall who is a law enforcement officer just like Ana Lucia, or one of the stewardesses, also be pregnant? I have been trying to decide if Kate's sunglasses were trying to recreate Nikki being a TV star, or if Shannon had sunglasses on her head when she boarded the plane. And although I think I remember someone wearing a sleep mask on Flight 815 like Hurley is wearing, for the life of me, I can't remember who it was. Let me know if you can think of anything I've missed.

In S5E6 we learned that Mrs. Hawking told Desmond that "the island is not done with you yet". So it looks like he has to come back.

S5E7 gives us Abbadon questioning Locke because Locke had said that they all had to come back, including Walt. Which also implies that Aaron and Ji Yeon will have to return as well.

S5E7 also provides lots of files and instructions via files found in several locations. Widmore gives Locke a green file with pictures of Sayid, there are file cabinets and files in the Hydra office and there are files on the desk in the Tunisian hospital. And Caesar finds copies of Danielle's maps (1, 2) and a copy of the illustration that was seen in Daniel's journal

S5E8 provided very little in the way of instructions. There were some files visible in the Medical Station (1, 2) and a nurse is seen looking at Amy's chart. Probably the most important information we gained is that the truce between the Others and Dharma is shaky at best, that the death of the two Others required that Paul's body be taken by Richard because ".. my people need some kind of justice" and that the giant statue is very old.

S5E9 provides lots of files and manuals. They are seen throughout the Processing Center (1, 2) in the Flame Station (1, 2) and in the Security Center at the Barracks (1). Sawyer provides Jack, Kate and Hurley with instructions on how to get through the Processing Center procedures without revealing that they are not Dharma recruits. Sawyer also has an excellent method of letting Sayid in on what to say and do when he questions him in the Flame Station.

S5E9 also has Ben giving Lapidus instructions on how to find the dock on the main island, which ironically leads to Sun whacking Ben in the head with the oar since she realizes that she doesn't need Ban now that she and Frank know how to get there.

In S5E9, Sun and Lapidus are in 2007 and Christian tells them "I'm sorry, but you have a bit of a journey ahead of you" indicates that Christian is going to help Sun and Lapidus to time travel to get to the rest of the LOSTies who are in 1977.

S5E10 showed the files and manuals in the Security Center again.

S5E10 also gave us the statement by Horace at the group meeting that "We have a rule of law". He seems to be implying that Sayid, who they believe to be an Other, can be killed for simply crossing the sonic fence and thereby breaking the truce. If that is the case, they why didn't Richard demand that Amy be killed along with Paul and the man killed by the Others? Or is this just the law that New Otherton goes by for themselves? Radzinsky's threat to call Ann Arbor would indicate that he knew that the people in Ann Arbor would agree that killing Sayid would be their choice as well.

While the various red flashes have continued throughout the Time Out into S5E10, this episode starting show us some curious blue flashes. There were three distinct scenes when these occurred. The first is the blue flashes seen as Sayid is breaking into Ivan Andropov's apartment, the second blue flash is seen outside the hotel room window when Sayid is removing Ilana's boot and the third blue flash occurs when Sayid and Young Ben are traveling in the jungle.

Next, Locke's death. Did he provide Ben with information that Ben didn't have previously about Mrs. Hawking knowing how to help the Oceanic 6 get back to the island? It sure seemed like Ben was shocked to hear about Mrs. Hawking, and that once he had that information he felt he could kill Locke. But is it possible that when Locke told Ben that Jin was alive, that Ben realized that Locke would keep his promise to Jin and never recruit Sun to return? Is that the real reason why Ben killed Locke? To be sure that Ben could get Sun to return? It actually seems more likely that the real reason Ben killed Locke was to be sure he could get Sun back to the island.

As I also stated on my What's New page, I think Locke is DEAD. I am sorry to disappoint fans who think that he has miraculously risen from the dead, especially after all the hints about resurrection in the last few episodes, but I think he is dead. So how are the passengers from Flight 316 seeing Locke? Simple, I think that he is just like Christian, a manifestation of the Monster. And I think that is the reason why Ilana tells Caesar that they found a man in a suit standing in the water. Just like Christian was seen in S1E5. But I firmly believe that both Christian and Locke are DEAD.

S5E11 gave us gave us some of the definitive rules of Time Travel on LOST. Especially now that we have learned that that we are dealing with one time line and not multiple time lines as some fans had claimed. I loved both the "Back to the Future" discussion and the discussion about time travel between Miles and Hurley. And I have decided to include a clip of the lengthy discussion here because there are some fans who may want to watch it again. As for the question as to why the adult Ben won't remember being shot by Sayid as a child, Richard Alpert answered that question when he said that Young Ben would "forget this ever happened".

S5E12 gave us lots of information about rules. Charles Widmore is accused of leaving the island frequently and having a daughter with an outsider; and he is banished from the island by Ben for these actions as they are against the rules. Ben tells Sun "Dead is Dead" and "You don't get to come back from that, not even here", so the island can not undo death. And finally we learned that Ben actually came back to the island to be judged by the Smoke Monster for Alex's death.

What are the similarities and differences between the scenes where Ben is being judged by the Smoke Monster in S5E12 and when we saw Mr. Eko being judged by the Smoke Monster (Yemi) in S3E5? Both are in the role of 'Man of Faith' as they are being judged and both see Flashes of their lives in the smoke. The big difference is that Ben is repentant for his sins and is allowed to live, while Mr. Eko was not repentant and was killed.

S5E13 gave us the same files and manuals that we have seen before in the Security Center, but in this episode, we see Horace not only looking through a file, but he actually picks up a manual and seems to refer to it.

