Everything you want to know about the confusing ending to the series can be found in the DVD bonus feature "A Hero's Journey." The writers were Joseph Campbell fans. (Yay!) The final minutes of the series finale is the culmination of Joseph Campbell's "The Hero With A Thousand Faces." What transpires on the screen during the confusing final minutes of the season finale is the final act of the mythic hero's journey or quest: reward, recognition, and immortality from the powers that be who subjected the person to the hero's journey in the first place. Its a sort of thank you from the universe (or island, as the case may be) to those who participated in the hero's quest. This event, this ceromony, this story, has many names, many tellings, many versions and many faces under many religions and philosophical belief systems. It transcends the human experience. This is why we see the spectrum of religious icons on the stained glass window connected to each other by the tree of life. The story about to unfold in the church has been told and retold in many ways for ages beyond memory. Joseph Campbell called this a "universal archetype." What the viewer is about to experience in the final minutes of the series is the end of the road for the mythic hero, the hero with a thousand faces. You are about to get a serious dose of serious mythology...with a Lost twist. You are about to embark on a rite of passage ceremony.
It starts with the flash sideways. In season 6 we get our first glimpse of an alerntative timeline running concurrent with the real time events of season 6. Where did this alternative timeline come from, and what brought it into existence in season 6 for the first time? The hydrogen bomb detonation at the end of season 5 is responsible for creating the alternative timeline of season 6. Juliet confirms this when she says from the bottom of the shaft, "It worked!" This is verified by the fact there was no apparent aftermath of an atomic explosion in the openig shots of season 6. It appears as if the H-bomb detonation created an alternative timeline via "the butterfly effect." This was done because the island wanted it done. It was the will of the island, and there was a reason for it. The alternative timeline, once again, touches upon the relative nature of time we saw throughout season 5. And, the relative nature of time in the alternative timeline is revealed when Jack says in the season finale, "Why is everyone here, now," and Christian Shepard replies, "there is no 'now', here." Because there is no 'now' in the alternative timeline, there is no time. Therefore, the "zero time" alternative timeline represents eternity, immortality of the soul and a life of happily ever after for those who dwell within it. It's the hero's reward at the end of the journey or quest. It's the Lost equivalent of Valhalla. Some hero's get the girl, some get the gold. Lost survivors get the alternative timeline, and a happily ever after...for a moment. The late season six episodes "Happily Ever After" and "Everybody Loves Hugo" allude to this. The alternative timeline was a way the island (or Jacob) created a special place for the people, the heroes with a thousand faces, who helped save the island from the curse of the smoke monster (Locke Ness Monster), a universal archetype for everything bad and evil that dwells within the hearts of people. Think about it. The Oceanic 815 survivors don't know they're dead in the alternative timeline. They don't realize they're dead in the alternative timeline until they make physical contact with other members of Oceanic 815 and have flashbacks as a result. When they flashback to island crash memories, they have an epiphany, and that epiphany is, "I'm dead, but was allowed to "live" out the ideal life I never had when I was alive." They gain peace, forgiveness and closure from the epiphany and experience in the alternative timeline. Their souls grow. It's a fitting reward for people who were a spiritual mess when they embarked upon the hero's quest. The island expressed its gratitude to the passengers of Oceanic 815 for their service to the island by letting them live out a percieved 'real life' in an alternative timeline it created with an H-bomb explosion. Now on to the immortality part and the final quest of the hero's journey.
Once the survivors finally realize they're dead in the alternative timeline, Hurley is Johnny-on-the-spot. He scoops them up and collects them for a final gathering at a house of worship, an appropriate archetype symbol for the event. Hollywood is good at that stuff. Remember, the church gathering is Hurley's idea, and he orchestrates the whole thing. Also, Hurley is the guardian of the island.
Was the bright light Jack saw as he was dying on the beach a glimpse of heaven as everyone thinks? Or, is Hurley summoning him and everyone else back to the island for one more adventure? The final quest of the hero's journey? Dead people do show up on the island from time to time, and Hurley sees dead people. Hurley has everyone he needs in the church, he's the guardian of the island, and, as Lost liked to point out, time is relative. Perhaps Hurley needs a hand with his own "candidates?"
Can you say, "reboot?" (or movie)
Hey, if the X-Files can do it, so can Lost. And, I'm willing to bet that Lost won't blow it like the X-Files did.
Just saying....
There are other clues in 'The End' that point to a reboot or movie.
Kate: C'mon Jack, we have to go now.
Jack: Go? Go where?
Christian Shepard: You're not going anywhere, son. You're moving on.
Or something like that...
In the final scene of the series, Vincent, the island dog, lies beside Jack on his left side. There is a lot of "mythic imagery" here pointing to a movie or reboot. The dog at the left side of Jack as Jack stares at the sky is a reference to the Tarot card 'The Fool.' The Fool tarot card is numbered 0, just like the 'zero time' alternative timeline of season 6. As such, symbolically, The Fool represents the manifestation of the spirit into the material world. It's where the hero's journey begins, not ends. As the scene ends, we see a bright light centered around Jack's eye, and we're reminded that this is how the series began in season 1: A flash of bright light surrounding Jack's eye. Everything has come full circle. A circle, like the number 0. Like the Maya concept of cyclic time. Like Yin and Yang. All that dies is born again. And so it starts again, the mythic hero is ready for another quest. Just like The Fool.
Ok, Jack, get your ass up. Hurley needs you.
It could happen....
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