Jack aces "Island 101" on Hydra Island and knows how to get back

I wrote a theory last week about Ben and Locke, Jacob having a prophecy, and who moved the island being significant. I'll be referencing this in this theory if you want the background.

https://losties.darkbb.com/big-theories-f7/jacob-s-prophecy-ben-or-locke-t466.htm

In the theory I described that it was significant that Jack said that Locke didn't move the island. I believed that the significance was actually that Ben moved the island instead of Locke, but I'm no longer sure that the island actually moved.

OK, so I've been thinking: what about the other island? Obviously it wasn't there when they looked at the ocean from the chopper, so it can't be that THE island disappeared while the other one stayed put. All we've been hearing about is "THE island." Ben references "THE island," Locke references "THE island," and Hurley notes that Locke moved "THE island." So I go back and watch the scene to see if I can see what happens to the other island. Surprise, surprise, in the middle of all the commotion, Jack just happens to bring up the other island (as a possible safe landing spot), and Lapidus rightly points out that there's nothing there. Now, if it was just a matter of calling both islands "the island," for the sake of simplicity, and the audience was just supposed to assume that they both moved, why even bring it up at the last minute? I suppose it could be for continuity's sake, so we all wouldn't be asking "why didn't they just land on the other island??" all summer long.

But, I think this sudden mention of the other island is actually a big clue. We know that Jack says Locke didn't move the island, so why did he say this? I don't buy for a second that he thinks nothing happened, and he just reverted to being a "man of science," because something causes him to insist on a cover up. I thought maybe there was going to be some time travel incident, and Jack knew that Ben moved the island somehow, and that wasn't "supposed" to happen, or something along those lines. So, one of the last speaking parts that Jack has before he talks about the island not moving is mentioning the other island. So I started thinking of ways to tie this together. In other words, how could the island "not move", Jack believe that they must devise a cover up, and lastly for the mention of the other island in one of the last scenes of the season finale to end up being significant? Here goes:

1. As the helicopter was flying in towards the island, they ended up on the wrong bearing and in some convoluted way they approached the island during a time where it didn't exist...therefore it seemed like it disappeared.

OR

2. If they were on the correct bearing as they were flying towards the island, is it possible that Ben turning the wheel actually altered the electromagnetic anomaly that is the island (rather than moving it), thereby creating a situation where the correct bearing changed to something else? Have we ever actually seen anyone approach the island from the wrong bearing? If we have, what does it look like? Is there just nothing there?

We all know that Jack is highly intelligent, so could it be that as he was sitting in the rescue boat, he just pieced together that they had been duped by Ben Linus yet again? Did he just put two and two together about the bearing? I think it's possible that while Jack was taken to the other island, he learned about the bearings. Maybe it was explained to him that there was a "correct" way that they had to travel between the two islands, or that there was a tunnel that went across a certain bearing. Or even more likely, maybe Juliet told him. I'm sure they could write that into the plot much more cleverly than I could! Anyway, Jack may not have believed it at the time...he probably thought it was a load of crap they told the cult to keep them in line. But, maybe when he saw the island "disappear," he remembered what he learned on the other island, the bearings, etc. and pieced it all together. Remember he got pretty "friendly" with the others...haha, had to do it.

Would this realization eventually haunt Jack...that he left Locke in Ben's manipulative hands...Locke thinking he's going to be some kind of messiah of the island, when actually Ben just used him? I still think my theory is true, and this actually fits in. Ben knows that he's really "the chosen one," so he just said "what the hell, if Alpert and the others think that Locke is their man, then have a blast with an idiot who can't even locate a patch of anthuriums...I'll be doing the real work, even if it means I can't return to the island and that by turning this wheel (and changing the bearings), I will continue to trust the island and be thrust into WHENever the island needs me." (Remember, he ALWAYS has a plan and is always right where he needs to be.) In other words, Ben moved but the island didn't. Who knows, the bit about not being able to return could have been a lie to keep Locke from insisting that he "move the island."

I don't know if many people noticed, but Hurley says (just prior to the end of the finale) that they had been on Penny's boat for 10 or 11 days (can't remember), and that they had traveled 3000 miles away from the original island to protect the others left behind. Well, obviously several key conversations must have taken place on Penny's boat, because if all I knew was that I watched an island disappear into thin air, I don't know if I'd even have enough confidence that the people left behind even still existed, and I would be much more doubtful that they were in imminent danger of being found and killed by someone else.

In all the flashforwards, the O6 seem to think it's critical that they not even acknowledge that there were other survivors. It's almost like they're a hair's breadth away from being found and killed, which just doesn't jive for a group that disappeared into thin air. I think that Jack knows how to get back to the island, and I'm willing to bet he learned of it while on Hydra Island and explains it to everyone during the 3000 mile journey on Penny's boat. Right before you see Penny's boat appear in the night, Jack actually looks like he's going to answer Hurley's question, and I'm sure he eventually explained himself. Perhaps that's how Desmond and Penny end up back on the island (part of my Ben/Locke theory). I think this could be the very reason for the other island even existing in the show. Seriously, think on that for a minute.

Lastly, Ben tells Jack that the island won't let him come alone. Could this mean that Jack knows how to get back technically and the only reason it hasn't worked is that he didn't bring everyone else? Is there a course correction at work preventing him from getting back without everyone? Are all the maps in his room different ways/flights for him to approach the island from the correct bearing?

I'm really looking forward to hearing your ideas!

What did Naomi say about finding the island?

NAOMI: My company was hired by a woman named Penelope Widmore. I don't know why, I never met her. She gave us a set of coordinates. We'd be conducting a differential GPS grid search ever since.

SAYID: You knew about the Island?

NAOMI: Island? We were given coordinates in the middle of the bloody ocean. We thought it was a fool's errand. Til three days ago. I was flying back for the ship when all of a sudden the clouds cleared and I saw land. The instruments started spinning, I realized I was going down so, I grabbed my chute and I bailed.

SAYID: [To Desmond] Did you actually see her helicopter?

DESMOND: No.

NAOMI: You think I'm lying mate?

SAYID: And I take it you have no means whatsoever of communicating with that freighter of yours?

NAOMI: What was your name? Sayid?

SAYID: Yes.

[Naomi pulls out the satellite phone from under the covers of the bed she's lying in]

NAOMI: Remind me not to rescue you, Sayid.

Source: http://www.lostpedia.com/wiki/The_Brig_transcript

So maybe you are on to something, maybe the bearing change is what is moved by the frozen donkey wheel!

Good theory.

Stitch

+108 points

If you watched the mini web episodes last summer here is the link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-fFyZ7VINc as a heads up its also on abc.com but that one wont work for me. Anyway to me in this clip it seems that Ben knew jack would leave one day and would want to return.

Awesome, Stitch!! Thanks for posting that-now I'm even more convinced that either of 2 scenarios are true:
1. Jack somehow knows that Ben moved the island rather than Locke (which I think is much less likely)

or

2. The island didn't actually move

Maybe that would be a good debate topic...did the island actually move?

I don't know what to think. He doesn't seem at all suprised to see Ben in the funeral home. I just assume that 'Benthem' told Jack what he needed to know hoping that Jack would help him.