LOST COMMUNITY IN GAME FORM

I read a recent WIRED article in regard to a new "video clip" game.

In the game,  Her Story,  you are playing a character who’s obsessively poring over old documents on a computer screen finding clues to a mystery.

The LOST component is that the game won’t spell out its whole mystery to you with some big reveal at the end. It is up to you to keep everything in your head, or in your notes. When you find videos, you can bookmark them, but all you’ll have is a frustratingly large pile of unorganized bookmarks unless you meticulously grapple with the purposefully abstruse interface to organize them. And even then it won’t necessarily be clear. You’ll have clips you haven’t found, you’ll have clips you swear you saw but you forget how to call them up again. There is an ending, but it’s mostly up to you to decide that you’re satisfied.

The writer states that there is two phases to playing Her Story. "The first is sitting in front of the game’s virtual computer. The second is sitting in front of your real computer, going and finding some forum on which people are discussing all of the details and arguing over theories, to see what you missed or to at least confirm your suspicions, searching for more and more scraps of information that others might have left behind. In short, you end up doing exactly what you did when you played Her Story, but now the game’s gone."

The idea that one needs to find answers and trade theories in a game forum is exactly like the LOST communities during the show's run.

IN A GAME OF WAR (PART II)

In the past two posts, we have had our "draft" of characters to be on the Light Team and the Dark Team.

JACOB'S LIGHT TEAM members:

Jack, Locke, Daniel, Dogen, Iana, Mars, Ana Lucia, Goodwin, Kate, and Danielle.

Field leader(s): Jack, Ana Lucia
Mission specialist(s): Daniel
Survivalists: Danielle
Athletic/Military: Iana, Goodwin, Kate
Intangible: Dogen, Mars

MIB'S DARK TEAM members:

Ben, Sayid, Jin, Sawyer, Mr. Eko, Keamy, Patchy, Ethan, Naomi, Kelvin.

Field leader(s): Ben
Mission specialist(s): Sayid, Ethan
Survivalists: Mr. Eko
Athletic/Military: Jin, Keamy, Patchy, Naomi, Kelvin
Intangible: Sawyer

We have gone through a sports-like "preview" of the strengths and weaknesses of both teams, finding that there was a slight overall edge to MIB's Dark Team.

So how would an actual island war game work?

In the actual series, there were several aspects and statements that "war" would be coming to the island, propositioned by the conflict between Ben and Widmore. In Season 6, this battle seemed to shift as a conflict between Jacob and the smoke monster with MIB's sole goal "to leave the island." But it left the island, the world as we would know it would be destroyed. But we were never told how or why that would happen.

The island was a special place. Despite what Jacob said, it could give people "immortality."  It could also alter time and space. It could teleport people to different times and places. The island itself was a weapon. It could give death and rebirth.

As such, the key to controlling the island would be the Light Cave where the mysterious "cork" kept the island from blowing up and destroying the universe. Whoever controls the cave controls the power.  So in one respect, it could be like the childhood game of "find the flag."

Jacob and MIB both knew where the Light Cave is (MIB came screaming out of it after Jacob killed his brother). But the Light Cave itself is hidden in stealth mode for any other person. In that way, it could be a shifting place since it sits on the unique EM properties that control time and space (as well as the fact that the island is constantly moving).

So in one respect, Jacob's main goal in the game is defense - - -  keep MIB's forces from finding the Light Cave. In order to do so, he needs a team member(s) to figure out where the cave is to divert the enemy away from it. Therefore, Jacob's early pick of Daniel makes perfect sense.

Likewise, MIB's main goal in the game is offense - - - find, attack and seize the Light Cave from Jacob. As a result, MIB has stacked his team with paramilitary soldiers capable of recon, mission planning, dark ops, extreme combat and battle toughness to charge at opposition lines.

The game could be a violent "hide and seek" as squads of the team members criss cross the island trying to find the cave. Jacob's team could have missions to "bait" MIB's team into traps, pitfalls or ambushes to diminish their numbers. Likewise, MIB's team could be stalking, trailing and trying to gather intelligence to find the Light Cave.

Throughout the island, the old Dharma stations could be critical tools in helping either side with their mission planning and goals. The Flame communications station could be critical in getting messages to distant teams since normal radio signals get jammed by the island's EM fields. The Hatch could be important station for logistics and supplies (since it can trigger food drops). There could be battles just to obtain these stations just like in most World Wars where the occupation and holding of territory was critically important to victory.

If LOST was ever rebooted, I think this "alternative" island story premise would be compelling enough to bring back old fans and possibly create a new, younger viewership who have grown up on battle simulation games.

PICKS

Now that the NFL has concluded its mega-show called the Draft in Chicago, let us take that concept and apply it to LOST.

We will have a school yard pick em between two teams, good (light) and evil (dark). The team captains will be Jacob (light) and MIB (dark).

The game will be "Survivor."  (Whether it is the CBS show format, Westworld, or the various cable drop zone battle of the wild shows is up to you.) With a random number generator picking, Light (94) gets the first pick over Dark (80).

What does each team need. Well, each team has a manager picking his teammates. So you need a field leader, a mission specialist, survivor skills, strength and what scouts call "intangibles."

ROUND 1:

1. LIGHT: Jack Shephard, Surgeon.  Jack is an obvious pick because he has several of the skill sets that Jacob likes: he is a leader, he has medical skills, and he can follow orders.

2. DARK: Benjamin Linus, Psychopath. Ben is an obvious choice for MIB. Ben has a deep seeded hatred based upon his daddy issues which has transformed himself into a mad man seeking power and control over others. His iron will, easy execution and mental manipulation gives him the dictator leadership skills that keeps people in line when things get tough.

ROUND 2:

3. LIGHT: John Locke, Pseudo-Survivalist. Locke is a reach by Jacob with this pick, but since Locke has been a follower most of this life, he should fit into the program. As a self-taught outback survivalist, Locke does bring the hunting and camp skills needed to be bring some stability to camp life.  However, Locke's unstable mental issues including self-esteem and anger could be burdensome for Team Light.

4. DARK: Sayid Hassan Jarrah, Iraqi Guard. Another natural selection by MIB. Sayid's training as a torture specialist in a combat zone would be useful in interrogation. His military background includes multiple knowledge bases including electronics, communications, hand to hand combat, and ambush training.

ROUND 3:

5. LIGHT: Daniel Faraday, Scientist. A surprise pick by Jacob. Daniel is well versed in time-space theoretical physics. The island, the battleground, has unique electromagnetic properties which need to be both protected and harnessed for paramilitary purposes. Daniel's knowledge could be useful in devising a strategy to contain the Dark forces.

6. DARK: Jin-Soo Kwon, Gangster. Jin also fits into the Evil team. He was an enforcer for his father-in-law's gang. He is a natural follower. He has military training. He is strong. He is loyal. The one negative is that he does not speak fluent English. But Jin fits into a militaristic squad that MIB is forming to take on Jacob's team.

ROUND 4:

6. LIGHT: Dogen, Spiritualist. Another "reach" as scouts would say, but Jacob's selection of Dogen is interesting because the former banker has expertise in the spiritual realm of the island as well as knowledge of magic (including resurrection) and poison spells. In a supernatural world, a man with some understanding of the unique properties would be useful. Dogen is also a loyal follower who can manage other subjects.

7. DARK: James Ford, Con Man. "Sawyer" drops in the draft because of his own "unpredictability." He is not a team player. He is an avenger, quick to anger. He is not adverse to killing a man. But he is actually a true wild card, a survivalist because he only thinks about savings himself. He can manipulate others to his will, which could undermine missions, but his likeability and humor could keep diverse opinions in balance. In football terms, he is like a million dollar, strong arm quarterback with a nickel brain.

ROUND 5:

7. LIGHT:  lana Verdansky, Bounty Hunter. Iana told Sayid that she was a bounty hunter hired to capture Sayid to avenge a family a  person he killed as an assassin. Iana has a history with Jacob. She is a loyal subject, a born leader with some tough street smarts. In her backstroy, she is a combat survivor.

8. DARK:  Mr. Eko (referred to as Father Tunde), Drug Lord. Mr. Eko was a fierce, violent and ruthless Nigerian drug lord. He demanded absolute loyalty of his men. He killed innocents without hesitation. He is a strong man with a stronger will. If there is a profit in it for him, he will take chances.

ROUND 6:

LIGHT: Edward Mars, U.S. Marshall. His background in law enforcement shows that he knows about the difference between right and wrong. He has excellent intelligence gathering and tracking skills. He is adapt at firearms and operations. He can be ruthless and unrelenting to a task. He likes to finish things that he starts.

DARK: Martin Christopher Keamy,  Mercenary. He is as twisted as Ben Linus, but Keamy actually enjoys killing people. He is a loose cannon, who can follow orders from his superiors. He thrives on doing "the dirty work." Can be reckless at times, but can lead the point on any mission.

ROUND 7:

LIGHT: Ana Lucia Cortez, Police Officer. Jacob doubles down on law enforcement officers with the pick of Ana Lucia. She is a strong willed, hard nose, very tough woman who can be a hot head at times. She has her own strong opinions on how things should be done, but she will demand more of herself than people she works with on a mission. She has strong leadership skills when times are tough.

DARK:  Mikhail Bakunin, Soviet military. "Patchy" is another paramilitary choice by MIB. He was the man who had multiple lives. He is a communications specialist who also has assassination skills. He can follow orders, and at times goes outside mission tasks in order to get the job done.

ROUND 8:

LIGHT:  Goodwin Stanhope, Spy. He claims to have been in the Peace Corps, but he has spy skills and the ability to keep his cover by killing anyone who may compromise his position. Has hand to hand combat skills so he probably has military background. He is a loyal follower.

DARK: Ethan Rom, born Ethan Goodspeed, Surgeon. Ethan is not above doing harm to a patient as part of medical experimentation/research. He is a strong willed person, whose quick anger can kill (as he tried with Charlie). He fits the good soldier-dirty mission criteria that MIB seems to favor.

ROUND 9:

LIGHT:   Katherine Anne Austen, Fugitive Runner. Kate falls in the draft selection process because she is an anomaly. She is a selfish manipulator of men. She has no problem killing in order to keep her freedom. She lacks respect for authority. She will con, cheat and set-up anyone in her way. However, she is street smart enough to keep one step ahead of the law. She has unique tracking skills and is willing to go on any mission.

DARK:  Naomi Dorrit, Mercenary.  She has military, dark-ops training skills. She is multi-lingual and has parachuting combat training. She fits the good soldier mode of being able to plan missions and execute formulated strategies. She can work behind the lines.

