Hurley's Numbers

SAYID: 'It's a loop. "Iteration"—it's repeating the same message. It's a counter. The next number will end … "533".
RADIO: 'Iteration 17294533'.

Was this a hint to solving one of Lost's biggest mysteries, Hurley's numbers?

Yes, the numbers are variables in the Valenzetti Equation, an equation that predicts the end of the world. Dharma was out to change just 1 of the variables, whether it was a polar bear in the tropics or experimenting with space-time. All of this is still the case, but I believe there is more to the numbers.

I think they are the count for the iteration of existence. Like the big bang retracting then big-banging again and so on and so on, they are a running total, a carry-over from the previous iteration, just like Rousseau's numbers are counting how many times her micro-loop had occurred.

This explains how Hurley could broadcast the Numbers(an act which most certainly would have to happen near the end of the series and the end of the character's story arc) without time-traveling back to say 1950 in time to broadcast the numbers for the military listening station. I've been pretty sure he broadcasts them but couldn't figure out how that would work...Hurley being in the 1950s, at the end of the season, seems a bit off. We know the conflict is in 2007.

Thus, I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that one of Hurley's final acts will be to broadcast the numbers, +1:

4 8 15 16 23 43.

Might this be one of the final acts on the show, Hurley broadcasting the next iteration, which will exist as creation starts up again, floating through time and space until it's picked up yet again by the military listening post?

Could be very cool, and I'm rooting for it.

Libby, Dave & Hurley

These are the facts:
Libby was a grieving widow, in post-traumatic shock from her husband suddenly dying.
Hurley committed himself to Santa Rosa due to the intense grief he was feeling for being on a balcony that collapsed and killed several people.
Hurley can see dead people.
Libby's husband was named David.
Dave tells Hurley to stop taking his meds, to keep eating unhealthy food, and to escape from Santa Rosa. Years later, when Hurley is falling in love with Libby, Dave(who just happens to be around) tries to get Hurley to throw himself from a cliff.

Why is it the two times that Hurley encounters Dave, Libby is just around the corner? Because Dave is staying close to his wife. Coincidentally, they BOTH cross paths with Hurley twice. They are a tandem. They are connected, husband and wife. This is why Libby gives Hurley a bizarre, eerie look when his back is turned...directly after he describes her husband. She's startled.

Questions I'd Like Answered

Feel free to leave comments if you have an idea or answer to any of the following:

How does hawking know about the man in the red shoes?
Who gets shot in the boat?
Whose glass eye does Bernard find?
What’s in the guitar case?
Is Juliet pregnant?
How did Karl get to the island?
Who/What is in the temple?
If the Donkey Wheel was buried when the statue was still intact, where did it come from?
Does Desmond get back to the Island and if so, how?
How did the statue get destroyed?
Will the volcano erupt?
Was Christian the doctor at The Looking Glass and did he program the code?
Who was the eye that Hurley saw in the cabin?
How/why does the cabin move?
What is the cabins purpose?
Did the circle of ash keep someone out or keep someone in?
What is Lapidus a possible ‘candidate’ for?
Why was Ilana in the hospital?
Do Aaron & Ji Yeon have a future together?
Who is the Economist?
Who salted the ground around the '?'?
Who is behind the food drops?
What did Eko mean by 'you're next'?
Is Cooper really Locke's father?
Why did the Others burn a body and send it out to sea?
Was Libby's husband's body somehow enclosed in the boat she gave Desmond?
Why does Mikhail shoot Bea Klugh?
When did Dharma start their Shadow of the Statue branch of operations, or is it the other way around?
Has Jack's grandfather been to the Island before?
What happened between Horace & Olivia?
What happened to Annie?
Will we see Henry Gale?
Will Walt return to the Island?
How did Ethan drag Claire & Charlie for miles through a jungle?
What else was Faraday doing off-Island for 3 years?

Multimedia Timeout

Hey faithful Lost Fanatic,

Just wanted to let you know that in addition to theorizing about the best show in network television history, I'm also a full-time filmmaker and a part-time emcee/musician.

Here's a couple links to my other passions:

My 1st feature film from years ago:
www.RiseBySin.com

My 2nd feature film from this year:
www.IceGrillUSA.com

My most recent musical efforts:
http://rapidshare.com/files/264498135/Gatsby_The_Great_-_Equinox_Vol._1_2009_.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/78424123/Gatsby_The_Great_-_Falling_Up_2007_.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/53860696/Gatsby_The_Great_-_Karuna_Rage_2007_.rar

you can also check out all of my music@:
www.soundclick.com/gatsbythegreat

Thanks for stopping by and stay tuned for more theories.

-Mark

Mysteries of the Universe Pt. 2

Again, creepy music, creepier voice...but where's the beef?

The whole video is about how mysterious Dharma is...but the production of it is meant to imply that something evil is at work.

However, if you look at the facts...it's just usual Dharma activity.

For example, in this video, we have Olivia Goodspeed, who apparently disappeared.

We know from the show that she makes it safely to the Island and is teaching 5th grade to a bunch of little kids. Wow, Dharma really is PURE evil.

Pay close attention to these videos, and when each installment is done, ask yourself if Dharma really did anything other than protect itself from being disturbed...it's not like they're finding pools of blood at Olivia's apartment.

It is rather entertaining though, and you gotta love the style of the video.

Mysteries of the Universe Pt.1

Interesting to note the dates that Mysteries of the Universe will be released:

Episode 1: July 23rd, 2009
Episode 2: August 4th, 2009
Episode 3: September 8th, 2009
Episode 4: October 15th, 2009
Episode 5: November 16th, 2009

Hey numbers, long time no see!


Anyways, here's my take on Part One:

Creepy music, creepier voice.
I don't buy it for a second.

In this video, TPTB have taken all of the identifiers of The Others and pinned them on Dharma.

'they walk among us, but are not one of us'. Jack's tattoo. A trickster, imitator, in our midsts.
There is a 20 second shot of a palm tree. It looks exactly like the cover for the album 'Hotel California' by The Eagles, an album cover that somewhat famously has the face of a devil 'upside down' in the palm trees. Seems like everything is being turned upside down.

Since when does Dharma infiltrate? Name the Dharma mole on 815. Has Dharma ever infiltrated the Losties? I don't see how this video is doing anything but putting The Others' skin onto Dharma's body....hmm, I wonder what they're preparing us for?

More to come on this subject.

Blog Like An Egyptian

'Horus thereupon did battle with Set, the victory falling now to one, now to the other ... Horus and Set, it is said, still do battle with one another, yet victory has fallen to neither. '


Set was one of ancient Egypt's earliest gods, a god of chaos, confusion, storms and wind.
In the Osiris Legend, he was a rival to the god Horus.
The eye on Jacob's tapestry is the Eye of Horus.
One of Set's companions was the sun god, RA(Richard Alpert).
Set's wife, Tawaret(statue) kept him chained up in Northern Egypt, which was considered to symbolize darkness, cold and death(the dark territory).
Set was infertile because Horus ripped off his testicles.
In the original tale of the fight between Set and Horus, the Egyptians believed that the two would continue their battle until the end of time itself.
Horus is the god of the day sky(light). Set is the god of the night sky(dark).
Set is associated with premature birth(weakening of Ben & Locke...this was no accident, Nemesis caused both).
With 72 accomplices, Set tricked his brother into lying inside a perfectly fitted coffin(Jacob's murder).
Set is a friend of the dead(imitator of the dead).

To the Egyptians he was the god who 'ate' the moon each month - the 'black boar' who swallowed its light.

This is why John Locke can kill boars. Because he was destined to kill Nemesis.
This is why John Locke chose the knife. This is why John Locke brought knives with him. This is why Jacob stabs a knife into the sand.

The head of the Set-animal resembles the Oxyrhynchus fish.
Set was also known to be associated with redheads.
Jacob uses his knife to filet a red fish. The red herring was actually a red herring.

Why Do The Others Take Children?(And Cindy)

The Others are a group in quite a bind.

For starters, they can't reproduce, but they also don't want people coming to the Island...so who will carry the torch?

This is one of the reasons they steal children...they need to continue to populate their ranks.

But that's not the only reason.

The Others also need weak, impressionable candidates. That is the standard for joining them. If you prove that you can't be pressured and manipulated into following orders, you are not for them. If you are capable of change, you are not for them. Goodwin was going to recommend that Ana Lucia get a membership card. Of course, many of The Others are unaware that their code produces such candidates, preferring to view their weak colleagues as loyal, disciplined, and dedicated.

