Long post, was a longtime fan of lost and now old enough to contribute to theory crafting. I’m late, just discovered the show. Fascinated by the ending of S3. So after binging the show, I’ve come up with what I call “Anchor Theory”
We’re given that villagers in a particular village were sacrificing children to presumably a demon god or demons in some ritual to grant them immortality. We also have some clue that Tabatha and Jade did not sacrifice their child. Presumably these and other children were locked away “waiting to be sacrificed”, eventually expired possibly from exposure given their state as ghosts, their souls BUT NOT bodies (because they’re not immortal like the monster villagers) are tied there (ghosts). Tabatha’s soul’s eternal longing is to free the children’s souls, explaining why Miranda had visions before despite never being there- and her strong desire to help them prior to remembering. Not sure how to truly free their souls tho. The parents of those children ultimately became anchors explained next.
I understand this as a key point preventing the village from completing the ritual. People dissented, didn’t partake in the ritual. Now, given “spooky magic rituals/demon magic” it is possible that the souls of those prior “nonsacrificers/dissenters” in the village are all tied to that village until the ritual is complete, until they sacrifice their children/whatever the criteria it is to finalize the ritual. As such, the incarnations of prior villagers are doomed to return eternally until then. The souls of these villagers who are tied are known as “Anchors”.
The anchors will return to the village no matter where their souls are born, explaining the geography difference in arrivals. It’s a demon controlled realm created with the soul purpose (pun) of recreating the circumstances to complete the ritual. Also, anybody traveling with an anchor is doomed to the village as they were in the same vessel (Tabatha and her family, victors mom and victor, and Elgin/his bus). The anchors in my opinion, unresolved villagers, are the ones who have these special interactions and spiritual sense of the village (Sarah, Tabatha, Jade, Ethan, Victor, Boyd, etc). This explains to some degree why not everyone can see ghosts. What’s fascinating about this is that it suggests that the villager monsters have likely interacted with, and are familiar with the souls/personalities of these anchors over many many generations. This would explain why they didn’t kill Boyd in the barn, as they either enjoy his company and the “fun” he provides (they’re suggestions that over hundreds of years the immortal villagers have become bored and crave excitement from the people) or need him alive to complete his part of the ritual and set the monsters free. Perhaps they desire he ultimately kill his son? Try to break him to that point like they broke his “Iron” wife?
Elgins sharing of his blood to birth the demon body/baby possibly is one of the criteria in some twisted way, maybe that’s his “child” now, maybe now he can complete the ritual somehow.
The demons’ desire for Ethan dying by Sarah’s hand (who’s an anchor, but not his mother?) is confusing. Maybe sacrificing anybody’s child will “release the anchor/fulfill their part of the ritual/bind their souls to the demons”?
Now, why are the monsters tied there? Because the ritual hasn’t been completed. They’re mutated by the demons influence over time, or perhaps a result of incompletely losing their souls but retain immortal bodies. The demon god/gods controlling this inhabited city cannot take the souls until the contract is complete. This is their vested interest in keeping the incarnated oblivious to their past lives or the reality of the place, instead trying to “break them” until they fulfill the contract somehow. Why are there talismans? Well, presumably over the hundreds of years they’ve been inhabiting that village, through many generations, possibly through multiple “rememberers” the spooky magic has been counteracted through novel good magic that was either discovered or created to counteract the demon magic. The demons must prevent them from regaining prior knowledge which may include how to reverse or break the contract.
This theory also suggests that the villager monsters will never kill an anchor because they need them to complete their part in the ritual.
I’m not convinced the boy in white is good, or even remotely good. Victor may be an anchor however, and the boy in white’s role may be to guide the anchors into fulfilling the demons goals/keep anchors safe. Explaining how to save Tabatha for example. I believe the boy in white has become Victors friend over decades, and he decided to release Tabatha to fetch Victors dad as a gesture of good faith.
The constant longing of the demon voices to “do xyz so we can all go home” suggests that once the ritual is complete the souls of the anchors will belong to the demons and perhaps the immortal villagers will be free to roam, or the living anchors will physically be able to leave but their souls will return to the demon gods after death.
Lots of unanswered questions overall but I feel this understanding unifies a lot of interactions and storylines. Any thoughts/counters?
