The Loophole and how MIB was wrong
Here is my first theory ever on this site so if there is something wrong feel free to be ruthless in the comments section. I haven’t seen this theory before on this site, if it is let me know and post a link in the comments.
The MIB wants Jacob dead. However, he must follow some rules. They are that only a candidate can kill Jacob and that if Jacob is killed, a remaining candidate will replace Jacob very quickly. As well, if all candidates die, Jacob can’t be killed. This was a problem fo MIB because he were to convince a candidate to kill Jacob, another candidate would become the new Jacob with a new 360 candidates. Thus this would create a never ending cycle in which MIB never gets rid of the ‘Jacob presence’ on the island.
MIB’s loophole was that he would wait until there was one candidate remaining and convince that candidate to kill Jacob. By killing jacob this person is no longer a candidate, so there is no one to replace Jacob, thus MIB finally removes the ‘Jacob presence’ from the island.
Ben was not the remaining candidate (we’ve seen linus as one of the 360 numbers, so I’m assuming its ben and not Roger) but MIB thought he was. We know there is 6 remaining candidates (Kate, Jack, Sawyer, Sayid, Hurley, Kwon) and all 6 of these were in the 70’s during the incident (Kwon= Jin) and afterwards there bodies would have disappeared. I think MIB believed they died during the bomb explosion. As well, Richard told Sun (with MIB listening close by) that Richard saw them all die, so MIB knows they haven’t been able to avoid both him (MIB) and Richard for 30 years, so they are dead. This leaves Ben as the last candidate.
When Jacob said they’re coming, he meant the 6 candidates, which explains why MIB was so freaked out by those words. He now realizes that someone can replace Jacob. He knows that he only has a small amount of time until one of them replaces him, which is why he is in such a hurry to get off the island. He only has a certain amount of time until a new Jacob stops him from leaving.
Thanks for listening, now feel free to prove me wrong.
Excellent thoughts…. I think you make a very good point, but didn’t Smokey see all the candidates when the crashed on flight 815? So, your thinking he may not have known they would all flash back…
@ Sinster. Yeah I think MIB didn’t know they would flash to the present. Like Faraday told us, the 70’s was the candidates present, and they could all die. I think MIB thought they had died.
Kate isn’t a remaining candidate… And either is Ben
there are 5 names left .. Ford, shephard, Kwon, Reyes, jarrah…. Can prob scratch off jarrah now
the 6th was Locke and he scratched it out
Hmm, I like your idea. But there is no way to know for sure what the rules are as none of them have really been explicitly stated or explained. I’m not sure about what you’re saying about MiB thinking the other candidates are dead…When MiB had Ben kill Jacob, wasn’t Sun already back? Additionally, are you saying Ben was a candidate?
Lastly, I thought all the names in the cave were names from the plane and seat numbers, and the Losties numbers (4, 8, etc.) coincided with their seats and Hurley’s numbers… If the names in the lighthouse are the candidates, what are the names in the cave?
@henrygale. Kate’s name wasn’t scratched off on the lighthouse dial, so I’m assuming she still a candidate. Linus was #117 on the dial so I am assuming Ben WAS a candidate. I agree he is no longer a candidate as that his part of my theory. When he killed Jacob, he no longer became a candidate. AS well, Ilana recently said there are 6 left, and as she was there when they buried Locke, I’m sure she knows he’s no longer one, so there must be 6 others.
I apologize for the typos in my previous comment, I meant “assuming she’s still” and “candidate as that is part of my”
Hmm considering we know nothing about the rules this is very well thought out!
But im agreeing with HenryGale that Kate isnt a candidate.. Even though her name isnt crossed out in the lighthouse, according to Lostpedia, a few other names arent crossed out either.. So taking that she IS crossed out in the cave im assuming shes gone for good.. And if you remember Ilana mentioned Lapidus is a candidate in season 5 so im gonna put him as the 6th 🙂
But again.. Really good thoughts
this is def an original idea, hadnt thought of it that way. but cant say i agree with it since we know nothing about what the rules are, also we dont really know who the real candidates are. and i think you are giving mib too little credit, i feel like he would know if the losties were in the past. i do like that you are thinking outside of what everyone else has been saying here.
@monini the numbers as seat numbers in the plane! great idea, im kinda loving it, i was thinking why they were assigned those specific numbers. what throws me off is the other people that werent on the plane had numbers too
ObsessedWlost – ahh but if you think about it we had no sight or even any mention of smokey in the 70s so maybe he really didnt know..
I dont know.. i dont even know what i think anymore 🙁
I’m starting to think that Flocke can’t really kill Jacob and that Jacob can’t really kill Flocke. They at beast can destroy the bodies the other one is using (something that is yet badly explained since they are basically clones).
Now I ask if Richard was touched by Jacob and for that he is unable to die wouldn’t the remaining six candidates be as well?
Including Locke?
The Jacob from the Bible tales can be interpreted basically as a con man. And since Flocke points that he had issues with his mom and Bible’s Jacob was the favorite of his mother by not from his father and all the substitutes have dad issues I think there is a parallel right there. And if true than I think Jacob is just doing what Sawyer would call the “long con”.
Anyway… as usual I’m lost 😉
Just to point out that the 360 names on the Lighthouse weren’t exactly substitutes but just people that Jacob felt were special and was watching.
I doubt Ben is a substitute but it could be one of the six, don’t know.
One thing that I have a hard time to buy is that cave that according to Flock use to belong to Jacob. Something tells me that the cave was his and that the one crossing the names was himself as soon as he got rid of one of Jacobs candidates.
sawyergirl- weren’t the electricity post thingys set up by dharma to keep smoky out? good point thou we didnt actually physically see smoky in the 70s, hummmm you got me thinking on something else now. since jacob and mib existed from way back in the day (assuming that time moves linearly) and we dont see smoky in the 70s i am assuming that mib wasnt always in the form of smoky, which leads me to believe that as some people have stated on here smoky is probably some technological thing created after the 70s?