Christian Shephard

What exactly is Christian Shephard's role on the island? As the seasons of LOST pile up, it's becoming an ever more important question.

We all know Christian Shephard is the father of Jack and Claire. Christian's role in Jack's younger life was authoritarian and negative, at one time telling Jack never to play the hero because he "didn't have what it takes." Consequently, a great deal of Jack's life can be summarized by his drive to prove his father wrong.

By the end of S5, the question of Christian Shepherd's role has become central. We know by now he is fronting for someone; dead being dead. With the introduction of Jacob and his Nemesis, the question has become more pointed; which one is it? The answer remains open.

First, besides attempting to be a more positive force for his son later in life, we have this touching scene just before Christian dies. Jack told Sawyer his feeling about his father, claiming that "he didn't want to take responsibility for his actions, so he blamed it on fate." When Jack asked why Sawyer was interested, he simply claimed it was out of curiosity. ("Outlaws"). However, Sawyer later revealed to Jack that he had indeed seen his father a week before the crash. Sawyer repeated Christian's words about Jack being the better man and about how Christian's self-confessed inability to call Jack up and tell him that he loved him. Sawyer remarked, "something tells me he never got around to making that call. Small world, huh?" Such a revelation would have a profound effect on Jack, and give redemption to both of them.

Christian's appearances to most Losties seems good hearted and beneficial. Besides helping to wake up his son Jack via Vincent after the crash, he leads him to find fresh water. Later, as Jack rails against his capture on the Hydra island, his anger consuming both him and his rationality, Jack's father tells him to "let it go," using a communication panel that has not worked in years. This council mirrors an earlier time when Christian tells Jack to "let it go" when Jack's anger consumes him while he tries to identify his wife Sarah's lover. Jack does not let it go, eventually accusing Jack's father of being the cuckold, and throwing him off the wagon.

Christian later is responsible for Claire's disappearance, although she seems to voluntarily leave with him. For the first time on the island, Christian is not wearing his funeral garb. More importantly though, she has abandoned her son Aaron to the other Losties. Leaving her son takes on even more significance since she has been warned repeatedly by a clairvoyant not to allow anyone else to raise her son. Does that make Christian a bad influence?

Christian tells Locke to move the island. Ben initially performs the deed, although he leaves the wheel unseated, causing the Losties to time travel repeatedly, and at least one death. In an attempt to stop the Island's jumps through time, Locke descends down to the Orchid station where Christian claims that when he told Locke they must move the Island, he was referring to Locke specifically, and claimed that nothing good happens when listening to Ben's suggestions. Christian encourages Locke to turn the frozen wheel, and confirmed Richard's statement that Locke would die in his attempt to convince the Oceanic Six to return to the Island, calling it a "sacrifice."

Christian also leads Sun to the 1977 DI picture which includes other LOST members, including her husband Jin.

Viewers have little evidence to decide whether Christian's influence serves Jacob or his Nemesis. On the surface, viewers are nonplussed that it was a possessed dead Locke that is successful in convincing Ben to kill Jacob, leading us to believe it was also a Nemesis controlled Shephard that reaffirms Locke's need to die. Doesn't 1+1=2?

Unfortunately, as we know in real life, and have been taught repeatedly and sometimes painfully in LOST, all is not necessarily what it seems. The causality seems to form almost too neat a picture, given the other more basic and beneficial actions Shephard has previously taken.

For now, viewers are urged to keep a wary eye on Christian Shephard. But it remains an instinctual truth that by all outward appearances, Christian is aiding and protecting both his siblings on the island. With all the negative father issues on LOST, it hardly seems logical to nay say the only one that seems now to be positive. We're also reminded that to find his own redemption and silence his own demons Jack most assuredly must learn to trust and appreciate the positive messages his father tried to give him.

There is certainly more to come.

Island Exits

Viewers are aware of at least two ways to leave the island to return to the mainland:

1. By calculating coordinates according to a formula, it is possible to sail off the island and reach the mainland. Without the coordinates, one always returns to the island. The Others use this method quite often.
2. Turning the Donkey Wheel below the Orchid. Doing so transports the operator to a spot in the desert in Tunisia. It appears that the year of one's return is impossible to predict and uncontrollable.

Is there another island exit viewers have not seen? We are led to ask the question due to the following:

1. How does Jacob leave the island? Notice that so far, it is possible to show that he only visits the island in the present, even though it may appear that he time travels into the past. Sailing from the island would allow him to do so.
2. How did Daniel Faraday leave the island shortly after TT to 1974? Was he even aware of the Donkey Wheel at that time?
   

Perhaps the largest conundrum is posed by Daniel's jump, since he travels back in time to the mainland, and then returns again via DI submarine in 1977, clearly armed with a mission from the information he gained while away. He must have been working for the DI at least some of the time he was gone, since he has photographs from the island and is in their employ.

Eloise Hawking

Eloise Hawking's story arc in LOST inspires more questions than answers, questions that when answered will provide integral insight to our understanding of the LOST paradigm.

You can find a detailed recap of Eloise Hawking in Lostpedia, the incredible LOST catalog built by loving hands and minds of fans everywhere.

