Ladies and gentlemen, I have some good news and some terrible news. The beloved John Locke is dead…..executed in the electric chair. You see, John Locke, is a murderer, a cold-blooded killer, a conman, a thief, and his ugly vicious past has finally caught up with him. How can this be you say? This is an OUTRAGE!! How dare you talk about our precious John Locke in such a fashion? Unfortunately friends, this is the sad truth. You will not accept this at first, not at all, but by the time you finish reading this, even the most die-hard Locke fan will be questioning their loyalty to Locke.
Let us set one thing straight: the survivors, the island, the monster, the dog, the Others, the hostiles, even the wheelchair and everything else hold symbolic value. Most of these symbols can and do hold more than one value throughout the series. We cannot look at ANYTHING on the show at face value, because NONE of this is what it seems on the surface. We have to strip away the surface and go open the proverbial “hatch” of each character/scene and find the true meaning. These castaways will never leave the island, because they do not exist, at least not in the form that you see them. Each of these characters represent a facet or a person in John Locke’s life, but more importantly, every character both male and female IS John Locke at some point or another or ALL at the same time. Each character portrays a time/point in Locke’s life and represents that event. Sometimes they are good….. and sometimes they are bad. I also believe that each individual character’s flashback tells us the story of John’s life…every character’s flashback is in reality a flashback of Locke’s life and the little building blocks that lead him into the electric chair, a fall from grace. For example, the recent Claire flashback where she and her mother were in an accident is in reality LOCKE with his mother in a car crash. That is how he lost his mother.
We already have a firm grip on Locke’s background by following just the flashbacks. They take us from the humble beginnings, to the nasty, jagged paths that have developed the character known to us as John Locke. The writers of the show have made references to Sawyer as a Han Solo type character, but I will go one further and say that John Locke is almost an Anakin Skywalker tragic tale. How a good man turns from good to bad……from the light to the dark……from the white stone to the black stone. I know this seems hard to swallow at first, but bear with me please, I will give many examples and then you yourselves may go and find your own, because almost every single thing in every single episode is a symbol, but any way you slice it I have found, comes up Locke.
Keep in mind that there are still gaps in this because we have not seen the whole show evolve yet, so I tend to speculate and project on certain things, but I am pretty confident that these events will unfold before our eyes and we’ll see the gaps filling in episode after episode.
There is no island, there are no aliens, there are no survivors, there are no magic powers, there is no real time travel, at least not the type everyone thinks and there was probably no plane as well. There is a man though, a good man who turned terrible, who did terrible things and is now being punished for it and is now in between states of consciousness. There ARE Others, there ARE watchers, there ARE “good guys”, but NOT how we all thought it would be…..some mystical race of ancient people. Not the case at all, and this will be explained. This show is NOT about people involved in a plane crash and surviving on an island of weird things. It is about a man….ONE SINGLE man: LOCKE; an old-fashioned, good guy turned bad; a murder mystery that even CSI would have a hard time to solve.
Not sitting well already, huh? Well, let us go on a real journey, a journey about a man named John Locke and how he “LOST” his way and strayed from the good inner person he once was, to a hostile thief / conman and killer that he became, and then the possibility of Locke trying to clean house (his life/head) before he passes. This is a man who is trying to ATONE FOR ALL THE SINS OF HIS PAST. He has to make peace with his Maker before he goes and the island has given him the opportunity to do so. That is why Ben can’t heal, because Ben is in the wheelchair, the sinning chair (as will be explained) and Locke has healed because he in his mind now is repenting.
Let us start with the actual outline or structure of the show itself, the bones of it. A few years back a director named David Lynch came out with a movie entitled Mulholland Drive. Some of you may have seen this. In a nutshell the main character of the movie is a young hopeful wide-eyed girl who moves to Hollywood to become a star, then gets involved with a lover and then finds herself involved in a murder mystery / investigation that takes the couple through many strange locations, situations and people. Throughout the movie the viewer is soon exposed to the character’s flashbacks and the bleak world these flashbacks have, similar to the show Lost. When we witness the flashbacks, they are sometimes drab, sick, frightening. When we are not in flashback, the world looks rosy and colorful, hopeful and uplifting. After a while though, the lines between reality and fantasy start to blur, characters that we become familiar with begin to represent a whole different thing, and many times they represent more than one thing or person. The main character of Mulholland Drive starts out hopeful and cheery and ends up doing horrible things. This is Lost as well. I believe the writers are huge Lynch fans, I know I am, and they are so much so, that they actually have a scene taken right out of Mulholland Drive and put it in an episode called, “The Long Con”. In it you may recall that Sawyer and another conman meet in a “Denny’s” type diner to discuss a caper / crime and order from a waitress (Kate’s Mom) with the nametag, “Diane”, when we actually know that that is not her name. So too is there not one but two scenes almost identical in Mulholland Drive, where two characters discuss a crime and order from a waitress, one in which has the same tag with the name, “Diane”. Big deal, right? Well, one of the main actresses in Mulholland was Melissa George who starred in a series named, “Thieves” in an episode called, “The Long Con”. Okay, enough of Mulholland for now, but I believe that Lynch’s structure in this movie is the complete basis for Lost. Now let’s move on to the meat and potatoes of this.
