After the Lost finale aired, some people complained that there are still dozens of questions left unanswered -- but is that really true? Sure, there are still a few loose threads left hanging, but I'd argue that the bulk of the questions people have are either answerable or can be strongly guessed at based on the information the show has already given us.
To put my theory to the test, I decided to rebut a popular video compiled today by College Humor that lists nearly 100 outstanding questions that Lost has left us with. How many could I answer, and how many were legitimate loose ends? Let's find out.
Why did the monster kill the pilot?
Because he's an angry smoke monster who often kills people who come to the island, as long as they're not candidates.
What did Locke see when he first saw the smoke?
Smoke, I'm guessing?
What's with the polar bear in Walt's comic?
It...was a polar bear in Walt's comic. Would you like to know who published it, or...?
Where's Christian Shepherd's body if it's not in the casket?
On the island somewhere, presumably.
Why did the psychic say that Claire had to fly on Oceanic 815, and why did he insist that her son had to be raised by Claire?
It's open to interpretation. In one of Eko's flashbacks, the psychic seemed to be a bit of a fraud, but if you subscribe to what he's saying, it still makes some sense. It was Claire's destiny to be on that flight, as she was a Candidate (albeit one who was eventually crossed-out...maybe Jacob was more interested in her before she got pregnant). As for why Claire had to raise Aaron, look how many people tried to kidnap that baby! And look what happened to poor Claire when she had to go without Aaron. Her hair was terrible.
Why did the Others want Walt so badly?
The Others kidnapped children, since they were unable to reproduce. Walt was a child. Ergo, Walt was kidnapped.
Who sent Kate the letter telling her about her mother being treated for cancer in the hospital?
Some dude? I mean, do we really care?
How does Walt know about the hatch and why does he warn Locke not to open it?
Walt had some special psychic powers, so he learned about the hatch by picking it up from Locke. As for why he didn't want it opened...well, a lot of bad shit went down in that hatch. Like, Walt's dad shot some people and stuff. It wasn't all fun and Mama Cass records.
Why does the smoke monster make mechanical sounds?
Because it's cool.
How is Walt able to apparate before Shannon?
Special powers.
How did Walt communicate with Michael using the Swan computer?
Probably got on one of the Others' computers, checked his email, played a few rounds of Words with Friends, and still had a little time left over to tool around a bit.
What is the deal with Kate and that horse?
I mean, it's an island with polar bears and zoo animals. A black horse may hold special resonance for Kate, but can't it just be a black horse? We've seen people riding horses on the island before.
Why are supplies still being dropped on the island after the purge, and by who?
All right, we finally have our first really legitimate unanswered question. I wouldn't mind knowing the answer, either.
What triggered the lockdown, and why on earth would anyone trigger it so that during the lockdown, black lights would go on?
The food drop triggered the lockdown. As for black lights, who doesn't love those?
What happened to the original Henry Gale?
Ballooned to the island, then died. I mean, it could have been interesting to know more about him, but what more did we really need to know? He was a red herring for the Ben story.
What happened to the original timeline Libby in the mental hospital?
Unanswered question #2.
Who built the four-toed statue?
We can intuit that among the people who crashed on the island were Egyptians, just to go by their hieroglyphics and Tawaret statue-building. Did we actually need to see them in a flashback, peering over blueprints and sweating on ladders? I didn't, but your mileage may vary.
Why does only one specific bearing get you off the island?
Because it's a hidden, magical island, and it just does?
What are the hieroglyphics on the Swan countdown timer about?
An homage to the Egyptians who used to live on the island and tagged hieroglyphics all over the place?
Why did Tom feel the need to wear a fake beard?
To fool the Oceanic survivors into thinking that the Others were simply a primitive tribe of other castaways, not a technology-possessing race tapped into the mysticism of the island.
Who was Libby's previous husband?
Some dude. I presume he was a little crazy-making.
Who are the skeletons in the polar bear cave?
Some people who got stone-cold killed by polar bears, I'm guessing.
Where did the toy truck come from?
Maybe it belonged to someone who got stone-cold killed by a polar bear?
How did Locke and Eko escape the hatch explosion?
A valid question, although I've come to expect that with Lost, explosions, implosions, donkey wheels, and sojourns into a tunnel of mystic light will all spit people in unpredictable ways.
Why couldn't Locke talk after the hatch explosion?
I mean, dude was just in an explosion. Give him a minute.
Why did the monster kill Mr. Eko, and why didn't he just do it the first time they met?
Perhaps the monster thought Eko would be of use, and then when he was so defiant to the monster in their second encounter, it was lights-out time.
What did Mr. Eko mean when he said, "You're next?" as he died?
He meant a lot more regulars were cannon fodder.
How disgusting was it when Hurley was eating from that tub of ranch dressing?
