if Desmond hadn't turned the key...

[Temis the Vorta]

Let's say Desmond either didn't make it to the fail-safe key in time, or he wasn't immune to electromagnetism and couldn't get there (nobody else could have done that, right?) What was going to happen? Would the island sink? Would the world blow up?

Or is this in the same category as, "what did Smokey plan to do when he got off the island?"

 

[Mr Light]

If Des didn't turn the key and plug the hole permanently, the Island and the entire planet would have sucked into the micro-black hole at the heart of the Island. I think this theory could work in spite of the finale... because the "black hole" is just a scientific way of defining the indefinable source of souls.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

But there was never any definitive answer that doesn't involve fan theories, right?

I think it's a reasonable guess that not turning the key would have dislodged The Magic Rock of Doom and sunk the island. Works for me as an explanation.

 

[Mallet]

No, never a definitive answer. But Eloise said pressing the button was the most important thing Desmond would ever do. So, that implies what was going on in the hatch was very important so one would assume that by not pressing the button (or turning the key) the world would have ended probably pretty much the same way that it would have ended if the light had gone out.

Also, anyone should have been able to turn the fail safe key, not just Desmond otherwise why would they have built the fail safe at all since it was built years before Desmond ever reached the Island and the Dharma people would have no way of knowing he would be there to turn it.

It might just be that A) Desmond's special gift allowed him to survive the fail safe "blast" while anyone else would have died or B) being that close to the fail safe "blast" is what gave him his special gift.

 

[doubleohfive]

I personally like the idea that Desmond "had to push the buttons" for three years as a way to make himself as immune as possible to the harmful effects of the island's electromagnetism, thereby making it possible for him to survive stepping in to the pool and "unplugging" the butt plug from the heart of the island.

So by this logic, pushing the button (and thereby strengthening himself for the future task of unplugging the butt plug) was the most important thing Desmond could have done -- had he not been accustomed to the effects of the electromagnetism, he probably would have never been able to withstand stepping in to the light.

Though, I will admit, when we saw Desmond step in to the light in the finale, flashes of Spock at the end of "Wrath of Khan" came to me.

 

[RoJoHen]

I personally like the idea that Desmond "had to push the buttons" for three years as a way to make himself as immune as possible to the harmful effects of the island's electromagnetism, thereby making it possible for him to survive stepping in to the pool and "unplugging" the butt plug from the heart of the island.

So by this logic, pushing the button (and thereby strengthening himself for the future task of unplugging the butt plug) was the most important thing Desmond could have done -- had he not been accustomed to the effects of the electromagnetism, he probably would have never been able to withstand stepping in to the light.

Ooh, I like this.

 

[roliver]

I personally like the idea that Desmond "had to push the buttons" for three years as a way to make himself as immune as possible to the harmful effects of the island's electromagnetism, thereby making it possible for him to survive stepping in to the pool and "unplugging" the butt plug from the heart of the island.

Except that Desmond's survival or immunity wasn't necessary. Jack showed that anyone can go down there and live long enough to cork or uncork the magical doodad.

So all you really needed in the finale were two people stupid enough to take turns and sacrifice themselves. One to uncork, and one to recork. Anyone could have gone down in Desmond's place and lived long enough to do what he did. Same with Jack. Keep in mind that neither of them actually had the slightest idea what was underneath the waterfall, so it required no one with special skills, abilities or knowledge.

Sadly, so many of Lost's "answers" don't hold up to even light scrutiny.

 

[Mr Light]

I'd like to think Jack briefly survived the exposure because he was the new Protector.

 

[stj]

The button was just a dead end plot. The key was an arbitrary way to wrap that plot up. The only thing to take from all the button episodes is that Jack is a man of science and Locke is a man of faith. Which gets rewritten by the end, when Locke loses faith and kills himself, while Jack does things on blind faith. All those episodes don't have much payoff, true, but that's the way the show worked out.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

the world would have ended probably pretty much the same way that it would have ended if the light had gone out.

Is the "world" just the island in that case, and the island sinks? Or does Smokey get out and wreak havoc on the wider world?

...which again brings us around to the question of what Smokey's plan was.

Also, anyone should have been able to turn the fail safe key, not just Desmond otherwise why would they have built the fail safe at all since it was built years before Desmond ever reached the Island and the Dharma people would have no way of knowing he would be there to turn it.

That undermines the logic of pushing the button in the first place. Was that just more convenient than turning the key every 108 minutes? The button-pushing was touted as being far more dramatic and essential than a mere convenience.

I personally like the idea that Desmond "had to push the buttons" for three years as a way to make himself as immune as possible to the harmful effects of the island's electromagnetism, thereby making it possible for him to survive stepping in to the pool and "unplugging" the butt plug from the heart of the island.

So by this logic, pushing the button (and thereby strengthening himself for the future task of unplugging the butt plug) was the most important thing Desmond could have done -- had he not been accustomed to the effects of the electromagnetism, he probably would have never been able to withstand stepping in to the light.

Yeah, I like the idea that the button pushing had a purpose that was completely different from what we assumed was the purpose.

Except that Desmond's survival or immunity wasn't necessary. Jack showed that anyone can go down there and live long enough to cork or uncork the magical doodad.

My impression was that, other than Desmond, only the island protector could have survived that long. Maybe Desmond and whoever the protector was, needed to be a tag-team to uncork and cork the light.

Keep in mind that neither of them actually had the slightest idea what was underneath the waterfall, so it required no one with special skills, abilities or knowledge.

Sadly, so many of Lost's "answers" don't hold up to even light scrutiny.

Yeah, the actual events needed to defeat Smokey and save the Island should have been foreshadowed much better than that. For instance, what if Jack and Desmond had accidentally awakened the intelligence of the island itself, who thwacked Smokey for being bad? There have been hints all along that could be interpreted as the island having intelligence, so that wouldn't have come out of left field.

And the good guys should have contributed something to the defeat of Smokey, if only because the island was impressed by their heroism and self-sacrifice, as opposed to the selfishness and malice of Smokey. Or something else that is foreshadowed and involves Our Heroes in the process in a more central and non-accidental way.

But for it to just be Jack figuring out how to make Smokey moral by random accident, followed by Kate shooting him, eh. Too arbitrary.

 

[Trippy]

I'd like to think Jack briefly survived the exposure because he was the new Protector.

At the time he was down there, he was no longer protected by his 'protector' status; he had already passed the torch to Hurley.

I think Jack ultimately died because of a. his wounds (internal bleeding) and b. the exposure to the 'light'.

He even states to Hurley before going down "I'm dead anyway" so a little electromagnatism exposure isn't going to kill him worse.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Even as protector emeritus, he would have had some special status in regards to the light.

Or maybe I should just admit that the ending kinda doesn't work.