Lost Island: My Theory....

[argh_jim]

The "light" of the Island is a natural (or supernatural) force that grants the Protector certain reality-affecting powers. Someone found the Island and became the first Protector. Over time, others came and worshipped there (or perhaps worshipped the Protector), building the statue, temple, and "plug". One such Protector later made the rule that

Comments

[hallerlake]

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AWizardDidIt

[argh_jim]

Maybe. If you have this many rules though, it's the easiest way to explain the how and why. Also rather believable that there's no prehistoric wikipedia to fully explain what's going on here. People just assume that's how it's always been, without regard to asking why or how of the origin. See: Religion.

[argh_jim]

You're mostly right, IMO, and much of it was directly pointed out in the show (How did people miss this??). I don't know if they're off to be reborn, but at least "moving on" to whatever. The part you're missing is that AltWorld is not a place a person MUST go, but a place they CAN go if they still have things to work out before moving on.

Michael is still one of the "whispering ghosts" on the Island, unwilling to even move on to AltWorld. Walt probably bypassed AltWorld. Ana Lucia was there (she was the crooked cop that Hurley paid off, remember?), but unready to move on. Eko probably bypassed AltWorld as well. And the actor demanded too much money.

[argh_jim]

Yeah, that was great. I'm still a sucker for Penmond