In the Season 4 Episode "The Shape of Things to Come," we see Keamy's mercenary team attacking Locke's group at the Barracks. In that attack, at least three red shirt losties are shot by sniper fire (as Carl and Rousseau had been shot in the previous episode, Sawyer survives a blistering firefight virtually unscathed, and Claire's house is destroyed by a rocket-propelled grenade.
Many viewers, including myself, have viewed subsequent events as confirming that Claire, in fact, died in that explosion. Evidence for that death is, briefly, as follows: a) while the house is in pieces, somehow she is in one piece, b) she calls first for Charlie before being lifted from the rubble by Sawyer, c) when she responds to inquiries about her health in the aftermath of that attack with the quip "I'll live," Miles Straume, who apparently can commune with the dead, mutters "Don't be too sure about that," d) Claire leaves in the middle of the night with Christian Shepherd (an encounter seen and related by Miles), and e) Locke later finds her quite at ease in Jacob's Cabin along side her father Christian, seemingly unconcerned about her son Aaron.
Immediately following the attack on the barracks, Keamy attempts to force Ben to surrender by threatening Alex, the girl Ben has raised as his daughter and the only person that he seems (and as interviews with Michael Emerson, the actor who plays Ben, have indicated) to care at all about. When Keamy shoots Alex in the back of the head and leaves her dead in the grass in front of the house, Ben retreats with rage and desperation on his face to a hidden room in the house where he uncovers another door covered in hieroglyphics similar to those on the countdown clock in the Swan Station and near the Frozen Wheel beneath the Orchid Station. Returning a few minutes later to the living room, he warns Locke, Sawyer, Hurley, Miles, and Claire to run for the treeline as soon as he gives the order.
We then see the smoke monster roll over the edge of a house into the barracks and toward the mercenaries with a violence previously unseen on the series; even Eko's death was more meticulous and planned than this. The monster seems to be exhibiting rage. It quickly creates a great twisting pillar among the trees where the mercenaries have been laying wait.
One soldier tries to crawl from the trees toward the losties, but an arm of the smoke monster follows him. He turns with his rifle and fires at the monster. There is a flash which seems, at first glance, to eminate from the end of his gun barrel as he fires, but could also be produced quickly within the smoke monster. We have seen similar flashes happen when the monster has been "downloading" information from Eko and later from Juliet and Kate as they hid beneath the banyan roots. Similar noises can be heard from the monster, dominated by the telltale taxicab receipt-machine noise, as we have heard before when the monster is assessing an individual in front of it.
The losties are all amazed at the monster attack. Locke asks, "What did you do?" Hurley exclaims, "Did you just call that thing?" Miles looks especially shocked (I'd love to know what Miles' abilities have shown him about the monster...) The monster drags that soldier back into the smoke melee while the losties flee.
Later, we find the mercenaries retreating from the barracks to the helicopter with one badly injured soldier: Mayhew. This soldier later dies as the mercenaries arrive back at the freighter.
The despair of Ben and the violent onset of the smoke monster never seemed to jive very well with the relatively light casualties that the mercenaries take. Only one fatality? And why isn't it Keamy? If the smoke monster has been called by Ben to take revenge on the mercenaries for the murder of Alex, then why is Keamy, her executioner, spared by the monster?
The answer, I believe, is that the monster is not actually taking revenge for Alex's murder, but for Claire's. In the still shots of the launch of the rocket-propelled grenade, the face of the soldier who fires the rocket is blackened with camo paint and obscured. It is not Keamy, though. It is plausible to assert that it is Mayhew, the mercenary who is subsequently thrashed by the monster and who later dies of those injuries. When the monster confronts Mayhew, it seems at first glance that the monster dislikes being shot at and so grabs Mayhew and tosses him like a ragdoll. However, it is more plausible that it has quickly assessed his motives/memories (whatever info it is that the monster actually downloads) and identifies him as Claire's killer.
Why would this matter, though? Why would the monster avenge Claire but not Alex? I think that answer has to do with Jacob. This theory cannot yet speculate on the relationship between the mysterious "Man Behind the Curtain" and the smoke monster (and I suspect we won't really know until near the end of Season 6), but I do think, as many others have speculated, that grandfather Shephard, who will make his first official appearance here in Season 5, may be Jacob.
This would explain why:
a) Christian Shephard, his son, would be the primary means of communicating with the losties on the island and the freighter (especially in the light of the upcoming episode named "316," which references the most famous of all Biblical quotes "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoso should believe on him should not perish, but have everlasting life,"
b) Jack Shephard is the protagonist of the story - while we enjoy the side-stories and auxillary main characters, the producers have affirmed that Jack is, indeed, the central protagonist, which means that the resolution of HIS central conflict is the resolution of THE central conflict of the story, i.e. Jack's relationship with family,
c) Claire is found reclining in Jacob's cabin at ease alongside Christian Shephard; as Hurley had previously seen Christian within the cabin (presumably in "his father's house") it stands to reason that Claire, being family, would be equally welcomed and comfortable,
d) Aaron is the title character of the upcoming episode "The Little
Prince," as he is heir to this same family line,
and e) it's important that Jack evolve into a "man of faith," as this appears to be the only way for him to return to the island/resolve his father issues/become the man he is supposed to be, etc.
