I hope we are given some ‘island’ history and background also. Depending on the story between Jacob and Nemesis, we may get further information on what we need and enough to fill in the rest of the blanks.

I would be inclined to also say ash. I will leave comment in your post later.

Richard’s statements regarding Jacob do seem to imply that he had no choice in what he became.

How I perceive this is, Richard made a ‘deal’ with the Devil…so to speak.

I wish there was a way we could have a Richard montage of scenes…

I keep thinking of how Nemesis/Flocke used Richard to direct him during a flash to tell Locke what to do. (Mentioned above.)

Which made me think about how during the 1954 ‘flash’ Locke told Richard to come visit him when he was born, which made that “aha” moment last season for us to explain why Richard was there in ’54.

But we don’t yet know fully how/why Richard was sent to young boy Locke to perform the test with the objects, which are looking more and more like Smokey/Nemesis objects – the knife, the drawing and potentially the vial of ash as opposed to sand. (Something that occurred to me today.)

It doesn’t reveal anything new necessarily, only to add more weight to the argument that Richard has been a pawn to both Jacob and Nemesis. I still think back to the tone in which Richard said last season, “Jacob made me this way…” – such a heavy statement… so many possibilities of meaning. Jacob actually MAKING him a certain way, as opposed to giving him the CHOICE to be a certain way seems counterintuitive to the other “you don’t have to do this” or “only if you want to” type of statements to Hurley and Ben.

I know we all keep saying how much more there is to be revealed… so so true.

You are correct about Richard in that scene back in 1954. He did make that statement, which I had forgotten about. Thanks for reminding me. It is an important piece of the puzzle.

I agree with your take. Richard was subtly stating that he DID answer to someone, and you are right that he appeared to be the only person in charge of ‘the others’.

I have always had the sneaking suspicion that all was not known about Jacob and didn’t want to rush to judgment. I also feel the same way about Nemesis.

You make a valid point, in that Richard may be struggling to follow Jacob.

There is far more to this story.

Nice thoughts!

I wanted to bring up a scene that really helped me form my view of Richard’s position on the island. Remember in Jughead, when Daniel was questioning him about the shooting of all the US soldiers?..Richard responded (paraphrasing) “Everyone has someone to answer to. Do you answer to somebody?!” I think that scene revealed several things; 1. Richard was not in charge 2. The person he answers to wasn’t among the Others, because Richard was the only one everybody reported to 3. How he struggled with that statement, it seemed like he questioned the need for the killings to happen..

When Jacob and MIB were revealed at the end of Season 5, I started thinking..maybe the person giving those orders was MIB, even though Richard might have been thinking it was from Jacob..

I say all this just to show that, although Richard has met Jacob before and Jacob gave him immortality, he still struggled to follow him, and maybe had trouble knowing who or what he was following..

I’m sure some answers will come and I’m sure there will also be many more questions.

I think we are all looking forward to tonight’s episode to see what everybody is up to.