Due to the events in The Incident Parts 1 & 2, it's now quite obvious that this new resurrected John Lock was never John Locke at all, but some sort of manifestation of Jacob's rival shown at the beginning of the episode (a.k.a. "Esau"). This whole time it seems he has been manipulating Benjamin Linus, Rochard Alpert, and even the real Locke to achieve his ultimate goal of killing Jacob. Why certain events occurred, the true motivations of the Powers that Be, and how Cerberus (a.k.a. the Smoke Monster) relates to all of this is the topic of this theory.
To get things rolling, I start with my first and primary argument--the Smoke Monster is Jacob's rival. At some point in time, he must have lost his own physical form, and been reverted to a smoke-like entity. Most likely this was caused in some part by Jacob, who may have imprisoned his rival's new form beneath the Temple. This would mean that Jacob has been to the Temple before and has some authority over it. It would make sense then that Richard Alpert brought young Ben to the Temple to be healed back in 1977 as this was where Jacob was staying at the time.
However, this provokes the question, Who or what built the temple and made the carvings on all its many surfaces? I'll go out on a limb here and say it was Jacob or one of their fellow people, and that the carving of Anubis keeping the Smoke Monster at bay actually depicts Jacob and Esau. Why Jacob's people would depict him as the Egyptian god Anubis is uncertain, but then again, how does Sobek (the god depicted by the four-toed statue) factor into all of this either? It is obvious that Jacob is not accustom to Egyptian culture alone, as evidenced by the Greek writing on his tapstries (which, in a reference to WANTED, could be some mode of predicting future events/choosing names to put on his "list").
As this theory is focused on the Smoke Monster and Esau, I won't bother going into detail about the Frozen Wheel chamber, the Ruins or the Swan's countdown timer, all of which beared Egyptian markings as well. Instead, I'll touch on the feud between Jacob and Esau. First of all, it is obvious that Jacob has much more faith in humanity than his rival, which is why he brought the Black Rock to the Island--to prove Esau wrong. Perhaps they even made a bet, and the loser was to be condemned to an existene as the Smoke Monster. Obviously, if such a bet really took place, Esau lost and the people of the Black Rock became in tune with the ways of the Island, eventually becoming the people known as the Hostiles.
Now we come to Richard Alpert. At these point, I really see only two options for this character's origins--Either he was on the Black Rock, or he comes from the same race of people as Jacob and Esau. To me, the previous option seems much more likely, the best evidence for which is the ship in a bottle Richard is working on in 2007. Provided it was a reference to the Black Rock, why else would he be building a model of it unless he actually had some personal connection to it, just as the rest of the Hostiles do? Much of this evidence is based on previous assumption, but if you read the separate theory linking the Black Rock to the Hostiles, it begins to all fit together.
Then there's the question of how the Black Rock came to rest to far inland. Well, perhaps Jacob wanted to strand them there so as to better test their humanity. No mater what, there's the Dark Territory to consider--the Black Rock seems to be at the center of it; perhaps the Smoke Monster prowls this area most frequently because it does not want anyone getting near the shipwreck, the reason for which is far too open to speculation at this point.
Now we get down to the meat of this theory. The Smoke Monster, as we have seen numerous times before, can reanimate the dead. Up until Season 5 it seemed that Smokey had to actually take the bodies of the dead before it could impersonate them, but obviously it did not acually possess them, or else these manifestations would not be able to appear and disappear at will, the best example of which was Chistian Shephard appearing to Michael on the Freighter. However, we know that Christian's body disappeared from his casket and Yemi disappeared from the drug plane, both of whom later showed up as manifestations of the Monster. Therefore, in order to replicate the memories and characteristics of the deceased individual, the Smoke Monster has to "consume" their body. As for Emily Linus and Kate's horse, neither of whose bodies were on the Island, they were simply reflections of Ben's and Kate's thoughts, respectively. The Smoke Monster did not need to consume them because it gained! all the information it needed at the time from Ben and Kate's minds.