I believe that the island and the flashbacks are all hallucinations created in the mind of Locke caused by the life “flashes-before-our-eyes” effect before one dies. Take for just one tiny example from “The Long Con” episode. What book do we see Locke reading / handling? We see Locke handling An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce. The plot roughly is of a man who survives a hanging and escapes, only to later discover that he did not survive at all, and his escape was actually a hallucination at the time of death. Quite an interesting choice for a man that is going through basically the same thing. I also believe that this book is the guideline story to old Locke as well. I do believe that Locke’s execution was botched (it is represented in his fantasy as the day the “sky turned purple”. You can hear the electric power and malfunction. After the “anomaly”, “BEN” was right, one can’t get back to this island, he is already pretty fried).
Keep in mind that I am going to try and give only the really big examples....I can’t possibly write every single thing because it would take up to 500 pages, and I don’t think everyone has the time to do that (especially if you are reading this at work ;) ) I will leave this to the rest of you to have FUN with (it is a TV show after all, for our entertainment anyway) and actually find all the little details as I have found. It’s like a fun game everybody!!!!
Now let us get into the symbolism of each character and we can see how Locke actually becomes the character and the scene.
The Show Itself
The show itself is Locke-Centric.....ALL of it. Please take this into consideration and look at a few episodes through these eyes keeping in mind that it all has to do with Locke and you will see. You won’t believe your eyes! I have done so countless times now before I wrote this to make sure and it is solid. The show’s writers play with all the characters and flex them really fast, just like David Lynch did and you really have to watch and replace the characters with Locke.
The Survivors
Keeping in mind that this is all going on in Locke’s head, the survivors in their physical state probably remind Locke of people he has truly run across in his life, possibly his victims. The survivors in the mental state represent Locke and his various crimes and parts of life that HE experienced. A Wizard-of-Oz type thing except really really dark.
The Wheelchair
Let’s begin with the basic wheelchair, or what we have come to know as his wheelchair. The wheelchair has double meanings. If we look at the revealing Tallahassee episode, I believe that the wheelchair is the actual electric chair. If you observe closely, Locke’s ‘cap’ resembles that of an electric chair type cap and when they seat him the “wheelchair”, NOTICE the way he SITS and NOTICE his body movements, or lack thereof. He doesn’t move his hands or self AND he resembles that of a convict bound to the chair. His face has burns on it which suggests that perhaps the first attempt in the chair didn’t take (the intern says, “You survived an 8-story drop.” which could also mean you survived the chair). Also, the “anomaly” on the island when the sky turned purple/white I believe to be Locke’s original execution, but something went wrong and he survived.….(remember the book I mentioned above and the character in that book survived the first execution). The intern also wasn’t very nice as well, not like a sympathetic hospital type, he is basically telling Locke he didn’t care what Locke wanted, just “get in the chair”. Then Locke was left alone in the room like an “arena”, alone and very reminiscent of a man getting executed. The wheelchair also represents Locke’s Real World and all of the terrible things he has done, or is doing, which is why I believe that he was not crippled at all, at least not physically. The terrible things he has done in life has in fact “crippled” him, not Cooper, not a fall from a window....a fall from grace. Big point.
The Island
The island represents atonement for past sins. It gives the person the opportunity in their mind to make peace with their Maker so that they may pass to the next plane “with a clean slate”. Pretty pure and simple. That is why Ben(Locke) in the wheelchair can’t heal or understand the island as Locke does, because Ben is still in the wheelchair (or as I put it, still committing crimes / sins, or still “crippled”). Locke is already transcending beyond Ben and is on the path of righteousness.
The Cobra
The Cobra, a snake. It was the scene with Billy Dee Williams that drew me to all of these conclusions. The Cobra in the fake show “Expose” (the script as read by Hurley) was supposed to be about a really terrible vicious person and one that NO ONE saw coming and would be revealed in Season 4. SO now the buzz on all the boards was that the Cobra was Jacob. The Cobra worked at a strip club and in walks Nikki the stripper / crime fighter. This Nikki I believe could be “Helen” on the phone.....she was some kind of sex line or strange service that Locke was using and he happened to fall for this person...When this person rejected him and his tickets, I believe he, like the Cobra, went out and killed her.
