SEARCH FOR THE KEY

The following is not a theory, but more like a thesis. An analysis of the elements presented by the creators of LOST in order to establish an unknown, unexpressed or clouded explanation for the premise of the show and its disjointed parts. To unlock the mysteries of LOST, which I believe have even escaped the minds of TPTB, one needs to find the Key.

What has been missing from LOST is the foundation from which the elements of the conflicting story arcs can consistently cohabited in one story universe. The explanation of LOST has been masked in smoke and mirrors; it was merely "a character driven" show. But somehow, whether by accident or stroke of luck, the series wound up with two disjointed universes or settings: the island framework and the sideways (Purgatory) reunion. No one has fashioned a comprehensive and cohesive explanation for these two disjointed story lines.

Now, was the island world and the sideways world "real" or mere illusion? Or does it really matter? I guess it depends on whether fundamentally you believe in life or death. Or whether one can postulate that there is neither a life or a death but a complex existence.

One of the most frustrating, in-you-face elements to the show was the massive amount of resources devoted to the unexplained Egyptian mythology. A highly advanced, rich in symbolic ritual, ancient culture which has been "lost" to most modern Anglo-Saxon communities, Egyptology could be considered an important clue to finding the Key.

A mystery can be facts lost in the present collective memory of society. LOST was a show that promulgated numerous "facts" about the characters and their events without a detailed understanding of the background components like Dharma or the Temple complex. There have been religious connotations throughout the series; the morality juxtaposition of science versus faith. There has been the secular survivalist motivations of the Others or the Widmores who sought power for personal goals. But these groups (and individuals as "pawns" in their elaborate power plays) have to be placed on a single game board (the story universe).

Just as Ben told John Locke that the island contained a Magic Box, where anything you wished for would come true (including the teleportation of Locke's con-man father to the brig for his son's final confrontation with his past demon), the game board has to set forth the fundamental four corners framework for all the stories.

In reviewing the last episode, then going backward through the series (as time itself was a misnomer throughout), it came to pass that the game board would most likely be the mythic concepts of ancient Egypt. Fundamentally, the disjointed time lines of the island and the sideways world can only be relatively explained by borrowing from Egyptian religious beliefs. (And this is where the die-hard LOST fan would challenge the notion that the church in the End has anything to do with ancient Egyptian practices. Precisely, as many critics found the writers had boxed themselves into tangent stories and character flaws to have a satisfactory explanation of the End.) A footnote in the End that the characters are "all dead" is not a satisfactory explanation of how or why the characters wound up in the church in a sideways world. There has to be a better explanation.

The characters are pieces on the story game board. Are the characters "real" human beings or illusions? We saw people "survive" an unreal plane crash in the pilot episode. Yet, we also saw known "dead" people interact with the survivors. How can points like this be reconciled into the big premise of the show?

Was the show about faith, science, religion, science fiction and/or fantasy? There are elements of each in every modern religion. And if one traces modern religious concepts, the root of many concepts is the mythology of ancient Egypt. Egypt was one of the first cultures to hand down a detailed account of its complex belief system of how human beings fit into the colossus universe.

This thesis will attempt to explain the ancient beliefs as the system for the LOST construct.