I’ve been reading A LOT about Lost lately. What can I say… it’s one of the few shows at the moment that’s got some meaty mythology going on and engaging my brain. Plus the marathon I did with Mo right before this season started means I actually remember all the things from the past they’ve brought up so far. Love it!

In all the reading, I’ve seen a lot of people wondering if the time travel on the island is what has been affecting pregnancies on the island. A valid consideration I suppose. But it doesn’t work for me. Mostly because we have no evidence that the time traveling has been an on-going phenomenon. Richard’s presence at John’s birth and in his life has been explained (don’t worry, I’ll get to Richard’s age in a second). Juliet seems just as confused as everyone else when they started flashing back and forth through time. Daniel’s and even Eloise Hawking’s later interest in time travel can be tied back to what’s going on now. (Daniel saying things that didn’t make sense to Ellie and then disappearing into thin are could have led to Ellie’s later interest in trying to figure out how the time travel worked and realizing she had to pass it along to her son for things to happen as they did, etc.) So. I don’t see how time travel is at fault for the failing pregnancies on the island. Logically I can see how time travel could cause a miscarriage. I just don’t think it’s the reason the Others kept miscarrying.

Then, in the comments over at John Cabrera’s blog, there was some discussion of aging on the island and suddenly it hit me. What if that’s what’s affecting pregnancies on the island?

BUT! Before I get into that I have to back up and admit that I’m no longer convinced it’s an aging thing so much as a healing thing (though my pregnancy theory applies in either case). What if the island is kind of like a Place of Youth? Think of the Fountain of Youth and all of the stories that go along with it. In almost every tale I’ve ever read/heard incorporating the idea of the Fountain of Youth or Fountain of Life, someone was wounded and healed by drinking the water from the fountain. It’s rare to see someone grow younger so much as have their body constantly re-heal itself (therefore keeping them eternally healthy at their current age). Sound like anything we’ve had happen on the show? Yeah.

The one caveat seems to be only people who have some kind of “connection” to the island experience this benefit. Richard doesn’t appear to age. Mikhail (aka Eye Patch Guy) never seems to die despite us having seen him die multiple times. Locke’s legs got better, he didn’t die despite Ben shooting him, and even his latest wound seems to have healed itself pretty quickly. Not to mention we know that Ben seems pretty insistent that they bring his body back to the island. I remain confident that returning his dead body to the island will restore his life. (Which naturally brings to mind another dead body, Chistian, that was brought to the island and yet appears to be very much alive… I always did have a problem with him being able to hold baby Aaron last season.) And then there’s Rose. Naturally I’m now curious what her deeper connection to the island could be. On the other hand, we have Ben who had been on the island forever and had not only aged but developed a tumor on his spine. He’s definitely not quite as “special” as he’s lead us to believe…

But! That’s a discussion for another post. Back to my theory on island pregnancies. Whether it’s healing powers or just a way to stop aging, I think this “power” of the island is the key to why pregnancies can’t get past the second trimester on the island. I’m not entirely convinced they could get even that far along prior to the recruitment of Juliet. I fully believe the injections she was giving to pregnant women were an attempt to counteract the healing/anti-aging properties of the island.

See, if people who have a connection to the island (and what stronger connection could you have beyond being conceived there?) can’t age, then it explains a fetus not being able to come to term and the mother’s body rejecting it and the miscarriages. AND, if it’s more about healing than aging then I wonder if the mother is experiencing a link to the island via her child and the island is trying to “heal” the mother and that’s what leads to the miscarriage. That or the island is either keeping the fetus at a certain age in the womb or causing it to age too quickly (trying to “heal” it) which leads to the mother’s body thinking something’s not right with the pregnancy and leading to a miscarriage. Either way, I think the mystery of Richard never appearing to age is going to lead to our answer to why pregnancies don’t work on the island.

Like I hinted at above, I think Juliet knows this or knows some of it anyway. Hence the injections. After all, based on her comments about how long Richard has been on the island, she definitely seems to something about his age and why he doesn’t seem to grow older. And before you ask me about Charlotte being born on the island or Sun being able to have her baby… remember that Aaron was born on the island too. It’s only the pregnancies that happen on the island itself that are in risk. And, in the case of Claire, I actually think it was the combination of being so far along when she arrived on the island AND the injections that kept her safe. After all, if Christian truly does have a connection to the island, then his children might have retained that connection as well. As for Sun and Jin’s daughter being conceived on the island… well, Sun left the island before her two months were up didn’t she? All evidence points to the “power” only working on the island so she was out of danger as soon as she left.

So there ya go… that’s my current theory on why pregnancies on the island don’t succeed. I may be completely off but I think I could be close. Circling the answer at least. Which probably means I’m treading water on the other side of the island.