QUESTIONS

1. Her interaction with Desmond inspires our most fundamental question regarding Eloise. During her interaction with him, she foreshadows a stranger's death, also noting the stranger was wearing red. Viewers are left with little choice but to conclude that red eventually means death. The alternative is that Eloise has at least some omniscient powers regarding the future. Since she is human, the second alternative seems far fetched. But which is it? Her awareness of Desmond and his future role in the island is at least possibly explained by her son's journal, although that seems strained as well.
   
2. In a meeting with Ben, Jack, and Sun, Eloise warned Ben that he had no choice but to collect the O6, and that "God help us all" should he fail. ("The Lie") Although there is no evidence Eloise has been on the island since 1977, she seems to be intimately aware of what is going on there. While her son Daniel Faraday's journal would give her some detail, it would not give her all the information she so obviously has. How does she acquire this information? To be fair, later she meets Penny after Desmond is shot by Ben. When Penny asked if Desmond would be all right, Eloise said she did not know and that for the first time in a long time she didn't know what was going to happen next.
3. Eloise leaves the island shortly after her preparatory actions in 1977's events, and never returns despite knowing how to do so. Does she leave the island by turning the Donkey Wheel? Is there another island exit? Why does she not return?

The Story of Season 6. A Theory

Elsewhere, we talked about the island and the likelihood of it metaphorically being the Underworld as a good place for the story of LOST. But if that's true, how does the story end?

Well, the Underworld is where souls go to be judged before they enter Heaven or Hell. What is the Balance, you might ask? With the S5 Finale it's becoming more clear. Did you live your life with passion and purpose? Did you exercise your power of choice, and with free will were you able to rise above the destiny that fate lay in your way?

For each LOST survivor (it's becoming clear Jacob picked / touched all of them), that destiny appears to have begun with a father figure. And no one on the island has so far been able to over come it. In fact, all Losties' deaths have to-date been failures in that regard.

Will anyone rise above their fate and choose to live freely, without fighting their past? So far Locke has appeared the worst failure; dying as he lived as the perfect patsy. But there's still hope. Not in resurrection. After all, in the Underworld, dead is dead. And Locke sure ain't going back to the mainland. No, hope lies for Locke in the future. Because there are after all, two Lockes. We know the first story. It ended in failure. We don't know the second. And while Locke may be fooled one time, don't ever tell Locke what he can't do.

We can't help but believe that the man of science and the man of faith still have a chance at redemption if their story threads can somehow come together. And that is how I believe the season will end; a convergence of both approaches by Locke and Jack, proving that in appreciating portions of the other regarding fathers, souls and science, they are able to overcome their pasts, unify the island, restore harmony midst chaos, and find redemption.

It only needs to end well once. And Jacob will be free to give up his physical body, and join his specter 'brother' (it is Nemesis that is the specter, not Jacob) to converge with the rest of the gods. Because we know it's an evolution for the gods as well. But free will is the key. After all, it's humanity's most divine gift.

Do Hieroglyphs Explain Jacob and the Island?

Sometimes the most obvious answer is the answer. And with Egyptian hieroglyphs sprinkled throughout the island, it doesn't take long to begin looking around in that mythology to find a clue. As S5 drew to a close, we have some other critical pieces to add to the Egyptian mythology of the island. Those pieces lead us to some likely theories on Jacob's identity.

ISLAND AS UNDERWORLD
But first lets look at the hieroglyphs. Three of them in particular are illuminating. First is the hieroglyph on the Ajira Airways FL316 ticket; it represents the 'Underworld', confirmed by Darlton. Wow. That seems to be a fairly critical clue. In terms of the LOST paradigm, it's probably useful to at least ask oneself if the ticket is to the underworld or from it. Because if the mainland is the underworld, and we're all living some kind of shadow existence until we get to the island, well then, that's a different story than if the island is the underworld, which is on the way to either heaven or hell.

The second set of hieroglyphs represent 'Time' and 'Travel' and Darlton has confirmed that together they represent 'Resurrection.' Those symbols are on the columns in the room housing the Donkey Wheel underneath the Orchid station. People turning the Donkey Wheel not only shift the island in time space, they transport onto the mainland in Tunisia. Hmmm. Interesting. So right away we're fairly certain the island is indeed the Underworld, and transporting to the mainland 'resurrects' yourself in the real world (RW).

Now on to the Season Finale, where the large island statue is finally seen in its entirety, which ABC confirms is Taweret, the god of fertility. This long in coming revelation is enlightening, but also generates some ambiguity. Egyptian mythology alternately describes Taweret as the consort of Apep or Set, or the wife of Sobek.

DUAT OR UNDERWORLD MYTHOLOGY
Duat was the region through which the sun god Ra traveled from west to east during the night, and where he battled Apep. It also was the place where people's souls went after death—for judgment.

The most famous scene from the discussions of Duat is the Weighing of the Heart, in which the dead were judged by Anubis, using a feather, representing Ma'at, the goddess of truth and justice.

There is a significant difference between Egyptian interpretations of the Underworld, and many other western (Catholic, Methodist, Jew) and eastern (Buddhism, Nordic, Orthodox) views of Purgatory. Purgatory nearly always incorporates the chance for souls to redeem themselves and make their way to heaven. In Egyptian mythology, there is no such chance; it is a place for judgment one way or the other. It is interesting to note that if we are to use the Egyptian themes to instruct us in LOST, we must necessarily use the concepts of Purgatory to complete the analogy.


