LOST: time after time

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Theory:
Sun doesn't flash back to 1977 because the cosmos won't let her visit a time when she could potentially meet her younger self (the baby daughter of Pierre Chang).

I like this theory because it follows a powerful logical time travel rule: that the universe won't allow an individual to encounter him or herself, presumably because of some kind of causality something-or-other which would result in a tear in the fabric of spacetime...

... or something.

And, if we look at Sun's experience, and Charlotte's—that her body, and her life, don't make it to 1977—it makes sense. There's also a lot of fun follow-thru possible. Like, Mr. and Mrs. Chang have their baby. She's brought to the Island. Maybe, before the Purge, Widmore orders that the DI children are spared. Some are indoctrinated as Others, but perhaps the powerful Paik patriarch, who has connections w the Island and the Others, finds that he and his wife cannot have a child. Widmore offers him baby Sun to raise as his own... Kooky, no? But...

I *dislike* this theory because we've already witnessed at least one explicit exception to the rule. Sawyer and company, while time skipping, revisited the night that Claire gave birth to Aaron. The time skippers could easily have run into their 60-some-days-younger selves (except, of course, for the fact that they hadn't already, so far as we know) and torn the universe a new one. Other exceptions include the skips to 1988, as all of the skippers were alive and walking around SOMEwhere on the planet, just not on the Island.

Maybe because the time skipping phenom itself was a kind of error or malfunction, the cosmic rule doesn't apply? That's a lame out.

There's absolutely no reason we should have expected Ben, Locke, or Lapidus to get pulled back to 1977, so I don't see any reason to try to justify they're remaining in the present day.

The only way I can see Sun being kept from 1977 on account of her younger self living then is if the Island "consciously" filters her out. The Island somehow actually KNOWS that if Sun flashed back to 1977, she'd encounter her younger self, so it kept her in 2008. The Island also somehow KNEW that the time skippers would jump to moments where they could *potentially* encounter their younger selves, but are destined NOT to, so it allowed them to visit those moments.

Lame. Far fetched, even for LOST, donchathink?

So, I hafta reject this theory. Sun remains in the present because she has Something To Do. For now, I like Miles for Pierre Chang, junior. No doubt that notion will get pooped on in the next episode, eh?

In light of this time traveling talk, it's kinda funny how Abaddon lures Locke to Australia (and ultimately, flight 815) with talk of a walkabout, the goal of which is to actually meet yourself.

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Timeline:
The donkey wheel...

On the Island, there's a subterranean chamber. In that chamber, there's a wheel. The wheel is set into a wall. On the other side of that wall is a "pocket of negatively charged exotic particles." Turning the wheel correctly moves the Island from one point on the surface of the planet to another, apparently randomly. Turning the wheel incorrectly sets the Island to skipping to apparently random points in both space and time.

Historically, the first characters whom we know to have been in the chamber are Locke and undead Christian. The chamber walls have hieroglyphics carved into them. We've also seen glyphs on the Swan's clock and the Temple walls.

At this time, year Y, there's no obvious access from the chamber to the surface. Above ground, an Egyptian statue stands on the shore of the Island, facing the water. A rope from a well that has not yet been dug is bonded to the ground above the chamber. Locke turns the wheel, exiting sometime after 2004 and sending the Island and the time skippers on a final time jump to 1977.

Some time after year Y, a well is dug. Did someone KNOW (thru time traveling intel?) to dig a well where they find a rope mysteriously embedded in the solid earth?

Locke uses/falls down the well to get to the chamber. At the start of his fall, he's in year X, when there is a well, but at the end of his fall, he's in year Y, when there isn't.

Some time after year X and before 1974, the well is filled in. In 1974, Sawyer jumps into the filled well, hoping to go after Locke.

Around this time or soon after, DI begins excavating the Orchid, very near the site of the well. Sometime after 1974, after Daniel Faraday has begun working as a member of DI, they inadvertently break into the chamber, but do not continue.

The wheel chamber may have been accessed by Charles Widmore sometime in the late 70s or 80s. I'm about 50-50 on whether he turned the wheel. If he turned the wheel after the purge, the Swan lockdown pallet drop could not successfully continue. But we know it does, so IF he turned the wheel, he must have done it BEFORE the Purge, and the DI would have had to adjust their procedures to the Island's new location...

Actually... That's what happened! Ben convinces Widmore/the Others that killing the DI contingent on the Island isn't enough. They need to keep DI from returning to try to take back their campus, stations, and the Island. So, Widmore turns the wheel as part of the Purge! Wow! OK. I'm going with this, then. Charles definitely turns the wheel in the 80s as part of the Purge strategy, exiting sometime in the 80s (when he goes on to build or assume his fortune, raise his daughter, and fund his son's time travel research).

The next time that we know the wheel chamber is accessed is at the end of 2004. Ben tilts the Orchid's time machine to create an explosion that breaks open a hole into the chamber. There's an aged metal ladder bolted to the rock wall within. No other access to the chamber is visible. Ben turns the wheel, exiting sometime after 2004.

Question: Does turning the wheel push the wheel turner thru time? I could swear that we're told that Ben appears in Tunisia six months after he turns the wheel. Not sure if the show told us, or maybe a newspaper date, or when he questions the concierge at the hotel.

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Keep on keepin on~