Jacob with his black-clad counterpart.
Much was revealed in last night's fifth season finale for Lost, the penultimate for the series. Here's my take:
Apparently Jacob is a Judeo-Christian God-like figure, the "others" and Richard are his angels, and the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815, like many a vessel previously crashed at the island by Jacob, are his human flock. Jacob, or God, appears benevolently in the survivors' off-Island lives, sometimes intervening to save their lives while at other times offering encouragement or reassurance. Yet as Jacob mentions in the season finale, each human has "free will," something that plays out as a new band of cast away survivors arrive at the Island over the years, with some survivors choosing greater and lesser forms of conflict, violence, or peaceful co-habitation.
Of course, there is an alternative to Jacob, a Satan-like figure committed to killing him, and in search of a "loop" to do so. This Satan counterpart--(perhaps also the corporeal black cloud beast)--can inhabit the form of individuals who arrive dead at the island, like this season's Locke and importantly Jack's father.
In this human form, whether Locke in the season finale or Jack's father in previous episodes, Satan intervenes in the lives of the characters to lead them on a trajectory that enables him to ultimately kill Jacob at the end of the season finale.
In this view, the Island is a metaphor for a Judeo-Christian version of human history and civilization. Humans choose acts of good and evil with the free will to do so, as God and Satan watch and sometime intervene.
There's just one catch to Satan's success at the end of the finale: When the 1970s stranded survivors exploded the hydrogen bomb, the intervention likely altered the present time line enabling Jacob to escape the death that his evil Island counterpart had successfully put into action.
One last side note: If the Island is metaphorically a Judeo-Christian universe, then the Dharma Initiative represents the Enlightenment intervention of science and reason into the medieval equilibrium between God and Satan. The "Others" are traditional followers of Jacob, living like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The Dharma Initiative are a combination of scientists, engineers, and New Age hippies ignorant of Jacob's existence but no less influenced by him.
That's my quick take, but I will likely prove to be wrong. ;-) For more, check out the professional Lost theorists.
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What if the "Others" hold the Mark of Cain?
I think in this metaphor, the Others are a criticism of organized religion in general. They're the Church! They have all these rules and dogma about behavior and succession, and their leader pretends to commune with this supernatural figure without ever having an actual line of communication. I thought it was brilliant.
Matt, you do know that Lost hasn't finished outside the US? So you should put a Spoiler warning at the top.
I stopped watching Lost after my DVR broke and cost me 1/2 a season of shows to watch. Hearing that a hydrogen bomb exploded makes me glad I stopped watching it.
Thanks John. I didn't realize that.
Based on this most recent episode, maybe we could assume that the person in the cabin talking to Locke isn't Jacob. Maybe it is the nemesis, the one in black? Remember that the shack is surrounded in soot, or some ring of black powder. Maybe the bad/evil/nemesis one has been locked inside there. And when he asks Locke for help, maybe he wants help to escape, so he can kill Jacob. After all, since that point to now locke has done everything to lead up to the point where Jacob is killed. Richard said about the statue foot, this is where Jacob lives. No mention of the shack.
So my theory is that Locke has been following the wishes of the bad guy, not Jacob. but he was unaware of this.
Also, note in this most recent episode that when the people with the box visited the shack, they explaimed when they realised the circle of powder around the shack had been broken, releasing whatever was held inside.
Maybe this is a reference to Hell containing the devil?
From: http://www.noir.com.es/
Since I saw the last chapter of the 5th season of Lost, I have not stopped to think that Jacob did not seem to represent the good and the nemesis of evil.
Rather, it is as if two opposing forces of nature were in the midst of a philosophical discussion about the spirit of man and free will.
Two opposing fundamental forces ... universal... ... Am I the only one who thinks of the Yin and Yang?
Intending to investigate these suspicious, I went to the informer who has given me better results ... Wikipedia.
The results were extraordinary: The yin and yang describes two opposing and seemingly fundamental forces which, are in all things.
Is represented by the logo that we all know, the Taijitu, and also the eight trigrams or Pa Kua (shown on the logo of the Dharma Initiative).
But it better not end there. Wikipedia says that the theory of yin and yang can be applied to all existing concepts and is particularly important in Taoism.
The fundamental goal of Taoist immortality is achieved. It was said that people living in harmony with nature were immortal (See Richard Alpert).
* Taoism establishes the existence of three forces: one positive, one negative and one third, conciliatory. The first two opponents simultaneously and complement each other, ie they are totally interdependent and function as a unit. They are the Yin (negative force / subtle, feminine, humidity ...) and Yang (positive force / concrete male dry ...). The third force is the Tao, or that contains superior strength. (vease la Wikipedia). (see Wikipedia).
The Taoist believes no more than life over death, to the construction of the destruction or the pleasure of the suffering ... and insignificant everyday things have meaning far more profound than we give it (why all this me reminiscent of Bernard and Rose?)
The Tao is like the empty space to express everything xistÃa ye before Heaven and Earth. Is the mother of creation and source of all beings. The Tao is not temporary or limited when trying to observe it, do not go, do not hear or feel it. It is the primary source of cosmic creation comes. If we try to define it, hear it or watch it would be possible. The mystery whose depths emerge from all the wonders.
Tao is the name given to the global natural order. The purpose of the Tao is to teach the man to move into the nature ...
My theory about Lost? The island is the origin of all myths of humanity: The Hesperides, Eden, Isis, Osiris, Allah, Yahweh, Lucifer ... Put the name you want.
Jacob and his nemesis is the Yin and Yang and Tao ...? You have to know ... It is the Island
Arguments that Jacob can act like Judeo-Christian God
(Omniscient, Omnipresent, immortal)
http://www.lostism.com/2009/05/is-jacob-god/
In the Pilot Locke describes Backgammon to Walt. He tells him it is the oldest game in the world,older than Jesus Christ. Two sides, one is light, one is dark.
Esta comparação apresentada pode até não ser correta, mas que se encaixa muito bem não podemos negar...