Level 6/Season 6

At the end of Season 5 we had met all of the criteria for the change from Level 5 to Level 6, except for seeing the scene of the crash of Flight 815. Back in May, I had said that I hoped to see the crash at the beginning of this season, but we haven't seen it yet. As you know I have been adamantly saying that we haven't had the change from Level 5 to Level 6 because we haven't seen the crash of Flight 815. I've gone back and I've watched every episode from this season again

Especially since we have had so many indicators this season that the level has changed (new locations, a new group of Others, resets to the roles required at the beginning of each new level, etc etc.). And I've re-watched every single episode from past seasons when a level has changed

I kept looking at the episodes where levels changed and the scenes of the plane crash; and instead of concentrating on what was similar, I was concentrating on what was missing. It finally dawned on me and I had a eureka moment

What S6E1 had in common with these other episodes where Levels changed was one simple fact, not that we saw the crash of Flight 815, BUT THAT WE SAW THE OUTSIDE OF THE PLANE. So I also went back and checked other episodes from past seasons

And damned if wasn't true, we only see the outside of the plane in episodes where Levels change. Oceanic Flight 815 doesn't need to crash after all, we just need to see the outside of the plane

So here it is, I am officially stating that Level 6 began in S6E1. Therefore I have gone back and removed the section her that was named "What Happened to Level 6?"; and have revised the information that was previously in that section and added it to the pertinent info in this Level 6 section

So, I humbly apologize to all of you that I had been so stubborn and insistent on a view of the crash of Flight 815. I was wrong. It now appears as if simply seeing the outside of the plane was enough

S6E6 ended at sundown on the night of Day 105. Yes, S6E1-S6E6 covered only one day

S6E7 and S6E8 covered Day 106. In fact, S6E8 ended at dinner time for the FLockettes on Day 106

S6E9 Begins on the beach at the end of Day 106 and ends on the morning of Day 107

S6E10 Starts on the evening of Day 106 in the FLockettes camp and ends the night of Day 107 in both the beach camp and in the FLockettes camp

S5E11 takes place on the night of Day 107

As of the end of S6E13, Day 108 has now been completed. Now all that's left is for the LOSTies to accomplish all of their objectives and requirements to end Level 6 and the game. I have been referring to the alterverse as another game. But perhaps it is just a special requirement for Level 6 to end. Maybe this eighth requirement is that all of the LOSTies have to be brought together in one place and remember the crash of Flight 815 and being on the island. In that case, the role that Desmond has been in of Advisor, is very important to concluding Level 6 and winning the game

Level 6 Objectives:
As with all new Levels, we get new locations. By S6E5 we have seen several new locations: the Temple, the Lighthouse, the cave with the names on the walls, Claire's camp, the stone bench where Esau/MIB hangs out and the well that FLocke throws Desmond into. It also appears as if the primary objective for Level 6 will be to somehow defeat the "Someone bad"/FLocke (that Jacob was indicating was going to the Temple) and whomever he is able to recruit to his side

As of S6E5 we are still on the day after Jacob was killed by Ben, and Juliet set off Jughead

In S6E4 there were lots and lots of flashes. There are three white flashes as the smoke monster is traveling. The first is as it leaves New Otherton, the second is as it is moving through the jungle and the third is just when it stops moving near the machete. There are also several red flashes. There are two in New Otherton as the smoke monster travels through. The first appears in the lower center of the screen and the second appears in the lower right of the screen. There are also two red flashes as the smoke monster travels through the jungle toward Richard (1, 2). And a final red flash can be seen in the cave.

Perhaps one of the most obvious red flashes is the one seen in S6E5 when Hurley and Jack reach the Lighthouse. It is well known that only the first floor of the Lighthouse was built as a prop, the rest of outside of the Lighthouse was computer generated. But as the camera pans up to the top of the Lighthouse, there is a red flash. It had to be placed there deliberately.

So what is happening? It appears that using the Failsafe Jughead did not result in completely un-doing the entire string of events leading up to the original crash of Flight 815, but actually resulted in the creation of two alternate realities.

Before she died, Juliet said "It didn't work" but when Miles puts his ear to the ground, he says that he heard "It worked". I have serious doubts that what Miles heard actually came from Juliet, as he is trying to listen you can actually hear some of the sounds that the smoke monster makes. I think it was the smoke monster that Miles heard and not Juliet. In that case, Juliet would be right in that it didn't work.

The first is the reality of the original story line which continues to take place on the island. In this reality, all detonating Jughead appears to have accomplished was to fatally injure Juliet, blow up the Swan Hatch site and jump them through time once more to get Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Hurley, Jin, Sayid and the dying Juliet to 2008.

In the second reality, we have Flight 815 safely landing in LA. But there are some odd things in this reality that are very different than what we saw on the original Flight 815. Most obviously, the plane doesn't crash. However, there are some more subtle differences as well. And to truly appreciate these differences, you really need to know LOST.

What's different? Here are some examples for starters. Their seat assignments have been switched around. Boone is traveling without Shannon. Desmond is on the plane on this trip. As evidenced by his passport, Sayid is an Iranian, not an Iraqi and he is five years younger than we had been told he is. Sun and Jin aren't married, as she is not wearing a wedding ring and is called Ms. Paik. Rose calms Jack down instead of the other way around. And Hurley the Millionaire says he is the luckiest guy alive. On top of all of these and many others, we have Jack who seems a little befuddled that they didn't crash, he then asks Desmond if they have met before, and then we see Jack staring into the mirror in the bathroom in S6E1 as if he is trying to figure out what is happening. Then in S6E3 Jack and Kate exchange glances at each other as if they recognize each other is some way other than bumping into each other on the plane.

Regarding roles in the alternate reality, it is entirely possible that some of the roles in the alternate reality that had been good roles are now bad ones and vice versa. For instance Hurley tells Sawyer that "Nothing bad ever happens to me, I'm the luckiest guy alive". It could mean that the role of millionaire in the alternate reality is now a good one, not a bad one. Just be aware that I will continue to catalogue roles according to the way I have been doing it all along. It would be a logistical nightmare for me to try and re-catorgorize good and bad roles in the alternate reality.

Regarding roles in the on-island reality, the Dharma logos seen on the jumpsuits in S6E1 no longer indicate roles after Jughead is detonated.


S6E6 ended at sundown on the night of Day 105. Yes, S6E1-S6E6 covered only one day

S6E7 and S6E8 covered Day 106. In fact, S6E8 ended at dinner time for the FLockettes on Day 106

S6E9 Begins on the beach at the end of Day 106 and ends on the morning of Day 107

S6E10 Starts on the evening of Day 106 in the FLockettes camp and ends the night of Day 107 in both the beach camp and in the FLockettes camp

S6E11 takes place on the night of Day 107

S6E12, as of the end of the episode, after the next sunrise, the LOSTies have until approximately 4:00pm, the approximate time that Flight 815 crashed on the island, to accomplish all of their objectives to end Level 6 and the game

Level 6 Instructions:
It seems as if our main source of instructions on the island so far is Jacob. In S6E1 Jacob instructs Hurley to bring Sayid to the Temple. We get one big piece of information about the rules in S6E4 when the young boy that appears to FLocke warns him "You know the rules. You can't kill him", meaning Jacob. Hmmm.... does that mean that Jacob can find a way to take over someone's body just as FLocke did?

