MIL and Losties

[warrick123]

Why didn't MIL communicate with the Losties and try and "recruit" them much earlier in their arrival much like he did with Richard when he came on the black rock, bringing him water, taking him out of the chains, ...etc. Why wouldnt he do this with the losties and create an image that he is the good person, whether he is or not, and pin them against the others and Jacob instantly? Could he only take form of smoke at this point, and no longer take form as the man with no name? i find it interesting nonetheless.

[danthew]

I guess it was all part of his loophole plan. If it was him in the cabin then he was spending most of his time manipulating the others.

[monsterjester]

From Jacob and MIL's conversation on the beach in "The Incident," MIL doesn't like Jacob bringing people to the island. I think it goes something like this: Ben, Richard, and all the Others were safe from Smokie inside the sonic fence around New Otherton. When flight 815 crashed there were suddenly over forty people outside the fence, and Smokie started killing them starting with the pilot. In order to protect the Losties, Jacob trapped Smokie inside an ash ring in the cabin.

[warrick123]

except the others didnt always live in new otherton, in fact some others never did live in new otherton.

[monsterjester]

Never meant to imply that they all lived there. Which ones didn't? Dogen and the Temple crew? Patchy? We can't really know, but presumably they knew how to protect themselves from Smokie through Richard and instructions Jacob gave him. The 815ers on the other hand would've been easy pickins. I was thinking about how Smokie appeared to Ricardo as his wife and then made it look and sound like the black smoke took her, even though she WAS the black smoke. I wonder if we've ever seen him do this before to manipulate people; like the pilot was already dead, but Smokie pretended to be him and then get sucked out the window to discourage the Losties from seeking rescue? Doubt it, but I'm really thinking about Smokie's motivation in early seasons. They've said Kate's horse was Smokie; why? What was MIL trying to accomplish? Covert observation of the doings at the hatch? What about the Medusa Spider? Was he just egging on a REAL spider to kill Nikki and Paolo, so he didn't have to go all cloud of death on their asses?

[LockeRulez]

Mar 24, 2010 23:07:53 GMT -5 warrick123 said:

Why didn't MIL communicate with the Losties and try and "recruit" them much earlier in their arrival much like he did with Richard

How do we know he didn't? Yes, he didn't appear as MIL, but we saw Christian, Yemi, and maybe many other forms influence certain things. And we don't know he wasn't influencing The Others through the Cabin and/or Ben. And of course, everything lead to Locke's body and killing Jacob. He knew he couldn't just tell someone outright to kill The Devil again like he failed to do with Richard. He would have to put the pieces in place slowly.

But you are right that it seems very complicated overall and may have been able to gain their trust in his own form. I guess he wanted to convince them indirectly so it seems like their idea.

[spinaltumor]

I think by the time the Losties came, MIB could no longer hold his Titus form.

Like, what if when Richard came to the Island...he was in a body like he now is in Locke. He just wasn't "stuck" because Jacob was still alive. He tried to get Richard to do what he later gets Ben to do, but naturally it wasn't that simple.

Sometime later, he maybe "dies" and loses the Titus form completely...stuck in the cabin, perhaps? So he pops up as Smokey and various dead people until he's able to take Locke.

[julerfan]

I think Titus just finds it easier to munipilate people using the bodies of others that the losties would have a strong emotional connection with.