Mate these videos are criminally underrated, some of the finest analysis work on RUclips. I know this show ended 13 years ago which of course affects the viewership, but I just finished the show two days ago and these videos are a blessing!! Thank you so much.
This is the most comprehensive, detailed, and well thought out analysis I’ve ever seen for a TV show. I loved the mythology of LOST, but I used to view the ending in a negative light due to supposed inconsistencies and lack of explanations, but your videos have shed a new light on everything and helped me gain a new appreciation for the show. Thank you!
Comments like yours help to validate this whole LOST Explained project for me. My hope has always been that these videos might help to enrich the mythology of LOST for both the satisfied and unsatisfied sides of the fanbase. If these videos help to improve someone's experience of the show or the ending in any way (big or small) then I couldn't ask for anything more. Thank you for sharing 🙏
I've often thought about whether it was possible for the series to give us satisfying answers to all of the mysteries and I don't think it was. I remember when they revealed that the smoke monster was the MIB and how disappointed I was by that answer. But I think that any definitive answer would have been disappointing. Like imagine if the smoke monster was revealed to be nanobots or an ancient Egyptian god/monster. Any explanation feels arbitrary and unfulfilling. I almost wish that they had never answered any of the big questions and just left them as mysteries.
I've always felt like MIB was the island's most tragic character. Before he became Smokey, all he wanted to do was leave and explore what was beyond the island. But because of Mother's selfishness, he suffered unnecessarily. He wasn't evil to begin with but understandably became evil out of centuries of frustration of being trapped and held against his will.
If you think about it Satan and all other vilified characters have been robbed of their individuality and freedom by some “good” being who thought they knew better, and since those characters refused to have their spirits broken they became the all mighty villains, always painted as bad, and never really understood.
A masterpiece of analysis and research. So glad you decided to redo the old videos and make them more accessible to the unconverted. Liked and shared 🙂
Actually a mini prequel series about the Egyptian culture on the island would be awesome! explaining the incident completely,the building of the cork and the war between them while only Jacob and mib from the original cast would appear.
This would have happened if Lost had been created in the last decade based on the current Hollywood Business ethos. They milk the cow until its dry & dead. But during the period in which the series was created, the culture was to let things end as originally formulated. In a way, I'm glad for the old way of doing things.
And specifically THIS is what destroys fantasy universes so often, fans wanting to know everything and for that demystifying everything, destroying the atmosphere while watching the og material. think about it. lost (and so many other stories) wouldn’t be that much fun without something let untold….
I found this channel on Reddit after I started my LOST rewatch and I am so glad I did. The thought and time you’ve put in these theory essays is beyond amazing. Thank you so much for your time, effort and passion and I can’t wait to watch through all of these.
Same, after finally giving the show a chance (I remember when it aired, just never bothered with it as a teenager/young adult during that time), I had to go on Reddit to see if there were a few things that could be better explained. Expected to trudge through a bunch of theories, but got this video playlist instead after seeing so many recommendations for it. Glad I gave it a watch (along with the mini epilogue episode that I was surprise existed). So appreciative of the time and care put into these videos - makes it much easier to piece everything together now.
Oh man the idea that we may not be seeing Mothers original form is Wild and really cool. Also iv always felt like a single old women killing everyone in that village...and burying that well. Really impossible to buy and proof that they probably wanted us to think she was a smoke monster. The mirror between that and the temple massecure is a really great point. Awesome work as always!!!
I adore Lost in more ways that i can express now. For this reason i don't normally watch Lost relaterd videos, explanations and the such. However, this has got me completely hooked within the first 10 minutes of part 1. There's something very sensical and scientific, yet human and humane about your analysis. I'm enjoying this so much that I tear up from time to time. I'll be sure to watch your other videos about Lost. Thank you!!,
@@itai82 I have "Unlocking the Meaning of LOST", from Porter & Lavery (2006). But it's superficial and only about Season 1. A book with the content of "LOST Explained" would be great for me, as English is not my native language and I would like to read and think about all this content.
It really depends on the situation; if this channel garners a lot of support, more projects can be made on possible suggestions. I’ve seen channels that have gotten so big that books, and merch got made because the people wanted it. It depends on how the creator of this channel feels; and that is why we must protect the channel at any cost, is what I would like to believe anyway.
Maybe if the demand was there but I think Peter is right that the channel would have to blow up to justify such a project. I feel like the videos are more appealing because they can be consumed more easily than a book.
Regardless this stuff is awesome and I think it actually makes the show better. You seem to understand this show better than the people who made it. You’re able to convey points that they left to interpretation, and wow do you know how to interpret it! Well done!
I can't stop watching. I've been wanting to write an analysis for lost too after I rewatched the series for 3rd time, but i'm rethinking now, because this is the ULTIMATE analysis ever.
Dude this is amazing. The ancient history of the island and story of Jacob and MIB were my favorite part of the whole series and I nerded out hard on lostpedia reading these theories back when the show was on. Great to see such detail and presentation of these ideas and you tying it all together
"As her connection to her people was cut off, her connection to the source was awakened." Truest statement I've ever heard. Sometimes in our darkest, loneliest moments is when we really awaken to our higher power. Beautiful.
If you were selling a LOST complete pack with all the seasons, the missing pieces, the epilogue and your The Theory of Everything videos as the extras on DVD available in different languages, I would go for it. Thank you for your work. I know it takes quite some time to create a video like this one.
Thank you for keeping the amazing show alive. Just recently got a friend to start watching for the first time. Cant wait to show him these videos when he finishes!
I think we're going to have to watch that again. (I probably said that about Part One, as well.) I do watch more than once because there is SO much. Thank you for your amazing work.
It's so amazing when a show takes high concept and does it well as opposed to (what I feel like) is shock content as a perceived value mechanism (that dragons show or the drug ones). Amazing analysis of a truly well written show.
I watched the video and then sat here n scrolled through the comments, and it was such a beautiful thing to read. The amount of love and praise you've gotten for your effort is such a testament to your skills and hard work. I really pray that you go so far in life and whatever career path you choose. Calling these videos brilliant is the understatement of the century. Truly inspiring and appreciated. ❤ Best of luck to you.
What a wonderful channel this is, as a die hard nerd LOST fan, I appreciate all of your work. Ive learned a lot (and was so sure I knew everything 😅) fantastic stuff dude
Fantastic work as always! The care you put into these projects comes through so powerfully. Thank you again and again for your hard work. Proud to support you.
Fascinating video and loved every minute of it. What really got me is The Egyptian era on the Island and would love a mini series on it. Man in Black worshipped by the Egyptians, the temple, statues, life in general. How it came to an end
thanks to be here making these videos more than 10 years later. I knew since the finale that this wasnt a normal show, and that itd be unfair that it disappeared from collective consciousness and pop culture as well as a niche of more 'philosophical fans'. i used to think LOST was the greatest series ever... now I tie it with twin peaks. but i dont put it in second place, mind you. And i wont ever be capable of proving it since lynch doesnt elaborate, but tp of old influenced lost as much as lost influenced lynch a bit in season 3...
Thank you, sir! I put a lot of time into the edits to make sure that the relevant images match my words. I’m glad you picked up on that side of things 🙂
Excellent videos. I have been and continue to be a huge fan of this show, and thought I knew it inside and out after watching it during its ABC run and following the podcasts back in the day. But this exposition is teaching me things I didn't fully grasp then and is giving me new perspectives on what happened and why. Thank you for the tremendous effort that went into making these videos.
I see that I didn't understand almost anything about the series, but I love it. I always had a lot of doubts about the cabin and I always thought that those ashes around the cabin were to keep the black smoke inside and not escape and that's why he said: help🤣
That's very interesting how you viewed Jack as the back up For the island and that he restarted it with his touch. When I originally saw that scene I assumed that he looked over his shoulder because he noticed that the water had started to flow again (because he had put the cork in) and he reached up to touch the water which was increasing in volume. It did not feel to me like the show was trying to convey that his touch played a role but I can see how there's enough ambiguity that you could come to that conclusion.
Great video! I always assumed the reason Mother was able to be killed was because she had already passed on her role to Jacob thereby relieving herself of her powers.
I agree that once she transferred power to Jacob, The Island "allowed" her to die. Whereas the only reason MiB could not be killed for so long was because the cork was in place, which essentially kept his essence bottled up on The Island, unable to be released or destroyed.
This is so amazing that you can explain this in this way. I watched the series when it originally aired and it blew me away. I have since rewatched it with my daughter and wife and this is saving me from just being in awe. Your review is outstanding 💯
I’ve watched all your videos and agree with your interpretations of almost everything - EXCEPT the idea that Mother was the first Protector. For some reason I’ve always felt/believed that Mother was just the latest Protector in a line of Protectors stretching back untold millennia. At the time “Across the Sea” was airing I even assumed that Mother repeated to Jacob and his brother what had been done to her by own mother; be raised by the previous Protector for the sole purpose of replacing them. Like repeating a pattern of bad parenting.
That's totally fair! Mother being the first protector isn't a hill I would necessarily die on, I just found it an interesting possibility worth bringing up. Because we are never told how this protector lineage began, or how a mortal person absorbed the powers of The Source and became able to pass them onto others. But the idea of cross-pollinating that unknown protectorship origin with Mother going down into the cave and entering the light is what helped me to build a bridge between ideas. I believe she is really, really ancient and that she reigned for longer than Jacob ever did, which is why she was so tired and done with the work by the time we meet her. However, it's not a theory I would argue to be definitive or provable in any way at all. It just makes for interesting speculation.
Thank you for making these vidoes, I am a fan of LOST since I was 13, I know its not the best series but I am just very interested in the lore it brings and I always find it interesting.
