Lostpedia tries to translate the words CrazyMom speaks when presenting the wine to Jacob to become the new island guardian:
"For we do not accept this just as a common drink, but as if that (he?) should be one with me."
This solemn statement gives us no insight on what, if anything, CrazyMom was giving Jacob. The symbolism, if any, is lost in that scene.
I had thought the words were a "magic spell" that would grant Jacob full powers over the island as its protector. But that is not the case. It is another non-answer to the question of what is the island.
Monday, May 17, 2010
S6E15 RECAP
L: Lo! . . . was probably the reaction of half of the viewers who thought this back story episode was a stinker, when in fact it answered several daunting questions such as who were Jacob and MIB (brothers), who were Adam and Eve (CrazyMom and MIB), and who created the donkey wheel (MIB and the Roman Others).
O: Obnoxious . . . was probably the vagueness of the answer of what the island is all about. The mysterious "life force" pool which no one is to enter, but CrazyMom was the guardian of, had no context to the 815ers struggles on the island. It was a Star Wars type of answer, but without an application to the actual characters. It also does not explain where the island is located, why people want the light force, how they can get the light force, how they can harness the light force (since people can not add it to their own), and how to fight the smoke monster.
S: Story line . . . the concept of a standard mystery, or a science fiction genre, has started to stumble towards an awkward fantasy explanation for the previous five years of island stories. And this is why some viewers are growing weary and upset that the show is winding up for a major disappointment, with more weak or vague resolutions of the significant issues. It does add one twist to the relationship between Jacob and Smokey. They are not really brothers. Jacob buried his brother. Smokey was the unholy creation of MIB's dead soul and the island spiritual waters. There is no reason why Smokey could not have destroyed Jacob sooner, or why it is still attached to the island.
T: Time line . . . this episode put the island past back to the Roman era, around 250 BC. That means that the Jacob-Smokey conflict has lasted for more than 2000 years without a resolution. It also brought in no reference to "time travel" as a dynamic for Jacob or Smokey to prove their point about humanity.
O: Obnoxious . . . was probably the vagueness of the answer of what the island is all about. The mysterious "life force" pool which no one is to enter, but CrazyMom was the guardian of, had no context to the 815ers struggles on the island. It was a Star Wars type of answer, but without an application to the actual characters. It also does not explain where the island is located, why people want the light force, how they can get the light force, how they can harness the light force (since people can not add it to their own), and how to fight the smoke monster.
S: Story line . . . the concept of a standard mystery, or a science fiction genre, has started to stumble towards an awkward fantasy explanation for the previous five years of island stories. And this is why some viewers are growing weary and upset that the show is winding up for a major disappointment, with more weak or vague resolutions of the significant issues. It does add one twist to the relationship between Jacob and Smokey. They are not really brothers. Jacob buried his brother. Smokey was the unholy creation of MIB's dead soul and the island spiritual waters. There is no reason why Smokey could not have destroyed Jacob sooner, or why it is still attached to the island.
T: Time line . . . this episode put the island past back to the Roman era, around 250 BC. That means that the Jacob-Smokey conflict has lasted for more than 2000 years without a resolution. It also brought in no reference to "time travel" as a dynamic for Jacob or Smokey to prove their point about humanity.
Friday, May 14, 2010
S6E15 DHARMA LIGHT
In Season 5, Dr. Chang was at the Orchid station during its construction. As the workers were nearing the pocket of energy, there was an accident and a worker was hurt. Chang came to the sight and told them to stop digging.
When asked what they were going to do with the EM, Chang said that it would be used for time travel experiments. A worker laughed about going back into time and killing Hitler to avoid World War II.
The Orchid station was constructed above the FDW chamber. We know that early island inhabitants made the donkey wheel during MIB's human life time. We are not sure whether MIB completed that project, or that new arrivals took up the cause to harness the light energy of the island. But at some point, someone finished the FDW and turned the wheel. It should have a) moved the island location and b) transported the turner in time and space. That is what we saw happen to Ben and Locke.
Unless, it is an illusion.
