Christian Shephard – The “Other” Other Leader

This is just an idea that I have been tossing around, probably not right, but like most of my theories it is pretty creative and indepth!

As far as we know, Christian Shephard was a troubled man, he was a bad father, irresponsible surgeon and an alcoholic. But where did he come from, how much do we really know about who he was before he has Jack.

All we know is that his father is still alive, Ray Shephard, and that when Christian proposed to Margo (Jack’s mother), Ray told him on his wedding day that he disapproved of their union. Nevertheless, he gave him a watch as a family heirloom on that same day. Christian accepted it, but never wore it.

Why would Ray Shephard disapprove of the Christian getting married to a woman he fell in love with, he seemed like a pretty cool guy in the old folks home, his son became a successful surgeon, let him marry who he wants and be happy for him.

But Ray Shephard was not happy for his son. Maybe because Christian was breaking to rules. Charles Widmore (once leader of the others) broke the rules, he was banished for having a baby with an outsider, maybe their is more significance to the others wanting to keep their blood line on the island.

Maybe Chrisitan Shephard, like Locke, was supposed to return or goto the island one day and become the leader. Maybe Ray Shephard left the island with Christian when he was a little boy, similar to how Charlotte and Miles left when they were young.

Ray may not have known that his son was supposed to become the leader, but he may have not wanting his son marrying a non-other, even if he could not tell his son the truth, he could still disapprove of his marriage/try to set him up with someone like Charlotte so that “the other” blood line would not be tarnished.

So Christian being on the 815 in the first place could have helped the plane find the island in the first place. Even though he was dead and in a coffin (just like Locke) maybe when Christian finally returned to the island, he was resurrected in the best interest of the island.

Locke, returning to the island dead and in a coffin, was ressurrected the same way. He just woke up in a suit, started walking around, talking to people, and was full of island knowledge that he should have no way of knowing unless informed by the island (just like Christian).

My question is what Christian is….. We know he has been seen and heard by a number of losties (Sun, Lupidas, Jack, Claire, Locke, Michael, Vincent) so I can him out as a hallucination of Jack’s, even though Jack does see and speak to his father off the island, that may be a drug induced hallucination, not sure.

I thought that he might be a spirit or a ghost because of the way he is un-dead and appears in places he should have no way of being, like the freighter right before it blows up with Michael or in the FDW cavern when Locke is stuck down there.

I also thought that because his body is missing, maybe J.I.M (Jacob/Island/Monster) is
re-animating his Christians body in order to speak with the losties and guide them.

I am starting to drift away from these ideas because of how Christian shows a memory of Jack and wants Jack to know he is still around “tell my son I said hello”
If Christian were a mouthpiece of the island I do not think the island would be to concerned with a father saying hello to his son, the island has bigger fish to fry!

The Locke and Christian connection is so apparent but still mysterious. They both came to the island dead in a coffin, both were resurrected and woke up with a certain knowledge about the islands secrets.

It does not seem like Christian can die, he said to Michael “you can go now” (possibly in reference to the Island keeping Michael alive). Michael seeing Christian, an unknown figure to him, asks, “Who are you?” The freighter then explodes, killing Michael instantly. But Christian survives, so it does not seem like his body is capable of being destroyed.

But the island was very quick to tell Ben that if he tries to kill Locke again, that he will be destroyed, so Locke can probably be killed.

How did Eloise know that Jack’s father even had anything to do with the island, unless he has been there before as a little boy, maybe Eloise knew Ray Shephard. Maybe Eloise knows what Christian is, she knows that Locke was next in line to be the leader, and that he must walk in Christians shoes (literally and figuratively) to be successful in protecting the island.

Eloise did say, “put an object of your fathers on Locke’s body” she did not specifically say “his shoes” but having Jack actually take his fathers shoes and put them on Locke’s body is kind of symbolic don’t you think.

Like Locke, Christian can talk to anyone he wants, he knows things about the island that he really should not and he can touch things (the framed picture & when he was holding baby Aaron).

But Locke does not keep to himself like Christian does, Locke does not appear and disappear as far as we have seen, and from the impression I got from “Alex” Locke can still be harmed, so she/J.I.M was making sure Ben plays nice.

There are so many similarities and differences between what Locke and Christian are experiencing. They must have a strong connection somewhere. If Christian was meant to be the island leader once, then the Shephard family roots do go back to the island, which would explain why the whole Shephard family is involved (Christian, Jack, Claire, Aaron) and hanging out in Jacob’s cabin.

Let me know what you think!