Finally gotten around to see and finish this: First of all, I remember something I criticized a long time ago, was that the video clips you were using were of various quality. Some with the ABC watermark, some with the CTV watermark, as well as very different aspect ratios. I am very happy to see that they are gone. The videos are very clean now, and the previous Theory of Everything, as well as this part, has a very comfortable presentation. Nothing jarring and everything flows beautifully. It feels like you're telling a story and you put a lot of themes and events in great words, and that would've been hindered with odd video choices. 8.30 Was Mother a Smoke Monster - I tend to veer into this as well, but I've also liked the idea that Mother had smoke Monster abilities. Just the mere presence of her and she could kill everyone, burn down things and so on. Or the idea that Mother was a smoke Monster, but it looked differently than the one we've grown accustomed to. Perhaps a grey cloud (white and black combined)? 21:00 How does Mother pass on powers - The significance of the touch also has a lot of spiritual and religious meaning. The Bible has many of these situations. "Jesus stretching forth His hand to the leper, touched him, saying, I will; be thou cleansed. And straightway his leprosy was cleansed" (Matt. 8:3). And in Catholicism, when deacons and priests are ordained, a bishop places his or her hands on the top of their bowed heads. This gesture is, like you mention here, what activates this role and not the drink. Heck, even in Catholicism, when kids go through their first communion they don't necessarily drink wine, like it's been done in previous centuries. (Speaking from experience, I didn't have wine at my communion :P). Anyway, I thought it was very neat that the show did it this way. 48:00 When did the Egyptians come - I used to be a pre-Across the Sea person until I learned more about Egyptian history and have switched sides. I can totally get behind that Jacob brought the Egyptians there. I do think that there are no problems that there have been some Egyptians that came there before Jacob was born. Just to further highlight that many civilizations came there to emphasize Mother's quote about how they come, fight, destroy and corrupt. But I agree with you that the true haven for Egyptians in terms of building the wells, structures and the statue was after Across the Sea. I love your analysis of the rug and tapestry. On the bottom of the tapestry it also seems like the sails are pointed to the right, meaning that they are leaving the Island and not coming to the Island. So I think you're correct on that part. Love the way you told that story by the way. In the end, it mimics so many of the stories we got in the rest of the series. Even Alvar Hanso/DeGroots visions of a utopia on the Island was probably very similar to Jacob's ideas 2000 years prior. 1:17:00 I didn't notice the walled off section behind the summoning cellar chamber. Nice catch! And yes, I agree that this is definitely Ben's first time there. 1:20:00 I agree with you on the chamber here and that eventually the water would come back in the draining room. What's odd about the summoning chamber in the barracks is that it is at ground floor. There are a few small stairs when Ben enters it, but everything should be above ground. Meaning that before DHARMA built the barracks, the summoning chamber door likely just stayed there. I wonder if there was a civilization here that died out or maybe some structure here. Since the 50's Others transported Jughead here before DHARMA built their housing complex there, and the bomb was so massive, so maybe there was much more going on in this area. And most of it has been demolished or built over, while the door to the summoning chamber remained. Also, agree on the different civilizations building the Temple. A lot of South-Asian iconography and design here. In my own video on "Numbers" I proposed the theory that Mayans built the rope bridge we saw in that episode.
As always, thank you for such a thoughtful and thorough comment! Really pleased you enjoyed it and that you agree with so much of it. :-) Part of the reason why I wanted to remake The Theory of Everything video was because I felt I could re-present these ideas in a much clearer and more compelling way now. But the key motivator behind the redux was down to the text-to-speech voice and how consistent (and fair) the criticisms of that voice was. I am a big believer in the idea that if enough people identify the same criticism in your work then it is something that should be addressed. But the other reason to remake that video was the quality of the clips being used. I was never happy with the low-res quality of the videos (although they were very easy to render in an edit lol) and I wanted to rectify that and improve the overall quality of the presentation, so it would not alienate potential new viewers. Strangely, almost no one other than yourself ever took issue with the varying quality of the clips themselves. It was always the voice that got the main complaints. There wasn't the same criticism and demand for higher quality footage to be used, which I still find odd. Because it is something that had always bothered me personally! I hate looking back at the early videos because of that. So, I appreciated what you were saying back then and agreed with you. I'm glad I've been able to address the quality issues and improve both the audio and visuals. In the very early days (after the show initially finished), I think I assumed the Egyptians predated 'Across the Sea' too. Simply due to the real world historical timeline of Egyptians and Romans. It wasn't until I heard the commentary for 'Across the Sea' that I realised that was not necessarily the case. The fact that Damon and Carlton specifically point out that the cork was not installed until after this event with the Man in Black really confused me and made me re-think my previous assumptions. Because we know the cork is inscribed with hieroglyphic symbols, which means Egyptians were on The Island after Jacob became protector. And this one comment cracked open the mythology for me because I then started really trying to understand the timeline of events, and looking more closely at things like the wheel and the temple. I began picking up on all of those details (e.g. the hieroglyphs on the donkey wheel chamber pillar) and started to see what that hidden mythology was trying to communicate. This study of the background details is what helped me find the walled off chamber entrance beneath the temple. All of these breadcrumb clues that, when pieced together, suggest a specific timeline of events. It made me fall in love with the show's mythology all over again. As for the summoning chamber outpost at the barracks, I think the tomb's doorway would have stood in that clearing for centuries, and was probably one of the reasons why DHARMA decided to settle in that specific place. Yes, it was a good spot to build a commune, but it was also an historical site on The Island that wasn't defended by The Others. I'm sure DHARMA studied the tomb and translated the glyphs and learned from it. Hard to know if Horace ever figured out how to use it or what precisely it was for, but considering he built his house adjacent to it and hid it within, we know he was au fait with the tomb. If they did comprehend what it was for -- i.e. calling the smoke monster -- then perhaps that is why they wanted to claim it and hide it. Just in case their Hostile friends tried to use it on them. I think Ben most likely learned about the summoning chamber outpost and the wheel during his time with DHARMA, and got the blanks filled in once he joined The Others. Although his knowledge and usage of the summoning chamber outpost could very well have come from the dreams he speaks about to Locke. The Island was guiding him to have a relationship with and to the monster. Or perhaps the smoke monster had manifested to Ben as a dead person to give him instructions, hence why Ben says: "It's where I was told I could summon the monster. That's before I realized that it was the one summoning me." There are many possible scenarios that we can play with there. The Mayan's building the rope bridge sounds totally feasible to me and adds more historical colour to the backstory. I think it's fair to say that various cultures came to The Island and either built new structures (some of which were destroyed and lost to time) or added their own touches to pre-existing structures, like the temple grounds, which surely hosted many different civilisations across two millennia. The production design directly implies this fact through the variety of influences present. Gotta love the details in LOST!
Great video. Do u plan on covering the LOST videogame at some point? I have very vague memories of playing at the time but I can't remember how good it was exactly. All I remember is that those sections where u have to hide from the Smoke Monster were an absolute nightmare
I really think I came up with a good series idea. Do an analysis for each major character. Like what there backstory is, why they were brought to the island, and what they do throughout the show and what their thought process is whilst doing it. You don’t need to to many character but something like 5-10 episodes would be nice. I know you probably won’t see this comment but if you do please consider this idea.
I have plans to do an episode guide after the Theory of Everything series comes to an end, which will be a massive ongoing project over time. However, I do like the idea of peppering character profiles in there too. Several people have asked me for more in-depth explorations of the characters, so you’re not alone. Depends on how intensive I find making the episode guides themselves and if there is an opportunity to fit character profiles into the actual ep guide itself. Not sure yet, but will keep this in mind. Thanks for the suggestion 🙏
I wonder if the show is ultimately about Rosicrucianism. A lot of what you’ve talked about in the first two parts relates to the teachings of AMORC. They trace their beliefs to the monotheist era of Egyptians, they’re big into healing through touch using electromagnetism. It’s focused on mystical understanding coupled with reason.
Do you cover Sayid and how he got healed? That's one of the things I don't quite understand. Dead is dead and all that. Loving these videos, gives me so many details I've missed.
Great video and series. I found your channel during my third watch of the series. I love the more logical explanations instead of the simple “good vs evil”. One thing I didn’t quite grasp in this video is when Locke turns the wheel you mention it as an “ancient event” and the very first time it was turned. What time period was Locke down there? Wouldn’t the first time have been when the MIB attempted turning it for the first time? Or possibly ancient Egyptians?
Great to know, thank you! As for your question, I think there are a couple of things you have conflated from the video here, which is easily done as the lore is complicated to unpack! So, “the ancient incident” I describe is not when Locke turns the wheel. It is when the Egyptians first turn the wheel roughly 2,000 years in the past. But this is only made possible due to the time travel events involving our Losties. So let me unpack the chronology here: Our Losties find the well which leads to the wheel in some unknown point in time (for argument’s sake let’s say they are in the year 1500). Locke goes down into the well while Team Sawyer wait above holding the rope that Locke is belaying himself down on. A time flash happens. Locke is pulled into the wheel chamber’s pocket of time, so when he lands down there he is now in the objective present day with the Man in Black as Fake Christian. If the island is the record skipping them through time on top, then think of Locke as now being in the middle of the turntable which the record is revolving around. I discuss this Locke-wheel-MiB scene and the reasons for why it is happening in 2007 in Part Four when dealing with all of the time travel. However, Team Sawyer have been jumped to a different time, waaaaay back in the past. To a time when the statue of Taweret stood tall but BEFORE the well had ever been built. They are in the Egyptian era of the island now. But Sawyer had brought the rope from 1500 through the jump with him and it is now stuck in the ground where the well will one day be built. Which means the Egyptians will find that rope and dig there to see where it leads. They will find this pocket of energy and The Man in Black will instruct them to build the new wheel chamber there. They will complete the task then turn the wheel and this leads to “the ancient incident” as detailed in this video. It is the event that necessitates the construction of the cork at the heart of the island. So, the rope in the ground is the catalyst for all of this. So, Locke turning the wheel is not the ancient incident. That is happening in 2007. But the time travel events in the lead up to that are what make the construction of the well possible in the first place. Does that make sense?
So if mother was the jacob of the island then went into the light after and lost her light that would mean she was stuck protecting the island as the smoke monster but also could never leave unlike jacob.
You did it again my friend. :-) Ok, I think you do it on all of your videos. ;-) What a stunning work of art. This is so beautifully done and presented. It feels like a whole new layer to the series. For a Lost fan since day 1, this is truly amazing and so helpful as well. All the things I learned and understood better. Thanks a lot. When I start my 9th rewatch in the near future, I'll have another totally new perspective and insight to Lost and its universe and how it's so connected to the real world. Impaccable work sir! Have you ever checked back with Damon and Carlton on their opinion, what they think about your ideas and incredible work. I think they've come across one of your videos in all these years. I think it's quite interesting to see, on the other hand, that's why I love Lost and the community so much. Everyone has a slightly or even very different theory about all these things on Lost. And that's good in my opinion. That's the magic and soul of Lost. It's life, pure life. That's why I'm so connected to Lost and all the characters. Real-like people on their journey through life, different stages, connected somehow.... I could go on and on, Lost is so complex, like life. And yet so simple and easy, like life. It's everything all at once..... Thanks a lot for your work and passion. Peace, health, love and respect to all. 🙂
I love this breakdown - The only analogical issue I have is comparing Mib and Jacob to the positive and negative charges of a battery. The battery analogy (along with the Island (CPU) and underground energy channels over Earth (Motherboard + circuitry)) is very helpful in understanding this, but breaks down when the Smoke Monster lineage ends with Mib. Now we only have a "Positive" charge in a battery. I think maybe a better way to think of it is that the Protector (Mother, Jacob, etc..) are the full Battery in the process; the Smoke Monster is simply one of many onboard-Memory sticks slotted (optionally) in the Motherboard configuration - able to commune with the Island and "photograph" the memories of Islanders, but unable to control the Light's energy or leave the island's bubble. Removal of the Smoke Monster has, ultimately, no impact on the existance of ongoing of the Light.