So why Cindy?

Cindy was taking care of the Tailie kids, who were kidnapped by The Others, and their names were on The Others' list. Why wasn't Cindy taken the same time? Why is it she later disappeared while crossing the dark territory? Goodwin never got a chance to make a recommendation, so what changed?

Just like Ben's mother, Eko's brother, Amy's husband, Jack/Claire's dad, Juliet's lovers' wife(Harper)....Nemesis uses trusted figures to control your actions.

And who better to shape the minds of the children than Cindy?

Mr. Friendly Visits Michael

'Why didn't that gun fire?' is one of the more interesting questions I've been forced to ask myself while watching episodes of Lost. This fate thing really is amazing.

But how did Tom aka Mr Friendly know about it? How is it he was so certain that Micheal couldn't die, no matter what he tried?

Because The Others know the future. They know Michael's destiny. They know he is going to blow up the freighter. That's why Ben, the ultimate trickster, lives up to his word and let's Michael & Walt leave(after forcing Walt to do a few things, of course). Ben knows that Michael will be his man on the inside, the man who prevents scores of people leaving yet again, thus keeping the Island hidden from the outside world. Sure, this would mean that either Faraday learned while on the freighter that Michael was Ben's man, or that one of the Losties relayed it to him in the years between then and his death(Sawyer, Miles & Charlotte were there when Ben revealed his inside man) and he consequently wrote it in his journal, which became property of Ms. Hawking, leader of the Others.

Worthwhile Link #2

Check out Angelo Comet's blog on Lost, A Lost Place@

http://angelocomets-lost-place.blogspot.com/


Angelo always has some very insightful stuff to say, great place to further your understanding of the show.

Radzinsky Decoded

Radzsinky, what a prick!

As stated in Lost SOLVED, Dharma represents change. They are the good guys.

So how is someone like Radzinsky in their midsts? Simple: Just because he wears a Dharma uniform, doesn't mean he practices what they preach.

Notice the following:
He is the Dharma member who:
-Radzinsky gives 'orders' and runs a tight ship. Very little room for personal freedom.
-Radzinsky insists on building the Swan station, a station where the button will be pressed again and again and again and again....the loop, the cycle, the repetition that makes Nemesis' spine tingle.
-Radzinsky claims 'I came here to save the world and that's what I'm going to do'. Here we have him aligned with Hawking, the queen of the fatalists, leader of the Others, protocol and loop-protecting extraordinaire.


Radzinsky is clearly aligned with the dark side and embodies their principles.
I really hope they show us how he died in the Swan....

Why Does The Foot Have An Arrow Under It?

Because an arrow is the complete opposite of a loop, which represents the same cycle repeating again and again.
The arrow represents progress and change, going forward.
It's the perfect headquarters for Jaocb.

Worthy Link

Hey theorists,

check out www.losties.net

I've been using it for a while now and it's a breeding ground for outside the box ideas. You can find old posts of mine on there if you so wish, but I'm sure they're inaccurate :)

Lost Jewelry Explained

I've always been curious about the watches and rings and their symbolic significance on the show.

In one of the Mobisodes, Christian gives Jack a watch.
Paik gives Jin a watch to bring to L.A.
Jin gives Michael a watch(after fighting him for it on the beach).
Charlie leaves his DS ring behind.
Both Naomi and Elsa have a bracelet that Sayid notices.

The watches and the ring represent fate. They are a complete circle. There is no disruption, they are a cycle.

Christian, being bad, and Jack, having a dark destiny, were symbolically bonded, demonstrating their fatalistic beliefs(as beaten into Jack's head his whole life 'you're no hero').

Paik, I think most of us would agree, is not a good person. He gives orders. He is heartless. Thus, he is on the side of fate, corruption, and stagnation. His watch is like a talisman...while Jin has it, he is dominant and cold-hearted and gives orders...when Michael gets it, he becomes a puppet for the Others, following orders.

Sayid has a habit of letting women capture his heart. Nadia(the first time), Shannon, Elsa, Naomi(for some odd reason, but an obvious moment), and finally Nadia a second time. The bracelets of Elsa & Naomi symbolically represent this vicious cycle. He will break it, but perish. That sucks, Sayid might be my favorite character(all amateur psychiatrists, hold that thought).

Charlie's Drive Shaft ring embodies his dark days(notice the black nailpolish) while under the influence of heroin. He leaves it behind, and is freed to die and complete his journey. Sun now has it....beware.

What's The Deal With All This Egyptian Stuff?

It's not Egyptian culture, it's Island culture.

The culture originated on the Island.
This explains how the Donkey Wheel could already have hieroglyphics written on it before there was ever a way to access it. The exit is in Tunisia, Africa..probably the most accepted answer for 'where did life originate?'.

Considering what I proposed in Lost SOLVED, it makes sense that the Island would be the location for both the birth and death of mankind.

The Island itself represents a loop, the cycle of life, light and dark, life and death.

*this theory is admittedly highly speculative...

Light vs. Dark, The Beach vs. The Dark Territory

Jacob lives on the beach, his Nemesis, in the jungle. These two locations are very telling. The beach is out in the open. Meanwhile, Nemesis is creeping through the brush and the darkness. He pops out of nowhere and blindsides you. He sneaks up on you. He is deceptive.

Considering this, notice the following:

Jack argues to move inland to the caves, away from the hope of rescue.
Yemi stands at the edge of the jungle and baits Eko to his death.
Walt lures Vincent, and as a result Shannon, into the jungle, to her death.
Locke retrieves Sawyer from the beach so he can kill Cooper.
Ben's mother lures him into the jungle where his seduction by The Others begins.
Christian lures Jack into the jungle.
Charlie, after finding drugs in the jungle, kicks his habit and lives on the beach.
Radzsinsky, a man who is very much into Orders(dark side), digs up his swan(repetition, not progress) under the protection of the natural jungle camouflage.

The jungle is where Smokie lives, in The Dark Territory. Pretty literal. It's the Dark side's territory. You won't find Smokie on the beach..how come? Nemesis can only enter the beach in human form, as he did with Rousseau's team, or when he spoke with Jacob, or when he was Locke.

The further you get from the beach, the more evil the real estate.
Makes you wonder what's inside the temple, which is miles past the wall....there is some serious evil headed our way.

How Nemesis Killed John Locke & How Nemesis Knew What To Do, & Why Ben Can Return To The Island

1)Nemesis, via Christian & Claire, tells Locke to move the Island. Ben knows this is his responsibility, he has orders. There is no rule that says he who leaves the Island can never return, that's why Ben CAN return. Why take Ben at his word? Because Locke has a gun to him?

2)Nemesis, via Alpert via Fake Locke, orders Injured Locke to give him the compass and tell him certain information and to bring everyone back who left. Nemesis knows to tell Locke this because
A) he knows who returned and was bounced to 1977(Faraday Journal
B) he lived through the conversation first hand. Fake Locke telling Alpert what to say is only so Ben won't be suspicious and figure out that he's a pawn. Also, Alpert sets an example for Ben that all of Fake Locke's orders should be followed.

3) Locke is told to find Hawking by Widmore. Two ex-leaders of The Others, aka Nemesis' soldiers. They are co-conspirators.

4) Ben, already off the Island, has been ordered to find and kill John Locke.

5) Hawking knows the protocol because it's in her own journal. This creative paradox, which is no different than the compass, is the one element of the show where the writers are asking us to suspend disbelief the most. She knows who she put on Ajira. She knows that Locke's body is destined to be used by Nemesis.


Fake Christian, Fake Claire, Hawking, Widmore, Ben, Fake Locke, Alpert. All working for the same side, using information passed through the time loop.

What Lies In The Shadow Of The Statue & The Resurrection of John Locke

As Richard tells us, it is 'he who will save us all'.

None other than John Locke.

John Locke was targeted by Nemesis from birth(since he knew about him in 1954), beating him down at very turn, trying to make him weak. He did everything he could to make Locke want to give up. But for some reason, Locke held on. Why is it that John Locke has never been good at anything, has never succeeded at anything, yet so fervently yells at people 'DONT TELL ME WHAT I CAN'T DO!!!!'. What is the basis for that confidence?

Destiny, my friends.

John Locke, the supposed victim of Nemesis, the pawn of Nemesis for so many years, will eventually be the man who brings Nemesis to his knees.

He was resurrected when he fell out of the building. He was 'rose up' after the crash of 815. And now Jacob has made the ultimate sacrifice, allowing himself to be killed, knowing that it will bring about the final resurrection of John Locke.

