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Fanon Alert! This article contains tribute art, spin-off fiction, theories, reference and community material created by fans inspired by the show. It is by definition non-canon, but generally distinct from intentionally fake hoaxes or humorous fan parody material.

The island itself (as in, the rocks and the sand) is just an average , technically. There are many more like it, along with continents, etc., BUT all of it is in an Earth far in the future. What makes the island appear so weird is not the geographical feature itself, but rather a combination of:

• It being surrounded by a single or multiple anomalous time portals (see: Vile Vortices (theory) and its discussion). All of the strange effects of coming and going to/from the island, "moving" the island, etc. all have to do with how the portals between these two worlds work - how they transport people, how they shift locations and what locations in space-time they connect, etc. The water and mud and "stuff" of the worlds they connect are normal both now and in the future, though.
• In the future, there exists certain technology and certain effects of long term evolution that makes life there very different from life in the present. None of this is supernatural, however, any more than a flashlight in the middle ages would be supernatural. It's just very highly advanced. This causes wound healing (perhaps due to nanobots - which were ONLY debunked in relation to the monster, not overall), pregnancy problems, unknown species, four-toed statues, and so on.

In fact, since there is a future and a past of the same Earth, there are in fact two islands - the one we see in the series (the future island) and the one that exists in the present day world (this exists, but nobody has ever been to it, because travel there is only possible from the future rest of the world).

For the visually inclined, here is a graphical depiction of the theory:

^^^^^^^^^^^|+++++|^^^^^^^^^^^

            (The above and below represent two worlds - travel between the two is impossible.)

++++++++++|^^^^^|+++++++++++

These are two alternate cross-sectional views of the area of the ocean around the island. "+" represents the future, and "^" represents the present day. A portion of the two time periods have swapped places, due to portals. As a person travels around on the ocean surface in either case, they move horizontally. When they approach the island, they pass through a portal, "|" and are transported to the other time period inside of a little pocket where the island sits. One can ONLY move horizontally in these diagrams, ever. The entire series takes place on the top diagram. But we can hypothesize the existence of the world in the bottom diagram as well - where the island is pretty normal and geologically in our present, but where the rest of the world is swarming with human healing nanobots, or whatever else is going on in the future. This portal-based "Swap" may have occurred very recently, perhaps just a few hundred years ago (around the time of the black rock). Possibly due to technological advances in the future island, or just naturally, or some combination (it's a natural effect that has been harnessed to some degree - hence the Swan)

When the island "moves," all that really happens is that the portals now send people to new locations on both ends, perhaps to a new vile vortex. When a person attempts to go visit the location where the island used to be, he or she will STILL GO THROUGH A PORTAL, but since that portal now sends them to a new location, they'll just end up visiting a chunk of future ocean that looks exactly like present day ocean, and they'll never know that they time traveled, instead thinking that the island just disappeared.

Why does Ben move through time when he turns the frozen donkey wheel? Because the Orchid station is actually built outside of the pocket of portals that surrounds the island - just underneath it instead of too far out to the side. There is potentially a frozen donkey wheel, or equivalent, underneath where the island would be at every possible vile vortex, just not a DHARMA station.