As to how grandfather Shephard became the Jacob that Ben reports to, I do not know. But the familial evidence seems to be in place, and the monster's behavior at the barracks indicates that Claire's death is the one of more importance to the island, even though Alex's death is more devastating to Ben.
Theory by WNGYPSY
Many viewers, including myself, have viewed subsequent events as confirming that Claire, in fact, died in that explosion. Evidence for that death is, briefly, as follows: a) while the house is in pieces, somehow she is in one piece, b) she calls first for Charlie before being lifted from the rubble by Sawyer, c) when she responds to inquiries about her health in the aftermath of that attack with the quip "I'll live," Miles Straume, who apparently can commune with the dead, mutters "Don't be too sure about that," d) Claire leaves in the middle of the night with Christian Shepherd (an encounter seen and related by Miles), and e) Locke later finds her quite at ease in Jacob's Cabin along side her father Christian, seemingly unconcerned about her son Aaron.
Immediately following the attack on the barracks, Keamy attempts to force Ben to surrender by threatening Alex, the girl Ben has raised as his daughter and the only person that he seems (and as interviews with Michael Emerson, the actor who plays Ben, have indicated) to care at all about. When Keamy shoots Alex in the back of the head and leaves her dead in the grass in front of the house, Ben retreats with rage and desperation on his face to a hidden room in the house where he uncovers another door covered in hieroglyphics similar to those on the countdown clock in the Swan Station and near the Frozen Wheel beneath the Orchid Station. Returning a few minutes later to the living room, he warns Locke, Sawyer, Hurley, Miles, and Claire to run for the treeline as soon as he gives the order.
We then see the smoke monster roll over the edge of a house into the barracks and toward the mercenaries with a violence previously unseen on the series; even Eko's death was more meticulous and planned than this. The monster seems to be exhibiting rage. It quickly creates a great twisting pillar among the trees where the mercenaries have been laying wait.
One soldier tries to crawl from the trees toward the losties, but an arm of the smoke monster follows him. He turns with his rifle and fires at the monster. There is a flash which seems, at first glance, to eminate from the end of his gun barrel as he fires, but could also be produced quickly within the smoke monster. We have seen similar flashes happen when the monster has been "downloading" information from Eko and later from Juliet and Kate as they hid beneath the banyan roots. Similar noises can be heard from the monster, dominated by the telltale taxicab receipt-machine noise, as we have heard before when the monster is assessing an individual in front of it.
The losties are all amazed at the monster attack. Locke asks, "What did you do?" Hurley exclaims, "Did you just call that thing?" Miles looks especially shocked (I'd love to know what Miles' abilities have shown him about the monster...) The monster drags that soldier back into the smoke melee while the losties flee.
Later, we find the mercenaries retreating from the barracks to the helicopter with one badly injured soldier: Mayhew. This soldier later dies as the mercenaries arrive back at the freighter.
The despair of Ben and the violent onset of the smoke monster never seemed to jive very well with the relatively light casualties that the mercenaries take. Only one fatality? And why isn't it Keamy? If the smoke monster has been called by Ben to take revenge on the mercenaries for the murder of Alex, then why is Keamy, her executioner, spared by the monster?
The answer, I believe, is that the monster is not actually taking revenge for Alex's murder, but for Claire's. In the still shots of the launch of the rocket-propelled grenade, the face of the soldier who fires the rocket is blackened with camo paint and obscured. It is not Keamy, though. It is plausible to assert that it is Mayhew, the mercenary who is subsequently thrashed by the monster and who later dies of those injuries. When the monster confronts Mayhew, it seems at first glance that the monster dislikes being shot at and so grabs Mayhew and tosses him like a ragdoll. However, it is more plausible that it has quickly assessed his motives/memories (whatever info it is that the monster actually downloads) and identifies him as Claire's killer.
Why would this matter, though? Why would the monster avenge Claire but not Alex? I think that answer has to do with Jacob. This theory cannot yet speculate on the relationship between the mysterious "Man Behind the Curtain" and the smoke monster (and I suspect we won't really know until near the end of Season 6), but I do think, as many others have speculated, that grandfather Shephard, who will make his first official appearance here in Season 5, may be Jacob.
This would explain why:
a) Christian Shephard, his son, would be the primary means of communicating with the losties on the island and the freighter (especially in the light of the upcoming episode named "316," which references the most famous of all Biblical quotes "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoso should believe on him should not perish, but have everlasting life,"
b) Jack Shephard is the protagonist of the story - while we enjoy the side-stories and auxillary main characters, the producers have affirmed that Jack is, indeed, the central protagonist, which means that the resolution of HIS central conflict is the resolution of THE central conflict of the story, i.e. Jack's relationship with family,
c) Claire is found reclining in Jacob's cabin at ease alongside Christian Shephard; as Hurley had previously seen Christian within the cabin (presumably in "his father's house") it stands to reason that Claire, being family, would be equally welcomed and comfortable,
d) Aaron is the title character of the upcoming episode "The Little
Prince," as he is heir to this same family line,
and e) it's important that Jack evolve into a "man of faith," as this appears to be the only way for him to return to the island/resolve his father issues/become the man he is supposed to be, etc.
As to how grandfather Shephard became the Jacob that Ben reports to, I do not know. But the familial evidence seems to be in place, and the monster's behavior at the barracks indicates that Claire's death is the one of more importance to the island, even though Alex's death is more devastating to Ben.
Theory by WNGYPSY