APEP MYTHOLOGY
Apep was evil and resided in the Underworld. He was the sworn enemy of Ra, keeper of the light, God of the Sun, and upholder of Ma'at, the goddess of harmony, order, and truth. As the personification of all that was evil, Apep was seen as a giant snake. In LOST terms, this is an attractive metaphor; the island as Underworld with snakes much like smoke.

Each night Apep would fight Ra as he and his entourage traveled through the Underworld on a huge baroque, on their way through the River Styx to morning. Some of Ra's companions would help him fight Apep, most principally Set, god of chaos, confusion, storms, wind, the desert and foreign lands. He was also the only god strong enough to reliably conquer Apep. Myths sometimes say that Apep was trapped in the Underworld because he had been the previous chief god and suffered a coup d'etat by Ra, or because he was evil and had been imprisoned.


SET MYTHOLOGY
Set was the god of the desert, and chaos. Notice that both order and chaos are needed for the balance of the universe, forming a dichotomy between Ra and Set. Set was viewed as immensely powerful and carried the epithet, "His Majesty", shared only with Ra.

The myth of Set's conflict with Horus, Osiris, and Isis appears in many Egyptian sources, including the Pyramid Texts, the Coffin Texts, the Shabaka Stone, inscriptions on the walls of the temple of Horus at Edfu, and various papyrus sources. These myths generally portray Osiris as a wise king and bringer of civilization, happily married to his sister, Isis. Set was envious of his younger brother, and he killed and dismembered Osiris.

Osiris' son Horus was conceived by Isis with Osiris' corpse. Horus naturally became the enemy of Set. In some of these myths Set is portrayed as Horus' older brother rather than uncle. The myth incorporated moral lessons for relationships between fathers and sons, older and younger brothers, and husbands and wives. It is interesting that LOST's survivors universally have father issues. Have we hit on something here?

In the Pyramid Texts he was believed to be a friend to the dead. It was believed that "Horus purifies and Set strengthens, and Set purifies and Horus strengthens" the deceased while the backbone of the deceased becomes the backbone of Set and Set has "joined together my neck and my back strongly, and they are even as they were in the time that is past; may nothing happen to break them apart." Stories of backs remind me of back surgeons named Jack and Christian Shephard, and of course paraplegics like John Locke.

It is also interesting to note that in later mythology, Set evolved into the first supreme God, usurping Ra, while still later, he was again demonized and became evil, associated with Apep. There are definitely many angles to choose from here, including any one of Set or Apep, vs. Ra.

SOBEK MYTHOLOGY

Sobek's early history was ambiguous in nature, and that led some Egyptians to believe that he was a repairer of evil that had been done, rather than a force for good in itself. In one story, Sobek traveled to Duat to restore damage done to the dead as a result of their form of death.

Originally, Sobek was probably a dark god who had to be appeased to give the people his protection against crocodiles. Sobek had a dark streak that stayed with him for the time he was worshiped. In The Book of the Dead, he was showed as four crocodiles who were believed to attack the deceased in the underworld. This dark side sometimes put him in the camp of Set.

Sobek, as with many of the other protective gods, also had a benign side. In a different version of the tale of Osiris, it was Sobek who carried the dead body of Osiris to the bank of the Nile on his back. And under the orders of Ra, the four gods were rescued by Sobek in a net, and brought them to land.

Despite the different attitudes of people to the god, he was venerated as one who restored sight to the dead, who revived their senses and who protected them from Apep who attacked those souls who travelled through the land of the dead.

Some tales suggested that Set was his father. He was also thought to be husband of the goddess Taweret, who was sometimes depicted with a crocodile on her back.

During the Middle Kingdom, Sobek was linked to the god Amen (also connected to Ra), who seemed to have assimilated him to some degree. He was also connected to the sun god Ra, giving the form Sobek-Ra, who was worshipped as another omnipotent manifestation of the sun deity. Thus Sobek could be shown wearing either the headdress of Amen or the sun disk of Ra.

LOST COMPARISONS

It's possible to see healthy comparisons between the two LOST protagonists, Jacob and his cohort, in any number of the mythological characters noted above. Set and Apep for instance, both have intimate Duat connections and were enmeshed with Taweret according to various mythologies. Placing LOST in the Underworld allows the writers to develop their own laws of physics while playing out many themes they've so carefully developed.

Ultimately, we suspect that it's not important exactly which two characters Jacob and his 'brother' represent. More likely it is the ambiguity that Darlton was looking for, along with the consistent themes that lurk in the mythology of all of them; Chaos vs. Order, Fate and Destiny vs. Free Will and Redemption, Father vs. Son, Life vs. Death, Progress and Evolution vs. Tradition and Stability. In all of these age old dichotomies, there exists a balance, neither good nor bad. In all of them there also exists man's will, and his choice to use it in whatever manner he is inclined. In this I can not help but get the feeling that Darlton has made Jacob come down very much on the side of free will and redemption.

After all, it's what gives man his divinity, and the ultimate power of a god.

Jacob: An Alternate Theory

Popular theories view Jacob and his 'friend' as two opposites; Good vs. Evil or Destiny vs. Free will, or Life vs. Death. Variations include merging religious themes into the dichotomy. But what if the two aren't a dichotomy at all?

