“…as if he was Moses”
In the scene at the end of ‘The Incident’ when Ben is whining to Jacob about the fact that he never got to see Jacob, he says:
‘I did as I was told. But when I dared to ask to see you myself, I was told, “You have to wait. You have to be patient.”. But when he asked to see you?
He gets marched straight up here as if he was Moses.’
My point is not that Locke/Rival/Bob is (some kind of) Moses but something else.
In the Bible Moses was one of the first and few people who got to see and ‘meet’ God ‘face to face’. Ben’s words in my opinion point out that Jacob is in fact God, or connected to God or something.
His words could have been chosen by the writers on purpose as an extra ‘clue’.
I think it is, but maybe that’s just because I’m totally buying the theory that Jacob and Rival are in fact God and the Devil (or connected to).
I watched that first scene a dozen times now, and the more often I see it, the more I’m starting to think the God/Devil theory could be very very true, or close to true.
Good thoughts Stone. Jacob’s buddy sure is an intiguing character (almost as intriguing as the hatch was to me in the season one finale). I also liked that Jacob was seen wearing white in the opening scene and the other man was in black.
Another interesting Moses connection is the obvious connection to Egyptian lore in the show. Moses was actually the Pharaoh’s brother, having been adopted by the young pharaoh’s mother when she found him in the bull rushes. After killing an Egyptian slave master for beating an Israelite (Moses’ true heritage) he was forced to leave Egypt until making his return to request that Pharaoh “let (his) people go.”
Based on their conversation about things always happening and progress, it could very well be that one of these two men, in my opinion Jacob, is trying to free our characters from some sort of time loop and the other man wants nothing to do with it.
For sure they are something along those lines.
Jacob tries to extract the best of people, not by making their lives easier but by creating circumstances where they can prove them selves as good persons.
“Bob” on the other hand does the exact opposite by tricking people into thinking that they are doing good things while in fact they are just messing everything up.
On the opening scene the Light vs. Dark theme is enhanced by the fact that Jacob is wearing light colored cloths and sandals while “Bob” is using dark cloths and sandals.
Another EP that reinforces that idea is the one where Lock asks Sawyer to kill the man on the Black Rock. Lock’s “father” tells something like “A little bit too hot for heaven don’t you think?”
Lock’s character also gives clues to that since the very first season. He is a divided character. The scar on the right eye, the constant mentioning of balance and white vs. black by him is a strong indication about good vs. evil in the pure sense of the word.
Another thing that caught my attention on the last ep of this season was the re-appearance of Vincent. He is probably Jacobs pet or Jacob himself opposed to the Smoke and it’s clones.
Next season will be rush-rush and I bet loads of questions will remain unanswered but will be a good one for sure.
Excellent comments, Damon Cuse & locked!
stone, I like what you have to say, and feel that we may have to reserve judgement on which of the two represent good or evil. At least IMO. I feel a very fine line, in the subtleties of good and evil are being played.
The obvious references to God & Satan are being implied, however we may never hear those names referenced.
In Stephen King’s book The Stand, (one awesome read), it was about the ultimate battle between good and evil.
The characters had relatively meaningless names, but were clearly indicative of God & Satan.
Great thoughts, and a nice theory!
Great comments!
@ Damon Cuse:
You are indeed right about that. I hadn’t linked Moses and Egypt yet, tho I doubt that will be of importance. Nicely found tho!
@ locked:
You are totally right about all the Black/White themes and stuff. But, it wasn’t until this thursday when I had watched the Jacob/Rival scene a few times that I’m starting to think that the Black/White theme is ultimately coming down on two persons. Jacob and Rival.
@ dabs:
I totally agree on that altho direct references to God & Satan are implied, we may indeed never hear those names be referred.
I also agree on that we don’t know which one of them represents good and which one evil, but I have the feeling Jacob ‘belongs to’ the good side.
Although, if I think about it, it seems just way too obvious that Jacob is good, with his white shirt etc.
The Moses/Egypt theory holds water – it’s definitely a good one. Especially if you’ll consider the opening scene in which they sit beneath the statue. And if anyone else studies Egyptology, they may notice that the statue is that of Anubis – the guardian of the underworld – who carries in his hand an ankh, the symbol for everlasting life.
Paired with the scene of Jacob’s ‘death’, the opening sequence no doubt solidifies the theme of good vs. evil.
What if is just a game between Jacob and his friend. They just play with people destinies acting like gods 😉
stone, it’s going to be a lot of fun theorizing on Jacob and his nemesis!
At least we will have something to hotly debate the merits of, until the next season!
Hope you’re right about Jacob!
If Jacob is “good” why did he have Nadia killed? Or provide the circumstances for her to be killed? That’s the main thing that confuses me about who is on what side although Rival seems to be obviously evil. But maybe not? …
I think maybe Jacob and Rival are reincarnations of past Biblical characters such as Cain/Abel, Jacob/Esau, etc.
Another thought I had about the opening scene of the last episode was, what if Jacob is trying to rewrite the creation story. In other words, the first people (Adam and Eve) failed and destroyed themselves and brought harm to the island. Jacob keeps bringing new people (descendants of Adam and Eve) to redeem mankind.
This could have been theorized before, not sure. But just a thought! 🙂
hi stone!
just as a little extra to add to this thread.
i remeber learning that in many aspects of egyptian folklure, and a vast majority of north african history, the colour black was always seen as the “good” colour.
if i remember correctly it was because the silt off the mountains that gathered on the crops would turn black and feed the crop, giving them a great harvest.
so in this sense, just to throw into the mix, that jacob is ther bad guy.
in my opinion,i cant think of a single reason that makes him good anyway!
x
I’m not sure there is any other way to interpret the Jacob/Bob dynamic than as God/Satan (in an archetypal sense). The struggle (and cooperation) of light and dark, good and evil is the most pervasive theme in practically all theologies. One cannot exist without the other, and in the end they are really just two halves of a whole. Good and bad are relative terms, but when viewed as a whole there must be a Yin to every Yang, so to speak.
I just realized that there is another SIGNIFICANT scene that clues us in that Jacob is good other than the whole white/black garments and other obvious refernces. I dont think it has been mentioned that in the second scene, Jacob is shown trapping and eating fish. I think that is a substantial comparison to a Christ-like figure as it is known that Jesus was a Fisherman of Men. Also the Christian symbol is a fish. Also important this symbol first brought to mind in the fledgling Christian community the way Jesus shared a meal of fish with the disciples, on the shore of the Sea of Tiberius, in Galilee, after the resurrection (JN 21:11)
the statue is not anubis, is sobek
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sobek
(sobek have crocodile head, like the statue from lost)