Spoilers *Spoilers* The Lorca-Buran Theory

[TheMadCloner]

Bear with me, this might well be wrong and way out to lunch, but here goes.

My theory is that at the end of "Into the Forest I Go", Lorca jumped the Discovery to where the Buran was destroyed, in an alternate universe.

That debris field? The remnants of the Buran.

How Lorca escaped the Buran? He somehow crossed into a different reality.

When he says "let's go home?" He means HIS home, his universe.

Now the question is which universe is the Prime Universe we're all used to seeing? That remains to be seen.

 

[Tosk]

How Lorca escaped the Buran? He somehow crossed into a different reality.

A reality where the exact same thing happened to the Buran? If not, people would have been pretty confused when he talked about it.

 

[TheMadCloner]

A reality where the exact same thing happened to the Buran? If not, people would have been pretty confused when he talked about it.

Yes. A reality close enough to the Prime Universe we are used to that it appears to be the same (so far).

This theory also allows the writers a variety of different ways to fit this show into existing continuity.

 

[Tosk]

What happened to the other Lorca? And in what vessel did Lorca traverse realities in?

 

[cultcross]

How Lorca escaped the Buran? He somehow crossed into a different reality.

Then why do people in this reality know about it and the fact he alone survived?

When he says "let's go home?" He means HIS home, his universe.

God I hope not. I've articulated this before, but if Star Trek isn't capable of having interesting, flawed characters with a bit of mystery to them without having them be from an alternate dimension, we're in serious trouble.

Allow me to posit an alternative to your theory - he hopes to save the Buran in this alternate universe, to overcome his massive sense of loss and failure. He needs Discovery's abilities to rescue them.

 

[Jinn]

Maybe it's a kinda sorta time travel thing. The Buran crew gets captured, torched and executed, Lorca finds a way to go back in time, destroys the Buran, kills the crew (and his past self) to save them from getting captured by the Klingons. Also, I think there is absolutely no evidence for this and I don't believe this myself.

 

[ralph]

Then why do people in this reality know about it and the fact he alone survived?

God I hope not. I've articulated this before, but if Star Trek isn't capable of having interesting, flawed characters with a bit of mystery to them without having them be from an alternate dimension, we're in serious trouble.

Allow me to posit an alternative to your theory - he hopes to save the Buran in this alternate universe, to overcome his massive sense of loss and failure. He needs Discovery's abilities to rescue them.

Trust me. He has greater ambitions.

 

[The Mighty Monkey of Mim]

A reality where the exact same thing happened to the Buran? If not, people would have been pretty confused when he talked about it.

Almost like a...mirror universe?

I don't know if this is it, but that's been confirmed to definitely be coming in somehow, isn't it?

 

[WarpFactorZ]

Why is this a spoiler? It's guesswork.

 

[The Mighty Monkey of Mim]

Well, the fact that the Mirror Universe is coming in is a spoiler. So if it wasn't a spoiler thread before...I just made it one.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Well, the fact that the Mirror Universe is coming in is a spoiler.

No, not really. Jonathan Frakes leaked that bit awhile back. It's been an open secret for some time.

 

[The Mighty Monkey of Mim]

No, not really. Jonathan Frakes leaked that bit awhile back. It's been an open secret for some time.

Right, but sometimes people like to avoid reading anything about the show before it airs. I actually wish I hadn't heard about the MU beforehand. (And the Voq/Tyler thing too.) I think it should rightly be considered a spoiler at this point, personally.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

There's also the pic of Jason Isaacs lounging in his command chair with a dedication plaque reading "ISS DISCOVERY" clearly visible behind him...

 

[Refuge]

Didn't Lorca exclaim in the closing scene, Isn't that Klingon wreckage surrounding us? He didn't immediately identify Starfleet (Buran) wreckage.

 

[ralph]

Didn't Lorca exclaim in the closing scene, Isn't that Klingon wreckage surrounding us? He didn't immediately identify Starfleet (Buran) wreckage.

Or he was pretending to be surprised.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

The wreckage DID look vaguely Klingon-ish. More Klingon than Starfleet, anyway.

 

[Vger23]

This theory is grimdark.

 

[Rich]

I think Lorca knew where he was going, but basically didn't expect what he got. Like maybe he was jumping to a Terran star base and when he got there it was basically a space ship graveyard by the time he gets home.

 

[DaveyNY]

I suggested this theory last wednesday in this thread...
https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/sta...-the-forest-i-go.291263/page-47#post-12259612

I postulated that Lorca was attempting to jump back in time, but instead also jumped to the Mirror Universe.

I'm hoping that when they pan back from his expression at the Klingon wreckage in the beginning of the next episode, to the outside of the Discovery, the I.S.S. Buran is sitting there.

 

[Tosk]

I kind of hope that Mirror stuff was misdirection.