Now comes into question Locke. As we now all know, John really died and is still dead, but Esau (Smokey) still impersonated him and all his memories. While Alex's appearance eariler in the season is plausible simply because we do not know what ever happened to her body after her death, Locke's case is more interesting. Perhaps from observing Locke over such a long period of time, and the numerous confrontations they had, the Smoke Monster was able to develop a Locke disguise all on its own without the need of a body to consume. However, why it would have chosen this path and not simply consumed the body, thus destroying any "incriminating" evidence is uncertain. Firther evidence that supports the connection between the false Locke and Smokey is the fact that "Locke" showed up right after Ben called the Smoke Monster at the Barracks and he was absent the whole time Ben was being judged by the Smoke Monster beneath the Temple. I guess Smokey can't be in two places at once...
Finally, let's take a stroll down memory lane and remember all the times the Smoke Monster has judged people, killed people, and guided people, and apply our newfound knowledge to those events...
Instance 1: The Pilot. He was the first of the Flight 815 survivors to be killed by Smokey, and the reasoning for which we now know is quite simple: Esau was against any outsiders coming to the Island, and seeing the pilot was their "leader", he was the first to go. However, for some reason, following this event Smokey was more testing and forgiving of the survivors, choosing to spare Locke's life during their first encounter. However, the Monster was much more hostile during their second encounter, but this may have been only been because Locke was in the Dark Territory, which the Smoke Monster wishes greatly to protect. Still, the reason it spared Locke the first time may have been because Esau realized Locke's potential as a pawn in his war against Jacob.
Instance 2: Christian Shephard. Jack's dead father has appeared on numerous occasions both on and off the Island. While I can't expain the off-island encounters, I do believe Esau has been using this manifestation as one of his primary deceptions, posing as a surrogate for Jacob, getting Ben to move the Island and Locke to be transported back to 1954 where he first gives Richard the idea that he could one day be worthy of leading the Others. Also, it is Christian who tells Sun that if she wants to be reunited with Jin she has to wait for John Locke; it would make sense that both Christian and Locke then are Smokey in disguise.
Instance 3: Yemi. Eko was a very tragic character, who aspired to lofty spiritual and religious goals but also who was not willing to repent for his past sins. In Esau's eyes, this demonstrated the weakness of all humanity, and having judged Eko, Esau killed him. A similar show played out with Nikki and Paulo, both of which Esau also deemed unworthy of the Island. From this point on, the Smoke Monster (Esau) seemed less concernced with judging the survivors and more with setting up his grand scheme, which would involve Ben and Locke primarily.
Instance 4: Ben. Apart from his "judgement" by the Smoke Monster (which of course was fixed just so that Ben would appreciate his life more and be reminded of his many past defeats, losses and suffering) and Alex's appearance (which, again, was only so Ben would follow faux-Locke's orders) Ben has also been visited by his mother on the Island, again another manifestation of the Monster. In this case it was to lure Ben into the jungle where he would discover Richard Alpert, one of the Hostiles, so he could eventually become infatuated with becoming one of them. From then on he would become the leader of the Others, lose his position, suffer emitional loss and humiliation, and eventually work his way back from banishment. Throughout all of this hardship Ben came to blame Jacob, but in reality, I'm sure Esau manipulated these events more so than Jacob.
Instance 5: Locke. By far the most important component of Esau's scheme, Locke was manipulated over time into believing he had a special destiny on the Island, which he eventually came to believe was becoming leader of the Others. However, Locke was killed, and when his body was brought back to the Island, Esau finally had his opportunity. Posing as a newly resurrected Locke, he convinced Ben that Jacob had brought him back, gradually guilding resentment in Ben. Then there was the compass, and through Richard's interaction with time-traveling Locke, he set in motion a series of events that would span over five decades. He made sure Richard would one day seek out Locke as a potential leader, he made sure Locke would (try to) kill himself, and he made sure when Flight 316 crashed he could manipulate Richard into taking him to see Jacob.
