wasn't sure where else to post this.

Okay, follow me as I just throw out some random thoughts people.

The O6 left the island, we are now seeing this season that they've been off the island for 3 years and are attempting to get back. Meanwhile we see the "lefties" i believe they are being called, STILL on the island but its only been a few days island time, right? SSOOOO we saw in TLP that locke tells sawyer if he can return to the orchid station he can leave the island and convince the O6 to come back, and up until now we are all assuming that Lock will be successful at leaving the island by the end of this season which would be just a matter of maybe a week tops island time.

My question for thought is this... Assuming Locke was successful in making it off the island by turning the FDW ala' Ben, then he would have made it off the island just a few days after the O6 did. WHERE THE HELL OR WHAT THE HELL WAS LOCKE DOING FOR 3 YEARS OFF THE ISLAND??? We know he contacted each of the O6, but did that really take him 3 years to do?

Any thoughts? Comments? Something i'm missing?

I don't think Locke will use the FDW to leave the island, that's what started the time traveling mess to begin with and another turn would likely compound that mess. But let's say he does.

When Ben turned the wheel it propelled him into the future in the outside world. So Locke might have arrived off island at any point in the last 3 years, depending on the whim of the wheel or how far or fast he turned it, or what he was thinking of. And possibly in any place. How long would it take Locke to get out of the Sahara without the resources available to Ben? Or the Australian outback.

As for what he was doing... probably spiraling into despair a la Jack. Which led to his eventual... suicide? We don't know how he died yet, do we? Gosh this is exciting. And I don't think we'll have to wait to the end of this season to find out.

YIKES, once again a great post. (And you're still on the Tarmac. You should get extra points for this post.)

Anyway, I'm thinking that Locke did use the FDW because it looks, as of this writing, that he makes his way to the Orchid station and uses the device.

We do know this, that Ben has less then 70 hours to get to the Island and I am betting that Locke travels forward into the future with enough time to meet the 06. Remember, the 06 is bringing him back soon.

On a side note, it would be funny if Locke teleports himself into the future while the 06 are bringing him back. I mean, wouldn't there be some sort of time travel traffic jam or something?


P. S. Go Vincent!

I have always wondered if Locke will lose his ability to walk, once separated from the Island. None of the 6 who have mentioned seeing JB have mentioned his being in a wheelchair. But if it does happen that way, I could see how that would cause him to spiral downward into despair, especially if he feels there is no hope in reuniting the 6 and returning to the Island.

Who is to say that a few days for the Lefties (and Locke) aren't the three years for the O6? Or when Locke turns the FDW (if indeed that is what he does), then who is to say where/when that drops him? What if it just drops him off one month ago O6 time?

I think Abaddon has to figure into this somehow. Last time we saw him was in a Locke flashback while Locke is in physical therapy after getting chucked out a window and breaking his spine, and if I remember correctly he implies that he and Locke will meet again. It's very possible that Abaddon encounters Locke after he gets off the island but before his untimely death, and my guess is that Abaddon aids Locke in contacting the O6. Which would mean, if Abaddon is one of Widmore's toadies, that Widmore and Ben are working toward the same goal, getting the O6 back to the island. Which also throws more tangles in Sun's motivations. Help.

YIKES, once again a great post. (And you're still on the Tarmac. You should get extra points for this post.)

Anyway, I'm thinking that Locke did use the FDW because it looks, as of this writing, that he makes his way to the Orchid station and uses the device.

We do know this, that Ben has less then 70 hours to get to the Island and I am betting that Locke travels forward into the future with enough time to meet the 06. Remember, the 06 is bringing him back soon.

On a side note, it would be funny if Locke teleports himself into the future while the 06 are bringing him back. I mean, wouldn't there be some sort of time travel traffic jam or something?


P. S. Go Vincent!
Hey, yeah thanks! lol
I believe that Locke definately uses the FDW, i mean that's what ben did, it's really Lockes only option at this point.
The more thought I put into Locke leaving the island the more my head starts to pound haha.. I'm guess the island time (flashes) will have to closely align with sometime in that 3 year period for him to have enough time off the island to contact everyone. If I remember from past seasons though, Jack and Kate are still living together and jack has a scraggily beard when Locke visits Kate. So that would mean its more like to be within the 2 years after the O6 left the island?

As far as the jam-up in time with lock (lol), looks like a job for some Dharma Space & Time Traffic Controllers!! sign me up! haha

I'm not understanding the confusion. Ben jumped about 1 year when he turned the wheel. So it is possible that Locke jumps more than that.

I'm not understanding the confusion. Ben jumped about 1 year when he turned the wheel. So it is possible that Locke jumps more than that.
Hey EllsBells1960
Not really confusion on my part, mostly just a curiosity I suppose of how Locke spent his time during the 1, 2, maybe 3 years off the island. Who exactly did he see? Did anyone help him? What did he say to the O6? Did Walt say anything of significance to Locke when they met? ...etc... I'm not questioning the amount of time he spent off the island or anything, just wondering how long exactly he was off and how he spent his time.

