Interesting e-mails

[Jack]

[Jack]

I posted bits of these theories on the forums, but I figured I'd email them in too in their entire, freakishly long glory.

Jacob is life. Esau (EE-saw) is death. And Smokey is like the inbetween. A force run by its own objective and set of rules to judge the living and devour the sinners based on the morality scale of the leader at hand. A representation of the goddess Ammit, who did pretty much just that.
Smokey can become dead people through their bodies. Meaning, it needs their body in order to walk around and freak people out.
Esau can become dead people too. And why not if Jacob can heal and bring about life with just his touch (and I believe also can appear as the living if he so desires, but I'll get to that...)? But Esau doesn't need a body. He needs the soul. And he needs it before Smokey can get to it.

Esau wants to kill Jacob, but for whatever reason, can't. Through trial and error he works towards finding a loophole. He needs to find someone to kill Jacob for him. Someone that not only does he have to convince...but has to trick into a contractual obligation to him. Esau has to be leader of the Others.

And so his manipulation starts.

Where and when this plan exactly starts is still up for debate, but at some point Locke appears as the perfect candidate.
Locke can walk and thinks he is special. So do the Others...they want him as their new leader. Ben doesn't like this so he tries to humiliate Locke by setting up Locke having to kill his father. Locke finds a way around this and asks to see Jacob. Ben takes Locke to the cabin, believing that's where Jacob should be, but it isn't him there, it's Esau. Esau takes advantage of this situation and asks Locke cryptically for help. This leads Locke to further believe he is special. Which leads Ben to further believe maybe he, himself, isn't. Ben tries to kill Locke for the first time. Jacob, appearing as Walt (a LIVING, not to mention special, person), saves him in an attempt to stop Esau's plans for a dead Locke.

Intermission for a theory within a theory:
Jacob knows in order to bring about "progress" he must die. And he knows Esau has found his loophole. So in order to work around this, Jacob has started setting the pieces for his plan to get Esau after he, Jacob, has been killed. This is when he visited little Kate and Sawyer. Jacob has to touch Sayid and Hurley too, but only after they've been to the Island...which is why he saves Locke's life in the pit o' dead Dharma dudes, but then also tells Locke to go to the cabin...knowing this will lead to Locke's dying at the appropriate time after the O6 have left so he can talk to the remaining two.

End of of intermission.

Locke is told to move the Island, but Ben takes it upon himself to do this instead. But this is all according to Esau's plan. With Ben completely out of the way, Locke is officially leader of the Others, but he has to leave the Island now too to stop the flashes. He does so...and so goes to die.
Ben...for a reason I'm not sure of yet...is compelled to bring Locke back to the Island. Esau's expecting it, and snatches Locke's soul (and his memories) in time. This completes him enough to give him back a corporeal form.

Another intermission:
At some point Jacob tricked Esau out of a body like he had, and locked what was left of him in that cabin surrounded by a cage of ash. Maybe what he took from Esau is what he gave to Richard in order to stop his aging....

End of intermission...

Now here's where Esau's plan got a little more complicated. Now appearing as Locke, Esau waited on Ben to get to the main Island, away from those pesky Ajira folks, but things got a little off track when Sun hit Ben with an oar. But it worked out...Ben shot Caesar and they both got away. Esau pushed Ben to go to the Temple to face Smokey. His whole plan depended on it...and it worked. Smokey had accepted Locke as the new leader of the Others, and thinks that this new Locke is the same one as the original recipe. And better yet, binded Ben to Locke by telling him that Ben was never ever to go against anything Locke said or else be destroyed.

Destroyed...I take that to mean he'd be more than dead. His whole soul would be eaten for Smokey breakfast and Ben would be deprived of any life beyond the grave in every sense of the word. Dang.
And remember when I mentioned way back at the beginning how Smokey's morality was based on the current leader? Locke said last season he wasn't running a democracy. He expected to be listened to and followed obediently. Smokey's just doing the will of the boss to the fullest extent.

