The essence of lost is still about Light and Dark. It always has been, from Locke mentioning it while playing backgammon with Walt to finding the black and white stones with Adam and Eve.
A crucial element was Locke, in season 1, describing what we thought to be the smoke monster, as a "bright white light," the "eye of the island." Well that monster made no attempt to hurt him. Meanwhile we do know for a fact that Smokey has murdered on several occasions, and that Locke, when he saw the smoke moster, was very scared as opposed to pleased when he saw the "light". My point is that there is on the island an entity of darkness and an entity of light. Both have influence on our characters. The trick is trying to figure out which actions have been influenced by which entity.
To start with, lets consider that all of our characters carry within them the propensity to be either good of bad. Sayid for instance is a very caring individual, but a torturer. Sawyer likewise was an uncompashionate conman, but inside still an incocent kid and loving father. And you can go on and on. All of them have battled the idea of being either good or bad and that was a very strong theme throughout the first 2 seasons at least.
So, who has been seduced by good, and who by evil?
Let's look at Ben. Ben was an innocent kid, brought to the island by Horace Goodspeed. He was then lured by the image of his mother into a meeting with the hostiles, leading to the purge. So was he influenced by dark or light? Well if you consider that all Richard has ever wanted was to live in peace on his island, and that his people were oppressed by the American military and later by Dharma, then you'd have to say that Richard is good. Any force that helped him would thus be good, and so Ben was influenced to join the hostiles and commit the purge by a force of light. The same force that Locke saw years later.
We also know that Richard is aware and apparently reverent to Jacob. We know this because he recognizes the name Jacob when Locke mentions him in 1954. Richard didn't react as though he were scared of Locke, and in fact he followed what Locke had to say, which means that Jacob is at least part of the higher power that Richard answers to. If the force of light then is related to Richard, then it must also be related to Jacob.
Later we find out that Ben is solely responsible for talking to Jacob, and when we first find Jacob, it's clear that he is surround by a ring of ash. It's pretty obvious that this ash is binding Jacob within its borders. But based on Richard's desire to help Locke, and his seeming distrust for Ben in episodes in and around "The Brig", I think it would be fair to say that Richard is not happy with what Ben is doing, and thus Ben is likely no longer following Jacob. That being the case, Ben is also likely involved in the ash that is imprisoning Jacob, which also means that Ben is now following the force of darkness.
Just like Locke, there is no evidence that Ben is in any way "special" Richard came to believe that Ben was because a young Ben had seen his mother walking through the woods and took it to mean that Ben was destined to be with them, in a similar way that he took Locke's appearance in the past to mean that Locke was destined to be with him. But Locke as we all know is extremely influential and apt to follow any orders.
That makes me think that Locke is neither a force for good or evil, and perhaps nobody is. Perhaps everybody is being used by the forces of light and dark and influence over them is the game being played.
A big puzzle piece and mystery to me is Christian Shepherd. 2 curious contrasts. A: he tells Locke that following Ben has never gotten Locke anywhere, implying that Locke should not follow Ben. But then B: he tells Locke to go and see Mrs. Hawking, who we know works with Ben and who Ben is trying to get everybody to go and see. So if Ben and Christian are both connected to the same person, how could they not be working together on some level.
So since Ben and Christian have the same alliances and thus a connection, then the fact that we have seen Christian so many times connected to the Cabin, where we have also seen Jacob held prisoner, must mean that Christian is also a force of darkness, working with Ben to suppress Jacob.
Again Jacob is clearly the force behind the hostiles, and he asks Locke to help him, but he doesn't ask Ben. Ben thought that Locke would not be able to hear Jacob, and shot him to prevent Locke from spreading the word to the remaining others.
Ben then has at least for now, succumed to the force of darkness. What then is his goal? His goal is to maintain control of the island. It's a personal goal for himself, made possibly from the loss of someone like Annie. Perhaps her death, if in fact she is dead is what motivated his selfishness. I want to believe he is good, but if that were true, Richard would be fully supporting him, and more importantly, Ben would not have left Jacob imprisioned so easily.
