Alright so after a night of drinking and discussing it hit me. the compass is in a time loop. locke gives it to richard, and tells him to give it back to him, only for him to give it back to locke, who than starts flashing through time only to give it back to richard. its an endless cycle, stuck in a time loop, thus giving black shirt guy a loophole back onto the island. I'd also go as far to say that the monster is now john locke, because when ben falls through the hole john says he'll be right back hes going to get something to help. he runs outta frame and ben finds the monster. as soon as its gone locke reappears, also from the beginning when john locke ran into the monster he was the only person to have survived an encounter, and it let him, and only him, well maybe walt but damn that kid ages fast, see what was inside it. im sure once season 6 wraps up and we shut our jaws with our hands we will see that th! e monster had been enbodied in mr locke since the get go. that was lockes drive, he did have a purpose only if it was to be a vessel for the guy who kinda looks like the evil hotel clerk in home alone 2 with a beard. but that would explain the why locke always thought they were meant to be there.