Esau avoided the Smokey interview...might as well not chance Smokey realizing who he really is. Esau meets back up with his new people and he doesn't hesitate for a second to go and see Jacob. He learns of Ben's binding and completely convinces Ben to kill Jacob. And Jacob, knowing he must die, doesn't bother to convince Ben otherwise. Jacob dies.

So there you have it. Esau's whole convoluted plan to kill Jacob. The loophole lying in the fact that he had to become leader of the Others in order to meet with Jacob in the first place after getting out of that d**n cabin.

But Jacob's not done yet. He planned ahead. And just like Esau used Locke to walk about after losing his body...Jacob will do the same. But he won't have to use anyone dead. Just someone special. My guess: Walt. Jacob's favorite guy to be. And he'll need Desmond's help to get Walt back to the Island for his use.

And what'll happen to Ben? Upon learning that he's been duped, he won't be too happy. But if he wants to live...he'll have to continue doing Esau's bidding. In the very end, he'll find a chance to help bring about Esau's destruction, and do so...and then fall vicitim to Smokey in a sacrificing death ala Charlie (and possibly Juliet). How touching.



That about wraps it up. My thoughts on what's happened and what's to come so far. Love to hear what you think!
Sorry it was so long!

Love the Podcast and good luck with Nudia!
Laurie

[jacksloststepkid]

Lots of good stuff here.

The one thing I disagree with is that it was stated there can only be one leader on the island at once. That only the leader can go into see Jacob. My take on this is that Ben is that person. The loophole is that the chosen leader has to be the one to kill Jacob, perhaps in the foot, where Jacob can immediately be burned in the special fire pit, sealing the deal. To me the whole set up seems to depend on getting Ben to go into Jacob's room and kill him, even with the help of Richard.

This seems to be missing from the theory.

JLSK

[Jack]

Jay and Jack,

I re-watched the incident and had a theory I wanted to share.

In Melville's Moby richard there is a character referred to as the weaver. From what I remember the weaver was a creator-like figure who's weaving technique was described in metaphors as to how the sky, sea and treelines etc. are inter-connected and at the same time he is weaving the destiny of himself and the crew which ultimately results in their death.

Considering how artistic the producers are they referenced this character when we see Jacob weaving and it has significance both literally and metaphorically. It is possible that Jacob may be weaving the history of the island literally and he also weaves/inter-connects the people he touches and brings/invites to the island. Jacob says to Locke2 "[l]ike it, I drew it myself it takes a very long time when your making the thread but I suppose that the point." That explains why Locke2 is looking at looking at Jacob's tapestries when he enters the statute because perhaps it was written that Locke2 would be there at that moment. When Jacob tells Ben, "you have a choice", it means things: 1) Jacob was waiting for this encounter and 2) maybe people are the "variable" because they have "free will" and choice, in which case Jacob would not know what Ben would do, only that he'd be there.

Good vs. Evil theme -it is not that simple. It is more a zen, ying, yang balance and whose to say that Black isn't good and Jacob isn't evil. However, it is also dependent on ones view of morality. For example, from an environmmental perspective there is the proposition that "the population problem requires a fundamental extension of morality." Thus there is a balance in the interest of keeping the environment safe while also advancing society. Now add to that technology, greed, poverty, hunger, etc.. leading to things like armies for defense and wars.

Black says Jacob brought the Black Rockers to the island (and others). Black states "[t]hey come fight, destroy, corrupt...always ends the same." Black would rather see the island as a Nirvana, unihabited and he choses Locke's body because Locke was at one with the island. Would Black be wrong to want to kill Jacob in an effort to perserve the island? After the island was inhabited there was development, weapons, wars, electomagnetivity and destruction. Jacob responds to Black, "but it only ends once- anything that happens before that is just progress." Jacob is a proponent of progress, and his interest is to advance the island and maybe by extension society.

That's my theory. Thanks

Will

[spinaltumor]

Definitely with Will on the yin-yang thing.

[Jack]

Follow up message
Hi guys To keep things short and sweet, I love the podcast. It complements watching LOST perfectly, and I can’t imagine watching the show without having the podcast alongside.

