No one does it alone :)

👏🏼

@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 🥲

I’ve watched Lost all the way through like 6 times and still find myself learning even more from these videos. This has to be top 10 best series ever. maybe top 5 even.

Yes! It's such a great line. Full of subtext and meaning.

@@LOSTEXPLAINED108A sly allusion to the methodical long con that Jacob was playing.

It was actually our conversations about the nature of fate versus free will on here that inspired the creation of this video. So thank you for consistently engaging and discussing the show with me :)

I feel POWERLESS.

I'd be willing to take on that challenge! 😆

You may just get your wish next week ;) And yes, I am a fan of The Leftovers!

LOST trumps everything else lol!

Yes, the show does come down pretty definitively on that notion. I know it frustrates some LOST fans because it presumably goes against their own view on life and existence. What's interesting is that people can love LOST in spite of something like this. I think that's a healthy thing. To enjoy and appreciate something that has themes or ideas you don't necessarily subscribe to in your own life.

@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 Oh absolutely. When it comes to Lost, everything certainly happened for a reason. Amazing video, by the way! I've seen this series several times & I'm STILL discovering things I missed.

Everything happens for a reason is only capable with a perfect loop time travel. Without that type of time travel each individual action has a consequence. Each moment is a test.

It is incredibly difficult to deinterlace The Source's actions from the tapestry of existence because time does not exist within The Source. Therefore, from its POV, all time is either happening simultaneously or has already happened, which means whatever the light has influenced or effected within our timeline has already happened too (and will perpetually continue to happen). It's like a self-fulfilling prophecy. The Source's influence is inextricably tied to "whatever happened, happened." This is why the compass is such a great symbol for this. It is seemingly paradoxical because it has no origin or end point. It cannot be separated from the loop because its very existence is helping to sustain the loop. The Source most definitely has a will of its own. It exerts its influence over people, objects, events and time itself to drive things towards key causal outcomes for The Island. Outcomes that need to happen in order for time to continue flowing and the world to continue turning. The Island isn't deciding what choices these people will make, it just knows what choices they are going to make and ensures that they are made. Because it has always ensured that they are made. We can't really think about The Source planning things out in a linear way. It operates within a fourth dimensional space, self-originating and maintaining its own existence simultaneously. I hope this answers your question somewhat. It can be very complicated to explain, hence why I made this video in an attempt to clarify the concept with greater accuracy. I can totally understand why the writers chose to leave out any substantial exposition on the nature of how The Source functions. What they would be doing is explaining how "destiny" or "god" in the LOST universe functions to some extent, and that is incredibly hard to do.

@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 Thank you so much for answering! It's such a difficult concept to grasp and articulate, but all your comments and videos really help to present it in a form that's easier to absorb. Much appreciated and looking forward to whatever your next video turns out to be! :)

We're gonna need to watch that again...

I think LOST attempts to make this case in its own way.

I really appreciate that my friend 🙏🙂 Got another video along these lines coming up. Stay tuned!

We can now consider it an easter egg predicting Damon Lindelof's writing future.

@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 Have you read Alan Moore's Watchmen? Reading it as a kid in 1988 was like watching Lost. You reread each issue several times. Its packed with significant background details, odd symmetries and coincidences and driven by a compelling mystery. A critical blonde haired character watches the characters from a remote location. Theres even an incoming freighter and an island where scientists perform bizarre experiments. You'd love it.

To my shame, I have never read it. Not read any Alan Moore. I saw Zack Snyder's film adaptation many years ago with the understanding it was somewhat of a controversial bastardization of the source material. I enjoyed the subversive nature of the ideas and the imagination behind it all but the film was more flash than substance. At some point I will get around to catching up on the actual book, as I also want to view Lindelof's 'Watchmen' series in the proper context.

@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 Oh man...you'll love the comic. Its a unique reading experience. Read it before wasting time on the movies or series. Lost as a TV show is more faithful to the style of the original comic book series of Watchmen than the movies or TV shows.

@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 unfortunately I now have definitive proof that you are not Damon Lindelof as he loves the graphic novel and has certainly read it haha

😂 Well, Nikki did point out that the other monitors in The Pearl could link up to other stations lol.

