Jin tho

Locke too.

They are all so good. It's hard to say for me.

All time

Sawyer

I wish you the best.

Suicide is ... sad.

❤️❤️

Lol, fair point! Maybe he was sleeping during the trebuchet attempt and woke up after the bang.

That is bloody brilliant.

Same! I love a lot of other characters too but those were maybe my two favorite

I am humbled by any and all views my friend :)

Thank you for such a lovely response.

Thanks :) I won't be doing a specific video on Daniel Faraday for this particular series as I feel his story is fairly self-explanatory, and much of the mythological points about a character's entanglement with the time loop and destiny was already covered in previous chapters on "The Time Loop", "Charles Widmore and Eloise Hawking", "John Locke's Test", and now "Desmond". But if I end up doing a series based around character arcs/profiles I will definitely explore Faraday in more detail.

@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 I was wondering if you might do a video about Juliet? I would say her story is integral to not only "The Incident," but the time loop, pregnancy issues, and the overall theme of "we are the causes of our own suffering."

@@calebwoods7816 As with Faraday, I feel that I have covered the crucial part of Juliet's arc in terms of her relevance to the mythology and any lingering mysteries. If I make a character guide on the channel that focuses on exploring each main character's arc in detail then Juliet will certainly be on that list. But the specific character chapters you will find in this current series of videos tends to be based around lingering questions/confusions people have about a character's story or relation to the mysteries, such as Walt, Mr. Eko, Widmore/Eloise, Mother, and Desmond.

Thank you for watching and supporting :)

Have you tried sampling different tv shows other than Lost? Sopranos. Breaking Bad, Game Of Thrones, Dexter & The Wire, to name a few.

@@Ytnzy250 My specialty is LOST and I feel like the USP of this channel is that I have a perspective and knowledge of the show that maybe goes beyond the norm. I don't have the same insights into the shows you mention. I could talk about them from a critical standpoint but not from an "Explained" standpoint. It's hard to replicate what I do with this show on anything else really.

You might just get your wish in a couple of weeks ;)

I also used to have the same theory! However, Desmond is going through the mind travel stuff in 1996. He is presumably released from prison around the year 2000 or 2001 (at least several months before he ends up in the boat race and shipwrecking on The Island). Which would mean Desmond paid a very steep price for going A.W.O.L from the army in 1996. Almost four years in prison for that seems extreme. It is unlikely he was incarcerated and dishonourably discharged for that. We are never told what his crime was or why it warranted jailtime, but judging from his past behaviours (no pun intended) I assumed it was for desertion. Desmond ran away from his problems a lot.

@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 oh man that’s right, that’s why your channel and videos (and of course you as well) are essential to understanding Lost. Thanks for sharing that info

Damn, I thought the same thing. Glad we have you here to clear things up!

In The Constant Desmond was a Private but he was discharged with the rank of Lance corporal. So he must have done some more military service.

I think, in terms of The Island, there is only really ever Plan A. Jacob, the candidates, and the smoke monster, and their power plays and conflicts, are all essential in the grand scheme so that the world continues to turn. No smoke monster means no time travel. No time travel means no incident prevention. No incident prevention means the end of the world. I often talk about the events of LOST as being a large, woven tapestry. Like the one on Jacob's wall. Every thread helps to make up the big picture. Take one thread out and the whole tapestry unravels. Desmond's unstuck consciousness becomes a key thread of this tapestry. Like the smoke monster, he is needed in order to fulfil certain events. Yes, his role is essentially "created" by The Island. His consciousness becomes unstuck from linear time in 2004, but LOST shows us that consciousness is a continuum that exists independent of the body. So, technically Desmond is simply tapping into what consciousness is really like without the constraints of linear space-time.

Nice reference to 'The Constant' there ;)

That sounds like a good idea for some future videos!

I can't explain the photograph, and frankly never realized that as a plothole, but it's plausible to me that Penny went back to the photographer at some point & got a copy of the photo for herself. I mean, with her resources she found Desmond, how hard is tracking down a photograph in comparison. Anyway, I think Desmond's experience isn't solely due to destiny. He has freedom of choice, but he's affected by what he feels is right for him to do, for better or worse. The story's stance is an interesting mix of destiny & choice being the reason for everything that happens. I think it kind of lands on that choices determine destiny, and our perception of destiny determines our choices. Your comment made me think a lot of thoughts, so thank you.