If in fact he was off the island for 2-3 years, I think that there must have been some interesting things we need to see from Locke's perspective this season (hopefully), that could give a TON of insight as to why he supposedly killed himself, how he did it, did he meet abaddon (spelling), did he go see Widmore now that he has met the younger version?!!!...

i think since christian told locke that he was there to "help you on your way" that somehow the FDW was set to go directly to LA and to a time most important for the island. when locke saw the wheel, it was lit up and "ready to go". christian said all you have to do is push it (something like that).

just like ben, he was propelled into the future from the island. he was obviously put right at a time when he needed to start approaching everyone. he had a lot of ground to cover, walt, sayid, sun, jack, kate, hurley and ben. i think that they were all in LA, but i don't know if he had to travel to see sun.

he definitely was not off the island for 3 years!

On a similar, but disticntly different train of thought...
When the O6, maybe minus kids plus some new redshirts, land back on the island, what is going to happen with the relative timelines.
Specifically:
For Sawyer, Locke, Juliet, Dan and Miles, the O6 left a day or so ago.
For Jack, Kate, Hurley, Sun, Sayid and Aaron, it was 3 years ago.
(Forget Ben for the moment... He's a bloody law unto himself...)

Will the two groups
a) Keep skipping past each other in time jumps
b) Sync up in the past, so the O6 co-exist with their off island selves
c) Sync up in the present so Sawyer et al gain 3 years

I LOVE time travel stuff!!!

I hope off-island Locke goes to see Walt. (And adopts him? 15-year-old son, anyone?)

I really, really hope Walt isn't dropped from the story line, but I'm beginning to suspect he will be.

Ben reveals that he went to see Locke making him probably the last one of them to see him before he died. The news clipping said that an employee heard a commotion and went to see what happened in the room. Sayid refers to "Jeremy Bentham's" death in a very sarcastic tone and manner when he says, "They said it was suicide." in Season 4.

It all makes me wonder if Ben killed Locke.

Walt visited Hurley in LA, but complained no one but Jeremy Bentham visited him, so logically Locke went to see Walt in NY.

My guess is Locke went about 2 1/2 years into the future, enough time to track the O6 + Walt + Ben down.

I expect Walt to be in his average two scenes this season, and that will be used as evidence that he hasn't been completely dropped from the story, though it sure feels like it. If "everybody" or "all of your friends" have to go back, as Christian told Locke, that should include Walt, but I won't hold my breath. Come to think about it, it's always expression like "we all have to go back", not "all the O6 has to go back," for whatever that's worth.

Walt HAS to go back, maybe not this time, but it is the ONLY explanation for them seeing an "older" Walt, and him turning up to talk to Locke when Ben shot him.
Walts appearances as an "older" teenager in past seasons were the first clues they gave as to time travel being used.

I really wouldn't be surprised if the FDW not only transported him into LA but also almost 3 years into the future, so he would be right in the middle of things talking to the O6 for a week or so until his death.

Too convenient? Maybe but convenience is key in order to keep the story flowing at a good pace.

Hey EllsBells1960
Not really confusion on my part, mostly just a curiosity I suppose of how Locke spent his time during the 1, 2, maybe 3 years off the island. Who exactly did he see? Did anyone help him? What did he say to the O6? Did Walt say anything of significance to Locke when they met? ...etc... I'm not questioning the amount of time he spent off the island or anything, just wondering how long exactly he was off and how he spent his time.

If in fact he was off the island for 2-3 years, I think that there must have been some interesting things we need to see from Locke's perspective this season (hopefully), that could give a TON of insight as to why he supposedly killed himself, how he did it, did he meet abaddon (spelling), did he go see Widmore now that he has met the younger version?!!!...

You would think that Locke has to get help from someone off Island, and I like the idea that it is Abaddon. It doesn't seem like Locke will be able to travel around to easily with his legs the way they are after falling down the well, plus he needs money for travelling, and has to get his "Jeremy Bentham" ID and backstory set up, as the newspaper article states Bentham was from New York. Locke does need a little bit of time to get Bentham's story set up and to travel to see everyone, but definitely not 2 or 3 years.

What if Locke ends up in the past? When he turned the wheel, there wasn't even an Orchid Station built yet. The Well was his way to the wheel.

What if Locke finds himself transported into the 1970's or 80's and has to find a way to get to the 2000's? Then Abaddon getting involved to help Locke find his way might make sense...but I imagine for a price.

I don't think that Locke will find himself in the year he is hoping for in either case...allowing the writers to explore the past off island the same way they are showing us the past on island.

My theory, go ahead and tear it up;)

I'm hazarding a guess that the storytelling narrative will be reversed for season 5 as compared to season 4.