There are a few different ways of reading it. One is that the smoke monster part of the battery was only a necessary component up until 2007. After all, the creation of a smoke monster is what necessitates there being a battery in the first place. It was connected to the same power source as the protector for thousands of years but perhaps it is only a protector that is ultimately needed going forward. Mother became the battery first, then Jacob and the MiB replaced her, which was all for a purpose in serving the will of The Island. But The Island ultimately wanted to rid itself of that negative charge once the charge grew too big and started killing the positive. It was no longer needed in the circuit. So, you could view the whole Jacob vs MiB struggle as The Island working to find a way to solve its own internal malfunction. To get rid of that battery and no longer rely upon it. Another way of looking at it is that there always needs to be a balance of some kind in order for the island to function properly. Perhaps this battery doesn't necessarily need to be purely supernatural in nature. It’s more about who has influence over The Island. The polarity continues on because we have Hurley as protector of the island but we also have him recruit Ben as his number two. Hurley is most definitely an embodiment of light (whether you read that as literal good or simply that he harnesses the most positive of human qualities) whereas the darkness is provided by Ben, who is a man more than suited to being the negative charge. Ben represents the darkness of humanity; the worst that it is capable of. Their battery isn’t as literal and absolute as their predecessors, it’s more subtle and human than that; fragile good and redeemable bad. But they will form a battery of their own kind, without the extremities. And this balance is struck the moment Hurley makes the offer and Ben accepts. No coincidence that such balances are found almost immediately after a new protector takes over each time. So, that's another way of viewing it also.
@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 That's a really good point I hadn't thought about - Ben does act as the counterbalance to Hurley, and I hadn't really considered it. While there was possibly some repentance on Ben's part throughout, he's still largely flawed.
Wonderful narration and analogies. Everything is so layered. Music on point. Fantastic All round However, I personally believe jack became the protector. It makes sense how it took so long for him to remember in season 6. The sideways Jack was not the stubourn Jack we come to love. He was seemingly calm n at peace, kinda like a Jacob. He lived a whole another life as something else n interacted with other groups. BUT The most important time, was the time u spent with these people! Just my opinion, there has to of been more than one smokey in existence Stay lost! Merry Xmas
Hugo became the protector because he drank the water and then Jack dies. Hugo even said to Ben that he was a great number 2 and Ben says he was a great number one - this is not up for debate
this is a Massive work ! Huge. Interest to see the one you are goign to make about the Game as a third part. Some people would ave splitted this in dozen of videos to make clickbaith instead. respect !
I still am having trouble understand the concept of the cork. What would happen before the cork was i installed? Why does the water draining into the hole cause the island to overheat? How did it prevent this before the cork?
Before the cork's construction, the water stream would have fed into the cave and down into a naturally formed opening in the ground. Just imagine a large hole that runs deep into the Earth where The Source thrives. The river water flowed directly into The Source and kept it submerged (and cool). This water flowed into the light then back out again at another location (where both MiB and Jack both wash up). These water streams connect to and flow all over The Island, running in and out of the light, creating a natural circulatory system. It's like a bloodstream. The Egyptians build the wheel near another pocket of light and channel streams of water into it. This messes with the natural flow of water around The Island and causes, what I describe as, "The Ancient Incident". As a result, The Source became destabilised and began to overheat. Large amounts of radiation would have been released, basically the same thing that happened at The Swan in 1977. The cork system helped to essentially plug up this leakage, but instead of concrete, they used stone. A consequence of this cork blocking the light meant that the water could no longer keep The Source fully submerged anymore. So, the Egyptians created a water pool around it, which drip-fed the river water through the aperture around the cork, plus a drainage system (with various tunnels) that kept the water flowing in and out of the cave. This system artificially maintained The Island's circulatory system, although it became much weaker as a result. And this is how they kept the water and light in balance for the next 2,000 years. As long as the cork was in place (and kept the leakage in place) and the water continued to flow in around it, everything would be okay. However, once the cork was removed by Desmond, the circulatory system was broken again. We see the last of the water drain into the hole, but The Source needs a constant stream of cold water. It's the coolant system. By removing the cork, the water stopped flowing into the cave altogether and The Source started to overheat and turn into volcanic fire. Notice how when Jack puts the cork back in, the light doesn't automatically come back on. It needed the flow of water to cool down and come back to life again. Just think of it like surgery. The Source is "the heart". The rivers are its bloodstream that flow in and out of it. The Source had a heart attack 2,000 years ago. The cork was essentially the pacemaker to keep the heart beating and the blood flowing. If the pacemaker gets removed, another heart attack happens. I hope that makes it a bit more clear.
Very interesting video! I have a question about the deaths of Jacob and the mother - in the video you said Mother could be killed because she had a replacement lined up, but when Jacob was killed by Ben, he did not yet have Jack as a replacement. He only had some candidates lined up. How then was Ben able to kill him?
So, the idea is that The Island will allow a protector to die as long as there is a line of succession in place, whether that be someone who has already taken the job or potential candidates who have been activated by the former protector. As long as that line is in place it means someone will take the job and keep the circuit alive. The Island seems to always make sure that there will be a candidate ready to fulfil the duties it needs: Jacob > Jack > Hurley.
I like the idea that what happened on the Island in ancient times informed our myths. As in: events in Lost are not inspired by the Bible but the Bible (in Losts reality) was inspired by events on the Island. With the Bible in that sentence standing in for Egyptian myths and everything else.
FANTASTIC series of videos you have going here. One little quick correction to a slight error you made out of love for truth. Horus is not the brother of Set. He is the nephew of Set. Long story short, Osiris miraculously conceived a child with his sister-wife, Isis, after Set killed him. That child was Horus. I almost made that mistake myself, but then I remembered that Horus was the child of Isis and Osiris, the siblings of Set. It is totally understandable, though, since we are talking about two brothers here. Other than that, you are doing a great job! Lost is one of my favorite shows because of the incredibly deep lore within it. I love deep lore. - a friendly archaeology and theology nerd
Thank you. As I understand it, the Osiris myth has different versions and interpretations. In one of the readings, Horus and Set are indeed brothers. I appreciate that it might not be the predominant reading of the myth, but it does exist and can be found from a cursory Google. I imagine that Horus and Set as brothers is more the version of the Osiris myth that LOST is playing with. That said, I am not an expert in these matters. It's all from my own targeted research rather than from having an actual education in these subjects.
Love this series, incredibly well done. Question: if Locke pushing the wheel was the “ancient incident”, and Sawyer’s rope was where the Egyptians dug to built the Man in Black’s wheel, how was the wheel room already there when Locke fell in?
Thank you 🙏 But no, Locke pushing the wheel was not the ancient incident. When he falls into the well, he is pulled into the wheel chamber’s pocket of time - aka the centre of the turntable (where it isn’t spinning) and remains in the objective present day. I discuss that whole sequence of events in Part Four on Science and Time Travel. Basically, Team Sawyer are still on the record spinning up above, currently in the Egyptian period with the rope in the ground, long before that chamber is ever built. The ancient incident happens offscreen after Team Sawyer leave that period. The Egyptians find the rope, dig it up, build the well, find the pocket of energy, then construct the chamber.
I remember the thing that got me most into the show was the idea of the hatch and some dude having to push a button to prevent a magnetic black hole from growing and destroying the world, something about that idea is just so eerie and devastating
Binge watching, you can figure a lot out. I can’t imagine trying to piece it together when trying to remember what has happened one week at a time over the better part of a decade.
I rewatched the show during its run, season by season, and after it finished I took a long break from it. Then came back for a full rewatch in the mid-2010s and did a full binge. So, I got to bring that past knowledge with me but also view it in a fresh way.
The best thing would be to make a prequel to how Smokey manipulated the Egyptians. He manipulated them BIG TIME and that would be a story I'd love to watch
I'm currently researching the Egyptian era for my own video series. One thing in particular that is interesting is two rooms that conflict a bit with other Egyptian constructs on the Island: the summoning chamber and the chamber were they stored Jughead. They have a lot of elements that should suggest an earlier time frame. A lot of the hieroglyphs in these two sections (compared to everything else like the frozen chamber, Temple walls, lighothouse and so on), use a cursive Hieroglyphs system that was not carved into walls, but on Papyrus scrolls, with passages on the pillars in the these two rooms. The pillars include spells from The Book of the Dead, and those things were not published (like Jacob using passages from "The Odyssey"), but buried with the mummies so they could use the spells to attack and pass the various creatures on their way tot he afterlife. The exact passage is a spell from Ani's book of the dead, so it was buried with him in 1250 BCE, not recovered until the 19th century. These exact spells and incantations being on the pillars is quite interesting. Especially since this practice was already gone by the Roman empire, and changed up so much in the centuries prior to it. I'm starting to wonder if these two chambers were built prior to Across the Sea, and pretty much forgotten over time. The settlement that built them died out (or got killed by volcanic eruption). And of course these two places being underground and hidden would explain how Claudia's people never found them or kid-Jacob/boy in black. Additionally, if these chamber stored these scrolls of "the book of the dead", then those cursive passages could've been later on carved into the pillars by MIB's corrupted Egyptian followers. And of course everything else, like the statue of Taweret, temple spring, that stone bench, the well and so on was built after Across the Sea - obviously - since the arguments are strong on it, as you point out in your video. However, these two underground chambers are bugging me a bit. Will explore more of that when I myself arrive at the end of season 5 in my video series, but thought to let you know. Another thing I found is that the summoning chamber includes a story taken from the Metternich Stela - a steele plate featuring a lot of Egyptian stories, although compared to the papyrus scrolls of "the book of the dead", was public since it was on display. Some later arrivals of Egyptians might've carved that story in there.