We are aware that the smoke monster can take memories of individuals are recreate matter (in the form of Kate's horse, Locke's body, poisonous spiders). Is it possible that the smoke monster can also mind control (from scans of people's brains like it did to Locke and Juliet)?
I wonder if MIB's memory of "clever" people with ideas about the life energy could use it to change the past. There are a few common things that both Jacob and MIB would jointly like to correct: a) MIB killing CrazyMom; b) Jacob killing his brother and turning him into Smokey; or c) CrazyMom killing Claudia. The search for time travel may have been the quest, "the progress" of the brothers to make amends with their own Past mistakes. Once they can achieve it, their misery ends.
We have only seen the ability of the island forces at most 140 years in the past (2004 to prior to Black Rock's 1867 crash) when the main castaways were flashing between time periods on the island. And maybe that was the real problem facing Jacob: how to use the light in order to go back 2200 years to his island birth. He does not have the technology or knowledge to use the light to fuel his time travel quest. And if the light force is finite, he may be actually running out of time and resources to accomplish his goal. Further complicating the matter, the ghost of his brother, MIB, has soured on the idea because of centuries of failure to "reclaim" his human body and humanity that Jacob took from him. MIB's soul now wants Jacob to suffer as much as he has on the island. If Dharma was the last, great hope of Jacob to find his time travel machine, then the purge may have been MIB's plan to thwart it.
When asked what they were going to do with the EM, Chang said that it would be used for time travel experiments. A worker laughed about going back into time and killing Hitler to avoid World War II.
The Orchid station was constructed above the FDW chamber. We know that early island inhabitants made the donkey wheel during MIB's human life time. We are not sure whether MIB completed that project, or that new arrivals took up the cause to harness the light energy of the island. But at some point, someone finished the FDW and turned the wheel. It should have a) moved the island location and b) transported the turner in time and space. That is what we saw happen to Ben and Locke.
Unless, it is an illusion.
We are aware that the smoke monster can take memories of individuals are recreate matter (in the form of Kate's horse, Locke's body, poisonous spiders). Is it possible that the smoke monster can also mind control (from scans of people's brains like it did to Locke and Juliet)?
I wonder if MIB's memory of "clever" people with ideas about the life energy could use it to change the past. There are a few common things that both Jacob and MIB would jointly like to correct: a) MIB killing CrazyMom; b) Jacob killing his brother and turning him into Smokey; or c) CrazyMom killing Claudia. The search for time travel may have been the quest, "the progress" of the brothers to make amends with their own Past mistakes. Once they can achieve it, their misery ends.
We have only seen the ability of the island forces at most 140 years in the past (2004 to prior to Black Rock's 1867 crash) when the main castaways were flashing between time periods on the island. And maybe that was the real problem facing Jacob: how to use the light in order to go back 2200 years to his island birth. He does not have the technology or knowledge to use the light to fuel his time travel quest. And if the light force is finite, he may be actually running out of time and resources to accomplish his goal. Further complicating the matter, the ghost of his brother, MIB, has soured on the idea because of centuries of failure to "reclaim" his human body and humanity that Jacob took from him. MIB's soul now wants Jacob to suffer as much as he has on the island. If Dharma was the last, great hope of Jacob to find his time travel machine, then the purge may have been MIB's plan to thwart it.
S6E15 LIGHT POOL
There are some viewers who are miffed by the concept of a magical light pool being the center piece of the island. It resorts to some sort of extraterrestrial location.
I have always thought that the best explanation for the unexplained would be the premise that the island was in a different realm like the underworld. TPTB were outspoken in Season 1 against the concept that the island was purgatory, but it could be a purgatory type setting without the religious connotations.
Maybe part of the viewer confusion is that the initial expectations of the show was presented in a style of a shipwreck-survival-adventure story which morphed into a science fiction now fantasy story line. The creators claim that all of these key elements were contained within the pilot episode, but besides the smoke monster, this is not accurate. The idea of "Jacob" did not get mentioned until late in Season 2, or any context until after Season 3.
