Here's my hopefully all encompassing theory. Lost is a show about an age old struggle between good and evil, light and darkness, opposing sides. The dark man (Jacob's enemy, Esau, the Smoke Monster, etc.) is a liar, a manipulator, an entity that hates man, thinks he's evil, vile, ruins the world he lives on; the dark man's greatest desire is to destroy mankind. He wants to erase man and woman from the face of the earth. He would do this the first chance he got, but the only thing stopping him is Jacob. Jacob lives off the land, eats fish, and basically lives like a hermit. I can only imagine this lifestyle infuriates the dark man who wishes to leave the island and cause destruction, but Jacob keeps him trapped there, the only thing standing in his way.
I've actually suspected there has been two Jacobs for a while, with what John said he witnessed in season 1: "a beautiful white light". John is a microcosm for the whole struggle for control of the island. Both sides have been trying to influence him from the beginning (as seen in season 1 in Claire's vision of white and black eyes, and his obsession with back gammon, etc., this was probably because he was the most easily malleable) but ultimately it was the dark man that goaded him into dying, in the form of Christian, and his dead self. It has been the dark man's wish all along for the frozen donkey wheel to be turned, because he knew it would set up a chain of events for Jacob's destruction.
The battle for control of the island has been long and arduous. The dark man, in the form of Alvar Hanso, probably created Dharma. Dharma's ultimate goal was to release the dark man's entire essence from the island (kinda like letting the genie out of the bottle), letting him "cleanse" the earth of all the nasty humans. They wanted to research a perfect society in the meanwhile, so after the earth's population was gone they could form a better utopia (start over from the Garden of Eden if you will). However, the dark man would probably just wipe them out along with everyone else. (Another clue to Dharma's true intentions would be the Valenzetti equation.)
This is why the Others are so at odds with Dharma. That is why they call themselves the "good guys". They are trying to prevent the dark man's release. The Others live by a certain set of rules that the dark man does not. They cannot kill anyone out right, and they can only manipulate the pawns. That is why the Others never really kill anyone (and if they do, they are usually eliminated from the island, Widmore, Eloise, Pickett, Ethan (if he actually killed anyone), etc.) and why they were so conniving in Season 1. That is also why Ben said Widmore broke the rules when he killed his daughter. However, we see in Dharma times the Others actually do kill Dharma peeps, but my guess is this is because Widmore and Eloise aren't the most adherent leaders. Notice Richard's reaction when Eloise shoots Faraday? (I also suspect Jacob's list was for people too pure to play the game, they hadn't accumulated enough sins.)
With Jacob's death in Season 5 the whole Lost universe is thrown into disarray. Will the Losties change the past to arrive at a different outcome? Will they be able to change mankind's destruction? Stay tuned.
I've actually suspected there has been two Jacobs for a while, with what John said he witnessed in season 1: "a beautiful white light". John is a microcosm for the whole struggle for control of the island. Both sides have been trying to influence him from the beginning (as seen in season 1 in Claire's vision of white and black eyes, and his obsession with back gammon, etc., this was probably because he was the most easily malleable) but ultimately it was the dark man that goaded him into dying, in the form of Christian, and his dead self. It has been the dark man's wish all along for the frozen donkey wheel to be turned, because he knew it would set up a chain of events for Jacob's destruction.
The battle for control of the island has been long and arduous. The dark man, in the form of Alvar Hanso, probably created Dharma. Dharma's ultimate goal was to release the dark man's entire essence from the island (kinda like letting the genie out of the bottle), letting him "cleanse" the earth of all the nasty humans. They wanted to research a perfect society in the meanwhile, so after the earth's population was gone they could form a better utopia (start over from the Garden of Eden if you will). However, the dark man would probably just wipe them out along with everyone else. (Another clue to Dharma's true intentions would be the Valenzetti equation.)
This is why the Others are so at odds with Dharma. That is why they call themselves the "good guys". They are trying to prevent the dark man's release. The Others live by a certain set of rules that the dark man does not. They cannot kill anyone out right, and they can only manipulate the pawns. That is why the Others never really kill anyone (and if they do, they are usually eliminated from the island, Widmore, Eloise, Pickett, Ethan (if he actually killed anyone), etc.) and why they were so conniving in Season 1. That is also why Ben said Widmore broke the rules when he killed his daughter. However, we see in Dharma times the Others actually do kill Dharma peeps, but my guess is this is because Widmore and Eloise aren't the most adherent leaders. Notice Richard's reaction when Eloise shoots Faraday? (I also suspect Jacob's list was for people too pure to play the game, they hadn't accumulated enough sins.)
The game has been played over and over again, age after age, year after year. Like the cylons say, "What happened before will happen again". This is clear in the Others struggle with Widmore. Widmore has been compromised by the dark man. He has been warped and twisted and now has every intention of helping the dark man escape and cause the Apocalypse. For a while, it was my belief that Widmore WAS the leader of the Dharma Initiative, because they had the same goals. I now see that the war is being fought by many different people, over many different ages.
With Jacob's death in Season 5 the whole Lost universe is thrown into disarray. Will the Losties change the past to arrive at a different outcome? Will they be able to change mankind's destruction? Stay tuned.
