If Jacob's Nemesis is the smoke monster, then... by Alex B

Upon the revelation that Jacob's Nemesis is the monster, I realised that I had to review all the times that the monster appears and try to see them knowing what the smoke monster really is. Here I'll go through each time with you, and hopefully you'll see where I'm coming from and agree I may be onto something here:

You need to remember two things about Jacob's Nemesis here:

Firstly, regardless of whether he's "good" or "bad", he doesn't like humanity, in the mindset that all they do is kill, corrupt and destroy. So one needs to remember that he's not acting on humanity's best interests.

Secondly, as it would seem, his main plan to find the "loophole" to kill Jacob seems to rest on two important things - firstly to get John Locke to die so he can assume his form, and secondly to get Ben Linus under his control. Knowing he needs those two things, a lot of Smoky's actions make more sense.

So what are we waiting for:

1) Rousseau's Science Team
Fresh batch of humans who know nothing about the island shipwreck on it unaware of where exactly they are, searching for the radio tower. The decision on dealing with them is simple for Jacob's Nemesis - I have the feeling when it comes to Others, he has "rules", so can't just go around killing all of them, but that doesn't apply to other people (e.g. our Survivors like Eko or Jacob's Bodyguards like Bram, whom it's been established aren't Others) , so he just waltzes in, kills Nadine, rips Montand's arm off (who we later see to have died in the hole) and presumably possesses or corrupts the other team members except for Rousseau. Now here, in the light of the revelations in the most recent episode, "What Kate Does", I'm going to introduce a theory: the "infection" that apparently spreads "darkness" around the body and eventually the heart, according to Dogan, is caused by Jacob's Nemesis - he seems to embody darkness, and so I think he can "claim" people (e.g. Sayid) to do ! his bidding by possessing them as such (once again I think he can only do this to non-Others, e.g. Claire, Sayid and Brennan). But why infect some of the team but kill the rest? I'm sure that will eventually be answered. Also why wasn't Rousseau infected - if Jacob's Nemesis didn't want her alive surely it would be easier to just kill her in monster form rather than getting the "infected" Brennan and others to shoot her? Possibly the "infected" aren't directly controlled by him but just sub-conciously do his bidding... once again, I'm sure it will be explained. Regardless I'm pretty sure those with the "infection" or "sickness" that Sayid currently has are in some way possessed by Jacob's Nemesis - it makes perfect sense!

2) Killing the pilot
Despite the fact Jacob's Nemesis wants to "go home", he certainly doesn't want people finding out about the island, insinuating that he has at least some bonds to the island (remember the engraving below the temple of what seemed to be his smoke form in front of Anubis?). So when the plane crashes, Seth Norris, who could potentially have established contact with the mainland, has to be removed. The reason the rest of the survivors were neither infected or just killed by the monster? I really don't need to go into that - it's a question which is evidently going to be answered this Season (and potentially by Jacob's Nemesis himself - look at the trailers for the upcoming episodes).

3) Appearing to Locke, then pulling him into a hole
I'm assuming this hole leads into one of the underground chambers, or "Cerberus vents" as referenced in the blast door map. Now this starts to make sense - Jacob's Nemesis has the ability to scan people's memories and possibly "judge" them (Ben said he would be "judged" by the monster) - so he "scans" Locke back in "Walkabout", decides him worthy of his plan to find a "loophole", and tries to capture him. A big question here is why didn't Jacob's nemesis just kill Locke on the island then assume his form (maybe because Locke is, or will be later, an Other - and the "rules" mean he can't?), and even if that's true, if he just wants to capture him and/or contact him once and doesn't succeed (he gives up after Kate throws the dynamite) why doesn't he just try again? And again? And again? It's not like Locke went anywhere BUT the island for the first 4 seasons...