Locke, the man The Others were always told would be special and save them(a lie told by Nemesis), will actually save us all.

This is why Locke had a suitcase full of knives . This is why Jacob has a knife on the beach. This is why John Locke chose the knife.

He's going to kill Nemesis with it.

The irony of course, is that Nemesis makes his own bed and then dies in it. Nemesis orchestrates the death of Locke, but in tern is sealing his own fate, allowing for Resurrected Locke to kill him. With every step of his plan, he was inching himself closer to his own demise. This is what happens when your knowledge of future events is limited.

Fate, Late, Cigarettes & The Boston Red Sox

A lot of people question whether Lost SOLVED is merely a summary of what we already know or if it's actually useful.

I just wanted to give a couple examples of how the principles established in Lost SOLVED can be applied to even the smallest details of the show, and thus provide us answers.

Why does Christian Shephard always say that the Boston Red Sox will never win the World Series?
Because the writers are painting Christian as a fatalist, meaning he will eventually be aligned with the dark side aka Team Nemesis. Nemesis is aligned with Smokie. That is why Jack found cigarettes in his father's hotel room, proclaiming 'my father doesn't smoke'. Sorry Jack, but your father is a bad egg(and so are you).

Why does Charlie change his knuckle-tape-message from Fate to Late?
Here we have the same theme at play. Charlie, while addicted to heroin, has 'Fate' written on his knuckles. Fate is the mantra of the dark side. It implies no change, no progress. However, once Charlie changes and overcomes his addiction, he returns to the beach(Jacob's domain), works with Eko building a church, and changes his knuckles to 'Late'. Late is the complete opposite of Fate. You can't be late for fate, you were destined to get there when you got there. They are opposing forces, late and fate. Change and stagnancy.

The two sides are embedded in the show...pick an issue and pick it apart, almost everything I examine follows the same rules...and I'd love to hear what you come up with!

Alpert Taking Ben into The Temple

IS A BIG FAT LIE!

Juliet is an Other. She speaks Latin. She has ninja skills. She even says she's an Other.
Her sister's life is held over her head and she follows orders now.

Now flashback to 1977, when Young Ben is brought into the Dharma mash unit.

The regular doctor is away at The Looking Glass.
Jack refuses to Operate.

The ONLY SOURCE for Ben's medical condition is....Juliet.

We assume she's telling the truth.

But she is an OTHER. She follows orders.

Juliet was ordered to pretend that Ben could not be saved, to fake his dire situation. She insisted that he be taken to The Others, because she was ordered to make it happen.

It was all a ruse.

Ben is told The Others brought him back to life. How should he know? But now he feels safe with them, he trusts Alpert even more.

It's all ONE BIG LIE. That's what they do. Bastards!

Loophole Explained

How Jacob’s Nemesis Used Time Travel For A Loophole
As previously theorized in Lost Solved, Richard Alpert is Jacob’s Nemesis aka Smokie aka Cerberus, and The Others have ALWAYS been following Nemesis’ orders, not Jacob’s.

And here is how the loophole works...

Jacob is omniscient, Nemesis is not. Jacob knows that Eko is wounded in the polar bear cave, Smokie has no clue, or he would’ve killed him then. Jacob knows that Nemesis is Fake Locke and is coming to kill him, Nemesis has no idea that Ilana and the Shadow of the Statue folk are outside the foot.

Nemesis just can’t win.

Until he finds the loophole, which arrives in his lap in 1954 in the shape of John Locke. Locke name-drops Jacob to Richard Alpert(Smokie/Nemesis), and Alpert’s eyes light up. If Alpert really talked to Jacob, wouldn’t he be able to prove Locke wrong or right, without visiting him and testing him again and again? No, Alpert was not testing Locke to prove if he was special. He was testing Locke to see if he was from the future. Locke picked the knife because his destiny is to shove it into Nemesis’ midsection..but I digress.

The loophole is the information that Alpert/Smokie/Nemesis/Others were able to acquire as a result of the donkey-wheel being pushed and the Island skipping through time. Between conversations with Locke, Jack & co, and Faraday’s journal, Team Nemesis was able to figure out pretty much everything that happened between 1977 and 2004. They knew the names of everyone on Oceanic 815, and could trace them from infancy to adulthood. They know their weaknesses and shortcomings. Nemesis has studied them and is about to pounce...little does he know that sometimes people change.

Nemesis, via Alpert, tells Locke he has to die.
Nemesis, via Christian & Claire, tells Locke he has to move the island.
Christian tells him again in the chamber, this time informing him to look up Ms. Hawking.
Nemesis tells Ben to kill Locke off-Island.
Hawking makes sure that Locke’s body is on Ajira 316, as she was instructed.
This is how Nemesis knows that Ben killed Locke. He set it all up, he doesn’t have access to Ben’s memories, he just happens to know what happened because he planned it.

This is the Loophole. The word is actually LITERAL in this case, because it’s a time-loop. As a result of time-travel, Team Nemesis can manipulate the Others and keep up with Jacob. However, his knowledge is limited to Ajira 316 landing(hence why the Others were building the runway), and once he kills Jacob, he gets blindsided by Ilana and The Shadow of the Statue people.

Lost SOLVED

The Two Sides & Their Methods

Lost is a timeless story of good vs evil, personal choice vs. slavery, and freedom vs. fate.
As we were told in the beginning by John Locke, ‘two sides, one light, one dark’. The Light Side, as you can probably guess, is the side of Good, Freedom, & personal choice.

On the Light Side we have Jacob. Jacob is the personification of good. His character is based on an archetype that has popped up in every culture and religion since the beginning of time(see Divine Comedy, Paradise Lost, New Testament, Star Wars, and so on). He is compassionate. He is omniscient. He is optimistic. He invites you to his Island. He lives on the beach, having nothing to hide. He believes in and practices personal freedom. He believes in evolution, growth, change, and free will. But Jacob wants YOU to WANT to change. He will give you ‘little pushes’ along the way, like the Apollo Candy Bar stuck in the snack machine, and help you get to the point where YOU are ready to change. He does not lie to you or trick you into making the right choice for the wrong reason. He does not give orders, he ASKS. He asks Sawyer if he wants a pen. He asks Sayid for directions. He asks Jack if the extra candy bar is his. He asks Kate if she’ll steal again. He tells Hurley he has a choice. He ‘offers’ Sun & Jin his blessing. Even when faced with certain death, Jacob tells Ben that he has a choice, that he is not a slave, no matter what Fake Locke has told him. This is a man who does not compromise his principles. They are bedrock. We can analyze what has happened and know if he’s involved based on the method and the motive(more of that later). Most importantly though, Jacob wants wholesale change. He wants mankind to change. He is looking for a macro-event. This evolutionary completion is the ‘only ends once’ scenario that Jacob speaks of on the beach. Everything else is just progress, mankind inching closer to mass enlightenment. But there is opposition.

Thus we have the Dark Side. Nemesis is the personification of evil. His character is based on the timeless archetype of the mischievous trickster. He is not omniscient, rather, he relies on the tools and techniques of man. He believes mankind will not change. He is pessimistic. He is fatalistic. He believes the same cycle will repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat....no change whatsoever. He thinks men will continue to crumble in the face of great challenges, due to ambition, greed, guilt, vengeance, and weakness. But he is not passive like Jacob. Nemesis gets involved. Nemesis tests you. Nemesis tempts you. He learns your weakness and exploits it. Should he present you with a test you’ve failed in the past, and you demonstrate a capacity for change, you are a threat to him. He does not want change to happen. This is his argument with Jacob. Nemesis’ only code is that he has no code. He will lie, cheat, steal, kill, and mass-murder. He will haunt you with your dead relatives. He will exploit you emotionally and psychologically. He finds your weakness and applies pressure. If you’re strong, you must be eliminated...Nemesis can’t have agents of change running around, helping man progress. Nemesis applies this same technique to groups of people. If Nemesis should encounter your group, he will find the weakness. He will test everyone in it, kill the strong, and promote the weak. Infiltrate, divide, conquer, exterminate, assimilate the remaining weak people into a group and hand them orders to follow. Nemesis has one goal in mind: change must not happen.

Thus, we now know the methods of the opposing sides. The Light Side hopes that you’ll make the right decision on your own and gives you the space to do so. The Dark Side will not see around and hope you screw up, The Dark Side makes SURE you have every opportunity to fail. He stacks the deck. He baits you. He tricks you. He CHEATS. He will do whatever he can to avoid the ‘only ends once’ mass-evolution of man scenario that Jacob assures him is unavoidable.