ROUND 10:

LIGHT: Danielle Rousseau, Explorer. With his last pick, Jacob goes with a person familiar with stress, loss and survival. Danielle was on a marine expedition with her husband, a scientist, so we don't know whether she was a co-scientist or along for the ride. However, when she was abandoned, we saw that she has inherit survival skills. However, she is a loner, a trapper and semi-paranoid. She is more about self-preservation than being a team player. She does have a strong sense of right and wrong, but is willing to avenge against those who have harmed her.

DARK: Kelvin Joe Inman, Soldier. As a U.S. soldier in the Iraqi war, Kelvin recruited former enemies to turn on their homeland. He was also a liar and manipulator of people below his command. He will accept his assignments, but will think of ways to lessen his load. He is more suited to rogue missions than group attacks. He has a mean and tough streak.

So how did the team captains do?

JACOB'S LIGHT TEAM members:

Jack, Locke, Daniel, Dogen, Iana, Mars, Ana Lucia, Goodwin, Kate, and Danielle.

Field leader(s): Jack, Ana Lucia
Mission specialist(s): Daniel
Survivalists: Danielle
Athletic/Military: Iana, Goodwin, Kate
Intangible: Dogen, Mars

MIB'S DARK TEAM members:

Ben, Sayid, Jin, Sawyer, Mr. Eko, Keamy, Patchy, Ethan, Naomi, Kelvin.

Field leader(s): Ben
Mission specialist(s): Sayid, Ethan
Survivalists: Mr. Eko
Athletic/Military: Jin, Keamy, Patchy, Naomi, Kelvin
Intangible: Sawyer

Those characters who did not get picked: Hurley, Claire, Sun, Juliet, Charlie and Desmond. Juliet had the most viable skill set, medical, but that was already taken by stronger characters. Claire and Sun bring little to the table if the game is war. Hurley, Charlie and Desmond would be considered Red Shirts on any team.

INFECTION

One of the compelling plot points was the concept that the island had a mysterious "infection." People had to be given shots to ward off death.

Claire was told that she had to take shots in order to save her baby.

Desmond was told outside the Hatch was a hazmat zone, but he still had to take shots to ward off the infection.

The Others pregnant women continually died while in their third trimester, which some blamed on the island/infection.

Without a clear understanding of "what" the island really was, many people believe the "infection" story line was merely a ruse to control people.

But Juliet, who appeared at first to be an ethical doctor, gave Claire injections - - - if false, would violate her duty and oath as a physician ("do no harm to a patient.") Even a placebo that causes mental anguish as an intended result would violate that oath.

Perhaps, at one time, the infection plague was true. It was just passed down as a story, a myth, by the island natives and Others as a means of making visitors leave their island.

An infection is defined as the process of infecting or the state of being infected by a disease.
It is also defined as  the presence of a virus in, or its introduction into, a computer system.

The origin of the word is late Middle English: from late Latin infectio(n-), from Latin inficere ‘dip in, taint.'

The dictionary definition raises two points. The island infection could be a metaphor for people becoming "tainted" or infected by something, such as evil, if this was a place of the underworld, or judgment. The events on the island were merely tests of character and morality.

Another possibility is that the infection was actually a computer virus. Computer avatars would see a computer virus as a disease that could kill (delete) them (their program).  If you buy into the theory that LOST was merely a large MMOG, then the infection was one of those booby-trap hurdles one had to pass in order to level up to the next mission.

In any event, the infection angle showed a great deal of dramatic promise. But it quickly faded away without resolution.

DEATH STRUGGLE

It has been said that every person born is given a death sentence.

We are immortal.

We all die.

There is no way around the final fate.

Since the dawn of understanding, mankind has grappled with this end fate. The reason why people have finite lives is unclear, considering the world around them has longer lives (and the cosmos, the heavens, infinite).

When intelligence grows, so does one's propensity to find answers to questions that have no proven answers. What is death? What happens at death? Is there a heaven? Is there a hell? Do you remember this life in the next one? Is there a next life?

Literature, religion, introspection, culture, community and ritual all have tried to comfort the unknown reality that death is the life cycle end of our current state of being.

So what if, at the end point of life on Earth, a person must "fight" for his or her next life?

If life on earth was a random joining of an egg and sperm to create a human baby, what if the next evolutionary stage of human consciousness is a connection to a higher plane of existence, a different energy level, a higher consciousness.

The elements of a secondary struggle for life manifested itself on the island. It contained strange electromagnetic properties. It defied the natural laws of physics by being able to move and disappear. It contained ghosts from the past, and strange smoke monsters. People lived, died, born and reborn on the island. And some lost souls were trapped as whispers, unable to move on.

It would seem that the souls of the main characters were trapped in a struggle for their lives, beyond just their human ones. The characters had to create new, lasting bonds with their fellow lost souls in order to fuse a connection of spirit in order to find a place in the after life. Without those strong connections, a soul like Michael, would be trapped in the purgatory sense of nothingness of an island whisper. Those who learned to trust, love and form deep friendships that they could not in their past had the opportunity to live on in the sideways realm, with those deep connections securing their passage into the great white light (symbolic of many near death experiences patients have told their doctors after being revived.)

THE GAMES

When I heard about Hunger Games, I thought it was probably another food channel battle show. But it is a teen film with a familiar genre: the human hunt. I can see why the film was popular: it had an attractive lead in Jennifer Lawrence who teen girls could identify. She made a sacrifice to save her sister which starts the action toward a dystopian saga of human sport.  The ruling class look like arrogant French aristocrats who keep the peasant classes the outer districts in line by taking two people a year from their ranks to play a vicious winner take all contest.

This genre story line is fairly simple. A person is taken out of their normal routine, and placed in the position of being a hunted animal by some superior being, usually a pyscho millionaire hunter. There is no educational value to the exercise. It is pure kill or be killed mentality. Since humans are the clever ones in the food chain, hunting them is more appealing to the deranged masters.

In LOST, there have been several theories which involved the castaways being human subjects in various Dharma-like experimentation, from female reproduction to psychological evaluation such as watching monitors all day, and sending reports in tubes that go no where (unread). Or, Desmond being placed in a hatch to type in numbers every 108 minutes. Why would anyone need to video that cruelty? To measure the breaking point of the human spirit.

How people cope with the stresses placed upon them is something that scientists continue to try to measure. Even the benign folks at Facebook have been accused of secretly manipulating data streams in order to get reactionary information from its users. Toying with people's emotions seems to be fun sport for some, even in a digital world.

So let us assume the Dharma folk built their stations on the island for the purpose of human experimentation. The various stations were built to test the human operators tolerance for the mundane, the entrapment and the longing for home. Dharma had the ability to view its test subjects, and manipulate the controls to get reactions and more data. The facilities also contained Room 23, a mind control unit.

So what happens when the manipulated realize that they are being manipulated? They rebel, like in Ben's purge. But what takes the place in the new island order is really much of the same. Power corrupts, and newfound power is addictive. The captor leaders then use the same techniques to control their own subjects (the Others). Human nature is a endless loop.

As in the Hunger Games, there are rules, but they can be changed at any time to serve the purposes of the overlords. In an advanced society, technology is used to repress the lower classes. Also, in the Hunger Games, the key point of power to control the unhappy workers was to give them hope. For hope is more powerful than their fears.

Those in power will seek to maintain their power at all costs. So when an unexpected airplane crashes onto the island with survivors, the powerful believe that it is an immediate threat to their order. So spies are sent to the camps. The Others begin to kidnap the children. They spread "fear" through the new visitors in order to mask or destroy any hope they have for rescue or peaceful coexistence on the island. And thus the game of tug of war starts between the factions.

The survivors are like the district tributes, taking out of their normal world and placed in an unfamiliar and dangerous situation. They have to learn quickly, adapt or die. And the Others find hunting humans more fun than trying to avoid the confrontation with the smoke monster.

If one looks at the show as a battle between two factions, the old and the new, then LOST goes back to its pre-pilot roots of being a Survivor like drama show. Perhaps that was supposed to be the real direction of the show. But we will never know since the basic show outline quickly diverged from that path into sci-fi and supernatural mysteries.

The off-premise that the survivors would be pitted against the Others in a battle royal (Jacob vs. MIB as game masters) where sacrifice is badgered on individuals "for the good of their friends" like ghost Christian told Locke in the FDW pit.  Like in the game of Senet, the immortal island rulers could have set up the conflict in order to eliminate players. The game was finally over when Jacob's last ally, Jack, died on the island after the other survivors flew overhead.  (Both Hurley and Ben were technically followers of Flocke at the end). How this actually represents a "game over" moment is quite unclear because we don't know what the actually was the Jacob-MIB game.

Actually, LOST could have worked as a cooking show. Deposit 24 cooks on a deserted tropical island to fend for themselves, and make occasional "offerings" or tributes to their judges (in exchange for needed supplies). The contestants would have to live off the land, and survive the elements and each others if there were "no rules." If the stakes were high enough (one winner only), and losers were destroyed or sacrificed, would the nation view such a bloody spectacle? Probably. There was a undercurrent of cruelty throughout the series that taps the subconscious and whispers that it is only entertainment.

IF LOST WAS A GAME SHOW

What if LOST was pitched today, not as a television drama series, but as a game show.

Not a game show theory that has been mentioned by fans as a premise to the series, but as an actual "game" show.

First, the contestants (characters) would not "know" they were on a game show. That takes the Survivor reward-reality concept off the table.

Second, the contestants would had to be placed in real danger to see how they would react. A small plane "crash" lands on a deserted Pacific island (which has been rigged with camera traps, odd set pieces and dangerous people). The pilots would be the only people in the know - - - and they could be easily "taken out" by The Others early on during the show. Without the pilots, the 40 odd passengers would be left to fend for themselves.

Third, there would be enough basic materials on the island for the contestants to survive. Wild animals, fruits, and tools to build things. During the filming, if there are people desperate to leave, depressed to suicidal, the producers could secretly intervene under the cover of darkness and take them off the island and back home.

The major problem with this premise is that the network would be charged with kidnapping the contestants. That would be a serious charge with no defense.

Ironically, one could say that is exactly what happened to all the characters on LOST. They were kidnapped and brought to the island, not realizing that they were part of some grand, diabolical experiment. 

Like with the show itself, how would a contestant(s) "win" the game?

Besides not hurting themselves or someone else, the reward would be "rescue." Like those wilderness survival shows, the host knows that there is a place where he can find a path back to civilization. It is highly unlikely that modern suburban folk have the skill set of their pioneer ancestors to forge a rescue plan.

Then, the bottom line is whether any network would call this game show "entertainment." With all the crap on television today, the answer is probably no because it cuts too close to the core of the ancient Roman Colosseum.

