Full fathom five thy father lies;
Of his bones are coral made;
Those are pearls that were his eyes:
Nothing of him that doth fade
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange.
The Tempest. Act i. Sc. 2
After the last episode, I came up with the following theory:
French scientists have been expirementing on the island, in order to develop
a special virus, which doesn't harm people, but heal them. This Regenerative
Virus hadn't been perfected yet, and was very dangerous. Test animals
were respondent to the regenerative effects of the virus, but they also
displayed the dangerous side-effects (aggressiveness, insanity, ...?).
If anything went wrong, the unfinished virus had to be contained at all
costs.
Something went wrong...
There was a breach and the scientists were contaminated. Some wanted to
escape the island, but others didn't. One of the scientists (Brendan or
Danielle) sabotaged the ship and locked some crucial equipment away (Brendan
took the keys), so no one could escape. A huge conflict ensued and the
people who wanted to escape tried to kill the ones who wanted to stay.
Danielle killed them too in order to defend herself, her child and the
safety of mankind, which could not be exposed to the virus. Then she sent
out a disress call, which was meant for the people who controlled the
experiment from the outside, hoping they could help cure them from the
virus. The experiment was considered a failure, though, and helping Danielle
and Alex would be too dangerous. Therefore, the experiment was abandoned
and covered up by the French government (or some other (secret?) institution).
Danielle was left alone on the island with her child Alex, who disappeared
somehow.
Sixteen years after the massacre, Sayid came along.
zhenar
Zhenar: Actually this is rather good. I'm impressed with it. None of us
took it this far. Although I'm hoping for more than just a virus, I wouldn't
mind seeing this part of the entire scenario. Very nice.
JacksGirlfriend
I'm thinking there's probably a lot more to the whole story than just the
virus, because my theory doesn't explain the monster, 'the others' and the
fact that the plane just 'happened to crash' on that specific island.
But it does explain some things, like what happened to the French scientists,
why Locke can walk again and why so many people don't seem to be seriously
injured from the crash.
I'm very curious to see if this theory can hold up against the next couple
of episodes...
zhenar
I thought of the island having some kind of regenerative properties, but
I never made the leap to a virus. But it makes sense and gives a reason
for the scientific expedition. I think it has potential to fit.
JacksGirlfriend
Here's a crazy thought--
tie your "regenerative virus theory" to the "Time-loop"
or "wormhole" theory and you could have an island of immortality.
The virus would not only cure people of their illnesses and injuries,
but grant them eternal youth--in other words they won't physically age
from the time they are exposed to the virus. This could be a way for Claire's
baby to tie into the "history" of the island and be the key
to everything--the baby will remain a perpetual infant, and never mature.
Or worse, she could be perpetually pregnant and never give birth.
This could be why things like Shannon's asthma have been introduced--gradually,
as her body is more affected by the regenerative virus, her asthma will
disappear.
This could also be why Charlie's drug withdrawl has been so tame. And
why people with injuries seem to heal so quickly. (Michael only limped
for a day or two after being gored by the boar, Jack's dislocated shoulder
seemed to stop hurting after just a day or two, Charlie's bee stings disappeared
overnight, etc.) The only catch with this one is why Locke's paralysis
was so quickly healed--unless the virus heals the nervous-system most
quickly and his paralysis was purely a nerve injury.
Where the time-loop comes in is the animals, the monster, Danielle, the
'others.' Perhaps a strange wormhole or time-loop did trap all these people
and creatures from different eras on the island, and they were all exposed
to and affected by this regenerative virus, which preserved them at the
same age at which they were "Lost."
So why could the Marshall, the boars, Adam and Eve, and the polar bear
die? Because the virus can only do so much. As long as the major systems
of the body have at least some degree of functionality, the virus will
start working its magic. But if one or more systems is catastrophically
damaged, nothing can prevent death. In fact, Adam and Eve may have figured
this out and gone to the caves to commit some kind of ritualistic suicide
to end their interminible lives.
Danielle also knows about the viruses affects, and out of fear for what
it could do if spread to a larger population, killed the rest of her crew.
She might also think that her distress call was terminated ages ago, but
something about the time-loop has kept it going? That part I'm still working
on.
This theory really makes me worry about Claire. If I had to be perpetually
eight months pregnant, I might end up killing myself. I've been pregnant
twice--trust me, you don't want to live like that forever.
jncar
This theory reminds me of the translator microbes of Farscape. Rockne O'Bannon wrote a short story set in the far future of Chrichton in which he reveals that they also repaired the body, leading to a lifespan 3-4 times that of a normal person (lifeform!)