People had hoped Season 6 was the light at the end of the tunnel, but they were not expecting the light to be a glowing pool of Life. The circumstances show that the special property of the island is not just strange electromagnetic energy, but the substance of Life itself. As stated in earlier posts, the Life force appears to be finite matter which can be "consumed" but not replaced. When MIB's body floated into the cave, the light diminished and the dark smoke monster appeared. If that is the case, then how is the Life force delivered to human beings?
When CrazyMom said the light was "life, death and re-birth," it could mean that the island is that nexus point between realms of life and death (after life). Not quite purgatory, but the light pool could a human soul recycling station. Except, the fact is that not very many people ever found the place; that its guardian's sole purpose was to guard the light pool from everyone.
I have always thought that the best explanation for the unexplained would be the premise that the island was in a different realm like the underworld. TPTB were outspoken in Season 1 against the concept that the island was purgatory, but it could be a purgatory type setting without the religious connotations.
Maybe part of the viewer confusion is that the initial expectations of the show was presented in a style of a shipwreck-survival-adventure story which morphed into a science fiction now fantasy story line. The creators claim that all of these key elements were contained within the pilot episode, but besides the smoke monster, this is not accurate. The idea of "Jacob" did not get mentioned until late in Season 2, or any context until after Season 3.
People had hoped Season 6 was the light at the end of the tunnel, but they were not expecting the light to be a glowing pool of Life. The circumstances show that the special property of the island is not just strange electromagnetic energy, but the substance of Life itself. As stated in earlier posts, the Life force appears to be finite matter which can be "consumed" but not replaced. When MIB's body floated into the cave, the light diminished and the dark smoke monster appeared. If that is the case, then how is the Life force delivered to human beings?
When CrazyMom said the light was "life, death and re-birth," it could mean that the island is that nexus point between realms of life and death (after life). Not quite purgatory, but the light pool could a human soul recycling station. Except, the fact is that not very many people ever found the place; that its guardian's sole purpose was to guard the light pool from everyone.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
S6E15 FORMULA PART TWO
CrazyMom also noted that the life source was finite. She had each person has some in them, but others want more. And this light can go out.
After MIB was drifted into the light cave, the light did dim. And if one believes the cave is where Adam and Eve was found was the same, then the light did go out.
It does put into play the notion that the universe is not infinite but finite. Life as its own element is not replaceable. It can be depleted. Like a light, be extinguished. And maybe that is the warning that people will "cease to exist" if the EM energy, life source or the island is compromised by Smokey.
A gnawing question arises to why, if there is such grave danger of allowing the life force to escape or be compromised, did Jacob allow visitors to play with it?
Claudia's people were smart enough, according to MIB, to start digging for the substance, and theorized that using a wheel and water, they could use the energy to return to their home. How they figured that out is a mystery. These visitors were killed off before attempting the Turn.
Unless Jacob was really hands off, in total isolation, the other people brought to the island continued the work of Claudia's people. They continued to dig wells, and in one deep one (under the Orchid station) completed the FDW room. Based on the construction, it looked ancient, pre-Industrial revolution. That puts the inventors in the realm of the Greeks, Romans or Egyptians, whose advanced, ancient mechanical knowledge is just being understood by modern scientists.
So, some distant past group completed the FDW, and turned it. It had to work because Ben knew about it, how to operate it, and what the consequences of the turn was to the island and to the turner. (He originally said that turning the FDW would move the island and the turner would never be allowed to come back. We saw evidence of the island disappearing, and Hawking's station trying to re-locate it. However, Ben did return to the island.)
So the physics of the light in conjunction with the FDW were known by previous inhabitants. So why did not Smokey leave with the first or second turner? Apparently he cannot leave the island by that means. Maybe, because Smokey appears to be created from the soul of man and the life source radiated waters, it cancels itself out. MIB's memories, soul, essence is trapped in the smoke monster form, which is "worse than death."
But what is really strange is that Jacob and/or MIB allowed more people to come to the island and tinker with the EM light source. The Egyptians probably used a pool for some healing religion properties. The military may have come in order to compare it to hydrogen bombs. Dharma may have come to test its properties on animals, humans, and as a power source.