Interesting! I have so many thoughts about this! I suppose there is no reason why the actual Ancient Egyptians couldn't have visited The Island a couple of thousand years prior to 'Across the Sea', although why only build a couple of underground chambers? Unless that is all that survived from the first Egyptian settlers? Just seems weird that the next wave of castaways from that region built many things that survived thousands of years of wear lol. I mean, there are still structures from Ancient Egypt standing in our real world today. I think if I have any allergy to this idea it would simply be for narrative cleanliness reasons. Two waves of Egyptian settlers overcomplicate an already complicated, ambiguous backstory and I wonder if the writersroom or production team would have been that meticulous and esoteric with the production design? I'm reminded of the script for 'The End' in which the words on "the great stone" aka the cork are not actually written in the description, which means they must have been discussed and figured out during pre-production, presumably between the writers, their researchers, and the production designer and art directors. But how accurate will those translations and interpretations be? Are they micromanaging every last detail of them, I wonder? That said, if we take every aspect of those background details as being 100% intentional then we can look at those chambers in one of two ways. The first is that your instincts are right and that they intended them to represent two different Egyptian periods on The Island. One pre-Across the Sea and one post-Across the Sea. Which means there definitely was a smoke monster before MiB which was most likely Mother (if you subscribe to that theory, of course). Which also begs the question: was Mother manifesting to the early Egyptians? And if so, is it simply a coincidence that the MiB would take on the same role that she did in terms of instructing and/or manipulating Egyptian settlers? Or is it just history repeating itself again? And if the smoke monster summoning chambers were built pre-MiB and for a different smoke monster all together then why is he still occupying and using them many, many centuries later like his Mother presumably did? Does this actually imply that the original evil theory is right? That Smokey always existed and only had one continuity and was in fact always down in the cave in some form? It raises a lot of good questions, some of which conflict with other parts of the established timeline and lore. It's just a bit too messy for my preferences. The second way of looking at those chambers and their writings is that the Egyptians who came to The Island post-Across the Sea were trying to revive parts of their history and culture, and to keep old traditions alive in the face of their disappearance under Roman rule. I'm no historian so I can't make any claims as to accuracy, but from my casual research on the subject it appears that their language evolved over millennia, so there is no hard and fast date for the transition from hieratic to demotic. According to Encyclopedia Britannica: "hieratic was replaced by demotic in the 7th century BCE, but it remained in fashion until much later for religious texts of all sorts. The latest hieratic texts stem from the end of the 1st Century or the beginning of the 2nd Century CE." So, that means the use of the cursive was still known and/or practiced (if only in smaller circles) around the time of 'Across the Sea', if we are to accept the episode taking place around that period. I'm not sure where you come down on that one! As for The Book of the Dead, it may not have been discovered by the modern world until the 19th Century, but that isn't to say it only ever existed in tombs for the years prior to that. Again, according to Britannica: "Scribes copied the texts on rolls of papyrus, often colourfully illustrated, and sold them to individuals for burial use. Many copies of the book have been found in Egyptian tombs." Who is to say that all of those copies went into tombs? Isn't it possible that chapters were etched onto scrolls and made it out of Egypt and to "the new world" of The Island? After all, we know that the LOST island is a melting pot of history; many parts of human civilisation washed up there whether it be a sole Senet game or whole boatloads of people bringing all sorts of books and items with them. Basically, there is wriggle room on this. To me, it makes for a cleaner timeline if there was only ever one period on The Island involving the Egyptians. However, just because I prefer that reading doesn't mean it isn't possible for there to be another period, or very many other periods, featuring Egyptian travellers. I'm just less inclined to believe the timeline of events can be fully defined as a result of making an esoteric distinction between usage of hieratic vs demotic scripts from the built sets, and more inclined to believe that what the production team intended for us to take away from those details are the implications of their rough translations (for those like us who bother to try and translate them). The hieroglyphics are there to convey an ancient past and history to The Island that gives us details of the events that took place and the mindset of the people who previously inhabited it, but they convey this information quite loosely. But man, this is what I love about LOST! We can create a whole unspoken narrative backstory based on those interpretative implications. To be honest, I usually approach my readings of the show from mostly a macro story level, whereas I think your scrutiny over the micro details far surpasses my own, and your research is next level. That's not to say I am not consumed by the details lol. Because, clearly, I am a LOST geek. But you have greater dedication to unpicking the details *behind* the details. Even the way you map character journeys takes a level of careful observation that I do not give to the series. So, I shall be very interested to see your video on this subject when you get there!
@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 The thing about the cursive spells and stories in the book of the Dead is that they were mostly written on papyrus and leather, although we can't rule out the possibility that they also carved that into stone. But the confusing part is that passage that is repeated on the pillar in the Cerbrus chamber, Jughead chamber and water entrance to the tunnels which is something like "“for my shade so that it may see the great god on the day of the examining of the souls" (translation comes from EgyptologyLessons and Wallis Budge's The Egyptian Book of the Dead: (The Papyrus of Ani)) and there is a similar passage in Hunefer's Book of the Dead, but the depiction of the hieroglyphs differ from the one that is on Ani's papyrus scroll, since this is part of Ani's story. The passage is from the story of Ani passing through the door of the tomb and outside are his shadow and his soul in the form of a human-headed bird. It's obvious to me, that from a production standpoint, they wanted a passage that reflected something about entering a chamber of jugdment or going into a hallway of the dead, and found a line from the papyrus of Ani, since that is the most famous one today and with high quality images surfacing online. And the crew re-used the pillars in the other rooms, and re-used the passage from that papyrus. I think there are two/three ways here. That one of the scribes who wrote that piece of papyrus in the 1300s BC came to the Island maybe with other linguists (just so that the Akkadian cuneiforms could be taught and replicated on the Island, since that was also dying out by the time Romans came to the Island). And whether or not they built the chambers can be irrelevant. They died when they came to the Island, but their papyruses remained on the Island later to be discovered by MIB's Egyptian followers.Or that they did start building chambers, but died before it was finished and MIB's Egyptians discovered them, built more, expanded it to Cerberus vents, repetated the phrases carved on the pillars and so on. Or that the scribe who wrote Ani's papyrus, duplicated some of its parts and just kept it for himself, passed it for generations, and then the Egyptians from Roman Egypt brought a long some treasures from their ancestors. Maybe they didn't know that that cursive Hieroglyphs, like the one depicted in Ani's Book of the Dead, were personal to the man who was mummified and instead copied it onto the stone pillars. Or the third option is that papyrus copies of Ani's scroll was placed in a crate and washed up on the beach. Timeline here is not relevant since they could've slipped through the barrier and wound up in a different time, like Doc Ray's body.
@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 Another thing I found out. Sorry for bothering you :P Some of the text and hieroglyphs are repeated in the wrong order on the columns. So I'm actually leaning towards that these people did not build any of the structures (or at least not the pillars or the summoning chamber), because why would these ancient Egyptians (pre-Across the Sea) mess things up and write things out-of-sequence. I am leaning towards that these papyrus scrolls, written by the scribes who wrote the book of the dead (Ani's papyrus) likely wound up on the Island. Maybe like the Senet game? And it was MIB's Egyptian followers who copied those text (maybe they assumed it belonged to gods, if it had the drawings of Anubis or something) and duplicated them 1500 years later.
@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 If you wonder about my conclusions (or just wild theories) about this room, I posted them now in my newest video "The secrets of the Monster's Chamber" :)
I wonder why jacks stab wound didn’t get healed when he was in the water in the source bc that’s where the water at the temple comes from. I guess his job was done and death was what the island wanted for him? A sacrifice the island demanded to change leadership?
Great question! And you have both asked and answered it. This is another example of The Island's sentience and its own will. Jack was a sacrifice The Island demanded to save itself and the world. However, it's worth noting that Jack says to Hurley before he even goes down into the cave that "I'm already dead", which means, as a doctor, he knows his wound is fatal and that he is already beyond saving. So, another way to look at it is that even The Island cannot save a person past the point of no return. It can be "too late" to heal certain wounds if they've lost enough blood.
Hello great your videos, I love them but I have several doubts, I hope you can clarify them: * Can the monster die in any other way than the one shown in the program? * Although the TV series showed only one monster, was there a possibility of having multiple monsters on the island? *Hurley and Ben and then Walt as protectors of the island don't have to worry about a new Monster on the Island? * If the Man in Black had left the island, how long would his enjoyment be outside before the world ended? or was there a chance that MIB would have come out without chaos in the world? (even if our protagonists died). Thank you.
Hieroglyphs were used simultaneously with cuneiform for some time. If I'm not mistaken later Egypt. Cuneiform was more for daily use, and Hieroglyphs were more for decorative and ritualistic uses. So it could be the same people who wrote both. I don't why they would do the switch in the middle of a register, tho
Maybe do a little research before you put stuff on the internet........ Just kidding, pure genius, brilliant as always. Thanks for helping keeping LOST alive
@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 i figured I try and different route to get that "like". Brother, i really respect what you do. You truly are the foremost authority on LOST
So I loved lost when it was on t.v. I also own all the seasons on dvds. I’m enjoying your videos very much. Your explanation of the light is amazing.but what happened to the “light” to fell it needed protection to start bringing people to the island
Philosophical answer: the light exists within people and they are drawn towards the source of that light like moths to a flame. We are all connected to both it and one another, and our existential struggles are what give meaning to the light's existential struggles. Mythological answer: The Island is trapped within a self-perpetuating cycle just like Locke's compass because it knows what is to come. It is a slave to its own future because of the bootstrap paradox at the core of its history, so it does what it must to ensure its own existence (and ours) continues. That is its main goal. To do that, it must have people come to its shores to play out these key events across time.
I don't know why people still thinks that living forever is a curse. You will live forever. Yes, all your loved ones will decease, but you'll recover from that. My way of dealing with immortality would be the same as the Sandman series Ep 6 (the Sandman and Death experience).
I think that it is very hard to imagine what living forever actually would be like. We are not talking 100 more years or even 1000. We are talking about living until the end of time itself. Beyond billions of years. It’s quite a ridiculous notion when you think of it like that. Not even a person who is totally terrified of death would want to face that kind of eternity of loneliness. Living for centuries could be amazing and a gift. But living forever would absolutely be a curse.
Mate these videos are criminally underrated, some of the finest analysis work on RUclips. I know this show ended 13 years ago which of course affects the viewership, but I just finished the show two days ago and these videos are a blessing!!
Thank you so much.
And thank you for watching and the kind comment 🙏
just finished the show yesterday. I feel the exact same.
This is the most comprehensive, detailed, and well thought out analysis I’ve ever seen for a TV show. I loved the mythology of LOST, but I used to view the ending in a negative light due to supposed inconsistencies and lack of explanations, but your videos have shed a new light on everything and helped me gain a new appreciation for the show. Thank you!
Comments like yours help to validate this whole LOST Explained project for me. My hope has always been that these videos might help to enrich the mythology of LOST for both the satisfied and unsatisfied sides of the fanbase. If these videos help to improve someone's experience of the show or the ending in any way (big or small) then I couldn't ask for anything more. Thank you for sharing 🙏
negative light. i got your pun! hehe just kidding
I've often thought about whether it was possible for the series to give us satisfying answers to all of the mysteries and I don't think it was. I remember when they revealed that the smoke monster was the MIB and how disappointed I was by that answer. But I think that any definitive answer would have been disappointing. Like imagine if the smoke monster was revealed to be nanobots or an ancient Egyptian god/monster. Any explanation feels arbitrary and unfulfilling. I almost wish that they had never answered any of the big questions and just left them as mysteries.
I've always felt like MIB was the island's most tragic character. Before he became Smokey, all he wanted to do was leave and explore what was beyond the island. But because of Mother's selfishness, he suffered unnecessarily. He wasn't evil to begin with but understandably became evil out of centuries of frustration of being trapped and held against his will.
If you think about it Satan and all other vilified characters have been robbed of their individuality and freedom by some “good” being who thought they knew better, and since those characters refused to have their spirits broken they became the all mighty villains, always painted as bad, and never really understood.
What's more impressive that producers made so much effort and attention to detail and only few ppl analysed it and made video.Thank you for your work.
A masterpiece of analysis and research. So glad you decided to redo the old videos and make them more accessible to the unconverted. Liked and shared 🙂
Actually a mini prequel series about the Egyptian culture on the island would be awesome!
explaining the incident completely,the building of the cork and the war between them while only Jacob and mib from the original cast would appear.