The duality of this conflict is represented in every layer of the show and has been embedded from the start. As the following will demonstrate, the writers have not been winging it...we can all exhale. Change vs Fate has been there from day one. Charlie the drug addict writes ‘fate’ on his knuckles, then changes it to 'late' after he's overcome his addiction. From fate to being late. There’s no such thing as being late when it comes to fate. They are opposing concepts...Charlie has changed.

The Two Sides Represented by Dharma & The Others

The Dharma Initiative’s stated goal is to change one number in The Valenzetti Equation, an equation that supposedly predicts the end of the world. They attempt a multi-pronged attack in various scientific fields, each of which seeks change in said field. In Room 23, where Karl was being held, they try to change your mind. They recondition Polar Bears to live in the tropic. They experiment with time-travel. They experiment with The Hawthorne effect, hoping that observation will change the outcome. It’s also important to note, that while there was a lot of building about this scary interrogator in the jungle, they do not torture. They just set you free a little bit and you do the talking. They also vote and confer with each other about major decisions. They do not have a dictatorship, they are peaceful...it’s practically a hippie resort. They are science, they are progress, they are change, and they are aligned with The Light Side. They are agents of change. Thus, for Nemesis, they are a threat.

The Others hate change and choice and personal freedom. They believe in fate and following orders without asking questions. Just ask Ms. Hawking, former leader of The Others, and she’ll tell you that everyone is doomed, that the cycle is perpetual. She believes in this so much that she doesn’t attempt to avoid shooting her own son(Faraday in 1977) even though she’s well aware that her actions will directly lead to it eventually happening. She wants Desmond to press the button...again, and again, and again, and again. The Others do not like change and similarly, they do not like visitors. One of their primary objectives is to ‘protect the Island’ by keeping people away and keeping people from leaving. They want to slow progress down to a halt. They want to stop change dead in it’s tracks. The Others are the weaklings of every group who has come to the Island, hand-selected for their inability to question orders and their lack of fortitude. There is no room for personal choice with The Others, you follow the rules, you obey your superior officer, because as Bonnie states in Through The Looking Glass ‘the minute I start questioning orders, this whole thing, everything that we're doing here, falls apart.’ The Others put Nemesis’ methods into practice. They wear beards and trick you. They lie cheat and steal. They have Ethan infiltrate you. They kidnap your child and use him as leverage. They figure out your weakness, like Jack’s feelings for Kate, and they apply pressure. They manipulate you. The methods of Benjamin Linus are the methods of Nemesis. The Others are, and always have been, aligned with The Dark Side.

Ahh but I can hear your thoughts already...if they follow Jacob, how are they on The Dark Side? Simple. They’re not following Jacob and they never were following him. Jacob has nothing to do with The Others. Jacob does not give orders, Jacob let’s you choose. You can even choose the wrong path if you want, but it’s your choice. So why is it so many of The Others think they’re following Jacob? To answer that, I first have to tell you a story about a literal and figurative ‘loophole’

The Loophole

In 1954, John Locke walks up to Richard Alpert and informs him that he’s from the future, that Jacob sent him, and that he is Richard’s leader. Richard’s eyes light up at the mention of Jacob. This is the birth of the loophole. For the first time in the history of the conflict, Nemesis is now able to level the playing field(for the moment, humor me and pretend that Nemesis knows everything that Richard Alpert knows). He has been fighting a losing battle, going to war with a combatant who knows the future and thus can’t be blind-sided or plotted against. How do you win when your opponent knows everything that will happen? Thanks to time-travel, Nemesis now has the same abilities, albeit they are limited. He now can look into the future. He knows when John Locke will be born. This is his first, but not last, fruit from the tree of knowledge. Daniel Faraday time-jumps to 1977 and hands his mother, Eloise Hawking, a journal detailing all of the events of the next 30 years(This is a rather cheap plot device, how does the journal not reset and become empty? It’s just like the compass and we have no choice but to accept it as rational). It details every single aspect of The Dharma Initiative, a foe that The Others dismantle at the seams. Nemesis, like Jacob in his battle with Nemesis, is now one step ahead of The Dharma Initiative. In turn, Nemesis can now prove to his people, his army of weaklings, that he has communication with a divine source. He tells them that in 2004 a man named John Locke will crash onto the Island. He has the flight manifest from Faraday’s journal. He knows everyone on board. He expands his operations. He follows all of the survivors of Oceanic 815 from birth to 2004. He knows their weaknesses. He knows how to tempt them. He knows how to test them. He knows how to manipulate them. Nemesis has found a way to be omniscient, and he uses this phony power to control The Others. They never meet Jacob, they never see Jacob, but they trust that Jacob is real and they’ve learned that Jacob knows everything. Jacob is not to be questioned. As Mikhail says ‘the man who brought us here is a great, wise man’. But it isn’t Jacob. This is why Ben does not heal. This is why Jaocb says ‘what about you?’ to Ben. Ben was never working for Jacob. Jacob doesn’t give orders, Nemesis does.

So how does Nemesis get his orders out to his weak-minded followers? Well we’ve learned that Ben Linus has never met ‘Jacob’, but rather, receives lists(now you know where the lists come from...phony-omniscience and intel gathering) and orders supposedly passed down from Jacob to Richard Alpert. Thus we know that Nemesis has infiltrated the very top of The Others’ power structure. This leaves us with two options. Either Richard Alpert, like the rest of The Others, has been deceived, or he is a willing participant. I have bad news everyone, we’ve been duped, it’s the second option. Richard Alpert is not only working for Nemesis....Richard Alpert IS Nemesis. One of your first thoughts(other than ‘what the @#&$’) is that we’ve seen Nemesis, imitating John Locke, having a conversation with Richard Alpert. How can one Nemesis be two people simultaneously? In order for me to prove Richard Alpert is Nemesis, I must first prove that Nemesis is more than one person. I call them Team Nemesis.

Proof That Nemesis Can Be More Than One Entity

Dante’s ‘Nemesis’ in ‘The Divine Comedy’ is a 3-headed monster, representing the ‘inverted Christian Trinity’, who cannot create life and thus imitates life. It is a trickster. It lies and cheats. Notice this quote from Mikhail to John Locke in Enter 77. Mikhail: Ha! Don't waste your time. For ten years I have tried to defeat that game. But it was programmed by three grand masters. And it cheats’. Three grand masters who cheat. That, my friends, is Team Nemesis, aka The Dark Side, aka the bad guys. Rousseau’s team arrives and is baited into entering the Smoke Monster’s hole. Rousseau does not enter. Later, supposedly due to a sickness which makes them ‘not themselves’, Rousseau is forced to kill all three of them. One of them is the father of the baby growing in her womb. He tries to kill her. He tells her the Smoke Monster is not a threat and is merely ‘a highly sophisticated security system’ for the Island. Three people simultaneously ‘not themselves’ after meeting the Smoke Monster. The sickness? There is none. They are not the same 3 people. They are being imitated, simultaneously. Rousseau knew it wasn’t the father of her child, she could detect a difference...much like John Locke seemed very ‘un-Locke-like’ to all of us during this past season. Nemesis is not one man, Nemesis is Team Nemesis. This is why Radzinsky named the Smoke Monster as Cerberus. Here’s a picture of Cerberus: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:RomanCerberus.JPG

RA

So now we know that Nemesis can be more than one person, thus Richard Alpert is a candidate for review. There is significant evidence that Alpert is in fact, part of Team Nemesis. For starters, Richard Alpert is ‘as old as the island itself’. Well we know for a fact that only two other characters in Lost can make that claim, them being Jacob & Nemesis. We know they were around when The Black Rock arrived and it’s safe to assume they were around for many years before that. Also, like Jaocb, Richard Alpert does not age. Alpert explains ‘I'm this way because of Jacob.’ We assume of course that Jacob somehow blessed Alpert the gift of eternal life. Yet Alpert does not communicate with Jacob. Alpert get’s blindsided by a Fake Locke. Alpert gives orders and runs an organization that stand in stark contrast to Jacob’s principles. How is it that Alpert got the gift of eternal life and spends every day of it undermining the very man who supposedly gave him this gift???? He doesn’t. The reason Richard Alpert doesn’t age is because he is a Nemesis. He is imitating a person long since dead. Notice in LaFleur that Richard Alpert storms into the Dharma barracks and leaves with a dead body(Paul, Amy’s husband). We’re told that this is to convince his people that there were losses on both sides. This is not the case. Richard Alpert needed Paul’s body. Nemesis needed Pauls’ identity. Nemesis needed to apply pressure to a weak link in the Dharma chain. Sure, there remains the slight possibility that Alpert was just following orders, but combined with the fact he doesn’t age, I think it’s more than likely he is in fact one third of the 3 headed beast, Dante’s ‘Inverted Christian Trinity’...this phrase will prove to be very important, remember it.