What if they're both different components of the same force or entity called Jacob; one physical (Body), the other spirit (Specter)? Specter is tired of watching mankind wallow in his own baseness. He wants to move on to a more interesting plane or universe, where he's no longer witness to the monotony of centuries of mindless slaughter and corruption. Unfortunately, his physical self doesn't want to leave. He's fascinated by the struggle of mankind, and hopes to see them change. Perhaps part of Body's enjoyment of the story entails his own physical pleasure of eating, sleeping, and working; he doesn't want his body to die.

The issue is that Jacob can't enter the next realm without leaving the body behind. That means Body must die, and unfortunately he's not going to voluntarily give up. So if Body won't come willingly, Specter needs to arrange it. But there's the problem. As a specter, he has no power on the physical plane, even if he's possessing a dead body. He needs to convince a physical being to do it. But how to convince a human to get angry at Jacob? There's really no reason to hate him... Oh wait. Maybe there is...

With that in mind, this beach scene reads quite differently...

Specter: I don't have to ask. You brought them here. Trying to prove me wrong, aren't you? (mankind will never change)
Jacob's body: You are wrong.
Specter: Am I? They come. They fight. They destroy. They corrupt. It always ends the same. (I'm tired of watching this)
Jacob's body: It only ends once. Anything that happens before that is just progress. (Have patience, some day it will change)
Specter: Do you have any idea how badly I want to kill you? (Do you have any idea how badly I want to get out of here, but we can't leave until you die?)
Jacob's body: Yes
Specter: One of these days... I'll find the final loophole my friend. (But I can't kill you since I'm a spirit. I need to find another way to do it.)
Jacob's body: Well, when you find it, I'll be right here. (My body isn't going anywhere).

Elsewhere, we've postulated that Jacob and Nemesis are essentially two very different entities, perhaps both elements of a converged whole.

The Nature of Jacob and Nemesis

Following is conjecture on the nature of Jacob and Nemesis, from the Finale evidence.

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

• There is no evidence that Jacob or Nemesis have god-like or superhuman powers. So far the only characteristic they possess unexplained by the island or science seems to be their long, or immortal life. We are also unsure of the effect Jacob's touch has on humans while they are on the mainland.
  
• Jacob is a corporeal entity. He can be seen by humans because he inhabits a real living body.
• Conversely, Nemesis is a spirit. The evidence is that no one has yet seen him. Jacob doesn't count.
  
• At least a couple theories explain his ethereal quality. Perhaps he was killed at some point. Perhaps he is somehow the alter ego of Jacob personified. The reason he is a spirit may not be important.
  
• Nemesis resorts to physical possession of dead bodies, and controlling smoke to act or be seen in the real world. He can not possess live people. Notice that he must possess the body; he can not shape shift, or mimic a body, or he would not need a dead one.
  
• Jacob can recognize Nemesis either through a spiritual sense, or because he knows him so well after all these centuries.
• Their different physical make-ups go a long way to explain why they can not kill each other, although there is little evidence that Jacob wants to kill Nemesis in any case. If Nemesis is Jacob's personified alter ego, it would simply explain why he must convince a proxy to kill him; Nemesis does not wish to kill himself, especially if he does not inhabit another body at the time.

Juliet

Like her namesake before her, Juliet's pathetic life story is one of inevitable loss, and a terrible sense of frustrated longing and dashed hope. Unlike the famous tragic heroine, it seems the seeds of her losses are rarely of her own making, further heightening the pathos of her story.

It's somewhat surprising Juliet has retained her ability to act, yet she has grown up to be a functioning, strong, and intelligent person. But there is little surprise in that she tends to allow herself moments of happiness in secret or illicit endeavors that avoid the light of day. But we're getting ahead of ourselves.

Juliet's first head-on collision with fatalism occurs quite early in life, when her parents tell her that despite loving each other (??), they just can't be together. Psychologists could have a field day with this line, not least of which is that love is an active verb and not just a passive noun. Nevertheless, her most significant, jarring childhood lesson was that despite all necessary ingredients, life can still dash your most intimate dreams and deny you happiness. What an effective way to teach someone never to plan or fall in love! Her parents would have served their daughters better by telling them they didn't love each other anymore.

But unlike her Capulet sister, Juliet's lesson is repeated many times. Her marriage goes the way of her parents but in an even crueler twist of fate, retains the power to deny her career fulfillment. Even when it unexpectedly happens, her career advancement is tinged with a sense of manipulation and personal guilt. What a life. At every important turn she has been taught that everything she wants will be snatched from her not long after she gets it.

It's not surprising we next find her sneaking illicit moments with a married man, emotionally and figuratively denying herself any apparent hope at long term happiness. But even that attempt fails to avoid an angry fate's scrutiny, again in the form of her boss, and ends in failure and death. Wow. One wonders at how firmly Juliet still grasps a sense of rationality.

If LOST's stories of personal redemption are inter-twined with the successful resolution of the larger plots of the island landscape, and we have every reason to believe that is exactly the case, then Juliet's life story represents perhaps the largest mountain to climb and overcome. It would seem only a miracle could convince her of a universe where she can still actively realize her dreams and plans.

