Further Musings On John Locke by DaKlenke

This theory is a follow up sequel to a theory I wrote the other day entitled "Musings On John Locke". Both theories are an adjacent string of theories that belong to a larger family of theories in which I have established my ideas on the grander points of Lost. For this specific theory having read "Musings On John Locke" is the only one that I deem necessary as a prior read, but concepts from my previous seven theories do cross over, so for further clarification on those said ideas, please see my previous body of work. The series begins with "Reconsidering the Events of Season 3 Parts 1-3, followed by "Further Evidence of Desmond's Change", "My Stance On The Powers That Be", "Further Evidence On Random Versus Purpose" and finally, "Hurley And The Many Indicators Of Random". As with all of my theories, my ideas are not only my own personal impression of what is going on in the show, but are also influenced b! y other well written and well thought out theories on this site. In essence, I am writing on what I believe is going on in Lost based on a compilation of my own sensory perceptions, the ideas of others, and using the wikipedia style lostpedia website as a reference. That said, if any of my ideas have been said before, I hope that this acknowledgement here will suffice as a form of credit given. And without further ado...

As I stated in my previous theory, I believe that John Locke is a character of denial who so distinctly desires Purpose that he is both easily manipulated by the idea of Purpose, and is also in refusal of excepting what may actually be his true destiny. In the Season One episode "Outlaws", Sawyer encounters Christian Shepard in a bar in Australia. Over the course of their conversation, Christian talks to Sawyer not only about his son Jack, but also his own lot in life. He talks about how he is hated by a great many, his son most notably, and how he believes that was his destiny. He goes on to suggest that "Maybe some people are just made to suffer." Considering Jacob and MIB (or Purpose and Random as I choose to label them) as the lens through which we need now examine the show, I believe this line to be extremely relevant in unravelling the character John Locke.

Locke was not meant to be the hunter that we have known him to be on the Island. As I stated in my last theory, Jacob chose for Locke to be wheelchair bound just as he chose Locke for a higher purpose that may have required him to be so. In the comment area of my last theory, a poster was kind enough to point out that denial seems to be a common trait in both Locke and Jack. Neither one seem to be able to accept no for an answer. Another commonality between the two is their respective leadership positions on the Island. Jacob chose John to be a leader on the Island just the same as he chose Jack to be, but with John he had intended him to be a different sort of leader than what we saw him become.

If you examine Locke in his early days on the Island, he had some very promising moments to be a wise and effective leader. He forced Charlie to face his heroine problem and ultimately led him to choose recovery. Charlie would later go on to tell Jack that if he were forced to put his absolute faith in someone on the Island to save them all, it would be Locke. John also forced Boone to face his issues with Shannon and through extreme but effective measures, was able to lead Boone to making the choice to forsake his flaw and move on from her. As we all know, Boone became a veritable lackey of Locke's after this event. Even with Shannon he convinced her to stop giving Boone the attention that he needed and to instead give her selfish ways up and give in to a real chance at love with Sayid. And let us not forget Walt, who Locke on several occasions imparted lessons to and for a time became somewhat of a forbidden mentor of.

