Why does Jacob basically ask and allow MIB first contact?
Jacob brings people to the Island to prove MIB wrong. He also brings many people to the Island who are potential candidates to take over his job of protecting the Island as he knows that MIB wants to kill him. Jacob also more than likely knows that MIB is the Smoke Monster and what he/it is capable of.
In the opening of the Season 5 finale, MIB says “how did they find the Island” whereby Jacob replies “You’ll have to ask them when they get here”. Why does Jacob say this; it doesn’t make sense? We saw what happened when the ship arrived; the Smoke Monster killed virtually all the crew except Richard and only MIB came and released Richard.
What was the point of Jacob bringing this ship to the Island? MIB killed everyone and then he helped Richard. I just can’t get my head round Jacob’s reasoning for bringing the ship to the Island just to neglect it or not really care about its outcome. If you bring people to the Island to help or assist you, why ask MIB to go talk to them first?! It just doesn’t make sense. A good percentage of the crew on board survived the crash but then were allowed to be contacted (and killed) by MIB first. Why?
Can anyone shed any light on Jacob’s actions? I know I sure as hell can’t!
LOL, I know what you mean all too well, and you bring up a really good question…..a good question that deserves a good answer before this show is done.
I have the feeling that we might be seeing some sort of major connection between Jacob (who I don’t think is good) and MIB. It’s really almost as if they are the same person with some of the things we’ve witnessed. It sounds stupid, but a lot of this season has been kind of stupid anyway, as I know you agree.
……….I forgot to mention, I think Jacob brought the Black Rock there solely for Richard. And Jacob might be the one telling MIB who to kill and who not to kill.
Hello there Chief. I know that me and you are pretty much on the same wavelength when it comes to Season 6 (mainly that it is pretty poor). Thats why i have been thinking about things and issues arising from other seasons.
However, this question i ask now is quite an interesting one as it seems to make little sense. reading your second comment kind of confirmed something i’d been thinking for a while; maybe Jacob and MIB are possibly in cahoots. If this is the case then i think a lot more should have been made of this beach scene.
Before Ab Aeterno started, there should have been one of those “previously on Lost” whereby we see the bit where Jacob says “you’ll have to ask them when they get here.” This would have got more of the audience thinking ‘why would Jacob say that when he know’s that MIB will probably just kill them?’
I think what i’m trying to say is that something is fishy and doesn’t smell right but the writers aren’t drawing the audience’s attention to this enough. There is some alterior motive on Jacob’s part but because Season 6 has been soo poor, i don’t think many people have noticed or infact care.
I have not thought this out much, so I might regret this comment…
I wonder if some of it has to do with the Captain’s actions of immediately killing people. That was a pretty brutal decision, even though it could have been claimed as a sort of mercy killing…but nonetheless, to just crash and then boom, start killing off the extra mouths?! Pretty ruthless. Enter the Black Smoke…because in a way, the ‘evil’ of his heart won out. (Thus proving MIB’s point…not necessarily confirming that MIB is the essence of evil.) So perhaps him coming as Smokey was like going along with what had already been started.
The other thing about the scene on the beach and what we assumed was Black Rock off in the distance was it all happened under the sunshine and clear skies. — from Jacob and MIB’s perspectives.
To the crew of the Black Rock, it was a deadly storm with enough force to smash that ship through the statue.
I think it’s like another metaphor for perspective on these issues. Just like the crash was the best thing for John Locke, and even Rose didn’t mind the island once she found Bernard…for Richard it felt like his version of hell. So maybe that was like an entry point for Smokey.
My last (and perhaps most reasonable) thought on this is that it’s very possible that Jacob knows that MIB won’t ask. It’s as if Jacob is suggesting MIB give ‘progress’ a chance, but in his Jacob-y way, he can’t/won’t tell him that he has to. MIB proves his own point by not asking and all Jacob can really do is play by the rules for him/them, too.
I don’t know if any of that really makes sense, but at this point, oh well. It somehow makes more sense than aliens to me. 🙂
Jacob seemed surpised that Smokey tried to get someone to kill him. So maybe it was the first time? Maybe it was also the first time that he decided to just wipe a bunch of people out instead of merely toying with them and corrupting them to kill each other? He obviously doesnt slaughter them as they arrive often, or he wouldnt tell Jacob that they come, they lie, they corrupt, it all ends the same etc etc. Sounded like he was done playing that game and decided to cut to the part where they all die…..
This scene if anything points to smokie’s goodness. He sees the captain and crew kill off the slaves and punishes them for their actions. He then ‘looks’ into Richard and judges him allowed to live, and Richard to this point had been a pretty good guy. So smokie kills the bad guys and let’s the unfairly persecuted slave live. Doesn’t sound like evil incarnate to me. Did he take them out because he is sick of seeing te same thing happen over and over again, doesn’t want to go through the crew eventually turning on each other. Maybe Jacob knows smokie can look into their souls and judge them appropriately and this is how they let the possible good ones have a go at being very good, some just can’t?
I think Smokie judged Richard as the only one that he felt could help him in his quest to get off the island, and that’s why he let him live.
i do not exactly have a theory on your question about why he brought the ship to the island…. but isnt dharma founded by the hanso’s so maybe it wasnt exactly for richard it was to ultimatley bring flight 815 to the island….. i mean jacob would be one hell of a chess player if that were the case.. but he brings the ship, the captain, richard, which in turn years down the line brings dharma due to the hanso family , des does not press the button and so on… i do not think the black rock was just for richard… and chief i agree i am not convinced jacob is good at all. if that was the black rock at the end of season five then he was exspecting mib to try and kill him. so when richard came jacob was just playing him, remember what he said to hurly at the lighthouse…
It seems that Jacob cares more about the outcome of the game (moral test) than about the life or death of the involved people.
At the same time Jacob is somehow the guarantee for Smokey not leaving the Island and causing the end of the world.
As noted several times before, there are similarities between Jacob and the Christian God, although not painted in a way that is very flattering for Christianity.
Jacob’s a douche?