CHARACTER OF JOHN LOCKE

If LOST itself was an enigma, then John Locke is the show's poster child.  Locke's entire life was filled with set backs, failures and losses which would make even die-hard Cub fans cringe.

Locke was born on May 30, 1956 to Emily Locke and Anthony Cooper, a traveling salesman (con man) who when he learned that he knocked up a teenager, tried to run her over with an automobile. This led to Locke being born three months prematurely, and called by some as a "miracle baby." Outside the incubator room, infant Locke was seen by Richard Alpert. Locke's mother went crazy, believing she could not raise a child. She was institutionalized at Santa Rosa. Locke soon entered foster care. Alpert returned to see Locke when he was five years old.  During this "test" of items that already belonged to Locke, Locke picked a knife which upset Alpert - - who left saying Locke was not ready yet. Alpert would return when Locke was a teenager, offering him a science camp invitation. But Locke rejected his science background because it was the cause of intense bullying by other students. Locke wanted to be the cool kid, not the science geek. When a teacher reminded Locke that he was not good at sports so as to pursue science instead, Locke said "don't tell me what I can't do."

As an adult, Locke went from odd job to odd job. His crazy mother found him working in a store's toy department. She told him he was immaculately conceived so he had a "special destiny," but an investigator found his biological father. As a result of this set-up, Locke met Cooper who conned him into giving up a kidney. Locke was bitter and enraged about being conned and that his father shut him out of his life. He stalked Cooper to the point he had to join an anger management group. But he felt he did not belong there, but started a relationship with the Helen Norwood, who would accept Locke with all his faults but one: his obsession with his con-artist father. As a result, Locke got caught up in one of Cooper's cons, helping his father escape with stolen loot - - - and losing Helen who rejected Locke's proposal.

By 2000, Locke was in a state of depression, on government assistance, and beginning therapy. He was approached by a young man who was concerned about his mother marrying a suspicious man, Cooper. When the man was killed, Locke confronted Cooper. During the confrontation, Cooper pushed Locke out an eight story window. Lying paralyzed on the ground, Jacob came over and touched him.

Locke was confined to a wheelchair. He remained bitter. He took a trip to Australia for an outback adventure, but he was denied by the travel group because of his physical disability. As a result, he left Sydney on Flight 815.

CHARACTER TRAITS

Locke could be considered a perpetual loser. He was unlucky in life, love and even death. He came from a broken home: a crazy mother and a missing father. He bounced from foster home to foster home, showing that he was not willing to fit into societal norms. He had grander visions of himself than what he talents could do. He was an escapist, more interested in the strategy of games than self-improvement. He always had a chip on his shoulder. He wanted to be respected, a leader, a man in control of his own destiny. But every time he tried to do so, he was given a great set-back. He was a depressed man with a depressing life story.

LOCKE'S JOURNEY

Locke's journey was more like a pinball being whacked from side to side by the paddles of life. He basically grew up an orphan, with no parents. So he had both mother and daddy issues. His decision making was always poor. He gave up science in high school (which could have led to a successful career), but then would dread the dead end clerical jobs he held as an adult.

Locke was the earliest main character "touched" by the island. In a matter of days from his premature birth, Alpert was present at the hospital. It was highly unlikely that a premature baby in rural 1950s America would have survived in an incubator and subsequent serious illnesses. Perhaps, that is why Locke was called "special."

Despite being special, Locke lived a less than ordinary existence. He never accomplished anything special or extraordinary. He was always looking for answers, including joining up with a commune, but never could find his true self. It created deep conflict within Locke, almost creating a split in his personality.

When he was paralyzed, Locke almost gave up. He set out to prove his co-workers that he could still do anything he wanted to do, including the walkabout. It turned into a miserable failure. Locke was returning to America as a broken, broken man.

But the plane crash suddenly freed him of his handicap and his past. Locke immediately transformed from wheelchair bound loser into outback hunter. He used the little trivia he knew on many subjects to impress his fellow survivors. The island gave him his second "miracle," and Locke jumped on the chance to become the person he could never be in his past life. Locke became highly motivated to become a smiling social person, to seek out friendships, and to position himself in a leadership role. He sought challenges to master. He wanted others to look upon him as an equal or superior. When he killed his first boar to provide food for the camp, he beamed with pride. They had accepted him and acknowledged his value as a hunter-provider. In some ways, this was Locke's dream come true.

But what would shatter that dream world was the fact that many of the other survivors wanted to leave the island. Rescue met going back to his stupid, miserable life. He felt that his destiny was the island, but in an ironic twist, Locke would never know he was a "candidate" to be the island guardian because he was murdered by Ben in LA. Locke would do anything to have his vision fulfilled, including manipulating people to do his bidding as with Sawyer killing Cooper so Locke could gain the leadership of the Others from Ben. Locke would pit his knowledge against Jack's leadership decisions in order to split the camp to garner some favor and acceptance by those who would follow him like Boone and Walt. And when there was more and more push back against his ideas, Locke would become more and more obsessive - -- about opening the Hatch, then entering the Numbers, then protecting the island from Widmore. But the reasons he stated for all his actions turned out to be basically wrong. The hatch was not the salvation. The Numbers were not the answer. The stoppage of numbers input turned into an implosion. No matter what he contributed to the island, Locke only turned into a prop for MIB's master plan in the End.

