No John, I can’t
We all know that Jacob physically touched our losties and I have been trying to figure out what that actually means. I still don’t know but I think I may have found another piece of the puzzle as I have been rewatching Season 5 (DVR is wonderful). When John fell to the bottom of the well and broke his leg, Christian told him what he had to do with the wheel. From what I have read, most people, myself included, believe that the Christian here is actually Jacob’s Nemesis (Mr. Lou Pole – I don’t remember where I read that nickname but I love it). Anyway, John asks for help getting up because standing when you have a bone protruding from your leg would probably be a bit painful. Christian then said, “No John, I can’t”. I took it at the time to mean that John needed to go through the struggle, blah blah blah. Upon rewatching it, I can’t help but wonder if the reason he can’t help John up is because he can’t physically touch him and that it is somehow related to Jacob and his touching. I can’t seem to wrap my mind around a logical explanation as to why and that is where I am hoping that you can help.
actually, there are repeated instances in the first and second seasons where john locke offers other characters the same comment along the lines of the christian quote you provided above… in showing someone how to do something, or speaking of the need to do something, he then tells someone else that they must do that thing, not him… for example, in an early season 2 episode, when he has jack enter the code into the computer (in the hatch) the first time, telling him that he/jack must do it, even though locke and others are standing right next to the computer.
That is why I took it to mean “He needed the struggle” blah blah blah at first, but I think we were being mislead now that I rewatched it.
BennyTN, I felt there was more to it, than ‘just the struggle’ of it all, too.
If Christian Shephard is Jacob’s Nemesis, as some people have suggested, might he not be able to touch Locke, because Jacob already has?
I’m not sure if Christian is Jacob or his Nemesis, but it might be one thought to consider, if he were.
Brilliant. Perhaps, in fact, Jacob’s nemesis can’t touch anyone Jacob touches because he can’t touch Jacob himself, be it “the rules” they seem to be following or because he’ll die. Hence, the need for the nemesis to find a loophole. John’s body is not his own, and thus John may infact touch Jacob, thus he may kill Jacob.
The only person I can recall Christian touching on the island is Aaron. Unless my memory fails, he was holding Aaron when Claire woke up in the woods, just before being led to the cabin….Aaron hadn’t been touched by Jacob yet.
I may be wrong, but I don’t think Jacob ever touched Aaron. Which means, now Jacob can’t, if in fact Jacob must play by these rules as well.. Is there any significance in that? I’m not sure. But I don’t think Aaron’s story line is done yet…
Actually, maybe there’s more to these rules than just posessing a body to get around it. Maybe the reason Jacob’s nemesis used John (other than the fact he’s dead) is because Jacob touched John.. There’s been theories that Jacob goes back to touch the Losties AFTER he’s defeated, but what if he touched them before that time to prevent his nemesis from touching them so that his nemesis couldn’t prevent them from going back to the 70’s to blow up the bomb etc… But because John died (Note that John’s death was actually Jacob’s nemesis’s doing, the nemesis told Richard to tell John he must die), John wouldn’t go back to the 70’s, because his death allowed Jacob’s nemesis to take control of John, John’s body being a vessel. But what about the fact that Jacob touched John? I think Jacob’s nemesis must have lured Jacob into thinking he’d prevent those who went to the seventies from GOING to the seventies, blowing up the bomb, etc.. Because he could take over John who’d actually been touched by Jacob, meaning Jacob’s nemesis has been given a body which can touch Jacob’s own body.
Okay, so maybe I made things a little confusing there. But what if Jacob’s nemesis wants a body Jacob has touched.. because those two are not the only ones who can’t “touch” each other.
Wow, that’s a lot to take in lol. Seriously though BennyTN that’s a really cool thought. I wondered about it at the time and forgot about it.
Maybe John had to do it himself and it had to be his choice to leave the island.