The most obvious instructions that Jacob gives are the ones that he gives to Hurley in S6E5. He tells Hurley how to find the secret way out of the Temple and has Hurley write down the directions to the Lighthouse on his arm (1, 2)

There is a map of Williams Conservatory located under the Exit sign on the wall near where Dogen is standing

In S6E5 Jacob also tells Hurley that Jack has something to do. And more importantly, that "Sometimes you can just hop in the back of someone's cab and tell them what they're supposed to do. Other times... you have to let them look out at the Ocean for a while".

In S6E5 we also see all the files that Jack and Margo are going through to locate Christian's will. Including one of the files that Margo pulls off the shelf that has Arabic writing on it. The word on it means Ya'qub, which is the Arabic version of the name Jacob.

S6E6 gives us more rules when we learn that FLocke can not come in the Temple as long as Dogen was alive. So what about the ashes? Why don't they work if Dogen is dead?

In S6E7, Principal Reynolds tells us that "some of us have to pull double duty". Implying that it is possible to be in two roles at once. For example, in Ben's case, doctor and teacher

Richard gives us a new rule in S6E7 when he says "I can't kill myself" and implies that being touched by Jacob is the reason. We have seen Jacob touch Jack, Sawyer, Hurley, Kate, Sayid, Sun and Jin, and finally Ben, just before he died. It would imply that they can't commit suicide, as Jack surmised when he chose to stay with Richard and the fuse goes out on the dynamite. The question is, does being touched just mean you can't kill yourself, or does it mean that you never age?

There are several maps in Ben's classroom (1, 2), a map of Africa on a students t-shirt and a map on Alex's book in S6E7.

There were also files seen in the following episodes:
S6E3 Files in the room in Mercy Hospital
S6E4 Files on Lynn Karnoff's desk
S6E5 Jack and Margo Shepard go through Christian's file. One of the files that Margo pulls off the shelf that has Arabic writing on it. The word on it means Ya'qub, which is the Arabic version of the name Jacob.
S6E5 There are files on the table in Jack's living/dining room
S6E6 There are files on the shelf in Dogen's "office"
S6E6 Jack is seen flipping though a patient's chart and the nurses are seen carrying files
S6E7 Files near the school secretary's desk
S6E7 Files in Principal Reynolds office
S6E7 Ben caries a file with copies of the emails in it
S6E8 In the police station
S6E10 The black manuals and file cabinets in the customs office
S6E10 The woman standing behind the hotel clerk is reading a black file
S6E10 Zoe enters Room 23 carrying files
S6E11 Files are seen behind Widmore
S6E11 There are manuals on the shelves behind Widmore
S6E11 There are files on the desk and behind the glass wall in the hospital examining room
S6E11 There are files and manuals behind the nurses desk
S6E12 There are files in Dr. Brooks' office (1, 2)
S6E13 There are files in the police station and Sawyer reads from Kate's file (1, 2)
S6E13 There are files near the receptionist's desk
S6E13 There are files near the computer at the hospital

I have stated before that a Man of Faith can face down the smoke monster, as Eko did during his first encounter with it. S6E9 gives us another example of this. Richard does the same thing by praying as the Black Smoke Monster "reads" him with flashes of light. As a result, Richard is spared and the Black Smoke Monster leaves

Jacob tells Ilana that Richard will know what to do. Yet, he insists that the does not, until Isabella tells him through Hurley in S6E9 that he "has to stop the Man in Black"

In S6E10, FLocke tells Jin "the only way we can leave the island is if all the names that haven't been crossed off go together" So, if I am right about the kids being the real six candidates, then FLocke won't be able to leave no matter what he does. I also have to say that I am still leaning toward the possibility that my man Hurley could still be the only one of the LOSTies, besides the kids, that is still a candidate

In S6E10, Jin tells Sun that running away is "forbidden" and Keamy says anyone who works for Paik knows the cardinal rule- hands off the boss's daughter and "I'm sorry. Some people just aren't meant to be together"

In S6E10, Zoe shows Jin the map of the pockets of electromagnetism on the island that he signed

There are red flashes in S6E10. Two of them occur as FLocke comes back to the camp (1, 2) and them there is a series of flashes as FLocke looks at the sonic fence

In S6E11, we have Eloise back giving Desmond some rules: Eloise tells Desmond "Someone has clearly affected the way you see things. This is a serious problem. In fact, it's a violation. So whatever you're doing, whatever it is you think you're looking for... You need to stop looking for it?" and then tells Desmond that he is not ready to see the list yet. Looks like someone is losing some points here as a violation for not following the rules correctly.

S6E11 had lots and lots of flashes. The flashing lights in the generator room; the red light flashing on the piece of equipment Simmons uses; the white flashes in the box when Simmons is killed that can also be seen outside the box; there are several blue flashes as Zoe and Jin walk past the box, as Zoe and Seamus enter the box, and there is a peculiar blue oval flash that appears on Seamus; there are flashing lights inside as Desmond is exposed to the electromagnetic pulses; and of course the white flashes that Desmond experiences between visions of Penny and both Charlie Pace and his son Charlie when he is in the MRI; the white flash Desmond experiences when he is trying to get Charlie out of the car and the doctor flashing a flashlight into Desmond's eyes .

Desmond's primary role in S6E12 and S6E13 was as an Advisor, trying to get all of the LOSTies in the alterverse to remember their "other life"

S6E12 Hurley experiences flashes when he kisses Libby on the beach, the first and fifth ones are white flashes (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7). There are also some red flashes as Michael and Hurley are speaking (1, 2)

In S6E12, Hurley states that "Dead people are more reliable that alive people", however, I believe that Michael was lying to Hurley when he tried to convince him not to blow up the plane, just to get him to go to FLocke's camp

There is a red dot that appears on Jack in S6E13 as they race to meet up with Sawyer and Kate and there is a flashing red light reflected off the doors of the office building

As of the end of S6E13, Day 108 has now been completed. Now all that's left is for the LOSTies to accomplish all of their objectives and requirements to end Level 6 and the game. I have been referring to the alterverse as another game. But perhaps it is just a special requirement for Level 6 to end. Maybe this eighth requirement is that all of the LOSTies have to be brought together in one place and remember the crash of Flight 815 and being on the island. In that case, the role that Desmond has been in of Advisor, is very important to concluding Level 6 and winning the game

Deaths

The deaths of characters can be directly related to the 'good' vs. 'bad' roles that they were in at particular times during the game and to the actions that each character took when they were in those roles. As stated above, cooperating for "The Greater Good" is a primary theme of LOST.

