*Disclaimer - I've read many theories and there will no doubt be bits and pieces of them in mine - if you see something you came up with please take it as a compliment the I used it with my thoughts :) Thanks!*
I'm re-watching some of 1st season - the John we see seems to act like Jacob at times. It would be a mind bender, if Jacob began to influence John directly after 815 crashed...
The seed was planted when he fell out the window and was touched by Jacob. I think Jacob can turn his influence on and off and this allows the person to continue having Free Will. He touched John, Sawyer, Kate, Jack, Jin and Sun - this appears to be all he needs to do in order to be able to assert his influence over the person. It appeared that through John he was able to assert the most focused influence. I think when Jacob asserts his influence he is giving suggestions and not taking complete control of the person. It's just like his quote to Jack when he touches him - sometimes people just need a push. The people that he has touched he is able to give pushes in different directions (but it still has to be the individual's ultimate decision to go along with that push). I think he is able to do this the strongest at the island.
This would help me reconcile some of Johns actions in the first couple of seasons. Beating the unbeatable chess computer game, his covert ops skill in blowing up a sub+ a station and so on. It makes sense that the touch left a little bit of Jacob with all of these people. This helps explain Jack's miracle heal on the paralyzed girl. This would also help me understand some of sudden changes of heart that we saw regarding blowing the bomb in the last episode. I think that both Jacob and our Dark Shirt Man may have the same type of powers. The apparitions of dead people that we have seen as visions that appear and disappear may be either person. I would check for the color white or black to clue yourself in to who is speaking through them. 1st Christian = white shoes, Eko's brother Yemmi black robe (possibly black shoes?), 2nd Christian w. black shoes telling Locke to turn donkey wheel and so on. I need to go re-watch to look for this.
It appears the Dark Shirt Guy needs, or more likely prefers to take on the complete persona of the individual rather than allow free will. Apparently, to take someone over like this they need to have passed away and have their "souls"/conscious being free from the body. I think we have seen this with black shoes Christian, Ben's Daughter, the current version of Locke. He stands for Manifest Destiny - that whatever happens was meant to be and nothing anyone does will change what ultimately happens. Through the show we have only seen him putting people into place in order to create a loophole, and kill Jacob - this is what he feels that he is Destined to do - and to everyone watching it would seem that he did.
The two men may be reliving a loop of time over and over while in a game against each other. This brings up a paradox of sorts. If they have been looping around with the same result - the man in the black shirt has announced that what he ultimately wants to do is to use a loophole to destroy Jacob - what happened is that he influenced Ben to use his free will to destroy the man who appears to play the side for free will. The problem is that the loophole itself changes the Manifest Destiny of what has been going on for who knows how long in a loop. The pure Manifest Destiny theorist would I suppose say that the loop was destined to last that many cycles. Or there was never a loop. It works either way.
What happens now? If Jacob is about to die - can he take on the second John Locke body? It would be John and John's bad twin running around. Jacob announced they are coming - which I take to mean that the 1977 folks are going to appear in what will be the time period that Jacob is in at that moment - presumably our present. I'm also guessing that this event never happened before in any other loop. This would be why Elle doesn't know what is going to happen for the first time (if true that tells me she has had a sit down with one of these two men and has had a lot of events explained to her as how they "should" happen - my guess is that it was Dark Shirt Man)
If Jacob really left a bit of himself in everyone he touched - perhaps when Jack, Sawyer, Kate, and Jin meet up with Sun, Lockes body - *and I'm guessing Ben, because I think he was touched by Jacob after he was brought to the Temple when shot as a child but it has not been shown yet* - he will be alive in all of those people and they will battle the Bad Twin Locke. If that is correct then I also think that Ben has known about this all along and has been "in" on it every step of the way. I think Ben has a big part of Jacob with him - it's why he knows the outcome of everything - it's how he was able to con Sawyer - and how he was able to con Dark Shirt Man. I think he has been conning him the whole time and put on this "show" in order to get him into that statue. Really - it's just the same old Ben we have always known. He's even dropping hints at us through the episode. "I lie - it's what I do"
How will it all end? It will be what we least expect. I'm guessing that we will come to understand that what we are rooting for and what we think we understand will be placed directly on its ear. I think in the end we will find that the Dark Shirt Man is the one we should have been rooting for all along and that the person we are calling Jacob has put the long con on everyone. That would be a finale that puts you back in your chair.