I think Jacob brought certain people to The Island for specific purposes, either as part of his original attempts at creating a harmonious community there pre-Richard's arrival in 1867, or later when he started specifically bringing candidates there for the purposes of replacing him as protector. The Island brought people to its shores as well, independent of Jacob's will. We see this in 'Across the Sea'. Whether or not Henry Gale was a candidate is unknown. I think The Island simply brought him there in order to start another thread of the tapestry. As for Walt's mom, Susan Porter, I don't personally subscribe to that particular DI theory as there is a lack of evidence to support it. Remember, the DHARMA Initiative had ceased to function entirely as an organisation by the time Susan was moving overseas with Walt.

@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 also other people on the show has powers. Yea Walt may have had more, but you don't get powers from being on the island or the child of someone who has. Many others had powers but weren't on the island previously.

@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 Was Jacob just a tool for the source and he know this? or he believed that only he is making all of the decisions? for me Jacob had no free will either.

It's remarkable, when we really think about the process of events that lead us to where we end up, how many factors and choices and influences are involved. But I'm very pleased you found me! :)

I have made a whole video on the sideways that covers all of the symbolism and meanings behind it in detail: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/ntl4g7lnya_Oo4E.html

I like Expose too. It's a fun little side quest episode. And Nikki and Paulo work in that episode. I honestly never had the same hatred for the characters as other fans, I was just indifferent to them and recognised that the way they were introduced was incredibly forced and unnatural. I will eventually explore Expose as I make an episode guide.

As long as it's not Guarma i'm good.

Everything you need to know about DHARMA can be found in this video here: LOST Explained - The Theory of Everything: Part Four (DHARMA, Desmond, Jughead, Loopholes & Numbers) kzfaq.info/get/bejne/huCYfqmW3te6mqs.html

Fair enough!

Funny you should mention that… because Henry Gale is a key example in this video’s explanation of how destiny and determinism work. 😉

Check out Choekaas' last video. There's a nice theory about Gale's "secret appearance" in season 1 finale.

@@michaszkot4419 yeah I saw that yesterday, I like that theory he’s got

Poor Henry. An adventurous soul who encountered a group of murderous Others.

I can assure you that sign-off phrase shall make a return for Chapter 30! 🙂

maybe it’s because this episode was created before ever using the sign off? And this conversation is what brings attention to the importance of having a sign off, which will be used there after. 🤯

I'd argue that the show was rooted in concepts of destiny and spirituality right from the beginning, especially when we consider episodes such as 'Walkabout' and the John Locke character. Season One established very early on that some kind of magic was at play in this story -- Locke being able to walk again and ghosts appearing on the island cemented that fact. And the idea of fate being the overarching theme of the series was outright stated in the Season One finale during the classic Jack v Locke argument on the way out to the hatch. Locke's cry of "Everything is happening for a reason" made more sense than Jack's defiant rebuke of "This is all coincidence and meaningless. Destiny isn't real." Had the show ended up proving OG Jack right then the writers would have had a hard time selling that. Imagine no magic light and everything turning out to be a DHARMA experiment gone wrong. That would not have matched with what had been set-up for five seasons beforehand. LOST was a spiritual show about fate from its inception. I think it left enough elements ambiguous around the nature of the light so that various interpretations can be read from it. Is it supernatural or science, or both? Can science explain faith? The numbers are a great example of that. But there is definitely ambiguity there. As for the idea of human agency in the show, this is the question that lies at the heart of all philosophy: what is the point of life? Does anything we do matter? And LOST supplies us with its own answer: yes, everything we do matters. Even the worst events in the world and in our lives have meaning and purpose. We are all part of one story and one consciousness (if you subscribe to my interpretation of the light). The notion of agency and choice is subjective. It's more complicated than being in control of your own life, or being controlled by a higher power. Neither of those statements are entirely true in this show. Determinism may be at the heart of the plot, but that doesn't mean people were not making choices.