GAME THEORY

Another popular fan theory from later in the show's run: the Chess or Game Theory.

Fan Theory: The Chess Game Theory 

At the end of Season 5, we not only saw Jacob for the first time, but also a mysterious Man in Black. He suggested that Jacob was bringing people to the island, "still trying to prove me wrong." He says: "They come. They fight. They destroy. They corrupt. It always ends the same." Jacob counters with: "It only ends once. Anything that happens before that is just progress." Their dialogue suggests that Jacob was the one who brought the plane to the island as part of some long cosmic battle between these two entities, turning the Oceanic 815 survivors into nothing but pawns in a huge chess game of the gods.

This was a clear that Jacob and the Man in Black would be  two key figures in the last season, and their epic war is definitely part of the show's end game. Or that is what we were led to believe.

In the Jacob back story, we would learn that Jacob and his brother were shipwrecked in vitro on the island. Their mother gave birth to them and shortly thereafter was murdered by Crazy Mother, the island guardian. Growing up, the boys found a box which contained the ancient Egyptian game of Senet, a very early board game. In the game, the goal is to roll a counter or dice to move your pieces (black or white) off the game board.

Viewers have tried to match the parallels of the Senet game with island events. Some believed that Jacob played white (good) and MIB wearing black was bad. Yet, the whole Jacob story line really fizzled into a mishmash of gray.

If there were two teams and the pieces were represented by the loyalty of the characters to a specific leader in Season 6, then what was the key moment of the game? Who won? If the character pieces needed to be removed in order to win, did that mean the candidates had to die in order for someone to claim full victory? But in the end, several of Jacob's crew (Sawyer and Kate) left the island - - - did that make Jacob the winner (but he died) or MIB (who was really the smoke monster taking the form of his dead brother)? It is quite confusing considering the grand build up and introduction of two major players near the end of the series.

Some believe that the writers threw in the Jacob story arc as a means of trying to find a way out of their hopeless prior plot twists that were supposed to lead us to a logical, rational and clear explanation for all the island events. An immortal man and a smoke monster are playing a board game on the beach . . .  . just does not provide the answers promised by TPTB.

Again, if this was just a game, there was nothing important by the characters actions, reactions or decisions because they were mere pawns in a chess game run by supernatural beings.

ISLAND BACKGAMMON

If one believes that the entire series was a symbolic representation of the ancient game of backgammon between Jacob and MIB, then this is how the board must have looked at the beginning of the game. Jacob's candidates would have been white pieces and MIB and his evil converts the black pieces.

But if we go to the End Game, how did the pieces finally land on the board?

Everyone who died on the island would have been put on the center board (death). Only Sawyer and Kate would have traversed the island sections to leave the board at their finish. Hurley would have remained on the island as the new guardian, along side Ben.  In this representation, Widmore and Eloise would remain in their former heavenly positions of manipulating the candidates around the board.

This final position leads to three separate conclusions. It could represent that Hurley would be the new Jacob and Ben the new MIB, the actual players controlling new pieces that would have to be brought to the island. Or it could represent that the original immortals, Jacob and MIB, would merely re-set their board for another game. Or it could represent an actual end, as two white pieces actually escaped the confines of the board, with no other white pieces (other than Hurley who assumed a new role) left on the island. In the centuries of contests, this result may have been the first time that any candidates were able to escape the island, making Jacob the ultimate victor. What that victory meant is unknown. It could mean that Jacob finally got to die and move on to internal peace. Or it could mean that Jacob had to start all over again (on the island or someplace else) if he was the jailor of the evil spirit, MIB, who was finally defeated in this game.

SURVIVOR

One of the original plot points from the network executives was that LOST was going to be like a real life Survivor show. In the game show TV series, contestants are flown off to faraway places to live and compete in bare minimum conditions in the hope of being able to win a million dollars as the last man or woman standing in the end.

The principles of Survivor was Outwit. Outplay. Outlast.

In LOST, we don't know what the characters were actually "playing" for. It could have been rescue, salvation, friendship, adventure, power or none of the above.

Who outwitted the most people? Ben certainly used enough mind games and terror techniques to ascend to the powerful leadership role of the Others. However, Ben was clearly outwitted by Flocke/MIB/Smoke Monster in getting Ben to stab Jacob. But in some circles, it was Jacob who outwitted everyone because he was looking for his "replacement" for centuries. He could not kill MIB or MIB could not kill him, so Jacob played a game with MIB - - - he could escape the island if it killed the island guardian, him. Jacob could only be replaced if he died, and in an elaborate ruse, he got MIB to find someone to do it and another person to slay MIB to take victory away from it.

Who outplayed the most people? It depends on the game. Hurley hustled on ping pong, and Kate bested Jack in island golf. But in the oldest game of all, romance, it was quite the mixed bag. Sawyer charmed himself into the most action, but Kate kept herself in the game as the elusive prize. But the symbolic game of LOST was ancient backgammon, Senet, played by Jacob and MIB and later taught by Locke to Walt. It should have been a more developed element of the story, but in one respect was clear. When Jacob continued to bring candidates to the island, they represented game pieces. The object of the game was to remove all your pieces from the game board (the island). There was a systematic elimination of candidates throughout the series by various means of death. But in the island's end, there was only one candidate left standing: Hurley.

Who outlasted the other characters? One has to assume "outlast" means "survives" the longest, and the ability to remove oneself from the island dangers has to go to the person who left the island alive. Kate and Frank both left the island together twice. They were rescued and if the goal of the castaways was to leave the island in one piece, then they were co-winners. Kate may get extra credit for voluntarily coming back to the island for another round while Frank was hijacked into crash landing a plane. But if the goal of LOST was to make it to the after life with one's "soul mate," then there were several winners: Kate, who got Jack; Desmond, who found Penny; Hurley, who met Libby; Jin and Sun who had each other, and Sawyer who had Juliet.

AWAKENING

There was a great emphasis on the main characters "awakening" in the sideways world - - - to remember the "importance" of their island time together - - - in order to "move on" in the after life.

The term "awaken" refers to a process which most fans do not acknowledge as a premise for the show.

To "awake" means to stop sleeping; wake from sleep; or to cause (someone) to wake from sleep. It could also mean to regain consciousness or to become aware of a realization. It can also be to become active again, such as "there were echoes and scents that awoke some memory in me."

However, the adjective of awake means not asleep, i.e.  the noise might keep you awake at night.

So what did this mean in the context of LOST?

The most obvious would be that the characters were in a dream state; that they were not awake. If we put that into the situation of the island, that means all the characters and actions were part of a complex dream world. If it was a complex dream world, was it the dream of a single person or a collective network of separate dreamers interacting with each other.

If the latter is true, then how would the main characters be "together" in the dream world. There are a few possibilities:

First, all the characters are together in one place. For example, a medical hospital undergoing various treatments. As they are hooked up to their medical equipment (including life support and computer EKG readings), their subconscious filters through the system and interacts with the other patients who are in a similar dream state.

Or, all the main characters are actually children in an orphanage. This would explain, in part, the deep rooted parental issues, betrayal and abandonment. It would also feed the persistent character trait of personal loneliness.  Children in an orphanage would naturally dream intense fantasies because they believe their current lives are dark and lonely.

Second, that the characters are in a coma state - - - either as a result of accidents or as part of grand scientific research experiment. The latter would tie into the Dharma experimentation in mind control and manipulation of unique energy systems. The human brain is the most complex energy system in the planet; and one which most mainstream science still does not fully understand. By containing the brains of diverse individuals in a deep control group (such as in a coma state), the researchers could feed their minds with various scenarios to see how they react. For example, inject the terror of a mysterious smoke monster into their minds to see how they would process that information in their patient's dreams.

Third, that the characters were actually "awake" but in a virtual reality that was the island. This could also be an experiment on how the brain works in regard to virtual soldier technology. We know that the defense department and government agencies have used virtual reality systems to train soldiers for combat missions. This would be a leap forward in technology, almost Avatar like, dealing with missions in real time. Perhaps in the future, as referenced in an old Star Trek episode, wars would be fought by soldiers in a virtual reality setting, to avoid the human pain and suffering of real warfare.

But if the characters were participants in this virtual combat world, why would they not "remember" it. If the technology was sufficient to implant the game program into their minds, it probably would have been just as easy as to erase or block those memories once the characters were no longer needed in the experiment.

So the concept of awakening in the series had to mean that the characters woke up or remembered something critical in their past (i.e. the island). After losing their conscious to a virtual dream world called the island, the characters were put back into normal situations to live normal lives as shown in the sideways world. Now this would work perfectly as a reasonable explanation of the entire series except for one critical plot detail. In the sideways world, everyone was dead.

This gets us back to the last definition of the word: to become aware of a realization.

I have thought for a long time that knowledge is power. If one knew what was going on at any moment in time, they could control their own destiny. Early on, I thought that Rose became fully aware of what the island really was because the pain of her incurable cancer was gone after the plane crash. Rose became aware on the beach that she had died in the plane crash. That is why she thought everything would be alright; that she would meet up with her husband soon.

This is also why Rose and Bernard later broke away from the survivors and their dramas with the island inhabitants. They knew that what they were up to was not "real." Rose and Bernard wanted to keep to themselves so they could enjoy the "extended time" they were granted, together.

It would also explain why we did not see Rose and Bernard "awaken" in the sideways world. They did not have to awaken. They already knew of their deaths while on the island.  It would seem that all the LOST souls had to awaken by themselves - - - and once each individual came to the realization that they were actually dead, could their souls move on in the after life (as depicted at the ending of the sideways church scenes).

Everything up to that point was the individual's subconscious not wanting to let go with "life." It was fueled by the regrets of the characters; the things they never experienced in their life (such as Hurley finding a true love in Libby). Somehow, some one gave these lost souls the opportunity to live a second life on the island in order to experience those past events and maybe soothe their regrets.

If that is the case, then Jacob would be more like Clarence from It's a Wonderful Life than the Devil. He brought the people to the island. And the island gave them a second chance to find trust, love, friendship and a sense of purpose. It gave those lost souls a second chance before final judgment.

BEAUTIFUL PARADOX

This came from a review of a bad, character story line heavy video game:

• Disjointed story that barely holds together through time-jumping structure
• No sense of agency or ability to meaningfully change the story
• A parade of overwrought, clichéd plot points straight out of high school creative writing class
• An utter lack of tension or anything resembling real drama
• Characters that can't hold together coherent motivations
• Insultingly easy quick time events
• Game play mostly boils down to "find the dot to continue the story"

 I immediately thought of LOST, especially in the last season.