My in-universe explanation for the marina photo is simply that Desmond sent Penny a copy of it before he left on his boat race as a way of asking her to not marry someone else. He sent it to her (presumably with a letter) as a reminder to wait for his return because he still loves her and didn't realise how much until he heard she was getting married. And it works. Remember, he had her address and was trying to send her letters whilst in prison, which Widmore stopped from getting through. So, once out of prison I have no doubt that he messaged her again, this time successfully. And this is why she turns up at the stadium to see him again.

I actually elaborate on the photo in Chapter Nine, and what the connection between Eloise and Brother Campbell likely was: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/iNmFZpqLyde6YIk.html

@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 must have missed that. Thanks

Thank you :) I explain the differences between physical and mind time travel in more detail in Chapter Three on "The Time Loop". Check it out: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/bL-llbp3qMumYok.html

@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 u

😆 KZfaq knows!

You're in luck my friend! That episode already exists. It explores both Charles Widmore and Eloise Hawking in depth. You can watch it here: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/iNmFZpqLyde6YIk.html

@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 OMG.... doing that RIGHT NOW>... Thank you Brother!!!

Not sure how I missed it.. I thought I had watched every episode on your channel

In short, Eloise has had Daniel's journal since 1977.

@@2QAYL1138 I think some of her knowledge came from the journal. But other stuff is almost certainly the result of precognition, like the man in the red shoes. I agree with this channel's theory on Eloise having her own flashes, or some kind of psychic guidance from the island.

Always new details to discover!

I'd seen that before. But here it looks photo-shopped, like the two aren't really together in a specific place or event. Sloppy.

I discuss what was behind the concrete wall in The Swan in Chapter Fourteen on "The DHARMA Initiative". There is no question that Jughead detonated in 1977. We hear it explode as Juliet hits it, and the blast propels our Losties forward in time. They could return to the present because they completed their purpose in the past in this moment. The whole reason for Jack and company being back in 1977 was to save the world. The detonation caused an implosion and plugged the leak of electromagnetic energy long enough for The Swan to be built. Without Jughead, the leak would have kept on building and pulling everything into the hole until it reached critical mass. DHARMA would not have been able to fill the area with concrete had that been the case. The reason why Sayid mentions Chernobyl is because that is what The Incident was an equivalent to -- a catastrophic meltdown involving electromagnetic energy and radiation leakage. The computer is an 80s build, which means the button was not implemented for another several years. The orientation video for The Swan is also dated 1980. Which means the leak came back slowly over time, forcing DHARMA to alter the purpose of The Swan from a research station to a world-saving barrier. They installed a reactor capable of absorbing the electromagnetic build-up so it could be discharged safely. And that is what is hidden behind the sealed wall up top. For whatever reason, that room was abandoned some time between 1980 and 2001, perhaps due to an almost-incident in which the button wasn't pushed in time. We can only speculate as to why they walled off that room, but it was most likely to avoid another meltdown. When Desmond turns the fail-safe key, he is essentially detonating this reactor and blowing up the pocket of energy. My chapter on DHARMA features a non-canon depiction of what probably laid beyond that wall. I recommend giving it a whirl for more clarification.

@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 Much thanks for clarifying the issue. It seems I read too many fan theories. I didn't pay much attention to the stuff from Via Domus, it being a bland and disappointing game. Until the next Sunday and I'm off to re-watch chapter 14.

It is implied that he does, although we never see it. I explore the possibilities of what happened after 'The End' in this video here: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/ptxnrdJyqNCminU.html

@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 aaah that's good.

What is it about Christian that you would like clarity on? His appearances on The Island? Or just his character in general?