Long story short: The hostiles are good, all they want is their island, and they support Jacob, hence Jacob is good. Jacob is imprisoned by the contrasting force of darkness, which ben has made no effort to fight, hence ben is connected for the time being at least to the force of darkness on the island.
A few other thoughts. We certain that the losties take a trip to the early days of Dharma so that Faraday can do things like visit the Orchid and tell a young Charlotte not to come back. These 2 events though have to take place well apart. Ben was nearly 30 when the purge happened and Charlotte couldn't have left much before then. However the Orchid was built well before that, as much as 10-15 years before that. So does Daniel stay in the Dharma past for 10-15 years? Wild.
It might not be true though. From the episode that followed "Enter 77" we know that Mikhail had met Locke in the past briefly. Well I haven't seen Locke Meet Mikhail, and Mikhail did not make it to the Island until about the time of the purge. So we know that Locke visits the purge era. If he had been there though for the 10-15 year period however, all of the others would have been well aware of who he was back in season 1. That didn't seem to be the case.
Regardless, the point is that Locke has now left the island and died. But if Mikhail saw him back then, then clearly Locke not only returns, but does in fact come back to life, and travels into the past once more. That means that somebody has to turn the wheel again!
Back to the dark and light business though. If Ben is connected to dark, then widmore, his rival, would be connected to light. I wanted to write Widmore off as bad, but lets consider him for a moment. He's loyal to the island, as seen by his willingness to kill to protect the hostiles. And he's an adversary of Ben who has knowingly kept Jacob imprisoned. Widmore may be a hard man with killer instincts, but that doesn't make him evil. There is the issue of Keemy. Keemy went a tad ape, but he did that towards the end, when he began to take the mission personally. Widmore may never have ordered him to take it so far. As for Richard shooting Keemy, the man I'm theorizing was working for Widmore who is supporting the hostiles. Yeah I've got nothing. Theory by Locke4God
A crucial element was Locke, in season 1, describing what we thought to be the smoke monster, as a "bright white light," the "eye of the island." Well that monster made no attempt to hurt him. Meanwhile we do know for a fact that Smokey has murdered on several occasions, and that Locke, when he saw the smoke moster, was very scared as opposed to pleased when he saw the "light". My point is that there is on the island an entity of darkness and an entity of light. Both have influence on our characters. The trick is trying to figure out which actions have been influenced by which entity.
To start with, lets consider that all of our characters carry within them the propensity to be either good of bad. Sayid for instance is a very caring individual, but a torturer. Sawyer likewise was an uncompashionate conman, but inside still an incocent kid and loving father. And you can go on and on. All of them have battled the idea of being either good or bad and that was a very strong theme throughout the first 2 seasons at least.
So, who has been seduced by good, and who by evil?
Let's look at Ben. Ben was an innocent kid, brought to the island by Horace Goodspeed. He was then lured by the image of his mother into a meeting with the hostiles, leading to the purge. So was he influenced by dark or light? Well if you consider that all Richard has ever wanted was to live in peace on his island, and that his people were oppressed by the American military and later by Dharma, then you'd have to say that Richard is good. Any force that helped him would thus be good, and so Ben was influenced to join the hostiles and commit the purge by a force of light. The same force that Locke saw years later.
We also know that Richard is aware and apparently reverent to Jacob. We know this because he recognizes the name Jacob when Locke mentions him in 1954. Richard didn't react as though he were scared of Locke, and in fact he followed what Locke had to say, which means that Jacob is at least part of the higher power that Richard answers to. If the force of light then is related to Richard, then it must also be related to Jacob.