Im not so sure about that ..they are 13 years older by now
This would have happened if Lost had been created in the last decade based on the current Hollywood Business ethos. They milk the cow until its dry & dead.
But during the period in which the series was created, the culture was to let things end as originally formulated. In a way, I'm glad for the old way of doing things.
And specifically THIS is what destroys fantasy universes so often, fans wanting to know everything and for that demystifying everything, destroying the atmosphere while watching the og material. think about it. lost (and so many other stories) wouldn’t be that much fun without something let untold….
I found this channel on Reddit after I started my LOST rewatch and I am so glad I did. The thought and time you’ve put in these theory essays is beyond amazing. Thank you so much for your time, effort and passion and I can’t wait to watch through all of these.
Are you SystemWhistle?
Same, after finally giving the show a chance (I remember when it aired, just never bothered with it as a teenager/young adult during that time), I had to go on Reddit to see if there were a few things that could be better explained. Expected to trudge through a bunch of theories, but got this video playlist instead after seeing so many recommendations for it.
Glad I gave it a watch (along with the mini epilogue episode that I was surprise existed).
So appreciative of the time and care put into these videos - makes it much easier to piece everything together now.
Oh man the idea that we may not be seeing Mothers original form is Wild and really cool. Also iv always felt like a single old women killing everyone in that village...and burying that well. Really impossible to buy and proof that they probably wanted us to think she was a smoke monster. The mirror between that and the temple massecure is a really great point. Awesome work as always!!!
So plausible
To even have gotten the guy's unconscious body up the ladder and out of the well!
This is criminally underated.
I adore Lost in more ways that i can express now. For this reason i don't normally watch Lost relaterd videos, explanations and the such. However, this has got me completely hooked within the first 10 minutes of part 1. There's something very sensical and scientific, yet human and humane about your analysis.
I'm enjoying this so much that I tear up from time to time.
I'll be sure to watch your other videos about Lost. Thank you!!,
I remember Across the Sea being so divisive but I thought it was one of the best and most important episodes of the show. I just feel bad for Claudia
Justice for Claudia! 🙌
Put your theories in a book about the series! It would be great to read it and think about them.
@@itai82 I have "Unlocking the Meaning of LOST", from Porter & Lavery (2006). But it's superficial and only about Season 1.
A book with the content of "LOST Explained" would be great for me, as English is not my native language and I would like to read and think about all this content.
It really depends on the situation; if this channel garners a lot of support, more projects can be made on possible suggestions. I’ve seen channels that have gotten so big that books, and merch got made because the people wanted it. It depends on how the creator of this channel feels; and that is why we must protect the channel at any cost, is what I would like to believe anyway.
Maybe if the demand was there but I think Peter is right that the channel would have to blow up to justify such a project. I feel like the videos are more appealing because they can be consumed more easily than a book.
Regardless this stuff is awesome and I think it actually makes the show better. You seem to understand this show better than the people who made it. You’re able to convey points that they left to interpretation, and wow do you know how to interpret it! Well done!
To much red tape to get through with the creators of the show
I can't stop watching. I've been wanting to write an analysis for lost too after I rewatched the series for 3rd time, but i'm rethinking now, because this is the ULTIMATE analysis ever.
Dude this is amazing. The ancient history of the island and story of Jacob and MIB were my favorite part of the whole series and I nerded out hard on lostpedia reading these theories back when the show was on. Great to see such detail and presentation of these ideas and you tying it all together
Really do appreciate the effort that goes into these.
"As her connection to her people was cut off, her connection to the source was awakened." Truest statement I've ever heard. Sometimes in our darkest, loneliest moments is when we really awaken to our higher power. Beautiful.
This is already one of my favorite RUclips videos I have ever seen.
High praise! Thank you :-)
If you were selling a LOST complete pack with all the seasons, the missing pieces, the epilogue and your The Theory of Everything videos as the extras on DVD available in different languages, I would go for it. Thank you for your work. I know it takes quite some time to create a video like this one.
Thank you for keeping the amazing show alive. Just recently got a friend to start watching for the first time. Cant wait to show him these videos when he finishes!
I think we're going to have to watch that again. (I probably said that about Part One, as well.) I do watch more than once because there is SO much. Thank you for your amazing work.
Amazing job. I thought I understood this show well but you my friend are a genius.
I wouldn’t say that I’m a genius but that’s very kind of you to say all the same!
@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 On LOST you are indeed my friend!
It's so amazing when a show takes high concept and does it well as opposed to (what I feel like) is shock content as a perceived value mechanism (that dragons show or the drug ones). Amazing analysis of a truly well written show.
I watched the video and then sat here n scrolled through the comments, and it was such a beautiful thing to read. The amount of love and praise you've gotten for your effort is such a testament to your skills and hard work. I really pray that you go so far in life and whatever career path you choose. Calling these videos brilliant is the understatement of the century. Truly inspiring and appreciated. ❤ Best of luck to you.
Thank you very much for the kind words 🙏
What a wonderful channel this is, as a die hard nerd LOST fan, I appreciate all of your work. Ive learned a lot (and was so sure I knew everything 😅) fantastic stuff dude
Thank you kindly, sir 🙏
Fantastic work as always! The care you put into these projects comes through so powerfully. Thank you again and again for your hard work. Proud to support you.
And thank you for your support, Christian! It means a great deal to me. 🙏
Fascinating video and loved every minute of it. What really got me is The Egyptian era on the Island and would love a mini series on it. Man in Black worshipped by the Egyptians, the temple, statues, life in general. How it came to an end
That's incredible work ❤. Didn't know about this channel. Thank you so much for this great analysis and infos.
WoW
thanks to be here making these videos more than 10 years later. I knew since the finale that this wasnt a normal show, and that itd be unfair that it disappeared from collective consciousness and pop culture as well as a niche of more 'philosophical fans'. i used to think LOST was the greatest series ever... now I tie it with twin peaks. but i dont put it in second place, mind you. And i wont ever be capable of proving it since lynch doesnt elaborate, but tp of old influenced lost as much as lost influenced lynch a bit in season 3...
i would love a companion podcast for lost (a pod for every couple eps)
Masterful video. So much meaning is conveyed through the words you say and the footage you show.
Thank you, sir! I put a lot of time into the edits to make sure that the relevant images match my words. I’m glad you picked up on that side of things 🙂
Excellent videos. I have been and continue to be a huge fan of this show, and thought I knew it inside and out after watching it during its ABC run and following the podcasts back in the day. But this exposition is teaching me things I didn't fully grasp then and is giving me new perspectives on what happened and why. Thank you for the tremendous effort that went into making these videos.
These videos are really amazing, thank you for finally doing something NEW and INTUITIVE
These videos are incredible my guy. Keep up the great work!
Thank you so much for the kind comment! Hope you continue to enjoy them 🙏
So glad you’re still making these!
And many more still to come! 🙂
I see that I didn't understand almost anything about the series, but I love it.
I always had a lot of doubts about the cabin and I always thought that those ashes around the cabin were to keep the black smoke inside and not escape and that's why he said: help🤣
Awesome. I want to watch the series again after watching your analysis. Thank you.
Phenomenal, phenomenal video. I can’t wait for part three ❤
I've rewatched Lost 5 or 6 times and I didn't even know half the stuff you're talking about what an awesome video!
That's very interesting how you viewed Jack as the back up For the island and that he restarted it with his touch. When I originally saw that scene I assumed that he looked over his shoulder because he noticed that the water had started to flow again (because he had put the cork in) and he reached up to touch the water which was increasing in volume. It did not feel to me like the show was trying to convey that his touch played a role but I can see how there's enough ambiguity that you could come to that conclusion.
Well worth the wait! Thank you for another entertaining, insightful video. Merry Christmas.
My pleasure! And Merry Christmas! 🎄
incredibly detailed analysis, masterful editing and excellent narration. thank you for enriching my experience.
Thank you 🙏
I love hearing your thoughts and explanations! Makes me appreciate and understand Lost on a new level!
Stumble across your channel after finished Lost, thanks for the analysis.
Absolutely fascinating, thanks so much for something so in-depth yet easy to understand.
Great video!
I always assumed the reason Mother was able to be killed was because she had already passed on her role to Jacob thereby relieving herself of her powers.
I agree that once she transferred power to Jacob, The Island "allowed" her to die. Whereas the only reason MiB could not be killed for so long was because the cork was in place, which essentially kept his essence bottled up on The Island, unable to be released or destroyed.
This is so amazing that you can explain this in this way. I watched the series when it originally aired and it blew me away.
I have since rewatched it with my daughter and wife and this is saving me from just being in awe.
Your review is outstanding 💯
Yes part 2 is here!!!
I saw a synopsis for the first season and neeeded to find more lost content! so happy I found your channel ❤
I’ve watched all your videos and agree with your interpretations of almost everything - EXCEPT the idea that Mother was the first Protector. For some reason I’ve always felt/believed that Mother was just the latest Protector in a line of Protectors stretching back untold millennia. At the time “Across the Sea” was airing I even assumed that Mother repeated to Jacob and his brother what had been done to her by own mother; be raised by the previous Protector for the sole purpose of replacing them. Like repeating a pattern of bad parenting.
That's totally fair! Mother being the first protector isn't a hill I would necessarily die on, I just found it an interesting possibility worth bringing up. Because we are never told how this protector lineage began, or how a mortal person absorbed the powers of The Source and became able to pass them onto others. But the idea of cross-pollinating that unknown protectorship origin with Mother going down into the cave and entering the light is what helped me to build a bridge between ideas. I believe she is really, really ancient and that she reigned for longer than Jacob ever did, which is why she was so tired and done with the work by the time we meet her. However, it's not a theory I would argue to be definitive or provable in any way at all. It just makes for interesting speculation.
Thank you for making these vidoes, I am a fan of LOST since I was 13, I know its not the best series but I am just very interested in the lore it brings and I always find it interesting.
You have an appropriate screen name too!
I love this channel. So many things to ponder. So many things I never thought of
Well damn, I’ve finished all of your videos 😂 looking forward for the next chapter. Thank you so much!
Finally gotten around to see and finish this:
First of all, I remember something I criticized a long time ago, was that the video clips you were using were of various quality. Some with the ABC watermark, some with the CTV watermark, as well as very different aspect ratios. I am very happy to see that they are gone. The videos are very clean now, and the previous Theory of Everything, as well as this part, has a very comfortable presentation. Nothing jarring and everything flows beautifully. It feels like you're telling a story and you put a lot of themes and events in great words, and that would've been hindered with odd video choices.
8.30 Was Mother a Smoke Monster - I tend to veer into this as well, but I've also liked the idea that Mother had smoke Monster abilities. Just the mere presence of her and she could kill everyone, burn down things and so on. Or the idea that Mother was a smoke Monster, but it looked differently than the one we've grown accustomed to. Perhaps a grey cloud (white and black combined)?