Well, the sequence of events goes like this: Faraday zaps Eloise the rat with a concentrated burst of radiation from the machine, gets her to run the maze, then tells Desmond that he is not going to teach her to run it until "an hour from now." There is further discussion between the men, then Desmond blacks out (his consciousness travels to the future on the freighter). When his consciousness returns to the basement, Faraday says that he has been out for "75 minutes". Which means, in that missing time for Desmond, Faraday made good on his promise and directed Eloise on which route to follow in the maze in order to complete it in the past. Then she died. Which is kind of a microcosmic view on the nature of how the time loop in S5 will function, especially for John Locke.

@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 ah, okay. So we just have to assume that Faraday went ahead and taught Eloise although we don't see it, otherwise we run into a paradox? That's very straightforward. I overthought it and suspected something a little more tricky. Thanks again. Hope your next release is imminent!

@@drewc.4061 Yes, the assumption is that during that missing 75 minutes, Faraday made good on his intent to show Eloise the way through. The next release has turned out to be more work that I had expected, so it may some way off yet. But hopefully it will be worth it when it lands! It's intended to get everyone talking/discussing some of the open ended answers the show leaves us with.

I technically cover the post-Jughead DHARMA years in Chapter Fourteen on "The DHARMA Initiative". It's in the latter half of that video.

After turning the fail-safe, Desmond's consciousness becomes unstuck from linear time, which means it can move along the river of time when circumstances require it, i.e. The Island needs him. 2004-Desmond is a passenger of sorts in 'Flashes Before Your Eyes'. His consciousness is going back to re-live those events more than overwrite or change them. 1996-Desmond is still mostly in control of everything and things are playing out as they always did. His concussions on either side of this period in his life keep him in a strange fog of Déjà vu. We see that 2004-Desmond isn't properly in control of the choices otherwise he would be behaving like he does outside Widmore's office from the very start. "This all happened before! I'm time traveling, brutha!" Basically, the majority of 'Flashes Before Your Eyes' is his 1996 self dealing with "flashes" of the future. However, 2004-Desmond emerges from this fog properly in a couple of key moments: the scene with Charlie on the street and the scene with Eloise in the shop. It is Desmond's unstuck consciousness that is having these interactions. 2004-Des is driving the car now and 1996-Des is the passenger. But 1996-Desmond's consciousness (as a continuum going forward) simply won't remember these moments until *after* he turns the key and gets exposed to the light 8 years later. The pre-fail safe Desmond would only recall breaking up with Penny by The Thames after being belittled by her father and drowning his sorrows down the pub. He would not remember the Charlie and Eloise parts of it, and how that influenced things. This is why he gets struck in the head by the cricket bat at the end. It allows for a plausible deniability of sorts on the story's behalf. This no doubt gave him a concussion and a confused remembrance of that day. This is why it is established before the Charlie and Eloise sequences that he is already having doubts about himself and his relationship with Penny. 1996-Desmond already had cold feet. Nothing is changed by the emergent unstuck consciousness from 2004 other than gaining a new insight into what really happened between those knocks to the head. This is my reading of the episode's events in light of the time travel rules established later on in the show. I think when the episode was first developed, the idea was that the past could be changed but The Island (aka fate) course corrects. But this idea was later recalibrated to be "whatever happened, happened". They get Daniel to say that Desmond is uniquely special in that the rules of time travel don't apply to him, therefore he can make small changes in the grand tapestry. However, those small changes are actually essential to the tapestry, which means they always needed to happen the way that they did. Like with Charlie's death. Only Charlie could have turned off the jammer, which means his destiny was always to die down in the Looking Glass and Desmond's flashes were simply preparing him for this moment rather than showing an unchangeable pre-written future. So, the question becomes: was Desmond really making any structural changes to the timeline or was he simply fulfilling the timeline? As in: his post fail-safe consciousness was unstuck and could travel between different points in his life to learn information from his "blackout" points, or to create necessary causality that will lead to future events. It wasn't the timeline that was malleable, it was Desmond himself who was malleable. He was moulded by The Island and the tapestry of time to fit where it needed him.

