[QUOTE]Originally posted by blacklove:
Through the looking Glass and the chess element
Lost and its many literary references has been puzzling yet cool as I have found myself re-reading some great books while looking for clues to the show. Part two of Alice in Wonderlands Through the looking glass is the most interesting as after all it’s the only book referenced to have had an episode named after it meaning that has to be a clue in its self. After reading i9t here are some points in regards comparisons to the show.
1. The fire in which the king nearly falls into is referred to as a volcano. Alice gets through the looking glass above the fire. Could this reference the way that Ben and friendly etc get off island quickly and easily as lets be honest they aint getting the ferry every time. The island also has huge power generators which must power more than the hatches etc. No-one goes near the volcano as it portrays a sense of danger hence it would stop snooping around and be a form of security in itself. Interestingly this reference to a volcano occurs on page 8 of the book. Alice also states that they can see her through the glass but can’t get in. Sounds like the island when locke states that god cant even see this place. The white king also sits among the ashes. Jacob is trapped in a circle of ahs by ben.
2. On page 4 of the book she trys to teach her cat how to play chess. She also references a nasty knight and her favourite game of “lets pretend”. She also notes that the cat seems to understand the game as it purrs when she checks in the game after watching the game like she understands.
3. page 15 references a new invention for travelling whereby she is floating down the stairs rather than running. In lost desmond travels through time by his mind drifting subconsciously. She also states that her head is filled with ideas but from where she knows not or what they are.
4. Page 16 and my favourite bit is where she enters the Garden of live flowers where the plants talk in whispers as they are alive. In all our discussion of the whispers we have thought of them as the characters from a different timeline or the others as at times the whispers seemed to give advice in regards certain situations but what if the whispers like in the book are the plants as they watch the action unfolding on the island like their own private cinema. Like us watching a movie “ no behind you” etc. also when Alice tries to get to the top of the hill she notices that to get there the path twists like a corkscrew and sometimes returns her to the same spot depending on which way she goes. Like the island when Desmonds boat returns as he cant seem to get away. They thought it was tides but as the show progressed we have learnt that you need certain co-ordinates to get to certain places. What if all the other co-ordinates simply return you to the island as there are only a few ways back. Fits also here with the time dilation idea in the reference to the corkscrew effect which shows points of time intersecting within the core of the scientific idea.
5. page 23 when alice looks down into the valley she sees the garden of live flowers marked out as a large chessboard . Brings back to play the concept of two sides one light one dark. You must start in one square before going through the moves to in alices case become a queen. Alice begins as a white queens pawn. Ben references people as pawns in the show. There is a bigger game at play in the show and I believe it to between Widmore and Ben but why I can’t figure out yet. The island obviously is at stake but there has to be something more. So what are ben or widmore trying to become. Miles says I know who you are to ben. Who is he or what has he become/ capable of? Does the island offer him this and is this what widmore wants. Ben has been using Michael etc as pawns in his game to achieve his goal. He is obviously the king on one side, while widmore has used Desmond as a pawn in his goal to get to the island. Who are the queens though? Juliet would be bens but widmores?
6. Also on page 23 alice starts travelling with the white queen. She travels so fast but feels they are going nowhere as they never leave the same point but she is out of breath. Eventually after getting faster and faster they arrive at her destination without seemingly going anywhere. Again like Desmond alice travels to a different place in time without moving. Desmonds mind travelled but his body didn’t. Like minkowski Alice was experiencing different things while physically remaining in the same spot.
7. Page 42 alice enquires which road leads out of the woods. She like the losties is lost and needs to find her way back. Tweedledum & Tweedledee decide to recite her the poem the walrus & the carpenter as the answer.
8. Now in the poem they mention 4 oysters becoming 8 and then the number 7 which with 8 makes 15 and so the number of oysters multiplied.
9.