Nemesis The Destroyer

Team Nemesis will stop at nothing to make you crack. If they can access your dead father’s body, they will imitate him and lure you into the jungle and over a cliff. If they can access your dead brother, they will lure you into the jungle for you to be slammed against a tree. They use living relatives as well. Juliet’s sister’s health is used to leverage her. Walt is used to control Michael. Aaron. They never stop attacking and they know where to strike. For Dharma, the two weak links are Amy and Young Ben Linus. Team Nemesis knows this, for who has ventured out into the dark territory? Ben literally tells Richard Alpert that he wants out, that he hates everyone...he is a scared defenseless angry little boy and Team Nemesis pounces on him ruthlessly. The appropriate pressure is applied. And how is this done? Using Ben’s dead mother, Emily. I have no idea how Team Nemesis got access to her body in order to imitate it, but this is what happened. This is why Ben says his mother, who died during childbirth, taught him how to read. He was not kidding. His mother has been whispering in his ear and shaping his mind. But it wasn’t her, it was Team Nemesis. Team Nemesis is calling the shots. Team Nemesis ordered the Purge. Team Nemesis and Ben’s dead mother convinced him to kill his father. It was practice. Years later, Ben would be asked to kill his father yet again, when Fake Locke and Team Nemesis order him to execute Jacob. The cycle repeats. Twice, a dead relative gets Ben Linus to kill his father. Twice, a purge is ordered afterward to clean up the mess. Repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat. This is a sign of Team Nemesis. They perpetuate the cycle. They use the same technique again and again. They have perfected their craft.

Protocol

So where did the body for Richard Alpert come from? Here’s another pattern. Yemi is a dead body from an Island-bound vessel. Christian is a dead body from an Island-bound vessel. Locke is a dead body from an Island-Bound vessel. This is the protocol that Hawking knows to follow(Protocol, as in something to be repeated without change...it’s amazing how these themes are embedded into the show). There have been hints that Richard is somehow connected to The Black Rock. I believe that the original Richard Alpert was a dead body on an island-bound vessel, The Black Rock, and his body was used to torment and manipulate it’s inhabitants.

Tying Nemesis to The Smoke Monster

Anyways, back to Team Nemesis. Perhaps you disagree but at this point I’m rather convinced that Nemesis is a 3-headed foe and that Richard Alpert is one of the three prongs. But what is this Nemesis? Well for starters, it’s The Smoke Monster. We can connect the Smoke Monster directly to Nemesis in many ways. For starters, on the wall in The Smoke Monster’s chamber, we have an image of the god Anubis battling The Smoke Monster:

http://www.forareasonblog.com/2009/04/11/anubis-and-the-smoke-monster-hieroglyphics/

Here we have our 2 sides yet again, Light & Dark. Notice the outstretched hand of Anubis, a peaceful offering. Notice the horns of the smoke monster, the devil, the inverted trinity, on the left, the side of the evil. This is a picture of Jacob and The Smoke Monster. They literally drew us a picture of the two sides. However, let’s be thorough. There are more ways to connect Nemesis to The Smoke Monster.

For starters, Nemesis, imitating Locke, knows where The Smoke Monster is when Ben can’t find it. He leads Ben into it’s inner chamber. The Smoke Monster appears. A dead relative chokes Ben into following orders. Clearly The Smoke Monster is on Team Nemesis. An imitated Yemi(‘you speak to me as if I am your brother) leads Mr. Eko to the Smoke Monster, who then gets smashed into pieces. An imitated Christian leads Jack into the jungle(guess who lives there, sneaking around amongst the trees) away from the beach(guess who lives there, out in the open with nothing to hide). An imitated Emily Linus leads Ben out from the safety of the Dharma barracks, into the dark territory, beyond the sonar fence, where he meets the now very suspect Richard Alpert. A backwards speaking Walt, while under the control of The Others(Dark Side), leads Shannon into the jungle, where she meets her demise. Repeat repeat repeat, over and over. The more the cycle continues, the slower Jacob’s ‘progress’ advances.

Breaking The Cycle

Progress, however, has it’s down side. Just when you’ve turned that corner, there’s a catch. When you change, you die. Notice the theme:

-Eko comes to peace with his past, builds a church, lives nobly. He dies.
-Boone has a vision and gets over Shannon. He dies.
-Shannon opens up her heart to Sayid and watches Vincent, becoming unselfish. She dies.
-Roger Linus promises to celebrate Ben’s birthday next year, wants quality time. He dies.
-Charlie kicks his drug habit. He dies.
-Ana Lucia puts the gun down, unwilling to kill again. She dies.
-Michael takes responsibility for his actions. He dies.
-Faraday reconsiders his stance on fate and changing the past. He dies.
-Libby gets over the death of her husband and finds love again. She dies.
-Charlotte is finally home to stay, no more searching and digging. She dies.
-Nikki & Paulo(who gives a shit!)overcome greed, he hid the diamonds to keep her. They die.
-John Locke.....hold that thought for later.

Thus we have a clear golden rule of Lost, and it’s a very big deal. When you confront your ‘issue’ and actually CHANGE, you die. Why is this important? Because Jacob is telling us that mankind will change.

What happens if mankind changes? You guessed it. Mankind goes bye-bye.


‘IT ONLY ENDS ONCE'

This is why Hawking and The Others are always saying that they are ‘saving the world’, as it stated in the ad that both Mikhail & Kelvin responded to(In case you’re wondering, Radsinsky is a part of the Dark Side. He gives orders. He kills people. He presses the button). That is why some of the people are willing to follow orders. The progress we are progressing towards is extinction.

So our conflict has taken an interesting turn. The Others, those mass-murdering lying-cheating-stealing manipulative bastards, and Team Nemesis, that 3-headed monster from hell who will mimic your dead mother until you’re bleeding from every orifice, are actually fighting against the end of the world.

This is a timeless story that has been told many times throughout the history of man. Plato, Dante, the Qur’an. Evil loses and the world ends.

That is why we’ve been following the journey of our beloved Losties. As they make wholesale changes, they will be the agents of change that bring about the ‘only ends once’ scenario that Jacob accurately predicted. This means they will all face their own issues, overcome them, change, and die. It’s going to be a very painful final season for all of us.

And it’s going to end with a white flash as the world with evil in it comes to an end and the side of the Light wins.

Damon Lindelof: ‘I promise you the series will not end with a black screen’.

No Damon, it won’t, but thanks for doing what you’ve always done, and rubbed our faces in it. It’s going to end with a WHITE screen.

All The Best Cowboys

So now we can predict within reason what will be happening to our beloved Losties. They will face their issues and die. But what are their issues?

Jacob has told us. Jacob is guiding them towards this outcome. He gives ‘little pushes’, passively helping them out, strengthening them for their big test, years in advance. Remember it has to be their choice to change and overcome their issues. We can learn what our Losties issues are by evaluating what aspect of them Jacob was trying to help them change. It’s pretty obvious when you watch the scenes.

Sun & Jin have too often put their marriage on the back burner. Jin works a nightmarish job and never sees Sun. Sun stays on the helicopter without Jin on it. Jin tells Locke to convince Sun that he’s dead. What ‘blessing’ does Jacob ‘offer’? Never take your marriage for granted. He is strengthening their commitment muscles for a later decathlon of the soul. He is helping them change. By the way, Sun & Jin, symbolically, will demonstrate their commitment to each other in the ultimate way. They will choose to change together and then they will die together. Sun & Jin are Adam & Eve(Adam & Eve were discovered during House Of The Rising Sun, the first Jin & Sun-centric episode. Watch it and you’ll agree that they are Adam & Eve).

Hurley has always considered himself cursed. He has willed himself into a state of paranoia. Jacob visits him to tell him that he has a personal choice(of course) to come back to the Island or not. But he also suggests that Hurley isn’t cursed, that perhaps he’s blessed. There is no greater way for Hurley to change, to demonstrate that he considers himself blessed, to prove that he is ok with his life...than for Hurley to broadcast the numbers. He will choose to change and he will broadcast the numbers and he will die.