There are many vehicle and traffic accidents in LOST. The bus hitting Edmund Burke (Juliet's ex-husband) was one of many. These events are fated to occur, like Michael's accident in New York; Emily Locke being struck by an oncoming vehicle whilst pregnant; Shannon's father dying in a car collision with Jack's future-wife-to-be Sarah; Nadia's hit and run driver, etc. The reason why so many people assume foul play with Edmund's death is because Juliet happened to wish that he got hit by a bus the day before. It is a tragic irony; a twist of fate. It doesn't mean Richard Alpert literally paid off a bus driver to run Edmund over the next day.

Personally I subscribe to the theory that Richard had him killed so Juliet could go to the Island. It's very suspicious that he claims not to remember her saying that.

@@kevinjoyce9574 I don't subscribe to this idea at all. Why would Richard go to this much trouble to kill one man? Why not just "off" Edmund in a more subtle way? Make it look like a suicide the night before, or have him "mugged" and murdered. Surely, if Juliet had said she wished her ex-husband got hit by a bus to Richard, the most suspicious thing for Richard to do would be taking that *literally* and making sure Edmund got hit by a bus the next day lol. It makes no sense for him to do this. Even if The Others did want to kill Edmund to free up Juliet, the way they did it is so over elaborate and unnecessary. Think about the logistics. Did they pay off a bus driver to run down Edmund? Or did they get one of their people to steal a bus? Did they wait for Edmund to step out into the road? What if Edmund had not stopped in the road when he did? What if he hailed a cab? What happened when the cops showed up at the accident scene to find out what happened? Did the paid off bus driver lie? Or did the fake bus driver runaway? Was the bus revealed as being stolen? Wouldn't Juliet have brought this up when she sees Richard? Had it been a simple hit and run with a car, this theory would have credibility in my mind. But since it is a bus and it echoes the exact sentiments of Juliet's words, I'm inclined to believe it was fate. Juliet HAD to go to The Island because of the time loop. This event was fated to happen. Richard had nothing to do with it.

@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 the way Richard shows up at the morgue and how he responds to me implies he knew it was going to happen or something. I didn't think Richard would have caused the accident directly, but more like how Jacob would bring people to the island. Effectively influencing it.

@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 yea I don't Jacob did it. I was using that as an example. Just that Richard could have influenced it. Him sensing it also makes sense too to explain his bahavior.

I agree with this take too. There is actually a term for this school of thinking when it comes to determinism and choice working as a sort of cooperative. It’s called compatibilism, and I believe LOST follows that concept both thematically and narratively.

I touch upon the pregnancy issues between several videos. Chapter Three on "The Time Loop" discusses how the pregnancy issues were created (and potentially solved). Chapter Twelve on "The Others" touches upon why Ben was obsessed with solving this issue. And Chapter Thirteen on "The Sickness" delves into the pregnancy issue from the POV of how it was treated by both DHARMA and, later, The Others.

@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 Ah okay thank you!! That is very helpful (:

No

You're right, that is a question that frequently comes up in discussions around The Incident. I just don't know if I could justify a whole video on the subject. It's mostly explainable in more or less one paragraph. "To render the electromagnetic energy inert, it required a greater pressure from the outside pushing down to cause the energy to collapse in on itself. The Hydrogen bomb is a catalyst to create an implosion. The two forces cancel one another out." I suppose I could elaborate on how the flash made it appear, to Richard at least, that they were all vaporized by a blast. But is that enough to warrant its own chapter?

@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 I mean you don’t have too but you know In the lost universe their a lot of crazy theories. Like it some people who think they was dead the whole time lol 😂. You can talk about in the community board or something.

I know what you mean. There are so many idiosyncratic questions that each viewer has it becomes almost impossible to address them all in a structured way. I've taken the approach to cover the big mythological mysteries and answers (and related offshoots) within defined chapters in the hopes that it will cover the majority of questions in a semi-ordered way. I'm still working out how best to explain the minutiae of the series.

@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 yeah I understand you a lot of work to do lol and thanks great video as always.

