CHARACTER OF CHRISTIAN

Christian Shepard is an anomaly.

In the fourth episode of the series, Jack begins to see visions of his dead father. A father who he was estranged from ever since Jack squealed on his father's alcohol induced medical negligence. Christian lost his medical license and his son.  Apparently, Christian went to Australia to see his former lover, Carole Littleton, who was severely injured in an automobile accident with his illicit daughter, Claire. Jack's mother sent him to Australia to bring back his father, but Christian spoiled that reunion by dying of an alcohol induced heart attack.

Jack accused his father of embarrassing him in front of other doctors during his internship. Then Jack believed people at St. Sebastian believed Jack got his position because of nepotism and not skill. But despite their rocky relationship,  Jack did not find work at a different medical facility which probably led to the staff's view of Christian's favoritism to his son.

Jack had a cold and distant relationship with his father as he grew up. Christian reinforced negative comments, like Jack did not have the stomach to be a leader; that he could not make the "hard" life and death decisions, and that you cannot "fix" everybody. It would appear that this is a long succession of daddy issues as Christian inferred that his own father did not approve of Christian's marriage to Margo, Jack's mother.

Christian's sudden death racks Jack's mind and emotional state. Jack cannot solve the problem of not correcting his relationship with his father. One can assume that this strong emotional state and memories of his father were "used" by the island (especially MIB) to manipulate Jack.

Following the crash of Oceanic 815, the Man in Black took on the appearance of Christian and began appearing to many of the survivors:
He appeared to Vincent and told him to wake "his son," whom he claims has "work to do."
He appeared to Jack a few days after the plane crash and led him to the caves. Years later, when confronted by Jack, MIB/Flocke would admit to using "Christian's form" when leading Jack to the caves, claiming that he was trying "to help" the survivors.
He appeared to Claire in the jungle and convinced her to abandon Aaron and follow him into the jungle.
He appeared in Jacob's Cabin and instructed Locke to move the Island.
He appeared to Locke in the FDW and told Locke he needed to find everyone, bring them to Eloise, and "to die" because "that's why they call it a sacrifice."
He appeared to Michael on the the freighter just before the explosion.

Even after leaving the Island, the image of Christian appeared to Jack. Christian appeared to Jack twice after the departure from the Island. First, Jack caught a glimpse of Christian as he walked by in the hospital. The second time also occurred at the hospital, while Jack was working late hours. He heard a smoke detector go off in the lobby. Christian said Jack's name from a nearby sofa, but one of Jack's co-workers appeared and Christian vanished. Believing this to be a hallucination, Jack requested a prescription for clonazepam.


The evidence suggests that throughout the series the image of Christian was a mere illusion. Christian was not Jack's father, but a re-creation from Jack's own memories but controlled by a supernatural smoke monster. The reality of the fake Christian was enhanced by the memories of other characters, like Sawyer and Ana Lucia's interactions with Christian in Australia. Jacob and MIB used that information to construct a puppet that could guide and manipulate Jack. There was a deep seeded need in Jack to seek final approval from his dead father. The island illusionists used that emotional pit to lead Jack to serve the Island/MIB/Jacob purposes. 


Since Christian was not "real" in the sense of a reincarnated person or even an independent ghost/spirit protecting Jack from the evils of the island conflicts, we must look closely at who was fake Christian. We have an admission from MIB that he used Christian's form to lead Jack to a fresh water supply to save the survivors. Why would MIB want to keep the crash survivors alive on the island when he told Jack centuries before that humans were destructive and corrupt?  MIB's grand plan was to use the survivors (especially the candidates) to "kill" Jacob so MIB "could leave the island." However, if Christian's image was seen by Jack off the island, who was that Christian?  If MIB was truly trapped and could not leave the island, it must have been Jacob. This would be evidence that Jacob was also had smoke monster shape shifting powers. That would make sense, since two equal smoke monsters would not be able to kill each other.


But if Jacob was Christian to Jack in the off-island appearances (we were shown Jacob touching other candidates off island so he had the power to leave the island at any time), why could Jacob not pretend to be Christian on the island?  Jacob said he never interfered with the people he brought to the island, but that is a bold face lie. Even MIB told Alpert early on that Jacob was a liar.


So we have island Christian being the smoke monster illusion in a physical form. But then, we have one more grand appearance of Christian in the sideways world. Christian is the master of ceremonies at the sideways church. Why is he the only parent of the 815ers present? Was Christian's appearance needed for Jack to be awakened so everyone could move on in the after life? But was that really Christian?!  Could this sideways master of ceremonies be the mirror reflection of the island's master of ceremonies, Jacob?

In the sideways church, Jack goes into a back room where his father's coffin is placed near a stained glass window reflecting all major religions. Jack touches the coffin and, with his memories awakened. He opens the coffin only to find it empty. Christian then enters the office, and explains to Jack that he had died and that this reality had been created by Jack and his former friends in order to find each other and "move on" together.

CHRISTIAN: This is the place that you...that you all made together, so that you could find one another. The most...important part of your life, was the time that you spent with these people. That's why all of you are here. Nobody does it alone Jack. You needed all of them, and they needed you.

JACK: For what?

CHRISTIAN: To remember...and to...let go.

The two shared a hug. We are led to believe that Jack and his father have reconciled their differences. But there is one glaring hole in Christian's explanation. Christian did not create the sideways world, Jack and his island friends did. So why is Christian truly part of this sideways reconciliation or is Christian a mere "prop" like Jack's sideways son, David?

After Jack reunited with his friends at the church's nave and sat with Kate at a pew, Christian emerged and briefly patted his son on the shoulder. He then opened the church's doors, allowing a bright light to engulf all those present as they crossed over to the next stage in their afterlives.

It would seem that the ending was brought about by a supernatural power - - - one that would have been beyond a mortal soul, such as man like Christian Shepard. It leads to an open question: was the sideways Christian a final illusion, possibly Jacob in disguise, rounding up the lost souls that helped him escape from his own island purgatory?