Ben Replaces Ben

It looks like my recap needs to be supplemented with a little theory today... with so many thoughts and debates raging in the comment section. After reading through them, processing them, and combining them with the thoughts of one of my favorite LOST bloggers (DarkUFO’s Vozzek 69), I have the following brief theory to posit.

First, I’m going to presuppose a new rule: if you travel back in time, you can not interact with your past self. That would create a paradox. Maybe John Locke knew this when he refused to go encounter his hatch-door-pounding self earlier this season.

So with that rule in mind, here's my theory.

Vozzek69 believes that Ben wanted Sayid to go back to 1977 and shoot him. Ben somehow knows that the Island has stopped in 1977 (Ms. Hawking told him?), and that his 13-year-old self is back there, living out his life. So Ben recruits Sayid to shoot a bunch of guys, to tap into that “killer instinct” and remind Sayid, time and time again, that he is and will always be a killer. Then he abandons him, disappoints him, and makes Sayid hate him. Then he recruits Sayid back to California with the “your friends are in danger” threat. He's purposely toying with Sayid and creating in him a hatred for Ben. A very necessary hatred.

He needs Sayid to get on that flight and go back to 1977. Why? So Sayid can kill 13-year-old Ben. That way, 40-year-old Ben (who arrived via Ajira 316) could reenter the timeline without triggering that paradox I mentioned earlier.

Why? It might have to do with The Incident. The Incident (according to Lostpedia) was an electromagnetic anomaly that apparently caused a catastrophic event that resulted in the DHARMA Initiative establishing the Swan station's protocol. The Incident was first mentioned by Dr. Marvin Candle in the Swan Orientation film. ("Orientation"). “The Incident” is also the rumored title of this season’s finale.

Raise your hand if you see where this is leading...

When 40-year-old Ben reenters the timeline, he can do whatever he needs to do to fit his master plan. Whether that means avoiding The Incident, changing The Incident, or changing the circumstances around The Incident. Or maybe he needs to go back to right some other, non-Incident-related wrong. But to do this he needs his 13-year-old self out of the picture to avoid the paradox, hence his manipulation of Sayid.

So now Ben, unconscious on the Alcatraz Island, can go to the main Island and reenter the timeline. This maybe – MAYBE – also explains why Sun and Frank didn’t get beamed out. If they’re on the Island as children, they can’t just walk back into 1977 and interact with their past selves. It’s plausible – Sun’s father is the uber-connected Mr. Paik and Frank obviously has some special abilities and knowledge of electro-magnetic storms.

Even if this theory doesn’t explain Sun and Frank, it might very well explain what happened with Ben during He's Our You: he goaded Sayid into traveling to 1977 to kill 13-year-old Ben, so that 40-year-old Ben could reenter the timeline at 1977 and fix whatever he needs to fix in order to carry out his master plan, whatever the hell that is.