Trying to put it all together – Jacob
I’m mainly trying to address the situation of Jacob and the Man in Black
First of all I see a lot of theories based on who is good and bad. I think this approach is a mistake. The themes of lost have always been made in a way to make people sometimes look good, and then you discover they are, or were bad, or vice-versa. I think the point of all of that is to show that there is no good or bad, only people in situations with different views, desires, and belief systems. Now, of course there is absolute evil and absolute good in some actions, however we have not seen enough of either of these men to know if either of them is totally consumed by either good or evil. I think the white/black shirts were meant as a stron symbol, and I immediately thought back to the first season when they found the two skeletons and the pouch with a white and black stone, and also locke’s speech about white and black when he was playing backgammon. I think it all ties together somewhat.
From the argument between the men, I feel that they are two opposed sides with strongly differing viewpoints. Clearly Jacob wants people on the island, he believes that there is good in people and for some reason feels that they should be on the island. The other man clearly does not want anyone on the island, and seems to not even want Jacob on the island(thus wanting to kill him). I know you’re saying “duh”: we know this already, but this just goes back to my previous point:
Neither of these views seem to be correct competely, nor do they seem totally incorrect. There are good people, yet humans clearly seem to have a history of death and destruction, which the man in black(though many seem to think represents death and destruction), seems to hate and want to keep away from him/the island. At the same time Jacob’s desire does not seem to be the destruction or death of anyone/anything, he just wants progress.
Now, under those assumptions, which I think are well based, neither is really “bad” or “good”, they just have different ideas on what should be done, and one resents the other for it. At the same time, they are bound by some unknown rules which seem to keep them from directly harming or stoping one another.
What is Jacob? I’m not sure. He would appear to be the leader of the group of hostiles/others, who he seems to “hand pick”(lists), good from bad, supposedly. Richard serves Jacob, but seems to be limited in his scope. He couldn’t tell that locke was an impostor, or that (aparently), the Man in Black had been using Jacob’s shed for his own plans. However I do think the lists came from Jacob, as richard got them from Jacob, and Richard seems to know that Jacob is located “in the shadow of the statue”.
So we have Jacob drawing the one group onto the Island, leading them from afar, selected the good ones, and then you
Chris63084, I am on board with Jacob and his Nemesis having opposing viewpoints.
I believe in inherent good and inherent evil. Having said that, I think most human beings have a bit of both that co-exist, with one side being the more prevalent. In most cases, goodness always seems to prevail.
Not fully knowing the intent of Jacob and his Nemesis, makes it difficult to determine, at this juncture, which is more prevalent in each of them.
I like what you have to say, about them needing each other to maintain ‘balance’.
I don’t think we should make the assumption that because the Nemesis has killed Jacob, that this means it’s the end for what he represents.
If what you’re saying is true, about them needing one another to maintain the equilibrium, than I think we can expect to see somebody else step into that role!
The balance must be maintained!
PS: Good thoughts!
Thanks for your input.
However, it would appear that bringing everyone back was Jacob’s doing, if so, then perhaps he knew this was going to happen, and is thus trying to undo everything that has happened with that explosion. If so, then Jacob will never have been killed. Who knows if even CAN be killed really…he doesn’t seem to be a natural human being.
Or maybe the explosion is what caused this whole chain of events in the first place, thus the time loop. I guess we’ll have to see. Its a same there aren’t more shows like this.
You have a lot of good ideas, and I agree with you on most of them.
The one question I have is this:
Who originally wanted the Losties on the island? During the season finale when Jacob told the man in black “guess you found your loophole” my first instinct was to think that the man in black wanted the people on the island so he could manipulate them to help him fight Jacob. Really my main question is this: Who do you think the first person to bring the Losties to the island was, and what was their motivation for doing so?
I think it was Jacob, as it seems that the other man wants no one on the island. Also, the line about it “always being the same”(when they are watching presumably the black rock sailing in.) can be taken as a comment about how people always end up destroying and killing, OR it could be a comment on an ongoing timeloop that they are both working to change, in which the same thing always happens. This second interpretation sounds more likely when you take Jacob’s response: “It only happens ONCE, everything before is just progress.” He seems to be trying new things to change some outcome, and the other man disagrees with this interference from the outside.
The man in black strikes me as someone who’s so against them even being there, that all he wants to do is get rid of them. But in order to do that he needs go get rid of Jacob first. So, he manipulates them to do that, and then I think his next step would be to dispose of them one way or another.
I agree with much of your theory and I really like the part about them needing each other to maintain some sort of balance in the world. I also find it interesting that the man in the black couldnt kill Jacob himself (why not and how come he didnt try to kill Jacob earlier what was so special about Ben?) but had to do it through the means of Ben which was his loop hole. Im hoping in season 6 they actually show us the relationship that the man in black and Jacob actually had.