Looking at the roles more closely reveals that the deaths of Boone, Shannon, Charlie and Neil aka Frogurt occurred for similar reasons. Likewise the deaths of Ana Lucia and Eko occurred for similar reasons. It also reveals that certain characters, at this point, have a greater chance of dying.

Shannon and Boone
The deaths of Shannon and Boone appear to be the direct result of them each having occupied the 'bad' role of Useless on three separate occasions. Apparently there seems to be a three strikes and your dead rule as far as the role of Useless is concerned.

Ana Lucia and Eko
The deaths of Ana Lucia and Eko are related, as both of these characters killed people while they were in 'good' roles. Ana Lucia killed Jason in S2E8 when she was in the 'good' role of Sheriff and she killed Shannon in S2E6 when she was in the 'good' role of Leader. As for Eko, he killed the drug dealers in S3E5 while he was in the 'good' role of Man of Faith. The monster, in the form of Yemi, asked Eko to confess his sins as a killer while he was in the Man of Faith role. Eko refused to do so when he said to Yemi in S3E5 "I ask for no forgiveness father, for I have not sinned. I have only done what I needed to do to survive" and was killed by the black smoke monster. So it looks as if we now have proof that a Man of Faith may be able to face down the monster. We saw this before in S1E4 when Locke was the Man of Faith and survived his encounter with the monster, and later in S2E10 when Eko faced down the black smoke monster. But, Eko's failure to confess his sins in S3E5, while he was in a 'good' role, resulted in his death.

Alex
You should check the discussion above on Alex's Death and the Rules. I believe it may somehow be related to the fact that this is the very first time that Ben admits that he kidnapped Alex as a baby

Arzt
The death of Arzt in S1E23 was a direct result of his failure to cooperate for "The Greater Good". In S2E23, the only LOSTie that is rude and insists that he, and he alone, can perform a particular task is Arzt when they are moving the dynamite. While he was in the 'good ' role of Teacher just before his death, he failed to cooperate. And then he blew to pieces. No wonder he died. He would not have been able to move on to Season 2/Level 2 because he failed to cooperate in his 'good' role

Michael
I believe that the next time we see Michael after the S2 Finale that he will soon be dead for a number of reasons. Primarily because he did not cooperate with the LOSTies for "The Greater Good". First, he used the computer to communicate with Walt. Then he murdered two LOSTies, Ana Lucia and Libby. And finally, he led the LOSTies into a trap and he finished the Season 2 Finale as Daddy, a 'bad' role. For these reasons, I think the next time we see Michael he will either be dead, or will die soon afterwards for his previous actions

In S4E8, when asks by Sayid why he is on the Kahana, Michael replies "I'm here to die". He also attempts suicide four times in S4E8, by smashing his car into a cargo container, by trying to shoot himself in the alley but Tom/Mr. Friendly stops him, by trying to shoot himself in his room but the gun won't fire, and by activating the bomb. In all cases, he fails. Tom/Mr. Friendly tells him in the alley that "The island won't let you" and the note that pops up from the bomb says "Not Yet". Both Tom/Mr. Friendly and Ben essentially tell Michael the same thing, that he has work to do before he can die. This is obviously a case of course correction, Michael will not be able to commit suicide before he completes whatever the task is that he needs to do.

In S4E11, Keamy tries to shoot Michael twice, but Keamy's gun won't fire. Captain Gault tells Keamy about Michael "He's the only one who can fix the engines" So perhaps this is the task that Michael must complete before he will be allowed to die. And when Sayid asks Gault "Michael, is he dead?" Gault replies "No but not for lack of trying"

In S4E13 Michael sees Christian who tells him "You can go now Michael", just before the bomb explodes. Michael is in the role of Sacrifice when this happens. I had predicted way back at the end of Season 2 that when we next saw Michael, he would die soon afterwards.

Locke
Locke has been in danger of dying for a long time.

Locke has been in the 'bad' role of Useless at least twice (S1E6 and S2E21). Being Useless three times appears to be the reason for the deaths of Shannon, Boone and Charlie and perhaps Neil, aka Frogurt.

Has Locke been "Useless" again after the Oceanic 6 left? Maybe they'll be a 'Useless" reference before leaving the island , or maybe we'll see it in one of the meetings he has with the Oceanic 6 off the island.

Locke has also exhibited some behaviors that have seemed to also put him in danger of dying but he always seems to find some kind of an "out".

He fought with Eko over pushing the button, smashed the monitor and, along with Desmond, he locked everyone else out of the hatch. He had moved into the 'bad' role Man of Science. This was a complete lack of cooperation and was completely contrary to the objectives of Level 2. His very last line in the Season 2 Finale has him saying "I was wrong" and then there was his lengthy "I'm sorry" confession to Eko in S3E3. However, it should be remembered that Ana Lucia's apology in S2E16 to Sayid for killing Shannon, where Ana Lucia said "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for what I did", was not enough to allow her to remain alive. While Locke's apology must have been sufficient to allow him continue to be alive in Season 3 and 4, there is another factor that is negatively affecting him.

S3E11 would lead the average viewer to believe that Locke screwed up once again when he blew up the Flame Hatch. However, he was in the good role of the Man of Faith when he was entering the numbers into the computer and he was following the instructions given to him by Marvin Candle/Mark Wickman in the Flame Hatch video.

The last time that Locke was seen in S3E15, he was speaking to Kate and he was in the 'bad' role of Lawyer when he told Kate that he was leaving with the Others. However, we do not know his actions or what role he was in during the last day and a half of Level 3. It is possible that he was in a 'good' role at the very end of Level 3, which would allow him to continue. We won't know until we are shown what he did during that last day and a half.

In S3E19 Locke tells Sawyer "I'm on my own journey now" which means that he has decided to stop acting for the Greater Good. This is just one more thing that is putting Locke in jeopardy of dying.

In S3E20 Locke is shot by Ben/Fake Henry and left for dead. While Locke has shown that the island can heal his paralysis and his injured legs, it will be curious to see if it can cure his gunshot wound. Several characters have died from gunshot wounds (Shannon, Ana Lucia, Libby, Ethan, Danny Pickett and several Others) and Sawyer took an incredible amount of time during the beginning of Season 2 to heal from the gunshot wound to his shoulder. Sayid also took a very long time to heal from the gun shot wound that he got from Patchy in S3E11, he was still healing from it at least 8 days later. Perhaps gunshot wounds to the chest/stomach are fatal. In S3E22 Locke has survived the gunshot wound, trekked to the Radio Tower and attempted to kill Naomi. And then he leaves on his own. It will be interesting to see just how he heals in Season 4.