The game is played on a square chequered chessboard with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight square. At the start, each player (one controlling the white pieces, the other controlling the black pieces) controls sixteen pieces: one king, one queen, two rooks, two knights, two bishops, and eight pawns. The object of the game is to checkmate the opponent's king, whereby the king is under immediate attack (in "check") and there is no way to remove it from attack on the next move. So if it was a large game of chess would that mean that with the war that With Ben under attack that Widmore has him in the check position. Obviously Ben will not let himself be checkmated. As the Miles said we are here for Ben linus. Are thet there as pawn, roks etc to capture the king. Chess strategy consists of setting and achieving long-term goals during the game — for example, where to place different pieces — while tactics concentrate on immediate maneuver. These two parts of chess thinking cannot be completely separated, because strategic goals are mostly achieved by the means of tactics, while the tactical opportunities are based on the previous strategy of play.
Because of different strategic and tactical patterns, a game of chess is usually divided into three distinct phases: Opening, usually the first 10 to 25 moves, when players develop their armies and set up the stage for the coming battle; middlegame, the developed phase of the game; and endgame, when most of the pieces are gone and kings start to take an active part in the struggle. I would assume that with the war starting we are now in the middlegame before the endgame when they return to the island. For ben the endgame is having sayid eliminate all those involved in the staging of the submerged plane. The immortal game was a chess game played on 21 June 1851 by Adolf Anderssen and Lionel Kieseritzky. The very bold sacrifices made by Anderssen to finally secure victory have made it one of the most famous chess games of all time. He gives up both rooks and then his queen, checkmating his opponent with his three remaining pieces. It has been called an achievement "perhaps unparalleled in chess literature. I believe that Ben & widmore are playing the immortal game. This is further highlighted by the following information. The immortal game has resurfaced in many unusual guises. The town of Marostica, Italy has replayed the immortal game with live players, dressed as chess pieces, every year from September 2, 1923. The position after the 20th move is on a 1984 stamp from Suriname. The final part of the game was used as an inspiration for the chess game in the 1982 science fiction movie Blade Runner, though the chessboards used in the film are not arranged exactly the same as those in the immortal game (indeed, although the film's game is played remotely by two people, each with a supposedly identical board, the boards do not actually match each other). It was also the basis of a detective novel of the same name by Mark Coggins. With two chess boards and two players you get the allusive game being played out in lost hence why they both think they are right but we are yet to find out who is the lesser evil of the two. My money still on ben being the good guy though. Each player's clock starts with a specified time (eg 1 minute, 10 min etc). While Player 1 is deciding on their move, their clock time is decreasing and Player 2's clock time is increasing. This is similar to how an hourglass works, sand empties from one container, and fills into the other. Moving slowly gives your opponent extra time. The sum of both clocks will always remain the same. There is no maximum amount of time alloted for a game with this timing method, as long as both players play quickly, the game will continue until its natural end. When time runs out on one player's clock the game is over and that player loses.
Could it be possible that the time difference is the difference between widmore and bens boards and that ben has 31 minutes more time to play with than widmore meaning he has an advantage. Not to be taken literally as a game of chess but the rules are what the writers may be using to control how it pans out. A game clock consists of two adjacent clocks and buttons to stop one clock while starting the other, such that the two component clocks never run simultaneously. Game clocks are used in two-player games where the players move in turn.
Hey hope you found all the above interesting and something to think about with no lost to watch for the next few weeks
Nice finds on tinternet Blacklove
Alice in wonder land is Carroll at is paronoid best. Freaky when the chess pieces are speaking to you.
I used to play chess when using the clocks A fight would always break out when the time was running out for your opponent and you would naturaly wind them up
I think they call it game play
Also Check out The Seventh Seal on tinterweb it makes some sense of the Chess thoughts that you have.
____(OO=[II]=OO)___ (O=0000=O)
Before you judge a man, walk a mile in his shoes. After that, who cares? ...He's a mile away and you've got his shoes.
with your clever well thought out theories 