For those whimsical souls who thought LOST was a roller coaster and they were going along for the ride, the 180 degree out-of-no-where turn to the spiritual conclusion was fine with them. They were content with The Ending.

Even though the basic questions to that plot twist were never explained:
Who was chosen and who was not?
What was the island if the sideways was purgatory?
When did the sideways world get created when no one knew each other before the crash?
Where was the island? (the first character question posed in the pilot episode)
Why were so many family members and friends left out of the final church scene?
How could one forget the "most important" part of your life while at the same time create a new sideways world?

It is unacceptable and contrary to believe the show's final story arcs were all targeted to the spiritual world from the very beginning. In the final season, we had so many new side stories like Jacob, MIB, Alpert, which seemed like more filler than story movement. Then we had the main characters criss crossing the jungle which seemed like more filler. I recall barking at the screen once "do something!" when the characters sat around a fire waiting for Flocke to return. There was no sense of urgency on anyone part to do anything to escape MIB, Widmore or the island. No one was motivated; they were all spectators which was opposite of their gung-ho, mission approach to survival in the first five seasons. There was little tension, little drama, and events fell off the board like old post-it notes (for example, Desmond in the well was a meaningless asterisk.) The characters kept bouncing back and forth, jungle to beach, to small island, to beach, to small island . . .  wandering aimlessly through the final plot.

On the other hand, there was a surreal beauty in the smiling faces in the church. Everyone seemed happy, relieved, and content. The quiet calmness was in stark contrast to nonstop twists, turns, dangers and anxiety of the first five seasons. In the church, they were all finally safe. Serenity is the goal for any lost soul.

But for the core group to have created the complex sideways world, which contained a fully populated world of people the churchgoers never met, is a troubling disconnect from Christian's speech to Jack. The further inconsistency is that Ben could be awakened but choose not to move on. One of the baddest characters in the series still retains the power to set his own selfish course? How did he earn that right or privilege?

It meant that the sideways world would continue on, even though it was allegedly created by the core group so they could gather and move on together in the after life. It is just as likely when put into that perspective that Christian's statement on the sideways world was totally wrong. Was it truly "real," or was it another smoke monster illusion?

We may never know except that the series was filled with inconsistencies and paradoxes that erased any clear path to a final resolution of the main story lines of the series.

GAME PLAY

If one looks at LOST purely as a video game, what would be the purpose and game play?

It would seem the characters would be avatars in an open world MMO.

It would also seem that the goal of the game could be a variation of "Follow the Leader."

And the game ended only after Jack became the Leader and when he ran out of life force and died.

So, even in that situation, what was the reward or level-up?  The end church could represent Jack's true followers. And when Christian opens the doorway, this could mean they all were going to the level game level as a team.  All the characters came to the island as individuals. The situations made it impossible to stay unattached or alone for very long. One had to make pacts, deals, friendships in order to stay in groups. There is power in numbers. There is strength in numbers.

The missions were all convoluted in logic, but they did serve the purpose of gaining leadership points and followers.

And what leadership role was everyone fighting for? Jacob's island guardianship seems to be the top prize. Jacob had a huge following of Others on the island and in the Temple. But MIB destroyed much of that following leaving only a hand full of beach survivors as candidates. When Jack accepted the island leadership role from Jacob, he still had to defeat MIB who was on the verge of completing its own coup. When Jack defeated MIB (with the help of Kate), that ended his quest. Jack won the game.

The game would then have been played from Jack's point of view. This was Jack's game journey that the viewers rode along, shotgun. It was Jack's struggles to be leader, to make life and death decisions, to make deals, break his word, lead missions, make mistakes, and then finally get enough followers to trust him fully that they would all be rewarded in the end.

This is probably one of the weaker theories in the LOST universe. Who would want to merely observe another person playing a video game? But in one sense, with so many people identifying and rooting for specific characters, viewers did have a vicarious in game action with their favorite characters.

REBOOT: EPISODES 109-112

POSTING NOTE: Due to work changes, I may not be able to post updates on Tuesdays after Monday night marathon G4 reruns, but updates will occur later in the week.


LOST REBOOT 
Recap: Episodes 109-112 (Days ????- - ????)

Dogen asks Sayid to make a decision, while Locke sends Claire to give the temple inhabitants a warning.

Sayid is faced with a difficult decision at the Temple when he meets Flocke, then MIB plays out his plan with help from Sayid and Claire.

Ben deals with Ilana’s consequences for an uncovered lie, about killing Jacob. Jack and Hurley follow Alpert to the Black Rock where Alpert asks them to help him kill himself.

Flocke takes Sawyer on a mission to investigate the plane on the Hydra island; and walks into the remains of the ambush of the survivors.

Richard Alpert’s back story is revealed, including how he changed his island allegiance before having an unexpected meeting.

Science:

Modern science still cannot fully explain life and death. We know it is a cycle. We have the knowledge of what begins life and what ends life. But we do not truly know what happens after death except for circumstantial evidence from “near death” experiences of patients or accident victims.

Life is defined as the condition that distinguishes animals and plants from inorganic matter, including the capacity for growth, reproduction, functional activity, and continual change preceding death.

In religion, life is any of a number of successive existences in which a soul is held to be reincarnated (as in Hinduism and some other religious traditions). Most religions have a concept of life after death, which means part of the intangible human spirit or soul journeys to another life in the heavens.

The cycle of life is the foundation for all human culture. The phrase “bring (or come ) to life” means to regain or cause to regain consciousness or return as if from death. The phrase “a matter of life and death” means a matter of vital importance. The search for the scientific answers to the questions of life and death have led to advances in medical science, human behavior and the quest for immortality.


Clues:

Dogen unearths a carved box from a plant pot which he cleans and opens, revealing a ceremonial  dagger. He explains to Sayid that Claire is a confused girl under the influence of an angry man, that this man has been trapped for years but is free now that Jacob is gone and that he will not stop until he has destroyed every living thing on the Island. He says that the man is "evil incarnate." Dogen gives Sayid the dagger warning him that this person is going to appear to him under the guise of someone Sayid knows and who died and that Sayid should stab him in the chest before giving him any chance to talk. As Sayid wonders why should he do all that for Dogen, Dogen tells him that it's his chance to prove that he is a "good person."

MIB gives newly arrived 1867 Alpert a dagger to kill The Devil, Jacob. MIB tells Alpert that he cannot allow him to speak. But Jacob attacks Alpert first, taking away the knife. Alpert tells him that this place is the devil, he has seen his dead wife, but Jacob says that was not her. It was an illusion cast by MIB after scanning Alpert in the ship hold as the smoke monster. Jacob attempts to “drown” Alpert to prove that he is alive. Jacob tells him he cannot bring back his wife, or absolve his sin of murder, but he can grant immortality with his touch.

Jacob explains to Alpert that he brought him to the island to prove MIB wrong. MIB believes that all humans are corrupt by their very nature. Jacob brings people to prove him “wrong.” Jacob tells Alpert that the wine in the bottle is not hell (per se), it is called many names not malfeasance, evil, darkness. The island is the cork that does not allow the evil to spread. However, this analogy confirms that the underside of the cork where the human souls are brought is hell.

Sayid was dead for two hours. Then came back to life. Is this because Sayid is one of the remaining “candidates?” Or was he possessed by the smoke monster? Dogen said the tests were to balance good and evil in a person, and Sayid failed the test. When Sayid goes to stab Flocke, is Sayid also a smoke monster?

Dogen classifies Flocke as the “evil incarnate.”  It means an evil deity or spirit embodied in flesh; in human form. But when the dagger is pulled from Flocke’s chest, there is no blood.

Sayid could never kill Flocke with a dagger; it is inferred that Dogen sent Sayid out to stab Flocke so in rage Sayid would be killed by the monster, thus destroying the darkness (evil) inside him.  But Sayid turns pure evil after killing Dogen and Lennon in the temple spring.

Sayid could not kill Flocke because Sayid was “infected” by the darkness, i.e. he was one of Flocke’s game pieces now and like colored pawns cannot capture (kill) their leader.

When the remaining Templetons leave with Flocke after the temple massacre by the smoke monster, Flocke gives Claire a knowing nod which she returns (possibly meaning that Claire killed Kate in the temple pit), but then Flocke gives Kate an odd look. Since she is traveling with Flocke’s group, is it possible that MIB believes that Kate is now infected with darkness like Claire? But later on, Claire attempts to kill Kate while Sayid watches in a trance. Flocke intervenes to save Kate from the attack. Kate is sobbing in a grove apart from the others. Flocke joins her and apologizes to Kate for Claire's attack, saying he has to take responsibility for Claire's behavior because he told Claire that the Others had her baby. Kate asks why he would say that and he tells her that Claire was devastated without Aaron, so he gave her something “to hate” in order to keep her going. He goes on to say that hearing the truth from Kate caused Claire to release all of the anger she had been holding on to for so long. Kate replies that his explanation is very insightful considering that he's a dead man. Flocke does not consider himself to be a dead man. He believes Jacob has stolen his humanity.
He claims he will protect her and the others. Key point: Flocke believes Kate is one of his followers now (and as a former candidate, she cannot kill the leader.)

“Sundown” reflects the passage of the Egyptian Day, which the good god, Ra, disappears and must make his dangerous way through the Night (underworld) of his evil brother, Seth, and his powers. The temple massacre in the sanctuary of the temple happens at night because it is protected during the day.

Hurley reveals that Jacob had implied to him earlier that it was unsafe to go to the Temple. Richard is surprised by this and says that whatever Jacob said should not be believed. Richard heads for the wreck, saying that there's something he needs to do: die. Richard leads them through the jungle, and Hurley asks him how it is possible that Richard looks the same as he did 30 years ago. Richard says it is not easy to explain, but that Jacob gave him a gift. Richard admits he lied about going to the Temple because everyone at the Temple is dead, but maybe their friends made it out alive. Alpert’s lie was in self-interest because he needs Jack or Hurley to kill him.

Inside the hull, Alpert informs Jack that this is the first time he has come back to the ship in all the long time he has been on the Island. Richard opens a box of dynamite sticks and fuse wire, and Hurley tells him it is unsafe and the dynamite is unstable. Richard states that he can't kill himself, even though he wants to (he demonstrates this by throwing a stick of dynamite across the room, which does not explode), which is why he wants Hurley or Jack to do it for him. Richard explains that Jacob touched him, which is thought to be a gift, but it is actually a curse. He says that he has devoted his life to Jacob, who claimed that everything was happening for a reason, that he had a plan, and that he would share the plan with Richard when the time was right. Richard reveals that, now that Jacob is dead, he believes that his entire life has had no purpose. He asks Jack to light a stick of dynamite for him, pointing out that he made the fuse long enough to give Jack time to get out. Jack immediately lights the fuse and sits down with Richard. Hurley is uncomfortable and decides to go, but Jack is calm and says he has to talk to Richard. The fuse on the dynamite goes out before it reaches the stick. It means the island would not kill Alpert or Jack. Jack now believes he has some sort of island destiny.