@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 > 2004-Des is driving the car now and 1996-Des is the passenger. I love this analogy! Thanks for the response

You could argue that The Island brings everyone anyway. Jacob selects candidates, but I have made the argument that Jacob doesn't really have an objective choice in who he chooses due to the causality loop. These people are predestined to come there. But even if we discount the determinism behind the candidates, all of those thousands of other people who came to The Island over the centuries -- who were not candidates nor touched by Jacob -- never arrive by true accident. There is always a purpose for them to serve. In terms of what literally brought Desmond to The Island both times, Widmore was the key factor. The first time was because Desmond was sailing in Widmore's race around the world, and the second time was because Widmore kidnapped him. Desmond's role was unique because he is unstuck in time, that's what gave him his specialness. He didn't need to be a candidate for Jacob's endgame because his role was specifically tailored for another purpose. I also doubt Jacob would have made Des a candidate knowing how much he still wanted to be with Penny back in the world. Des would never have accepted the job.

@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 I think there is something special about Desmond’s interaction with the source that reveals something about how the source’s plan works. The source wants people to make their own decisions. It lets people make whatever mistakes the chose to. It gives people guidance, but it doesn’t directly intervene except with Desmond. It speaks to him through flashes and conscious time travel in a way that it doesn’t with anyone else. It forces him to do thing he doesn’t want to do over and over. The first time he does do something voluntarily is in season 6. Contrast that with how the source allows all the mistakes of mother, Jacob, Jack and presumably Hugo. Why not give Jack the premonition to shoot fake lock after the cork is unplugged? I argue it’s because the source wants people to do things their way. I’d say everyone was allowed to make choices. Sure it knows what choices they’ll make. Desmond is not allowed to make decisions. You could say the source manipulates people, but it practically batters Desmond until he is resistant to forces that should kill him and can’t distinguish between the after life and the real world. I wrote that in pieces and I have to work now, so hopefully it isn’t a total mess. I hope you at least find it interesting if not true. Looking forward to the next theory of everything video. Have a nice day.

Yes, it's a different day. In 'Flashes Before Your Eyes', Desmond's consciousness travels back in time from 2004 to 1995 after he turns the fail-safe key. It is here he sees Charlie busking on the street outside of Widmore's office building. They get caught in the rain. In the episode 'Greatest Hits', we see a flashback of Charlie busking in the street playing the same song again. Again, he gets caught in the rain. He then happens upon Nadia being mugged in an alleyway and rescues her. It is a very similar scene to the one with Desmond from earlier, but it is set in a totally different location in London (compare the surroundings of where he is busking) and is taking place on a different day (judging by Charlie's entirely different wardrobe). Buskers tend to sing the same songs over and over, and it rains in England a lot :-D

@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 Thanks. Excellent clarification!👌🏻

It's not a dumb question at all. But you have conflated several different scenes and episodes together. In S3 ep 'Flashes Before Your Eyes', Desmond's consciousness travels back in time from 2004 to 1995 after he turns the fail-safe key. It is here he sees Charlie busking on the street outside of Widmore's office building. Desmond's 2004 consciousness starts to emerge and he rants to an oblivious Charlie about the island. It rains and everybody dashes off, leaving Desmond alone and confused. Later in S3, in the episode 'Greatest Hits', we see a flashback of Charlie busking in the street playing the same song again. Again, he gets caught in the rain. He then happens upon Nadia being mugged in an alleyway and rescues her. It is a very similar scene to the one with Desmond from earlier, but it is set in a totally different location in London and is taking place on a different day (judging by Charlie's entirely different wardrobe). In S4, when Desmond is on the helicopter leaving the island, it is his 1996 consciousness traveling forward into 2004 to experience the future (a reversal of what happened in 'Flashes Before Your Eyes'). During this episode, Desmond does not meet Charlie in the past. The episode sees him in the army and seeking out Penny and her phone number.

I must not have been paying careful enough attention when I was watching them then. Thanks for responding and clearing things up!

I also used to have the same theory! However, Desmond is going through the mind travel stuff in 1996. He is presumably released from prison around the year 2000 or 2001 (at least several months before he ends up in the boat race and shipwrecking on The Island). Which would mean Desmond paid a very steep price for going A.W.O.L from the army in 1996. Almost four years in prison for that seems extreme. It is unlikely he was incarcerated and dishonourably discharged for that. We are never told what his crime was or why it warranted jailtime, but judging from his past behaviours (no pun intended) I assumed it was for desertion during an actual mission/engagement. Widmore implies as much outside the prison when he calls Desmond a coward. And we know Des ran away from his problems a lot.

