The way I see it there are a limited number of explanations for Jacob and the man in black given some of the things we know that they are capable of and their weaknesses. 'They are Gods' is a popular answer. I think this would be the biggest cop-out. It would explain a million things without actually explaining anything. "Why do people heal?", "They're gods, they can do anything". "Why does the island move", "The gods did it". Jacob was also seemingly killed in the finale, something you wouldn't expect a God to be susceptible to.
Another unpopular explanation is the use of aliens. Given that aliens could be at a much more advanced state, they could have any number of technologies that could explain various things on Lost. This takes the show into a very different territory though that would undoubtedly alienate (pun not intended) a large proportion of the audience. I don't think the writers would dare risk it.
In my eyes, the most probably explanation is people from the future. I am aware that I am not the first person to come up with that idea, but I'm going to try and back it up and give an idea about how things might play out. Think about it, it requires no additional jump in logic. We KNOW the island moves through time. There is absolutely no reason why the island couldn't move a group of people from 2180 (for example) back to ancient times and leave them stranded there. Things to back this up: The noises Smokey makes and the flashes of electricity seem to indicate that it is not something ancient or natural. It has also been described as a "Security system" which sounds like a very modern term for something which looks to be securing an ancient temple. And then we have that Temple Dharma logo. When Ben has a map showing the Temples location, said location is identified by a new Dharma logo. As far as we know, Dharma have never been anywhere near the Temple. It would break the! truce. So why does the ancient temple have a Dharma logo? Because a group of Dharma guys from the future got stuck/sent back in time and BUILT the temple, leaving Smokey to protect it.
Jacob and the man in black may or may not be human forms of smokey, or they may be future humans with some unknown ability to extend their life (Life extension being a project we know Hanso were working on). Smokeys goal is to ensure that the future happens. Jacob has a list of people that play key roles in the islands future. He must make sure they come to the island (which is why he brings the black rock and the Losties) and he must make sure that those on the list survive to play out their roles. "It only ends once. Everything before that is just progress". They know EXACTLY how the future plays out. The use of the word "End" seems to indicate that they know how the future, and assumingly the world, will end; so maybe they were at the end of the world and they moved the island back to save themselves and try to prevent it. We know that the numbers are part of the Valenzetti equation which was designed to predict the end of the world and that Dharma's goal was to change on! e of the numbers, thus changing the answer to the equation and saving the world. The man in black may be somebody who has grown to disagree with Jacob over how the end should be changed (Don't bring these people to the island, keep them away) or maybe he's just turned mental and is trying to cause the end of the world or some other terrible future event.
Another unpopular explanation is the use of aliens. Given that aliens could be at a much more advanced state, they could have any number of technologies that could explain various things on Lost. This takes the show into a very different territory though that would undoubtedly alienate (pun not intended) a large proportion of the audience. I don't think the writers would dare risk it.
In my eyes, the most probably explanation is people from the future. I am aware that I am not the first person to come up with that idea, but I'm going to try and back it up and give an idea about how things might play out. Think about it, it requires no additional jump in logic. We KNOW the island moves through time. There is absolutely no reason why the island couldn't move a group of people from 2180 (for example) back to ancient times and leave them stranded there. Things to back this up: The noises Smokey makes and the flashes of electricity seem to indicate that it is not something ancient or natural. It has also been described as a "Security system" which sounds like a very modern term for something which looks to be securing an ancient temple. And then we have that Temple Dharma logo. When Ben has a map showing the Temples location, said location is identified by a new Dharma logo. As far as we know, Dharma have never been anywhere near the Temple. It would break the! truce. So why does the ancient temple have a Dharma logo? Because a group of Dharma guys from the future got stuck/sent back in time and BUILT the temple, leaving Smokey to protect it.
Jacob and the man in black may or may not be human forms of smokey, or they may be future humans with some unknown ability to extend their life (Life extension being a project we know Hanso were working on). Smokeys goal is to ensure that the future happens. Jacob has a list of people that play key roles in the islands future. He must make sure they come to the island (which is why he brings the black rock and the Losties) and he must make sure that those on the list survive to play out their roles. "It only ends once. Everything before that is just progress". They know EXACTLY how the future plays out. The use of the word "End" seems to indicate that they know how the future, and assumingly the world, will end; so maybe they were at the end of the world and they moved the island back to save themselves and try to prevent it. We know that the numbers are part of the Valenzetti equation which was designed to predict the end of the world and that Dharma's goal was to change on! e of the numbers, thus changing the answer to the equation and saving the world. The man in black may be somebody who has grown to disagree with Jacob over how the end should be changed (Don't bring these people to the island, keep them away) or maybe he's just turned mental and is trying to cause the end of the world or some other terrible future event.