Locke Blowing Things Up
I believe that Locke is doing this to either wipe the slate clean (i.e., “Tabula Rasa”) of his past, burn his bridges to the past so to speak, so he may find peace. On the “island” he is a hero, a leader and a good man. Mikhail almost blew his cover when he said “the John Locke I knew was para-.....”
Jack
Jack is a complicated character. I think Locke aspires to be a leader, a doctor type, a good man. Jack is all of these, things Locke has perhaps aspired to do, but has fallen short. But then, Jack is also Locke in many instances. We know that it wasn’t Jack who went to Thailand, it was Locke, because I believe that ALL flashbacks are Locke-centric. I believe that Jack(Locke) had done something very bad in Thailand because he got his clock cleaned. My guess is that girl he slept with was a hooker and he ended up killing her as well, or possibly knocking her up....this is still unclear to me, but what is clear is he committed some atrocity there.
The whole Kate thing represents his failed marriage. Jack(Locke) was married and then screwed up and the guy Jack saw with his EX could also be represented as Sawyer too....either way his wife left him(Locke) for another man and I think there will be some bad things happening to that guy. I could go on and on with Jack, but as I have said, I don’t have 500 pages to give at the moment.
Sawyer
I believe that Locke was Sawyer because Locke was a conman as well, in the flashback when he conned the woman out of like 600 grand, which also ties in with Cooper. Almost the same con Cooper tried with that older lady. Sawyer killed the wrong man and I believe Locke has also done that. It is possible that Sawyer plays a double role and that Locke killed his parents, or Sawyer(Locke) can’t accept the fact that he killed his own parents and is looking for the real killer. This too is still a little cloudy to me.
Cooper
I believe that Locke was Cooper (and Cooper was Locke) and when Locke got sent through the window, it was not Locke at all, it was Cooper who got sent through by Locke’s own hands. His father knew about his wrong-doings and tried to turn Locke around and then Locke killed his own father. How do I know this? We see in Kate’s flashback that Kate(Locke) killed her own father and following the rule that all flashbacks are based on Locke’s life, then Locke too did kill his father. The writers kinda played the shell game with us making us think Locke was thrown through the window, but that vision was blurred to us....Believe me, switch the two, Locke and Cooper in that scene. This is also why I do not think Locke was PHYSICALLY CRIPPLED.
The Children
I believe the children represent his own children. I believe that it will be revealed that he was either once married, or possibly knocked up someone and seeing Locke’s BAD nature, these children were taken away....taken to “a better place”. It could also be speculated that Locke has killed children and they were in fact “taken to a better place” but I still cannot prove that, but I pretty much believe he had at least one child, if not two, a son and a daughter. When we see Locke sitting in his apartment eating his healthy choice yankee pot roast (or whatever), there looked to be a TV table tray that had cowboys on it, much like a child would have, so I believe it was his child’s tray or a child’s tray.
We have already found out he has at least a daughter through Sawyer’s flashback, when it was revealed that Sawyer had a daughter he didn’t even know about.
Kate
Kate I believe is Locke at one point (when she kills her father) and at another point she is his girlfriend / wife / ex wife / whatever.
We see when she comes back to save Jack(Locke) from “prison”, she wants to save him and Jack(Locke) says he wishes she never came back for him...it is too late....death row calls. But her situation gets even more sticky and compli“kate”d with the whole love triangle thing.
It is possible that he may have done something bad to her as well, possibly kill again. When Jack was playing piano, he told Kate not to come back (because Locke knew what evil Locke could do)…Locke’s heart was broken because Kate(EX) cheated on him with Sawyer(someone)…..so Jack(Locke) says don’t come back, but he whispers quietly and in a real creepy way, “I WILL be BACK for YOU!” – possibly meaning he may come back to kill her.
The Love Triangle
Locke’s persona switches from Sawyer to Jack to Sawyer to Jack and when he is not one, that one becomes the person that Kate(his EX) cheated with. I believe it will be revealed that ultimately Sawyer will be taken/killed, because I think Locke has killed the boyfriend of his EX.
Danielle
I believe that Danielle is Locke simply for the fact that he is looking for his daughter who was taken from him 16 years ago. He might have seen his daughter but really has nothing to say because of his past and that he has been either a bad dad or just not there. Locke might even be a grandfather and Aaron may be that child.
Michael
Michael too has double roles. Michael is Locke because Michael too has never seen Walt growing up and got the child taken away from him early on. When Michael is screaming for Waaaaaaaaalt, it is Locke screaming for his child and how he wants his child back. It is why I think that Locke also had a son as well as a daughter.
But I also believe Michael is an “Other” because he took the child from Locke (remember Michael telling Walt to NOT TALK TO LOCKE....? because he was being taken from him).
