An Old Friend -From a simple phrase to the key to this show by System1988

I think the funniest part of the Season 6 premiere was Hurley's chat with dead Jacob. Simply hilarious. At least till Jacob says that he was killed by an old friend that grew tired of his company.

I was a little freaked out. Lets break this down a little shall we?

First of all we can speculate with real confidence that Jacob's "friend" is MIB. Not Ben. And here is why:

1) Jacob and Ben were never friends. To be friends with someone means that you are able to meet him in person. That never applied to Jacob's indirect communion with Ben. Richard did the talking, not Ben. That much we know now. So no way you would see Ben and Jacob drinking tea discussing how the island weather changes due to global warming.

2) Old in Jacob terms means OLD. Like thousands of years old. Ben may seem like an alienish immortal being (I am referring to Sawyer's nickname for Ben "Bug Eyed Bastard") but he is really close to his early 50's. lol

So we can safely say that Jacob thinks of MIB as his killer not Ben. Apparently Jacob's line "What about you?" makes Ben seem more like a slave to Jacob's will rather than an equal you would call friend.

MIB and Jacob are friends? Or the word "friend" was just another of Jacob's way of sugar-coating the actual word "My Nemesis Mr Smokey I-take-over-dead-people MIB"? I would like to think that the first applies.

The scene on the beach were MIB confronts Jacob, telling him in short that he is sick of being his prisoner and that he intends to do something about it was pretty intense. These 2 know each other for quite a while. Maybe there was a time when MIB actually wanted to stay on the island, just like Juliet but got homesick but just like Ben Jacob won't allow him to leave. Jacob tells MIB that he is supposed to be on the island

So Jacob tries to prove MIB wrong. It's almost like a bet. "I prove you wrong and I am free to go" kind of bet.

As Flocke, MIB takes the plot of the story one step ahead, telling Ben something that I personally found awesome! He says that the irony in all this is that the body that he walks in belonged once to a man that had the exact opposite goal in his life.

Locke wanted to stay. He wanted to leave so badly that sabotaged each and every possible means of getting away from the island. And in this show we can all see how crucial free will is.

Season 2: Mrs Clugh says to Michael to bring Sawyer, Kate, Hurley and Jack. Michael says "Why do not you do it yourselves?" "It does not work like that" she replies.

That's Jacob's way. The way of free will, people must want to do things on their own. Ben’s long recovery was because of Jack not actually wanting to save him. If free will is bent to serve a goal different that the one it supposed to then you have a loophole.

John Locke/Flocke is the loophole. A man who wanted to stay now wants more than anyone to go back, to leave the island. No one wants this more than Flocke/MIB! Not Jack, not Kate, not Sawyer, not even Juliet.

Jacob's disgusted and disappointed look at Flocke back in the season 5 finale told me everything. He was appalled by the fact that his island champion, John Locke was now a puppet at MIB's hands and all this had happened because John Locke himself allowed it. Free will be bent after all. So cool.

"You found your loophole"
"Yes I did. And you have no idea what I've been through, to be here"

This tells us a lot. MIB was searching endlessly as Smokey the one and only person who could bent into an opposite direction, make him serve an entirely different purpose of what he was intended to serve. Something entirely different not a little bit!

Think of this: In ALT everything is a little different. That's how the loop works: "Everything that happens before that is just progress" says Jacob. Fate is fate but is generated through free will and that is a long procedure.

MIB has already won since he got someone to "want" to leave the island when at the same time the person himself wanted stay desperately.

When Locke went off island to bring the O6 back, MIB was opening champagne bottles! He had persuaded him to leave. That's how he managed to turn into him and "turn" him into wanting to leave at the same time. Ingenious eh?

Flocke is now both John Locke and MIB. Locke's body outside the statue is of no meaning at all. Locke says so in ALT "They did not lose your father. They just lost his body." Locke’s spirit is now with MIB in the form of Flocke.

Locke lives in Flocke! It's how Flocke managed to trick someone like Richard into thinking he was actually his old “leader”.

Locke was special because his entire life took place for that special reason: To find, explore and finally love the island and wanting to stay there no matter what.

Jacob wants to prove to MIB that the people he brings on the island are supposed to be there and that nothing can change that. Destiny happens always and the miraculous thing in all this is that people’s free will makes it happen one way or the other. It just takes time, a long time to happen. By showing MIB the progress the people make and realise how their lifes are supposed to end on the island no matter how many times this plays off he infuriates MIB who believes that everyone should have a chance to walk away from all this.

