its only a matter of TIME?
if smokey was christian then why didnt he just leave the island as christian with the losties like he is doing with locke? is it a case of dead is dead christian is dead in the alt universe could this be why smokey has lost that connection then when lock came back in the coffin smokey toke him, but unlike christian locke in the alt is still alive but close to death could. if locke in the alt dies will smokey not have his shape any more?
what was also puzzling was that ben lead locke to the cabin where he saw smokey (as christian)? smokey also lead ben to kill locke off the island so he could return in a coffin, but ben has always been a true follower of jacob, was ben tricked into working for smokey?
This would seem to be true as there is a feud between ben and widmoore but if whitmoore has the same intentions as jocob in not letting ‘that thing’ of the island then surely they should be working together. but as mentioned they too seem to be playing the game when bens daughter is shot apparently whitmoore has changed the rules and ben summons smokey.
I think this is exactly why Smokey couldn’t leave as Christian, why he can leave as Locke (potentially), why much of the Locke manipulation went on, and why Locke’s body had to be returned. Is the “loophole” to get a candidate’s dead body onto the island who is still alive in an alternate time? If so, it seems that either Locke dying in ATL or Desmond bringing Locke and the rest back to the island from ATL will foil all of MIB/Smokey’s current plans. The race is on (which also would be storyline that lends itself well to a TV show). Good one!