Ben
Ben also has multiple roles. He is Locke in the real world for the most part. He is evil, cunning, manipulative. Ben in the wheelchair represents Locke in evil ways. Ben cannot heal yet because he has not atoned for his sins. Ben is also Locke in the same way Jack is Locke. Ben was married to Juliet and she left him. Although Ben does give us a glimpse that Locke perhaps did finally establish a relationship with his daughter, because Ben has. Given it is strained because the daughter knows of the evil things that Ben(Locke) has done and is capable of doing. Ben is also an “Other”, he is a good guy, but this is still unclear to me just yet, but it WILL be revealed.
Christ vs. the devil
The Ben/Locke scene in Ben’s house can also be looked upon as Christ vs. the devil…the whole scene in Ben’s room just smacked of Jesus in the desert during the 40 days being tempted by the devil. The devil offered Christ all the leadership of the world and riches and whatnot…..Ben told Locke imagine a box and anything you want can be yours! Locke, as did Christ refused to take the temptation even going as far as calling Ben a ‘Pharisee’ much like Christ called the evil men back in the day. Locke is again transcending back into the path of righteousness.
Hurley
Based on the fact that we already know Locke has anger issues (he is in anger management class as we’ve seen) AND that he has been diagnosed with depression, it is very logical that Locke too has spent time in a mental health facility aka Hurley’s flashback. I believe that Hurley too had anger issues so this all ties in.
Desmond
Desmond I believe represents Locke and also possibly an angel savior type character. We do see that Desmond(Locke) gets a dishonorable discharge from the army, and we do see in Locke’s apartment that Locke does have badges and other military paraphernalia, so it can be speculated that Locke was in the military as well, and perhaps was released dishonorably. Desmond does kill the Inman, albeit by accident. Desmond also has the Charles Dickens book that he says he is saving to read “right before he dies” to which the guard says something like, “Well, how would you know that?” Well you know that when you are on death row. BUT on the other hand, Desmond IS different than the other characters.....he is trying to save the world and trying to save Charlie(Locke), but as Desmond says, he won’t be able to save him all the time....”You’re gonna die Charlie(Locke)”.....by electric chair.
Charlie
Charlie is one of those that I kind of project, but I do believe will pan out in future flashbacks. Locke might have abused antidepressants which is why he was so helpful with Charlie, trying to straighten Charlie(Locke) out. Also I believe we will see that Locke is a musician. In Charlie’s flashback Charlie gets a piano. Later in “Man from Tallahassee”, we see Jack playing piano, but that is really not Jack, it is Locke, in a small celled room with Kate coming to get him.
Alcatraz
This is jail, plain and simple. It was right in our face. I mean the Others called it Alcatraz. The cages were not cages at all, but jail cells, and Jack, Kate and Sawyer were each in a cell, ALL THREE representing Locke at this ONE moment and each representing each separate crime that Locke did......Kate(Locke) killed her(his) father, Sawyer(Locke) killed a wrong man and conned people out of much money. Now Jack(Locke) is interesting...we are still not sure what crime he represented in there yet, but perhaps the incident in Thailand, but he definitely was treated differently than the other two, but I’m still not clear yet.
Eko
Eko right now is a little tricky, but I think he could be a fellow inmate on death row. Before Eko died, he did tell Locke, “You’re next.” I think that Eko has made his peace with his Maker and the smoke monster came and executed him. That is why Eko was not afraid of the monster. This is also why Eko was sent to help Locke find his way again, make peace with his Maker...to not be afraid anymore and to accept what he did, be repentant and be forgiven, just like Yemi said to Eko that Eko was a good man and will be forgiven for all the terrible things he did.
Mikhail
Mikhail I believe was a death row inmate or could have possibly represented an inmate being electrocuted in the chair. Notice how he dies....The head wounds, the foaming of the mouth, fried just like in the “chair”.
The Smoke Monster
I believe that the smoke monster is the executioner or the actual electric chair. As stated above Eko was not afraid of it. He stared right into the belly of the beast and made peace with it. Locke was not afraid of it either, since he was on death row for a while.
The Watchers
The Watchers are the victims’ families that Locke has murdered. When Jack(Locke) was in the cage in Alcatraz, Jack(Locke) was really in jail and Cindy comes up and says, “We’re here to watch.” Watch what? Well, an execution.....Locke’s execution, not Juliet’s.
The Others
The Others represent society and its laws and how society took away the things from Locke that he cared about, like his children. The Others ARE really the “Good Guys”.....they stopped a thieving murderer.
Well, that is about it for now everybody....I have many, many more examples and I am sure I have not mentioned some of your favorite characters and their place in the whole scheme of things, but as I stated before, I don’t want to keep writing all day. I already know these things and feel very confident about them, but believe me, if you look upon the show with these new “eyes”, you will see things in a whole different way. This is really fun and such a mind screw that you really have to buckle up and hang on.
Yours truly,
Brothah_Dez
Theory by Brothah_Dez