If you are supposed to protect the island (and the finite life source contained thereon), there is little reason to bring more and more destructive people to the island to mess with its equilibrium.
After MIB was drifted into the light cave, the light did dim. And if one believes the cave is where Adam and Eve was found was the same, then the light did go out.
It does put into play the notion that the universe is not infinite but finite. Life as its own element is not replaceable. It can be depleted. Like a light, be extinguished. And maybe that is the warning that people will "cease to exist" if the EM energy, life source or the island is compromised by Smokey.
A gnawing question arises to why, if there is such grave danger of allowing the life force to escape or be compromised, did Jacob allow visitors to play with it?
Claudia's people were smart enough, according to MIB, to start digging for the substance, and theorized that using a wheel and water, they could use the energy to return to their home. How they figured that out is a mystery. These visitors were killed off before attempting the Turn.
Unless Jacob was really hands off, in total isolation, the other people brought to the island continued the work of Claudia's people. They continued to dig wells, and in one deep one (under the Orchid station) completed the FDW room. Based on the construction, it looked ancient, pre-Industrial revolution. That puts the inventors in the realm of the Greeks, Romans or Egyptians, whose advanced, ancient mechanical knowledge is just being understood by modern scientists.
So, some distant past group completed the FDW, and turned it. It had to work because Ben knew about it, how to operate it, and what the consequences of the turn was to the island and to the turner. (He originally said that turning the FDW would move the island and the turner would never be allowed to come back. We saw evidence of the island disappearing, and Hawking's station trying to re-locate it. However, Ben did return to the island.)
So the physics of the light in conjunction with the FDW were known by previous inhabitants. So why did not Smokey leave with the first or second turner? Apparently he cannot leave the island by that means. Maybe, because Smokey appears to be created from the soul of man and the life source radiated waters, it cancels itself out. MIB's memories, soul, essence is trapped in the smoke monster form, which is "worse than death."
But what is really strange is that Jacob and/or MIB allowed more people to come to the island and tinker with the EM light source. The Egyptians probably used a pool for some healing religion properties. The military may have come in order to compare it to hydrogen bombs. Dharma may have come to test its properties on animals, humans, and as a power source.
If you are supposed to protect the island (and the finite life source contained thereon), there is little reason to bring more and more destructive people to the island to mess with its equilibrium.
S6E15 FORMULA
CrazyMom told Jacob that the lighted cave contained "life, death, and rebirth," that is in every living creature. This life force is a secular divinity. If one can postulate that the Big Bang created the ever expanding universe, it also created the basic building blocks for all life as we know it. Life depends on death, death depends on life; the circle of life is a closed system.
When MIB joined his mother's castaways, he found the people inventive and smart. They had ideas about how to use the EM energy to try to get home. MIB found the EM energy underground, so they dug wells and caves to find it. What was interesting in his final discussion with CrazyMom was that they were going to dig out a space in the wall, and use a wheel and water.
Now this space was not the frozen donkey wheel that Ben and Locke used to time travel. The cave which CrazyMom showed Jacob contained the green light energy and water.
I doubt if the writers thought this through as an explanation of the light, but the island could be the well spring for life, using the principles of photosynthesis as the scientific basis. Electromagnetic radiation (such as sunlight) interacts with carbon and water in plants to create chemical reactions for which fuels the plants and omits oxygen as a byproduct.
Taking this one step further, if this "light" is part of each person, it could be conceptually be considered a person's "soul." For each person's soul to be in balance with nature, a spiritual guardian would need to protect the source of the life force from imbalance. Therefore, the island guardian is like a tech operator at a nuclear generator - - - making sure that the life reactor is safely in balance with the universe. What is certain is that this pocket of energy and life force is probably not in the same dimension as Earth. It is more probable that the island is like a cell nucleus, transmitting the vital information the cell (universe). Messing with the nucleus could lead to problems, such as cell division (multiverses), clones, or the death of the universe itself.
