Perhaps this will be answered next week and maybe it's been discussed before, but how come Ben didn't just will himself to get rid of the cancer on his spine?

Locke seems to be aware of the island's power. So did Rose. She had cancer and she got better.

If Ben and company are so advanced and in-touch, how come they just don't have the island make them better?

Plot hole or an Others trick?

MacTown, I dont think ben could be healed by the island, otherwise he would have, like you pointed out.
But I have been wondering about Rose.....

What we know is that at certain "frequencies" I suppose you'd call them, magnets can "heal" certain things. Hence why Bernard took Rose to that guy - he was located over a heavily magnetic area, yet it was not at the right "frequency" for Rose.
I would assume that is why it had no affect on Ben.

Perhaps this will be answered next week and maybe it's been discussed before, but how come Ben didn't just will himself to get rid of the cancer on his spine?

Locke seems to be aware of the island's power. So did Rose. She had cancer and she got better.

If Ben and company are so advanced and in-touch, how come they just don't have the island make them better?

Plot hole or an Others trick?


I wonder why Ben wasn't heal by the island , as well. I think that it one of two things

- people born on the island, can not be heal by it.

-healing depends on which side of the island you are on.It seem like the others do not come on the survive side of the island as much. Remember, Ana group was attack in groups. Yet, only one person ,Ethan came to take Claire. When the others had taken Walt,they wait until he was on the raft,and out to sea, before attacking. Why? why didn't they take Walt,the same why they had taken the other kids?..even when they wanted Jack,Kate, and Sawyer, they sent Michael, instead of coming themselves. Ethan was alone, when he went to get Claire back. Why was he alone?why wasn't anyone with him to back him up? When Ben was capture by Danielle, he too ,seem to be alone. So I think the island healing only affect those on fuselage side of the island..and Ben and the others might avoid going there, because of the smoke entity.

I wonder why Ben wasn't heal by the island , as well. I think that it one of two things

- people born on the island, can not be heal by it.

-healing depends on which side of the island you are on..


I agree - and if healing was location-centric, it could also explain why Ben suddenly appeared close to the Losties camp. It would be interesting to have seen a picture of his tumor during the time he was imprisoned inside the Hatch, very very close to the magnetic pulse.

But if this theory is true - why is LOCKE still walking post Hatch implosion? Has Rose gone out of remission??

I'm not 100% convinced that the island does have healing powers.

I've always thought that with Locke it could be psychological.
If you think about when he was trying to get the hatch open with Boone ... when they had tried everything to get it open and Locke thought that he had failed, it was then that he started to lose the feeling in his legs. Then after they had found the beechcraft - after the island had supposedly shown him a vision of the plane, and it had turned out to be true - he regained the feeling in his legs enough to carry Boone back to camp.

As for Rose ... we don't know for sure that she has been healed. She 'feels' as if she has, but that's all we've been told. So she could still be ill, but they've only been on the island about 10 weeks so the illness may not be that much further advanced. She could appear in much the same state of health as when she arrived.

That is right. I forgot about that episode where he suddenly couldn't move. It did appear to be a mental battle at that point. I guess if we knew "how" he ended up paralyzed, that context would be the missing piece for much of this speculation.

And true, Rose could be in remission.

I'm not 100% convinced that the island does have healing powers.

I've always thought that with Locke it could be psychological.
If you think about when he was trying to get the hatch open with Boone ... when they had tried everything to get it open and Locke thought that he had failed, it was then that he started to lose the feeling in his legs. Then after they had found the beechcraft - after the island had supposedly shown him a vision of the plane, and it had turned out to be true - he regained the feeling in his legs enough to carry Boone back to camp.

As for Rose ... we don't know for sure that she has been healed. She 'feels' as if she has, but that's all we've been told. So she could still be ill, but they've only been on the island about 10 weeks so the illness may not be that much further advanced. She could appear in much the same state of health as when she arrived.


you bring up an excellent point about locke starting to lose the feeling in his legs during that episode w/ boone! but the rose thing........i think it is safe to assume she was "healed" by the island , in some way! you watch that episode, and she is pretty damn convincing! if you remember in her flashback, she only had a few months, if not weeks to live, so 10 weeks along from that point would mean she would be pretty damn close to dying by now, and last we saw her, she was quite healthy! we also saw in her flashback, the healer tell her the magnetic frequency , or whatever that he lived by was strong , but wasn't right for her! so we know magnetic = healing in some way , and lo and behold, they crash on an island w/ tons of magnetic energy going on?!

Perhaps this explains the whole reason Ben was coming to the Losties side of the island in the first place. maybe it was about nothing more than an attempt to be healed. Why else would Ben risk his live traveling to the other side

The placebo effect works, but I doubt it has much of a chance of curing cancer or paralysis. I think Ben couldn't be healed, because the island didn't want to heal him. But I don't know, because if the island has chosen Locke and not Ben, and the others know this, and they worship the island....then that could make Locke a sort of god. But Patchy didn't really treat him as such. The others could be hostile towards the island too though.

Perhaps the island has the power to heal what's not generated by the island itself.


Rick

It seemed to me that although Patchy was aware of what had happened to Locke, he wasn't surprised by it. So if the island can heal, the Others are obviously aware of it.
It still doesn't explain Ben though.

It seemed to me that although Patchy was aware of what had happened to Locke, he wasn't surprised by it. So if the island can heal, the Others are obviously aware of it.
It still doesn't explain Ben though.

..Maybe the island do not heal Ben, because he was born on the island?...or it could be the fact that the others do not go on the survivor's side of the island.