"The Incident" – The Time Loop Theory

"It only ends once. The rest is just progress." - Jacob.

"One day I'm going to find a loophole." – Jacob's enemy.

Ok, here's a theory. I think the island is stuck in a continual time loop.

Let's say that Juilet banging on the bomb really does reset everything. But instead of landing in LAX, the plane crashes on the island AGAIN. Desmond said that time has a way of correcting itself. So, if they're meant to be on the island, even if the hatch doesn't bring them there... maybe something else does. I don't know what, but it's still possible.

If I was a writer on Lost, that would actually be the most interesting angle to me. They've done stuff like this before. When we all thought, "There's no way they'll actually leave the island" they did – at the end of Season 3. After that, I'm sure it was like writing a whole new show for them. And then we thought, there's no way they'll bring Locke back, they did. Kind of. This show loves to go where you would think is unsafe. They love "Game-changing" finales. So, I think that it's a strong possibilty that Juliet's final sacrifice worked. But only to recrash them on the island, yet again.

So if there is a time loop going on, then I think the Losties have been on the island several times before, and that everything that has happened on the island has happened before. That's what Jacob was talking about when he said "It only ends once." I think life on the island keeps ending the same way. Jacob always gets stabbed, but then the Losties detonate the bomb and reset everything. And it all happens over again. Jacob keeps trying to change it by bringing people to the island but his nemesis thinks he's making it worse.

If I'm right (which I know is a long shot), then only Desmond can stop the loop now, because he's the only one that's truly special and doesn't answer to the rules of the time loop.

It's just a theory. But it explains a lot. It would explain how Jacob knew exactly what time to be waiting for Locke after his 8-story fall and even how he knew exactly when to be there to save Sayid from getting hit by the car that killed Nadia. It explains a lot of the fate-like things and coincidences we've seen all along. And it explains Jacob and his enemy's weird conversation and modern-sounding language.

Also, maybe things are slightly different everytime the loop resets. Like an alternate reality based on the one that came before. Maybe everyone who dies stays dead... and becomes part of the smoke monster consciousness? I dunno.

I'm still working this theory out, but what do you guys think?