Who WASN'T at the church and why?

[captaintau]

Taking into account existing threads such as the one asking why Michael wasn't there, I'd like to look at who wasn't at the church and why they wouldn't have been:

Note that none of them were there alone. They all had emotional ties to other characters.

- Vincent. This bothers me the most. He best years were surely on the island
- Michael. Did he say he couldn't leave? He has no "ties" to any other lostie and is ashamed of his actions on the island
- Ben. Happy in their engineered reality, with love and respect. Doesn't want to leave it
- Walt. Probably had his best days off the island and also has no ties to anyone else there
- Ana-Lucia. Had no ties. Didn't thrive on the island. They certainly weren't her best days what with killing Shannon and all
- Eko. Interesting one. No ties. I would argue that aside from Walt he's the most under-developed character
- Ji-Yeon. Never went to the island. Doesn't remember her mother, never met her father. No reason to be there
- Nikki & Paulo. Didn’t thrive on the island
- Cindy, Emma and Zack – any ideas?


And who was that was a surprise?
- Libby. Tied to Hurley. Thrived on the island until she died
- Penny and Aaron. With Hurley and Ben revising Jacob’s rules, they could both have come to the island. Of course, Desmond could have left and Kate did leave, so there’s the ties again. Interestingly, no Charlie Hume – why not?

[Writers_Strike]

Is Richard still immortal and that's why he wasn't there?

[captaintau]

I thought his grey hair meant he wasn't immortal any more. Just like FLocke.

[motorcycle]

I'd be pretty annoyed if I were Nadia. Her and Sayid have been in love their whole life and then Shannon gets precedence because of a one week affair.

Also does David Shephard exist or he is just an alternate afterthought?

[psychoag98]

I'd be pretty annoyed if I were Nadia. Her and Sayid have been in love their whole life and then Shannon gets precedence because of a one week affair.

Also does David Shephard exist or he is just an alternate afterthought?

Interesting question.  I am suddenly drawing a blank, but wasn't there one character that kept telling Jack, "you don't have a son!".  (Man in Locke?)

[lostlady]

Locke told Jack he didn't have a son after the operation.

[lostfromthestart]

Trying to remember...

> was Miles at the church?
> Frank?
> and no minor characters like Artz, Dogan, no Dharma folk or Others

[bfth]

I thought the only ones who were in the church were the ones who "helped" Jack let go.

And I was disappointed that Vincent wasn't there.  Think Walt (not Michael -- he's stuck as a whisper for eternity) should have been there, but hey, the kid grew up.

[motorcycle]

Locke told Jack he didn't have a son after the operation.

But what was he then? A celestial emissary to help Jack get on the right path? A figment of Jack's consciousness?

[lostlady]

Locke told Jack he didn't have a son after the operation.

But what was he then? A celestial emissary to help Jack get on the right path? A figment of Jack's consciousness?

I have no clue! That is why a started a topic about David! lol

[captaintau]

> was Miles at the church?
> Frank?

Miles, Frank, Charlotte and Dan would have had their better years off the island. Miles couldn't wait to get away. Frank really is incidental.

Charlotte is an interesting one. Assuming she left the island in 1977, she (w)could still be looking for the island which of course is now undersea. OR she wouldn't. Either way she'd be a successful anthropologist.

Dan remains an enigma. During the "flash sideways timeline" he discovered his on-island physics knowledge. I doesn't seem fullfilled as a musician. Then again, Eloise pushed him in the direction of physics, away from his first love of music. Dan and Charlotte's only "tie" was each other. It's a shame for Dan to not be there but then arguably it makes sense.


Given that they've all arrived at that place together and Hurley's comments that Ana-Lucia isn't ready yet, maybe Dan, Charlotte, Ana-Lucia and et al will join them later. Maybe it's because they haven't found peace yet, that haven't "let go" where the others have. Letting go really does to be an overarching theme.

[Maxor127]

Yeah, I don't understand what David was either besides a soulless illusion.  Jack just forgetting about him doesn't sit well with me.  But I guess it could kind of be like when you have a dream about some other life and you wake up and realize it wasn't real.

[jamesl]

Daniel wasn't ready for he complete truth.
in the alt timeline Daniel was still thinking that it was an actual alt timeline
he wasn't ready to accept that he was dead and as actually in purgatory

Desmond was special because he understood what the alt timeline really was
he helped people to understand it
to understand where they were and what they were doing there

they were gathering together so they could all "move on" together
but Desmond decided not to let Faraday know what the alt timeline really is
he decided to let Faraday continue his "existence" in his life after death "reality"

Daniel is like Anna Lucia,
Desmond told Hurley that she wasn't ready yet
and neither is Daniel

Ben didn't go inside the church because he wan't ready to move on
he realized the alt time line wasn't real, and he remembered what he had done in real life

it had nothing to do with him being happy in the alt timeline,
he actually felt "sinful" and didn't feel worty to move on
he decided to stay in the alt time line to contemplate what he had done and try to reach a point where he felt ready to be with the rest

[lostfan777]

I loved how Eloise show a little weakness when she asked if Desmond was going to take her son.  She had said none of them were ready, but I think it was just that SHE wasn't ready yet to move on and didn't want to lose her son. 
I took the church scene to mean that they were moving on to a better place, but that this was a just a small group of people that were closely related to each other.  Dan, Miles, Frank, etc. would move on another time in their own ways with the people who were special to them.  Still others may never move on (Michael) or need more time until they feel they deserve to move on (Ben).
And the world is full, I'm sure, with characters who will be moving on in a different direction altogether.

[Madam P]

In the "Jimmy Kimmel" segment, Harold Perrineaux said "we answered that" (why Michael wasn't at the church): because Michael is stuck on the island, whispering for all eternity, because of his misdeeds.  (I assume the sins of killing Ana Lucia and Libby.)  He did not get redemption for those killings.  So for what that's worth...