Someone please explain to me how the plane not crashing would affect what happened BEFORE flight 815 took off? i.e. Jack having a son, Helen not leaving Locke, Shannon not being on the flight, Hurley thinking he's lucky etc..

I must be missing something. Was this explained somehow?

because the plane not crashing is NOT what changed things. It is only ONE of the many things that were changed as a result of the bomb going off in 1977. So anything after that can change.

Its the butterfly effect. The fact that the explosion happened 30+ years before we pick up THAT time line means that some of them stood the chance of not even being born. Because of the explosion some of the people who would have remained on the island in 1977 mingled into life elsewhere and that caused suddle changes in everyone's life either directly or indirectly from 1977 on.

Some of the survivors have traveled as far back in time as hundreds of years ago, like when Sawyer/Locke/Miles etc. were at the well above the frozen wheel...as well as in the 50s....their plane not crashing and never allowing them to land on the island and go back in time changes things way before 2004, which could have countless and unpredictable changes from the timeline we know...for one thing, alot of them may not have been visited by Jacob at all which obviously had a big impact on their lives

yeah, it gets a little confusing...... but here it goes:

flight 815 crashes, some 815ers travel back to 1954 and tell Richard Alpert that John Locke is special, Richard Alpert goes off island to the outside world.

No 815 crash, no time travelers, no richard Alpert going off island to mess things up. :)

Also, I'm one of the few that believe what we're seeing as the Alternative timeline is in actuality the "real timeline" so stuff we saw back in season 1-5 is actually the result of "messin' with history and junk"

thank you that helps... a little... I think. It still feels like a stretch. I'm having a hard time understanding how the bomb going off on the island in 1977 could have somehow changed things that much.

thank you that helps... a little... I think. It still feels like a stretch. I'm having a hard time understanding how the bomb going off on the island in 1977 could have somehow changed things that much.


Its a fair call and exactly what they want you to think about. Making comparisons to the original timeline...for example Desmond being on the plane right at the get go was an indicator of making you go "uhh, Desmond was never on the plane in the original" and the shot to the island underwater.

As a fan you are on the right path in seeing all these discrepancies in the sideways universe and questioning them, analysing the changes. Here are all the other things apart from just themselves that have been affected by the bomb.

But yes the point was if the bomb really worked then WHH isnt actually correct, faraday was right and what they did worked. But it didnt just affect them not crashing, its affected much more than that and were seeing tht all play out.

Its a fair call and exactly what they want you to think about. Making comparisons to the original timeline...for example Desmond being on the plane right at the get go was an indicator of making you go "uhh, Desmond was never on the plane in the original" and the shot to the island underwater.

As a fan you are on the right path in seeing all these discrepancies in the sideways universe and questioning them, analysing the changes. Here are all the other things apart from just themselves that have been affected by the bomb.

But yes the point was if the bomb really worked then WHH isnt actually correct, faraday was right and what they did worked. But it didnt just affect them not crashing, its affected much more than that and were seeing tht all play out.

Thank you. Looking at your status I have a feeling that you know what you are talking about. I guess I will just have to trust that this truly is the "season of answers" and that it will all be explained.

My guess is that the explosion took Jacob out of the equation in the other timeline.

No Jacob to meddle around, different paths of life taken.