I mean, the actual reasons for everything that has happened, with the island basically being a guardian of the timeline kind of thing. Jacob trying to keep the timelines in check and MIB trying to rewrite history thus causing catastophy somehow ?

Or do you think Time travel is just a bit part in the overall theme ? With something else being Jacob and MIBs endgame ?

Tuna Head....though my theories are nebulous, that's how I see it, that time travel is the big thing here.
I don't really know what may have occurred. The dialogue this week about UnLocke's mother being like Claire gave me an itchy feeling that maybe Claire is UnLocke's mother, and that's why he was looking after her. Somehow Claire's child get's thrown back in time to get stranded on this island and he's had to wait all this time to get off again.....maybe.
I also have the unformed and stunted idea that maybe he's the second child of Claire. Jacob and he were brothers from different fathers and he has second child syndrome too......remember,it's still percolating.

But, to get back to your question: Yes. I think that this will all end up coming back to time travel.

Tuna Head....though my theories are nebulous, that's how I see it, that time travel is the big thing here.
I don't really know what may have occurred. The dialogue this week about UnLocke's mother being like Claire gave me an itchy feeling that maybe Claire is UnLocke's mother, and that's why he was looking after her. Somehow Claire's child get's thrown back in time to get stranded on this island and he's had to wait all this time to get off again.....maybe.
I also have the unformed and stunted idea that maybe he's the second child of Claire. Jacob and he were brothers from different fathers and he has second child syndrome too......remember,it's still percolating.

But, to get back to your question: Yes. I think that this will all end up coming back to time travel.

I like your thoughts! My instinct is that MIB and Jacob are the way they are for reasons separate from the time travel but that the Losties traveling did have profound impacts on the storyline, maybe even the time period of Jacob/MIB. But I think the TT does explain many of the things that almost had a mystical quality from the earlier seasons. For example, the Others fascination with Locke likely stems somewhat from the fact that he popped up in various time periods, introduced himself (to Ethan, Richard, Widmore), and claimed to be their Leader.

I mean, the actual reasons for everything that has happened, with the island basically being a guardian of the timeline kind of thing. Jacob trying to keep the timelines in check and MIB trying to rewrite history thus causing catastophy somehow ?

Or do you think Time travel is just a bit part in the overall theme ? With something else being Jacob and MIBs endgame ?
I think that Time Travel was important in the way of showing the Losties created their own history i.e the Richard/Locke 1954 interaction, the Losties leaving the rope sticking out of the ground to allow someone else from the past to discover the source of the Island's energy, Dan helping the Others contain a leaking Jughead in 1954 allowing him to use it in 1977, and the TTing Losties creating an ALT as well as their own Swan, Des, 815 chain of events that allowed them to TT in the first place.

I believe time travel was the means by which Flocke found his "loophole", the way that Widmore and Hawking knew to guide the Losties to the Island, and possibly the means for us potentially seeing a character in the ALT figuring out that there are two worlds that connect the Losties and the Island.

Wormholes allow time travel and exotic matter allows wormholes. IMO that is the "how" of Island time travel. If the Island exists within or at the mouth of a wormhole, a whole other set of implications come up. This can possibly lead to the Island being in another dimension, how a pillar of smoke can have a conscious, and how apparitions of the dead can appear.

Lastly, I believe that we haven't seen or heard the last of Desmond, his "specialness" and CTT. IMO, that sub-plot will play a part in "connecting" the two universes and well as helping the overall story's conclusion.

I mean, the actual reasons for everything that has happened, with the island basically being a guardian of the timeline kind of thing. Jacob trying to keep the timelines in check and MIB trying to rewrite history thus causing catastophy somehow ?

Or do you think Time travel is just a bit part in the overall theme ? With something else being Jacob and MIBs endgame ?

I thought Jacob was looking for progress, not the status quo.

Or do you think Time travel is just a bit part in the overall theme ?

This one.
I think the island moving through space and time is just a way for the writers to make metaphors....at one point the island is Cuba, then the holy land, then USA etc...
"Only fools are enslaved by space and time" ;)

I think that time travel is important to the end game. Maybe not the end-all, be-all, but Jacob and MiB were talking about cycles. I believe this is the first cycle to use time travel, and MiB saw how he could that to his advantage, creating the loophole.

I think the island's other properties were created by Jacob or MiB during previous cycles, in response to the contestants/candidates.

I believe there is a much larger picture here and that the time traveling we have seen is A part of the story. I dont think its a big part but not exactly small either. If we are talking the mythology well I think for the large story youd have to think about what is still a mystery.

For me the temples water room was very interesting and of course what the Island is exactly has to be the most important question of them all. Since time travel is a mere by product of that answer, then the "reason for everything" with regards the mythology is clearly wrapped up in what the Island is.

I think I started this thread b Aefore seeing the episode where MIB/Locke talks about his mother and how if things had been different, things would be different. It really points towards time being a pretty big deal. Somehow I think that both MIB and Jacob came to the island, saw it's properties and made a deal with the island, thinking they could use it somehow to change things in their life. But somehow the rules won't allow them to use the special properties away from the island. So MIB has stayed trying to find a way to actually use the islands time travel abilities to change the world timeline that had him growing up with his crazy mother. To change this outcome. However in true time travel paradoxes. You can't change time, and not have huge consequences to the timeline for everyone. Jacob wants to make sure MIB doesn't do this.

I mean this is the way it looks to me as of now. Which I would have mixed feeling about. It's a story that's been told before, even if not exactly like the way Lost has done it. I'm hoping to be wrong.

I'm torn right down the middle on this.

50% of me says time travel is a side effect of the island - I think the island is really an alien space ship, and the the power source that makes its movement possible is what causes time travel. In that line of thought, time travel is just a complication for Jacob (either people accidentally discovering the properties, or deliberately trying to take advantage of the properties, and Jacob having to course correct for what these traveler's may changed).

50% of me says that time travel is the the very heart of the mystery - that Jacob has foreknowledge of some important event because of time travel, and he has been working to either cause or prevent this event. And if the event doesn't happen in Jacob's lifetime (considering he's dead now, this seems likely), he's been looking for a replacement who will continue in his work of either causing or stopping the event (Everything until the event happens is just progress). MIB's being able to leave is dependent on the event (if Jacob has no replacement, MIB can leave).

I think time travel is a major factor, but I think it is likely to be a result, not a cause.

Probably Sawyer and his rope started it. As in, if he hadn't caused that rope to be stuck in the ground, the well never would have been built. If the well had never been built, then the DI wouldn't have found the FDW and pocket of EM energy. If they hadn't found the energy pocket they wouldn't have brought Chang and Radzinsky and their experiments. If they hadn't done those experiments, they wouldn't have found the FDW. If they hadn't found the FDW, Ben never would have turned it and started all the TT'ing.

Another grandfather paradox, but hey... that dang compass. It's gotta go somewhere. ;)

I think time travel is one of the most important aspects of the show, but I don't think anyone has actually traveled back in time. I think there is some sort of time loop going on, so if you travel far enough into the future then you'll arrive back where you started. That is, where you physically started, but temporally in your future.

The main reason I like this theory is it helps get around the paradoxes that irritate me. You can't change the past if you're only moving forward (through time).