By S4E1 Locke appears to have healed completely from the gun shot wound. Although, he does show the wound to Sawyer and the group of LOSTies with him in S4E2. Locke has taken over the leadership of the LOSTies who followed him to New Otherton, and he even goes so ar as telling Kate that "this is not a democracy" in S4E4. Also in this episode, he introduces himself to Miles and says "My name is John Locke and I'm responsible for the well being of this island." So he's a leader who apparently cares more about the island than he does for the people under his leadership. That does not bode well for him as he is not leading for "The Greater Good". Further, in S4E7, Bernard offers Jin the following advice "You make bad choices, bad things happen to you" and "You make good choices and then good things..." Giving the first indication in the game that bad things will happen to the various characters if they make bad choices. This is part of the discussion where Bernard explains why he and Rose chose to stay with Jack rather than going with Locke "Because it was the right thing to do, Locke is a murderer". Juliet also warns Sun about leaving Jack's group to join Locke saying "This is a bad idea". The implication is that anything bad that now happens to Locke is probably a result of the game punishing him due to his own bad choices.

In S5E5 Locke says to Christian Shepard "Richard said I was going to die" and Christian replies "Well, I suppose that's why they call it Sacrifice". While it may be an indication that Locke will die in the Role of "Sacrifice", I found that something else that Christian said was very curious. He admonished Locke for not being the one who moved the island, when he was specifically told to do it himself. This is at least the second time that Locke has been told to do something himself and he has allowed someone else to do it. In S3E19, Locke was supposed to kill Anthony Cooper, instead he manipulates Sawyer into doing it. Is this another reason why Locke could die? I don't know but there now seem to be a number of possible reasons for why it will happen. I guess we won't know the actual answer until his death is actually seen.

Finally, in S5E7 we see Locke's inability to convince the Oceanic 6 to return and the fact that he seems to be ignoring the fact that Walt has to return as well. And Locke refers to himself as a "failure". Could this be Locke's third and last time in the role of "Useless' that finally provides a reason for his death?

Charlie
I took an awful lot of grief from people in October of 2006 when I predicted that Charlie was in danger of dying. I said that Charlie was in danger of dying since he had been in the 'bad' role of Useless in S1E3 and in S1E7. And I was criticized for this by fans who love Charlie and thought I was nuts.

Sorry to tell all the Charlie fans this, but S3E21 gave us Charlie in the role of Useless for the third time when he said to Liam "I quit" and "We're a bloody joke".

The rule of dying when you have been Useless three times appears to still apply in Level 4. Just as it apparently applied to both Boone and Shannon, Charlie needed to die before the change to Level 5. And that is exactly what we saw in S3E22 when he drowned in the Looking Glass

Claire
In S6E8, Claire gets the first strike against her when she tries to kill Kate, while Claire is in the role of Mom. Mom's shouldn't kill. As FLocke ( in the role of Daddy) indicates when he slaps Claire across the face and says "This is completely inappropriate"

Daniel
Why did Daniel die in S5E14? I think it's because he was actually attempting to blow up the Swan Hatch for one purpose and one purpose only, to save Charlotte. It had nothing to do with 'The Greater Good'. It was pure and simple selfishness on his part. Daniel thought that if he could stop the Swan Hatch from being built, that Charlotte would never have had to die

Daniel's death is actually similar to what happened to Arzt near the end of Season 1. Arzt wasn't cooperating for 'The Greater Good', he thought he knew better and wound up blowing himself up. Likewise, Daniel has his own motives and he winds up dead as a result. But if that's the case, then why would there be a chance that Jack or Juliet or any of the other LOSTies might survive Jughead? Simple, they were attempting to blow up the Swan Hatch before it could be completed, but they were doing it for "The Greater Good", their motives were completely different that Daniel's

Desmond
Desmond has done two very curious things as far as Charlie is concerned. There have been two occasions where Desmond has rudely pushed Charlie aside during a life saving attempt. Desmond did it once in S3E8 when he pushed Charlie aside after he pulled Claire from the water and then the same thing happens in S3E17 when Desmond again pushed Charlie aside when he wanted to get to Naomi

At first I thought it might put Desmond in danger of dying, but then we saw Hurley being treated rudely by Charlie in S3E21 when he told him he wouldn't "...fit in the boat" and then in S3E22 when Sawyer insults Hurley and turns down Hurley's offer of help by saying "Hugo, just look at you..."

I am now starting to think that the act of turning down someone's offer of help may not be a death knell but could simply mean that the action could result in a loss of points

Jack
In S3E6, Jack is in the role of "Doctor", a 'good' role and he actually damages Ben/Fake Henry's kidney and threatens that he will let him die, which would actually be murder. I assume this is the first strike against Jack

In S5E11 Jack gets his second major strike against him when he is in the role of "Doctor" and he flatly refuses to operate on Young Ben who will die without his help

Ilana
I am leaning heavily toward her being Useless three times in S6E12. First, she couldn't convince everyone that blowing up the plane was a good idea; second, she had "been training my whole life for this" which was to protect the candidates, and yet she brought the dangerous dynamite into their midst; and then, as Ben said, Ilana had already told the candidates who they were and "the island was done with her". I had also considered that Ilana might have been in the role of Sacrifice. That she died so that none of the candidates would be harmed by the dynamite. But she is the one who put them in harms way by bringing back the dynamite, and it's too hard to ignore the strong statements by Ilana herself and by Ben about what Ilana's purpose was. So, I'm sticking with Useless.

Kate
In S3E19, Kate may have placed herself in danger of dying when she acted against "The Greater Good" and told Jack and Juliet about Naomi parachuting onto the island

In S5E5, Kate is Aaron's "Mom", yet she leaves Aaron behind to be "Raised by Another" and could be putting herself on the list of LOSTies in danger of dying

Libby
The death of Libby has yet to be fully explored and we will probably see more about the reason for her death in future flash backs. For now, we know that Libby had claimed to be a psychiatrist. Perhaps something 'bad' she did while in the 'good' role of Doctor or even the 'good' role of Crazy will be the reason why she wound up dead

To complicate things even further, there is a quote from Sayid in S1E21 where he tells Essam that "innocent lives will be lost in the service of a great good." Perhaps Libby's death was really just an accident as Michael referred to it in S2E24

Neil aka Frogurt
Did Neil die because of the three times as "Useless" and you're out rule that both Shannon and Charlie were victims of? In S5E2 we see a very annoying Neil harassing Bernard about starting the fire and he is actually chastised by Rose and/or Sawyer on three occasions just before his death. It's possible that he was actually "Useless" three times in rapid succession in this same episode. The only other time we saw Neil was in the Lost Missing Pieces we had during the Summer 2007 hiatus, see "The Adventures of Hurley and Frogurt"