In season 4, we were told the story of the Losties on the Island as it transpired over merely a number of days. This essentially covered the time the freighter people appeared on the Island to how six of the Losties made it off. On the other hand, the narrative of the Oceanic 6 story runs the gamut of 3 years - done principally by means of flashbacks: Hurley has a breakdown and gets committed; Sayid becomes a hitman; Sun takes over her dad's company; Kate goes on trial for her fugitive past; and Jack becomes an addict and suffers with his work.

Conversely, I'm presuming the reverse is true: we are not observing only the number of days ("less than 70 hrs") illustrating the sequence of events regarding how the Oceanic 6 will ultimately find their way back on the Island. In contrast to this, and now especially in light of Locke turning the wheel, I'm presuming that the storytelling arc pertaining to the LeftBehinders will now focus on the series of events that transpired over the 3 years that Locke was gone. Of course, the reasons why I'm thinking this is based on some hypotheses: first, by virtue of turning and fixing the wheel, Locke will have stabilized the nuisance of the time flashes. Hence, this resolves the threat of death by nosebleeds and brain hemmorhaging for our LeftBehinders. Second, this propels the story arc into the direction of the LeftBehinders now dealing with a different predicament: now that the time flash roulette wheel has stopped, they are now certifiably 'stuck' in a specific time on the Island. And what time frame could that be? Judging from the foreshadowing of seeing Faraday involved in the Orchid construction, my best guess would be that the LeftBehinders find themselves immersed during the time of the DHARMA Initiative. The rest of the season would then hypothetically cover how the LeftBehinders infiltrated or coped with surviving on the Island in conjunction with the DHARMA presence while awaiting for the anticipated return of Locke and the Oceanic 6.

So now, in returning back to the topic thread issue at hand, I think the question is not so much about what Locke did for 3 years - because ultimately, we already know the end result of his efforts: he's dead and each of the Oceanic 6, to some degree, have come to realize through his visits that there is some importance with them returning to the Island. Not that I'm disinterested in what Locke did for presumably 2-3 years since he left the Island ... it's just that I find it a little bit more curious and significant as to what the LeftBehinders did to bide their time for 2-3 years while Locke did his thing and the O6 ultimately got their act together.

I guess the key element/presumption in my theory is that the time-jumping will ultimately have to stop once Locke was able to get the FDW back on track after having been unhinged. This is an important assumption with the storytelling aspect on my part. But I think it is necessary because if the time jumping still continued and at the now more frequent rate that we've been seeing it, our LeftBehinders would certainly be goners and would undoubtedly succumb to the hemmorhaging/nosebleed after effects within the linear 2-3 years that Locke is gone and trying to save their skin. Instead, I think the cessation of the time jumps will tidy up this problem and move the story forward to the more compelling predicament of what the LeftBehinders did with themselves for the duration of Locke's absence and the awaited O6 return.

----------------------------------
(An aside: Of course, another important assumption of mine is that all the time-change flashes are occurring well within a so-called "Island time bubble". But outside of this Island time bubble, the real world is progressing forward in real time at its usual rate...thus the three years the O6 spent in the real world indeed was 3 years. Transitively, if we were to hypothesize, that the LeftBehinders were still subject to numerous time flashes even after Locke has gone, they would still have to experience 2-3 years worth of 'real time' in which these hypothetical time flashes occur. So with that said, to say that the LeftBehinders would somehow time flash back into the "present" and coincidentally return in time with the arrival of the O6 would be too convenient a plot device. In short, the LeftBehinders can jump to different times, but they would be doing so in a linear 'real time' path. I hope I made sense, haha.)

I think Abaddon has to figure into this somehow. Last time we saw him was in a Locke flashback while Locke is in physical therapy after getting chucked out a window and breaking his spine, and if I remember correctly he implies that he and Locke will meet again. It's very possible that Abaddon encounters Locke after he gets off the island but before his untimely death, and my guess is that Abaddon aids Locke in contacting the O6. Which would mean, if Abaddon is one of Widmore's toadies, that Widmore and Ben are working toward the same goal, getting the O6 back to the island. Which also throws more tangles in Sun's motivations. Help.

Maybe Locke/Bentham is forced to go into rehab again after his legs fail and who's there to push his chair? Matthew motherfu$#ing Abaddon (my favorite of the "biggies")! Or, just Abaddon anywhere. He rules.
100%
Also, here's my serious guess to this question: where and whenever he teleports to, Alpert's waiting there to instruct Locke. After all, Alpert never did get to teach Locke much of anything. Know what I mean?

I really wouldn't be surprised if the FDW not only transported him into LA but also almost 3 years into the future, so he would be right in the middle of things talking to the O6 for a week or so until his death.

Too convenient? Maybe but convenience is key in order to keep the story flowing at a good pace.


they have to, yes it's convenience if this doesn't happen they can't explain Walt's growth..