After MIB's death, it is apparent that Jacob and/or Smokey continued to bring the intelligent individuals to the island in order to harness the power of the life force energy: Romans, Greeks, Egyptians, the military in the 1950s who developed the hydrogen bomb, to Dharma which was a diverse scientific research community. Apparently, each of these great intellectual civilizations failed to fathom or harness the power of the life force, as MIB refrained that they all fail in the end. Jacob called it progress to the end. So maybe Jacob and Smokey were on the same page for thousands of years, using human intellect to find a way to harness the power of the life force, to change their untenable lives.
When MIB joined his mother's castaways, he found the people inventive and smart. They had ideas about how to use the EM energy to try to get home. MIB found the EM energy underground, so they dug wells and caves to find it. What was interesting in his final discussion with CrazyMom was that they were going to dig out a space in the wall, and use a wheel and water.
Now this space was not the frozen donkey wheel that Ben and Locke used to time travel. The cave which CrazyMom showed Jacob contained the green light energy and water.
I doubt if the writers thought this through as an explanation of the light, but the island could be the well spring for life, using the principles of photosynthesis as the scientific basis. Electromagnetic radiation (such as sunlight) interacts with carbon and water in plants to create chemical reactions for which fuels the plants and omits oxygen as a byproduct.
Taking this one step further, if this "light" is part of each person, it could be conceptually be considered a person's "soul." For each person's soul to be in balance with nature, a spiritual guardian would need to protect the source of the life force from imbalance. Therefore, the island guardian is like a tech operator at a nuclear generator - - - making sure that the life reactor is safely in balance with the universe. What is certain is that this pocket of energy and life force is probably not in the same dimension as Earth. It is more probable that the island is like a cell nucleus, transmitting the vital information the cell (universe). Messing with the nucleus could lead to problems, such as cell division (multiverses), clones, or the death of the universe itself.
After MIB's death, it is apparent that Jacob and/or Smokey continued to bring the intelligent individuals to the island in order to harness the power of the life force energy: Romans, Greeks, Egyptians, the military in the 1950s who developed the hydrogen bomb, to Dharma which was a diverse scientific research community. Apparently, each of these great intellectual civilizations failed to fathom or harness the power of the life force, as MIB refrained that they all fail in the end. Jacob called it progress to the end. So maybe Jacob and Smokey were on the same page for thousands of years, using human intellect to find a way to harness the power of the life force, to change their untenable lives.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
S6E15 ADAM AND EVE
We received an answer to a mystery which nobody could have guessed: "Adam and Eve" were MIB and CrazyMom.
CrazyMom was the island's enlightened guardian of the "life force" pool, who came across a shipwrecked pregnant Roman woman, Claudia. Claudia gives birth to Jacob, then unexpectedly, gives birth to a second unnamed son, MIB. CrazyMom immediately kills Claudia to take her two sons as her own.
CrazyMom keeps Jacob and MIB isolated and under her control. She claims to have made it so neither of them could kill each other. The boys have no concept of "death." They are unaware that anything exists on or off the island until they find other hunters in the jungle. When "people," a derogatory term she uses for other shipwrecked people on the island, she tells the boys that people are bad. But MIB was drawn to the people by seeing a vision of his late mother, who came to him in a strange spotlight. This was approximately 13 years after his mother's death. This one event leads MIB to rebel against CrazyMom and Jacob, to join forces with the other people as a way of finding a way home.
Now, who or what could project an apparition of a dead woman on the island? We are aware that the Smoke Monster is capable of changing forms and using the memories of individuals to create ghost interactions with the characters. It is also possible that CrazyMom also have the magical ability to project visions into individual's minds. She was the only one to "see" and interact with Claudia.
I don't know if the Smoke Monster existed before MIB body's was cast down the water into the life force pool. The boys were on the island for 13 years without any apparent encounter with anything strange. Jacob appeared surprised to see the smoke monster leave the cave for the first time.
So, the circumstances would lead one to believe that CrazyMom may have projected Claudia's ghost onto MIB. It could be part of her own End Game: how to create a successor guardian for the island life force. It made Jacob use his free will and "choose" to remain with her. Another 17 years pass until CrazyMom finds out of MIB's plan to manipulate the island energy to leave.