Evidence

• Four-toed statue – suggests an evolutionary change of some sort. Humans are likely to lose their fifth toe over time, as it is currently said to be a vestigial appendage.
• Arzt's 20 new species – The new species have evolved since contemporary times, which is why Arzt has never seen them before. 20 new species would be absurd to find in the modern day on any normal island in less than a month by a scientist with no tools. ("Exposé")
• With some very rare exceptions (Aaron's “rubella?” ("Maternity Leave")), nobody gets normal sicknesses on the island, like malaria, or infection from wounds. This would make perfect sense if humans haven't been around for so long that human-specific bacteria/viruses don't exist anymore. Cancer doesn't count (Cancer), because that's not a pathogenic disease.
• The time sickness("The Constant")/”bumpy ride”("One of Us") often caused by traveling to and from the island suggests an abnormal movement through time, and it suggests that the movement happens just outside of the island, not on it.
• Ben's apparent leaping forth in time after turning the frozen donkey wheel suggests that the island is not present in the current day world. ("The Shape of Things to Come"
• DHARMA was performing research on sharks at the hydra station - sharks are somewhat famous for being one of the few species to have barely changed at all since the days when dinosaurs roamed the Earth. Thus, it would make sense to experiment on them in the future as well to determine continuity of environmental factors, establish a baseline of comparison, etc.
• The highly advanced technology used by a people who aesthetically appear primitive (the foot statue builders) – They seem to have made the smoke monster (Ben's secret door has glyphs, etc. on it), and the frozen wheel. If these were survivors of some apocalypse in the future, though, these things might make sense. They were just employing some leftover technology from the golden age of humanity, which seems magical to the viewer and the losties. Alternatively, the builders of these artifacts were not at all primitive – they simply adopted a primitive aesthetic for themselves – having achieved a level of engineering prowess that allowed them to make very strong and functional constructions in any style they felt like.
• The DHARMA logos feature an inverted version of the "later heaven" order of the Bagua. Thus implying "later hell" (apocalypse)? The standard later heaven order in real life is also used to signify environmental change, as opposed to order and balance, which could mean the island is not in harmony (although this could also be that DHARMA is trying to change the Valenzetti equation)

Applications to other mythology

Fertility Problems

The island and the world seem to have very rich native fauna (i.e., Arzt's species), and the world seems to be in good physical shape, so if there was an apocalypse, it was a biological one, rather than say, a nuclear holocaust.

Among possible biological errors, fertility problems are one of the most deadly you can find when it comes to the survival of a species (humans). If humanity was wiped out quietly, fertility diseases are a likely explanation, since they clearly exist on the island.

If these fertility diseases were engineered, rather than natural, it would make sense for there to potentially still be active biological agents existing on the island, or even being manufactured in perpetuity on the island or somewhere else in the future world. Possibly even nanobots, etc. (the producers only debunked nanobots for the monster). This could have been either a biological weapon, or a side effect of something humans willingly released on themselves – perhaps the same biological agent also stops aging (hence Richard Alpert doesn't age as an Other, but Ben Linus did, whilst taking his vaccines with DHARMA. The vaccines perhaps are only partially functional at this point – they allow aging, but have not fully fixed fertility problems).

The fertility “side effects” can also be an intended effect to stop overpopulation. The inventors of the longevity agents either went too far with their fertility side effects, or didn't care that humanity would go extinct.

Juliet undermines the efforts of the Others, because as a fertility doctor, she has strong beliefs about birth/life/death, that contradict Ben's. Ben took a risk in recruiting her, because he was desperate to understand the fertility "problems," and thus, he cut some corners in prescreening Juliet as a "good" person.

DHARMA

The DHARMA Initiative makes perfect sense if the island exists in the future. They stumbled upon the island at some point, and found evidence of an apocalypse, and that spurred them to draw a connection with the Valenzetti Equation. DHARMA was then properly geared up or founded in the first place to research how to change the equation.

After all, if you wanted to find out how to prevent an apocalypse, what better way would there be than to study the effects and likely precursors of that apocalypse after it has already happened? DHARMA's dream experiment, essentially, has already been conducted for them (a mock-up of the end of the world), and they just have to observe the results.

Note, by the way, that even if fertility is what caused the end of humanity, and even if DHARMA knew it, it would still make sense for them to study time travel itself, as well as a host of other important Valenzetti-related areas (math, psychology, etc.) in order to account for the possibility that the universe may try to “course correct” itself were they to simply solve the fertility problem alone.

Walt/Hurley(?)

Walt and possibly Hurley's seeming abilities to change the world around them, rather than superpowers or anything supernatural at all, are simply a hidden talent/ability for influencing the world without falling victim to “course correction.” In other words, Walt/Hurley could have the gift of subconsciously or otherwise causing uninterrupted butterfly effects in a semi-controlled way.