The John Locke that many fans embraced died in Season 5. He never got back to the island. He was never a player in the rescue of any of the 815 people. In fact, Locke's death was a meaningless death. Ben murdered Locke because Locke knew of Eloise Hawking, the woman who said she had a means to get them back to the island. Was it a mere jealous rage by Ben in killing Locke so Ben could try to regain his power position on the island? Or was it truly "course correction" at work: Ben had stopped Locke's own suicide so Locke was going to die in that hotel room anyway.

 Locke's death did not have a great impact on the O6 people. Jack was already tilted over the edge into drug addiction. Kate had begun to domestic pressure cook under the guise of raising Aaron. Hurley was crazed by visits by dead people. In fact, all of the O6 people rejected Locke's attempts to bring them on board to return to the island. It was actually Ben's manipulations that got the band back together.

It is probably fitting that Locke was a puppet on his island return. There would have been no room for another leadership conflict in the crisis of Widmore's arrival, the finale of the Jacob-MIB feud, and the uncorking (and rebooting) of the island world. Locke, as a person, played no true role in getting the 815ers through the Season 6 island dangers through the sideways church pearly gates. For some fans, that may be a disrespectful conclusion of this character's arc, but one must not confuse Flocke's grand manipulations in Season 6 with the Locke from Seasons 1 through 5.

SIDEWAYS LOCKE

In Locke's fantasy world, he was still with Helen. Locke blamed himself for his father, Cooper's, catatonic state. As a result, he refused to take any advice on getting himself "fixed" by surgery. Locke still worked at dead end jobs. When he was a substitute teacher, he met Ben. He told Ben to stick up for his beliefs and confront the principal. After rejecting sideways Jack's offer, Desmond runs his car into Locke - - - which set into motion a trip to Jack's hospital and the surgery that "awakens" Locke.

Now, why would Locke have fond island memories when he was shot and left for dead in the pit; that he turned the FDW and would up paralyzed in the African desert; that people rejected his leadership; he caused many people's deaths; and no one thought of him as a great man. His island life mirrored his pre-island life of being the fool doing foolish things.

Locke's story was one of agony and woe. In his personal end, Locke did not change. His last hour was that of a suicidal man who could not convince even one of his comrades to follow him. He was bitter, angry, depressed and felt that his life had no meaning. And his death did not change anything (because Jack was already searching for his island closure before Locke's death). It is even unclear whether a shape shifting monster like Smokey actually needed Locke's dead body in order to become Flocke (since he was in Flocke form when Ilana dumped Locke's corpse at Alpert's feet).

Locke's role on the island was that a bumbling adventurer. He was the counterpoint to Jack's temperate, pragmatic leadership. Even when Locke had  his "second chance," Locke did not grow as a human being as he continually reverted to his obsessively self-grandeur decision making which normally turned out to be the wrong thing to do.

Nothing could demonstrate that more than the church ending. He was in the church alone. Where was the one person in his life that loved him with all his faults, Helen? She had died before Locke. Abbadon brought a despondent Locke to her grave. It is hard to imagine that Boone was Locke's best friend, because Locke's scheme caused Boone's death. Outside the church, Ben tells Locke that he isn't ready to go inside yet. Ben tells Locke how deeply sorry he is for killing him, he wanted what John had. Locke asks "what did I have?" We never get the answer to that question in the script. Because, Locke never really had anything except a fantasy walkabout in the months he spent on the island. Perhaps, Locke's interaction with in the church courtyard was a release. Locke forgives Ben, which means that Locke has put aside his bitterness. But that would be more of a burden release on Ben's soul, a man wrought with the guilt over his actions destroying many lives.

Lostpedia remarks that Locke had at least one significant life experience in common with virtually every key plane crash survivor or island inhabitant. Locke was like the sponge of bad karma. He shared the pain of the people around him because he had gone through it himself. But he was never a very successful mentor. Even on the island, he turned into a loner. And that was his role: to be the foil for which others could banter or crush.

For a main character, Locke's end significance is minor. He tries to awaken sideways Jack after the miracle surgery, but that does not work. He arrives at the church still in a wheelchair, which symbolically means he is still trapped in his mental past. He does not resolve any of his deep personal issues with his mother or father. His death was not a personal sacrifice to save other people. The only sound thing he did when he left the island was not to try to convince Walt in coming back to the island. But even then, he had to lie to Walt about Michael.

So Locke's character had his good, bad and indifferent moments. One could say that the "best" time in Locke's life was surviving the 815 crash to become his alter-ego, "Island Locke." But even with Locke's passion to protect the island, he did not complete that goal. He was not even a player in the end game solution. Jack and Kate ended the Jacob-MIB game. So on the final scorecard, for Locke,  indifference seems to have won the day at the sideways church. Locke sits alone in the front pew. He appears to be content to hang on as a passenger for the next ride.