@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 🤔😩going to have to rewatch at some point soon, will try to keep this in mind haha

Everything can be attributed to the Source, right? I've wondered about his visions too. I think it's curious that they're all about Charlie. I see those visions as side effects of his turning the key just like his time-jumping, but instead of seeing different parts of his own life, he's seeing Charlie's. I think it's the Source directing Desmond to make the most of a bad situation that will end in Charlie's death, because it leads Desmond home so he can do what he needs to there to get ready to return & save the world again.

I explain the Charlie visions in Chapter Three on "The Time Loop". They are visions intended to set off a very specific series of events. You can read them as alternate futures for sure, but the deaths never actually happen because of Desmond's interaction with them, which renders them inert. The truth is, Charlie could not have died until the moment he does in the Looking Glass since he was the only one who could crack the musical code to unjam the signal. It was fated to be him. Watch Chapter Three here for the full explanation: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/bL-llbp3qMumYok.html

Yeah, it's an interesting chicken or egg situation. Do the visions of Charlie suggest that an alternate future is possible, which means Desmond can change things? Or do the visions of Charlie simply ensure that Desmond will react a certain way and cause specific outcomes? Outcomes that could not be achieved without the visions of Charlie's deaths. It's interesting how after Charlie dies for real that the flashes stop. Why were they so intrinsically linked to him? Why have they stopped? Is it because the outcomes the island needed have been achieved? I think the visions of Charlie were a means to an end. To get him to the Looking Glass.

It's an AI generated voice. When I began flirting with the idea of making explanation videos I knew it would come down to whether or not I could find the right "voice". Something that could help me to stay anonymous but also sound authoritative and clear. I did some research and found this one, which I think is the best I've ever heard. It sounds close to real; it's only the cadence and intonation on certain words that throw it off.

@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 Wow! It crossed my mind that it could be an a.i. voice but I thought it sounded too real. Well, it definitely fits the tone of the videos. It’s like the computer in the hatch is speaking to us about the history of the island or something. 😆 I love it.

Desmond never jumps back to 1969. When Desmond’s consciousness travels back in time to talk to Faraday at Oxford in ‘The Constant’ the year is 1996. Is that what you meant?

@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 ... Ok sorry, I transposed the date, yes, when he's on the helo, and his mind travels back to 1996.

Okay, I've got you now. So, the catalyst for the mind travel happens in 2004 when the helicopter crosses the time dilation barrier. Which means the trigger point for the time travel happens in 2004 rather than 1996. Desmond's consciousness in 2004 essentially resets to 1996 and effectively erases the past 8 years of his experiences. It's like a form of amnesia in which 2004-Desmond now thinks his present is 1996. Anyway, when Desmond finally finds his constant (Penny), 2004-Desmond regains those missing 8 years because he has found a way to ground his consciousness and tell the difference between time periods. However, 1996-Desmond will not remember any of these interactions until after that phone call with Penny 8 years in the future because he wasn't really in the driver's seat for those experiences at the time, it was amnesiac 2004-Desmond. Which is why he doesn't remember Daniel. Whereas Daniel doesn't remember Desmond because he was performing those time experiments on himself. The radiation he absorbed from his machine caused him to suffer from memory loss, which he explains to Charles Widmore when Widmore comes to recruit him. Daniel is in professional care at that point. When he gets to the island, the energy starts to heal his fractured mind and he begins to remember Desmond after reading the journal entry again. Does that answer your question? I wasn't sure if this is what you were specifically asking. I appreciate that these events are very complicated to untangle!

@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 ... I think so. So, could Desmond have made notes in 1996 and used them moving forward in time? Or would they have meant nothing to him, even if he had been able to write it down while his mind was visiting the past? I mean, Dan did make notes about it, and they moved forward in time with him. It seems like a paradoxical loop that I'm having trouble wrapping my head around. Maybe Desmond could have and he simply didn't. Is there even a 'first time' through this loop of time? lol, I'm confusing the hell out of my self.