4) The Eko problem
Now this one is massively confusing. Where does Eko fit into Jacob's Nemesis' grand master plan? He was obviously important - having his memories scanned, or "judged", like Locke in "Walkabout" (and later Ben in "Dead is Dead"), and deemed fit for carrying out his wishes. Why Jacob's Nemesis, appearing as Yemi, wanted Eko to find The Pearl is a hard question to answer (the finding of the station was a turning point for Locke, who was then prompted to destroy the Swan - so maybe Jacob's Nemesis needed Eko to push Locke along the path of his destiny so he could eventually leave the island and die there?), doubled with the question of why he would kill Eko when he stated that he did not seek forgiveness (maybe this showed Eko's will to be so strong he couldn't be manipulated like Ben was so he had to be gotten rid of) - hopefully this will be answered: Eko was important! And was one of my favourite characters!

5) Killing Nikki and Paulo
Even though Jacob's Nemesis' shapeshifting into spiders and killing Nikki and Paulo isn't very thought of, it's a rather important piece to the puzzle of his motivations. Think about it this way. Humans, the "corrupting, destroying, killing" humans (in his eyes), are dealt with by Jacob's Nemesis in two potential ways - being killed due to posing a threat to the island or actively being judged and deemed not fit for living on the island; or judged and then manipulated or lead (e.g. Eko, Ben and Locke). The third category, humans who are left alone by Jacob's Nemesis, are strange, but hopefully that will be answered soon. So Nikki and Paulo, seen to be not worthy of life due to their sins, are judged and killed (although in my opinion being judged as not worthy of the island by him does not necessarily mean you're a bad person - Paulo professed his true love to Nikki before his death, while Eko dreamt of a happy memory with his brother as he died - it just means Jacob's Nemes! is doesn't like you.)

6) Kate and Juliet
Strange one. What would J.N. want with them at THAT time as opposed to the other dozens of days they spent on the island? They both got "scanned" by J.N. while in the bamboo tree - and for whatever reason, had to be chased. That reason, though - what was it?

7) Attacking the mercenaries
Easy one. Widmore's men wanted to get Ben Linus. Smoky needs Ben Linus to kill Jacob. Smoky defends Ben Linus.

8) Judging Ben
Another easy one. Assuming the form of Alex in order to win over Ben's emotional side, J.N., instead of "judging" Ben, is simply surrounding him in a cloud of black smoke as a facade to make him believe he's getting "judged", to manipulate him into following Locke (where Locke, of course, is J.N.).

So there you have it! It seems to make a little more sense now, although there are a few things I'd like to know:

Why does J.N. only do stuff (e.g. pull Locke into a hole, chase Juliet/Kate) at certain moments, instead of all the time? I understand there are probably areas where Smoky can't go (anywhere surrounded by that special ash or the sonic fence) but are we supposed to assume he's restricted to the dark territory, and can only do things when characters pass through there? So is the statue in the dark territory, or is Hydra Island (both areas where J.N. in different forms has appeared)? I don't think so... That's my biggest peeve about J.N., and it really doesn't make sense to me.

Why are some people manipulated, some people infected, some people judged then killed, and some people just killed? There are obviously some sort of set of rules, but it's hard to categorize his interactions with each character sensibly...

Is J.N. pure evil, manipulating to his ultimate goal of "going home", or is he some sort of deity who judges all before him? Things like his interest in Eko, Nikki and Paulo getting killed and Widmore's lot getting attacked indicates that he's some sort of mythological, ominpotent force, yet things such as manipulating Ben into killing Jacob and his treatment of characters like the pilot, the science expedition and Kate/Juliet show him to be some sort of animalistic being that hates everyone....

Why is it the Others at the Temple go crazy when they hear J.N. killed Jacob and start taking measures to "keep him out", but The Others didn't seem too fussed about him before and Ben even summoned him twice? I think I can answer this - it's some sort of balance, where J.N. plays by the "rules" as long as Jacob's alive - but when Jacob dies the gloves are off and J.N. can do what he wants...?

Please discuss and say what you thought about what I said. Thanks!