In the short term, this allows Walt to pull off some superficial parlor tricks, like dice rolling, knife throwing, etc. But when Walt goes back to contemporary Earth, especially after possible training from the Others, he becomes much more powerful, because there are potentially tens of thousands or even millions of years for his relatively minor actions to butterfly into all kinds of huge effects for the people on the island, far in the future.

Walt/Hurley, using such an ability, could potentially fulfill DHARMA's ultimate goal of changing the Valenzetti numbers permanently, without “course correction,” once it is harnessed/they know what to do to start the butterfly effect.

This ability could be tied to the time sickness ("The Constant"). Desmond's apparent changing of the future during his bouncing consciousness is just the same thing as Walt's powers, but Walt is able to harness them without spiraling downward toward an aneurysm/after finding his constant. Desmond may be able to also, and Faraday in later seasons, or others.

Miracle Cures

Future humans could have manufactured and released into the environment nanobots or other less complex agents that still exist and that repair humans, to a certain extent. This could even be a part of the same mechanism used to achieve agelessness, and which prevents fertility. There could be genetic compatibility issues that cause them to affect Locke, but not Ben, etc. DHARMA could also have discovered these agents and manipulated them/reproduced them (the virus mentioned in the Sri Lanka video? Killing some natives might have seemed a small price to pay to work the kinks out of an automatic human-repairing virus).

Unlike bacterial pathogens and the like, which would have simply died out on their own, the future humans might have taken great pains to ensure that the “miracle” viruses or other agents would survive the tests of time unusually well – by putting them in cold storage or just making them very robust – so that DHARMA/losties/Others are still affected by them.

Why Everybody Has To Go Back To The Island

(As discovered in There's No Place Like Home, Parts 2 & 3)

Whatever virus or nanobot or whatever is healing people would have been brought back by the O6 and anybody else who left the island. They don't actually NEED to go back. Ben just wants them to go back so that the healing agent (the island's biggest secret) will not be discovered in them and researched or allowed to spread. The story about everyone having to go back is just a manipulation. By making it seem like only the O6 have to go back, Ben is giving himself plausible deniability for not knowing who else, if anybody, might have gotten off the island as well. Ben knows that anyone else from Oceanic would probably have been found by the press by now, and as for other survivors, if Jack protests, for instance, "Ah, but you forgot to mention Desmond! You're lying!" then Ben will simply say "No no, only the Oceanic 6 need to return." Then he will promptly go and hunt for Desmond too without telling anyone.

The Numbers

The numbers show up everywhere pre-Oceanic 815, because they are simply an integral fact of human existence. We are supposed to assume from this that the numbers really are everywhere for everybody (even us, the viewers), but we just don't see them, like the characters in the show don't see them, other than Hurley and a handful of people written off as crazy. This is why DHARMA's task is so monumentally difficult. The numbers are heavily ingrained into everything, everywhere, and yet so few people believe in them or are willing to offer their help to change them.

The numbers appear all over the place on the island more overtly than in contemporary Earth. This is because as we approach the apocalypse, the Valenzetti equation becomes more of a sure thing/becomes more salient and powerful (which is very true if it is a deterministic "fate" of humanity). Far in the future, the numbers are overwhelmingly obvious, but aren't yet in today's world. Plus, of course, DHARMA is obsessed with them, due to the nature of their work, so we see the numbers on the island more often due to DHARMA's presence there as well.

Widmore and the Others – Motivations (mix and match these as desired)