Desmond didn't make any notes in 1996, not that we see anyway. So, he has no written record of what happened. He would only remember having blackouts. Even if had made notes, you are correct in saying that they would have meant nothing to him. Faraday made notes about all kinds of things in the same journal he kept with him for ten years. When writing those notes he would have had full knowledge of their meaning, but at some point after the events in 1996 at Oxford, Faraday began to suffer from memory loss as a result of his experiments and therefore forgot what many of those journal notes meant until The Island healed his fractured mind in 2004.

I cover Eloise Hawking (and Charles Widmore) in their own chapter, in which I explain Eloise's knowledge of future events. Check it out here: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/iNmFZpqLyde6YIk.html

@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 so basically... the only reason Charles sent the boat out to "kill ben" was to make sure the right stuff happened in the timeline... so that the past them would know what was written in that faraday journal during the time on the island so that they could predict the future...

@@specialagentweener1073 Well, Widmore's motivations were complicated. Like Eloise, he was a slave to the timeline. He had to fulfil certain causal events, such as driving both Desmond and his own son Daniel to The Island. But he also never got over Ben's usurping of his leadership back in the day, and used the freighter as an opportunity to settle an old score at the same time. It was a mix of Widmore serving The Island and Widmore serving himself.

Here is a response I wrote to another poster on the same subject. I hope it covers your question: It's a tricky part of the time travel to explain. I regret simplifying what was happening by saying that 1996 Desmond experiences the future because it is way more involved than that when breaking down the episode. The catalyst for the mind travel happens in 2004 when the helicopter crosses the time dilation barrier. Ergo, the trigger point for the time travel happens in 2004 rather than 1996. Desmond's consciousness from 2004 essentially resets to 1996 and effectively erases the past 8 years of his experiences. It's like a form of amnesia in which he now thinks his present is 1996 rather than 2004. His *amnesiac consciousness* is in 1996 but subjectively experiencing the future without the proceeding 8 years of context. When Des finally finds his constant (Penny), there is a moment where the 1996 and 2004 consciousnesses merge and he exists simultaneously in both places at once (when he smiles). 2004 Des regains his past 8 years in this moment, finally leaving behind his 1996 body in London. This moment grounds both consciousnesses back in their respective timelines, with Desmond finally able to differentiate between past and present. However, his 1996 consciousness will not remember these interactions until after that phone call with Penny 8 years in the future because he wasn't really in the driver's seat for those experiences at the time. Hence why he doesn't remember Daniel. Whereas Daniel doesn't remember Desmond because he was performing those experiments on himself. The radiation he absorbed from those experiments caused him to suffer from memory loss, which he explains to Charles Widmore when he comes to recruit him. Daniel is in professional care at that point. When he gets to the island, the energy starts to heal his fractured mind and he begins to remember Desmond after reading the journal entry again.

@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 I'm really confused as to why he lost his consciousness to remember Daniel in the first place You said Desmond didn't remember the meeting with Daniel why is that?.... it's literally just a memory like any other thing

@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 I'm asking because before Desmond got on that helicopter that made him have his Amnesiac consciousness stuff He saw Daniel earlier why didn't he remember him?? Hence my question of why did Desmond forget about Daniel in the first place?

I explain the "Charlie Death" visions and how Desmond interacts with them in Chapter Three on "The Time Loop". Check it out here: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/bL-llbp3qMumYok.html

@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 thanks so much. This channel is awesome

Thank you for watching and engaging! :)

You're in luck! I have already explored The Whispers. Watch it here: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/Z9N6Y8-VxqybY40.html If you have a look at the video page on this channel you will find most of the key subjects have been covered.

