So, after reading everyone's posts and reading the comments I wanted to throw some ideas about the island big shots around for discussion. Jacob, the Man In Black (who I've been calling Esau because it's easier and Johnny Cash is the real Man in Black), and the Smoke Monster.
Now, the big reveal at the end of Season 5 was that Locke was actually Esau in a Locke skin suit and that Locke is dead. And, using Locke to manipulate Ben Esau had found his "loophole" to kill Jacob. This means one HUGE thing to me...
Every time anyone has seen someone deceased on the island, it was Esau. Every time we've seen Christian it was Esau. When Kate saw the horse it was Esau. When Hurley saw Dave, when Hurley saw Charlie, when Hurley saw Anna Lucia, when Echo saw Yemi. It was Esau every time. He's been manipulating the survivors of Oceanic flight 815 since the very first episode.
The Smoke Monster seems to fill a completely different purpose to me. It serves as some sort of guardian of the "others" and judge/jury/executioner for the island's inhabitants.
Guardian, because the leader of the "others" is able to summon it for protection, it's their "security system." Then, the hieroglyph that I posted at the top of this post seems to suggest that it has some connection to the original, ancient, inhabitants of the island. In contrast, Esau doesn't seem to have any connection to anyone other than Jacob. When they are looking out at the Black Rock Esau is disgusted that Jacob is bringing other inhabitants to the Island and he sure doesn't seem like he would want to protect them in any capacity.
Judge/Jury/Executioner because of it's interactions with Eko, when, after he refused to confess his sins, it offed him. Also, because of Ben's journey to be "judged."
So, these two conclusions (1. Esau is all the dead people 2. Esau and the Smoke Monster are two completely different entities) make the scene where Ben is being "judged" really interesting. Because, in the same scene we get to see that Ben has been judged as worthy. The Monster seems to conclude that Ben had always served the Island to the best of his abilities and after he confesses to being the cause of Alex's death, he deserves to live to fight another day. THEN, we see how manipulative Esau is when he takes the form of Alex and tells him to do whatever Locke (himself) tells him to do. Which eventually leads to Ben stabbing Jacob.
These are my thoughts on the matter... Swan?
P.S. On a completely unrelated note. Our blog needs some style/some panache/some sparkle no? If there is anyone out there who has skills and wants to help us with that let us know! Right now it just looks like our words are being judged by the Smoke Monster all the time. That's a lot of pressure!
I agree 100% with all that has been written here.
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ReplyDeleteI never was one of those people who came up with lots of theories and the sort. But after reading your blog and rewatching the 5th season I did have the need to write down what my new theories were.
ReplyDeleteI love this blog already - just so you know.
Today I watched the episode which you refer to. Thr one where Ben is being 'judged'. I now totally see what you mean. And I also think that maybe the smoke monster doesn't want to be close or near that Esau guy. Because it didn't come when Ben summoned it.
But I can't really tell yet.
Like I said. I'm not a theorie kind of person.
Oh and sorry for the deleted message above this one - something went wrong there somehow.
Very insightful! I think you are right about all of this. Good going!
ReplyDeleteI dig the use of the name Esau and may steal it in some of my posts down the line. But is he really "judging" or manipulating? Through Sawyer we've been introduced the idea of the "long con." Is it possible that Esau was using the long con to set up the murder of Jacob? The two main instances shown: the judging of Eko and the judging of Ben might not be as much about their transgressions towards the island as they are maneuvering the chess pieces in Esau's favor.
ReplyDeleteThe judgement and killing of Eko has a serious impact on Locke and maybe guides him further towards the idea that the Island is the most important thing and that he will one day die to try to help it. The judgement of Ben is used to convince Bug-eyes to do whatever "Locke" asks of him. So I don't know if Esau/Monster is necessarily judging these people, but that maybe he's using them and their faith to accomplish his goal of killing Jacob.
You probably already know this about the MIB, but someone specifically asked if his name is Esau at Comic Con this summer. Which is kinda really disappointing, I loved the idea of him being the Esau to our Jacob.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the Blog Layout, obviously what you need is some Razzle-Dazzle! So I suggest a great big picture of Nikki and/or Paulo...Maybe some Diamonds.
(The only "theory" I've ever had about Lost is that Christian Shepherd and Charles Widmore are/were BFFs. YOU KNOW ITS TRUE.)
Well, I agree with everything you said, except that Esau and Smoke Monster are separate from each other. I think they are one in the same. I never saw the Smoke Monster as ever protecting anyone or anything, other than the island. I think, like Arrow mentioned above, that it all boiled down to manipulation in order to defeat Jacob. That's why he took shape of the deceased and such. I might be completely wrong, but that's the impression I got from the finale. Granted I haven't watched it since it aired, so I may need to give it a rewatch.
ReplyDeleteI almost agree with you on the idea that Esau is all of the dead people on the Island, but with one small tweek. I believe that the body of the deceased must reside on the Island (or within it's perameters) in order for Esau to take that form.
ReplyDeleteThis is why it was necissary for them to keep track of Locke's body.
The only manifestation that this conflicts with is when Hurely sees Dave. But I feel we can easiely answer that with Hurely being a bit crazy, because he DOES see dead people (aka Charlie) when he is out of Esau's reach.
That is at least my thought. So even if Esau is not those people, I believe the bodies must be present for those people to appear.
The more I think about it and watch the scene with Jacob and "Esau", it seems to me that Jacob isn't the good guy at all. The way he acts towards "Esau" and his responses to him are made in an almost insolent, childish way. It makes me have a weird feeling about him, even though he's the one wearing white.
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