The series confirms a series of “hard bargains.” Both Jacob and MIB make “deals” with human souls for their service, their game. Alpert believes Jacob to be a liar and fraud; his gift of immortality served no purpose. Sayid tells Flocke that the only thing he loved died in his arms. MIB states that he could grant that wish if Sayid would follow him. Dogen previously told Sayid that he made a bargain with Jacob to save his son from Dogen’s drunken car accident. In order to save his son, Dogen could never see him again. (Does this mean his son died and went to heaven, and Dogen was sent to hell to serve Jacob?) Flocke tells his followers that he will get them all off the island if they do what he tells them to do.

Flocke  is annoyed at Sawyer’s interruption of his speech with his new followers (the remnants of the Others from the Temple) and suggests that they talk in private. Once aside, an angry MIB tells Sawyer that he wishes he hadn't interrupted him. Sawyer sarcastically apologizes and asks how "Locke" knew to rescue people from "that smoke thing." The Man in Black says he is the smoke thing. Sawyer is incredulous that all those people were killed and asks why. The MIB replies that he gave them the opportunity to leave peacefully, but they didn't take it. He explains that those people believed they were protecting the Island from him, whereas all he wants to do is leave. He says that it is either "kill or be killed," and he doesn't want to be killed.

MIB tells Kate that he is not a dead man. He says that he knows what Kate is feeling because his mother was crazy. He says that a long time ago, before he looked like he does now, he had a mother who was very disturbed and as a result of that he had some "growing pains," problems that he is still trying to work his way through and that he could have avoided had things been different. (This relates to Crazy Mother killing the Romans who were trying to leave the island with MIB; in anger, MIB killed his mother which resulted in Jacob killing him - - - and throwing him into the light cave to emerge as a smoke monster). Kate asks him why he told her this story and the MIB replies, "Because now Aaron has a crazy mother too."

When Alpert leaves the beach camp, he begs out loud to accept MIB’s offer. His ghost wife speaks to Hurley, who follows Alpert to the jungle bench. Alpert talks to his dead wife in Hurley’s presence, but in the distance after she is gone, we see Flocke with a slight grimace on his face. It is unclear whether Isabella as a ghost is a trapped soul on the island in her own form, or a manifestation of the smoke monster (MIB or possibly even Jacob). But it does give Flocke another follower.

Discussion:

“ A thousand may fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it will not come nigh thee. ”
— Psalm 91:7

“ Whenever action is performed by a great man, common men follow in his footsteps, and whatever standards he sets by exemplary acts, all the world pursues. ”
— Bhagavad Gita

In this story arc, there are numerous, clear references by the characters that the island is Hell. If the Richard back story was put into the beginning of the series, so many viewers would not have been mislead by The End.

After the shipwreck, the survivors are killed by the mechanical clicking smoke monster. We hear a low guttural moan like a bass horn after the rampage. The sound is like a release. Next, the smoke monster returns and “scans” Alpert. Later, to  Richard's astonishment, he is roused by his “dead wife.”  She tells Richard that they are both dead and that they are in Hell. She says she looked the Devil in the eye and saw only evil, asking if Richard saw it too. Richard says that he thinks he did, and Isabella says she will free him before the Devil returns. As she unsuccessfully tries to free him the sounds and shadows of the Monster are heard and seen above deck. Richard pleads with Isabella to leave him and escape while she can. As soon as she has left, Richard hears the sounds of her screaming, accompanied by crashes and the Monster's exiting call. Richard is devastated.

Some time later,  MIB comes to Richard, gives him water and says he is “a friend.”  He confirms Richard's assertion that they are in Hell, and when Richard realizes he was not on the ship, MIB discloses he has been on the Island a long time. Richard asks about Isabella and explains what happened and the MIB says that "he has her,” implying that she was captured by the Devil (Jacob). Richard begs to be freed so he can save her and MIB says he will help, as he also wants to be free. MIB has keys he obtained from the dead officers but makes Richard promise to do anything that he asks before he frees him (“a hard bargain”). MIB unlocks the chains and when Richard thanks him MIB says, "It's good to see you out of those chains." MIB carries Richard out of the ship hold as he explains that the only way to escape from Hell is to kill the Devil.

Richard eats a boar roasted on a spit by MIB. Alpert is directed to the statue, now broken into pieces after the collision with the Black Rock. This is where he will find the Devil. MIB gives him an ornate dagger, warning Richard that he has but one chance to stab the Devil, and that he must not hesitate or let him speak because he is “very persuasive.”  Richard wonders how he can kill the Devil if he is black smoke but the Man in Black admits that he, himself, is the black smoke. He claims that the Devil betrayed him and stole his body and his humanity. He explains that Isabella was not running from the black smoke but from the Devil. (This infers that both Jacob and MIB are smoke monsters; and in the scene we see a slight glimpse of the smoke and part of Isabella leaving the hold). He adds that he saw the Devil take Isabella but couldn't stop him. He deflects questions about murdering the ship's officers and requesting Richard commit murder, saying that if Richard wants to see his wife again he must hurry up. But Richard’s mission is a failure. As a result, Jacob gives him immortality in exchange for working as his representative on the island, to intervene and guide human souls during MIB-Jacob’s humanity experiment.

One of the differences in the grand back story of the island is that Jacob comes to an injured Ilana in a hospital bed, and asks her to “guard” the “six” remaining candidates. Now, this appears to be a request given “before” Jacob’s death since Ilana was on Ajira plane with her crew. But with the lighthouse and its 360 names mostly crossed off except for the six 815 survivors (five if you scratch off dead Locke as MIB did in the cave), it may mean that “the game” is running out of pieces. That is why there is more action and interaction between Jacob and MIB: time is literally running out.
Jacob “brings” people to the island - - - MIB helps “corrupt” them to prove a point: that human beings are not worthy of something (immortality? guardians of the universe? heaven?) But considering the long time frame of island visitors, Jacob and MIB have to have been at least equal in power and strength when they were adopted by Crazy Mother, and MIB slightly weakened by the loss of his “body.” But the Egyptian mural depicting the smoke monster and Anubis pre-dates Jacob and MIB coming to the island, so it is possible that both Jacob and MIB are immortal smoke monsters who were given their powers (and rules) from their Crazy Mother.

Are these truly "The Rules?"

Each man has a special dagger in which can kill the other. But the assailant must not talk or listen to the intended victim or the killing spell is released.

Candidates cannot kill themselves.

Being touched is not a gift, but a curse to remain forever on the island, trapped by Jacob.

Once Jacob is killed, MIB turns into a mortal form when not the smoke monster.

Once Jacob is killed, MIB can leave the island if he is accompanied by another candidate who is his follower.

Jacob is in control of everything; he was the leader of both Dharma (Horace) and the Others (Alpert) before and after the purge. He can only bring people to the island. Apparently, Jacob can leave to recruit new candidates, but MIB cannot. MIB can only recruit or “corrupt” candidates by infecting them with “darkness,” akin to an infection which takes over the person’s soul when it reaches his heart.

What is the end game? Jacob’s death which releases his hold on MIB’s soul so he can “go home” which would be heaven, as the island is his Hell and Jacob is his Devil.

Sacred ash is a barrier for MIB/smoke monster’s movements. He cannot cross it.
Jacob’s touch can give a person’s soul immortality or the appearance of immortality in the island realm.

Creation mythology:

Crazy Mother kidnaps Jacob and MIB and raises them as her own. She sets the rules. The children cannot harm each other.

MIB grows weary of the island and goes to live with the Others, who are tapping the EM Life Force in an attempt to “go home” or leave the island.

Crazy Mother is upset with MIB, and kills all the Others, which makes MIB mad with rage so he kills her. In his own rage over the death of his alleged mother, Jacob kills MIB (or destroys his soul) by throwing him into the Light Cave where MIB is transformed or released into the smoke monster. This transformation binds Jacob and MIB to eternity on the island, together.

Jacob views the island as home and needs to be protected; while MIB views the island as a prison. As the protector, the leader, Jacob sets “the rules” between themselves.

What did we learn from this week’s episode arc about the main characters?

1. Miles is a grave robber.
2. Richard stated that Jacob's "touch" was a curse, which led him from chains of slavery to endless servitude on the island.

3. Jack finally realized that you have to go crazy in order to keep your sanity.

4. Ilana apparently has the mother of all daddy issues if Jacob is the closest thing to a father she has had in her life.

5. Ben would give up the promise of power for the chance of having a single friend.

6. Sun's role is now that of show set decorator at the beach camp.

Magical/Supernatural/Elements:

Jacob’s touch will bring you or bind you to the island after your death.
Everyone brought to the island was a “candidate” to be Jacob’s replacement, but in Jacob’s own words, they were lab rats in an experiment on human corruption.

That an 1867 wooden ship would fly through a multi-story stone statue and land fairly intact several miles inland.

That a sonic fence would repel a smoke monster.

That a smoke monster can possibly split into multiple things, such as Isabella in the hold and as a smoke monster outside the ship hold.

That Hurley can have conversations with ghosts like Isabella, even though her body never made it to the island and he never met her before.


Last lines in episodes:

EP 109:

ILANA: Everybody inside, now.
[The smoke monster rushes past just as they escape.]

[Kate, Claire, and Sayid walk through the courtyard, which is littered with mangled corpses. Outside, they meet up with Locke, who has assembled a small group of Temple dwellers. They follow him into the darkness of the jungle.]

EP 110:

CREWMAN AT PERISCOPE: Yes sir, Mr. Widmore.

EP 111:

SAWYER: We ain't taking the plane, Freckles. Taking the sub.

EP 112:

MAN IN BLACK: Sooner than you think.
[The Man in Black raises the bottle of wine and turns it upside down. He smashes the bottle against the log, splashing wine everywhere.]

New Ideas/Tests of Theories:

I continue to view the sideways story line like the vegetables on a high end steak house plate; you move it to the side and concentrate on the meat, the island story. 

Point One: When is Dead Dead on?

Both Jacob and MIB are liars and manipulators. Everything they say has to be taken with a grain, no, a bag of salt. The show has consistently used the game metaphor between light and dark, so why are we assuming that only Light Jacob moved game pieces off-island, and not Dark Smokey as well, such as Locke’s crazy mother being hit by a car driven by Anthony Cooper?