It is extremely interesting to note that MIB is in well chambers and in direct contact with the life force energy, but does not change into a smoke monster. When CrazyMom visits, he smashes MIB against the stone walls, knocking (or possibly) killing him. MIB "awakes" to find his village destroyed and his people dead. He seeks revenge.
But CrazyMom has planned ahead and convinced Jacob to take the role of island guardian. And through an incantation, Jacob receives full knowledge of the island and its properties. The literal torch of light was passed to him at that moment. Therefore, CrazyMom's duties to the island had ended and she could allow herself to die at the hands of MIB. In the end, she thanks him for killing her. Besides that pyschological scar, Jacob delivers a beat down to MIB. As part of the avenging CrazyMom's death, Jacob knocks out (or possibly) kills him, and lets his body drift into the life force cave. The place where CrazyMom described as giving life, death, rebirth. But she warned them never to enter it. It would be worse than death. And apparently, that is when the smoke monster was born.
We now know that in 1867, Jacob and MIB, at their beach scene before the Black Rock shipwreck, were guardian and smoke monster. For approximately 2072 years, the two beings had co-existed in a form of a truce. Jacob continued to bring people to the island, and MIB continued to eliminate them either directly or through manipulation to bring out their evil. It took more than 2000 years for MIB to make its first attempt to "kill" Jacob with Richard. Why the sudden change? Who were the people just before the Black Rock? Was there an event that caused MIB-Smokey to want to kill Jacob to leave the island? Or was this the point when Jacob got fed up with guarding the secrets of the island, and looked to find a successor like his CrazyMom did.
This back story tells us that the concept of time stands still on the island. That the only rules are those made by the person in charge. CrazyMom set the island rules. Then Jacob set the island rules. Now, Jacob's successor sets the island rules.
If there is a need of consistency in the story, the passing of the guardianship must be consistent. CrazyMom's magic and Jacob's acceptance of his role passed semi-god, supernatural powers on him to be the island guardian. Only then, could CrazyMom take human form and die by a knife blade. Likewise, Jacob died by a knife blade by Ben - - - which would logically mean that he already chose a successor and that person agreed to be the island guardian BEFORE Jacob was killed.
Much speculation can be had on the ceremony of succession. In Jacob's case, it had to do with drinking wine offered from the past guardian. The wine bottle was broken by MIB. So the act of drinking the wine is not a special precondition. Has there been any event that would lead us to believe Jacob passed on his powers to another being to run the island?
The only communion we saw Jacob have was in 1867 with Richard. There was no enchanted words given to Richard, just the touch of immortality. But again, Richard was "awakened" after Jacob's death outside the statue when Flocke appeared to him not as dead Locke, but as "Him." That had to be a reference to the MIB. Richard could be the successor, if not for the reason that he has lived on the island the longest, and did Jacob's bidding until very recently.
So the solution to the Adam and Eve discovery has created numerous answers to the dynamics of the island mythology. But one real disturbing problem is with Jack's discovery of the bodies in the caves. He was led to the caves by MIB as ghost Christian. The caves were the source of water (and this may be the same life force cave gone dormant.) But Jack said the bodies were a man and a woman, who died about 50 years ago. Except, Jack's medical conclusion was off by approximately 2000 years. That is a significant error.
CrazyMom was the island's enlightened guardian of the "life force" pool, who came across a shipwrecked pregnant Roman woman, Claudia. Claudia gives birth to Jacob, then unexpectedly, gives birth to a second unnamed son, MIB. CrazyMom immediately kills Claudia to take her two sons as her own.
CrazyMom keeps Jacob and MIB isolated and under her control. She claims to have made it so neither of them could kill each other. The boys have no concept of "death." They are unaware that anything exists on or off the island until they find other hunters in the jungle. When "people," a derogatory term she uses for other shipwrecked people on the island, she tells the boys that people are bad. But MIB was drawn to the people by seeing a vision of his late mother, who came to him in a strange spotlight. This was approximately 13 years after his mother's death. This one event leads MIB to rebel against CrazyMom and Jacob, to join forces with the other people as a way of finding a way home.
