My Ultimate MIB’s loophole theory by Mark

This could turn out to be quite long but please bare with me as I really think I’m on to something. I think that MIBs loophole was the time skipping that Locke, Daniel etc experienced after Ben turned the wheel. I’m going to explain why I think a loophole was required and how it was created.

First off I’ll start with the WHY. I believe that much in the same way as Christians see suicide as a one way ticket to hell or purgatory or whatever (I’m not a religious person) Jacob and MIB come from a group that have the same strong beliefs about killing one of their own. These beliefs also seem to be in place with the Others as demonstrated by Juliet’s treatment when she killed one of them (I forget his name) and Ben’s inability to kill Widmore.

I also believe that Ben accused Widmore of “changing” the rules by killing Alex because in his eyes Widmore had killed her and broken the rule about killing an Other. However this is actually a foreshadowing of MIBs loophole, as Widmore, although hiring Keamy, hadn’t actually killed Alex himself and therefore had not directly broken the rule. (note: Had Ben gone through with killing Penny he wouldn’t have broken the rule either as she was never an Other).

So back to MIBs Loophole. Bound by his beliefs and probably fear of the repercussions of breaking the rules and killing Jacob he needed to get someone else to do it. However, this was not as simple as Widmore/Keamy getting at Alex for several reasons:

• Jacob had practically given himself “God” status with the inhabitants of the island so finding someone willing to kill him would not be easy.

• Only a very select few knew where Jacob actually was.

• Only the leader of the Others could request an audience with him.

So the only option MIB had was to either get the leader of the Others to kill him or become the leader himself so that he could take someone else with him to do it. This of course was not going to be an easy feet. As we know, the process for selecting a new leader is a long drawn out affair and only the Special are chosen. MIB needed some way to create a “special” candidate and manipulate the Others into appointing him leader.

So here comes the HOW. Now whether he had earmarked Locke before he came to the island or chose him soon after 815 crashed I’m unsure, but I believe he has been manipulating him pretty much from day one. I’ve not had time to rewatch the series through yet so I apologise for not being more specific but I think that MIB manipulated Locke to the point of loosing faith in the button-pressing and thus destroying the computer and forcing Desmond to turn the failsafe which in turn gave Desmond his psychic abilities.

This set in place a chain of events by which Desmond saved Charlie’s life allowing him to shut off the radio jammer, which allowed Jack to contact the Freighter, which brought Keamy etc to the island, which lead to Keamy killing Alex (important part of Bens manipulation), and eventually leads Locke to seek out Jacob in the cabin. Locke goes into the cabin, leaving Ben/Hurley outside and has a conversation with Christian, who was being impersonated by MIB. Christian/MIB tells Locke he must MOVE THE ISLAND but conveniently doesn’t tell him how to do it knowing that he will have to ask Ben who will take it upon himself to do so thinking that Lockes orders came from Jacob who intended him to do it.

THIS WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN. I reckon that Desmond saving Charlie caused a change in the time line and what was suppose to happen was Locke at some point would have turned the wheel, left the island and in one clean skip sent Jack, Kate, Hurley etc (who would not have gotten on the chopper) back to the 70s. However the moment Ben turned the wheel in Lockes place he screwed things up by moving the island without Jack, Kate, Hurley on it (“YOU WERE NEVER MEANT TO LEAVE") and caused the island to skip through time.

Anyway, this created MIBs loophole. It created the whole basis for Locke being special. He spoke to Alphert telling him he was special, giving him the compass and instructing him to check out his birth as proof. Job done! Locke was now officially special in the eyes of Alpert and all that was left was for Locke to the leave the island and die in order to be brought back, along with the O6 who would be flashed back to the 70s where they should have been all along, allowing MIB to take his form and place as the leader of the Others.

Once MIB had achieved this it was simply a matter of demanding to see Jacob, as the new leader of the Others, and talking Ben into killing him using Alex’s death and Bens many insecurities to egg him on. Ben kills Jacob fulfilling MIB’s wishes without him breaking their rules and therefore not being answerable to the consequences. Loophole complete. MIB wins......

But THEY’RE COMING!

So that’s my theory on why MIB needed a loophole and how he achieved it plus a brief explanation of why the O6 were never meant to leave and had to return. I know there are bound to been some holes in this and I would be happy to hear what they are. I’ve not speculated on the origin of the Smoke monster as I am still unsure about it. Some times it has appeared to be working in MIBs favour and other times not so much. One thing I do believe though is that it is a separate entity to Jacob and MIB.

Why Jacob touched Locke is another mystery. Did he know MIBs plan and planted Locke knowing MIB would use him, having a counter plan already in mind?

Anyway, thanks for reading and feel free to criticise, amend or expand on this theory.

Mark