Gut Reaction
Lost has a tendency to rip the rug out from under our feet with finales. Season 1 we saw the Others reveal themselves to take Walt, Season 2 blew up the Hatch and revealed the outside world existed (important to note that prior to this, there was much theorizing that the rest of the world was gone), Season 3 brought the flashforward reveal, and Season 4 disappeared Craphole Island.
Now, we have met Jacob. The Incident happened (or was it prevented?) when Juliet set off the nuke. Ben murdered Jacob. Locke is still dead.
Let’s start with focusing on a single topic:
Jacob - Jacob is very old. He is damn ancient, a powerful force that rules Craphole Island. Then there is the Other Man. He is the Yin to Jacob’s Yang. It would be wrong for us to assume Jacob is the good force (God) while his enemy (henceforce LockeSpirit) is the evil (Satan), but we know they are essentially two sides of the same coin. But there are rules: they cannot kill each other. But since both are corporeal (albeit ageless), they can die.
Remember that guy in the cabin? The guy we were told was Jacob? It wasn’t. It was LockeSpirit, an old and decrepit spirit. Weak and dying. Trapped (arguably, by Jacob or Jacob’s Followers) there, bound by ashes. He begged Locke to “help him.” And - who the hell would’ve known - Locke sure as hell did. He took over Locke’s visage (and likely merged with his spirit, given how he mimicked Locke’s personality and memories perfectly, although the true nature remains to be seen) and used it to gain access to Jacob’s chamber with a servant willing to kill Jacob.
Ben killed Jacob. Ben killed Jacob (or, at least, was willing to follow Locke to that step) because he had been told to listen to LockeSpirit no matter what. What does this mean? Maybe the Smoke Monster isn’t everything it appears to be. Maybe the Smoke Monster wants LockeSpirit in charge - and hates Jacob (we’ll get to that later).
Jacob is also a bit of a playful Island God. He brings people to Craphole Island (the Black Rock, for instance) to see how they’ll do. To see if any of them are “good people.” They all inevitably fail (apparently) according to Ancient LockeSpirit, and become “corrupted.” Subtle metaphor for the Book of Job? Very possible. Ancient LockeSpirit seems to think humanity is weak and sinful, and are not worthy of Craphole Island. There has been a war brewing between these two, and it may already be over.
Questions remain: why did ChristianSpirit take over Not-Jacob’s cabin, and if “dead is dead,” then why was Christian’s body not still in its coffin as Locke’s was? (guess: I have absolutely no idea) Who broke the ash barrier so that Not-Jacob could escape and pretend to be Locke? (guess: Keamy or another agent of Widmore, who has long been awaiting new management to take over the island). Is Jacob truly dead? (guess: Yes) If so, is there going to be a war? (guess: Oh hell yes)
A ridiculous finale. So many questions raised. To think…in one year, we will have all of the answers! Until then, blindly theorizing is the name of the game.