Now, who or what could project an apparition of a dead woman on the island? We are aware that the Smoke Monster is capable of changing forms and using the memories of individuals to create ghost interactions with the characters. It is also possible that CrazyMom also have the magical ability to project visions into individual's minds. She was the only one to "see" and interact with Claudia.
I don't know if the Smoke Monster existed before MIB body's was cast down the water into the life force pool. The boys were on the island for 13 years without any apparent encounter with anything strange. Jacob appeared surprised to see the smoke monster leave the cave for the first time.
So, the circumstances would lead one to believe that CrazyMom may have projected Claudia's ghost onto MIB. It could be part of her own End Game: how to create a successor guardian for the island life force. It made Jacob use his free will and "choose" to remain with her. Another 17 years pass until CrazyMom finds out of MIB's plan to manipulate the island energy to leave.
It is extremely interesting to note that MIB is in well chambers and in direct contact with the life force energy, but does not change into a smoke monster. When CrazyMom visits, he smashes MIB against the stone walls, knocking (or possibly) killing him. MIB "awakes" to find his village destroyed and his people dead. He seeks revenge.
But CrazyMom has planned ahead and convinced Jacob to take the role of island guardian. And through an incantation, Jacob receives full knowledge of the island and its properties. The literal torch of light was passed to him at that moment. Therefore, CrazyMom's duties to the island had ended and she could allow herself to die at the hands of MIB. In the end, she thanks him for killing her. Besides that pyschological scar, Jacob delivers a beat down to MIB. As part of the avenging CrazyMom's death, Jacob knocks out (or possibly) kills him, and lets his body drift into the life force cave. The place where CrazyMom described as giving life, death, rebirth. But she warned them never to enter it. It would be worse than death. And apparently, that is when the smoke monster was born.
We now know that in 1867, Jacob and MIB, at their beach scene before the Black Rock shipwreck, were guardian and smoke monster. For approximately 2072 years, the two beings had co-existed in a form of a truce. Jacob continued to bring people to the island, and MIB continued to eliminate them either directly or through manipulation to bring out their evil. It took more than 2000 years for MIB to make its first attempt to "kill" Jacob with Richard. Why the sudden change? Who were the people just before the Black Rock? Was there an event that caused MIB-Smokey to want to kill Jacob to leave the island? Or was this the point when Jacob got fed up with guarding the secrets of the island, and looked to find a successor like his CrazyMom did.
This back story tells us that the concept of time stands still on the island. That the only rules are those made by the person in charge. CrazyMom set the island rules. Then Jacob set the island rules. Now, Jacob's successor sets the island rules.
If there is a need of consistency in the story, the passing of the guardianship must be consistent. CrazyMom's magic and Jacob's acceptance of his role passed semi-god, supernatural powers on him to be the island guardian. Only then, could CrazyMom take human form and die by a knife blade. Likewise, Jacob died by a knife blade by Ben - - - which would logically mean that he already chose a successor and that person agreed to be the island guardian BEFORE Jacob was killed.
Much speculation can be had on the ceremony of succession. In Jacob's case, it had to do with drinking wine offered from the past guardian. The wine bottle was broken by MIB. So the act of drinking the wine is not a special precondition. Has there been any event that would lead us to believe Jacob passed on his powers to another being to run the island?
The only communion we saw Jacob have was in 1867 with Richard. There was no enchanted words given to Richard, just the touch of immortality. But again, Richard was "awakened" after Jacob's death outside the statue when Flocke appeared to him not as dead Locke, but as "Him." That had to be a reference to the MIB. Richard could be the successor, if not for the reason that he has lived on the island the longest, and did Jacob's bidding until very recently.
So the solution to the Adam and Eve discovery has created numerous answers to the dynamics of the island mythology. But one real disturbing problem is with Jack's discovery of the bodies in the caves. He was led to the caves by MIB as ghost Christian. The caves were the source of water (and this may be the same life force cave gone dormant.) But Jack said the bodies were a man and a woman, who died about 50 years ago. Except, Jack's medical conclusion was off by approximately 2000 years. That is a significant error.
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