Well, time does not exist in the flash sideways. It's a fourth dimensional construct that exists outside of our linear perceptions of time and space. We can view that as meaning that the sideways is happening *after* all of human existence has come to an end on earth, i.e., everyone has already died. The Island being at the bottom of the ocean in the sideways can be read as meaning several different things, of which I go into in Chapter Fifteen: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/ntl4g7lnya_Oo4E.html

he covered that in an earlier video. in Lost, when you die doesnt matter. the flash sideways is happening on a different "plane of existence" or the afterlife. so the losties souls are what we are viewing in the flash sideways. the source is not destroyed. they enter it through the door of the church, together. The losties created a link, unknowingly, amongst each other, so they could find each other in the afterlife. In the afterlife the island wasn't necessary, so its symbolically at the bottom of the ocean. lol I think...

@@MrKDeevil547 I agree. The island isn’t there for our losties, ie in the flash sideways. They are dead, after short and long lifetimes and on their way to …..But it is there in the continuing real world where the living are connected to the source.

@@majipoorcat yeah, we are led to believe that Walt eventually takes over for Hurley in the future. I think in the prologue. So eventually someone would need to take over for Walt and so on, as life continues.

TheHuthTruth did a good video on this subject.

Lol, I shall consider your offer!

@@drakenfist Yeah, but he went all in on the year 1992. The writers retconned it to be 1987/1988. And while they never admit that they changed the date, one of their podcasts confirms the late 80s is the correct date.

@@JHallenbeck He went in on both. He did a checklist looking at the pro's and con's for each one and found more evidence to support 1992 then 1987. It is true that they retconned it in season 5/6. But initially it was supposed to be 1992 (the script for "man behind the curtain" has the purge happening in 1992) and when Horace says he died 12 years ago in season 4 that posit's it at 1992 also. It's really quite problematic either way, the dates cause problems no matter which side you swing on. For example. If you say it's 1992. Then how did Rousseau make it to a Dharma run communications tower to record her message. If you say it's 1987 then how did Kelvin get recruited by the Dharma when they all got wiped out and we know that he got recruited in 1991. The idea that there are stragglers that still manage to get back and forth to the island and run to the swan undetected by "the others" is baffling to me.

@@drakenfist Yes, he went through both possibilities but he settled on 1992, which is ultimately (and canonically) the incorrect date. Whether we like it or not, the creators of the show say 1987. They specifically say that Kelvin was recruited AFTER the purge. This would very vaguely explain the disparity. I can believe that Kelvin was sent there after The Purge. Now, that could suggest two possibilities. Either he was recruited by still existing mainland DHARMA and sent to the island independent of Team Goodspeed, or he was recruited by The Others who were masquerading as DHARMA. Makes way more sense than what Huth Truth came up with tbh. I watched his videos for a while until I saw how thin skinned he was when his own narratives got challenged. I finally stopped watching after he deleted a non-rude comment for countering his "Abaddon is Walt in the future" theory. 🙄

I am assuming you are implying that Sawyer somehow time travels again and ends up fathering Christian Shepherd in the past? I don't really see this as being sensical or likely in any way, but it is amusing to think that Sawyer is Jack's grandpa lol. Ray was just Jack's grandfather played by a solid character actor named Raymond J Barry. An actor who, imo, looks and sounds nothing like Josh Holloway.

@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 This thought arised when Ray is always plotting to escape, and the way he says 'freckles' Maybe at the end of the series when they left the island with Ajira 316, they indeed left but to a different timeline. Possibilities?

@@rajaa.i9713 There is no reason that Ajira would have entered another timeline simply from leaving the island bubble. Only Desmond experienced time displacement when leaving, and that was of his mind rather than his body. I don't see any evidence in the show that Ray and Sawyer are the same person lol. But I respect your determination to pursue the idea!

​@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 Sorry I didn't mean a different timeline. But they did escape the island in the year 1977. It means the Ajira escapees were already there in that timeline from the beginning. Right? And i also wana say great job you're doing man.

They don't escape the island in 1977. After Jughead is detonated, they are flashed back to the present of 2007 where Fake Locke has just gotten Ben to kill Jacob and season six plays out from there. So, when Ajira takes off in the series finale, it is taking off in 2007. No more time travelling happens. And thank you! :)

When Richard took Young Ben to the temple spring in 1977, the waters healed the boy’s wounds by reversing the injuries. His body was fully submerged. The spring reverses your body to a prior state in time. And this also reset Ben’s memory. He no longer remembered being shot by Sayid. We see this happen again after Sayid is submerged in the spring. His wounds are healed but when he wakes up he doesn’t remember what happened to him.