Sawyer’s entire life has been dedicated to finding the man who killed his parents and enacting revenge.
Yes, he did pull the trigger in Australia. Yes, he did kill Cooper on the Island. This is the cycle, the repetition, that needs to be broken. Jacob comforts Sawyer. He tells him he’s sorry about his parents dying. He offers him a pen. He’s trying to help Sawyer let it out and get over it. This scene is the perfect example of the opposing philosophies of Lost. Notice what Sawyer’s Uncle Doug says to Sawyer after Jacob leaves: ‘You gotta move on, boy. They're gone, and there ain't nothing you can do to change that. What's done is done.’ What’s done is done. Fate. You can’t change. This is the opposing force to change perfectly captured. The writers have been doing this from the first episode, re-watch the series, it’s EVERYWHERE. Minus production errors, drunk actors & network issues, they’ve done an incredible job. They knew what they were doing from the start and they have stuck to the rules. You can exhale now :)

Kate has always taken things. She takes lunchboxes, she takes lives, she takes babies. What does Jacob ask her(and as always, he asks)? He asks her to stop stealing. He uses honey instead of vinegar. Instead of punishment he offers salvation. He has planted a seed, and it will sprout roots next season. Kate will choose to change, Kate will return something to it’s rightful owner(Aaron to Claire), and Kate will die. In fact, Claire will kill her. More on that later.

And now, Jack. Our supposed hero. Poor Jack, beaten down by his father Christian over the years. Jacob tells Jack that the Apollo Bar stuck in the vending machine just ‘needed a little push’. Jacob was trying to teach Jack that Christian was just giving him little pushes. Jack’s issue is forgiving his father. Jack will choose to change and will forgive Christian. And he will die.

Here’s the problem: Claire and Christian are both dead. Who will Kate be giving Aaron to? Who will Jack be hugging?

When Christians Attack

First, let’s prove Claire is dead. By now we know how Smokie operates. One of his favorite tricks is using your dead relatives. And what is Claire’s issue? What defines Claire? I went to Lostpedia just to read about her. It says she is frequently tested with motherhood. That sounds about right doesn’t it? Twice, she almost loses Aaron, once to adoption, and once to Ethan. She protects him, keeps him by her side. She was warned not to let him be ‘raised by an Other’. So who is on the very short list of people she would give Aaron to, who also happens to be on the Island? Christian Shephard, Aaron’s Grandfather, now being imitated as part of Team Nemesis. This is why Aaron was left on the floor of the jungle. Claire changed, she gave up Aaron, and she died. This is why she is just palling around with Christian in the cabin, not worried about Aaron at all, having a tea party and laughing at John Locke for thinking he was being ‘chosen’ by Jacob. She didn’t die in the barracks explosion, she was killed in the jungle. She chose to change and her story came full circle. Claire Littleton is dead.

And now Jack. Typing this right now, fully understanding his character and his journey, it breaks my heart. The writers have really screwed us on this one. I can’t say it’s not brilliant though.

Before I tell you who kills Jack, first I must explain why Jack must die.

Earlier I referenced Dante’s 3-headed monster. The 3 headed monster represents the ‘inverted Christian Trinity’. I read this in a neat little book called Good & Evil In Myth & Legend. Check it out, it covers most of Lost in the first 20 pages. Anyways, think about that phrase.

Inverted Christian Trinity.

Inverted Christian. Three of them. Three inversions.

Right now we’ve established two of Christian’s family are being imitated by Team Nemesis. Two Inverted Christians. Claire & Christian.

Jack is the third. He will be killed. He will be imitated. The Smoke Monster, aka Cerberus, aka The Three Headed Monster, aka Team Nemesis, aka The Dark Side...during Season 6...will be Jack, Claire & Christian(were the cigarettes in his hotel room a clue that he’s Smokie or what? Let alone him setting off the smoke detector).

Jack. His tattoos read ‘he who walks among us but is not one of us’. Those damn writers, they knew it all along. He is going to be imitated. He will be the face of evil in Season 6. Jack will embrace Christian, forgiving him, choosing to change. But it’s the inverted Christian. It’s part of Team Nemesis. He will probably hug his father only to get a knife in the gut. Buy your tissues NOW.

Season 6 Device

This is the creative device that the writers will be using in Season 6. We will not know who to trust. Kate will be handing Aaron(how does he get back? No clue) back to an inverted Claire aka Team Nemesis. She will choose to change and she will die. Kate has no idea that there’s a clone-monster running around imitating people. Bet your ass it happens.

But here’s how Team Nemesis dies.

Early in the season we are going to be shown a scene from later in the story. In it, John Locke will be killing Jack Shephard. We will all assume that John Locke is the evil inverted imitated Nemesis version of John Locke, and that Jack Shephard is the good ol’ doctor. But since we now know that Jack has to die, to complete the Inverted Christian Trinity, it isn’t Jack.

And Locke is back to being Locke. He will be resurrected for the third time(fell from building, literally rose up after 815 crashed). This has been his destiny.

Resurrected Locke will kill Nemesis Jack. Locke will have changed and become something. Don’t tell him what he can’t do, he just killed the FUCKING DEVIL!

Two Sides in Every Layer

And so we have our two sides, Light vs Dark, Jacob vs Nemesis/Smokie/Cerberus, Dharma vs The Others, Freedom vs Slavery, Change vs Fate, Asking vs Ordering, White Pillars of Smoke in every Locke dream vs. Black Pillars of Smoke, The Beach vs The Dark Territory, Visions/Dreams vs Dead Relatives, Candy Bars vs. Mass-Murder, Omniscience vs. Time-Loopholes, Locke vs Jack, Faith vs Science.

I think it’s an utter work of genius. Just think about it. Christian said ‘TheRed Sox would never win the World Series’. He’s a fatalist. He’s an Other. The Red Sox break the curse, progress, change. Every episode is embedded with the conflict. They’ve extended the argument to every aspect of humanity. Can you time-travel and change the past? Can you overcome your drug addiction? Can you open up your heart? Can you stop torturing people? Yes, you can. You can change. Everyone can change. We can change together and start a new world.

Unfortunately, in order for that to happen, the old one has to die.

And then it all starts over again.

Part 4: What We Know of Jacob’s Visits Off-Island

Just a little FYI, these 4 parts were the foundation for the post Lost SOLVED, so if you've read that, there's no reason to read through these...it's pretty much just evidence I had gathered.

A) What We Know of Jacob from Visiting Kate

a) Jacob knew Kate would be stealing a lunchbox at this very moment. She since didn’t get caught, there is no record of this event. There is no amount of research or intelligence gathering that could provide Jacob with this information.
b) Jacob saves Kate from getting in trouble. Some have argued that Jacob is reinforcing to Kate that she can steal without consequences. Based on the following I’d argue that’s not the case.
c) Jacob asks Kate ‘you’re not going to steal anymore, are you?’. He doesn’t give her an order, he’s trying to make it Kate’s choice to be good. He is warm and sympathetic towards her.
d) Jacob touches Kate. I’m not sure this is important but a lot of people are suggesting it is, so I’ve included it.


B) What We Know of Jacob from Visiting Sawyer

a) Sawyer is sitting on the steps of his parent’s funeral, alone. Jacob asks Sawyer if he needs a pen, ‘need a pen son?’.
b) Jacob tells Sawyer that he’s ‘very sorry about your mother and father, james’. He knows James’ name. I think by now it’s pretty obvious that Jacob knows when and where things are happening..he’s not randomly arriving at these key moments in people’s lives, he’s already aware of them. Sawyer is looking down, sad and alone, and Jacob comforts him.
c) Some would argue that Jacob, by giving Sawyer the pen to write his letter of sworn vengeance, is helping Sawyer to create his biggest sin. However, there is more to this. After Jacob walks away, Sawyer’s Uncle Doug comes along and reads Sawyer’s letter. Uncle Doug says ‘Listen to me, Jimmy. I know you're angry at the man that did this to your momma and daddy. And hell, you got every right to be. But you gotta move on, boy. They're gone, and there ain't nothing you can do to change that. What's done is done.’ Here we have the opposite of writing the letter being framed as fate. What’s done is done, you can’t change anything, change is not possible. This is the opposite of Jacob’s philosophy, and considering that the drive to avenge his parents eventually drives Sawyer to the Island, it’s no surprise that Jacob would give him the pen.
d) Jacob does not touch Sawyer, but he does give him a pen. Some have suggested this is the equivalent of Jacob’s touch or Jacob’s blessing. Again not sure if this is important.

