Was John Locke the Key to Lost?
Let's look at some objective situations with the show's beloved whipping boy, Locke.
Prior to Flight 815, Locke was a handicapped loner who totally screwed up everything in his life. He was abandoned by his crazy teen mother who had been knocked up in the 1950s by a traveling con man. Locke miraculously survived a premature birth in a rural hospital with no advanced technology (but he was visited by Albert, an immortal island liaison who would try to recruit young Locke to the island.)
Locke was literally and figuratively a "broken man" when he got aboard the flight to LAX. His outback adventure turned into a bitter rejection. His final straw in his life snapped when he was not allowed to go on the trip.
One could remark at this point that Locke's outrageous and outlandish dreams had turned into one, big nightmare. And the "crash" on the island could be the manifestation of his nightmare.
Science has tied psychotic tendencies in parents to their children. There may be a genetic component to mental illness. Since Locke's mother was institutionalized, there may have been some lingering paranoia and delusional behavior hard wired into Locke's mind. As such, Locke's mental state could be the real state of the show, as many theories have speculated that the premise of the show had to be the fantasies and fears of a person's mind.
Locke was permanently paralyzed. There was no medical procedure to correct his crushed spinal cord. He would be trapped in his wheelchair for the rest of his life.
But once he "survived" the plane crash, he was no longer "trapped" in his wheelchair. That is a physical impossibility. The physical impact of a plane crash does not "heal" broken bones; it tears a part of person's body upon impact. Locke's transformation from a severely handicapped man to a strong, outback survivalist was unbelievable. A few people believe that the island's "healing" properties "changed" Locke. But that theory does not objectively hold true as many of the other passengers were in good health but sustained traumatic and fatal injuries. Other viewers believe that Locke was chosen by god to do his work - - - a supernatural intervention. Again, there is little evidence that any spiritual god was part of the show, let alone communicating and giving characters personal miracles. For if the island was a spiritual dimension, our general notions of good vs. evil; right vs. wrong; and the moral litmus tests for eventual good souls to go to paradise, none of those concepts were present in any religious context. In fact, some really, really bad people wound up in the same heavenly afterlife as the good people. So, a minority view Locke as the poster boy for "everyone died" theory.
Now, TPTB continue to vehemently deny that the passengers on 815 died on impact, and the island was about purgatory. But objectively, they contradicted themselves in Season 6 where the run-up to the conclusion was clearly "everyone died."
In fact a few people, including Locke, "died" many times. A few doubt Locke survived the fall from the office building (where he was met by Jacob who "touched" him, perhaps bringing him "back to life?") Some believe that Locke and his fellow passengers did not survive the plane crash. Later, some view the FDW and purple flash as another death portal that a normal human being could not survive. Then, we saw Locke strangled by Ben. Then we saw Locke's form reincarnated by MIB on the island to seek revenge against everyone - - - then falling dead to the rocks after being shot by Kate.
Locke went from an abandoned baby who should not have survived, to a abandoned adult in foster homes, to a loner and loser adult who bounced from job to job with no direction or common sense, to being tricked into giving up a kidney to a con man, to being crippled by the same man, then surviving a plane crash to become a heroic hunter leader. It sounds too made up to be true (even in this fictional series). Locke's path shows the self-grandeur that Locke himself would dream himself to be. This bolsters the dream theorists who think that the show was about one man's fantasies about himself.
It is a good study to show Locke's dreams (being a leader, a hunter, a lady's man, a jock, etc) seem to collide with his subconscious fears, phobias and experiences (being a worker, without friends, bad with women, anger and authority issues, etc.). The torment of Locke's mind is the sowed fertile fields of his imagination - - - the back and forth between the good (dreams) and bad (nightmares). This sums up the LOST experience, through Locke's own story.
Locke's own story could be the real story of LOST.