I'm re-watching some of 1st season - the John we see seems to act like Jacob at times. It would be a mind bender, if Jacob began to influence John directly after 815 crashed...
The seed was planted when he fell out the window and was touched by Jacob. I think Jacob can turn his influence on and off and this allows the person to continue having Free Will. He touched John, Sawyer, Kate, Jack, Jin and Sun - this appears to be all he needs to do in order to be able to assert his influence over the person. It appeared that through John he was able to assert the most focused influence. I think when Jacob asserts his influence he is giving suggestions and not taking complete control of the person. It's just like his quote to Jack when he touches him - sometimes people just need a push. The people that he has touched he is able to give pushes in different directions (but it still has to be the individual's ultimate decision to go along with that push). I think he is able to do this the strongest at the island.
This would help me reconcile some of Johns actions in the first couple of seasons. Beating the unbeatable chess computer game, his covert ops skill in blowing up a sub+ a station and so on. It makes sense that the touch left a little bit of Jacob with all of these people. This helps explain Jack's miracle heal on the paralyzed girl. This would also help me understand some of sudden changes of heart that we saw regarding blowing the bomb in the last episode. I think that both Jacob and our Dark Shirt Man may have the same type of powers. The apparitions of dead people that we have seen as visions that appear and disappear may be either person. I would check for the color white or black to clue yourself in to who is speaking through them. 1st Christian = white shoes, Eko's brother Yemmi black robe (possibly black shoes?), 2nd Christian w. black shoes telling Locke to turn donkey wheel and so on. I need to go re-watch to look for this.
It appears the Dark Shirt Guy needs, or more likely prefers to take on the complete persona of the individual rather than allow free will. Apparently, to take someone over like this they need to have passed away and have their "souls"/conscious being free from the body. I think we have seen this with black shoes Christian, Ben's Daughter, the current version of Locke. He stands for Manifest Destiny - that whatever happens was meant to be and nothing anyone does will change what ultimately happens. Through the show we have only seen him putting people into place in order to create a loophole, and kill Jacob - this is what he feels that he is Destined to do - and to everyone watching it would seem that he did.
The two men may be reliving a loop of time over and over while in a game against each other. This brings up a paradox of sorts. If they have been looping around with the same result - the man in the black shirt has announced that what he ultimately wants to do is to use a loophole to destroy Jacob - what happened is that he influenced Ben to use his free will to destroy the man who appears to play the side for free will. The problem is that the loophole itself changes the Manifest Destiny of what has been going on for who knows how long in a loop. The pure Manifest Destiny theorist would I suppose say that the loop was destined to last that many cycles. Or there was never a loop. It works either way.
What happens now? If Jacob is about to die - can he take on the second John Locke body? It would be John and John's bad twin running around. Jacob announced they are coming - which I take to mean that the 1977 folks are going to appear in what will be the time period that Jacob is in at that moment - presumably our present. I'm also guessing that this event never happened before in any other loop. This would be why Elle doesn't know what is going to happen for the first time (if true that tells me she has had a sit down with one of these two men and has had a lot of events explained to her as how they "should" happen - my guess is that it was Dark Shirt Man)
If Jacob really left a bit of himself in everyone he touched - perhaps when Jack, Sawyer, Kate, and Jin meet up with Sun, Lockes body - *and I'm guessing Ben, because I think he was touched by Jacob after he was brought to the Temple when shot as a child but it has not been shown yet* - he will be alive in all of those people and they will battle the Bad Twin Locke. If that is correct then I also think that Ben has known about this all along and has been "in" on it every step of the way. I think Ben has a big part of Jacob with him - it's why he knows the outcome of everything - it's how he was able to con Sawyer - and how he was able to con Dark Shirt Man. I think he has been conning him the whole time and put on this "show" in order to get him into that statue. Really - it's just the same old Ben we have always known. He's even dropping hints at us through the episode. "I lie - it's what I do"
How will it all end? It will be what we least expect. I'm guessing that we will come to understand that what we are rooting for and what we think we understand will be placed directly on its ear. I think in the end we will find that the Dark Shirt Man is the one we should have been rooting for all along and that the person we are calling Jacob has put the long con on everyone. That would be a finale that puts you back in your chair.