C) What We Know of Jacob from Visiting Sayid

a) Jacob asks Sayid to help him with directions. He doesn’t pull Sayid out of the way of the car. A lot of people are saying Jacob killed Nadia, when in actuality, he saved Sayid and let Nadia die. If you were to ask him about Nadia, I believe Jacob would reply ‘What about her?’. She is not his concern, she lives her life and dies according to the choices she and others make. Also, remember that she was murdered, this was no accident.
b) Immediately when Sayid realizes that Nadia has been hit by a car, Jacob places his hand on Sayid’s shoulder. I mention this because of the obviousness of the comforting gesture. Of course, this also means Jacob touched Sayid, for all of you Jacob-Touch-subscribers.

D) What We Know of Jacob from Visiting Ilana

a) Jacob asks Ilana for help, he does not order her, it is her choice :JACOB: I'm here because I need your help. Can you do that? Will you help me, Ilana? ILANA: Yes. Again, personal choice. Ilana is clearly dedicated to Jacob, yet he doesn’t order or command her to help him. To me this is clear evidence that Ben was NEVER following Jacob’s orders, because Jacob doesn’t give orders.

E) What We Know of Jacob from Visiting John Locke

a) Jacob sits on a bench reading ‘Everything That Rises Must Converge’, a collection of short stories. In the story after which the work is titled, human weaknesses are exposed and important moral questions are explored through everyday situations. Sounds familiar doesn’t it? Anyways, THAT book is actually named after a phrase uttered by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin patented the concept of the ‘Omega Point’, which describes a maximum level of complexity and consciousness towards which the universe appears to be evolving. It shouldn’t come as any surprise that Jacob is holding a book about human weakness and moral decisions in everyday situations, which is named after a phrase patented by a man who believes that all of creation is evolving towards an Omega Point. This is ‘the end’ that only happens once, according to Jacob. Here’s more food for thought from Wikipedia that supports this claim thematically: ‘For Teilhard, the universe can only move in the direction of more complexity and consciousness if it is being drawn by a supreme point of complexity and consciousness. Thus Teilhard postulates the Omega Point as the supreme point of complexity and consciousness, which is not only as the term of the evolutionary process, but is also the actual cause for the universe to grow in complexity and consciousness. In other words, the Omega Point exists as supremely complex and conscious, independent of the evolving universe. I.e., the Omega Point is transcendent. In interpreting the universe this way, Teilhard kept the Omega Point within the orthodox views of the Christian God, who is transcendent (independent) of his creation’. And it doesn’t end there. According to Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, this Omega Point that the universe is heading towards has 5 characteristics. They are that (1)The Omega Point already exists and the universe is being drawn to it(invited by Jacob), (2) that the Omega Point is an intellectual being and not an abstract idea(Jacob) (3)transcendent, that is, the Omega Point cannot be the result of this evolution, because the Omega Point is responsible for this evolution(Jacob is the cause, not the result) (4) the Omega Point is autonomous, that is, free of time and space(Jacob does not age and he borders on omniscient), and (5) irreversible or attainable, meaning progressing without regression(‘everything else is just progress’). Could this be more obviously a description of Jacob and what lies in store????? Also, from Wikipedia yet again, In 1971, John David Garcia expanded on Teilhard's Omega Point idea. In particular, he stressed that even more than the increase of intelligence, the constant increase of ethics is essential for humankind to reach the Omega Point. Sounds like the progress that Jacob & Nemesis are debating is happening on the Island.
b) Again, Jacob knew that John Locke was going to fall, he doesn’t panic and the odds that he just happened to be there are slim to none. The more Jacob is analyzed, the more omniscient he becomes.
c) After hitting the pavement Locke is unconscious. Jacob touches Locke’s shoulder and Locke appears to come back to life. We can’t say for sure, but it was rather miraculous that Locke survived the eight-story drop. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that Jacob saved Locke’s life.
d) Jacob comforts Locke and is sympathetic for him: ‘Don't worry, everything's gonna be alright. I'm sorry this happened to you.’ At this point it is beyond clear to me that Jacob is the Light side of this conflict between Light & Dark and that he’s specifically visiting these particular people because he’s aware of their roles in future events.
e)Again just for the record, Jacob touches Locke.

F) What We Know of Jacob from Visiting Sun & Jin

a) Okay now we have some firm evidence that perhaps Jacob is indeed blessing each person he visits with. ‘I'd like to offer you my blessing. Your love is a very special thing. Never take it for granted’(in Korean) -Jacob. Jacob is quite literally giving them his blessing, and sure it could just be a wedding blessing, but when viewed in the context of the other scenes that seems rather unlikely.
b) Jacob goes out of his way to touch both Sun & Jin. I’m starting to come around on the touching/blessing theory.
c) Jacob advises Sun & Jin to never take their love for granted..but it is their choice and they will only appreciate it when they choose to. He’s just giving them a little push.

G) What We Know of Jacob from Visiting Jack

a) Jack pays for an Apollo Bar but it gets stuck in the vending machine, he abandons it to complain about to his father about Christian scolding him during an operation.. Jacob comes up to him afterwards and offers him 1 of 2 Apollo Bars, telling Jack ‘I guess it just needed a little push’. Here he have Jacob doing what Jacob does, finding people during key moments of their life and giving them a ‘little push’, influencing them slightly, offering them advice or a choice that could make their life better, comforting them and never steering them wrong. The ‘little push’ that Jacob gives, to me, embodies his technique and approach. He is patient, he weaves a tapestry over many years with many threads...but, like Charlie throwing his drugs into the fire in Season One, it has to be their choice, he can’t force them or order them to do his bidding.


H) What We Know of Jacob from Visiting Hurley

a) Jacob offers to share the cab with Hurley. ‘Actually, I'm only going a few blocks if you wanna share’-Jacob.
b) According to Jacob, Jacob isn’t dead. I for one trust the source, thus I’d say Jacob is not a ghost, and we still can’t say why he doesn’t age.
c) Jacob asks Hurley why he won’t come back to the Island, he needs him to return, Hurley is part of Jacob’s plan.
d) Jacob tells Hurley that perhaps his lifelong curse is actually a blessing. This fits with Jacob offering his blessing to Sun & Jin, touching the Losties, etc. What if they’re all blessed? What if the very things that they think are their greatest weakness will eventually turn out to be their greatest strength? Hurley’s ability to converse with the dead will end up being pivotal in the ‘only ends once’ ending that Jacob is giving ‘little pushes’ towards.
e) Jacob tells Hurley that he’s not crazy. Beyond merely being accurate, Jacob is comforting Hurley, much like he comforted or advised the other characters he visited.
f) ‘Ajira Airways Flight 316 out of LAX. Leaves in 24 hours. All you have to do is get on that plane. It's your choice’- Jacob, to Hurley. Yet AGAIN(just in case you had any doubts), Jacob wants you to choose the path that leads towards the ‘end once’ scenario. It has to be a result of people wanting it to happen. As his tapestry reads, ‘may the Gods grant your heart’s desire’.
g) Jacob leaves a guitar with Hurley stating ‘that’s not my guitar’. Maybe he meant ‘it’s not my guitar, it’s my ___’. Or maybe it actually is a guitar which isn’t his. Either way, that’s one mystery I can’t yet explain.

Part 3: Jacob & His Nemesis In The Statue’s Foot

Just a little FYI, these 4 parts were the foundation for the post Lost SOLVED, so if you've read that, there's no reason to read through these...it's pretty much just evidence I had gathered.

A) What We Know of Jacob from Inside The Statue

a) Jacob took a ‘very long time’ to sew the tapestry...but says ‘I guess that’s the point’. Jacob is referring to both the culmination of his plan which brings about the impending ‘end’ that only comes once...if it were to happen often and swiftly, it wouldn’t be very meaningful.
b) Jacob immediately knows that Locke is not Locke, but rather Nemesis imitating Locke. Jacob is also aware that Nemesis(Fake Locke) has come to kill him and has thus found the loophole. This statement, combined with Jacob’s statement on the beach ‘when you do find the loophole, I’ll be right here’, is solid evidence that Jacob always knew that Nemesis(Fake Locke) would use Locke & Ben to kill him, and yet didn’t try to stop it.
c) Jacob offers Ben a choice, he doesn’t try to talk Ben out of doing anything. It’s more important to Jacob that Ben chooses, than whether or not Ben kills him. Principle comes before survival.
d) Ben says ‘...I never questioned anything. I did as I was told’, then asks Jacob ‘What About me?’. Jacob replies ‘What about you?’. Either Jacob doesn’t care about Ben(a man who has been supposedly following his orders without question, to the extent that he sacrificed his daughter and killed his father), or Jacob never gave the orders. Think about this: Would Jacob ever give orders? Here Jacob has a chance to order Ben to drop the knife, and he instead gives him the freedom to choose. Conclusion: Orders run contrary to Jacob’s methods. They undermine his principles.
e) Jacob hasn’t aged since at least The Black Rock’s arrival.
f) Jacob can be stabbed.