There it is, in a nutshell. The Smoke Monster/Esau has been manipulating events for his own gain for at least the last fifty years, especially when in comes to Locke, Ben and Richard.
To get things rolling, I start with my first and primary argument--the Smoke Monster is Jacob's rival. At some point in time, he must have lost his own physical form, and been reverted to a smoke-like entity. Most likely this was caused in some part by Jacob, who may have imprisoned his rival's new form beneath the Temple. This would mean that Jacob has been to the Temple before and has some authority over it. It would make sense then that Richard Alpert brought young Ben to the Temple to be healed back in 1977 as this was where Jacob was staying at the time.
However, this provokes the question, Who or what built the temple and made the carvings on all its many surfaces? I'll go out on a limb here and say it was Jacob or one of their fellow people, and that the carving of Anubis keeping the Smoke Monster at bay actually depicts Jacob and Esau. Why Jacob's people would depict him as the Egyptian god Anubis is uncertain, but then again, how does Sobek (the god depicted by the four-toed statue) factor into all of this either? It is obvious that Jacob is not accustom to Egyptian culture alone, as evidenced by the Greek writing on his tapstries (which, in a reference to WANTED, could be some mode of predicting future events/choosing names to put on his "list").
As this theory is focused on the Smoke Monster and Esau, I won't bother going into detail about the Frozen Wheel chamber, the Ruins or the Swan's countdown timer, all of which beared Egyptian markings as well. Instead, I'll touch on the feud between Jacob and Esau. First of all, it is obvious that Jacob has much more faith in humanity than his rival, which is why he brought the Black Rock to the Island--to prove Esau wrong. Perhaps they even made a bet, and the loser was to be condemned to an existene as the Smoke Monster. Obviously, if such a bet really took place, Esau lost and the people of the Black Rock became in tune with the ways of the Island, eventually becoming the people known as the Hostiles.
Now we come to Richard Alpert. At these point, I really see only two options for this character's origins--Either he was on the Black Rock, or he comes from the same race of people as Jacob and Esau. To me, the previous option seems much more likely, the best evidence for which is the ship in a bottle Richard is working on in 2007. Provided it was a reference to the Black Rock, why else would he be building a model of it unless he actually had some personal connection to it, just as the rest of the Hostiles do? Much of this evidence is based on previous assumption, but if you read the separate theory linking the Black Rock to the Hostiles, it begins to all fit together.
Then there's the question of how the Black Rock came to rest to far inland. Well, perhaps Jacob wanted to strand them there so as to better test their humanity. No mater what, there's the Dark Territory to consider--the Black Rock seems to be at the center of it; perhaps the Smoke Monster prowls this area most frequently because it does not want anyone getting near the shipwreck, the reason for which is far too open to speculation at this point.
Now we get down to the meat of this theory. The Smoke Monster, as we have seen numerous times before, can reanimate the dead. Up until Season 5 it seemed that Smokey had to actually take the bodies of the dead before it could impersonate them, but obviously it did not acually possess them, or else these manifestations would not be able to appear and disappear at will, the best example of which was Chistian Shephard appearing to Michael on the Freighter. However, we know that Christian's body disappeared from his casket and Yemi disappeared from the drug plane, both of whom later showed up as manifestations of the Monster. Therefore, in order to replicate the memories and characteristics of the deceased individual, the Smoke Monster has to "consume" their body. As for Emily Linus and Kate's horse, neither of whose bodies were on the Island, they were simply reflections of Ben's and Kate's thoughts, respectively. The Smoke Monster did not need to consume them because it gained! all the information it needed at the time from Ben and Kate's minds.
