Jacob isn't real and doesn't exist. Jacob, or rather the idea of Jacob, is very similar to Richard's compass--the result of a time paradox.
I have a feeling that in a week this theory will either be proved very right, or very, very wrong--no middle ground here.
When is the first time, chronologically, that we first hear about Jacob? It's 1954, when Locke stumbles into Richard's camp and says that he was sent by Jacob. Before that time we have no evidence that anyone has ever heard of a "Jacob" of any kind. When Locke tells Richard about Jacob, Richard displays a look of genuine confusion (Is he confused because a strange man has wandered into camp claiming to be sent by Jacob, or is his confusion a result of having no idea what Locke's talking about?). After Locke tells Richard about Jacob, he talks about how he's from the future, and seconds later dissapears in front of Richard's eyes. If Richard wasn't a believer right then, surely he was convinced when he followed Locke's instructions and witnessed his birth two years later in Tustin.
If a man travelled back in time, and told you that he was sent by a man named Jacob--once you were able to verify the truth about his time travel powers, you would begin to associate this "Jacob" character as a very powerful and important man (even if you've never seen him or heard him) Once the news of this time-traveler Locke and his invisible benefactor Jacob began to spread throughout the camp, he would become the stuff of legends. Future leaders (Widmore, Ben) would use this myth of Jacob to exercise control over their people.
But in season 3, when Ben takes Locke to see "Jacob", there is no one to see, we realize that Ben really is "The Man Behind the Curtain". What we don't realize at that time is that Jacob only exists because Locke used his name to explain his 1954 appearance to Richard. Jacob is a lot like the compass...Locke gives the compass to Richard in 1954, but only because he received it in the future and brought it back with him. Just like Locke gains knowledge of "Jacob" in the future and brings it back to 1954--the extraordinary circumstances of his visit and dissapearance lead to the myth of a powerful and supenatural Jacob.
Perhaps Locke's desire to "kill" Jacob is not literal, but instead he wants to "free" his people by exposing the myth that Jacob really is.
I have a feeling that in a week this theory will either be proved very right, or very, very wrong--no middle ground here.
When is the first time, chronologically, that we first hear about Jacob? It's 1954, when Locke stumbles into Richard's camp and says that he was sent by Jacob. Before that time we have no evidence that anyone has ever heard of a "Jacob" of any kind. When Locke tells Richard about Jacob, Richard displays a look of genuine confusion (Is he confused because a strange man has wandered into camp claiming to be sent by Jacob, or is his confusion a result of having no idea what Locke's talking about?). After Locke tells Richard about Jacob, he talks about how he's from the future, and seconds later dissapears in front of Richard's eyes. If Richard wasn't a believer right then, surely he was convinced when he followed Locke's instructions and witnessed his birth two years later in Tustin.
If a man travelled back in time, and told you that he was sent by a man named Jacob--once you were able to verify the truth about his time travel powers, you would begin to associate this "Jacob" character as a very powerful and important man (even if you've never seen him or heard him) Once the news of this time-traveler Locke and his invisible benefactor Jacob began to spread throughout the camp, he would become the stuff of legends. Future leaders (Widmore, Ben) would use this myth of Jacob to exercise control over their people.
But in season 3, when Ben takes Locke to see "Jacob", there is no one to see, we realize that Ben really is "The Man Behind the Curtain". What we don't realize at that time is that Jacob only exists because Locke used his name to explain his 1954 appearance to Richard. Jacob is a lot like the compass...Locke gives the compass to Richard in 1954, but only because he received it in the future and brought it back with him. Just like Locke gains knowledge of "Jacob" in the future and brings it back to 1954--the extraordinary circumstances of his visit and dissapearance lead to the myth of a powerful and supenatural Jacob.
Perhaps Locke's desire to "kill" Jacob is not literal, but instead he wants to "free" his people by exposing the myth that Jacob really is.