B) What We Know of Nemesis(Fake Locke) from Inside The Statue

a) ‘Do what I asked you to, Ben’-Nemesis(Fake Locke). Nemesis orders Ben to kill Jacob.


C) Summary of Jacob vs. Nemesis(Fake Locke) In The Statue

Jacob knew it was coming, knew Fake Locke was Nemesis, and gives Ben a personal choice. Nemesis(Fake Locke) orders Ben to kill Jacob. Again we have choice verses command, freedom vs. fate.

Part 0: Title & Thesis Statement

Jacob & The Losties vs. Team Nemesis(aka The Smoke Monster, aka Cerberus aka The Three Grandmasters): A Critical Evaluation of Lost Based On Timeless Concepts of Good & Evil & A Detailed Analysis of Dialog & Symbolism

Just a little FYI, these 4 parts were the foundation for the post Lost SOLVED, so if you've read that, there's no reason to read through these...it's pretty much just evidence I had gathered.

My basic premise is that we can determine which persons and what events were influenced by the Light side (Jacob) or the Dark side(Team Nemesis), based on the two opposing methods and perspectives that Jacob & his Nemesis demonstrate during the opening moments of The Incident. I also believe that we can determine some of what lies in store for Lost, in particular, the very final moment of the show.

There are many theories of mine that I've incorporated into this macro-analysis, and I'll do my best to substantiate all of my claims as they come up, though I can't promise I'll remember every iota of evidence that has led me to these conclusions over the years. I invite criticism and questions, for they often help me remember additional pieces of evidence.

I'd also like to stress that Jacob & Team Nemesis are very likely just the PERSONIFICATIONS of Good & Evil, God & The Devil, Horus & Set, etc. All I'm suggesting is that whether they are men, deities, aliens, ghosts, nanobots, or computer programs...they are based on classic representations of Good & Evil. I'm not certain the writers will LITERALLY call them deities or gods, nor do I think it's important they do so...Lost is often best when people reach their own conclusions. That said, I do believe that Jacob has god-like powers...there may prove to be rational explanations(at least by Lost standards) for how he can heal people, live forever, and know everything, but for the time being I'm not concerned with HOW he happens to have these powers, but merely substantiating that he does.

And for the record, I'm an Atheist...so no agenda here other than figuring out this damn show.

Part 1: Jacob & His Tapestry

Just a little FYI, these 4 parts were the foundation for the post Lost SOLVED, so if you've read that, there's no reason to read through these...it's pretty much just evidence I had gathered.

A)While using the loom to weave his tapestry, Jacob is wearing both white and black, because God created both Good & Evil and God is everything, thus if Evil exists, Evil is part of God. A bit of a contradiction but this model is universal(enough) in many religions and cultures, in particular the sources that the writers of Lost have borrowed heavily from in the past.

B) ‘Jacob's tapestry depicts a pair of wings outstretched from an encircled Eye of Horus, and what appear to be seventeen long arms emanating like rays out from the eye. The hands at the ends of the arms grope for nine human figures who appear to be at the mercy of the hands, while on either side a king sits in a throne and observes.’- Lostpedia.
‘The far wall is decorated with a faded painting of the winged Egyptian goddess Isis.’ - Transcript of The Incident Pt. 1.
‘Horus was told by his mother, Isis, to protect the people of Egypt from Set, the god of the desert, storms and chaos’ - Wikipedia.
Considering these facts one can reasonably conclude that Horus is at the very least one of several personifications of Good that Jacob is based on. I doubt Jacob would be weaving a tapestry involving Horus if he was out to destroy him.

C)Across the top of the tapestry it reads ‘may the gods grant thee all that thy heart desires’, from Homer’s Odyssey. This line suggests that Jacob is in favor of personal freedom and personal choice. He does not say ‘follow every command that I give you’. Jacob wants you to choose, he hopes you choose Good, but the most important thing is that it’s what ‘your heart desires’.

D)The tapestry also reads "Only the dead have seen the end of war" -Plato. This quote is often used to explain that war is perpetual, that war is unavoidable and everlasting, until death. ‘It only ends once’ refers to this death, the death of everything. A common theme throughout mankind’s representation of the battle between Good vs. Evil is that when Good triumphs over Evil, a new world is born, thus, the world we know comes to an end. In short, Evil has been conquered, but we all die. Jacob & The Losties conquer Team Nemesis, but we die, a new world is born, the cycle begins anew. ‘Only the dead have seen the end of war’ because at the end of this war, no one will be left alive.

E) Perhaps most importantly, this scene demonstrates Jacob's incredible patience and his ability to weave together many threads over time. That is precisely what he is doing by giving 'little pushes'(as he did the Apollo Bar he handed to Jack) to people throughout their lives. Keep in mind the word 'little', as it's important to distinguish his methods from outright interference and active involvement in their daily lives.

Part 2: Jacob & His Nemesis On The Beach

Just a little FYI, these 4 parts were the foundation for the post Lost SOLVED, so if you've read that, there's no reason to read through these...it's pretty much just evidence I had gathered.

A) What We Know of Jacob From The Beach:

a)Jacob allows the fish to enter the trap on it’s own, he does not actively hunt the fish, the fish is brought into the wading pool by the rising tide and chooses to enter the trap on it’s own.
b) Jacob offers to share his only fish with Nemesis.
c) Jacob invites people to the Island, repeatedly.
d) Jacob does not believe that people who visit the Island will always fight, destroy, and corrupt. He believes this cycle will come to an end, and that it ‘only ends once’. Everything else is just progress...which implies that each time someone visits, Jacob believes ‘the end’ is getting nearer. It is not stagnant and hopeless, this is a very optimistic view of man. He believes in growth, evolution, change, and progress.
e) Jacob has an idea how bad Nemesis wants to kill him. Perhaps because he wants Nemesis to die as well.
f) In reference to Nemesis finding a loophole and thus a way to kill him, Jacob says ‘well when you do, I’ll be right here’. Jacob knows where he’ll be when Nemesis finds the loophole. How does Jacob know that Nemesis won’t find the loophole while he’s visiting Jack, Kate, Hurley, etc? This demonstrates that Jacob knows of future events(this is substantiated in other places as well).
g) Jacob eats food.
h) Jacob lives near the beach.

B) What We Know of Nemesis From The Beach

a) Nemesis asked to join Jacob.
b) Nemesis says he just ate but we can’t be sure that he did
c) Nemesis asks how the ship found the Island, thus he was not involved in bringing people to the Island. In fact, he seems rather displeased that there are visitors.
d) Nemesis claims that visitors to the Island will always fight, kill, corrupt and repeat. He is a fatalist. He does not believe in change, he is vowing that there won’t be change. He does not believe in progress.
e) Nemesis wants to kill Jacob. One would think there’s a motive here.
f) Nemesis pledges to find a loophole. Some think that he says ‘we’re’ going to find a loophole, some think he says ‘I’m going to find a loophole’. This is up for debate and I’m honestly not sure after several listens/viewings.
g)Nemesis lives inland.

C) Summary of Identifiable Traits of Jacob & Nemesis from ‘The Beach Scene’

a)Jacob
Knows when Nemesis will find the Loophole
Let’s the fish trap itself(personal choice)
Invites people to the Island
Believes in progress, change, and eventually an 'end'.
Believes man can progress
Lives by the beach

b)Nemesis
doesn't like visitors
believes in repetition, stagnation, and an unavoidable fate.
believes man will always be corruptible & murderous.
lives inland

c)Which gives us:
come to the island vs. don't come to the island, the ability to change vs. things always staying the same, freedom vs. fate. In each case Jacob represents the positive viewpoint and Nemesis represents the negative viewpoint. Jacob is light(good) and Nemesis is dark(bad). These are our two sides, and they've been on the show since the very beginning.

Now let's see what we can learn from the scene inside The Statue in The Incident.