In life, or in LOST?

But that isn't what happened. Henry *did* crash on The Island. And it *was* inhabited. It might not have mattered whether he lived for 2 days or 2 hours, but the very fact that he crashed there is what sets up several incidents. Some of which won't play out until later. Both his identity and his balloon become key to a series of events in season two. Our Losties spend days trying to figure out Ben's true identity and that is exclusively due to the Henry Gale cover story, all of which plays into their behaviours and interactions. Because the balloon, body and ID are found, Ben's story doesn't check out, which leads to him being put back in the armory prison. Which necessitates the need for Michael to shoot Ana and Libby in order to bust Ben out. Had there been the balloon, but no body and no ID, Ben might have convinced them all and been allowed out. Are you suggesting a scenario in which the real Henry crashes on a random island and dies there, unrelated to anything in LOST? Because just the very fact that he had gone missing would have impacted on his wife/lover Jennifer, and changed the trajectory of her life back in the real world. Which would have no doubt had a knock-on effect to other people's lives. This is causality. Everyone effects everyone else, knowingly or unknowingly.

Yes, there are many overlapping existential and philosophical themes between LOST and The Matrix.

i dont agrre that Lost is ful predeterminism mitology

It's a knock on effect. One person's choice can create a causality wave in other's people's lives. Because Jack reported Christian's medical negligence to the hospital board, Christian lost his licence to practice medicine. This sent Christian into a tailspin with excess alcohol consumption and this triggered his decision to go to Australia to see his secret love child (Claire). Whilst in Sydney, Christian comes across Sawyer in a bar and they talk about life. Fuelled by Jack's actions against him several months prior, Christian gives Sawyer general advice about following through on his "business". And this is what convinces Sawyer to go back and shoot Frank Duckett. Had Sawyer not met Christian, Frank wouldn't have been killed. And had Jack not reported his father to the hospital, Christian would not be in Sydney to give Sawyer the advice. It's a long causal chain of events triggered by a moral choice that Jack made.

@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 Wow Thank you so much It's clear now

It's not my real voice. It's AI generated text-to-speech but it sounds remarkably real, hence why I chose it. Sometimes the sound levels are a little difficult to get right because sound mixing is not my strong suit. I do the best with the limited equipment I have. Either way, no mics are involved.

@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 I had a suspicion that it was AI generated but wasn't sure. Either way, damn impressive. No worries about the quality, I was just being picky. It's still amazing content that you put out!