@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 awesome, totally looked past it

It's a tricky part of the time travel to explain. I regret simplifying what was happening by saying that 1996 Desmond experiences the future because it is way more involved than that when breaking down the episode. The catalyst for the mind travel happens in 2004 when the helicopter crosses the time dilation barrier. Ergo, the trigger point for the time travel happens in 2004 rather than 1996. Desmond's consciousness from 2004 essentially resets to 1996 and effectively erases the past 8 years of his experiences. It's like a form of amnesia in which he now thinks his present is 1996 rather than 2004. His amnesiac consciousness is in 1996 but subjectively experiencing the future without the proceeding 8 years of context. When Des finally finds his constant (Penny), there is a moment where the 1996 and 2004 consciousnesses merge and he exists simultaneously in both places at once (when he smiles). 2004 Des regains his past 8 years in this moment, finally leaving behind his 1996 body in London. This moment grounds both consciousnesses back in their respective timelines, with Desmond finally able to differentiate between past and present. However, his 1996 consciousness will not remember these interactions until after that phone call with Penny 8 years in the future because he wasn't really in the driver's seat for those experiences at the time. I hope this makes sense. It's very hard to articulate lol.

@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 First...does that mean the interaction between Desmond and Daniel happened?? If so...why did Daniel not remember Desmond when he first saw him? Secondly if Daniel didn't remember Desmond as we saw in the show how come he wrote in his book "If anything goes wrong Desmond will be my constant"??? You said Desmond didn't remember the meeting with Daniel why is that?.... it's literally just a memory like any other thing...lol

Bro, he literally explains this in the video. And also in an older video about the time loop. Desmond remembers stuff in a nonlinear order because his consciousness is unstuck in time.

@@JHallenbeck I dint saw the video but what about Charlie not remembering Desmond ?

@@JHallenbeck he didn't actually There's no explanation as to why both of them especially Daniel didn't remember Desmond ...but conveniently wrote in his book "if anything happens Desmond will be my constant" ??????

@@danielpeters2501 He did actually. In great detail. The video on Desmond gets into it. Desmond doesn't remember his interactions with Daniel from 1996 because the mind travel had an amnesiac effect on Desmond. Whereas Daniel messed up his mind from all the radiation experiments, hence why Widmore told him "The island will heal your mind."

Watch my chapter on the flash sideways. It’s not an alternate parallel reality. It’s the gateway to the afterlife where all souls must pass through in order to move on to the next plane of existence. It looks and feels like the real world until you are awoken and have dealt with your death and made peace with your life. It’s a place where we all go after we die to experience a version of our lives in which The Island did not course correct our destinies to revolve around it.

Thank you for getting back to me, I have watched your Flash Sideways episode and I think I do understand the concept of the gateway to the afterlife (which is why I have become obsessed with the series - I have binge-watched it three times). Being a science person I guess my question is more technical in nature than a philosophical one. Desmond is perhaps the most important character in the series because he is the one who actually causes Oceanic flight 815 to crash (and all of the ensuing events) when he fails to press the button. Had he continued pressing the button the entire Lost TV series would never have taken place. So my question is in the timing of the events, specifically when Desmond stops pressing the button. Going back to the airplane scene and LAX Part 1, I’m assuming that when they experience the turbulence that that is the point at which Desmond stopped pressing the button. Now if Desmond sat with Jack AFTER the turbulence then I would have no problem because all of the events on the island DURING the turbulence would have already taken place including the detonation of the hydrogen bomb which initiated the Flash Sideways. However, the scene where Desmond sits with Jack appears BEFORE the turbulence which prompted my original question - how could Desmond simultaneously be on Oceanic flight 815 AND also in the hatch? Perhaps the editors of the series made a mistake and should’ve put the Desmond/Jack scene after the turbulence scene. What do you think?

The hydrogen bomb did not create the flash sideways. It stopped the incident from destroying the world. The flash sideways is unrelated to the original timeline. It isn’t part of the original timeline at all. It is occurring after everyone has died. Desmond can be on the plane because it is the afterlife. A construct. Everything in the sideways is like a collective dream made up of memories and experiences and possibilities. The turbulence they experience on the plane in the sideways is just a reminder of what happened to them in their actual lives when they crashed. Remember that the island is underwater in the sideways reality because there is no need for it to exist in the land of the dead. You have to divorce the sideways from the logic and events of what happened in the real living world. It is not the same chronology. There are differences, such as Jack and Juliet being married. Hurley having “good luck”. Locke being happy with Helen. Desmond not being in the hatch and working for Widmore. Watch my other chapter on Destiny to understand how fate works in the show. That might help to clarify how and why things happen. The Island guides all events and people to certain causal outcomes, including Desmond failing to push the button in 2004.

