How The Man in Black became The Smoke Monster by Ricardus Alpert

I feel it's time for me to address one of the biggest questions left from S5. Are The Smoke Monster and Jacob's Nemesis the same entity? After thinking about it for most of the hiatus, I believe the answer is yes. Frankly, I think it's incredible story-telling because it gives a full circle feeling from S6 to S1. The main antagonist on the show is the same one we've been introduced to in the very first episode- The Mosnter. But unlike some, I don't believe that The Man in Black is another deceased person Smokey impersonates. I believe he became The Smoke Monster.

How exactly does that happen, you might ask?

I'll do my best to explain.

While re-watching the confrontation between Jacob and Flocke, I realized that the act of kicking Jacob into the flames is more important than we had previously thought. It's not a simple act of cruelty. MIB is finally having his revenge for what Jacob had done to him.
Have you ever wondered why apart from the flashback in the 1800s, we've never seen MIB in his human form?

He's only appeared as deceased characters, or as The Smoke Monster. I believe that's because The Man in Black no loner had a psychical human form until he impersonated John Locke. He's dead, and has been dead for a very long time.

Originally, I believed that Richard killed MIB, on Jacob's orders. I'm not as convinced of it now, mostly because the hieroglyphics portraying Smokey seem to pre-date Richard's arrival to the island. But I am convinced that his death was carried out by Jacob's followers, most likely Ilana and her group.

Once The Man in Black was at death's door, elieve that Jacob had thrown him into the same flames, perhaps inside the volcano. The Man in Black's body was destroyed, and The Smoke Monster was born.