I thought of something crucial that I think you guys should bring up in the podcast. Of course, Season Six is the last season. In the final 17 episodes, everyone will be expecting all of their questions about the show and about the island to be answered. As likely as not, one or two questions will not be answered, but what are we, the fans, hoping to find out and understand as the show winds down? As for some examples:



-- What is with Walt’s abilities? They never explained how/why he possesses them, nor how they really relate to the island.

-- Why is Aaron so special that he needed to be saved and not given up for adoption?

-- Who are/were Adam and Eve in the cave?

-- How were the polar bears (and the shark with the Dharma logo) being used by the D.I., that is, to what end were these “experiments” being conducted?

-- Why is Desmond special, being that is the “man not affected by time”?

-- Ben mentioned the “magic box” when Locke’s father showed up on the island. Where is it? Are they going to show it or explain it in some way?



Of course, there are many more questions, but I would find it very interesting if you guys (and other listeners) could put together a checklist, and as we watch Season 6, we check off the questions that have been answered. I don’t want to let Damon and Carlton get away with toooo much by not answering an unfair amount of questions. Naturally, we may not be satisfied with all the answers, but hey...on LOST, they don’t give us everything, right?

Keep up the good work. You guys totally rock!!!

Brian in Tokyo

[monsterjester]

Good stuff. Clearly the magical stuff on the island has much to do with death, i.e. Smokie, Jacob, "Esau," etc. I believe the "magic box" can summon a physical copy of a dead person with all their memories intact up to the time of their death, and that's where Locke's father came from. I believe "Unlocke" came out of the box and "Esau" somehow was able to inhabit him. It's probably in the temple. Who, how, and when it can be used, or if it merely responds to the needs of someone on the island, I dunno. I'm probably way off about all this, but I could never figure about Locke's father. Sure, it's possible that Ben and his people found Locke's dad after his car crash, kept him drugged, and whisked him away to the island to mess with Locke just because they knew Locke's paralysis had been healed and he was therefore "special." But I don't buy that...

[spinaltumor]

I've always just thought the box thing was simply a metaphor. And there is no literal magic box.

[monsterjester]

Ben said that--that's what they want you to think!

[Jack]

As you know, backgammon was introduced in the first season when Locke taught Walt how to play.

Many theories have arisen from this, black and white, good and evil, game of strategy, yadduh, yadduh.


Lock gives his little speech about how it's the oldest game in the world, found in the ruins of Mesopotamia, 5,000 years old, older than Jesus Christ, two players, two sides, one light, one dark. Locke finishes his little speech by asking Walt if he wants to know a secret.

The video is here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYo65cMu8IU

So far everything I've read, theories and so forth, have never taken in to consideration the rules of the game. And since introducing Jacob and his nemesis, the rules of the game have suddenly become interesting.

Let's assume they are playing a big game of metaphysics. On one hand you have Jacob, humanist and someone not interested in original sin and all its complications, and the nemesis, who thinks humanity is inherently bad and will cause violence and havoc no matter what the circumstances.

I think any intelligent human can argue a case for both sides. These guys are proving it. Jacob says it only ends once, everything that happens until then is progress. He's observing mankind's metaphysical growth. The growth arcs of the main characters on the island range from not so much to 180 degrees.

Now, Backgammon. Two players, black and white, moving rounded disks around a slotted board according to the dice roles they make. The goal is to move all your disks to your opponent's side. In doing so certain vulnerabilities occur. Should you have only a single disk on a slot, it is vulnerable and can be bumped off. However if you have more than one disk on a slot, that slot is impenetrable and can act as a wall. Your opponents disks cannot under any circumstances occupy that slot. They can jump over it, but never on it. One of the keys to winning the game is to build up enough pieces in successive slots to keep your opponent from moving at all. You wall them in for as long as you can (trap them in a cabin for instance). If your wall becomes impenetrable, they needn't even roll the dice. Their game stops until there is a hole in your defenses and only then can they begin to move ahead in their game.

My point is this, the key to winning the game is always be shoring up vulnerable areas to keep your opponent at bay. Like chess, it's five defensive moves ahead. If you can maintain that, you always win. Unlike chess, backgammon is a much less complicated game. It's much more basic/primitive.

