February 3, 2010

LOST theories:

Jacob's enemy may be Esau. Like from the Bible. I could be reading into this way too much but some verses from the Biblical story might help explain things(I'm reading from the KJV):

Genesis 25: 27. Says Esau was a "cunning hunter", which could explain the smoke monster; and Jacob dwelt in tents, which could explain why all his followers live very plainly.

Genesis 27: 39, 40. Jacob's nemesis (who I'll call Dr. Evil from now on) said he wanted to "go home." In chapter 27, Jacob has stolen Esau's blessing from his father Isaac by deceiving him into thinking he was Esau. When Esau arrives to receive his blessing, he finds it has already been given and is in agony. His father's blessing gives Jacob lordship over Esau.

In verse 39 and 40, Isaac says to Esau, "Behold, thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above; and by the sword shalt thou live, and shalt serve thy brother; and it shall come to pass when thou shalt have dominion, that thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck."

Couple thoughts from these verses:

- The smoke monster was called the Island's security system, emanating from the temple and even being summoned by Ben. Does this mean that Dr. Evil served Jacob through Ben and the Others?

- This could explain why Dr. Evil wants to "go home" if his dwelling is the "fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above:" He has no home.

- Dr. Evil (in the body of John Locke) says to Richard, "Nice to see you without your chains on," reminiscent of the last part of verse 40 which says that Esau shall "break [Jacob's] yoke from off [his] neck."

In verse 41, Esau declares his intent to kill Jacob but is unsuccessful. In LOST, Dr. Evil also declares his intent to kill Jacob but has to find a "loophole" in order to do it. Meaning, he is powerless to kill Jacob himself.

Genesis 28:4. "And give thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee, and to thy seed with thee; that mayest inherit the land wherein thou are a stranger..." Reminds me of Ben leading the Other's to wipe out the DHARMA Initiative group and then take their place on the Island, living in their houses.

Jacob and Dr. Evil seem to be competing for something. Or betting on something. I think the Island is like a casino for them to place bets on the goodness of humanity. And so far it seems that Jacob has been losing his bets for centuries.

The Others seem to be Jacob's servants. But this brings up a lot of questions about Jacob's supposed goodness since it was the Others who wiped out the DHARMA Initiative group and the Others, led by Ben Linus, who have killed and terrorized the Oceanic survivors.

Ok, so if it is true that LOST is recreating the Jacob and Esau story in some form, then why this competition between the two? Could it be reminiscent of the competition that Jacob and Esau had for Isaac's affection? Otherwise, the competition doesn't make any sense, at least as a recreation of the biblical narrative. I wouldn't expect LOST to be completely faithful to the story but if this is about Jacob and Esau then I would expect a father figure to show up in a few episodes or the revelation they are brothers.

How does the DHARMA Initiative fit into this theory?

Is Dr. Evil powerless to kill Jacob because he has been cursed to be Jacob's servant or is it for some other, yet unknown, reason?

Is Jacob really dead?

I would say the way LOST is progressing lends a lot of weight to the Purgatory theory (I know the LOST creators have already said this isn't true). If it isn't purgatory, then it is definitely some sort of playground with Jacob and Dr. Evil acting as demi-gods over the inhabitants.

My last thoughts are on Jack. I think something is up with him. He's too perfect. I heard a theory that Jack might be one of the Others. I don't know about that but I think it's possible that Jack is hiding something. LOST has, until recently, always positioned Locke as the anti-Jack and now that Locke is gone, its Sawyer. In every good story, there is a villain and a hero and they are always pitted against each other. Who is the villain and who is the hero? I think there will be a showdown between Jack and Sawyer and Jack's secret will be revealed. Which I will explain in a moment. But first....

.....I think Jacob is the Island. Ben, in an early episode faced the smoke monster, lived and said he saw into the soul of the Island and it was beautiful. But later we learn he actually saw a bright light and that was what he saw the soul of the Island through. I believe this bright light protected him and reappears in the season six premiere when one of the men Jacob summons creates a circle of sand to protect himself from the smoke monster. The smoke monster runs up against it and a small light appears, shining down onto his head. He still dies because the smoke monster finds a way around it but I think those bright lights are the same and they are Jacob (which is why I question whether Jacob is actually dead).

There are two realities now. In the one where the Oceanic flight does not crash, the Island is under water, "dead" and caused by Jack's bomb. In the one where the flight does crash, Jacob is killed by Ben. In both realities, Jacob, as the Island, is dead and it all happens in the same episode.

In the flight crash reality, Jack gets everyone together to detonate the bomb, even though the plan is originally hatched by Daniel Faraday. And he also brings everyone back to the Island, resulting in Ben killing Jacob, even though bringing everyone back was originally Ben's plan, not Jacks. So Jack is behind the scenes of both deaths. Earning him my suspicions.

My wildest theory yet (and what I believe to be Jack's secret) is that Jack is Dr. Evil/the Smoke Monster/Esau. Christian Shepherd, his father, represents Isaac, who Jack is always trying to earn the respect of. This would fit with Jack trying to destroy Jacob/the Island, who receives Isaac/Christian's blessing but Esau/Jack does not. And if this is true, then perhaps LOST will reveal that Jack has a brother? We already know that Claire is his half-sister so maybe there is another sibling.

One final thing: Jack's tattoo on his left shoulder. One of the Others translates it to mean, "He walks amongst us but is not one of us."

I rest my case.