Her life story also to some extent rationalizes her reluctant participation in Ben's under handed, manipulative and illegal behaviors. We can't blame Juliet if she now believes that's how you get what you want. It is also unsurprising that she finds herself identifying with a hamstrung and manipulated Jack who has been out-maneuvered far more than even he is aware. Like some viewers, we would not fault Juliet if she mistakes empathy for love, even for at least a little time. But Juliet is smarter than that.

Unfortunately her life lessons are not complete. She loses Jack, although by now it must have seemed more correct that she never had him, and her plans to escape the island are thwarted twice. Her three happy years with Sawyer must seem to her as a dream.

Amidst the looming backdrop of her life, it makes all the sense in the world that in the Season 5 Finale she acknowledges the destruction of their island escape so readily, just as she then succumbs to the fatalism of a single stare from her lover. Far from vacillating as some viewers lament, her decisions during the Finale remained inordinately consistent with the lessons she has won so painfully throughout her life.

The Finale ends with perhaps the most pathetic and heart rending scene in modern story telling. In the space of a few short hours our tragic heroine, by now a complicit actor in her own demise, finds herself transported from an impending life time with her lover, and now lies broken and alone in the dark at the bottom of a deep hole next to a bomb of unimaginable horror. We expect her sanity to spin wildly out of control, fleeing her body atop the shrill wails of her dying gasps for breath.

Incredibly, this is not Juliet's reaction. With a determination only Sisyphus could muster, Juliet embraces her fate, and strikes the very bomb that embodies not only her failure, but the final fitting chapter of the story of her life. The image is so terrible, so poignant, so tragic, that it over-shadows the major plot of the story; a vicious, developing climax of centuries of hate, all mankind in the balance.

The viewer's heart is rent by Juliet's story. We were left only a very small and subtle foreshadow, when Bernard asks so gently, "Are you sure you won't have some tea?" And with a wistful look she declined, armed only with her gun and a heavy sense of loss.

But as we ponder and flail at Juliet's fate, viewers can not but remember that this is LOST, where not everything we see is what happened, and not every law of nature is followed. In our desperation we look for an alternative to a story almost too tragic to face. Yet there are rational reasons to gird our emotions. We do have reason to believe Juliet still lives.

Locke

John Locke is one of the most beloved characters on LOST, not least because of the often fantastic acting of Terry O'Quinn, who plays the role.

Locke, abandoned at birth by his fifteen year old mother, and later conned out of his kidney and later pushed out an 8 story window by his own father Anthony Cooper, has two central life stories that drive his actions. Both are arguably first line descendants of being an orphan.

First, he has always been attempting to find a home for himself, and often can be heard to say, "Don't tell me what I can't do." This response began cropping up as he was tested as a young orphan, even by Richard of the Others, and later in school when his classmates heckled and denigrated him for being a geek and an outsider. Arguably he ventured off on many questionable treks in his life in an effort to fit in.

His second life story is connected to the first. If his father was a first class con man, Locke is a first class pigeon. In an effort to find a home he often naively opens himself to others who eventually take advantage him. Beginning with the school children, and then on to his foray with a commune, people use and abuse him without ever giving him the respect he so dearly desires.

The two worst episodes, though, were dire. In middle age his father contacted him and convinced him to donate a kidney, after which he promptly abandoned him again. Rather than seek restitution, Locke often waited forlornly on the street outside his father's house, hoping to meet him again. Eventually, Cooper threw him out a window to his death in order to have done with him. Remarkably, Locke lived, although as a paraplegic. The tragic story of Cooper's cold hearted use of Locke is in many ways a fitting emblem of his totally unremarkable life up to that time.

But the latest manipulation in his life is by far the worst. When he landed on the island, Locke felt he had finally found his spiritual destiny. First, his legs were miraculously healed, and after spending a couple days pondering this strange turn of events, he decided he had become a "Man of Faith", and believed that it was his destiny to be on the Island, and that everything was happening for a reason. ("Pilot, Part 1")("Exodus, Part 2")

And clearly the island was communicating with him. He could sense when it was about to rain, and he was not only the first person to see the Smoke Monster, but one of the few to survive it. He survived accidents which would have maimed or killed another man, and his faith lent him a calm and self-assurance he never possessed.

Unfortunately his blind faith eventually led him down his life long path of the coerced. So sure that the island was a source of the benevolent spiritual kinship he always wanted, awash in the sense of destiny of his newfound condition and growing influence and power, Locke failed to consider that not all influences are positive. Eventually he fell prey to Dark, Jacob's adversary, and after multiple meetings he became the island's biggest patsy, literally used body and soul by the Dark forces in the manner from which he's run all his life.

While Locked thought he found his destiny, it turned out it was the same tired story he'd been victim to all his life. He was used and coerced to accomplish the exact opposite of what he would have wanted, if given the eyes to see.

But we have a feeling that not all is finished regarding the story of John Locke. As sometimes friend Jack says, "I wouldn't count him out." Neither would we. We have two reasons to hope; first, we have a time traveling Locke, and second, don't ever tell him what he can't do. We're hoping that's exactly what Dark did the last time they met.

Sayid

Sayid must be the most conflicted and enigmatic character on LOST.

