The Final Iteration by Melvie

This theory doesn’t pretend to be entirely original as far as me coming up with all-new ideas, but it’s rather a composite of other theories I’ve read, heard from friends, and thought on my own all along.

What’s soooo great about LOST is a nobody from Dick, Nebraska could write a theory about Nikki and Paulo being potential swingers (and show evidence in the form of screen shots), and people would stop in the middle of their busy day to read it, think on it, and respond with “hey you might be onto something” or even “who cares? they sucked.”

Much props to DarkUfo (and countless other LOST sites) for providing a place where us geeks can discuss such meaningless (but fun to discuss) topics ad nauseum.

In another theory of mine (http://theoriesonlost.blogspot.com/2010/02/johns-broken-lift-jacobs-broken-ladder.html#more ), I talked about Jacob and MiB having their own separate agendas in breaking free of this endless loop they’ve experienced countless times before. I sorta believe that even though they’ve lived through and experienced decades and centuries prior to, the famous beach scene at the beginning of the ep “The Incident” is the actual beginning of the loop starting over. So, it’s almost like Jacob and MiB wake up that morning, knowing the day before they both saw the universe collapse on itself yet again, and have a new, fresh idea on how to do things differently this time in order to achieve a different outcome.

Over time, MiB just quit caring. Meanwhile, Jacob starts each new loop with a child-like hope that he’ll make it work this time.
I think that it always starts, in Jacob’s mind, with the Black Rock coming to the island. In other iterations, he’s seen events take place that have gotten him so close to achieving his goal, he must know that it starts with that ship and the crew (and uh, passengers) on board.

This is evident in a specific way we’ve actually seen on the show (if you ignore the in-between-season-ARG stuff we’ve seen) when Charles Widmore is buying journal from that actual ship. Widmore’s intentions can be looked at either way – he’s buying the journal because he feels that it may contain clues as to the Island’s current whereabouts, so that he may get back, or maybe it’s more like a token or souvenir to remind him of his past glory days.

Magnus Hanso, who is thought to have written the journal, and eventually (through his bloodline) inspired the Dharma Initiative, may also be an important piece of Jacob’s puzzle.

Obviously without Dharma, the hatch would have never been built and Desmond would have never NOT been there at the exact moment 815 was flying over to NOT push the button, causing the plane to crash. This would have never caused Widmore to fake the plane wreckage and send the freighter, which eventually caused the frozen wheel to be turned, sending the Losties flashing through time and finally stopping in the 1970s during the Dharma time to actually cause the incident, which, whether you think the ALT timeline is a result of the incident or not, caused the 70s Losties to jump back to the “present day” on the island.

After Ben stabbed Jacob, and before he was kicked into the fire, he whispered to MiB “they’re coming.” It took me a while to figure out who “they” were, but I seriously believe Jacob was referring to the 70s Losties, who, because Jacob figured out the correct course of events (mentioned above), were getting ready to “flash” to the same time as MiB.

MiB seemed concerned at Jacob’s claim, because he figured after killing Jacob, maybe Frank (who was referred to as a possible candidate) was the only other person to worry about, if even that. After hearing Jacob’s final words, he knew he had to switch gears and go to Plan B, which included recruiting all potential candidates (ie, the names/numbers written on Jacob’s wall) into talking them into joining his side, killing them, or who knows what.

As I stated in the previous theory, Jacob was a step or two ahead of MiB, knowing he would have to sacrifice his “humanly presence” for the greater good, which would eventually result in breaking the loop and bring about the one true ending he’s sought for so long.

After watching the ep “The Incident,” I almost kinda chuckled at the idea of FINALLY introducing the character of Jacob (after hearing about him for so long) and killing him all within the same two hour span, but now I understand – even if we never see Jacob again (which obviously we will), his work “behind the curtain” is becoming more and more relevant and obvious. Like a god of sorts, his plan has always been to orchestrate this whole “right people at the right place at the right time” symphony we’ve been watching the past six years.

This isn’t Jacob’s or MiB’s story, it’s always been about the Losties, and while we’ve watched them “fight, destroy and corrupt” the past several seasons, we’ll soon know it was all “just progess” in the vein of finally achieving the one true ending, thus breaking the loop.

I believe the final stretch will show the Losties either breaking this loop and having a happy ending, or failing, but we, as the audience, will know that it's all potentially only one more try away.