It was pays to have a back-up plan; Eko was Jacob's. In case Locke didn't work as potential servant of Jacob, 'Protector of the Island' or leader of the Others, Eko was being groomed and tested as a potential back-up servant.
The Island/Jacob tested Locke by playing with his need to belong and feel needed somewhere, as well as curing his paralysis. The Island similarly uses apparitions of Yemi to play with Eko's guilt and need to wash the blood off his hands. However, Eko found inner-peace and his refusal to 'confess his sins' to Yemi meant that Jacob no longer had any means to manipulate him. Also, Eko had sworn never to kill again, something Jacob definitely sees as necessary at times (Ben did claim that the Purge 'wasn't his [own] idea' after all), and whatever devotion Eko could have developed towards the Island couldn't have ever been greater than his devotion to God. Since he couldn't be strung along anymore, Jacob suddenly broke the facade of pretending to be Yemi ('You speak to me as if I where your brother') and sent Smokey to kill Eko.
'Evidence':
- The Cargo Plane. While most of the other characters see apparitions
of people (and a horse) they knew, only Eko had a physical item from their past appear on the island- something undeniably concrete.
The same way Desmond's system failure was perfectly timed to cause the crash of Flight 815, the first 'Incident' in The Swan may have been perfectly timed to cause the crash of the Cargo Plane. A lot of attention either way for only one of 60-odd survivors
- Similarity in character. Eko and Locke were both trackers and wilderness experts to their groups. Neither wasted words and often spent long periods silent, both 'men of faith'. After Ben had dily-dallied for so long, and then angered Jacob by being captured by Rousseau and the Losties ('He is a great man, but not a forgiving one'), Jacob had decided that his next pawn should be more of a man of action, more suited to the wild and less inclined to individual scheming. With the crash, Jacob had found TWO suitable candidates.
-The Other's attempted to kidnap Eko on the first night, Goodwin claimed that these where 'good people', and a list of names was found on a dead Other. It's possible that this 'Good People List' is part of Jacob's List- and Eko was on it, just as Ben claimed Locke was in Season 2.
-Both Eko and John saw the Monster and were analyzed by it, but not killed. Even when Eko was unmoved by it's noise an destruction, the Monster actually backed down.
-To try and cull belief in 'The Island', Jacob appeared as Anna Lucia and told Eko to find the 'question mark'. Eko had no idea of it's existence, but pursued it with a furor, passing his first 'test'. Many characters have seen aparritions on the island, but only Eko and Locke have ever been issued direct orders by them.
- Both Eko and John where once in charge of 'the button', and showed a level of commitment no other characters did. Since Locke lost 'faith' in the button, Eko gained more esteem from Jacob and Locke was punished by 'losing his legs' (temporarily) by being crippled by the blast doors.
- The Hatch Implosion showed John hae was wrong to lose faith, and reaffirmed his commitment to the Island. Jacob appeared to Locke in Boone Form, telling him to rescue Eko from the bears. This may have seemed odd since Eko died soon after anyway, but it served two purposes. One: to regain influence over one protege (Locke) and save another (Eko) for his final 'test'.
-Since Eko had shown such commitment to 'the button', The Island decided to move towards Eko's final test of faith- whether he would submit to Yemi's 'confession', and give in to his guilt. Jacob saw he couldn't make Eko give himself completely to the Island as Locke could (and did), as so saw him as no longer useful. But since Eko was unafraid of the Monster and the Island, this made him a threat, Jacob removed with the same Monster Eko stood in defiance of in Season 2.
-There was one further use for Eko: to impart information to Jacob's new favoured son: Locke. Eko's stick gave Locke the (right) idea to head north, and to impart the words 'Your'e Next'- refering to Locke, not the group- meaning Locke was going to be the next man to be both tested and (hopefully for Jacob)the next favoured pawn in Jacob's grand plan.
Theory by Hayzeus
The Island/Jacob tested Locke by playing with his need to belong and feel needed somewhere, as well as curing his paralysis. The Island similarly uses apparitions of Yemi to play with Eko's guilt and need to wash the blood off his hands. However, Eko found inner-peace and his refusal to 'confess his sins' to Yemi meant that Jacob no longer had any means to manipulate him. Also, Eko had sworn never to kill again, something Jacob definitely sees as necessary at times (Ben did claim that the Purge 'wasn't his [own] idea' after all), and whatever devotion Eko could have developed towards the Island couldn't have ever been greater than his devotion to God. Since he couldn't be strung along anymore, Jacob suddenly broke the facade of pretending to be Yemi ('You speak to me as if I where your brother') and sent Smokey to kill Eko.
'Evidence':
- The Cargo Plane. While most of the other characters see apparitions
of people (and a horse) they knew, only Eko had a physical item from their past appear on the island- something undeniably concrete.
The same way Desmond's system failure was perfectly timed to cause the crash of Flight 815, the first 'Incident' in The Swan may have been perfectly timed to cause the crash of the Cargo Plane. A lot of attention either way for only one of 60-odd survivors
- Similarity in character. Eko and Locke were both trackers and wilderness experts to their groups. Neither wasted words and often spent long periods silent, both 'men of faith'. After Ben had dily-dallied for so long, and then angered Jacob by being captured by Rousseau and the Losties ('He is a great man, but not a forgiving one'), Jacob had decided that his next pawn should be more of a man of action, more suited to the wild and less inclined to individual scheming. With the crash, Jacob had found TWO suitable candidates.
-The Other's attempted to kidnap Eko on the first night, Goodwin claimed that these where 'good people', and a list of names was found on a dead Other. It's possible that this 'Good People List' is part of Jacob's List- and Eko was on it, just as Ben claimed Locke was in Season 2.
-Both Eko and John saw the Monster and were analyzed by it, but not killed. Even when Eko was unmoved by it's noise an destruction, the Monster actually backed down.
-To try and cull belief in 'The Island', Jacob appeared as Anna Lucia and told Eko to find the 'question mark'. Eko had no idea of it's existence, but pursued it with a furor, passing his first 'test'. Many characters have seen aparritions on the island, but only Eko and Locke have ever been issued direct orders by them.
- Both Eko and John where once in charge of 'the button', and showed a level of commitment no other characters did. Since Locke lost 'faith' in the button, Eko gained more esteem from Jacob and Locke was punished by 'losing his legs' (temporarily) by being crippled by the blast doors.
- The Hatch Implosion showed John hae was wrong to lose faith, and reaffirmed his commitment to the Island. Jacob appeared to Locke in Boone Form, telling him to rescue Eko from the bears. This may have seemed odd since Eko died soon after anyway, but it served two purposes. One: to regain influence over one protege (Locke) and save another (Eko) for his final 'test'.
-Since Eko had shown such commitment to 'the button', The Island decided to move towards Eko's final test of faith- whether he would submit to Yemi's 'confession', and give in to his guilt. Jacob saw he couldn't make Eko give himself completely to the Island as Locke could (and did), as so saw him as no longer useful. But since Eko was unafraid of the Monster and the Island, this made him a threat, Jacob removed with the same Monster Eko stood in defiance of in Season 2.
-There was one further use for Eko: to impart information to Jacob's new favoured son: Locke. Eko's stick gave Locke the (right) idea to head north, and to impart the words 'Your'e Next'- refering to Locke, not the group- meaning Locke was going to be the next man to be both tested and (hopefully for Jacob)the next favoured pawn in Jacob's grand plan.
Theory by Hayzeus