Later we find out that Ben is solely responsible for talking to Jacob, and when we first find Jacob, it's clear that he is surround by a ring of ash. It's pretty obvious that this ash is binding Jacob within its borders. But based on Richard's desire to help Locke, and his seeming distrust for Ben in episodes in and around "The Brig", I think it would be fair to say that Richard is not happy with what Ben is doing, and thus Ben is likely no longer following Jacob. That being the case, Ben is also likely involved in the ash that is imprisoning Jacob, which also means that Ben is now following the force of darkness.
Just like Locke, there is no evidence that Ben is in any way "special" Richard came to believe that Ben was because a young Ben had seen his mother walking through the woods and took it to mean that Ben was destined to be with them, in a similar way that he took Locke's appearance in the past to mean that Locke was destined to be with him. But Locke as we all know is extremely influential and apt to follow any orders.
That makes me think that Locke is neither a force for good or evil, and perhaps nobody is. Perhaps everybody is being used by the forces of light and dark and influence over them is the game being played.
A big puzzle piece and mystery to me is Christian Shepherd. 2 curious contrasts. A: he tells Locke that following Ben has never gotten Locke anywhere, implying that Locke should not follow Ben. But then B: he tells Locke to go and see Mrs. Hawking, who we know works with Ben and who Ben is trying to get everybody to go and see. So if Ben and Christian are both connected to the same person, how could they not be working together on some level.
So since Ben and Christian have the same alliances and thus a connection, then the fact that we have seen Christian so many times connected to the Cabin, where we have also seen Jacob held prisoner, must mean that Christian is also a force of darkness, working with Ben to suppress Jacob.
Again Jacob is clearly the force behind the hostiles, and he asks Locke to help him, but he doesn't ask Ben. Ben thought that Locke would not be able to hear Jacob, and shot him to prevent Locke from spreading the word to the remaining others.
Ben then has at least for now, succumed to the force of darkness. What then is his goal? His goal is to maintain control of the island. It's a personal goal for himself, made possibly from the loss of someone like Annie. Perhaps her death, if in fact she is dead is what motivated his selfishness. I want to believe he is good, but if that were true, Richard would be fully supporting him, and more importantly, Ben would not have left Jacob imprisioned so easily.
Long story short: The hostiles are good, all they want is their island, and they support Jacob, hence Jacob is good. Jacob is imprisoned by the contrasting force of darkness, which ben has made no effort to fight, hence ben is connected for the time being at least to the force of darkness on the island.
A few other thoughts. We certain that the losties take a trip to the early days of Dharma so that Faraday can do things like visit the Orchid and tell a young Charlotte not to come back. These 2 events though have to take place well apart. Ben was nearly 30 when the purge happened and Charlotte couldn't have left much before then. However the Orchid was built well before that, as much as 10-15 years before that. So does Daniel stay in the Dharma past for 10-15 years? Wild.
It might not be true though. From the episode that followed "Enter 77" we know that Mikhail had met Locke in the past briefly. Well I haven't seen Locke Meet Mikhail, and Mikhail did not make it to the Island until about the time of the purge. So we know that Locke visits the purge era. If he had been there though for the 10-15 year period however, all of the others would have been well aware of who he was back in season 1. That didn't seem to be the case.
Regardless, the point is that Locke has now left the island and died. But if Mikhail saw him back then, then clearly Locke not only returns, but does in fact come back to life, and travels into the past once more. That means that somebody has to turn the wheel again!
Back to the dark and light business though. If Ben is connected to dark, then widmore, his rival, would be connected to light. I wanted to write Widmore off as bad, but lets consider him for a moment. He's loyal to the island, as seen by his willingness to kill to protect the hostiles. And he's an adversary of Ben who has knowingly kept Jacob imprisoned. Widmore may be a hard man with killer instincts, but that doesn't make him evil. There is the issue of Keemy. Keemy went a tad ape, but he did that towards the end, when he began to take the mission personally. Widmore may never have ordered him to take it so far. As for Richard shooting Keemy, the man I'm theorizing was working for Widmore who is supporting the hostiles. Yeah I've got nothing. Theory by Locke4God