I see his fate or life story being very much that of a 'righteous sword'. Sayid is the dark avenger, sometimes acting on his own, sometimes being used by others, but invariably acting to atone or correct transgressions in the world. As a child, he was criticized and ostracized by the little, rich girl he secretly adored, and by implication other children as well. Perhaps it was during those moments that he developed the need to take up for those that were unable to defend themselves, vowing that as he grew up, he would never allow people to take advantage of the innocent again.

As a young man he found himself in the Republican Guard where the wars in Iraq positioned him at the point in fighting terrorism and those who would harm the innocent.

On the island he falls prey to his violent reactions to perceived attacks on the weak by going after Sawyer. As a very ethical person, his own actions are distasteful to him, and yet he views them as necessary. He sometimes sees his own guilt and search for forgiveness and redemption in the eyes of his enemies and friends alike.

But his story remains powerfully consistent, and repetitive. He betrays his friend's trust at least partly to prevent innocent bloodshed. Ben takes advantage of the terrible death of his life long love (It is very unlikely that Widmore killed Nadia. Much more likely that Ben lied to Sayid to advance his own selfish agendas) to utilize Sayid's passionate talents. He kills the young Ben, and joins Faraday's potentially naive plan, all in an effort to correct transgressions against the O815 survivors.

Terrible events keep occurring in his life that put a deeply moral and conscientious man in the eye of the hurricane. Some people would shirk from the resultant hard decisions that must be faced. Sayid does not. He acts according to his conviction, even if it is abhorrent to him. But the resultant blood on his hands is a source of terrible guilt and self-loathing. He believes himself beyond redemption.

Jacob's Gifts

As stated elsewhere, Jacob gives all LOSTIES he visits both a touch (vitality? destiny towards the island?) and a gift. We have yet to see if he visited more Losties. In the finale, we only saw the Losties who were in 1977, leading us to speculate that he was providing himself a chance at rebirth, and the island struggle to continue. Following is what Jacob gave, and conjecture about what it means.

GIFTS | SIGNIFICANCE

• Hurley: Guitar case and ??? | Meaning unknown
• Jack: Candy bar | Strength?
• Sawyer: Pen | To write the story of O815 | To write rather than con
• Kate: Lunch box | Holder of sustenance
• Sayid: Map and / Either saved Sayid's life, or killed his wife | Maps give him direction | or gave him purpose
  
• Locke: Life | He revived Locke so he could come to the island?
• Jen and Sun: Blessing | Drive to stay together
  

MORE SPECULATION
Jacob probably touched others as well. We don't know yet. But he was clearly setting something up.

Did Jacob cause Nadia's death, or did he save Sayid's life? See Sayid's story here.

Is Dark | Anti-Jacob the Smoke Monster

It's a popular theory, and one I first assumed. But remember these two scenes:

1. Ben travels underground to be judged (by the Smoke Monster, right?). He is confronted by Alex who explicitly tells him not to hurt Locke (who was really Dark) and follow his orders.
2. Dark / Locke is walking with Ben towards Jacob. Ben tells Locke that his daughter Alex told him to obey Locke and not hurt him. Locke is surprised!

Questions:
a) If Dark was the smoke monster, why is he surprised to hear Ben say what Alex told him?

The two scenes still make sense if Dark / Locke was not really surprised. He illicits Ben's conversation with Alex to remind him of it, and further bolster Ben's willingness to kill Jacob.

I like that theory.

Is Juliet dead?

There is no evidence that Juliet is dead. After all, no one died when the Swan station left a 30 foot crater in the ground. On the contrary, we found Des running around naked. Perhaps Juliet will show up next season naked as well. Added to that, the writers told us one of our loved characters will die. Ummm. It could be argued that's Locke.

There is no evidence that the bomb actually went off. Perhaps the electro magnetic field just finally burst, as in the Swan Incident. On the contrary, the bomb was rigged to blow up on impact, but it didn't. That would mirror why Walt's gun wouldn't work, and if it's true, means even Juliet's pounding didn't set it off.

There is no evidence the Locke, Des, Ecko Swan incident pushed anyone into the future. Although they did take a day to be found, and who knows what happened then; they could easily have flashed somewhere and eventually returned. After all Des was naked:) So we have too few facts to predict where the present Swan situation will take the Losties.

Until Season 6x1 comes along, I'm not sure what we saw in the Finale.

Finally, I was non plussed by the Darlton's use in the Finale of romance to drive actions of huge significance. While we are all aware that love plays a significant role in everyone's life, I find it unreasonable and out of character that either Juliet or Jack would make incredible decisions affecting everyone on the island because of it.

The Incident and WHH

PREMISE

The Finale leads me to WHH. Changing the past would make a mockery of Jacob / free will. Mulligans and do overs are not allowed. This is also the reason Jacob refuses to interfere in island goings-on. Only Dark interferes with dead bodies and Smoke Monsters.

OBSERVATIONS

1. When Locke didn't push the button in "Live together, Die Alone", the ensuing Swan blast left a 30 foot crater in the ground and yet no one died, even those folks at the epicenter of the blast. For over a day, Locke, Des, and Ecko were missing. Charlie went nowhere, but he didn't die either. Des was found naked (What's up with that?) Locke could not speak, and Ecko was being dragged by a polar bear. The smoke monster eventually killed him, for reasons we now know.
2. Walt couldn't commit suicide. His gun wouldn't fire. Likewise, the bomb was set to detonate on contact, but did not explode even after falling from a great height.
   
