The Dark Tower (theory)

From Lostpedia

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.

Fans have drawn several similarities between Lost and Stephen King's Dark Tower novels.

Contents 1 Characters 2 Places 3 Devices 4 Time 5 Plot 6 Theories

Characters

• Ben is somewhat reminiscent of Flagg, a chief villain in the series. Both Ben and Flagg are manipulative and seem to know much more about the universe and what will happen than anyone else. At first, Flagg is believe to be the main villain, but it is revealed that he is actually just a minion of The Crimson King.
• Jacob can be equated with The Crimson King. A largely unseen character throughout the series, The King appears in physical form only at the very end. The King is trapped in the Tower, which he desperately wishes to control. Jacob may be trapped on the Island (see below) and certainly wishes to control it (if he does not do so already).
  • In The Dark Tower, Stephen King is a character whom the other characters realize is writing the story and in control of their fate. Jacob seems to have a similar control over actions on The Island, and is even voiced by Carlton Cuse, one of the show's head writers.
• In the second Dark Tower novel, Eddie is in a very similar situation as Charlie. Eddie is carrying drugs on a flight while the attendants suspect something is wrong. He flees to the bathroom on the plane and there finds his escape. Charlie too is carrying drugs and flees to the bathroom when moment the plane begins it's descent/crash.
• In the Dark Tower novels, Jake Chambers has telepathic abilities. Walt is around Jake's age and also has unusual abilities.
• In the Dark Tower novels, Oy is a creature that looks like a cross between a dog and a racoon who has a special bond with Jake. Oy is also unusually smart. Vincent also has a special bond with Walt and has also been implied to be unusually intelligent (e.g. Christian Shepherd directing him to find Jack in "Missing Pieces").

Places

• The Island can very much be seen as The Dark Tower itself. The Tower remains a complete mystery throughout the series, and its true purpose is explained only at the very end.
• The island can also be see as the nexus of all worlds or times since everything seems to end up there (via the Box ? via Fate?)

Devices

• The various stations and cables found throughout the series is reminiscent of the futuristic and mechanical technologies left over by the Ancient Ones.
• The shark that attacks the raft at sea is similar to the cyborg bear, Shardik, a guardian of the Beam which was created by North Central Positronics.Cothebadger 06:53, 16 June 2008 (PDT)
• The Island is representative of Roland's world and the rest of the world is much like the "real world" that Jake and Eddie come from.
• The DHARMA Initiative itself is reminiscent of the Ancient Ones. Mysterious people with high technology that mysteriously disappeared a long time ago and left their toys behind.
• The Others are like the Breakers in Dark Tower that are working (mostly unaware) for The Crimson King to "break" the Beams that hold the world together so that the King can take over the Tower once and for all. Jacob may be using the Others to get complete control over the Island and perhaps the world.
• Both have similar rampant book references.
  • The Wizard of Oz
  • Charles Dickens
  • Catch-22
  • Lord of the Flies
  • Of Mice and Men
  • Watership Down
• The Monster is very similar to Shardik, the great mechanical bear left behind by the Great Old Ones who's original purpose was to guard to beam but who became sentient and who's sanity then degraded over time.

Time

• In The Dark Tower time is a central theme. Several characters voice the feeling that time is not flowing properly. Time works differently on the Island. ("The Constant")

Plot

• In the future, Jack desperately wanting to get back to the Island is similar to Roland's unyielding need to reach the Dark Tower despite not knowing why.
• "Through the Looking Glass" is very reminiscent of the third book of the series. In "Through the Looking Glass", Jack is driving himself crazy thinking he should go back to the island. He even states that he takes flights often hoping that he will crash there again. In Dark Tower, Jake is prevented from dying and going to Roland's world. He is stuck in a paradox; not truly fitting in with the new world and new future/present. He wanders around feeling out of sorts and thinking that he needs to get back to Roland's world. He knows that the way to get there is through doors so he constantly opens doors with the hope that it is the one to get him back.

Theories

• The series will end with Jack going through a portal of some sort and entering himself in the very beginning scene of the pilot in which he awakens after the crash, thus returning to the island but forced to relive all of the events with certain (subtle) differences. In actuality, he has done this loop an uncertain amount of times. All as per the ending of Dark Tower VII. (This was the ending of the non-canon Lost: Via Domus.)
  • This explains the black/gray beard discrepancy. In Dark Tower, Roland is often described as being extremely aged, much more so than he should have been. This is because he is in a never-ending time loop. The flashforward is actually a flashback before Jack slips through the time warp (thus having a black beard) and the events on the island that we see in the past three seasons are actually in the second or third loops (thus why Jack has a gray beard).
  • This also explains Desmond's visions. Since the events are on a loop, the implosion of the Swan and the magnetic anomaly have given Desmond the ability to remember the events of previous loops. Any discrepancies between those visions and what actually happens are caused by being on a different loop with said certain and subtle changes.
  • Donovan casually states that "if you run an experiment ten times you'll get ten different results." Perhaps each iteration of the loop is an experiment done a different time with the eventual goal of saving the world from whatever armageddon awaits it (that is also the reason DHARMA is studying the Valenzetti Equation). Jack realizes (due to events in the next three seasons) that he was meant to save the world on the island and blew his chance. Desmond is given the ability to see and fix key aspects of previous runs of the "experiment" to ultimately alter the Equation and save the world.
  • The mobisode So It Begins is a flashforward depicting Jack's return to the Island as described above.
• The series is based upon the existence of multiple universes (Dan's diary of interconnecting circles in "The Constant" which could be interconnecting universes), such as those that exist throughout Stephen King novels ("There Are Other Worlds Than These, Gunslinger") . In rare instances (such as Jack Sawyer's in the Talisman), a person may die in one world but not the other, making them "single-natured" and giving them the ability to switch back and forth between two worlds. This could possibly explain Walt's (as well as other characters) random appearances on the island, even though we have seen that he exists in the "world" that Michael returned to. This could also explain the "flashbacks" where we see possible negative futures (universes) that awaits each of the Oceanic-6 (Jack as a suicidal drunk, Hurley back in the psych ward, Sayid working for Ben, Sun having her baby without Jin, Kate and her trial (?), Aaron (?) ) Each possible universe is different, thus Kate being OK while Jack is going through his drunken break down, Jack being OK while Hurley is in the psych ward, and Jack being OK while Kate is on trial. This could also explain the death of pregnant women. Since the pregnancy occurs on the island, the child that is produced would not exist in any of the other universes. This singularity is righted by leading to the death of the mother and the singular infant.