• Widmore wants to get back to the island so that he can live forever/enjoy the fruits of the advanced technology there. An eternal life + no fertility apocalypse wouldn't be so bad for the people with eternal life, after all. It's just bad for the species.
• And/or Widmore want to exploit the island for it's healing agents, bring them back possibly, make vast profits.
• And/or Widmore is the same person as Gerald DeGroot, and either got greedy (see above bullet) and was exiled by DHARMA, or is still trying to pursue DHARMA goals (Hence Ben is trying to stop him). Or perhaps he is trying to find his wife.
• Back on topic, this could also explain some of the weird behavior of the Others. Ben wants to focus almost exclusively on fertility (as Richard Alpert says), because if they can fix that, then they can live forever and have sex and have children (a primal need without which many people might be unhappy), all at once. But since the apocalypse has already happened, they wouldn't necessarily care about DHARMA's other “silly experiments.” (Ben)
• The Others steal children to satisfy their nurturing urges while waiting to solve the fertility problem.
• The “good people” they put on their lists are really just those people who are psychologically stable enough and who have personalities that would allow them to live an ageless life peacefully, and without going crazy. When the Others tell these people the truth about agelessness, (like Cindy of the tailies), they are more than happy to live with the Others.
• The Others hated DHARMA, because DHARMA was trying to change the Valenzetti equation permanently. This would have, if successful, wiped out the island as it is now, by preventing everything that led up to the apocalypse (including all of the everlasting life technology). Currently, this hasn't happened yet, due to the course-correcting nature of the universe. But perhaps DHARMA was getting close to changing all of that (with people like Walt and their “parapsychology” research).
• The Others abducted Walt in order to convince him not to use his abilities to butterfly effect the island out of existence/to convince him not to change the Valenzetti equation.

Alternative Others Motivation

The Others in this story could also potentially be pursuing the noble goal of protecting the world from discovering eternal life. The "good people" on their lists could be the ones who are able to not get drunk with power when given such a "gift." But regular people, with their petty foibles and flaws, would get greedy and take eternal life for themselves without considering the consequences.

What consequences? Well, eternal life would bring one of the following outcomes if it were given to all of humanity at once, none of which are good for the species:

• Agelessness + Fertility + Proper Oversight = Organized murder/death lotteries to stop overpopulation.
• Agelessness + No Fertility = Eventual extinction and unhealthy frustration of natural child-rearing drives.
• Agelessness + Fertility + Lack of Proper Government = Widespread misery as overpopulation leads to famine, war, etc.

So the Others devote their lives to protecting the world from learning what future humans have done. They do this by hiding the island. This would be very similar to the philosophy behind "Planet of the Apes," in a nutshell. The Others' reward for their devotion is to enjoy the privileges of agelessness themselves, which is how they convince new recruits.

"Dead" People

The miracle virus/nanobot can bring corpses back to life, with extensive repairs. To do so, the damage to the body has to be relatively superficial (for instance, Christian's heart attack, or Charlie's drowning, or Mikhail's borderline lethal sound fence damage. Not being shot five times in the chest), the body has to be exposed to the virus/nanobot, and there must be access to appropriate power sources and raw materials (sunlight? water? etc.) Possibly other restrictions apply? (insert coupon joke here)

Thus, many of the supposedly dead people we see visions of are actually perfectly healthy people who have been repaired, due to being exceptionally receptive to the virus/nanobots. They don't tend to interact with the characters very much, because the Others have indoctrinated them into their fold (wouldn't you listen to the people who brought you back to life?), and as per the Others' typical MO, they have the formerly dead play psychological mind games with the losties, to maximize tactical effectiveness.

This could also have something to do with why the Others chose nerve agent for killing DHARMA employees. The nervous system is the most complex and delicate part of our bodies, and severely damaging it might virtually ensure that no successful repairs could be made on any of the victims.

Alternative "Dead" People Explanation

All of the dead people who appear are just holograms, etc. Aside from Dave (who the producers have confirmed is a figment of Hurley's imagination), the visions of dead people do not physically interact with the losties. This kind of technology is not even very advanced.

These holograms/projections/etc. may or may not be tied to how the monster works, but both are technologically driven.

Pros

Pretty much covered in the sections above.

Cons

• Does not explain the whispers without some pretty big leaps (future survivors with invisibility/advanced tech?)
• Does not well explain Jacob or his cabin (again, he could be a member of the future race?)
• The dead people explanation is rather unfounded/clumsy (it is not a natural conclusion to draw, but rather an attempt to tie up a loose end).
• Does not explain Desmond's flashes ON the island (though it shouldn't be too difficult to include that)
• Does not explain Miles Straume's apparent ability to speak with the dead