To be honest I don’t see how you can conclude that the Flash Sideways was not part of the original timeline but rather took place within the Source after everyone died. The way I see it is the Flash Sideways was the actual life the characters would have led had the Island been destroyed by the hydrogen bomb in 1977 (which is why it was at the bottom of the ocean in season 6) and they safely landed in Los Angeles. I think there are probably many explanations/interpretations of Lost depending on your point of view - some philosophical, some religious and some science-based. Are you familiar with the Catholic doctrine of “Purgatory” (which has absolutely no biblical basis by the way)? Here is a definition… (in Roman Catholic doctrine) a place or state of suffering inhabited by the souls of sinners who are expiating their sins before going to heaven. One could argue that Lost was about a group of flawed and broken people who made some bad choices in life but who were also good people at their core. And the horrendous things they experienced on the Island (being attacked by a smoke monster, terrorized by the Others, hunted down by commandos from the freighter) was a way to “expiate them from their sins” and reconcile themselves to the people they wronged before they entered heaven, i.e. the Light. If you were a Catholic (which I am not) you would say that Lost was the perfect metaphor for Purgatory. Another very simple explanation could be the following… If you recall in the very first scene of the very first episode Jack is lying on his back in the bamboo forest where he opens his eyes to find that he’s a survivor of a plane crash. And in the very last scene of the very last episode Jack is lying on his back in the bamboo forest where he closes his eyes and dies after saving the world. We also know that it is in the last episode when Jack talks with his father that he learns for the first time that he’s dead (as are all of the other passengers of Oceanic flight 815). So one could argue that everything that happened between Jack opening his eyes in the first scene and Jack closing his eyes in the last scene never actually happened at all (because they all died in the initial plane crash). Instead, the entire Lost series was just a “collective dream” experienced by the passengers of Oceanic flight 815 as they watched their lives “flash before their eyes” before entering the Light. So I’m sure there are many explanations for Lost all of which have their merits. The bottom line is that for me Lost was by far the most thought-provoking, brilliantly written, powerful and just plain fun to watch thing I’ve ever seen on television and I look forward to watching it again.

Hello again, I just finished watching episode 11 of season 6 entitled “Happily Ever After” and I’m sorry to say but I think this episode pretty much disproves your theory that the Flash Sideways takes place in the Source after everyone is dead. In this episode Charles Whitmore kidnaps Desmond and takes him back to the Island where he is placed in an “EM field generator” where he experiences the Flash Sideways for the first time. In it Desmond is Whitmore’s fixer assigned to babysit Charlie Pace who crashes Desmond‘s car into the water where Desmond experiences “the Flash” when he sees the writing on Charlie’s hand. He experiences the Flash a second time when he is placed in an MRI machine and he sees Penny for the first time. He then goes to meet Eloise Whitmore a.k.a. Eloise Hawking to tell her that Driveshaft will not be able to perform at the concert. It is clear that Eloise recognizes Desmond from the jewelry store where Desmond tried to buy an engagement ring for Penny which happened prior to the Flash Sideways. Furthermore, Daniel Whitmore a.k.a. Daniel Faraday, who is a musician, meets Desmond and tells him that after meeting the girl of his dreams he wakes up and writes down these advanced quantum mechanics equations pertaining to time travel. He then states that he may have altered the course of history by detonating a “massive amount of energy” sometime in the past. After all of this happens Whitmore turns off the EM field generator and Desmond is back on the Island ready to do whatever Whitmore asks. So it is pretty clear that the events that take place on the Island and the events that take place in the Flash Sideways are two separate timelines taking place concurrently. Desmond is very much alive in the Flash Sideways which was caused when Daniel (Juliet actually) detonated the hydrogen bomb back in 1977. So you may want to watch Happily Ever After one more time.