MEANS OF DESTRUCTION

“ We often give our enemies the means for our own destruction. ”
— Aesop 

If a hero is to die, there should be a valiant purpose.

When we analyze the island candidates, the picture is not clear.

Jack died on the island. He was injured during his fight with Flocke (MIB/Smokey in Locke's form).
Why did Jack fight Flocke? We were told that it was to save the island and/or the world. Or it could be to save his friends. Or, as Jacob stated, to make Jack's friends deaths meaningful.

One has to believe that Jack was delusional to think he could defeat Flocke. He would have known that Flocke was indestructible (Sayid failed to kill him). Jack knew he was a supernatural monster. Jack possessed no knowledge on how to defeat him. The conclusion to the alleged demise of Flocke is purely blind luck with no island mythology or science fiction context. We observed that the replacement of the stone cork in the light cave "reboots" the island. In that process, one argues that the immortals become mortal  (except Jacob was already "killed" before the re-set). The dramatic conclusion never caught up with the continuity of the prior scripts.

Jack was MIB's enemy solely because he was a candidate? Everyone brought to the island was a potential candidate. MIB did not kill them all. MIB did not seem to be a creature of "fair play," to allow itself to be destroyed by corrupt, weak and inferior human beings. We know now that the "island rules" are really no rules at all. So what means did MIB give Jack that allowed him to destroy Flocke?

When Jack accepted his role of guardian, he basically accepted a suicide mission. Jack saving Desmond inside the cave should have killed Jack because of the high level of EM energy. So, at that point, did Jack actually become "equal" to MIB (both had been throw into the cave and emerged alive). If somehow Jack because a smoke monster during the reboot, that could explain why he could possibly defeat Flocke. But Jack's power and fighting skills did not defeat MIB - - - it was a bullet from Kate's gun. Besides, if Jack became a smokey, then why should his human wounds kill him?

The same goes for the Ben killing immortal Jacob. There is a claimed "loophole" that MIB found - - - which allowed Ben, a follower, to stab Jacob to death. Then MIB burned Jacob's body. But we saw ghost Jacob afterward interacting and physically touching other islanders. The means of Jacob's destruction is as puzzling as Jack's own demise. Then events we saw do not fully support the conclusion we see.