Well, the theory of predestination in the show isn't really a theory so much as it is the show's general thesis. LOST is undoubtedly reaffirming that concepts such as "whatever happened, happened" and destiny (aka everything happens for a reason) are guiding characters' lives to specific outcomes. If I'm reading your comment correctly, you are essentially asking me about free will versus determinism, right? How can the characters make their own choices and be responsible for those choices if everything is predetermined by a prime mover? I mean, that's what I think your comment boils down to, but correct me if I've got that wrong. This is an age-old philosophical debate, so I won't go too much in depth but it's worth reading up on "compatibilism", which is the thesis that free will is compatible with determinism, and moral human agency is not impeded or constrained by an external force, yet all human behaviour is still caused and determined. I believe that is a good way of viewing the show. Basically, fate does not preclude that our characters in LOST have no free will to make choices, it's just that the show's embodiment of fate -- aka The Island -- already knows what choices they will make since the light is eternal and time does not exist within it. Therefore, its view on time itself would be from a fourth dimensional perspective. We don't know if The Island is simply a slave to itself, forced to play out this bootstrap paradox because -- if it doesn't -- the world would perish and all souls everywhere would cease to exist, including itself. How sentient The Island truly is in all of this can be speculated upon. We know that it "needs" and has a certain power over people and events, but does it feel? Does it care? Is it inherently good? Or, like a bolt of lightning or a monsoon, is it just part of nature and our physical reality? Or is it more like an animal and simply trying to ensure its own survival? Or is it tantamount to a God-like entity with the specific intention of being a prime mover? I feel like there are different ways of looking at it. We know The Island guides people and events to create causal outcomes, and we know that the past cannot be changed. From the POV of The Source, the tapestry of existence has already been weaved (including all of the times it has interceded and affected outcomes) so it cannot unpick its own influence from the tapestry threads. For example: when the time travellers appeared in the ancient past and left the rope in the ground, The Source has to fulfil this event by constructing a road to the future where these exact people come back to do this exact action. Even if that means it has to move people through time. The Source's will is inextricably weaved into the fabric of the tapestry. Do you see what I mean? The sideways exists because The Source operates on more than one plane of reality (as does human consciousness), but these planes are interconnected and interdependent. The metaphysical reality of the sideways exists within The Source, but The Source also exists within the material reality of our universe. The choices people make on the material plane will affect how they experience the next plane. We don't know what lies beyond the flash sideways but it is implied there is another plane to reality known as "rebirth". Could be reincarnation or whatever your imagination prefers. You can't go through this rebirth process without letting go of the baggage from the living world. That's the point of the sideways. I think your confusion with this is not on the metaphysics but that you think I am saying that no one in the show had any agency or choice? But I think everyone had choice. From a subjective human POV on the ground, with a linear perception of time and reality, our characters are absolutely making choices of their own volition, day in and day out. Every second of their lives. They don't know it's all part of a larger tapestry or that Choice A will lead to Outcome A, which in turn will lead them to making Choice B, even if Outcome A was already predetermined and unchangeable. The characters must reckon with these choices on a personal, moral and spiritual level. And these choices feed into the causality of the universe. But we don't know what comes first: a person's choice or the causal outcomes of that choice. Is it the chicken or the egg? Do people make choices that create an unbreakable causality or are those choices simply the result of the unbreakable causality? Or is it all happening simultaneously at once like a giant feedback loop? It's hard to unpick that. One view is that LOST is trying to find a balance between the two ideas. Human beings have agency, but their actions have a butterfly effect on the world, and those effects lead to events that both risk then ensure the continuation of existence. And, therefore, the continuation of choice. Jacob understands that whatever choice a character makes in a situation will be the choice they were supposed to make at that time. Jacob doesn't always know what someone will choose to do only that it was what they were supposed to do in that moment. The outcomes might be predetermined but people have to make their own way to them because it's a symbiotic relationship between choice and determinism. Example: when Jack refuses to operate on Young Ben in 1977 -- it's a decision Jack makes based upon his own temperament and stubbornness forged over his entire life; his personal/subjective interactions with Ben; and an accumulation of his specific experiences over the past several years, etc. He makes this choice. Not The Island. But the outcome of Jack's choice is already predetermined because Ben is given to The Others for healing. Does that invalidate everything that led up to Jack making that choice? Do you feel like Jack didn't really make that choice? Does he have any responsibility for his choice? Does it matter if his choices are predetermined if he doesn't know that the outcomes are already predetermined? Does that take away his sense of free will? Does it take away his sense of responsibility over his own choices, actions and inactions? I believe the LOST characters can and do make their own choices even though those choices feed into a predetermined causality. It doesn't make the choices they make any less significant or any less meaningful to them and others just because a prime mover exists who knows what they are going to do next. Yes, The Island triggers certain events and makes certain things happen (e.g. moving our Losties very specifically through time) but it is not literally moving the characters like pieces on a chessboard at all times throughout their lives. They are not puppets. The Island guides them towards causality by incorporating their choices into the grander tapestry. That's why Jacob's tapestry is such a good metaphor. Lots of threads weaved together over time, crossing one another and creating a grander picture that we, as individual threads, cannot see. Sorry for such a long response, but it's a question I get sometimes and it can be very hard to sum it up quickly.

Well, we don't know who exactly killed Henry. We can reasonably assume it was The Others but that doesn't mean Ben did the deed himself. He most likely ordered it, perhaps after an interrogation of Henry. After all, Ben does know personal details about the man, whether they came from the horse's mouth or from Mikhail's research at The Flame is open to debate. It's possible that the Other who killed Henry and the Other who buried him are two different people. Who knows? Maybe Danny Pickett killed Henry and Alex Rousseau buried the body? There are any number of possibilities. I don't believe whoever buried him ever thought that his body would get dug up again. Including Ben. On your note about not burning Henry Gale's body... The Others only burn their own dead. Not the bodies of outsiders. It is a ritual reserved for their people, and most of them do it because it is one of Jacob's rules that must be followed. Almost none of them realise that cremation is about preventing smokey from replicating their dead. We know they don't burn the bodies of outsiders because they leave the whole DHARMA commune in an open pit for decades.

