A while back, I wrote about "Lost as Godgame." After watching last night's season finale, I think I was right, although possibly there are two godgames going on.
We met Jacob last night, the white figure (and therefore good guy), and his nemesis, dressed in black. Let us call him Esau, although Seth (nemesis of Osiris) would be quite as suitable. I think everything that has happened thus far is due to the manipulations of one of these two figures.
Some significant reveals of the finale:
Dead means dead. No one returns from the dead on the island. Therefore "Neo-Locke," as we discover, is a tool or meat puppet of Esau. When Neo-Locke told Richard Alpert to tell the real Locke that he had to die, this was a con of some kind. Esau needed Locke's corpse in order to con Ben and the Others.
This presumably means also that "Christian Shephard" is also a meat puppet or manifestation of Esau. (Note that Neo-Christian and Neo-Locke never appear on screen together.) Therefore everything "Christian" has said to anyone is a con of some kind. He doesn't speak for Jacob. Locke was not supposed to move the island or die. Jack wasn't supposed to come back.
If so, then Esau at the moment can only work through one kind of being: dead people: Christian Shephard, John Locke, Yemi, Alex Rousseau.
Since the Smoke Monster (through Alex) told Ben that he had to obey Neo-Locke, we have to assume that Smokey is also a manifestation (or perhaps is) Esau. Ben Linus's "judgment" was also a con. (Is there more than one Smokey? Is there a white Smokey, too?)
We saw Greek and Egyptian last night, and we heard some Latin. Would it have killed them to put some Aramaic in the show?
5 comments:
The only difference with Christian, though, is that his grave-box lacks a body.
Your theory caught on over at Lostpedia :)
I don't think it necessarily follows that since Neo-Locked is Esau, every other dead person appearing to someone is also Esau in disguise. Along with the obvious fact James pointed out, there's also the scope of Neo-Locke's actions: he appeared to and interacted with a crowd of people. Yemi, Alex and especially Christian appeared in most cases only to a single person, two tops (Sun and the pilot dude). Also, it is worth noting that Yemi and Alex only appeared to people with whom they had a strong emotional connection (Mr. Eko and Ben).
Frankly, I don't see any evidence whatsoever that would suggest that Christian/Yemi/Alex and Neo-Locke are indeed the same phenomenon. The key to understanding the whole Esau-Jacob dynamic - and the show as such - lies with Ben. Your theory seems to imply that we have two equal god-players here. Judging from the Rules, Jacob's demeanor and especially Ben's complaints (he was essentially asking Jacob what his sins were), I'd say we have a God-Lucifer scenario on our hands. Jacob is the one with real power and everything that happened so far is a part of his plan (wasn't that the point of the flashbacks?). Remember Jacob's off-hand comment about how it takes a very long time to make the thread for the tapestry? Ben was a crucial part of that plan, playing - or rather being manipulated by both Esau and Jacob into playing - the role of Judas. Consequently, I'm inclined to think of Christian as a prophet.
Also, I don't think it has been proven that dead is dead. What lies in the shadow of the statue? Ille qui nos omnes servabit. IIRC, the last thing we saw lying in the shadow of the statue was the real John Locke.
Oh and one more important thing: Neo-Locke was really surprised when Ben told him about how his dead daughter told him to do everything 'John Locke' said. Esau could have been bullshitting Ben, of course, but the impression I got was that Esau only cares about one thing: getting to Jacob as fast as he can - he wasn't even interested in details of Ben's trial. And that's also one major difference between Neo-Locke and Christian: how are Esau's purposes served by Christian explaining to Sun what had happened to her husband or by releasing Michael from his obligation?
Has anyone ever wondered if the producers of Lost are trying to create the "Lost island" which Guanilo described so as to refute Anselm's ontological argument?
However, Lost's island is hardly the greatest conceivable island.
I think this is a valid theory, I've thought something like this ever since I saw an Eko-centric episode and Yemi said "you speak to me as if I were your brother" I got chills when his character changes suddenly and you realise that something has been manipulating Eko. In John Locke Esau finally found someone who was 'trusted' by Richard, Sun, Ben etc and so could finally get to Jacob. In all the other incarnations Esau was testing the people seeing him to see how he could get to Jacob ...
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