3. We saw Jacob touch Locke, Kate, Yin and Sun, Sawyer, Hurley. They all ended up on the island.
   
4. The janitor in front of Faraday's office told us he was working on the effect radiation had on memory retention during time travel. Let's assume he was genius enough to figure it out.
5. The DI may well be the first time in island history where regular island visitors come without being invited by Jacob.

QUESTIONS (estimated chance of 'yes'):

1. Did Ecko, Des, and Locke travel somewhere else we have yet to see, before ending back in their present? After all, Des was naked. If so, no one has memory of it. (90%)
   
2. Did Charlie not 'go' anywhere because he wasn't chosen / touched by Jacob, even though he survived the horrible blast? (80%)
3. After TT in the Swan Blast, did EM eventually return the chosen 3 to their present? (90%)
   
4. Did they live because Jacob touched them? Further, if you're touched by Jacob, can you die on the island at all? Remember, Locke was killed on the mainland. All island attempts failed. (10% Jacob's touch brings you to the island, nothing more)
   
5. Does the special nature of the EM blast ensure your survival? (90%)
6. Did Jughead in fact remain inert? Walt's gun refused to work... Jughead was set to go off on impact but did not. Perhaps Juliet did not spark the bomb because she couldn't. (80%)
   

THEORIES REGARDING THE FINALE

1. Like the Swan disaster, we suspect they have other experiences during the Swan blast (e.g., perhaps Kate will return naked).
2. It is possible they will not ultimately flash in time. The Swan survivors all returned to their time. It could also be interpreted that the Swan survivors all returned to their present. In the Finale, if the Swan blast returns people to their present, that will mean 2007 on the island. Their memories will be intact. The island, as usual, repairs various wounds, some faster than others depending on your faith.
   
3. The addition of Jughead appears to add a variable. I am discounting it for now due to WHH reinforced by Walt's gun.

CONCLUSIONS

1. Here's the big kicker. It is during the flashes elsewhere immediately after the blasts, both of them, that saving the TL and Jacob is accomplished. After all, there are two Lockes, and ATL doesn't do that.
2. Locke is part of the solution after all. Dark told him he couldn't do something:)

Jacob and Dark | The Struggle

Find the Season 5.16 The Incident pt. 1 here.
Fine the Season 5.17 The Incident pt. 2 here.

In a nutshell, here's what I think I saw in the S5 Finale.

THE TWO ADVERSARIES
Two immortal adversaries, call them Enemy and Jacob. And as a ship which looks like the Black Rock floats offshore, but definitely puts us in the 1800s, perhaps the most important conversation yet in the series then enjoins:

JACOB: I take it you're here 'cause of the ship.
ENEMY: I am. How did they find the Island?
JACOB: You'll have to ask 'em when they get here.
ENEMY: I don't have to ask. You brought them here. Still trying to prove me wrong, aren't you?
JACOB: You are wrong.
ENEMY: Am I? They come. They fight. They destroy. They corrupt. It always ends the same.
JACOB: It only ends once. Anything that happens before that is just progress.
ENEMY: Do you have any idea how badly I wanna kill you?
JACOB: Yes.
ENEMY: One of these days, sooner or later... I'm going to find a loophole, my friend.
JACOB: Well, when you do, I'll be right here.

Here is the first real glimpse at the secrets of LOST. Obviously this game between the two adversaries has been going on for a long, long time, even in the 1800s as dated by the ship. Enemy has grown weary of it because the ending is always the same; violence and corruption. The implication is that mankind is not worth saving. But the adversarial game is clearly a competition; Jacob is out to prove Enemy wrong; that mankind is better than that. All he has to do is prove it one time. For generations now, humans have failed.

The alternative endgame is that there is no relief from man's cycle of depravity. Either Jacob can admit it, and defeat, or Enemy can find a loophole, and kill him. It appears the loophole to kill Jacob is having someone else do it. Who better than the murderous, conniving, sociopath Ben. It's worth noting that it is not necessarily true that Enemy has always been intent on killing Jacob. It rather looks more likely that he is just horribly tired of the story that never ends, and is by now driven to kill Jacob to finally finish it.

RULES OF THE GAME
There are rules to the game they are playing. From the conversation, and later scenes, I believe they are as follows:

1. Neither can directly kill each other.
   
2. Neither can be direct actors on the island stage.
3. Enemy influences the humans on the stage to bring about the violent end even he has no taste for anymore. Because he can not act directly, he uses dead bodies and perhaps smoke as substitute. It now becomes something more than interesting that the Others burn their dead bodies and send them out to sea. Enemy's side of the game does not prevent him from swaying humans. It was Enemy who was trapped in the cabin by ashes, but found a way to get out by coercing someone to break the ash barrier. Perhaps it was Jacob who trapped him there to limit his interference. It appears he has been using Christian and Alex as proxies, but for some time now has impersonated a dead Locke. Dead is dead, after all.
   
4. Jacob does not act at all. His only role is to arrange people to come from the mainland. He chooses them. Beyond that, he makes no further interference. More on this later.