It still might be something in the water or air rather than bioengineered
(for those that don't care for conspiracy theories).
drabauer
zhenar: Keep working on this one. I think it has a lot of merit. I myself
have been obsessed with aliens being involved ever since I read the translation
of the comic book page.
Are the aliens lonely, studying earth, mad that we shot down their ambassadors
in Roswell 50 years ago... The list goes on and I have no idea, but something
like a regenerative virus sounds like an ET project for sure!
So why were there so many bodies and so many survivors? My guess would
be that the virus can't fix anything that's dead, so the survivors are
the ones that were still clinging to life after the crash. They couldn't
fix 'shrapnel guy' because, well, he had a piece of shrapnel stuck in
him! And, as far as I know, the polar bear may have gotten up later. Has
anyone looked for the body?
deelsee7
Quote:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Or worse, she could be perpetually pregnant and never give birth.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
jncar: Yes, exactly. This is why I get a headache. I have been thinking
basically the same things you have been thinking for over two months.
Just imagine how I feel.
I went through the entire psychological meltdown (my own I mean) in Time
Loops until cc finally told me "to get some sleep". I just recently
started posting in some other threads about time and its looping/swirling/resetting
when we started talking about it again. I mind-boggle myself sometimes.
But I still believe in it and won't let it go. I just have to find some
way to actually communicate exactly what I mean. The closest I can come
is when Railway suggested Brigadoon in a desperate attempt to bring me
back to earth. Kind of close - not exact - but kind of. It will come to
me eventually. I just have to do some serious thinking damn it!
JacksGirlfriend
Right now, I'm trying to figure out what dangerous side-efects the virus could possibly cause. Mental illness is an obvious one, like seeing dead people (Jack's father), hearing voices (Sayid and Danielle) or obsessive behaviour (Locke). Ethan's rash could also be one, though I prefer to think the side-effects are mostly mental (because it would be strange that the virus both heals and destroys ones body).
A bit of a gap in the theory is that for all the survivors to be healed
right after the plane crash, they had to be contaminated with the virus
immediatly after they crashed. But if the virus is that contagious, Danielle
would have known that Sayid was already 'sick'. - Unless it's not that
contagious, but they were already infected on the plane! (Of course, Danielle
might not know everything about the virus and how it infects people)
I hope to figure these and other stuff out as I further develop the theory.
zhenar
Zhenar: Prepare for your own series of headaches then.
JacksGirlfriend
LOL. I think I can handle the headaches. It's the sleepless nights that I'm worried about, Jacksgirl.
zhenar
There will be plenty of those too.
JacksGirlfriend
I really like this theory zhenar. I have a similar one myself.
I tend to believe Danielle when she says that her and her team did ship
wreck on the island though. However this could still go with your theory.
Danielle and her team could have been working on a regenerative virus
and had something go wrong, maybe even a mutation. At that point they
packed up and even maybe got rid of the person or animal they thought
to be the carrier of this mutation only to find out later that it was
one of their own that was the carrier.
So I really like your idea. I think that the side affects may be too vague
which is why I tend to go with the idea of a mutation. Which in that case
would mean that there was both a regenerative case and a mutation of some
sorts.
edens demise
Edens Demise, I agree that my 'side effects'-portion of the theory is a bit vague. I really like the idea of a mutation, though.
I had a similar idea: what if there is a virus (not mutated, but just
really dangerous) *and* a regenerative 'virus'/bacteria, or whatever.
Then there also would be a danger-component and a healing-component on
the island...
zhenar
How does the regenerative virus explain the strange serendipity of a group of survivors encountering a polar bear after Walt saw one in a comic book? Unless the virus also causes a mild form of telepathy so that people in different locations can suggest hallucinations into one another's minds? Then if the polar bear was a hallucination, does that mean it is no longer where they left it?
If there's a regenerative virus, why is that one guy suffering from hives?
(Unless the virus can't do anything about psychosomatic illnesses)?
If the regenerative virus can restore people from the brink of death,
why do Kate and Jack still have cuts and scrapes on their faces from the
crash? Why did Jack need stitches for the wound in his side? These seem
to be far less serious injuries than the near-fatal injuries they probably
would have suffered in the crash.
How did a regenerative virus rip the pilot out of the cockpit and deposit
his chewed-up corpse on top of a tree?
