Smokie is the product of a paradox

Written 12th May

According to Fmom, someone going into the Light suffers a fate worse than death. This implies a state of being beyond death on the life-death spectrum. So we can assume that if someone touches the light they die – only worse. But still dead. I think this “worse” is assuming the role of ferrying damned souls to Purgatory (or wherever) – think Davey Jones from Pirates of the Caribbean.

MIB going into the light resulted in these souls being unable to move on and are therefore stuck on the island because of what they “did” (i.e. Michael). By touching the light, MIB should have assumed the role of shepherd of souls into the Underworld. But in order to become this entity, he has to die.

One problem: he went into the light because of Jacob’s actions. Fmom “made it” so that they can’t kill each other. This comes into conflict with the death-to-shepherd transition, hence a paradox. The result of this paradox is the release of the Shepherd from its duty with the ability to manifest itself in the form of either black smoke or physically assume the image of dead people whose bodies are present on the island. By default, he assumes his original image as MIB – still a dead body, though his soul never really “died.”

The shepherd that ferries these souls to Hell has been released of his duty by not officially dying. MIB would have become this shepherd by touching the light, but since he isn’t dead by the constraint that Fmom somehow laid down, he isn’t bound to his duty by the rules of succession. Kind of gaining the powers of his position, but not the job that goes with them.

An interesting byproduct of this theory: Jack doesn’t want to leave the island. What is Jack’s last name? Is he a candidate, then, to restore the natural order and take on the job that MIB is neglecting?