Locke is without a doubt a natural born leader, but instead he forsook that position amongst the over all group of 815 survivors and instead chose to embrace the role of being the hunter. Had Locke remained paralyzed, as Jacob had intended, he would never have been out in the jungle where he discovered the hatch. The hatch would have never been opened, Desmond would have never been interrupted, the events involving the fail safe key would have never happened and ultimately, the Oceanic Six would have never escaped the Island. John regaining the ability to walk is our first sign that Random was interfering with Jacob's Purpose. It puts a whole new perspective on one of the first scenes in the Pilot episode, in which we see him laying in the sand wiggling his toes.
Locke is corrupted by his blind faith in a purpose that he desires rather than the one that he was allotted. He believes that it was his destiny to go on a "walkabout", an idea implanted in his head by Abbadon, and in truth I believe this to be the machinations of MIB (Random). The very word "walkabout" is an homage to Locke's later ability to walk, an ability given to him by Random as a means to con him from his intended path. Locke's story is the true long con. If we look more closely at the scenes surrounding his paralysis and later lack of paralysis, I think we can see how Random is demonizing the wheelchair as a means to help further divert John from his path.
For example, the episode in which Boone is mortally wounded, Locke's paralysis fades in and out. At the beechcraft, found via a dream given to Locke by what he percieves to be the Island/Purpose (in fact a form of corruption by Random), Locke loses his ability to walk (Random temporarily takes it away). Because of this, Boone goes up instead and ultimately dies because of it. This is comparable to a scene in the first of the Dark Tower series (a huge influence on the writers of Lost) in which the main character Roland is forced to choose between saving Jake, his almost surrogate son, and pursuing the Man In Black from whom he hopes to learn the way to his destiny. Roland chooses to chase the Man In Black, Jake dies, and Roland goes on in his pursuit of the Dark Tower. In the end of this series, when the loop is revealed, we learn that these events have repeated themselves as a means to teach Roland that his purpose isn't everything and that caring for those around him! is what will allow him to break the cycle. Roland refers to Jake as a necessary sacrifice just as Locke refers to Boone as "the sacrifice the Island demanded". I find it ironic that in Roland's version, he pursues the Man In Black and in Locke's version, he is manipulated and subsequently follows the path laid out to him by the man we all refer to as the Man In Black.

So lets look at what happened to Locke after Boone's accident. Locke flees to the hatch where he breakdowns and starts asking the Island why this all happened. He blames Boone's death on his paralysis (exactly what Random had intended) and then asks the Island for some sort of sign that he is on the right path. Then the light from the hatch bursts on and John finds his new purpose. I have covered the relevance of opening the hatch and ultimately not pushing the button/turning the fail safe key in my previous theories so I wont too much reiterate it here. However, i will leave you with a line from Ms. Hawking to show evidence of my opinion on the significance of the aforementioned events. In "Flashes Before Your Eyes" she told Desmond that "pushing the button would be the only truly great thing he would ever do." Ms. Hawking is absolutely an agent of Jacob (as Abbadon is an agent of Random) and so I therefore posit that Desmond being prevented from pushing the button! was not supposed to happen. He was unable to push the button because Locke prevented him from doing so, again what the hunter believed was is purpose.
Purpose had intended for Locke to be paralyzed, given that Jacob brought Locke back to life but chose not to heal his paralysis, and Random circumvented this purpose by giving John the ability to walk and then correlating the wheelchair with weakness and inability. I think that if you look at Locke's track record for cultivating the 815'ers before he truly embraced the life of the hunter and "sacrificed" Boone, it is pretty evident that he would have served as a better leader instead of Jack (or at least would have done wonders as the wise advisor for the brash doctor). Instead, Locke followed the path of the hunter, the destiny he preferred rather than the one he was allotted, and ultimately he became the leader of the Others instead of the Losties. When Locke (or Flocke) finally returned to the Island and reprised his role as leader of the Others, he then went on to lead Ben to kill Jacob.

Locke was the tool that led to Random's loophole and since this tool had freewill ( a law both entities must adhere to) Random used Locke's denial of his willingness to accept his destiny as a crippled against him and led him down the path that forced Desmond to change things by turning the fail safe key and ultimately ended in the death of Random's adversary.
As I said in my last theory I will say again; in Season 6 we will either A) see an alternate reality in which Locke accepts his paralysis and rejects the life of the hunter, consequently becoming leader of the 815'ers (ALT) or B) will see Locke make a choice and or sacrifice that will again render him paralyzed but this time in acceptance of it. Either way, Locke's redemptive arc will end with him again confined to the wheelchair.

For now, that is all I will say on the matter although I will most assuredly be wriiting more soon, both on this topic and a number of others. For those of you who have not read my previous theories, I think that you will find that they all connect relatively nicely and if nothing else, are an interesting read. For those of you who have read all of my on going series, i am grateful for your continuing support and you can expect to hear from me again soon.