Very.
Why did Yemi's body disappear?
Dunno, maybe a polar bear ate it?
Why does Danny say Jack wasn't on Jacob's list when in fact his name was clearly written in the cave?
Ben was faking his communications to Jacob, so whatever he told the Others about the list was made up. Even Dogen didn't know who the candidates were until Hurley gave him the ankh with the list of names on it.
Why can't women on the island have babies?
Before the bomb went off and triggered an electromagnetic explosion deemed "The Incident," women could have babies just fine. Afterwards, they couldn't. See a connection?
What was that Russian letter in Mkhail's typewriter?
Some letter? Dude was lonely, he probably wanted to be pen pals with Ms. Klugh.
Why was the supply drop menu hidden behind a game of computer chess?
Bad Dharma planning. I blame Radzinsky!
Remember when Ben gave Juliet that weird mark as punishment? What was that about?
It was about her doing something traitorous to the Others. What more do you need on that one?
What's the deal with Jack's tattoos?
Let's please not revisit the Bai Ling episode, OK?
How did Desmond's monk know Eloise?
Key parties at Widmore's mansion.
How did Ben see his dead mother?
Fair enough. Dead mothers often appear on the island -- even the Man in Black saw his. Unanswered question #3!
Who decided to kill the Others in a purge?
It was most likely a grim brainstorming session between Ben and Richard.
What happened to Ben's childhood friend, Annie?
She wasn't important to the story of the show.
Why did Desmond have a false vision of Claire and Aaron leaving the island on a helicopter?
To be fair, Aaron did leave the island on a helicopter. But yeah, the Claire thing was either the subject of a rewrite or Swayer's blond tresses mucking with Desmond's vision.
How does Mikhail keep coming back to life?
Dude is tenacious.
Why does Walt tell Locke that he still has work to do?
So Locke will go kill Naomi and protect the island from more interlopers.
Whose eye appeared in the window of the cabin?
The Man in Black's, maybe?
Where did Miles get that picture of Ben?
From Widmore.
Who was the R.G. on Naomi's bracelet?
I always speculated that Naomi was in love with Regina (Zoe Bell), the freighter woman who drowned herself.
Why was there a time difference between Faraday's timers?
Because time is different on the island as opposed to the outside world.
Who is the Economist and why did Ben want him dead?
My guess was Widmore, who was still trying to find and send people to the island. Ben had Sayid took care of any Widmore henchmen he could get ahold of.
Why was Ben so surprised that they couldn't kill Alex? What are the "rules"?
I suspect in this case that the rules were something of a gentlemen's agreement. Between these two rivals, their families were supposed to be off-limits.
How does Jack's dad appear in a hospital in LA?
I just thought this was crazy anxious Flash-Forward Jack's vision.
How did the monster get into Jacob's cabin?
I think it had been trapped there, though apparently not very well!
Why did Ghost Horace direct Locke to the cabin?
Because he was actually the smoke monster.
Why did the Oceanic Six lie and name Charlie, Boone, and Libby as the other survivors? What's the logic in that?
Lies always sound more specific if you sprinkle them with random information. I think I learned that from The Housesitter.
Why does Miles decide to stay on the island?
He hadn't gotten his own episode yet.
What's the deal with the frozen wheel? It combines light and water?
Yup.
Why does Ben insist that the Oceanic Six, as well as Locke, have to return to the island?
Perhaps Ben feels like if he returns the candidates to the island, he can sneak in behind them.
Why don't the rules of time travel apply to Desmond?
Ever since Desmond turned the failsafe key and got blasted with all that electromagnetic radiation, he's been able to jerk around with time and space. As one does.
Who are the men who tried to kidnap Sayid and Hurley, but got thrown into a dishwasher full of knives?
Widmore's goons.
Ben asks his butcher friend who was watching Locke's body if Gabriel and Jeffrey have checked in yet. Who are these people?
Part of Ben's off-island network of Others.
When the gang was unstuck in time, who was that shooting at them from the outrigger?
Unanswered question #4.
Who sent Sun a gun and pictures of Jack and Ben?
Widmore, who Sun was tenuously allied with at the time.
Who attacked Sayid, and why did he have Kate's address?
Widmore's goons.
Why was the smoke monster at the temple?
The smoke monster can reside in the tunnels underneath the temple, but it can't go in the temple itself while it's protected.
How do the producers of Expose deal with the death of their two lead actors, Nikki and Paolo?
Actually Paolo wasn't on Expose, and Nikki was just a guest star. But I'm sure they were bummed and sent flowers.
How does Eloise come to run the Lamp Post station?
Well, Dharma wasn't around anymore to do it, and it's actually got a really comfy living room, so...
How does a pendulum predict the island's movements?
It just does.
