Reflections on John Locke, Richard Alpert, The Nemesis and The Smoke Monster (Part 1) by DaveTheKlone

Hello Everyone at DarkUfo…long-time lurker, first time theory poster (though I have commented from time-to-time). I want to preface this theory with the fact that this is more a series of thoughts and reflections on the events that have unfolded from season 1 through season 5. I DO NOT, however, apologize if any of these ideas have been posted before because…seriously folks, we’re all watching the same show. This show is head-and-shoulders above the rest as far as sophistication and for anyone who has been sticking with the show for this long, and is still an avid fan, it’s beyond plausible that many of us out there are thinking the same things. So, please, let’s keep it in perspective. None of us are making money from posting these theories, no one is intentionally ripping each other off…if we have similar ideas and theories, let’s look at it as a good sign that we’re all on the same wavelen! gth and we might actually be prepared to figure this whole puzzle out as they reveal the final season to us.

Okay…sorry for the little rant there…on to the theory/reflections…

I will begin by saying that I am a huge John Locke fan. The truth behind Locke’s purpose and the origin/explanation of the Smoke Monster are the two main reasons I am a LOST addict. Ironic that with the Season 5 finale we are given good cause to believe that Smokey and The Nemesis (a.k.a. the Man In Black - for all the Stephen King “Dark Tower” fans out there - or M.I.B.) are related, if not trans-morphed forms of one another. I personally believe that for Locke to have had so much of the mythology surrounding him for so much of the show, he must be central to the show’s climax. I also believe that though his form is being used by The Nemesis to manipulate the happenings on the island in 2007, John Locke is still important to the end game.

Let’s also not overlook the fact that Iliana and Bram’s group are asking, “What lies in the shadow of the statue?” in order to identify their allies. When they dump Locke’s corpse onto the beach to reveal it to Richard Alpert, he is lying in what would be the shadow of the statue if the statue were still complete and the sun was shining. I also find it rather intriguing that the question is “WHAT lies in the shadow of the statue?” the appropriate response to which is “HE WHO will protect us all.” (translated from Latin) We have a question asking about a thing, the response to which is a person. Does this mean that even though they appear as people, Jacob and The Nemesis are actually things? Entities? Aliens? Gods? The hints and clues are there, and one can’t discuss this aspect of LOST without also bringing Richard Alpert into the equation.

From Season 5, Episode 8 “LaFleur”:

HORACE: Hello, Mr. Alpert.
RICHARD: Mr. Goodspeed.
HORACE: I wish you would've told me you were coming. I would've
turned the fence off for you.
RICHARD: That fence may keep other things out but, not us.

[WTF DID HE JUST SAY?! Anyone who still thinks this guy is human needs to seriously drop a valium and get on the bus. Also, we can here rule-out any theories that Richard is the Smoke Monster, as we know Smokey doesn't like the sonic fence. This parlay was thick with juicy red meat, things like mention of a truce being the only thing that will keep out The Others (a.k.a. The Hostiles). Enter Sawyer into the Parlay, and the tables get flipped once again. Richard is speechless for the most part, but the few words he does say are pretty interesting.]

RICHARD: Your people know you're telling me all this?
SAWYER: Ain't my people, Hoss. So if you got a some kind of a
truce with 'em, it ain't been broken.
RICHARD: If you're not a member of the Dharma Initiative...what
are you?

[He asked WHAT are you. Doesn't that seem odd? Wouldn't the natural inclination be to ask WHO are you? As the conversation continues, it gets even more interesting.]

SAWYER: ...I also know that twenty years ago some bald fella
limped into your camp, fed you some mumbo jumbo about
bein' you leader. And the poof...he went and
disappeared right in front of ya, this ringin' a bell?
That man's name is John Locke. I'm waitin' for him to
come back. So, you still think I'm a member of the damn
Dharma Initiative?
RICHARD: No...I guess I don't. But no matter who you are, two
of my men are dead. And my people need some kind of
justice. What are we gonna do about that?

Okay, now it's been speculated since Season 5 Episode 3 "Jughead" that the reason Richard and The Others (a.k.a. The Hostiles) think John Locke is special is because he appeared to them in 1954 and told them he was. Richard believes that The Island is waiting for Locke's apparent return, and now here's Sawyer, another mysterious character seeming to [finally] be more in the know than The Others (a.k.a. The Hostiles), and his exact words are "I'm waitin' for him to come back." Words are not wasted on this show. Every single word of dialogue is part of this very masterfully crafted mosaic, so Richard asking WHAT instead of WHO, and Sawyer simply stating, "I'm waiting for him to come back" would be pretty deliberate.

Now, does this all mean that Locke was only considered special because of time-travel-trickery? Richard doesn’t strike me as someone so easily duped. Let’s also note that he specifically makes it a point to ask Jack if he knows John Locke in Season 5 finale “The Incident”. I feel it was pretty clear that Richard was fully on-board with the idea that our Losties were all at least important if not special in their own ways, and the fact that in 1977 Jack tells Richard he “wouldn’t give up hope” on John Locke, makes the scene in the Season 4 finale where Richard welcomes John home to the island even more powerful. The question that remains is how much of a con is John’s importance (if a con at all), and who is the con artist (if there is only one)? Before we explore the possible players in that equation, let’s look at another interesting fact from Season 5.