21:00 How does Mother pass on powers - The significance of the touch also has a lot of spiritual and religious meaning. The Bible has many of these situations. "Jesus stretching forth His hand to the leper, touched him, saying, I will; be thou cleansed. And straightway his leprosy was cleansed" (Matt. 8:3). And in Catholicism, when deacons and priests are ordained, a bishop places his or her hands on the top of their bowed heads. This gesture is, like you mention here, what activates this role and not the drink. Heck, even in Catholicism, when kids go through their first communion they don't necessarily drink wine, like it's been done in previous centuries. (Speaking from experience, I didn't have wine at my communion :P). Anyway, I thought it was very neat that the show did it this way.
48:00 When did the Egyptians come - I used to be a pre-Across the Sea person until I learned more about Egyptian history and have switched sides. I can totally get behind that Jacob brought the Egyptians there. I do think that there are no problems that there have been some Egyptians that came there before Jacob was born. Just to further highlight that many civilizations came there to emphasize Mother's quote about how they come, fight, destroy and corrupt. But I agree with you that the true haven for Egyptians in terms of building the wells, structures and the statue was after Across the Sea. I love your analysis of the rug and tapestry. On the bottom of the tapestry it also seems like the sails are pointed to the right, meaning that they are leaving the Island and not coming to the Island. So I think you're correct on that part. Love the way you told that story by the way. In the end, it mimics so many of the stories we got in the rest of the series. Even Alvar Hanso/DeGroots visions of a utopia on the Island was probably very similar to Jacob's ideas 2000 years prior.
1:17:00 I didn't notice the walled off section behind the summoning cellar chamber. Nice catch! And yes, I agree that this is definitely Ben's first time there.
1:20:00 I agree with you on the chamber here and that eventually the water would come back in the draining room. What's odd about the summoning chamber in the barracks is that it is at ground floor. There are a few small stairs when Ben enters it, but everything should be above ground. Meaning that before DHARMA built the barracks, the summoning chamber door likely just stayed there. I wonder if there was a civilization here that died out or maybe some structure here. Since the 50's Others transported Jughead here before DHARMA built their housing complex there, and the bomb was so massive, so maybe there was much more going on in this area. And most of it has been demolished or built over, while the door to the summoning chamber remained.
Also, agree on the different civilizations building the Temple. A lot of South-Asian iconography and design here. In my own video on "Numbers" I proposed the theory that Mayans built the rope bridge we saw in that episode.
As always, thank you for such a thoughtful and thorough comment! Really pleased you enjoyed it and that you agree with so much of it. :-)
Part of the reason why I wanted to remake The Theory of Everything video was because I felt I could re-present these ideas in a much clearer and more compelling way now. But the key motivator behind the redux was down to the text-to-speech voice and how consistent (and fair) the criticisms of that voice was. I am a big believer in the idea that if enough people identify the same criticism in your work then it is something that should be addressed. But the other reason to remake that video was the quality of the clips being used. I was never happy with the low-res quality of the videos (although they were very easy to render in an edit lol) and I wanted to rectify that and improve the overall quality of the presentation, so it would not alienate potential new viewers. Strangely, almost no one other than yourself ever took issue with the varying quality of the clips themselves. It was always the voice that got the main complaints. There wasn't the same criticism and demand for higher quality footage to be used, which I still find odd. Because it is something that had always bothered me personally! I hate looking back at the early videos because of that. So, I appreciated what you were saying back then and agreed with you. I'm glad I've been able to address the quality issues and improve both the audio and visuals.
In the very early days (after the show initially finished), I think I assumed the Egyptians predated 'Across the Sea' too. Simply due to the real world historical timeline of Egyptians and Romans. It wasn't until I heard the commentary for 'Across the Sea' that I realised that was not necessarily the case. The fact that Damon and Carlton specifically point out that the cork was not installed until after this event with the Man in Black really confused me and made me re-think my previous assumptions. Because we know the cork is inscribed with hieroglyphic symbols, which means Egyptians were on The Island after Jacob became protector. And this one comment cracked open the mythology for me because I then started really trying to understand the timeline of events, and looking more closely at things like the wheel and the temple. I began picking up on all of those details (e.g. the hieroglyphs on the donkey wheel chamber pillar) and started to see what that hidden mythology was trying to communicate. This study of the background details is what helped me find the walled off chamber entrance beneath the temple. All of these breadcrumb clues that, when pieced together, suggest a specific timeline of events. It made me fall in love with the show's mythology all over again.
As for the summoning chamber outpost at the barracks, I think the tomb's doorway would have stood in that clearing for centuries, and was probably one of the reasons why DHARMA decided to settle in that specific place. Yes, it was a good spot to build a commune, but it was also an historical site on The Island that wasn't defended by The Others. I'm sure DHARMA studied the tomb and translated the glyphs and learned from it. Hard to know if Horace ever figured out how to use it or what precisely it was for, but considering he built his house adjacent to it and hid it within, we know he was au fait with the tomb. If they did comprehend what it was for -- i.e. calling the smoke monster -- then perhaps that is why they wanted to claim it and hide it. Just in case their Hostile friends tried to use it on them.
I think Ben most likely learned about the summoning chamber outpost and the wheel during his time with DHARMA, and got the blanks filled in once he joined The Others. Although his knowledge and usage of the summoning chamber outpost could very well have come from the dreams he speaks about to Locke. The Island was guiding him to have a relationship with and to the monster. Or perhaps the smoke monster had manifested to Ben as a dead person to give him instructions, hence why Ben says: "It's where I was told I could summon the monster. That's before I realized that it was the one summoning me." There are many possible scenarios that we can play with there.
The Mayan's building the rope bridge sounds totally feasible to me and adds more historical colour to the backstory. I think it's fair to say that various cultures came to The Island and either built new structures (some of which were destroyed and lost to time) or added their own touches to pre-existing structures, like the temple grounds, which surely hosted many different civilisations across two millennia. The production design directly implies this fact through the variety of influences present. Gotta love the details in LOST!
Well my afternoon just got a lot more interesting!
Great video. Do u plan on covering the LOST videogame at some point? I have very vague memories of playing at the time but I can't remember how good it was exactly. All I remember is that those sections where u have to hide from the Smoke Monster were an absolute nightmare
I don't think so as I've never played the game myself although I'm aware of the narrative elements within it.
I recently bought a ps3 and the Lost game its so funny seeing all the characters in it, although I haven't finished yet and can't say how it ends
@@LOSTEXPLAINED108you should definitely play it and do a video on it!
this is truly incredible! thankyou so much for these videos!!! i new lost was a deep show but i had no idea it was thos in detail
Thanks for putting this information together.
Thank you for your indepth explanation!
I really think I came up with a good series idea. Do an analysis for each major character. Like what there backstory is, why they were brought to the island, and what they do throughout the show and what their thought process is whilst doing it. You don’t need to to many character but something like 5-10 episodes would be nice. I know you probably won’t see this comment but if you do please consider this idea.
I have plans to do an episode guide after the Theory of Everything series comes to an end, which will be a massive ongoing project over time. However, I do like the idea of peppering character profiles in there too. Several people have asked me for more in-depth explorations of the characters, so you’re not alone. Depends on how intensive I find making the episode guides themselves and if there is an opportunity to fit character profiles into the actual ep guide itself. Not sure yet, but will keep this in mind. Thanks for the suggestion 🙏
I wonder if the show is ultimately about Rosicrucianism. A lot of what you’ve talked about in the first two parts relates to the teachings of AMORC. They trace their beliefs to the monotheist era of Egyptians, they’re big into healing through touch using electromagnetism. It’s focused on mystical understanding coupled with reason.
Do you cover Sayid and how he got healed? That's one of the things I don't quite understand. Dead is dead and all that.
Loving these videos, gives me so many details I've missed.
Yes indeed! I cover that topic in the very next video - Part Three: The Game.
Great video and series. I found your channel during my third watch of the series. I love the more logical explanations instead of the simple “good vs evil”.
One thing I didn’t quite grasp in this video is when Locke turns the wheel you mention it as an “ancient event” and the very first time it was turned. What time period was Locke down there? Wouldn’t the first time have been when the MIB attempted turning it for the first time? Or possibly ancient Egyptians?
Great to know, thank you! As for your question, I think there are a couple of things you have conflated from the video here, which is easily done as the lore is complicated to unpack!
So, “the ancient incident” I describe is not when Locke turns the wheel. It is when the Egyptians first turn the wheel roughly 2,000 years in the past. But this is only made possible due to the time travel events involving our Losties. So let me unpack the chronology here:
Our Losties find the well which leads to the wheel in some unknown point in time (for argument’s sake let’s say they are in the year 1500). Locke goes down into the well while Team Sawyer wait above holding the rope that Locke is belaying himself down on. A time flash happens. Locke is pulled into the wheel chamber’s pocket of time, so when he lands down there he is now in the objective present day with the Man in Black as Fake Christian. If the island is the record skipping them through time on top, then think of Locke as now being in the middle of the turntable which the record is revolving around. I discuss this Locke-wheel-MiB scene and the reasons for why it is happening in 2007 in Part Four when dealing with all of the time travel.
However, Team Sawyer have been jumped to a different time, waaaaay back in the past. To a time when the statue of Taweret stood tall but BEFORE the well had ever been built. They are in the Egyptian era of the island now. But Sawyer had brought the rope from 1500 through the jump with him and it is now stuck in the ground where the well will one day be built.
Which means the Egyptians will find that rope and dig there to see where it leads. They will find this pocket of energy and The Man in Black will instruct them to build the new wheel chamber there. They will complete the task then turn the wheel and this leads to “the ancient incident” as detailed in this video. It is the event that necessitates the construction of the cork at the heart of the island. So, the rope in the ground is the catalyst for all of this.
So, Locke turning the wheel is not the ancient incident. That is happening in 2007. But the time travel events in the lead up to that are what make the construction of the well possible in the first place. Does that make sense?
@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 Yes! That makes sense. Thanks for the quick reply. Now time for me to start part 3!
Thank you for making this series
Thanks for making these
Wonderful video! Thank you!
So if mother was the jacob of the island then went into the light after and lost her light that would mean she was stuck protecting the island as the smoke monster but also could never leave unlike jacob.
You did it again my friend. :-) Ok, I think you do it on all of your videos. ;-)
What a stunning work of art. This is so beautifully done and presented. It feels like a whole new layer to the series. For a Lost fan since day 1, this is truly amazing and so helpful as well. All the things I learned and understood better. Thanks a lot. When I start my 9th rewatch in the near future, I'll have another totally new perspective and insight to Lost and its universe and how it's so connected to the real world. Impaccable work sir! Have you ever checked back with Damon and Carlton on their opinion, what they think about your ideas and incredible work. I think they've come across one of your videos in all these years. I think it's quite interesting to see, on the other hand, that's why I love Lost and the community so much. Everyone has a slightly or even very different theory about all these things on Lost. And that's good in my opinion. That's the magic and soul of Lost. It's life, pure life. That's why I'm so connected to Lost and all the characters. Real-like people on their journey through life, different stages, connected somehow.... I could go on and on, Lost is so complex, like life. And yet so simple and easy, like life. It's everything all at once..... Thanks a lot for your work and passion. Peace, health, love and respect to all. 🙂
Best lost analysis ever
been waiting for this!