@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 I Agee Ben didn’t kill Henry. Never thought he did. He did order it. I think he only killed his father and John. Mostly just ordered people to be killed. He thinks he’s the good guy. (Don’t think Alex was involved to this extent). Just commenting on the sloppiness of the burial. Leaving the wallet? Ben knew this man’s name. They had to take the wallet from him at some point. Did he order the wallet to be put back and buried? They are too good at covering their tracks even if they thought no one would dig up the body. It’s not that important but Ben always has a plan, always a next move, and this one is a little sloppy. Surly someone, Richard, Doogen, knows about the smoke monster and bodies. I think the temple and the suburbs were separate entities but they most likely had Richard in common. Even if Jacob didn’t let him know the reason for the burial at sea Jacob should of said all bodies, need to be burned at sea. He knows his brother appears to him in the body of his dead brother. If not, why not. These are just thoughts that come to me as I listen to your videos. I never gave Henry Gale or the burial ritual any thought before.

Ben always has a plan because he is a good improviser, but he is not infallible. His plans literally fail or blow up in his face more often than not, as evidenced throughout the show: season two (getting caught by Rousseau), season three (the surgery), season four (Alex's death) and season five (trying to usurp Locke). He makes mistakes on numerous occasions. And, to be honest, I don't actually see Henry Gale being buried with his wallet as a mistake. Ben got caught and improvised (as he always does) by using Henry Gale as a cover story. There is no way he could have predicted that using this story would lead to Sayid digging up the grave. Lol, who does that? Anyway, the point remains that whoever buried Henry did so with a degree of respect since they gave him a cross-headstone, or perhaps out of guilt. As for who knows about the smoke monster, it is established that Dogen and Lennon (and key Temple Others) know about smokey's powers, hence Dogen's test of Sayid and his general knowledge on the Man in Black. The Temple Others are closer to Jacob than Ben's group, and possess more knowledge. Richard was never told the details of the smoke monster by Jacob, as evidenced by his shock and horror over the resurrected John Locke. It was crucial that Richard be kept in the dark. The only reason Jacob instructs them to burn their dead at sea is because he fears infiltration (as happens later with Locke). Doesn't matter if MiB can appear as Horace Goodspeed, for example. Goodspeed can't gain access to the Temple or any of The Others strongholds. However, say someone like Karl got killed by Smokey in the jungle and no one saw, MiB could take on his guise and pretend to be him, infiltrating and destroying from within. That is why the ritual of burning the dead at sea is an exclusive practice of The Others.

@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 but then why did the others want Paul's body in the LaFleur episode? I don't think it was the others that killed Henry Gale and put a cross on his tomb. My guess is it was Danielle.

It’s possible although I expect Danielle Rousseau would have mentioned that she met the real Henry Gale to Sayid. Such a confirmation would make her accusation more conclusive. Also, if Ben had no interaction with the real Gale then how did he know so much about him? Whoever buried Gale was unlikely to have been the same person that killed him. And we know The Others were a mixture of attitudes, beliefs and politics. Maybe Juliet buried him. Maybe Alex and Karl. There are many people who might have been sympathetic or felt guilty enough about his murder to give him a burial. Richard wanted Paul’s body to demonstrate that retribution had taken place in order to quell the bloodlust of his people.

The audio at the beginning of every sentence? Is that an exaggeration? Could you highlight an example of what you mean? I use an AI voice, which I generate per paragraph of narration. Sometimes I edit the audio a little bit for pacing reasons but otherwise a lot of the voice is generated as is, without anything getting chopped off.

Audio seems alright to me.

