Empty Vessels
Christian Shephard was not in his coffin when Jack opened it on the island. This is a bigger mystery than it gets credit for, often forgotten as a “huh, that’s odd” moment in the midst of Jack becoming a leader early in season 1. I hadn’t thought about it much either - until Christian, or someone looking an awful lot like Christian - showed up sitting Jacob’s rocker. That’s when it became the most integral mystery on the show…what is up with Christian Shephard?!
The thing is - Christian Shephard himself is largely unimportant in this. He was Jack and Claire’s lousy alcoholic father, and he connects a large amount of the survivors (including Sawyer, Boone, Shannon, etc.). The fact that he was the only passenger on Oceanic 815 to die before it crashed onto Craphole island is the key here.
Let’s say - and I’m just spitballing here - that “the whispers” are the lost souls of Craphole Island. Many theorized that the island was the afterlife, but it clearly isn’t. The castaways aren’t dead (well, the ones that aren’t at least). But the island is a very special island, and it refuses to obey the rules that govern the rest of the world. Assuming that souls exist (and in the world of Lost, they most certainly do), your soul leaves your body once you die and from there it’s anyone’s guess (and isn’t important here). But when you die ON the island, your soul is trapped - or perhaps bound - to the island. It’s no longer completely tied to a physical body, but it roams the island, barely able to exist, but completely unable to go to whatever afterlife it is suppose to go to. “The whispers” are the remnants of these confused spirits.
Perhaps some of these spirits are more powerful than others. Perhaps some of these spirits could inhabit a body - if it could find a willing one. While the tie between body and soul are severed on the island - it is not complete, and a foreign spirit cannot take over these bodies. But if a body were to enter the protective shell (of electromagnetism) that covers the island, whose spirit left this mortal coil prior to its arrival to Craphole Island, maybe…just maybe…they could take it over. An empty vessel is what this spirit would need. An empty vessel…like Christian Shephard.
And soon, John Locke. But we’ll get to that later.
So what spirit was powerful enough to take over Christian Shephard’s well-preserved body? And what would it want the vessel for?
Let’s see what we have seen of Christian since “The Spirit” took over:
- Almost immediately after the crash, he instructed Vincent to awaken Jack
- He taunted Jack with Christian’s visage from afar, and led him to the fresh water of the caves.
- He took Jacob’s chair
- He took Christian’s estranged daughter, Claire, off into the jungle (whether Claire died in the barracks explosion is a matter for another post)
- He told Locke to “move” the island, saying he was speaking on behalf of Jacob
- He told Locke not to mention who or what he saw (specifically) in the cabin
- He told Michael he could “go now” preceding the freighter explosion
- He appeared to Jack off-island
So is this a malicious spirit or a good one? It depends on your point of view. He is apt to lying - he is definitely not speaking on Jacob’s behalf, and has taken over Jacob’s throne as Island King (or whatever you want to call it). When Jacob begged to Locke “help me,” the spirit was beginning his overthrow of Jacob’s island empire. By the time Hurley stumbles upon the cabin, it’s over. Jacob’s terrified eye covers the screen while Christian sits on his rocking throne.
Jacob was the strongest spirit on the island - an ancient spirit who has been on the island since the beginning, likely - but he is unable to save himself and the island from the ChristianSpirit being. When that spirit entered Christian, he was not fully corporeal. Half-spirit, half-flesh…all-powerful. Now Jacob has been expelled completely from his cabin, left to wander the island aimlessly. Ben, Jacob’s greatest acolyte, is gone and thinks Jacob rejected him (which he did not). Locke cannot help Jacob, because he does not understand Jacob yet.
Luckily, Locke is about to BECOME Jacob. His empty vessel will sail back onto the island with Ben and Jack and Friends (likely on Ajira Airlines), and Jacob will find his key to taking back the island. Jacob will take over Locke, and the final battle will begin…
ChristianSpirit vs. JacobLocke
It’s so on.