Or if MIB is confined to the island, he needed someone off-island to move the pieces for him such as Widmore. Method of game play? Car crashes. But it is more probable that the evil car crash method was employed by Jacob as a means of manipulating human souls to come to the island.

In the first few seasons, there were frequent, unexplained, game changing car crashes, in almost every case turning that character's life into a downward spiral.

* Michael is hit by a car just as he is trying to keep custody of Walt, putting him in a unhappy cycle not ended until his death
*Adam Rutherford and Sarah get into a serious car accident that will permanently warp Shannon (again, until her death), and maintain her unhealthy co-dependence with Boone.
* Sarah's car accident. No saving Sarah means no Jack marriage that ends in him destroying his relationship with his father and driving Christian to his death in Australia.
* Claire and her mother get into a car accident, depriving her of her mother's support, leading to her reliance on a psychic(?). In addition, this indirectly speeds up Christian's death, as Claire's aunt refuses his request to reconnect with Claire.

Further evidence here: Claire's mom miraculous recovery which allows her to take Aaron and send Kate back to the island.
*Kate has multiple car crashes- we knows she still ends up arrested in Australia, but perhaps Tom Brennan is never killed?
* If Dr. Burke is never hit by a bus, does Juliet ever end up on the island, underwater or not?
*Nadia is hit by a car, sending Sayid into a black spiral he will never full recover from. Jacob probably caused this accident, since he stopped Sayid from becoming a victim of the accident.
* The real game changer was Emily Locke is hit by a car, causing a premature Locke to “be born” with Alpert, Jacob’s representative, at the hospital.

Purgatory theorists have used this list of serious accidents as circumstantial evidence to conclude that the characters involved in those accidents were killed but their "dead" souls were hijacked to the island limbo by Jacob. It makes perfect sense when we learn that the sideways world is the afterlife holding pen for the island souls to reconnect with their dead spirits.

The implication to date is that getting "infected" is done by dying. i.e: Sayid died in the pool and the discussion has long been that Claire actually died in the cabin explosion. So, both of them are "infected", or perhaps "inhabited" because their bodies were available. This infers multiple smoke monsters, including Christian.

It is possible that Kate never got out of the temple pit alive. Claire was at full anger mode when Kate approached her. Nothing would have calmed that anger during the monster’s revenge strike. If anything, it would have enhanced Claire’s desire to kill Kate. I think the 180 degree out of character Claire hug was to accelerate the infection in Kate. So “dying” on the island is different than dying off-island when one’s soul departs the body for the afterlife.

As a very early adopter of "there all dead" theories of the show premise, the cork analogy fits nicely into my Nexus-Buffer theory that the island was a gate-portal between heaven and hell to stop Satan from attacking heaven.

If Jacob brought the Black Rock to the island, did he not cause the destruction of the statue? Is this pointing to the fact at that moment, his micro-Egyptian island lab rats had been killed off, resetting the experiment?

And if the whole purpose of bringing souls to the island to see if they were good, bad or corrupt, Smokey-MIB did not waste a second in killing off the entire Black Rock crew (who never had a chance to even leave the ship after it crashed in the jungle). No test shown; pure violence.
In the hold, when it looks like Alpert is dead on the floor, we see a butterfly pass through the scene. (This must be important symbol because it would be difficult to frame an insect in the set shot.)

What does the butterfly mean?
In some Japanese anime, it is used to represent a soul.

The Western view is that the butterfly is a carefree creature. The Dalai Lama explains that, rather than carefree, it is uncaring:

"The butterfly never meets its mother. It must survive independently and remains a stranger to affection. An animal nurtured by mother's milk, however, is dependent on another for its basic survival. A child who grows up in a cold and detached home environment is similar to the butterfly, in that kindness is sparing. Once an adult, it will be very difficult for that person to show compassion."



In other cultures, the butterfly is symbolic of rebirth after death.

In the 1600s, in Ireland, killing a white butterfly was prohibited since it was believed to be the soul of a dead child.

For Christians, the butterfly's three steps of metamorphosis -- as caterpillar, pupa and then winged insect -- are reminiscent of spiritual transformation.

The caterpillar's incessant crawling and chewing reminds us of normal earthly life where people are often wholly preoccupied with physical needs. The chrysalis (cocoon) resembles a tomb and empty, can suggest the empty shroud left behind by Jesus. Therefore, a butterfly represents the resurrection into a new condition of life that is free of any material concerns.

In images of the Garden of Eden, Adam's soul is symbolized by a butterfly, or drawn with butterfly wings. In paintings of Mary and her Child, the presence of butterflies stands for their care for human souls. The Gnostics depicted the Angel of Death by showing a winged foot stepping on a butterfly.

Others have stated that since the insect is so fragile it can be torn apart by a hard rain, the butterfly stands for human frailty, both moral and physical. Also, as its life is not a long one, it is also a symbol of the ephemeral nature of physical existence.

In America among the Aztec and Maya, the god of cosmic fire is symbolized by a butterfly. Fire is considered the element of transformation, as in cookery and the smelting of metals.
The ancient Greeks depicted the spirit of a person as a winged stick figure. Interpretation of that symbol gave rise to the idea of the "soul" as a butterfly.

The ancient Romans associated the butterfly with the wandering consciousness that seems to occur during the dream state.

In science, there is The Butterfly Effect.

This is an aspect of chaos theory: the way a seeming insignificant event can cause dramatic consequences.

From wikipedia: The butterfly effect is a metaphor that encapsulates the concept of sensitive dependence on initial conditions in chaos theory; namely that small differences in the initial condition of a dynamical system may produce large variations in the long term behavior of the system. Although this may appear to be an esoteric and unusual behavior, it is exhibited by very simple systems: for example, a ball placed at the crest of a hill might roll into any of several valleys depending on slight differences in initial position.

The butterfly effect is a common method in fiction when presenting scenarios involving time travel and with "what if" scenarios where one storyline diverges at the moment of a seemingly minor event resulting in two significantly different outcomes.

Some theorists believed that is what TPTB were attempting by putting in the sideways world in Season 6.

Point Two: What are Jacob and his brother?

Clearly, they are powerful beings. They get knowledge in different ways: Jacob spies on people from the light house, while MIB scans their minds while a smoke monster. Both have the power to manipulate time, space and matter.

For example, MIB is not trapped in Locke's body. Locke's real body is now buried on Boone Hill.  MIB is using a duplicate "body." And he is not trapped inside the duplicate, because he can continue to transform into Smokey after Locke is buried. And it is not human, because when Sayid stabbed him, no blood was on the dagger.

There is an interesting question that was rarely asked when the series first ran. "Could Jacob have manifested himself as smokey or as dead people?"

Yes, and here is a wild tangent explanation: Jacob is MIB. Or more exact, MIB is to Jacob as Dave is to Hurley: an imaginary friend, his conscious incarnate, or his split personality. It is possible that MIB’s resentment of Jacob is that MIB is trapped inside Jacob’s mind (“the island”).

It's possible that Jacob made MIB who/what he is, thus the reason for his resentment towards him. Even if Jacob wasn't the one that made him who/what he is, he certainly is the reason he cannot escape. He knew that as long as Jacob was alive he was trapped on the island and that he could not kill Jacob himself, thus the whole "loophole" storyline.

All evidence points to smoke monsters on the island prior to Jacob and his brother’s arrival. Since they would look the same, we do not know what physical human form is any one smoke creature. (Side tangent: some believe that the mechanical noises, electromagnetic flashes, and swarm like movement of the smoke creature infers that the monster may be a nano-like machine powered by the unique physics properties of the island. And as a machine, it cannot be “killed” in the sense of a human being dying from a mortal wound.)

As a result, I did not buy into Sawyer's "triple cross." First, Flocke already knew what was going on at Hydra (he was heading his recruits there). The Ajira victims appeared to be mowed down like the Temple people, which looks like Smokey’s work. Which would negate one of the viewer assumptions, that the monster could not cross water.  Second, Widmore was too quick to "deal" with Sawyer (besides if both know Flocke is Smokey, no one said they know how or if Smokey can be killed). Third, Flocke expected Sawyer to lie to him, and when he did not, Smokey's plan self-executed; the war with Widmore would go forth.  Fourth, when Sawyer told Kate he is going after the sub, he was in essence telling Smokey because after Claire's "hug" I believe Kate may have "infected" her, giving partial control of her mind to Flocke. Fifth, even though we hear MIB wanting to “leave” the island, he never says how that is possible for him, as a smoke monster.

If MIB is truly “trapped” on the island, who did it to him? If he was dead, why is his soul fused to the island life force as a smoke creature?

Some viewers  think it's a prison. MIB is the prisoner and Jacob is the guard. Woe be to the world if that angry prisoner escapes.

Most believe MIB is trapped on the island. If the cosmic prison is the final premise of the show, that does not explain why the main characters were brought to the island by Jacob. For recreation for MIB? You would think a guard would want to encourage less violence in his prisoner.

We know that Jacob wanted to retire and brought in candidates for his job, but it still might be that bringing those people in was a form of passing the time while trying to prove a point and find a replacement. And it might be the reason for those damned "rules".

Unless MIB represents something eternal, while the Jacob role is only temporary, requiring periodic replacements? That's more of an idea than a conviction, btw, but how else to explain the whole candidate business?

There is a simple explanation for what could be happening on the island. In a Death Note vibe, Jacob and MIB could have the same job, as Gatekeepers to Hell of the Afterlife. The island is the gate. What do gatekeepers do? Allow people to pass through or hold them up for interrogation or inspection. That may be why both the lighthouse and the cave have the same list of names, which each striking out names who they have allowed to pass through the gate.

Just as a cork keeps liquid in a bottle, a cork also acts as a stopper so more liquid cannot get into the bottle (for example, to make it overflow). Every person brought to the island had some form of sin in their heart; a few truly evil. As a result, to keep the bottle from bursting, the gatekeepers must “test” these souls and release those who have had a worthy redemption, asked for true forgiveness, and accepted their fate, to move on and leave the place of ultimate judgment.

We know that an ancient civilizations, first the Sumerians in 5000 BC, then the Egyptians in 2500 BC, then the  Romans in 500 BC, then Dharma in the 1970s,  were brought to the island and stayed long enough to construct the statue, temple, stations and villages - - - which meant that there had to be a long standing peace between Jacob and MIB to allow all this construction to happen.

Apparently, Smokey left them alone while they did this- he was clearly there, as pictured on the temple walls.

Did they pacify Smokey by worshiping him? Was he not aware/conscious that he was trapped at that time?