For this supposed “loophole” that The Nemesis found to work, Locke needed to die off-island. Locke was told this by the same apparition of Christian Shepherd that told him he needed to move the island at the end of Season 4. Whether or not this apparition was another of The Nemesis’ array of false identities, an incarnation of Smokey, or an actual representation of Christian Shepherd himself has yet to be determined, but regardless of who or what this apparition was, it is clearly tied to the goings on of the island, and knows a lot more than we or the Losties do.

The Island LET Ben kill Locke. The Island ALLOWED Locke to die.

In and of itself, it doesn't seem all that earth-shattering, until we start to remember things like Michael being unable to shoot himself in the head, even with the gun pressed up against his temple in Season 4, Episode 8 “Meet Kevin Johnson”. How about Dr. Jack Shepherd in the first seconds of the Season 3 finale, climbing on to the side of a bridge, ready to end it all (much like Locke was ready to do prior to Ben murdering him, I might add) when "fate" mysteriously intervened and stopped him. The Producers of the show have confirmed that Jack was stopped from killing himself by The Island. Several characters who have NOT been told repeatedly that they were special or important have been preserved by the island, yet Locke was allowed to die. This can only mean that the island, whether in league with The Nemesis, or for its own reasons, saw Locke’s death as tantamount to his destined importance in regards to the island and destiny.

Did anyone else notice that Locke was killed the same way his father was when Sawyer strangled him to death in Season 3 Episode 19 “The Brig”? Perhaps John is truly special in that he is immortal? He may have been crippled, but as Abadon pointed out to him as he wheeled him through the hospital, the fact that he survived falling 8 stories from a high-rise was in itself a miracle (of course we now know that this miracle was courtesy of Jacob). Let's also keep in mind that as a 3-month pre-mature baby, John was able to fend off pneumonia, influenza, and a host of other illness that should kill a newborn. He was also shot and left for dead by Ben. John has cheated death more times than we may have previously realized, and if for no other reason, he is special for doing so (even if the island is solely responsible for his resilience against death). (Important to remember: Christian’s coffin was empty when Jack discovered it on the island in Season 1. The cargo contai! ner from Ajira Flight 316 still held Locke’s corpse. We may have been blatantly shown the island’s ability to reincarnate the dead from the very beginning.)

When Locke returns to the island, he appears to have been resurrected immediately upon his arrival. Season 5 Episode 7 “The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham” begins with Locke introducing himself to the Ajira 316 survivors by firelight at night. We cut to a commercial break. When the show resumes, the shot begins on a close-up of Locke’s suit jacket folded and laying in the sand, with his socks and Christian Shepherd’s shoes stacked neatly on-top. From these visuals, we are meant to assume that this is in fact the deceased body that Jack put those very shoes on, before Ajira 316 departed from LAX. This only becomes puzzling in the final moments of Season 5 Episode 16 “The Incident (part 2)” when Iliana and Bram dump Locke’s lifeless corpse onto the sand, still dressed in his suit jacket (notice they do not show us his feet or footwear). The question remains, which Locke is Locke? This question isn’t easily answered…

The Locke who speaks with Iliana (as she gives him the best mango he’s ever tasted in his life) has all the memories and personality traits of the Locke we’ve all come to know over the course of four and a half seasons (up to that point), but with a new sense of confidence and direction. One thing we cannot know for sure is how the ramifications of Whatever Happened, Happened vs. Reset/Alternate Universe are at play here.

Is this resurrected Locke one that is benefiting from new knowledge gained from having died and come back to life (for a second time now, so we know it to be plausible and possible), or is this a Locke who has experienced his stay on the island more than once? Is the 2007 where he is now seemingly alive again an ALTernate 2007, or is it the same 2007 it would’ve always been because Whatever Happened, Happened? Does it matter? Are the two possibilities mutually exclusive, or is Locke operating beyond a point in time where the Whatever Happened, Happened universe has combined and merged with the ALTernate universe created by “The Incident” in 1977?

This is where the next installment of this theory will begin its discussion, but I will leave you with these few tidbits to ponder before I post the next part.

- In Season 5, Episode 16 “The Incident (Part 2)”, Locke orders his followers to take a 5 minute water break when they reach the remnants of the Beach Camp that he dubbed “Home, sweet home” when they came upon it. Locke notices Ben sitting by himself, enjoying some “alone time”. Here, John makes sure that Ben notices the Swan Hatch door embedded in the sand, the word “Quarantine” still clearly visible. Does this not indicate that the events of the Season 2 finale still occur and that Desmond (or someone) will still turn the failsafe key, causing the nuclear explosion/hatch implosion that launched the door into the air in the first place?

- Throughout Season 5 we see various areas of Dharmaville that are in disrepair, with several details to indicate that this is the same Dharmaville, in the same state as they were after Keamy’s mercenary attack in Season 4, Episode 9 “A Shape of Things To Come” (notice the irony of the title…as if its telling us, this is what the future will look like on this show). The game of Risk that Hurley, Sawyer and Locke were playing is still as it was left, Richard tells Locke that it’s been 3 years since he disappeared, and even the Beach Camp appears to have been abandoned and left to the elements. Sun finds Charlie’s Drive Shaft ring in baby Aaron’s crib, right where Charlie left it. All strong evidence that the later time, 2007, is very much of the original What Happened, Happened time-line.

- Regardless of whether the events of the Season 5 were happening concurrently even though they were in different decades, the fact is that what happens in 1977 will always happen before 2007. Jacob’s last words, “They’re coming,” were always going to be the last words he spoke.