Why didn't the chewed-up pilot regenerate and climb down out of the tree? Was he too badly injured for regeneration?
Hawkmistress
Hawkmistress- Are you're going to let a few petty inconsistencies destroy a perfectly good theory?
robinhood56
@Hawkmistress:
I'll try to explain these inconsistensies:
The polar bear:
In this scenario, the bear is not a hallucination, but a former test subject
(or offspring). In that case, there is no connection between the comic
book and the bear.
Unless, like you suggest, telepathy comes into play, which I doubt.
Ethan the rash guy:
Perhaps the virus simply doesn't cure everything, or perhaps Ethan is
resistant to the virus. I'll get into both of those later.
Jack & Kate's wounds:
They also could be resistant. Or, like with the rash, perhaps the virus
can't 'heal' everything. It could be that it doesn't affect the upper
skin layer(s), which would mean that cuts and scrapes aren't affected
by the virus, as is Ethan's rash.
I must admit this is explanation is a bit too convenient.
The pilot:
The virus didn't grab the pilot, obviously. That must've been something
else. Possibly some creature affected by the virus (a highly agressive
elephant?), or possibly something else.
The pilot didn't regenerate because he was killed in the attack. The virus
can't heal the dead. If it could, the other casualties from the plane
crash would've been healed also.
-
Addition:
I'll admit that the greatest gap in my theory is the fact that people
do get injured on the island. The fact that they survived the crash with
little injuries and the quick recoveries of much of the dameges they sustained
on the island does (to me) indicate some kind of healing force. But why
isn't everything healed?
Let's begin with stating that the virus only heals damaged tissue. This
leaves out Shannon's astma and possibly also the rash. It still leaves
all wounds sustained in the plane crash and also Locke's leg muscles.
Then the question about the more serious wounds arise: why wasn't the
marshall healed? why wasn't Jack's wound healed? Why wasn't Sawyer's knife
wound healed?
This could be explained as follows:
The virus only works when people are unconscious/asleep. We saw some survivors
of the plane crash 'wake up' (e.g. Locke and Jack). It's quite likely
that the crash knocked out many of the passengers, which might have been
their saviour. I'm assuming here that they got infected immediatly and
the virus healed them really, really fast (this is quite a leap, but I'll
ponder on that some more later).
Some passengers were immediatly killed, so the virus couldn't do anything
for them anymore. Others might have survived the crash, but stayed conscious
and then died of their wounds. This would explain why there were so many
deaths, but also so many seemingly unharmed survivors.
What about the Marshall? He was unconscious, but the virus couldn't heal
him as long as the shrapnel piece was stuck inside him. I don't remember
if they pulled the thing out or not, but anyhow, the fact that he woke
up took away the possibility of him being healed. Now if they'd just pulled
the shrapnel piece out of him and then knocked him unconsious...
Michael and Sawyer both didn't sleep before their wounds were looked after,
so there wasn't time for the virus to heal those.
The fact that people still had some (light) wounds after the plane crash
can be explained by the fact that they woke up before the virus had fully
restored them.
So that explains most of the sustained wounds, deaths, etcetera, without
someone being 'resistent' to the virus or something. Just one annoying
thing remains: why are some wounds (like Jacks & Kate's cuts and scrapes)
still not healed? Everyone has been 'unconscious' (asleep) since then,
but still various superficial wounds and scars remain.
This gap in the theory could be dealt with through my 'upper skin layer'
explanation (see above: "Jack & Kate's wounds"), but I don't
like that explanation; it's too convenient and it doesn't really make
that much sense.
I'll try to explain this one later. I think the answer can be found in
white blood cells or something... let me get back on that some other time.
Apologies for the long text, by the way.
zhenar
Hey zhenar, I do think it's a good theory, I am just playing devil's advocate
and trying to figure out all the details.
One thing I didn't get from my first reading of the theory is that you
think the virus maybe infects animals as well as humans.
In that case I wonder if the dog Vincent is infected as well and if we
will see evidence of this in future episodes.
Hawkmistress
I got your devil's advocate role, Hawkmistress, and am grateful for it. Theories benefit from well constructed criticism, after all.
It's hard to play devil's advocate to your own theory, though, so your
input is greatly appreciated!
I'm sure interesting things will happen to Vincent...
zhenar
First post...here goes.
Maybe the technology at work isn't a virus but some sort of nanotechnology
- that would allow for both healing properties and perhaps more (a manifestation
that is the "monster"?). Perhaps there is a animating artificial
intelligence at work (Alex?)
czardingus