We will probably never know what happened between the time of the Egyptians and the arrival of the Black Rock. But when the Black Rock arrived, Smokey was in all-kill mode, as he immediately wiped out the crew- no hesitation, no scanning.

Jacob tells Richard he is the only man alive on the island and then makes Richard immortal. This may have made Richard immune to being killed by Smokey, who may have wanted to keep Richard around anyway for his own future potential use.

Does that mean that between the Black Rock and the US Army encounter in 1954, that there was a gradually growing community of Others, with Richard as the representative to the god, Jacob? Did Richard watch them arrive on the island, live their lives there, have children, and then eventually die after a normal life - - - one which he himself lost? In that vain, Richard’s life on the island would have been agonizing and mental suffering like being in a living hell, trapped there by his bargain with Jacob.

Until Jacob's “death,”  the Others showed no fear or concern re: Smokey, freely walking through the underground passages of the temple, going about their business in the jungle. Smokey lived in the temple wall!

So for 140 years Smokey bided his time, searching for the appropriate "candidates" to corrupt for his plan to kill Jacob? Periodically killing those who he did not find useful, but essentially laying low?

When Richard describes the arrival of the US Army, he says he gave them an opportunity to withdraw in peace- he doesn't say "and then they landed with their bomb, and Smokey immediately tore them to shreds..."

So was MIB more fascinated by the new technologies of the people brought to the island as a means of escape? If that is true, why could he have gone into a human form and turned the FDW and escaped to North Africa?! It seems no matter what Jacob or MIB wanted, they could never have: both were/are trapped on the island forever. And it seems that the candidates were not ever going to “replace” Jacob, but to appease the brother’s boredom.

Point Three: What is the final conflict?

The consensus was that the final battle will be good vs. evil. But what is the the actual battlefield for this conflict?

Author Joyce Meyer said the mind is the battlefield for good and evil.

With Jacob’s alleged demise at the hands of Ben, it would seem that the final showdown for the island is Widmore vs. Flocke. Widmore wants the island because it contains what he must believe is the fountain of youth, the life source that could grant immortality. He must have learned that from Alpert.

We have seen symbols of good (light) and evil (darkness). Jacob appeared to represent the light (the lighthouse) and MIB the dark (smoke monster). But it is now more likely that they are both shades of gray. It was telling that the knife into Flocke came out with no blood. There are no traits of a human body just the mere illusion of one. It infers that there are multiple Flockes (one with Sawyer in the cave, and one at the temple) The most important clue on the night was when Dogen said Flocke/MIB was "evil incarnate," which means an evil deity or spirit embodied in flesh (human form).

The final conflict is not about Widmore, the 815 survivors, the Ajira people, or the remaining Others. The conflict remains Jacob vs. his brother.

But Widmore is a powerful piece in the game, what is his true relationship with the brothers?
This could be the explanation, using word clues, to try to find out who is good and who is bad in the show's current "team building" story lines.

Widmore returns to the Island, presumably for revenge. In looking for the root origin of "Widmore," one can trace a branch to wider, a Scottish term for "against." There is another old Scottish term called widdershins, which means "in a direction contrary to the course of the sun."

In ancient Egyptian myth, the "sun god," Ra was one of the most important gods. In later kingdoms, the merger of gods found Horus, the son of Osiris, taking on the role of sun god after defeating his uncle Seth for control of the kingdom. Horus is known as the god and protector of the monarchy. One of the traits of the protector, was the Eye of Horus, a scar below his eye, similar to the one on John Locke's face.

One could make the connection that Widmore is on the side opposing the sun god, or ruler of the living kingdom. One could presume that if Jacob is light, Widmore is an agent for darkness, MIB.

The name "Jacob" means "the supplanter." To supplant means to supercede or replace. One seeks to supercede the throne by overthrowing its current king. In its Latin origins, supplant means "to trip up from below." We learned when Desmond failed to enter the code in the Hatch computer, that the warning signal sounded that spelled out "He escapes place of death." This incident caused Flight 815 to crash on the Island. We never saw Jacob before this incident. However, the Hatch occupants were quite familiar with Smokey as he/it is described in detail on the blast door map.

Once Horus defeated Seth, Seth was relegated to the underworld to serve his brother, Osiris and to help protect the sun god on the nightly journey through the underworld. Later cults deemed that the nightly journey had already stopped since Horus defeated all his enemies, so the sun would always rise.

But most believe Seth, a master of trickery and evil, would not sit idle in the underworld. He was once called the god of chaos. One would think that he would mark his time and seek his revenge against Horus and retake the throne in the living world. For that reason, Horus would have imprisoned him in the underworld.

In trying to tie the wordsmith's art into character associations, those who intend on upsetting the current order are Widmore and Jacob, in the role of Seth. Once Seth was able to reach the Island, it was like letting a genie out of a bottle. He "trapped" Horus on the island, and through magic was able to leave the island in search for the pieces to solidify his plan to overthrow the kingdom. (This is very similar to the notion that Satan builds an army to retake the heavens from God.)

That leaves Flocke in the Horus role. He wants "to go home," a place where he permanently lives, which would mean to his kingdom. It appears that the only way to do that is not to physically leave the island, but to defeat Seth (Jacob). For those who believe that Flocke was surprised by Sawyer's intel in the Recon episode, this would be consistent with Flocke's perception that Jacob and his men are out to kill him. And recall, there are (unknown) ways for which a god can be killed, as Seth butchered Osiris and scattered his remains across the desert, as the means to claim the throne. However, we have seen the two supernatural beings stabbed with two different results: Jacob bled out and was burned to ash; Flocke was stabbed with no blood. Maybe that battle has already taken place, and Horus is being kept alive in a spirit form (as Jacob is now) with the help of other underworld gods, like Anubis and Thoth.

I originally thought that Jacob "touching" the characters was a means of putting part of himself in them in case he was killed, so he could be reincarnated like Osiris in the underworld. But now, we are learning from Richard the "touch" is a curse. The touch was a marker for candidates to "replace" Jacob. None of these candidates was given a job application to become the next Jacob. But since we don't know whether Jacob even has a job or Island purpose, we can only assume that Jacob's motivations are self-serving.

Now that both Jacob and MIB appear to be trapped in a ghost-spirit hybrid, they are both recruiting human souls to fight their final battle. In backgammon, the goal is to remove all your pieces in order to win. Maybe Flocke was upset because he thought none of the Temple residents would take his offer so he could mow them all down and have less pieces aligned with him to dispose of; and knowing that, Jacob is actually blocking the removal of those aligned with his enemy because in this game you cannot kill your own followers. That is a twisted rule: to win the game your enemy has to wipe out all your pawns!

On the flip side,  there is evidence that MIB/Smokey could be aligned with Widmore. Widmore was once the (co) leader of the Others before he was banished by Ben after the Dharma purge. It is clear that the Others did not put up any sonic fences to keep Smokey out of their camps. There had to be some clear understanding that Smokey would not harm the Others.

That may have been the presence of Jacob. The Others followed the indirect directions of Jacob. And for some reason, Smokey could not directly kill Jacob. This check and balance system was not totally wiped out with Ben's stabbing of Jacob: Jacob's "presence" is still on the island, and he is still giving directions to the characters.

Widmore has been shown as a evil guy; he sent mercenaries to wipe out everyone on the island. His man killed Alex, which was alleged as a violation of the rules. Flocke as Smokey clearly had an evil intent when it wiped out the temple dwellers. So there is plenty of blood on their hands to have a solid evil alliance.

When Widmore was co-leader of the Others, he was a follower of Jacob. But MIB did not disturb that clan, or wipe them out. When Dharma joined the island, they followed Jacob but were opposed by MIB. Is this the time when Widmore turned away from Jacob’s control and toward MIB? It would seem that this is the time where there are two equal sides or “teams” occupying the island - - - the perfect situation for the brothers to battle their pawns to the death. And it was the “corruption” of young Ben at the temple waters that turned Ben into evil to wipe out Dharma and exile Widmore.

From an earlier theory of mine: Touched by an Angel Devil:

There is a growing debate on whether Jacob is good or bad.

We saw Jacob touch many people off-island. I theorized that it was to put a piece of himself in these vessels to be reincarnated if killed on the Island (the Osiris story).

That may come to be true, but looking at things now from the Lighthouse spy glass into the lives of the 815ers, Jacob may be darker than we have imagined:

Every person we have seen Jacob "touch" has had their lives torn a part on an emotional roller coaster: Sawyer, Kate, Jack, Jin, Sun, Locke, Ilana, Sayid and Hurley.

Sawyer was touched at his parents funeral. He needed a pen to write down his vengeful thoughts. Jacob enabled him to do so with a pen. That letter caused Sawyer to turn down the dark path of conning people to murder.

Kate was touched in the midst of a shop lifting caper. Jacob's intervention with the shop keeper actually rewarded Kate for her bad behavior. This led her down the path of self-destruction including murder because she was ingrained at an early age that she could get away with things.

Jack was touched by Jacob in the hospital. He gave the candy machine "a little push," but in reality pushed Jack to stand up to his father, which led to his paranoia and failed relationships, to the betrayal of his father (and malpractice induced alcoholism that killed Christian). In other words, Jack's turn from being afraid of his father to turning in his father screwed up his life.

Jin and Sun were touched by Jacob at their wedding. As Jacob reached out to them, he brought them together. In one respect, Jacob's touch may have solidified Sun "staying with" Jin even though she wanted out of her subservient marriage. It also put pressure on Jin to be his father-in-law's muscle in the dirty family business. They both wound up doing shameful things during their marriage.

Locke was touched by Jacob after Cooper tossed his son eight stories to his perceived death. Jacob's touch brought Locke back to life, with an apology. From that point forward, Locke would have been better off dead. His life was a crippling failure, leading to an unseemly death at the hands of Ben after failing in his one faithful mission to return to save the island and his friends.

We think Jacob touched Ilana in the Russian hospital bed. Jacob needed her help "again." It is not clear that her current injuries were a result of helping Jacob in the past, but her life turned into a bloody mess with four of her comrades killed by the Smoke monster, and she is on the run for her life on the island.

Sayid was touched just before crossing the street - - - which saved him but killed his Nadia. As a direct result of that touch, Sayid could not be a happily married man. His life reverted back to a cold blooded killer and a dark soul.

And finally, Hurley was touched in the back of a cab. Jacob convinced Hurley he was not cursed, so Hurley made the decision to go back to the island. If he did not go back, he would have lived the life of leisure with his parents as a millionaire. Instead, his life is on the edge in a supernatural war zone hell, created in part, by Jacob.

One could say the worst thing that happened to the touched characters was Jacob's intervention in their lives.