Sawyer
In S3E19, Sawyer added himself to the list of characters who are in danger of dying. He was in the 'good' role of Prisoner when he killed Anthony Cooper. And Sawyer put himself in further danger of dying when he committed murder by shooting Tom/Mr. Friendly in cold-blood in the Season 3 Finale

Sawyer has also put himself in danger of dying by not acting for the Greater Good. In S6E3 Sawyer claims he is on his own. In S6E8 he also tells Kate "I ain't with anybody"

Sayid
Sayid shot young Ben, need I say more. I think that was a big non-no. Even Juliet and Kate discussed the fact that Ben was just a kid. That's why Kate, Juliet and Sawyer acted to save his life by bringing him to the Others

Sayid was also in the 'good' role of Diplomat in S6E6 to deliver FLocke's message when he kills Dogen & Lennon, and causes the mass slaughter at the Temple. And, in S6E13 I got the prediction that Sayid would die proved correct

Sun
The only reason I can think of for Sun's death is that she was so single minded in the Role of Star Crossed Lover (a bad role) throughout all of Season 6. She was never really acting for 'The Greater Good'. All she was interested in was finding Jin. I mean com'on, how much more selfish can you get than a Mom of a small child wanting her husband, the baby's father, to stay and die with her? What, she had no thoughts of Ji Yeon at all?

The Pilot
The death of the Pilot has not yet been fully explored. Since he was flying the plane, he may have actually be in the 'good' role of the Leader in S1E1 and perhaps 'pilot error' actually contributed to the plane being off its flight path and crashing

Walt
As many of you know, I correctly predicted the deaths of a few characters. Although no one seemed to care when I predicted that Michael would die within a few day of getting back to the island, or when I predicted that some of the rest of the LOSTies would die. But, I have to say that I have never had as much angry email as when I correctly predicted that Charlie would die.

And so, I haven't wanted to say anything about Walt possibly being in danger of dying, because I was concerned with the possible backlash I would get. But there have always seemed to be limited options for Walt to be able to survive.

It has to do with the number of days he will have spent on the island. The LOSTies have to spend a total of 108 days on the island, that’s why they have to go back, they are just few days short of the total. If Walt is required to go back as well as the Oceanic 6, he doesn’t possibly have enough time to make up the days since he left the island. He left on Day 65, that would mean he would need to have another 43 days on the island.

There seems to be only three possible options for Walt:

1) If Walt has to go back, and goes back with the Oceanic 6. There’s not enough time left for him to complete 108 days on the island before Season 6 ends. So if they bring him back with the Oceanic 6, he will have to die because there is no way for him to complete this game requirement.

2) The only way that seemed likely for Walt to complete the 108 on island days would be for him to get back to the island at least 37 island days before the rest of the Oceanic 6 arrive. Right now, this doesn't seem to be an option since no is even mentioning the fact that Walt has to come back.

3) This is the best option for Walt's fans. He is not required to go back because of some rule we are unaware of, or because he has been designated in the role of Special so many times. Fortunately, S5E1 gave us this possible reason for Walt to be able to live, when Daniel says to Desmond "The rules don't apply to you. You're special. You're uniquely and miraculously special." If Walt is also Special, then perhaps the rules don't apply to him either.

Earning Points

To date, I have found references to characters earning points, trust, adaptability, good will and time.

It also appears that points may be earned for working in Teams, for Saving someone, for locating and using Maps & Keys, for finding items on the island, for providing hope, for saying you are sorry and for forgiving someone (or Letting Them Off The Hook).

At this time it is impossible to know just how many points might be awarded for certain actions.

Rewards vs. Earning Points
There are instances where it appears that rewards may be granted for certain activities. Examples of possible rewards have been numerous, they range from simply locating various needed food sources to locating weapons. What is not always evident is exactly which action is responsible for the reward or whether the 'game players' are actually purchasing the items with earned points. The bottom line is that it is very difficult to tell if we are dealing with a reward or a purchase.

It is possible that an equal number of points are granted to either the "Light" or the "Dark" player if they get a character to move to a 'good' or 'bad' role respectively.

I also believe that it is probable that certain actions like saving someone's life would result in being awarded more points than finding a hatch or a map. On the flip side "Dark" probably gets points for actions such as kidnapping LOSTies, introducing a version of the monster that results in the LOSTies changing plans or getting a character like Sayid to torture Sawyer.

It also appears that points may be lost for an action that goes against the objectives of the game. In S3E9 Ben/Fake Henry says to Jack "And here we go again. I've already given you a ticket off this island, Jack What's it going to cost me this time?" And in the same episode, Achara tells Jack that there will be consequences for him forcing her to give her the tattoo.

Hurley and Sawyer earn points during the ping pong game. Hurley gets 11 total points, while Sawyer gets 3 points
Danielle says "He's making an excellent point."

Jack asks Kate about Karl "Do you trust him?" and Karl says about Juliet "Trust me, what about her?"and "She's a spy"

Bernard says to Daniel and Charlotte "I want the truth" and Daniel replies "I don't know, that's the truth.."
Sun says about Daniel and Charlotte "We can't trust them" and Daniel says to Charlotte "Your attitude, your very bad attitude, it's exactly why they don't trust us"
Jack wants to know what Kate is up to and Kate asks Jack to trust her about where she had been. Kate finally admits that she did something for Sawyer because she made him a promise

Widmore says "..if everything I've been told about you is true, you'll be perfectly fine"
Widmore says "I want someone that I can trust to do the job right"
Charlie tells Desmond "Trust me, you didn't" and "I've seen the truth". Desmond replies "No, that's not the truth. You want to know the real truth?"