I love this breakdown - The only analogical issue I have is comparing Mib and Jacob to the positive and negative charges of a battery. The battery analogy (along with the Island (CPU) and underground energy channels over Earth (Motherboard + circuitry)) is very helpful in understanding this, but breaks down when the Smoke Monster lineage ends with Mib. Now we only have a "Positive" charge in a battery.
I think maybe a better way to think of it is that the Protector (Mother, Jacob, etc..) are the full Battery in the process; the Smoke Monster is simply one of many onboard-Memory sticks slotted (optionally) in the Motherboard configuration - able to commune with the Island and "photograph" the memories of Islanders, but unable to control the Light's energy or leave the island's bubble. Removal of the Smoke Monster has, ultimately, no impact on the existance of ongoing of the Light.
There are a few different ways of reading it. One is that the smoke monster part of the battery was only a necessary component up until 2007. After all, the creation of a smoke monster is what necessitates there being a battery in the first place. It was connected to the same power source as the protector for thousands of years but perhaps it is only a protector that is ultimately needed going forward. Mother became the battery first, then Jacob and the MiB replaced her, which was all for a purpose in serving the will of The Island. But The Island ultimately wanted to rid itself of that negative charge once the charge grew too big and started killing the positive. It was no longer needed in the circuit. So, you could view the whole Jacob vs MiB struggle as The Island working to find a way to solve its own internal malfunction. To get rid of that battery and no longer rely upon it.
Another way of looking at it is that there always needs to be a balance of some kind in order for the island to function properly. Perhaps this battery doesn't necessarily need to be purely supernatural in nature. It’s more about who has influence over The Island. The polarity continues on because we have Hurley as protector of the island but we also have him recruit Ben as his number two. Hurley is most definitely an embodiment of light (whether you read that as literal good or simply that he harnesses the most positive of human qualities) whereas the darkness is provided by Ben, who is a man more than suited to being the negative charge. Ben represents the darkness of humanity; the worst that it is capable of. Their battery isn’t as literal and absolute as their predecessors, it’s more subtle and human than that; fragile good and redeemable bad. But they will form a battery of their own kind, without the extremities. And this balance is struck the moment Hurley makes the offer and Ben accepts. No coincidence that such balances are found almost immediately after a new protector takes over each time. So, that's another way of viewing it also.
@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 That's a really good point I hadn't thought about - Ben does act as the counterbalance to Hurley, and I hadn't really considered it. While there was possibly some repentance on Ben's part throughout, he's still largely flawed.
Wonderful narration and analogies. Everything is so layered. Music on point. Fantastic All round
However, I personally believe jack became the protector. It makes sense how it took so long for him to remember in season 6. The sideways Jack was not the stubourn Jack we come to love. He was seemingly calm n at peace, kinda like a Jacob. He lived a whole another life as something else n interacted with other groups. BUT The most important time, was the time u spent with these people! Just my opinion, there has to of been more than one smokey in existence
Stay lost! Merry Xmas
Hugo became the protector because he drank the water and then Jack dies. Hugo even said to Ben that he was a great number 2 and Ben says he was a great number one - this is not up for debate
this is a Massive work ! Huge. Interest to see the one you are goign to make about the Game as a third part. Some people would ave splitted this in dozen of videos to make clickbaith instead. respect !
Absolutely awesome, keep up the amazing work.
Amazing video! Thank you for your hard work
So excited for part 3 brother, you and Pillar of Garbage are my favorite tubers 🥰
Thank you! I’m honoured to be amongst your fave channels 😊
This is amazing work.
I still am having trouble understand the concept of the cork. What would happen before the cork was i installed? Why does the water draining into the hole cause the island to overheat? How did it prevent this before the cork?
Before the cork's construction, the water stream would have fed into the cave and down into a naturally formed opening in the ground. Just imagine a large hole that runs deep into the Earth where The Source thrives. The river water flowed directly into The Source and kept it submerged (and cool). This water flowed into the light then back out again at another location (where both MiB and Jack both wash up). These water streams connect to and flow all over The Island, running in and out of the light, creating a natural circulatory system. It's like a bloodstream.
The Egyptians build the wheel near another pocket of light and channel streams of water into it. This messes with the natural flow of water around The Island and causes, what I describe as, "The Ancient Incident". As a result, The Source became destabilised and began to overheat. Large amounts of radiation would have been released, basically the same thing that happened at The Swan in 1977. The cork system helped to essentially plug up this leakage, but instead of concrete, they used stone. A consequence of this cork blocking the light meant that the water could no longer keep The Source fully submerged anymore.
So, the Egyptians created a water pool around it, which drip-fed the river water through the aperture around the cork, plus a drainage system (with various tunnels) that kept the water flowing in and out of the cave. This system artificially maintained The Island's circulatory system, although it became much weaker as a result. And this is how they kept the water and light in balance for the next 2,000 years. As long as the cork was in place (and kept the leakage in place) and the water continued to flow in around it, everything would be okay.
However, once the cork was removed by Desmond, the circulatory system was broken again. We see the last of the water drain into the hole, but The Source needs a constant stream of cold water. It's the coolant system. By removing the cork, the water stopped flowing into the cave altogether and The Source started to overheat and turn into volcanic fire. Notice how when Jack puts the cork back in, the light doesn't automatically come back on. It needed the flow of water to cool down and come back to life again.
Just think of it like surgery. The Source is "the heart". The rivers are its bloodstream that flow in and out of it. The Source had a heart attack 2,000 years ago. The cork was essentially the pacemaker to keep the heart beating and the blood flowing. If the pacemaker gets removed, another heart attack happens. I hope that makes it a bit more clear.
Very interesting video! I have a question about the deaths of Jacob and the mother - in the video you said Mother could be killed because she had a replacement lined up, but when Jacob was killed by Ben, he did not yet have Jack as a replacement. He only had some candidates lined up. How then was Ben able to kill him?
So, the idea is that The Island will allow a protector to die as long as there is a line of succession in place, whether that be someone who has already taken the job or potential candidates who have been activated by the former protector. As long as that line is in place it means someone will take the job and keep the circuit alive. The Island seems to always make sure that there will be a candidate ready to fulfil the duties it needs: Jacob > Jack > Hurley.
I like the idea that what happened on the Island in ancient times informed our myths. As in: events in Lost are not inspired by the Bible but the Bible (in Losts reality) was inspired by events on the Island. With the Bible in that sentence standing in for Egyptian myths and everything else.
FANTASTIC series of videos you have going here. One little quick correction to a slight error you made out of love for truth. Horus is not the brother of Set. He is the nephew of Set. Long story short, Osiris miraculously conceived a child with his sister-wife, Isis, after Set killed him. That child was Horus. I almost made that mistake myself, but then I remembered that Horus was the child of Isis and Osiris, the siblings of Set. It is totally understandable, though, since we are talking about two brothers here. Other than that, you are doing a great job! Lost is one of my favorite shows because of the incredibly deep lore within it. I love deep lore.
- a friendly archaeology and theology nerd
Thank you. As I understand it, the Osiris myth has different versions and interpretations. In one of the readings, Horus and Set are indeed brothers. I appreciate that it might not be the predominant reading of the myth, but it does exist and can be found from a cursory Google. I imagine that Horus and Set as brothers is more the version of the Osiris myth that LOST is playing with. That said, I am not an expert in these matters. It's all from my own targeted research rather than from having an actual education in these subjects.
Love this series, incredibly well done. Question: if Locke pushing the wheel was the “ancient incident”, and Sawyer’s rope was where the Egyptians dug to built the Man in Black’s wheel, how was the wheel room already there when Locke fell in?
Thank you 🙏 But no, Locke pushing the wheel was not the ancient incident. When he falls into the well, he is pulled into the wheel chamber’s pocket of time - aka the centre of the turntable (where it isn’t spinning) and remains in the objective present day. I discuss that whole sequence of events in Part Four on Science and Time Travel. Basically, Team Sawyer are still on the record spinning up above, currently in the Egyptian period with the rope in the ground, long before that chamber is ever built.
The ancient incident happens offscreen after Team Sawyer leave that period. The Egyptians find the rope, dig it up, build the well, find the pocket of energy, then construct the chamber.
@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 Ah ok. I just need to finish the series haha. Thank you!
I remember the thing that got me most into the show was the idea of the hatch and some dude having to push a button to prevent a magnetic black hole from growing and destroying the world, something about that idea is just so eerie and devastating
Binge watching, you can figure a lot out. I can’t imagine trying to piece it together when trying to remember what has happened one week at a time over the better part of a decade.
I rewatched the show during its run, season by season, and after it finished I took a long break from it. Then came back for a full rewatch in the mid-2010s and did a full binge. So, I got to bring that past knowledge with me but also view it in a fresh way.
insane video good job
The best thing would be to make a prequel to how Smokey manipulated the Egyptians. He manipulated them BIG TIME and that would be a story I'd love to watch
I'm currently researching the Egyptian era for my own video series. One thing in particular that is interesting is two rooms that conflict a bit with other Egyptian constructs on the Island: the summoning chamber and the chamber were they stored Jughead. They have a lot of elements that should suggest an earlier time frame. A lot of the hieroglyphs in these two sections (compared to everything else like the frozen chamber, Temple walls, lighothouse and so on), use a cursive Hieroglyphs system that was not carved into walls, but on Papyrus scrolls, with passages on the pillars in the these two rooms. The pillars include spells from The Book of the Dead, and those things were not published (like Jacob using passages from "The Odyssey"), but buried with the mummies so they could use the spells to attack and pass the various creatures on their way tot he afterlife. The exact passage is a spell from Ani's book of the dead, so it was buried with him in 1250 BCE, not recovered until the 19th century. These exact spells and incantations being on the pillars is quite interesting. Especially since this practice was already gone by the Roman empire, and changed up so much in the centuries prior to it. I'm starting to wonder if these two chambers were built prior to Across the Sea, and pretty much forgotten over time. The settlement that built them died out (or got killed by volcanic eruption). And of course these two places being underground and hidden would explain how Claudia's people never found them or kid-Jacob/boy in black. Additionally, if these chamber stored these scrolls of "the book of the dead", then those cursive passages could've been later on carved into the pillars by MIB's corrupted Egyptian followers. And of course everything else, like the statue of Taweret, temple spring, that stone bench, the well and so on was built after Across the Sea - obviously - since the arguments are strong on it, as you point out in your video. However, these two underground chambers are bugging me a bit. Will explore more of that when I myself arrive at the end of season 5 in my video series, but thought to let you know. Another thing I found is that the summoning chamber includes a story taken from the Metternich Stela - a steele plate featuring a lot of Egyptian stories, although compared to the papyrus scrolls of "the book of the dead", was public since it was on display. Some later arrivals of Egyptians might've carved that story in there.