In the pivot final scene of  Season 5, Flocke  is recognized by Jacob as the MIB from the beach scene. Flocke acknowledges that he (MIB) had found the loophole to kill Jacob. The only motivation we know of is that MIB did not want Jacob to continually bring human (souls) to the Island. All they do, MIB insisted, was fight, kill and make a mess of things. This is the Conflict. The loophole the apparent solution to the Conflict.

Some comments on the relationship between Jacob and MIB. Both are apparently equals in some regard. They must have equal status or equal powers on or through the Island. The balance of power may be as simple as one controlling above ground and the other controlling above ground. They cannot directly kill each other, otherwise MIB would have killed Jacob on the beach. However, one can apparently get a human soul to do the evil deed under the right circumstances (the loophole).

Since we are fairly certain that MIB can manifest himself as Smokey, there is an open question on how Jacob can manifest himself.

It may get down to contact or touch.

We have seen Jacob "touch" the following characters: Sawyer, Kate, Jack, Jin, Sun, Locke, Ilana, Sayid and Hurley. All those contacts occurred off-island in public places.

We have seen MIB, as Smokey, have contact with the following characters: Seth the Pilot, Locke, Eko, Kate (scanned), Juliet (scanned), Nikki & Paulo (spiders), Ben (as shot boy taken to the underground chamber), and Alpert (? who took Ben into the underground chamber).

We can also suspect that since MIB is Flocke, that he can reincarnate the Dead who arrive on the Island: Christian and Locke. We have also seen MIB ghost in contact with Claire and Aaron (though Christian).

When we compare the Lists, we find that only one character was physically touched by both Jacob and MIB: Locke. And the tipping point in MIB's favor was bringing Dead Locke to the Island so MIB could reincarnate into Flocke, to lead follower Ben into a treasonous rage which results in Ben killing Jacob (the loophole) for MIB.

It may be a simple as a game of tag: with MIB "tagging" Locke twice to Jacob's once in so far as MIB creating and controlling Flocke in the end.

Point Four: The Rules

The key episode, "Ab Aeterno," which means "from eternity" in Latin, the series may have found its mission statement that it is a character driven show about basic human behavior:  good, evil, temptation, redemption, life and death. Those are eternal struggles of mankind. The underlying hidden cake, the layers and layers of mystery, is the nature and purpose of the island.

From this episode, we can glean seven golden island rules:

Rule #1: No one comes to the island without Jacob’s permission. Except, Jacob himself was brought to the island by someone else. And "the island" had powers to control people off the island, such as Michael not killing himself in NYC.

Rule #2: MIB is trapped on the island because Jacob won’t let him leave. MIB cannot leave if Jacob (or his successor) is alive. We don't know if Jacob is telling the truth, or that MIB is merely gaining sympathy from his followers. Both brothers had the mantle of being immortal gods.

Rule #3: MIB cannot leave the island even by killing Jacob because someone will take his place. Again, we don't know if this is true or not. Jacob was given his powers from the island guardian, and there was no ceremony to pass it on to Jack.
Rule #4: Jacob can grant eternal life (with his touch to Richard), but he cannot give resurrect dead people or absolve people of their sins. Then why are so many ghosts and  trapped souls (whispers) on the island? Many believe that the whole island experience, its danger and tests, are all means to get to a final judgment on a character's soul: pass fail, heaven or eternal nothingness.

Rule #5: MIB believes that it is in all human nature to be bad, to sin, to corrupt or destroy, and Jacob brings people to the island to “prove him wrong.” All prior people brought to the island to prove MIB wrong are dead. Then what is the point of continuing this experiment in humanity unless there is a more important purpose: to judge souls.

Rule #6: The island is a gate or cap that stops evil, malevolence from spreading (to somewhere?) The fallen angels were set to work to manage hell, where evil souls were tormented for their sins. In some ancient writings, there is a possibility that souls in hell could be redeemed and sent to heaven.

Rule #7: Jacob does not intervene or interfere with people brought to the island (even though MIB can), so he appoints Richard to be his intermediary, to act on his behalf. But in reality, Jacob can intervene any time he wants to, including appearing to Hurley as a ghost within a hour of his "death" at the hands of Ben.

Rule #8: Escape from the island is difficult. MIB calls this place Hell, and tells Richard that Jacob is the devil. In order to escape Hell, one must kill the devil. Richard's attempt to kill Jacob was MIB's first attempt to kill Jacob. We can infer that MIB cannot directly "kill" Jacob. He needs to act through some one else. But the survivors do leave the island, to be awakened in the afterlife.

Point Five: The Loophole?

If one believes that the sum of the series is the butterfly effect of avalanche of unrelated events converging at the island's final conflict of MIB defeating Jacob for the first time, here are THE MOVES MIB HAD TO MAKE TO WIN:

What did MIB/Flocke have to “go through” in order to kill Jacob? What were the moves required to get the result he wanted? I have yet to see anyone try to piece together the Rube Goldberg/Mad, Mad, Mad World time line of interrelated events, but here is my an outline of what MIB may have meant:

1. MIB needed BEN to kill JACOB, which required
2. FLOCKE planting the seed/justification for killing in BEN, which needed
3. DEAD LOCKE in order to trick BEN on his island return, which meant
4. BEN killing LOCKE when he heard LOCKE was working with HAWKING to get back to the island (and thereby assuming the leadership role), which would not have happened without
5. WIDMORE and ABBADON helping LOCKE try to round up the O6 group for the return flight to the island, because

5 A. the O6 had a deal with RICHARD to leave the island for saving BEN from WIDMORE’S team, which BEN knew about by
5.B. placing his man MICHAEL on the freighter, as a result of
5 C. a deal to free MICHAEL and WALT in exchange for capturing JACK, KATE, SAWYER and HURLEY by the Others, which lead to
5 D. JACK, KATE, SAWYER escaping Otherville with ALEX, who
5 E. was caught by WIDMORE’s man and killed, causing
5 F. BEN turn the FDW to hide the island from WIDMORE, causing

6. HAWKING in her pendulum Dharma station to try to find the island, because
7. BEN’s FDW causing the island to time skip, requiring
8. LOCKE to turn the FDW to reset the island with the instructions of CHRISTIAN,

8 A. Whose past fathered CLAIRE in Australia, which led to
8.B. Daddy issues with his son JACK, which led to
8.C. JACK turning on CHRISTIAN, leading him back to drinking and
8.D. CHRISTIAN dying in Australia, which made
8.E. JACK fly to Sydney to claim CHRISTIAN’s body and get it on Flight 815, so,
8.F. when Flight 815 crashed on the Island, CHRISTIAN’s body could be used by MIB to influence JACK and LOCKE, since
8.G. DESMOND’s failure to input the Numbers in the Hatch caused 815 to crash,
8 H. since DESMOND’s need to prove his honor to WIDMORE caused him to enter a sail boat race after
8. I. a stranger named LIBBY gave him her deceased husband’s boat, since
8. J. DESMOND had no job since he was fired from the monastery vineyard by BROTHER CAMPBELL, (who was friends with HAWKING) but
8. K. as a result, DESMOND meets PENNY, who he falls for, but WIDMORE objects to the relationship, which leads
8. L. PENNY to search the globe for the lost DESMOND, which leads to
8.M. a listening station finding a signal in the Pacific, which leads both
8.N. WIDMORE’s freighter soldiers to the island and
8.O. PENNY’s boat finding the O6 survivors after LOCKE turns the FDW, taking,
8.P. The O6 back to their problems stateside, including:

KATE on trial for murder;
JACK finding out CLAIRE is his half sister;
SAYID’S wife NADIA being killed,
SUN taking over father’s company and seeking revenge on BEN;
HURLEY going back into mental institution; which leads

8.Q. BEN to scheme with HAWKING to get the O6 to re-create Flight 815, which includes killing LOCKE, who was suicidal because he had failed to convince anyone to return with him, which could be caused by
8.R. LOCKE’s pathetic life of personal failures, which may have influenced

9. The island splitting into two time frames when he turned the FDW,with

9.A. 1974 flash where SAWYER takes the lead with JULIET, MILES, and JIN, who
9.B. in order to survive and await LOCKE’s return, join Dharma by helping AMY who was attacked by the Others, and in turn
9.C. SAWYER telling RICHARD about time traveling LOCKE which creates a truce between Dharma and the Others, which
9.D. changes SAWYER and JULIET into a happy Dharma couple, until
9.E. Flight 316 crashes on the Island causing a time flashes to 1977 and 2007, which leads to,
9.F. KATE, JACK, SAYID meeting up with SAWYER’s Dharma group,
which causes,
9.G. JULIET to doubt her relationship with SAWYER because of KATE, but adds complication when
9.H. SAYID shoots young BEN in order to save SAYID from his future killings, which requires,
9.I. JACK and KATE to bring dying young BEN to RICHARD to be saved,
9.J. which creates BEN as an Other, which leads to
9.K. BEN banishing WIDMORE from the Island after Purging Dharma, including killing his own father ROGER,
9.L. who blamed BEN for killing his wife by being premature, but that lead to,
9.M. HORACE coming across ROGER and BEN at birth for later recruitment of ROGER to the Island, which led to
9.N. ROGER blaming BEN for his crappy life, which led BEN to seek a way out with the Others, who are

10. The island’s native population that needed outside leadership “candidates,” which led them to BEN, who recruited many off-islanders including,
11. JULIET, who was recruited to deal with the island’s fertility problems, for which,
12. RICHARD thought was unimportant to the Other’s prime mission, but which led to
13. JULIET being the lead scientist with the Hydra confinement and manipulation of JACK, SAWYER and KATE, which led to

13.A. JULIET joining the 815 survivors as a spy and as a way to get off the island, away from the captivity of BEN, which
13.B. put her in the position of the 815ers who time flashed back to 1974, which
13.C. led her to have a long term relationship with SAWYER, which caused her
13.D. sacrifice herself to detonate Jughead to bring the time lines together, which
13.E. brought ghost JACOB to HURLEY when SAYID was dying at the van,
13.F. making HURLEY leader to direct the group to take SAYID to the Temple, where,
13.G. Dogen and Lennon drowned SAYID as his friends watched in horror,
13.H. then learning JACOB was dead from HURLEY causing the Temple to be on guard from “him” and laying out ash to repel Smokey, who
13.I. was at the Tawaret foot in the form of FLOCKE, recognizing RICHARD as a man once in chains, and beating RICHARD unconscious while being extremely “disappointed” with the Others, which now makes

14. MIB/FLOCKE in position of power on the Island by killing JACOB.


There is no way that TPTB had this mapped out at the beginning of the show.