@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 Again, I just want to say right out of the gate, I have enjoyed all your videos and appreciate what must be the hours and hours of work you have put into them. Admittedly it was a bit of an exaggeration and I am a little sensitive to it because I have edited a lot of audio. I guess what I am hearing is some of the edits where it sounds like the very beginning of the first word of a sentence gets cut off almost like a noise gate is opening too slow or late, which is probably from edits where you didn't have much room to work. I suspect another part of it is the voice generator, I didn't realize one was being used (scary) and now that I know, I can't unhear it (lol).

Could you provide a timecode from this video that highlights this problem?

The Man in Black doesn't know that. Remember, he states on more than one occasion that he thinks this island is not a special place and just an island. He is aware that it has magical properties but none so powerful that they could destroy the world. He is not setting out to end existence. He simply wants to destroy the island and everyone on it so he can be free of his prison. However, by doing this and extinguishing the light, it will lead to a catastrophic outcome for the planet. The plot does make sense, it's just involved and complicated and full of detail.

@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 so how come the other folks did know? jack knew. jakob knew. their mother knew for sure. he can read everyones mind but never caught this info? why didnt jack tell him?

First of all, the Man in Black thought Mother was totally crazy. He states this on multiple occasions. And he rejected the majority of her beliefs about the island from an early age. Secondly, Jacob had spent millennia trying to convince the Man in Black that the island was an important place to be protected and that the people on it were worth building a community together with. But the Man in Black refused to "see the light", so to speak. His soul was corrupted and he only saw the bad in people. He could scan as many islanders as he liked but he only absorbed the negative memories and emotions: grief, guilt, anger, suffering. Even if he had the capacity to process the positive, healthy emotions, it doesn't mean he is going to believe the same things that those scanned people believed. For example, say he scanned Jacob at some point (if that wasn't against the rules of course) and could tell that Jacob absolutely believed in the light being linked to maintaining existence, that is still a belief and not an objective fact. The Man in Black would just see it as Jacob having been brainwashed by Mother's philosophy, and see Jack as being brainwashed by Jacob's philosophy. The Man in Black makes his feelings on all this fairly clear in 'The Substitute' when speaking to Sawyer in the cave. Here is his dialogue: "At some point in your life, James, probably when you were young and miserable and vulnerable, Jacob came to you. He manipulated you, pulled your strings like you were a puppet. And, as a result, choices you thought you made were never really choices at all. He was pushing you, James. Pushing you to the Island. He thought he was the protector of this place. And you, James, have been nominated to take that job. But that's the joke, there is nothing to protect it from, its just a damn Island. And it will be perfectly fine without Jacob or you, or any of the other people. Whose lives he wasted."

@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 in the last part, its not quite true. he did say it to sawyer, but he also later said to someone else he wanted to see the island go down. so he could have lied to sawyer but still knew at least the island will be destroyed. of course that doesnt change your argument in regards of destruction of the world. but i still wonder why mib and jakob couldnt figure something out in the thousands of years they were on that island together. but then the question is, what would smokey had done if he knew the world would go down? i also wonder, what mib and jakob were thinking about the "swan" and the button.

This is why I am more forgiving of Jacob's actions than many other fans. He still believed that his brother's soul could be saved and tried his best to bring him back from the darkness. He literally tried to turn things around for almost 2,000 years, but the Man in Black was too consumed by darkness: anger, resentment, entitlement, betrayal. And the more people he scanned, the more he absorbed their respective darkness. It is hard to reason with someone who is full of fury and vengeance. I am sure there are many stories that could be told about Jacob trying to save his brother's soul between 'Across the Sea' and the events of 2004-2007. The Swan was essentially a modern version of the stone cork. A finger in the dam, so to speak, to stop leakage. I'm sure Jacob viewed the hatch as a necessary evil considering it played an essential role in the time loop. As for the Man in Black, he might have viewed the work of DHARMA in a withering light, much like The Others. He understood that the light had properties that could be harnessed and used -- much like a scientist might view nuclear energy -- but he never believed that the light's power went beyond the island bubble and was just as important to the whole world. His soul was so corrupted that it's hard to know if it would have made a difference for him to believe in the island.

Don't tell me what I can't do ;)

It's a text-to-speech voice. But you'll be pleased to hear that I start using my own voice via a real mic in future videos. The latest 10 or so videos on he channel all use my own voice and have better sound quality.