So, in one position you have Jacob, traveling around in time, getting his players ready and shoring up his defenses.

His nemesis has taken the mantle of undermining these defenses. This theory is predicated on the idea that the nemesis is also the smoke monster.

Smokey is putting his own players together. He's mounting a defense. He's eliminating the problem players and manipulating the sway-able players.

Not much has been made about Ben, as a child, encountering his dead mother (Smokey) and in doing so being led to meet Richard. Richard in turn pegs Ben to be the Other's future leader. Ben met his dead mother, met Richard, was shot by Sayid and possibly given new life by Jacob. None of that would have happened had mommy not appeared to him.

Locke's mother was mowed down (by the nemesis perhaps?). He was born parentless. He grew up in a foster home. While there Richard visited and tested him. He failed. However, Locke was the one, having time traveled, who convinced Richard to visit him in the first place. Bizarro-Locke then convinced Richard to convince living Locke to leave the island even if it meant him dying. The nemesis is now manipulating Locke, Ben and Richard. Richard acknowledges this manipulation when he talks to Jack and admits he never thought there was anything special about Locke.

Defensive pieces being moved around. Fortifying positions. One-upmanship at every turn. One side is shoring up the board, the other side is scheming until such time there is a loophole in his defenses.

The nemesis through a lifetime of scheming has made himself the pseudo-leader and convinced Ben, the still acting leader, to kill Jacob.

However, having anticipated his opponent's moves, Jacob's been gathering his own resistance together to out-loophole his nemesis.

His major players? Jack, Kate, Sayid and Hurley (the ones on the list). His island reps? Christian Shepherd and possibly Claire. Off the island he has Charles Widmore, Eloise Hawking and The Priest. His ace in the hole, maybe, just maybe, Ben. If there was ever anyone capable of being a double agent it's Bugeyes. The fact that Jacob leaned into Ben as Ben was gutting him, might indicate the drama that went down in the shadow of the statue was staged.

Lost has always had a redemptive theme. The game being played is the ultimate redemptive theme. Can in the span of a lifetime on the island, Jacob prove mankind's inherent good?

[Jack]

I had an epiphany while listening to your latest podcast
You guys were talking about John Locke for a while, and were saying how he always thought he was special. This rung a bell in my mind, when I realized that Desmond was also called special...


So here's my theory (as posted on the forum). It's long, but I think it's worth it:






I think this is THE theory, so stick with me here! I think the 6th and final season of LOST is going to bring some major character development in Desmond. In fact, I think that Desmond is the destined leader of the island. And I've got some proof to back it up. I find it interesting that nobody has really discussed this issue actually, seeing that Locke is in fact dead, does that not mean that the Others made a mistake and that the leader is someone else, still out there? Let's start by looking at John Locke's very... controversial... character. The ultimate let-down, as it seems. In 1954 Richard met John Locke for the first time. Locke impressed Richard with his knowledge, and told him he was about to be born. Richard, BASED on Locke seeming to be quite special by coming back in time, went to see Locke at birth. What did he see? An emergency room, in which it would seem unlikely the baby would survive. And yet he did. Richard was more convinced Locke was "the one". Several years later Richard went and visited John Locke again. Now, I know I haven't even mentioned Desmond so far, but this part is very important to my theory. Richard brings Locke several items, and asks him which one belongs to him. Let me say that again: Which one belongs to him. How is Locke expected to know this? What is Richard looking for in the supposed leader? In the second half of my theory you'll see Continuing with Locke a bit longer here, we see Richard continues to stick on Locke's path, hoping for something to show that he's special. Locke goes on his pity-trip as he meets his father, loses his kidney, loses his girlfriend, and gets pushed out a 10 (I think) floor window. He is confined to a wheelchair and is.. frankly.. pathetic. He lands on the island and is healed (electromagnetic properties or maybe Jacob - or maybe even Esau??), and feels that he must be special. He starts to improve, but then falls back onto a bad path with his Island fireworks tour. Richard is absolutely convinced he IS special, though, and helps him kill his father. Note that Locke wasn't even able to complete this task himself. And in the end, it seems, Locke failed. The saddest life story ever, I still think he will get some redemption, but he IS dead. He can't be leader now, can he? So... Desmond. Special... it's a word that we hear associated with the leader of the island a lot, and with the others. This person is 'special'. That person is special'. And Desmond? Faraday thinks he's special, doesn't he? I believe that Desmond is the first person to be called special from someone who isn't an other (or from himself). Faraday seems to think Desmond is unique in how time affects him. Somehow, Desmond is able to receive a memory from Faraday in the 'present', when Faraday told it to him in the 'past'. Somehow, Desmond sees Flashes into the future of Charlie. Somehow, Desmond, or at least his consciousness, travels back in time after the swan explosion, and he retains his memory from the present, and he even talks to someone about it. Now going back to Ricardo's "leader experiment", what WAS Richard trying to see in Locke? How would he expect Locke to know what item was his? Because, if he is the leader, he has the uniqueness of being unhinged from time somehow. Time should affect him differently. He should remember something that hasn't happened to him yet. Desmond. Desmond would have passed this test. Desmond is affected differently by time and space. He could have known which item belonged to him. "Only fools are enslaved by time and space" - Room 23. The leader can't be a fool. The leader is Desmond. Eloise: "The island isn't done with you, Desmond". What does Eloise know that we don't? She knows what Faraday knows. And if she knows that, she probably knows that Faraday found that Desmond was affected differently by time. And here's the kicker - the key line: "if you don't do those things, Desmond David Hume, every single one of us is dead." (Flashes Before your Eyes). Also, think about Widmore for a moment. Widmore hated Desmond. Got him marooned on the island. And yet at times he seemed more kind to him, telling Desmond Penny's number and talking with Desmond in Season 5. Knowing now that Widmore was once married to Hawking and that they both seemed to work together to get Faraday to the island, it wouldn't be unlikely that Widmore also knew that Desmond was different - that Desmond would one day be the leader of the island. Finally, my last points. Desmond's life. Locke led a life of sadness and pity. The ultimate redemption story, but failed. Desmond also has this life of seeking redemption and of sadness and pity. Desmond wanted more than anything to be with Penny. He mucked that up and was called a coward. He went on a boat race around the world just to prove that he wasn't and get Penny back. He was marooned on the island. Pushed a button for 3 years to save the world. Saved the world from (supposed) destruction by using the fail safe key when Locke didn't push the button. And finally he got off the island and found Penny and had a child. But then he got back into the mix, with a sudden memory of Faraday telling him to find Faraday's mother. Then he was shot, survived, and his wife had nearly been killed. Finally, the one major flaw that we saw in Locke is not present in Desmond. Desmond does not think he is special. Desmond does not want power, and is not nearly as self-centered. Desmond is the destined leader of the island, and Desmond will be back on the island in February. Who knows? Maybe the Season 6 premiere will open with him opening his eye on the island?

[Jack]

Hey Guys,

I keep thinking about all the baby issues and what they might mean. The Others kidnap all the children. Widmore wanted Danielle and Alex dead. He likely didn't even know that Alex had already been born. It's unclear whether or not Ethan was supposed to be so focused on Claire and unborn Aaron. Tom seemed angry that he was so sidetracked with that, instead of making a list. Ben was focusing on infertility issues, much to Richard's aggravation. Locke was given a test by Richard as a child. Richard told him that they have a very selective process for choosing their leaders that starts from a very young age. We saw Jacob touch most every character in the flashbacks of 'The Incident'. In the Sun & Jin part, he appears right after a wedding guest asks when they are going to start a family. They reply, "Maybe on the honeymoon." Immediately after that Jacob comes and touches Jin on the shoulder. We know Jin was found to be sterile. Also Darlton kept hinting at reincarnation in their podcasts and on the show with anagrams.

So what am I getting at?

