It's been a while since I watched the season 5 finale but from what I recall the people Jacob touched were Kate, Sawyer, Jack, Sayid, Sun, Jin, Locke and Hurley. He visited Ilana and may have touched her too, but she knew him already and he asked her directly for what he wanted, so I'm thinking she's different. Maybe by touching the 8 (wow, 8, hm, okay no digressing) Jacob was sorta tying them to each other, bonding them in some subtle way, like tuning them to the same exact polarity or frequency. Of those 8, only dead Locke and Sun didn't end up in the 1970s. The time-flashing island brought Sawyer and Jin to that decade, but maybe the two of them (being part of Jacob's little people bundle) are why Jack, Kate, Hurley and Sayid got flashed back to that time period from the Ajira plane. As for why Sun wasn't yanked back there with them... I don't know. But Locke was dead, which might have severed his connec! tion to that very specifically tuned collective. The idea being that Jacob wanted these particular individuals to end up in the same place, in the same time period, so that they would change something in the past.
What if the conversation on the beach between Jacob and Not-Jacob wasn't about the worth of humanity but about the nature of time and/or time travel. Will whatever has happened *always* happen, or can past events be changed to make the future unfold differently. In that conversation Not-Jacob says the same events always happen ("They come. They fight. They destroy.") and it always ends the same way. Jacob says it hasn't ended yet ("It only ends once."), and until it does everything keeps progressing (towards that ultimate conclusion, the once-for-all end of time). So it seems that Not-Jacob is on the side of whatever happened will always happen, and Jacob believes the past can be changed. I think Daniel was right about humans being the variables that can change things that have already happened (using their freewill, Jacob's favorite thing). Not-Jacob told Jacob he had no idea what he'd gone through to create his loophole. Well, I think Jacob has made some pretty co! mplex maneuvers too in order to create his own momentous moment.
What is the least likely change you can imagine one of the "variables" going through? Jack becoming a man of faith is pretty remarkable. But Jack wanting to detonate a nuclear weapon on an island full of people and then convincing Sawyer, Kate, Juliet, Sayid, Jin and Hurley that it's a good idea??? That's not only a MASSIVE leap of faith, it's almost ridiculous! The one person they didn't convince was Miles, and as far as we know Jacob never touched him. We never saw Jacob touch Juliet, but who knows, he might have been waiting outside the house after she ran out upset over her parents divorce. Or maybe her deep emotional connection to Jack and Sawyer just adjusted her frequency to theirs. I don't know. Anyway... maybe the "variables" actually did do something that had never occurred in the past before. Maybe Jacob succeeded in his long, complex quest to get them to prove his side of the WHH/TPCBC debate. And maybe that's why Not-Jacob/FLocke freaked and kicked Jac! ob into the fire when he said, "They're coming." OR... maybe Jacob DIDN'T succeed, yet AGAIN... and THAT'S why Not-Jacob/FLocke freaked and kicked him into the fire, knowing he was going to continue trying new ways to tweak the past, using anyone he felt like using, no matter how many lives he scrambled in the process, for as long as he continued to exist.
I'm not at all sure that Jacob is really dead. In fact, I'd bet almost anything he's not and that he'll be back in one form or another. If Not-Jacob isn't allowed to kill Jacob himself, then, theoretically, the fire wouldn't be able to kill him. But... I guess we'll see... in another SEVEN MONTHS! Wow. That's long.
What if the conversation on the beach between Jacob and Not-Jacob wasn't about the worth of humanity but about the nature of time and/or time travel. Will whatever has happened *always* happen, or can past events be changed to make the future unfold differently. In that conversation Not-Jacob says the same events always happen ("They come. They fight. They destroy.") and it always ends the same way. Jacob says it hasn't ended yet ("It only ends once."), and until it does everything keeps progressing (towards that ultimate conclusion, the once-for-all end of time). So it seems that Not-Jacob is on the side of whatever happened will always happen, and Jacob believes the past can be changed. I think Daniel was right about humans being the variables that can change things that have already happened (using their freewill, Jacob's favorite thing). Not-Jacob told Jacob he had no idea what he'd gone through to create his loophole. Well, I think Jacob has made some pretty co! mplex maneuvers too in order to create his own momentous moment.
What is the least likely change you can imagine one of the "variables" going through? Jack becoming a man of faith is pretty remarkable. But Jack wanting to detonate a nuclear weapon on an island full of people and then convincing Sawyer, Kate, Juliet, Sayid, Jin and Hurley that it's a good idea??? That's not only a MASSIVE leap of faith, it's almost ridiculous! The one person they didn't convince was Miles, and as far as we know Jacob never touched him. We never saw Jacob touch Juliet, but who knows, he might have been waiting outside the house after she ran out upset over her parents divorce. Or maybe her deep emotional connection to Jack and Sawyer just adjusted her frequency to theirs. I don't know. Anyway... maybe the "variables" actually did do something that had never occurred in the past before. Maybe Jacob succeeded in his long, complex quest to get them to prove his side of the WHH/TPCBC debate. And maybe that's why Not-Jacob/FLocke freaked and kicked Jac! ob into the fire when he said, "They're coming." OR... maybe Jacob DIDN'T succeed, yet AGAIN... and THAT'S why Not-Jacob/FLocke freaked and kicked him into the fire, knowing he was going to continue trying new ways to tweak the past, using anyone he felt like using, no matter how many lives he scrambled in the process, for as long as he continued to exist.
I'm not at all sure that Jacob is really dead. In fact, I'd bet almost anything he's not and that he'll be back in one form or another. If Not-Jacob isn't allowed to kill Jacob himself, then, theoretically, the fire wouldn't be able to kill him. But... I guess we'll see... in another SEVEN MONTHS! Wow. That's long.
