What happened at the end of 'Lost'?

Answer 1

If you have been watching the last season of LOST, you know that each episode was shifting between life on the island and the sideways reality. Until the end, we weren't quite sure how those two realities related.

On the Island

Jack stayed on the island as he was the new island protector. Hurley and Ben stayed with him. Desmond, Rose, Bernard, and the dog Vincent were on the island as well. The people who left and flew away in a plane were Kate, Clare, Sawyer/James, Miles, Richard, and the pilot Frank.

Jack was entrusted with protecting the light at the center of the island, which was never explained in detail. He had Desmond turn off the light because that made smoke monster Locke human. Locke and Jack fought, and Jack was stabbed. Kate shot Locke before he could kill Jack, and Jack pushed Locke off the cliff, killing him.

Jack then went back to the cave and Hurley lowered him in so he could turn the light back on. Jack new he would die, and made Hurley the new protector of the island. Hurley chose Ben as his "Number 2."

Hurley pulled Desmond up out of the cave, and Desmond survived. Jack turned the light back on and then died from his injuries. The last shot of the show was him lying in the jungle with his eye closing. This is in direct contrast to the first shot of the show, which was Jack lying in the jungle, with his eyes opening.

In the end, Jack found redemption on the island, which arguably was the main point of the show.

Sideways World

How does the island life relate to the Sideways World, you may ask. We saw in the Sideways World that once the island-goers encountered certain people from the island or important events happened to them, they remembered everything that happened on the island. Jin and Sun remembered everything when Sun was having a sonogram. Juliet and Sawyer remembered everything when they met. Kate remembered everything when she delivered Aaron. Clare and Charlie remembered everything when they touched. Locke remembered everything when he woke up from his surgery. Jack began to remember everything when he saw Kate.

In the end, they all gathered in a church. Jack was the last to enter, and he first encountered his father Christian who was dead. Jack finally remembered everything from the island, including the fact that he died, too. His father confirmed that all the people in the church (all the island-goers) were also dead. "Some of them died before you and some long after," is what Christian told Jack.

Throughout the episode, Desmond talked about the fact that they all needed to be together so they could 'leave' or 'move on'. Jack met his friends in the sanctuary of the church, and we saw everyone happy with the people they loved. Christian opened the door to the church, and there was a bright light, and that was the end.

Since we found out they were all dead, we now know that the Sideways World was purgatory. Christian told Jack, "The time you spent with these people was the most important of your life." I believe they all had to find each other in the purgatory world so they could remember what happened to them, accept it, and let it go. They needed to do this in order to leave purgatory and move on to heaven or a better place.