Breakthroughs (theory)

From Lostpedia

This article has been marked for merging It has been suggested that this article be merged with Spiritual Evolution (theory) - Discuss

Fanon Alert! This article contains tribute art, spin-off fiction, theories, reference and community material created by fans inspired by the show. It is by definition non-canon, but generally distinct from intentionally fake hoaxes or humorous fan parody material.

Breakthroughs is one of many fan theories about the storylines in Lost.

A common theme of Lost is that, whenever a character has a breakthrough, gets over an issue they have, etc., they die soon afterwards. This theory supports the fan-created theories that the survivors are in purgatory (debunked by the producers) or that the survivors are in a sort of group therapy.

This is also Yunjin Kim's Theory, as revealed on Season 2 DVD.

Contents 1 Examples 2 Counterexamples 3 Con 4 See also

Examples

• Boone Carlyle - Got over his obsession with Shannon, thanks to his hallucination. Killed by injuries sustained from the fall of the Beechcraft.
  • It took awhile for him to die in that case.
• Shannon Rutherford - Got over her trust issues with men, thanks to her relationship with Sayid Jarrah, and got over her selfishness by taking care of Vincent. Killed by Ana Lucia.
  • She trusted Brian right before the crash, which would be nonsense; give her a reason to change and she does - just to die on the island.
• Leslie Arzt - Got over his exclusion from cliques by being included in group activities and being needed. Killed by dynamite explosion.
  • He complained about it to the end.
• Ana Lucia Cortez - Got over her revenge obsession by not being able to kill Ben (aka Henry Gale). Killed by Michael.
• Libby - Got over her obsession with Hurley by having a relationship with him (debatable). Shot, and killed by Michael.
  • It seems as if she was not supposed to be killed.
• Mr. Eko - He completed his atonement for killing two of the Others after confessing to Ben (aka Henry Gale). Also, realized that the bad things he did in his past were all to help others who needed his help, and refused to confess his sins. Killed by the "Monster".
  • Realising that the bad things he did were all to help others was not a break through; he'd say that from the earliest flashbacks of adulthood.
  • Plus, he is dead wrong; some of the things he did were indeed BAD.
    • The moral judgement of his actions are subjective. Starting things off, he killed the old man because he knew Yemi could not do it and would be killed by the gangsters. Afterwards, we know he was some sort of criminal but we don't know the extent of his misdeeds. From what we have seen, he killed several bad people that wanted to extort medicine from the church or spread heroin to the village. As far as we know, after Yemi's death he was nothing but a good person (even if a fraud).
• Dave -- explains a Breakthrough-like theory of the Island to Hurley: If you die on the Island, that in itself is having a breakthrough (i.e. accepting that it is all imaginary), and you will wake up and be cured in real life.

Counterexamples

• Joanna did not atone for anything when she died.
  • There is no evidence that she didn't, since she is only introduced right before she dies.

• Desmond Hume - He believed that his true love, Penny Widmore, had moved on, and didn't love him. Also may have had issues with self-worth, as exhibited by his on-and-off alcoholism. Had a breakthrough when he realized that Penny still loved him, and when he activated the fail-safe.
  • In the beginning of the episode, Widmore pointedly called him a "coward." Clearly Desmond was in prison for some cowardly act. He also lost Penny because of this act. Activating the fail safe, embracing death, and letting go of Penny were all acts of extreme heroism.
    • He survived the activation of the failsafe, so he may have more to atone for.

• • Kelvin mocked Desmond about being dishonorably discharged for not following orders.

• Locke - His faith (both in the Island and in spiritual destiny) was restored. His "last words" (before the discharge) were "I was wrong.".
  • He survived the activation of the failsafe, so he may have more to atone for.

• Sawyer- After completing his life's mission of killing Anthony Cooper (the con man responsible for his Sawyer's father killing his mother and then himself) Sawyer has not yet died.

• Charlie - He gave up his addiction, and remained alive. However, his temptation remained, as evidenced by his stash of Virgin Mary statues. But now he has thrown all the statues into the ocean. (might be waiting for an exception from Claire)
  • His final breakthrough may be reconciling with Claire (near the end of "Live Together, Die Alone"). He was supposed to have been killed by lightning shortly after that had it not been for Desmond's interference.

• Non Survivors redshirts (non-featured characters) have died during the crash, its aftermath, or later on the Island, without receiving any obvious breakthroughs.

• Danielle Rousseau's science team - died, supposedly of an infection and without any hint of breakthroughs.
  • Though the latter two counterexamples could be countered by Dave's island breakthrough explanation of dying is a breakthrough in itself (See above), that the plane crash or the Island was not real.
    • Dying of an infection or "the sickness" could though be seen as death without issues being resolved, so in other words going to some definition of hell. The sickness way of dying could be seen as the antiform to dying after resolving issues.

Con

• The resolution of character's issues in the form of breakthroughs could just be good writing and a fitting way to wrap up characters that are not needed anymore.
• This theory does not seem to account for Others' deaths - as of "D.O.C.", Ethan, Goodwin, Colleen, Danny, and Ms. Klugh have apparently died.
  • However, we do not currently have enough back-story information, nor full knowledge of motive, behind these characters as yet.

See also

• Purgatory
• Redemption

Theories Theory Policy v • t • e
Ontological	Dharma • Dreamtime • Last Humans • Pandora's Box • Rapture • Spiritual Evolution • Time Capsule
Psychological	Artificial Environment • Binary Code • Shared Hallucination • Social Experiment
Realist	Backwards Backwards • Black Hole • Doomsday Weapon Facade • Fall of DHARMA • Kelvin's Dam • Naive Realism • Saving the World • Valenzetti Island • Vile Vortices • Y2K
Literary	Breakthroughs • Garden of Eden • Lost Continent • Noah's Ark • The Tempest • The Wizard of Oz
Misc. Themed	Constellations • DHARMA Recruiters • System Crash • Gates of Hades
Already Debunked	Clones • Nanotechnology • Purgatory • Turbine Explosion (Caused by Monster)