MIB says he will find a loophole, someone that will so badly want to stay on the island but then change his mind like he did a long time ago. Then he is “free” to go. His "screw you" to Jacob was actually taking over Locke and "become" him, twist his spirit into something exactly opposite. Only if MIB manages to get off the island as Flocke will he be able to leave for good.

So what did we learn so far? John Locke was special because he was a loophole. A man who was so focused to stay now wants to leave. Progress was not made, Locke never had the 3 years all the others had, his will was bent by force but still it's his will, as Flocke. MIB did a lot of work to bring him to this point. "No idea what I've been through to get here" seems so familiar now eh?

Think this through. Since season 1 Smokey never touched Locke but killed everyone else except the ones that are now in the temple (Kate, Hurley, Jin, Jack, Sawyer) and near the statue (Sun, Ben). He even guided him through dreams and signs to move forward, to explore to want to know how this island "works". And then tricked him into leaving it. Made him believe that he was special because he was supposed to die in order to bring the O6 back. BIG lie. Locke's purpose was to stay on the island. MIB of course wanted to scare him as well. He tried as Smokey at season 1 finale. I do not think that 2 dynamite sticks are enough to stop Smokey. MIB did not want John at that time, he just wanted to frighten him and make him change his mind about staying. He would have left him alone either way.

But since Locke had a good reason to stay MIB took that reason also from him. For some time Locke was again not able to walk. MIB was testing him. Testing the perfect subject. No matter what would happen to him, Locke would stay an apparently not even the deprivation of “gift” of mobility would make him change his mind. If anything else it made him more stubborn in his goal to stay.

Thus MIB found a way to make him want to leave. Locke was emotionally invested on the island’s safety and MIB noticed that. With the excuse that if Locke left to bring the O6 back he would save the island MIB succeeded into turning the perfect Jacob’s ways believer into the perfect MIB candidate. Locke used his free will to leave the island thus he lost his true goal of staying on it. It’s of no matter that he was tricked into doing it, he made the choice himself and that makes it free will.

This season is so cool. They all wanted to return and now Locke wants to leave. Totally upside down! Jacob’s plan to bring them all back backfired at him. Ben was supposed to bring the O6 back after all. That’s why Jacob was so cold- hearted when Ben demanded answers. Ben had already failed him and miserably (he had Locke’s body brought back to the island which allowed MIB to manifest with his appearance, knowledge, memories and character.)

So an old friend of Jacob's wants to leave the tea party but the island is not done with him yet.... Still he is now done with the island. The ultimate loophole will allow him to leave.

The island functions as a beacon, a magnet to individuals of true, free will. Kate killed and believed that she had done the right thing. Sawyer had killed but was now hunted with regrets, wishing he could change it all no matter what it took. Jack fixed people and made that the purpose of his life. Chose to find his dad who needed him, took the initiative to step away from his differences with him and bring him back. Hurley wanted to get rid of the money because the people he loved were getting hurt. He could keep it if he was greedy but he chose people over money. Sun chooses true love instead of self- preservation and so on. Free will led them all to this accident. Jacob did nothing to bring them. When he touched them he was making sure they would stay alive long enough to understand that they are meant to stay on the island.

This also applied for Aijira flight. They all wanted to return by free will. Only Locke got this all wrong. MIB prepared him for quite a while as I so many times stated.

“You have no idea what it took to make John Locke to leave this damn island he so desperately loved on his own free will! What I’ve been through, plotting each and every little detail and make all the circumstances happen perfectly towards my goal!”

This is the key phrase translation as far as I am concerned.

MIB’s plan was 2-phased. First he got Locke change his mind on his own about what his true purpose was thus proving Jacob wrong. Then he took the chance to become one with his puppet that thought it was acting on its own in order to offer Jacob a chance to see how fate is not written and how can one affect it after all. A devious and carefully planned action that took almost all the series to unfold before us! A magnificent and stunning work from the producers and the writers of the show if you ask me. Top quality work. Never seen anything like it in the history of television. Such an awesome character progression….. An epic journey by definition. MIB never broke “the rules” of the island. One rule is that everything must happen on free will. MIB did it. Locke wants to leave and he did in season 5.

That’s all for Locke. The only question in my book is if his true self will emerge ever again and kick MIB’s and Jacob’s asses for putting him through all this.

If you like this theory then you will also like its next chapter titled “The Other Others” where the fates of Kate, Sun, Jin, Sawyer, Jack, Hurley and Sayid will be put under my relentless attempt to figure out what the hell is going on in this show!

Thanks for reading me!