Desmond says "Sorry" to the soldier next to him for having to do exercises in the rain and mud
The soldier that deliberately bumps into Desmond says "Thanks for this morning Hume"
The guard at the auction says "I'm sorry" Desmond
Desmond tells Penny "I'm sorry"
Sayid tells Desmond "I'm sorry, the power source went dead" and Desmond says "Thank you, Sayid"

Harper says "Sorry, I'm late" to Juliet
Juliet thanks Sun for helping with her shelter
Goodwin tells Juliet "Much obliged"
Juliet tells Goodwin "I'm sorry"
Juliet says "Thank you" to Jack when he agrees to help her
Juliet says "I'm sorry" to Harper when harper says "...you look just like her"
Jack thanks Juliet when she says she'll get Kate some water
Ben cons Locke by saying "I'm sorry I didn't tell you all this sooner"
Kate tells Jack "I'm sorry" when she doesn't hear his question
Ben thanks Juliet for being wonderful to Zack and Emma
Daniel says "I'm so sorry to Juliet"
Ben tells Juliet "I'm sorry Juliet" when he brings her to Goodwin's body

Locke says "Thank you all for your patience"
Sawyer says about Michael "I'm sorry. You mean the same guy who killed two women in cold blood and set this little bastard free?"
Michael says "I'm sorry" just before he crashes the car into the cargo container
Michael says "Sorry" to Lapidus when he asks Michael "So what's your story, Kevin?"
Ben tells Michael "I'm so sorry Michael, he's still in NY"

Sawyer says "Sorry" to Hurley during the game of Risk
Locke says to Ben "Sorry about your daughter" and Ben replies "Thank you, John"
Locke says "I'm sorry Hugo, we need you to find the cabin"

Sawyer says to Jack, "I'm sorry Doc, maybe this is Deja Vu"
Kate tells Hurley "Jack is running late, sorry"
Carole Littleton tells Jack "I'm sorry for your loss" and Jack says "Thank you"
Kate says "Thank you" when Carole Littleton says "Your son is beautiful"
Locke says "I'm sorry Ben, but maybe I missed the part about what I'm supposed to do about the armed men inside"

Jack says "I'm sorry" to Kate at the gate near the airport
Ben says "Thank you for coming Richard"
Mrs. Dawson thanks the nurse for bringing her to Hurley
Hurley says to Mrs. Dawson "I'm sorry, do I know you?"
Hurley tells Walt "I'm sorry" about none of the Oceanic 6 coming to see him
Hurley says "Thanks for coming back for me" to Sawyer
Juliet offers to help get the next group together for Daniel to ferry to the Kahana and he say s"Thank you", she then says"Dan, thanks for helping us"
Charlotte says "Sorry" Miles
Jin says "Thank you Michael"
Ben tells Locke "Sorry I made your life so miserable"
Kate says "I'm sorry" to Aaron
Ben says "Sorry" to Jack at the funeral home

Jack apologizes to Penny for dragging her into the lie
Sayid says "I'm sorry Hurley, but we have to lie"
Hurley says "Sorry" to Darlene
jack says "Thank you" to ben for flushing his pills down the toilet
Sun Thanks Kate for saying Ji Yeon is beautiful
Kate tells Sun "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry" about Jin not getting off the Kahana in time
Sawyer tells Juliet "...sorry if my plan..."
Richard "Sorry, am I interrupting?"
Desmond says "I'm sorry" to Abigail Spencer and the "I'm sorry who?" when she mentions Charles Widmore
Desmond says "Thanks to Abigail
Melanie says "I'm sorry" to Widmore
Desmond tells Widmore "Thanks for the advice"

Kate thanks Sun for loaning her the suit "Thank you for the loaner"
Daniel thanks Miles for bringing the water for Charlotte
Sun thanks the bellman for bringing the package
Dan Norton says "Thank you for waiting" to Kate
Sayid says to Tony "Sorry, I think you have the wrong room"
Kate says "I'm sorry" on the phone to jack
Sayid says "Sorry Ben"
Sawyer yells "Thank you, Lord" when the flash saves them from the people in the second outrigger shooting at them
Ben thanks Dan Norton for the "good news" about Hurley
Ben tells Kate "Sorry" about coming after Aaron
Danielle says "Merci" to Robert for bringing the water to Jin and Jin says "Thank you"

Desmond says to Brother Campbell "Forgive me Brother"

Jack & Sawyer find the Orchid (1, 2, 3)

Kate finds boots that will fit her
Jack finds the sewing kit
Jack, Kate and Charlie find the cockpit
Jack finds the transceiver after the cockpit shifts
Kate finds the pilots wings

Jin finds the ping pong table while searching for firewood

Jack & Kate find Sawyer, Miles and Aaron
Jack and Sawyer find the helicopter and Frank Lapidus
Desmond finds the bomb on the Kahana

Jack and Sawyer find Hurley
Jack, Hurley & Sawyer find Locke at the Orchid
Keamy finds the Orchid
Kate finds her way to the helicopter
Sayid finds the bullet hole in the helicopter
Hurley spots the Kahana
Jack finds the fuel on the Kahana
Locke finds Richard and the Others
Lapidus finds the Searcher

Tony the Construction Foreman show Dr. Chang the sonar image of the gear wheel they found under the Orchid
Locke finds the heroin filled statue and the crash site of the drug plane
Richard finds Locke
Daniel finds his pack

Montand finds Nadine's backpack
Jin finds Danielle's music box
Jin finds the violin
Jin finds Montand's rotting arm
Jin sees black smoke on the beach
Jin finds Danielle's camp
Jin finds Danielle's music box
Sawyer finds Jin

I have included all of the instances of killing someone under the 'bad' role of Murderer on the Roles page. However, it is possible that some deaths may be justifiable and perhaps may even be rewarded with points.

Killing that might fall under this category would be situations where a LOSTie is in a 'good' role and kills an Other to protect either themself or another LOSTie. Or vice versa, when an Other kills a LOSTie.

In S4E11 Ben says "I should have realized that it was pointless" when Hurley questions him about trying to kill Locke. Indicating that he did not get any points for trying to kill him.

This is one of the major things that I will be looking at going forward. As always, I'll note any changes that I make to this category on the What's New page when, and if, they occur.

Connections

So what about all the cross connections that occur between the LOSTies.

The game itself is making the random connections that cause our LOSTies to cross paths in their Flash Backs and Flash Forwards. The game re-shuffles all of the characters and causes the cross overs to occur. If you play LOST Connections (another game) on the Season 2 DVD, you will experience this as you watch the game make the connections between the characters.

It is possible that FATE is the name of the actions (or connections) that the game itself inserts.

Christian Shephard to Ana Lucia S2E20 "Maybe fate has just thrown the two of us together"and "My, my, look what fate has delivered up this time"

Then Christian says "Oh, the same reason fate does anything, so that we can help each other out". This tells us that FATE is actually on the side of the "light" ('good') player.