I think that this Nemesis guy was dead or at least non-corporeal at this time. I think after a certain point he lost his bodily form, likely becoming Smokey, or at least associated with it. Richard would at least know a little about what dangers they would all face in light of his new form. Jacob caused the infertility issues after realizing that there was a danger that Nemesis would find a way to be reincarnated into an unborn child. It seems likely he did something similar to Jin. This may have been a more recent strategy, like after 1977 or it may have gone back centuries, but only for the Others. If that's the case, Richard was likely the only one to know that it only affected the Others and not the new arrivals to the island. Juliet fully expected that Sun would die. Since Tom was so frustrated with Ethan's focus on Claire instead of the list, it is likely that it was simply his own issues at play. We know from the mobisodes that Ethan's own wife died in childbirth, and he himself had shared Juliet's agony of being unable to save so many women from death. They may have been kidnapping the children to watch for signs of Nemesis, or they may simply have been trying to save them from the trauma which always accompanied people's arrival on the island. They come. They fight. They destroy. They corrupt. Widmore may have either been privy to the danger of Nemesis reincarnating, or Jacob may really have sent him to kill Alex and was just under orders not to share this with the rest of the Others. So when Ben questioned if the great Jacob had really ordered this baby's death, he took one for Jacob by keeping his mouth shut. It's hard to follow a man that kills babies. It seems that the majority of the Others were unaware of this danger given their reactions to Fake-Locke and how easily Ben was manipulated. It was a common tactic in the Bible to kill all the newborn children just to prevent an unwanted new leader from rising to power. Richard's frustration with Ben's attention to the infertility issues was because undoing that problem would give Nemesis the very opportunity they were trying to prevent. The Dalai Lama test that Richard administered to young Locke may have been to check for signs of Nemesis. When he chose the knife, it was too dangerous to accept Locke.

As to why Jacob didn't just explain to the Others about the danger of Nemesis and reincarnation, I think the answer lies in the opening scene on the beach.

BLOND MAN: I take it you're here 'cause of the ship.
GRAY-HAIRED MAN: I am. How did they find the Island?
BLOND MAN: You'll have to ask 'em when they get here.
GRAY-HAIRED MAN: I don't have to ask. You brought them here. Still trying to prove me wrong, aren't you?
BLOND MAN: You are wrong.
GRAY-HAIRED MAN: Am I? They come. They fight. They destroy. They corrupt. It always ends the same.
BLOND MAN: It only ends once. Anything that happens before that is just progress.
[The gray-haired man stares at his compatriot.]
GRAY-HAIRED MAN: Do you have any idea how badly I wanna kill you?
BLOND MAN: Yes.
GRAY-HAIRED MAN: One of these days, sooner or later... I'm going to find a loophole, my friend.

I think they are testing humanity much like God and Lucifer tested Job. I think Jacob thinks that people are good and Nemesis thinks they are bad. If the people had all the facts, knew the stakes, then the test would be invalid. This also fits in with the series wide theme of our characters never telling each other anything.



StefanyMac

[Jack]

Follow up message
Hey Jay & Jack, This is Jon from NC, and i got something that may interest you two.

Okay so after the events of the last season, with all the time travel & the Jacob/Esau dynamic, some fans have started to question whether or not the writers have had this thing mapped out from the get go, or if they just write it as they go along. Since the Season Finale i have been re-watching the entire series with a few friends of mine to catch them up for next season. Now while doing this i saw a couple things that instantly clicked in my head and confirmed (for me anyway) that the writers have had the end of Season 5 planned out since Episode 5 of season 1. Hear me out..

In Episode 5, "White Rabbit" which was a Jack episode, Jack begins to constantly see his father reappear time after time with the knowing that he is actually dead. He sees him in the ocean, in the jungle, and all the while he becomes obsessive and chases after him to the point where he runs himself off a nearby cliff. Now if it wasn't for Locke, Jack would of ultimately fell and died without anyone ever knowing what had happened. Now flashforward to "The Incident" where we see Esau, Jacob's arch nemesis, take the form of Locke so that he can finally kill the man he's wanted to kill for centuries. Could it be that Esau was using the form of Christian Shephard to run Jack off a cliff so that he could use JACK! as his loophole. Think about it.. If Jack would have fell off that cliff and died without Locke being around, Esau could have very easily taken his body, marched right back up to the beach camp and no one would have ever known. And when the time was right, he would use Jack to kill Jacob just as he eventually does with Locke via Ben's robotic stabbing motions. Obviously this wasn't the case as Jack was rescued by Locke mere seconds before his fall..

