Theories about The Incident

Well, it's the night before another episode of Lost (I didn't need Brian to remind me this time), and I thought I'd post a few comments and thoughts.

I've read all the comments left after my post on The Substitute, and it sparked some thoughts. I ran them by Brian today (hi, Brian!), because I knew it would help my thoughts crystallize into an almost coherent idea.

First, I've been thinking of the Incident as the event when the DHARMA Initiative found the electromagnetic mess that required the buttons to be pressed every 108 minutes and Juliet caused Jughead to explode. But I think the Incident actually is a combination of events from 1977 and 2007: the explosion of Jughead and the murder of Jacob. I think that those two events make up the Incident.

I have no idea why it created the two sideways of time, but somehow it has. Or perhaps it was the touch of Jacob that changed things. And that's what I think happened in the Incident - things changed. I wondered as I drove home if our people on the Oceanic 815 have been stuck in some sort of Moebius loop - one of the loops that never ends and never begins. But something is different on this loop, either Jughead or Jacob's touch.

Something Brian said today made me wonder when Jacob started touching our people. The only two he touched as children were James and Kate. According to Lostpedia (I have to trust it - I don't have time to watch all the episodes myself to figure out these details), Jacob visited James in 1976, and Kate in the early 1980s. In other words, Jacob touched the young James while the adult LaFleur was striking fear in the hearts of DHARMA security on the Island. Did Jacob figure out a way to stop the loop? Or to save the Island?

Or, does the murder of Jacob mean that no one was touched, and no candidates were around to save the Island? So, at some point, it sank in the ocean?

I don't know. As you can tell, my thoughts are still quite nebulous, and I am perfectly aware that events in tomorrow night's episode may change all my theories. I believe in being adaptable.

Before I sign off, I want to thank everyone for not pointing out the obvious last week - John Locke is a substitute [teacher] in 2004. Hence, the title. Right?