You may also want to watch toward the end of THE LOST Survival Guide where Jeff Johnson of Entertainment Weekly describes the story as being a "thousand little puzzle pieces" being re-shuffled. And the response from Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse to this may actually be more revealing than it appears on face value alone:

Carlton Cuse- "The problem with Jeff Johnson is, he's a lot smarter than us."
Damon Lindelof- "Way smart"
Carlton Cuse- "That's kind of upsetting to us"

Cooperation/Team Work/Planning

Cooperation is a major part of playing and winning the game. There is a strong emphasis on teamwork ("Live Together, Die Alone" and "The Greater Good"). It is especially evident when one or more of the main characters must place themselves in danger to help someone else. Also see Saving

Some of the character deaths can be directly attributed to not following this philosophy. For example: Joanna, who went swimming alone S1E5; Arzt, who insisted that only he was qualified to carry the dynamite S1E22; and Ana Lucia S2E20, who definitely marched to her own drummer.

It is possible that points can also be earned for working in teams, as one of the main objectives in each level is to get everyone working on the same team. Making plans is a form of teamwork.

Jack asks Hurley to help look through the luggage for drugs
Hurley helps Jack when he operates

Kate tells Sayid and Locke that Jack "sacrificed himself"
Hurley tells Charlie "cause if you don't die then we win. I could really use a victory"
Charlie, Jin and Sawyer help Hurley with the VW
Kate helps Sawyer by removing the dart
Kate says "I'm going to get help" to Sayid and Locke when she leaves to find Danielle, and then Kate tells Danielle "I came to ask for your help"

Dan asks Jack & Kate "Will you help me find them?"
Dan tells Jack & Kate "...my team and I are all wearing these" referring to the GPS transponders and "Hopefully, we'll get the signal for the rest of the team soon."
Dan tells Miles "Take it easy, it's okay. They're here to help us"
Sayid and Juliet work together to rescue Jack & Kate from Miles Straume
Dan repeatedly refers to his group as a "team"
Naomi says "So this is the team?" as Matthew Abbadon lays out pictures of Dan, Miles, Charlotte and Frank and Naomi says to Abbadon "These are the wrong people for a mission like this"
The radio reporter says "With the plane accounted for, and a salvage mission unlikely..."

Locke, Hurley and Ben work together to find Jacob's cabin
Gault works with Sayid by giving him the Zodiac raft to help save the LOSTies
Lapidus tries to warn the LOSTies on the beach about where the helicopter is going
Gault says "I agreed to ferry you here for an extraction mission"

The Oceanic 6 work together to lie about the survival of the rest of the Oceanic 815 passengers and Jack reminds them "We all know the story"
Sawyer says to Jack "Didn't you just do the whole run through the jungle with a walkie plan?"
Sawyer tells Jack "Hold up, you don't get to die alone" and joins Jack to find the helicopter
One of the reporters at the Press Conference asks "What are your plans?"
Michael tells Sun and Jin that he does not work for Ben and that he is trying to help them
Ben tells Locke how to enter the Orchid station
Ben says to Locke "How many times do I have to tell you John, I always have a plan"

The Oceanic 6, Desmond, Penny and Frank Lapidus all agree to lie to protect the LOSTies still on the island
The LOSTies on the beach work together to build a fire (except for Neil aka Frogurt who is too busy complaining)
Sawyer asks Daniel "Well, you at least got a plan?"
Miles says 'I'm going go find us something to eat" and Juliet asks him "And how are you planning to do that?"
Jill tells Ben "Yeah, everything's right on schedule"
David Reyes about he and Hurley's plan to help Sayid "It's okay Carmen, we have a plan"
Sawyer mentions his plan to Juliet
Sun is apparently working with Widmore to kill Ben
Locke helps Sawyer and Juliet with Jones and his men

Sawyer and Miles work together to bring Horace Goodspeed home to Amy
Sawyer tries to save Locke when the flash occurs
Miles complains "It's the only two plans you people have" and Sawyer responds "...You don't like the plan, good luck"
Juliet tells Sawyer "Any plan is better than no plan"
Sawyer gets Juliet from the motor pool to help Amy give birth
Sawyer works with Richard to maintain the truce
Horace agrees to let the LOSTies stay in New Otherton because of Sawyer

Caesar helps Ilana
Frank helps Sun
Frank gathers everyone on the beach and says "just stick together, hunker down and just wait until help gets here"
Caesar asks "Who wants to help me?" when he organizes a search of the Hydra Station
Sawyer comes up with a plan to pass Jack, Kate and Hurley off as Dharma recruits
Ben says to Sun "So, you can come along and help me now, or you can stay here" as he takes the sling off his arm
Chang says to Jack "Could they be any more disorganized on the other side?"

Locke asks Ben about Richard "Why haven't you told him yet about my plans for Jacob?" and Ben replies "If by plans you mean murdering him John, I assumed you'd want me to keep that a secret"
Richard and Eloise work with Jack and Sayid to get Jughead's core
Sun goes with Locke, Ben and the Others to find Jacob
Kate, Sawyer and Juliet work as a team to get off the Galaga and to try to stop Jack
Hurley, Jin and Miles rescue Jack and Sayid
Rose provides directions to New Otherton to Sawyer, Juliet and Kate
Jacob says to Ilana "I need your help"
Ben cooperates with Locke in his plan to kill Jacob
Jin helps Jack tend to Sayid's wound
Sawyer, Juliet and Kate work together to try and stop Jack from using the bomb
Jack refers to the professional staff in the OR as his team
Jack, Kate, Miles, Sawyer and Juliet work together to set off the bomb
Sayid says "According to Faraday's plan you must get the bomb to the source of electromagnetism"
Miles helps his father Pierre Chang

Power Sources

Memory

The memory losses that have occurred are related to the changing Roles of the characters. When characters switch roles, they apparently can be subject to the loss of some memories. Also see the Reset section.

I especially like the choice of ROM for Ethan's last name, where the death of Ethan Rom can also be looked at as a loss of memory.

Sami asks Sayid "Do you not recognize one of your victims? Do you not recognize the woman that you tortured? Do you not recognize my wife?" and Sayid replies "I remember every face of every person I've interrogated."
Sami says "She remembers your face"
Amira says "So today ...I ask only one thing of you. I ask you now that you show me the respect of acknowledging what you did to me. That it was you who questioned me. That tortured me. And that you remember me" and Sayid replies "I remember you. I remember your face. Your face has haunted me ever since I left Iraq. I am sorry. I am so sorry for what I did to you. I'm ...so ...sorry.

Penny asks Desmond "Why didn't you remember it until 2 days ago?"
The janitor tells Desmond "I'll forget you broke my lock, if you tell your mates that all you found is rubbish left behind by a crazy man"
Penny asks Desmond "What if you wake up tomorrow and you remember something else?" and he replies "Then I'll forget it"
Penny says "You'll never forget it Des. So I guess we're going with you"
Richard asks Locke "Why don't I remember any of this?"