My spoiler-based theory on how S6 will play out. (kinda long read)

[Raysplasher]

So, I've been thinking about what the hell the "endgame" is going to be for this show, especially in regards to the spoilers and what happened in the S5 finale. I finally put together a decent "outline" of season 6 that I'm fairly confident about.

http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/1373/timelinek.jpg

The Timeline Split
Jacob touched Jack, Kate, Sayid, Locke, Hurley, Sawyer, Jin, and Sun. This prevents them from dying until they’re “supposed to.” Locke had fulfilled his purpose when he convinced the Oceanic 6 to go back, which is why he was able to die. Juliet is vaporized (and most likely, so is Miles) when she sets Jughead off. Remember: they made it a point in “The Incident” that Juliet didn’t meet Jacob like the rest did.

Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Sayid, Hurley, and Jin will not be vaporized, since Jacob touched them all. Instead, the massive EM energy combined with the Jughead blast will propel them to the future...along timeline 2...or the new timeline created by the detonation.

In timeline 2, 815 never crashes. Since Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Sayid, Hurley, and Jin were from timeline 1, they effectively have “duplicates” who are living normal lives off the island. More importantly, though, Locke never comes to the island. X is never able to use Ben to kill Jacob, and Jacob is alive. This is precisely why Juliet had to detonate Jughead and create the new timeline.

Timeline 1, however, still exists. Sun, Ben, and “Flocke” are still there in the reality where Jacob is killed. So Jacob wasn’t actually saved within the timeline in which he was killed; he just tried to make sure a new one was created in which he’s alive. He needs to be able to stop X.

The Merge
We know that the timelines will effectively “merge” after several episodes. How will they do this?

Through the temple. We know that Jack and crew go there at some point, and we know the Temple is a sanctuary of some sort. It’s the “last safe place” on the island.

To clarify, I believe that the Temple will turn out to be a “sanctuary” that exists outside time.

Why? If the two timelines are to merge, at least one of them will “collapse.” For simplicity’s sake, it’s much easier (and more logical) to have one or the other collapse entirely rather than “combining” the bits and pieces of each.

So, there are two possible scenarios:
-Timeline 1 collapses
-Timeline 2 collapses

The second scenario seems more likely for a couple reasons:
1)If timeline 2 collapses, that will end the “815 landing in LA” mini-arc, and we know that arc won’t last long anyway.
2) If one reality were to be unstable in the first place, the other would have to be the “true” (i.e. stable) reality. Timeline 1 is naturally a more “stable” one because it has always existed, unlike the second timeline that was effectively created by Juliet in 1977.

Unless the writers are willing to kill off most of the cast, the ‘77ers are going to need a “safe place.” We’ve also heard of scenes involving the ‘77ers at the Temple, and it seems as though they need to be there. Thus, they go and take sanctuary outside time as the realities “merge.”

The Off-Island Scenes Prior to the Merge
We all know by now that there have been numerous scenes filmed of the alternate reality after the plane lands in LAX. What purpose will these serve?

Most likely, the 815 passengers (some of them, at least) have to do something to help the island. Otherwise, the scenes would be fairly pointless. It won’t just be a “what could have been” when there are only 17 episodes left.

How will they help the Island? Again, there is no way to accurately speculate on this yet. It will probably involve the “lighthouse” and somehow facilitate the merge, though.

The War
After timeline 2 collapses, the ‘77ers will be back in timeline 1. The stage will now be set for a confrontation between Jacob and X (as Flocke), and everyone else will have to choose sides. Most will likely join the “good” side with Jacob, but X will likely recruit a decent army of his own.

The war itself is not as important as the aftermath, since that will be the endgame of the show. To figure out the end of season 6, then, we have to ask an important question:
-Why does X want Jacob out of the picture; in other words, what would happen if Jacob wasn’t there to stop X?

We know that X has a negative view of humanity, so he likely wants to destroy the world and/or wipe out humanity. It may not be that exactly, but it will be something catastrophic along those lines. It will certainly be the “bad” outcome. Which brings us to...


The Aftermath of War: “It Only Ends Once”
This quote does not refer to the end of the world or humanity; Jacob said this, not X. We know that Jacob has at least a more positive view of humans than X, and he certainly wouldn’t want to wipe out civilization.

What, then, is he referring to? We know that something bad will happen if X’s side wins the war, but what if Jacob’s side wins?

Based on the conversation in the beginning of The Incident, we can figure that the cycle of people coming to the island will end. Beyond that, though, there’s no way for me to infer anything about the aftermath of the war.

[BobW]

Very well thought out. I'll comment on just one aspect of it, something that's been bothering me. The title of the episode was "The Incident". Thus, the very title of the episode seems to say "In this episode you get to see what the Incident was that Chang mentioned in the orientation film." And just like Miles said "Maybe that little nuke is the incident", meaning that they were just going to CREATE the reality that they were trying to prevent. Then we see Chang get his hand crushed when the scaffold fell on it, as if to confirm that "What happened" was happening all over again. So everything about this episode including the title seems to say that there will be no alternate timeline and they very foolishly created the very scenario that they were trying to prevent. The bomb actually created the EM anomaly that they found beneath the hatch in Season 2.

But of course from the spoilers, there does indeed seem to be an alternate timeline when the plane didn't crash.

So any theory along these lines needs to take into account the possibility that perhaps WHH is true in some way, and then also fit an alternate timeline into it somehow.

I do like the idea that the Temple is a place where someone is able to experience or view all timelines at once. To be "otherized" means to be somehow initiated into this experience, in such a way that you "lose your innocence" as Richard said before he took Ben to the Temple.

[Raysplasher]

The only thing that bugs me is Claire. From the set reports, it seems as though she's been living in the jungle like Danielle...and that she meets up with the '77ers.

But how could she be on the island in the same timeline as the '77ers? If 815 never crashed, then she's not there.

Unless of course she ventured from timeline 1 to timeline 2...

[kintrell]

Originally Posted by Raysplasher

The only thing that bugs me is Claire. From the set reports, it seems as though she's been living in the jungle like Danielle...and that she meets up with the '77ers.

But how could she be on the island in the same timeline as the '77ers? If 815 never crashed, then she's not there.

Unless of course she ventured from timeline 1 to timeline 2...

Actually it makes perfect sense for her to be in '77. One has to assume that since she was on island when flashes began that she flashed too. She just did it alone and probably is jacked up in the head because of it.

[Raysplasher]

Originally Posted by kintrell

Actually it makes perfect sense for her to be in '77. One has to assume that since she was on island when flashes began that she flashed too. She just did it alone and probably is jacked up in the head because of it.

Ah, very good point.