At least some of these rules are also used by humans on the island. Remember Ben telling Widmore that he had broke one of the rules; he had killed his daughter. Clearly we need to learn more about the Book of Laws.

WHAT IS THE DOMINANT THEME OF LOST?
The two adversaries embody two sides of the same coin in their struggle. What is it? While I suspect the LOST series is really a multi-layered combination of dichotomies, and good vs. evil is too simplistic, here are some possibilities:

• Fate vs. Free will
• Good vs. evil
• Baseness vs. Virtue
  
• Animal vs. Spiritual
• Damned vs. Redemption
• Nature vs. Nurture

All are essential and recurrent themes in religion and philosophy.

GOD vs. SATAN or GOOD vs. EVIL
Satan was God's right hand. The first conversation appears to be a bet about whether mankind is capable of governing on the island with virtue. Enemy doesn't think so. Jacob says they only have to do it once.

If indeed Jacob represents God, and the statue is Anubis, Guard of the Afterlife, then the island is Purgatory, and the humans there fighting for entry into either heaven or hell. It would also explain why no women can have children there.

It's interesting to note that the struggle to find virtue is also personified in the LOST crew as every main character struggles for redemption of their life stories. All are trying to overcome their pasts in their own way. All are growing and maturing towards it; especially the most spiritual Locke, who in his quest ironically opens himself to Enemy's manipulation and coercion, and dooms his life story to tragic, fatalistic repetition.

But the story is essentially about the O815, so we have reason to believe that at least one of them will be successful and suppress the killing and corruption. The explosion just gave them all a do over, arguably with their memories intact. Who will it be?

RA vs. APEP or GOOD vs. EVIL
An Egyptian variation on the Good vs. Evil theme would have Jacob represent Ra, god of Good and light, making his Enemy Apep, the Egyptian deification of evil and “Eater of Souls,” who is often portrayed as a snake not unlike the Smoke Monster.

Just as with the Devil scenario, Apep (Smoke Monster) confronts characters and consumes their soul, and absorbs their experiences if he finds that the character can not be used to his own evil ends. Ecko, perhaps the most tested and therefore self-actualized character on the series, was therefore one of the first to be consumed. Ben on the other hand, was already evil, and Locke the perfect patsy, making them both perfect for Apep’s grand plan to defeat Jacob (Ra).

Notice that in this analogy the imagery is somewhat richer, with only slightly less emphasis on Good and Evil, but the difference between this scenario and the one above is only slight. It matters little in the end.

FREE WILL: THE DOMINANT THEME
The intriguing thing about great stories is that they are multi-layered. There is no doubt that Enemy represents destiny and Jacob free will on its most basic level.

It is argued in many philosophies and virtually all religions that it is only man's free will that breaks the instinctual brain stem function of selfishness, violence and corruption. It is what sets us apart from animals (who kill each other all the time) and gives us our divinity or virtuosity. Free will is our most precious and holy attribute. It allows us to rise out of the savage muck and become good or virtuous, not because it's our nature, but like the gods, because we choose.

Jacob mentions, implies, or encourages free will in every conversation in the Finale. He says to Jack, "We all need a little push." Earlier in the operating room his father gave him a push in the right direction as well. Unfortunately Jack took his father's guidance in a knee jerk reaction (he didn't exert his free will) to the life long negativity of his father. Often in life the hardest lessons are those that come from people we have a hard time listening to. When Jack learns to appreciate at least some of the lessons his father taught him, he will be well and on his way to find his own redemption. Until then, Jack, like many of us, is caught in the never ending cycle of fighting against the demons of his life stories rather than realizing his potential.

In this same way, all the characters in LOST are fighting their pasts instead of exercising their free will and becoming who they could be. We thought Locke was the furthest along. It appears in the Finale that he is back at square one again.

With Hurley, Jacob's admonition of free will is even more direct. He expressly gives him the option of not going to the island, and encourages him to think of himself as blessed, rather than how others see him (crazy).

Finally, I believe that free will (and personal redemption) is the dominant theme of the story because of the powerful last scene; Jacob's death. The most illuminating point of the scene is what Jacob doesn't do; he doesn't plead for his life, the most logical thing for anyone to do. At the impending moment of is death, he addresses Ben, telling him he has a choice. When Ben asks Jacob who he is, Jacob replies, "Who are you?" There is never any attempt to sway Ben, only encouragement to avoid manipulation and act for himself. This scene, more than any other, convinces us that the story of LOST centers around free will and redemption (which leads to the end of violence and corruption) between the two ancient adversaries, but also on a personal level for our survivors.

THE DEATH SCENE
Enemy has finally won the age old struggle by finding a loophole to kill Jacob. That is, until Jack and his group blow up the Swan. Does that act give Jacob a new chance at life, as well as for each of the Losties?

Notice that the premise that Faraday / Jack's group worked under (that blowing up the Swan would erase the last months and land the plane in LA) is certainly not necessarily true. This reflects real life when we try to do the right thing but we often don't know all the facts...

Perhaps the LOST group will wake up on the island in much the same manner that Ecko, Des, and Locke did during the explosion at the Swan in S3, when they were thrown clear of the terrible blast. Maybe they flash to another time. Maybe they will just land on the island in a storm again. But I doubt they are going to LA, don't you?