| abstract
| - When the 815 survivors crash on the island they begin to encounter all kinds of strangeness. What they don't realize is that much of what they are seeing are the after-effects of their own time travelling, which they haven't yet experienced.
* Destiny: we are told numerous times that you cannot change the past. Whatever happened, happened. Consider this in the context of John Locke's time travelling. He travels to 1954, two years before his own birth, and nothing can change that. Whatever happened, happened. Therefore, from the time Locke is born until the time he fixes the Frozen Donkey Wheel and teleports off the island, he cannot be killed. This is why he was able to survive being born so prematurely, why he survived the 8 story fall, why he survived being shot by Ben. If he had died at any point in his life he would not have been on the island when Ben turned the wheel and would thus not have been on the island back in 1954. But he already was, and that can't be changed. In effect, the result of the time travelling created a situation in which these people's future had essentially already happened. Locke was on the island in 1954, which cannot be changed. Thus he had to be on the island in 2005 when Ben turns the wheel, which means he had to be on flight 815 when it crashed, and so on.
* Immortality: as described above, the effects of the time travelling can cause a sort of immortality. Consider Michael and his failed suicide attempts. The reason Mike could not kill himself, or be killed by any other means, is because Jin was with him on the freighter trying to defuse the bomb. But immediately after Jin leaves the freighter, then Michael can die, and does so. This is because after seeing Michael on the freighter, Jin travels back in time. While Jin is in the past, he had already experienced this meeting with Michael on the freighter. If Michael had killed himself in 2004 he would not have had that meeting with Jin on the freighter, but Jin back in the 1970's had already experienced that meeting. That meeting was in Jin's past and could not be changed. Whatever happened, happened. Thus Michael could not die until this meeting occurred, but once it had occurred he was, as Christian said, free to go.
* Charlie: given the two examples above, Charlie's destiny becomes clear. Charlie had to die because all those who travelled back in time knew that he had died, although none of them had experienced his death directly. Only Desmond experienced Charlie's death directly, and he didn't travel through time with the rest. Therefore, the people who went back in time knew Charlie died but did not know exactly how. This established that Charlie must die, but left it vague as to how. This is why when Desmond began to have visions of Charlie's death, he was unclear about how it would happen. It was destined that Charlie must die, but the manner of his death was not part of that destiny.
* Island crashes: there are several instances of people "accidentally" crashing on the island. Desmond's sailboat, Yemi's Beechcraft, Rousseau's boat, the Black Rock, and of course flight 815. The cause of the 815 crash is known: Desmond's failure to press the button caused an electromagnetic surge which pulled 815 into "island space" and caused it to crash. We see similar electromagnetic surges or flashes every time Locke and friends travel from one time to another. Is it coincidence that Locke flashes to the same point in time that the Beechcraft crashes? Is it coincidence that Jin flashes to the same point in time that Rousseau's boat crashes? The electromagnetic surges caused by the Frozen Donkey Wheel being off it's axis are not only moving Locke and friends through time, but are also causing these island crashes. The time travelers jump to several times which are unidentified, one of which brings them to a point where the Tawaret statue is still intact. It seems likely that these flashes are what cause the Black Rock and Desmond's sailboat to crash on the island, and may even be responsible for the Roman ship crashing on the island.
* The DHARMA Initiative: when Locke and friends travel back to 1954 they tell both Richard and Eloise that they travelled through time from the future. It is likely that Charles would have found out about it too, given his relationship with Eloise. The DHARMA Initiative went to the island for the express purpose of tapping into the island's time travelling abilities, all the other scientific and humanitarian goals of the Initiative were merely a cover for their real purposes. It seems possible that the DHARMA Initiative initially learned of the island's time travel properties because Locke and friends travelled through time and told people about it. We know Charles was spending time off-island and thus would likely be the source of this information. So it becomes entirely possible that the presence of the DHARMA Initiative on the island came about as a result of Locke and friends time travelling.
* Island moving: Eloise explains at the Lamppost station that the island is always moving through time and space, thus requiring the complex Lamppost equipment to find it. Ben and Locke are instructed by Christian to move the island, and upon doing so the island begins moving through time and space, as shown by it's sudden disappearance while Frank Lapidus is attempting to land the helicopter on it. When Ben turns the Frozen Donkey Wheel, it is this which causes the island to always be moving through time and space as Eloise describes. While it may not make sense given that the island was moving long before Ben turns that wheel, but such is the nature of time and time travel. Once Ben turns that wheel to move the island, it creates the condition where the island was always moving. Dislodging the island from time dislodges it from all time, not just from one point in time forward.
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