HOWEVER! this was not the last time Esau tried to use someone before he settled with Locke

In the Season 2 episode, "Dave" Hurley is haunted by an ex-imaginary friend that he had aquired whilst living in Santa Rosa.
Dave Eventually convinces Hurley that he's in a coma and that the island wasn't even real and that all the friends he had made since crashing were just variations of his self-conscious. Hurley is deeply disturbed by this and ultimately follows Dave to the edge of yet ANOTHER cliff. Dave tells Hurley that the only way he can wake up is if he plunges himself off into the rocky ocean below. Hurley is hesitant as he watches Dave fall backward into the water, laughing all the way to the bottom. I'm convinced that Esau used the form of Dave because he knew that Hurley would have probably jumped if it wasn't for Libby the Ambiguous Blonde. If she were not around, Esau could have morphed into Hurley and he could've walked right back up to the beach and went on living with the Losties as he patiently waited for his moment to strike. Now I strongly believe that in season 4 when Hurley first saw The Cabin (which i assume now was Esau's Cabin and Not Jacob's Cabin) Esau had tried to get Hurley to come inside which could have led to Esau taking on his form. This also could have worked because he could've caught up with Sawyer and co. and no one would have ever suspected that anything had happened. But once again, Locke comes trampling out of the jungle and finds Hurley laying on the ground.

Now let's move onto the beginning of Season 3 as the much loved Mr. Eko is kidnapped by a polar bear after the hatch implosion. He is taken to a dark cave where he eventually would have bled out, but alas Locke is visited by Boone (which may or may not have been Jacob) and he comes to Mr. Eko's rescue with his trusty Hairsray Flamethrower. If he hadn't of come, Eko would have died and Esau would have used him as his loophole. However Esau was not done with Mr. Eko and it seemed he really wanted him as a host. Therefore he used the form of Eko's late brother Yemi as an incintive. In season 2 Eko followed Yemi and carried out his plans which led him to The Pearl Station, but in "The Cost of Living" Eko refused to listen to his brother as he did not confess to him. This enraged Yemi/Esau and he used what i believe to be his orginal form, The Smoke Monster, to kill him as punishment. Since no one was around Esau could have taken him then, but before he could, Locke interupted his plan once again and comes to a dying Mr. Eko's side.

NOW HERE'S THE COOL PART

Once Locke & Co. arrive, he hear's a mumbling coming from Mr. Eko. Locke leans down and lets Eko whisper something in his ear. when he rises, he seems shocked and confused and once Sayid asks him wat Eko had said, Locke replies, "We're Next." This means that Eko had said "You're Next" which at the time we thought applied to them all, but in all actually, it was meant for Locke and Locke alone. I believe that Eko's dying words was a warning from Esau that somewhere along the lines said, "Hey dude you keep interefering with this thing i got goin on, so screw it I'm just going to use you instead."

And used him he did.

Locke's first encounter with Esau was in the the Season 4 episode, "Cabin Fever." While him, Ben & Hurley were sleeping, Locke was awoken by the lumberjack known as Horace Goodspeed. Horace is responsible for leading him to the grave that ultimately leads him to the cabin. Once there, Esau used the form of Christian Shephard to persuade locke to move the island, then later on he tells john that he has to die, which leads to his death, which leads to Esaus taking his body.

So their you have it Jay & Jack i hope you two's arguement can be concluded.

This has been planned out from the get go, so I'm going to side with Jack that Locke's death is not so much acceptable but it is understandable considering what they've shown us from his flashbacks and from the fact that there's a game far bigger than John, Ben or anyone else. Now like you Jack i want Locke to have a happy ending too, but the LOST writer's know what they're doing and whatever John's fate is, is what it always was going to be.

