The conversation between Jacob and Adam when Jacob gave him the wine bottle kind of indicates that it’s Jacob who will be replaced. Adam says he’ll kill him and Jacob warns him that he’ll just be replaced… We don’t really have any reason to believe that this is a misdirection… nobody other than the audience was privy to their conversation. It would be silly for them to lie to each other about that.

I think in fact that it is Adam, as you call him, who has been the protector of the island, as said by A.E.S. This does seem to be the plan the mother intended, but I think Jacob picked up on her method of manipulating the circumstances to arrive at an outcome of her desire and perfected it. Jacob then began to develop is own game, to be played by his own set of rules, just as suggested by Adam when they were talking as children. From the moment Jacob sent Adam floating into the tunnel of light…on…Jacob used his mother’s tactics of manipulation to deceive and control all those he contacts. I’m not positive that Jacob has absolutely no special abilities or “powers”, but he has managed to convince all those on the island that he is special, without anyone really seeing any proof (besides Richard of course, but even Richard’s immortality could be attributed to his contact with Adam and not Jacob).

There are many themes that run throughout lost, but for the sake of this idea, I can’t help but focus on the theme of manipulation and it’s importance to each character’s perception. And how many times have many different character’s alluded to the fact that Jacob, and his relevance to the island, is grounded on faith and speculation, most of which originated with Jacob himself?

It’s hard to imagine that Adam himself has been tricked into believing that Jacob is the man at the top of the totem pole, and maybe Adam knows the truth, but even Adam has made several comments to people not to talk to Jacob because he can be so convincing.

So what if the candidate that Jacob has been looking for all along is not a replacement for his position, but actually a replacement for the man in black? Not only would the candidate be a new protector of the island that Jacob considers to be more worthy or deserving of such a title, but also in replacing Adam, the candidate could finally complete what Jacob was unable to do himself all these years…eliminate his brother.

I wonder… Does anyone think that all there is under the island is the light? Maybe there’s dark too… like maybe light under the Swan and Dark under the Orchid or maybe the other way around.

While I can definitely see the merit behind those ideas I really don’t think we have time left in the series to have more of this kind of deception. Jacob is the island’s protector. If it was just a trick on the part of his mother why would he have any powers now? He obviously has them, right? How old is Richard?

Adam seems to be willing to tear the island apart in order to leave it… We’ve already seen once for sure how he allowed people to eff with the island’s power, and if this theory holds then he did it at least one other time with the DI. Protector indeed.

@I_Am_Jacob: The sonic fence is dumb, scientifically. I’m sure the DI had a plan when they set theirs up and when they put the Swan and Orchid outside the fence… they had to put those stations where the energy pockets were, right? They must have had a deal with Smokey. I can see them hiding it from the others, but not from him. Besides, I believe the fence is just for show. The DI is in cahoots with the monster and they have a back door built in for him to have access to the barracks. It doesn’t keep the others out either since Richard is indestructible… he can walk right through it.

Charles Widmore, apparently, isn’t so good at planning his fences since the last time he set one up he left the generator on the outside.

I think its meant to seem like Jacob is, but MIB is doing the job unknowingly almost.

And Jacob bringing people to the island doesnt seem very secure…MIB doesnt want them there…he is now preaching his mothers words, “They come, they fight, they destroy, and they corrupt”…

I know he is looking for a candidate, but Mommy taking him to the well/light and telling him “and dont go down there” is like a mother telling her kid not to push a button…wouldnt you want to know what the button did?

She gave Jacob every ingredient necessary to transform MIB into the monster.

She killed MIBs people, drawing him in to kill her, trying to possibly show one of them that people are indeed evil…EVEN thanking him afterwards…

She knew what was coming, and wanted to die.

She showed Jacob where the well was, telling him that it causes something much worse than death…and Jacob knowing he cant kill MIb, does the next best thing he can think…

And by doing so, all the times she told MIB he was special, or tried to push manipulation as a good thing was ultimately setting HIM up to become the islands protector.

So…do you also think we will go back and see the purge and whatnot from the past?
I dont even know if Im on topic anymore…