QUESTION 4: Did that bomb ... do something?
ANSWER 4: Yes! And furthermore ... !
To understand this, we need to understand the nature of Time in LOST. The rule that the show has given us is "Whatever happened, happened." It's a paradox-correcting rule, and it eliminates the idea of linear time or circular time. It's more like a big splat of paint on a wall. Everything in the past, present and future (which is to say, everything) happened at once. One big splatter of Magic Water and Light on a wall that creates every moment of existence. The Magic Water and Light of Life explodes in a giant splatter of Everything. And whatever happens in that splat, happens.
So at the end of Season 5, Jacob's Candidates are in the '70s and the Incident is about to occur. The Incident that caused the creation of the Hatch, which caused the survivors to crash on the Island in the first place. 1970s DHARMA has drilled a hole in a particularly large pocket of Magic Island Energy, and it starts to escape, grow and collapse in on itself. If the survivors can set off the nuclear device Jughead, the Magic Island Energy will neutralize and the Incident will be avoided. The survivors would never have come to the Island at all. Time fixed.
Photos.comPictured: Stock photo of Time.
Except that's not how Time works. Everything that happened, happened. In the present, Jughead was sitting in the Hatch, waiting to be detonated as a Failsafe if someone didn't push the button. Sayid mentioned the nuclear device, Jughead, when they first arrived at the Hatch. Back in the '70s, the bomb didn't go off. The Incident continued, but eventually enough construction equipment got sucked down and plugged the hole. The bomb was kept in the Hatch for later use.
But let's look at the Sideways World from Season 6. In it, the Island is dead at the bottom of the ocean. Ben's father speaks of having left the Island years ago, so we know it existed when they were on it: right before the Incident. This Sideways World is a reality where Juliet DID blow up the bomb, and the Island sank. And a sunken Island means death for everyone; an Afterlife. The lack of Island also means that the Hatch was never built, so the plane never came to the Island, so they never went back in time to blow up the bomb that created the world in the first place. To correct this, the rules of Time have to create a second reality that interacts with and affects the original timeline. Two realities that exist at once, and occur because of each other. It's sort of like a second splat on the wall. It's smaller, but it still affects the shape and color of the original splatter. The only reason Desmond unplugged the Island and continued the Regular World's existence is because he got a vision of the Sideways World. The only reason the Sideways World exists is because of actions taken in the Regular World. Both realities happened, because whatever splatted, splatted.
As Jack's father said in and about the Sideways World, "This place is a gift you gave yourselves." Through chance, free will and paradox-correcting Magic Paint, a second Purgatorial Splat was created by these people. In this splat, the characters can say goodbye and forgive each other before returning to the Magic Light and Water that creates all life. These Oceanic passengers went through a very important time on the Island. They saved the world and created a place they could meet one last time, before moving on.
Read more: http://www.cracked.com/blog/108-answers-to-losts-supposedly-unanswered-questions/#ixzz2KhqhSSMg