Thanks again & i'll talk to yall later, Jon

[Jack]

Hi, guys! My name is Hernán, but since I´m pretty sure you never heard that name before, call me Fume (Foo-me, the last syllable it's pronounced like "men" without the "n"). I´m from Buenos Aires, Argentina. I recently started to listen to your podcast and I have some thoughts about the time when Illana and the rest of the "what lies under the shadow of the statue?" gang hiked to the Cabin, that I wanted to run by you, guys.
When they got there Bram points out that the circle of ash it's broken and Illana goes in, checks out the Cabin and says to someone: "He isn't here, someone else has been using it". Now, since then different theories about who was there and isn't anymore, and who's been using the Cabin have come up. One of those explains that in fact the gang went to find "Guy with dark shirt" because he was trapped there, but the guy escaped, hence the broken circle, and that that "someone else" is Christian.
My theory is that Jacob actually DID used the Cabin as a command center to impart his Will and that the circle was a protective barrier against "Guy with dark shirt", who somehow broke it and started using the Cabin as a manipulation tool to achieve his goal, plus I believe that the person that scared Hurley in the ocassion when he found the Cabin was "Guy..." and Christian was with him.
I think that the prison theory came up because in "The Incident" we found out that Jacob that he "lies under the shadow of the statue", so the ownership of the Cabin was put in question. But he could still live in the Statue and command from the Cabin. Maybe he doesn't give orders from the Statue because he doesn't want people to know where he resides. The only flaw in my theory that I can think of is, when fake locke "realized" that Ben never saw Jacob in the Cabin and demanded, as The Others' leader to be taken by Richard to see Jacob, why this one took him directly to the Statue and not to the Cabin?

I realize this e-mail is a little bit long, but I would really aprecciate if you read it and help me understand the show better.

Love the J&J show. Keep it up, guys!

[Jack]

Jay and Jack,

I have followed your ongoing debate over Locke's destiny and leadership skills for what feels like eons, and finally felt the need to write in to urge Jay to get past his intransigent position on the subject.

Although I always felt that you both had interesting points on Locke's role in the series, Jack's position has certainly borne out to be more adaptable and compelling, especially in light of recent developments. Jack's right, John Locke is a terrible leader. Despite Jay's repeated protests to the contrary, he has offered little more in defense of his position on this matter than to fall back on the old "he was doing what the island told him" line. Not only is this position no longer operative, in light of the revelation that, as Jack noted, he was being lied to, it contains within it the rather obvious contradiction that Locke is therefore not leading, but following (the island, Jacob, or DWG, as the case may be).

As Jack has noted, Locke's personality and motivations on and off the island has actually changed very little. What he wanted more than anything was for his life to have meaning and a mission. This was exhibited in many ways both before and after the plane crash: belong to a loving family, save his father, love and settle down with Helen, provide food for the crash survivors, open that hatch, "help" the island, stop the jumping through time, or getting the Oceanic 6 back on the island. The irony, of course, is that Locke could never really settle on one mission, and he often worked at cross purposes with himself, especially when confronted with his often insatiable need to be accepted by others.

What actually compelled me to write, however, was Jay's assertion that the writers would be "lazy" if they simply allowed Locke to remain dead and therefore, unable to find redemption. I would counter that it would be lazier to allow this somewhat contrived resolution. John Locke is a far more intriguing character if he was incapable of truly learning from his past mistakes, and the show far more interesting if everything isn't wrapped up with a pretty bow. In many ways, Locke was the ultimate sad-sack underdog; there would be something refreshingly brutal and honest about his not coming out of this a winner.

While I agree that there is more to Locke's story that needs to be told, I hope that this is done through flashbacks (or a similar narrative device). I've grown a little weary of characters returning from the dead (or near death), and believe it would be fascinating if the writers chose to continue to taunt us with the possibility of his resurrection without ever actually providing it.

Of course, the writers have been quite good at getting me to accept things I never could have early in the show's run (like time travel), so who knows? Maybe I'm wrong.

- Dennis