Why do those returning to the island need to recreate the circumstances of their first arrival?
So a squinting island will be like, "Eh, close enough," and snatch our heroes back.
How did Jack, Hurley and Kate get from that Ajira flight to the 1970s, and why didn't Sun?
It's fair to call this unanswered question #5, although you could speculate that the island only plucked away potential candidates, and Sun wasn't the right Kwon. Still, kinda random for the island to be like, "Wanna hang out in the 1970s for a little bit?"
How did Richard bypass the sonar fence?
He's immortal.
How did Ethan go from a member of the Dharma Initiative to a member of the Others?
He was an impressionable kid recruited by Ben? I mean, who really cares about Ethan. We don't need an Ethan episode. Fill in the blanks, people.
What's with all the hieroglyphics underneath the temple?
Egyptians probably built it. They sure loved building things on the island!
Why did Widmore tell Ben to kill Rousseau and her baby, and why did he then let Ben keep it anyway?
The Others were not very keen on keeping island newbies around, but exceptions could made for kids.
Why did Daniel leave the island in the 70's?
Because Jeremy Davies wasn't going to have a lot to do for a few episodes, so they decided to just give him some time off?
Why does Richard think he saw everyone in the 1977 Dharma picture die?
He probably didn't see it with his own eyes, but after The Incident happened and our heroes were time-jumped forward, it's reasonable for Richard to think they died. He just fudged the revelation for maximum dramatic impact.
Who broke the circle of ash around Jacob's cabin?
Unanswered question #6.
Why can Jacob leave the island but the smoke monster can't?
Perhaps the power to travel is something only afforded to the island's protector, and not its smokey death instigator.
Jacob uses his last breath to say, "They're coming," but who are they?
The remaining candidates: Jack, Hurley, Sawyer, Kate, and Sayid.
What's the deal with the pool that brings people back to life?
The island always had healing properties, so maybe bathing in the light was like that wax bath from Wanted.
Why did Sayid come back to life with a British accent?
Because Naveen Andrews was like, "What are they gonna do, fire me?"
What is the "infection"?
This is a fuzzy one. I think infection might not be such a literal explanation...it's just what the Others use to describe people in the sway of the Monster.
Why was the Smoke Monster confused that Sawyer could see Young Jacob?
Sawyer hasn't worn those eyeglasses in a while, so Smokey was just concerned, that's all.
What's the magic lighthouse about?
It's where Jacob could peer into the outside world for potential candidates.
How is Dogen simply being alive keeping the smoke monster out of the lighthouse?
I presume College Humor means "the temple," but the answer is: it's just one o' them supernatural rules. In other words, "it just does."
What happened to the flight attendant Cindy and the kids?
They didn't end up doing much, did they? I guess Cindy was really won over by the Others' 401K plan and just decided to put feathers in her hair and go native. What are you gonna do?
Why didn't Sun tell Jin to go just so their daughter wouldn't be an orphan?
Yeah. Bad form, Sun.
Where did Jacob and the smoke monster's mother come from?
Some crashed ship centuries ago. All the inhabitants were Latin-speaking. Beyond that, I'm not sure why we'd need to know much more, since she bites it pretty fast.
Where did Allison Janney come from?
This is one of those endlessly perpetuating trains of thought, like a seven-year-old asking, "What's beyond the planets? What's beyond that? What's beyond that?" There may have been people on the island before Allison Janney (and she implies as much), but the story of Lost is confined to one specific galaxy, not the universe. If we found out who did Janney's job before her, would you ask who did it before that person, too?
Who finished the magic wheel that combined light and water?
The next people that happened upon that place.
What is the nature of the light?
It's like the Force, dude. And if they explained it anymore, you'd have a Liam Neeson speech about midichlorians, and no one wants that, do they?
Why does Tina Fey want the electromagnetic map of the island?
Presumably so they can chart that information and dip Desmond into the electromagnetic heart of the island.
How does the electromagnetic thing send Desmond to the afterlife and back?
Look, you get electromagnetically mutated, and some crazy shit can happen. Some people Hulk out, some people see Heaven's waiting room.
Wasn't Sayid's soulmate Nadia, not Shannon?
Look, if Maggie Grace is coming back for a cameo, she's getting into that last scene, all right?
Why weren't Michael, Walt, Lapidus, Eko, or any of the other characters at the church?
Like Ana Lucia, they may not have been ready to move on yet. (Although in Eko's case, it probably had more to do with a pay dispute.)
The final verdict: There are still a few nagging questions left over, and I'll always wonder what the writers originally had planned for that outrigger shootout, but I found that almost anything on Lost can already be answered based on what we've learned throughout the course of the show. Frankly, I'm fine with filling in a few blanks here and there -- after all, it's the only way left to keep Lost going.