Interesting! I have so many thoughts about this! I suppose there is no reason why the actual Ancient Egyptians couldn't have visited The Island a couple of thousand years prior to 'Across the Sea', although why only build a couple of underground chambers? Unless that is all that survived from the first Egyptian settlers? Just seems weird that the next wave of castaways from that region built many things that survived thousands of years of wear lol. I mean, there are still structures from Ancient Egypt standing in our real world today.
I think if I have any allergy to this idea it would simply be for narrative cleanliness reasons. Two waves of Egyptian settlers overcomplicate an already complicated, ambiguous backstory and I wonder if the writersroom or production team would have been that meticulous and esoteric with the production design? I'm reminded of the script for 'The End' in which the words on "the great stone" aka the cork are not actually written in the description, which means they must have been discussed and figured out during pre-production, presumably between the writers, their researchers, and the production designer and art directors. But how accurate will those translations and interpretations be? Are they micromanaging every last detail of them, I wonder?
That said, if we take every aspect of those background details as being 100% intentional then we can look at those chambers in one of two ways. The first is that your instincts are right and that they intended them to represent two different Egyptian periods on The Island. One pre-Across the Sea and one post-Across the Sea. Which means there definitely was a smoke monster before MiB which was most likely Mother (if you subscribe to that theory, of course). Which also begs the question: was Mother manifesting to the early Egyptians? And if so, is it simply a coincidence that the MiB would take on the same role that she did in terms of instructing and/or manipulating Egyptian settlers? Or is it just history repeating itself again? And if the smoke monster summoning chambers were built pre-MiB and for a different smoke monster all together then why is he still occupying and using them many, many centuries later like his Mother presumably did? Does this actually imply that the original evil theory is right? That Smokey always existed and only had one continuity and was in fact always down in the cave in some form? It raises a lot of good questions, some of which conflict with other parts of the established timeline and lore. It's just a bit too messy for my preferences.
The second way of looking at those chambers and their writings is that the Egyptians who came to The Island post-Across the Sea were trying to revive parts of their history and culture, and to keep old traditions alive in the face of their disappearance under Roman rule. I'm no historian so I can't make any claims as to accuracy, but from my casual research on the subject it appears that their language evolved over millennia, so there is no hard and fast date for the transition from hieratic to demotic. According to Encyclopedia Britannica: "hieratic was replaced by demotic in the 7th century BCE, but it remained in fashion until much later for religious texts of all sorts. The latest hieratic texts stem from the end of the 1st Century or the beginning of the 2nd Century CE." So, that means the use of the cursive was still known and/or practiced (if only in smaller circles) around the time of 'Across the Sea', if we are to accept the episode taking place around that period. I'm not sure where you come down on that one!
As for The Book of the Dead, it may not have been discovered by the modern world until the 19th Century, but that isn't to say it only ever existed in tombs for the years prior to that. Again, according to Britannica: "Scribes copied the texts on rolls of papyrus, often colourfully illustrated, and sold them to individuals for burial use. Many copies of the book have been found in Egyptian tombs." Who is to say that all of those copies went into tombs? Isn't it possible that chapters were etched onto scrolls and made it out of Egypt and to "the new world" of The Island? After all, we know that the LOST island is a melting pot of history; many parts of human civilisation washed up there whether it be a sole Senet game or whole boatloads of people bringing all sorts of books and items with them. Basically, there is wriggle room on this. To me, it makes for a cleaner timeline if there was only ever one period on The Island involving the Egyptians.
However, just because I prefer that reading doesn't mean it isn't possible for there to be another period, or very many other periods, featuring Egyptian travellers. I'm just less inclined to believe the timeline of events can be fully defined as a result of making an esoteric distinction between usage of hieratic vs demotic scripts from the built sets, and more inclined to believe that what the production team intended for us to take away from those details are the implications of their rough translations (for those like us who bother to try and translate them). The hieroglyphics are there to convey an ancient past and history to The Island that gives us details of the events that took place and the mindset of the people who previously inhabited it, but they convey this information quite loosely. But man, this is what I love about LOST! We can create a whole unspoken narrative backstory based on those interpretative implications.
To be honest, I usually approach my readings of the show from mostly a macro story level, whereas I think your scrutiny over the micro details far surpasses my own, and your research is next level. That's not to say I am not consumed by the details lol. Because, clearly, I am a LOST geek. But you have greater dedication to unpicking the details *behind* the details. Even the way you map character journeys takes a level of careful observation that I do not give to the series. So, I shall be very interested to see your video on this subject when you get there!
@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 The thing about the cursive spells and stories in the book of the Dead is that they were mostly written on papyrus and leather, although we can't rule out the possibility that they also carved that into stone. But the confusing part is that passage that is repeated on the pillar in the Cerbrus chamber, Jughead chamber and water entrance to the tunnels which is something like "“for my shade so that it may see the great god on the day of the examining of the souls" (translation comes from EgyptologyLessons and Wallis Budge's The Egyptian Book of the Dead: (The Papyrus of Ani)) and there is a similar passage in Hunefer's Book of the Dead, but the depiction of the hieroglyphs differ from the one that is on Ani's papyrus scroll, since this is part of Ani's story. The passage is from the story of Ani passing through the door of the tomb and outside are his shadow and his soul in the form of a human-headed bird.
It's obvious to me, that from a production standpoint, they wanted a passage that reflected something about entering a chamber of jugdment or going into a hallway of the dead, and found a line from the papyrus of Ani, since that is the most famous one today and with high quality images surfacing online. And the crew re-used the pillars in the other rooms, and re-used the passage from that papyrus.
I think there are two/three ways here. That one of the scribes who wrote that piece of papyrus in the 1300s BC came to the Island maybe with other linguists (just so that the Akkadian cuneiforms could be taught and replicated on the Island, since that was also dying out by the time Romans came to the Island). And whether or not they built the chambers can be irrelevant. They died when they came to the Island, but their papyruses remained on the Island later to be discovered by MIB's Egyptian followers.Or that they did start building chambers, but died before it was finished and MIB's Egyptians discovered them, built more, expanded it to Cerberus vents, repetated the phrases carved on the pillars and so on.
Or that the scribe who wrote Ani's papyrus, duplicated some of its parts and just kept it for himself, passed it for generations, and then the Egyptians from Roman Egypt brought a long some treasures from their ancestors. Maybe they didn't know that that cursive Hieroglyphs, like the one depicted in Ani's Book of the Dead, were personal to the man who was mummified and instead copied it onto the stone pillars.
Or the third option is that papyrus copies of Ani's scroll was placed in a crate and washed up on the beach. Timeline here is not relevant since they could've slipped through the barrier and wound up in a different time, like Doc Ray's body.
@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 Another thing I found out. Sorry for bothering you :P Some of the text and hieroglyphs are repeated in the wrong order on the columns. So I'm actually leaning towards that these people did not build any of the structures (or at least not the pillars or the summoning chamber), because why would these ancient Egyptians (pre-Across the Sea) mess things up and write things out-of-sequence. I am leaning towards that these papyrus scrolls, written by the scribes who wrote the book of the dead (Ani's papyrus) likely wound up on the Island. Maybe like the Senet game? And it was MIB's Egyptian followers who copied those text (maybe they assumed it belonged to gods, if it had the drawings of Anubis or something) and duplicated them 1500 years later.
You’re not bothering me! I like to hear from you and other LOST fans with your own analyses and theories. It’s all good!
@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 If you wonder about my conclusions (or just wild theories) about this room, I posted them now in my newest video "The secrets of the Monster's Chamber" :)
Ill have to check it out, love the dirty work reference
I wonder why jacks stab wound didn’t get healed when he was in the water in the source bc that’s where the water at the temple comes from. I guess his job was done and death was what the island wanted for him? A sacrifice the island demanded to change leadership?
Great question! And you have both asked and answered it. This is another example of The Island's sentience and its own will. Jack was a sacrifice The Island demanded to save itself and the world. However, it's worth noting that Jack says to Hurley before he even goes down into the cave that "I'm already dead", which means, as a doctor, he knows his wound is fatal and that he is already beyond saving. So, another way to look at it is that even The Island cannot save a person past the point of no return. It can be "too late" to heal certain wounds if they've lost enough blood.
Hello great your videos, I love them but I have several doubts, I hope you can clarify them:
* Can the monster die in any other way than the one shown in the program?
* Although the TV series showed only one monster, was there a possibility of having multiple monsters on the island?
*Hurley and Ben and then Walt as protectors of the island don't have to worry about a new Monster on the Island?
* If the Man in Black had left the island, how long would his enjoyment be outside before the world ended? or was there a chance that MIB would have come out without chaos in the world? (even if our protagonists died).
Thank you.
Hieroglyphs were used simultaneously with cuneiform for some time. If I'm not mistaken later Egypt. Cuneiform was more for daily use, and Hieroglyphs were more for decorative and ritualistic uses. So it could be the same people who wrote both. I don't why they would do the switch in the middle of a register, tho
Maybe do a little research before you put stuff on the internet........ Just kidding, pure genius, brilliant as always. Thanks for helping keeping LOST alive
You had me going there for a moment! I felt my hackles rising with "do some research" lol. Thank you :-)
@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 i figured I try and different route to get that "like". Brother, i really respect what you do. You truly are the foremost authority on LOST
This was funny, gj😂😅
So I loved lost when it was on t.v. I also own all the seasons on dvds. I’m enjoying your videos very much. Your explanation of the light is amazing.but what happened to the “light” to fell it needed protection to start bringing people to the island
Philosophical answer: the light exists within people and they are drawn towards the source of that light like moths to a flame. We are all connected to both it and one another, and our existential struggles are what give meaning to the light's existential struggles.
Mythological answer: The Island is trapped within a self-perpetuating cycle just like Locke's compass because it knows what is to come. It is a slave to its own future because of the bootstrap paradox at the core of its history, so it does what it must to ensure its own existence (and ours) continues. That is its main goal. To do that, it must have people come to its shores to play out these key events across time.
Simply the best Xmas present !!!
Thank you!!! Love your videos
I hit the like button before anything
Would love to see a one off special based on this. Maybe an animation.
I don't know why people still thinks that living forever is a curse.
You will live forever. Yes, all your loved ones will decease, but you'll recover from that.
My way of dealing with immortality would be the same as the Sandman series Ep 6 (the Sandman and Death experience).
I think that it is very hard to imagine what living forever actually would be like. We are not talking 100 more years or even 1000. We are talking about living until the end of time itself. Beyond billions of years. It’s quite a ridiculous notion when you think of it like that. Not even a person who is totally terrified of death would want to face that kind of eternity of loneliness. Living for centuries could be amazing and a gift. But living forever would absolutely be a curse.
THANK YOU!! Big christmas gift for me !
Loved this series!
Love these videos!