Now comes into question Locke. As we now all know, John really died and is still dead, but Esau (Smokey) still impersonated him and all his memories. While Alex's appearance eariler in the season is plausible simply because we do not know what ever happened to her body after her death, Locke's case is more interesting. Perhaps from observing Locke over such a long period of time, and the numerous confrontations they had, the Smoke Monster was able to develop a Locke disguise all on its own without the need of a body to consume. However, why it would have chosen this path and not simply consumed the body, thus destroying any "incriminating" evidence is uncertain. Firther evidence that supports the connection between the false Locke and Smokey is the fact that "Locke" showed up right after Ben called the Smoke Monster at the Barracks and he was absent the whole time Ben was being judged by the Smoke Monster beneath the Temple. I guess Smokey can't be in two places at once...
Finally, let's take a stroll down memory lane and remember all the times the Smoke Monster has judged people, killed people, and guided people, and apply our newfound knowledge to those events...
Instance 1: The Pilot. He was the first of the Flight 815 survivors to be killed by Smokey, and the reasoning for which we now know is quite simple: Esau was against any outsiders coming to the Island, and seeing the pilot was their "leader", he was the first to go. However, for some reason, following this event Smokey was more testing and forgiving of the survivors, choosing to spare Locke's life during their first encounter. However, the Monster was much more hostile during their second encounter, but this may have been only been because Locke was in the Dark Territory, which the Smoke Monster wishes greatly to protect. Still, the reason it spared Locke the first time may have been because Esau realized Locke's potential as a pawn in his war against Jacob.
Instance 2: Christian Shephard. Jack's dead father has appeared on numerous occasions both on and off the Island. While I can't expain the off-island encounters, I do believe Esau has been using this manifestation as one of his primary deceptions, posing as a surrogate for Jacob, getting Ben to move the Island and Locke to be transported back to 1954 where he first gives Richard the idea that he could one day be worthy of leading the Others. Also, it is Christian who tells Sun that if she wants to be reunited with Jin she has to wait for John Locke; it would make sense that both Christian and Locke then are Smokey in disguise.
Instance 3: Yemi. Eko was a very tragic character, who aspired to lofty spiritual and religious goals but also who was not willing to repent for his past sins. In Esau's eyes, this demonstrated the weakness of all humanity, and having judged Eko, Esau killed him. A similar show played out with Nikki and Paulo, both of which Esau also deemed unworthy of the Island. From this point on, the Smoke Monster (Esau) seemed less concernced with judging the survivors and more with setting up his grand scheme, which would involve Ben and Locke primarily.
Instance 4: Ben. Apart from his "judgement" by the Smoke Monster (which of course was fixed just so that Ben would appreciate his life more and be reminded of his many past defeats, losses and suffering) and Alex's appearance (which, again, was only so Ben would follow faux-Locke's orders) Ben has also been visited by his mother on the Island, again another manifestation of the Monster. In this case it was to lure Ben into the jungle where he would discover Richard Alpert, one of the Hostiles, so he could eventually become infatuated with becoming one of them. From then on he would become the leader of the Others, lose his position, suffer emitional loss and humiliation, and eventually work his way back from banishment. Throughout all of this hardship Ben came to blame Jacob, but in reality, I'm sure Esau manipulated these events more so than Jacob.
Instance 5: Locke. By far the most important component of Esau's scheme, Locke was manipulated over time into believing he had a special destiny on the Island, which he eventually came to believe was becoming leader of the Others. However, Locke was killed, and when his body was brought back to the Island, Esau finally had his opportunity. Posing as a newly resurrected Locke, he convinced Ben that Jacob had brought him back, gradually guilding resentment in Ben. Then there was the compass, and through Richard's interaction with time-traveling Locke, he set in motion a series of events that would span over five decades. He made sure Richard would one day seek out Locke as a potential leader, he made sure Locke would (try to) kill himself, and he made sure when Flight 316 crashed he could manipulate Richard into taking him to see Jacob.
There it is, in a nutshell. The Smoke Monster/Esau has been manipulating events for his own gain for at least the last fifty years, especially when in comes to Locke, Ben and Richard.
