Jacob PLAYED MIB into assuming Locke's body/form by DharmaSox

Jacon knows his opponent inside and out -- they have been playing against each other for a long long time. One thing Jacob knows above all else is how much MIB wants to kill him -- but he can't due to the rules of the game. Like any great chess player, Jacob is willing to make sacrifices, and is many moves ahead of his rival.

Okay, here's the crux of the theory. 1. Ben is the loophole --"saved" in Jacob's temple waters instead of dying, he has a unique ability to kill Jacob. MIB figures this out. 2. To manipulate Ben, MIB needs to assume the body/role of John Locke. 3. The outcome, as we saw in last season's finale, is twofold: Dead Jacob,stabbed by Ben and incinerated in the fire pit. AND - as we learned from Ilana las tnight, MIB IS now"LOCKED" inside Locke. Whiel Jacob's death may seems the more important of the two outcomes, it is NOT.

This is where Jacob was ahead of his rival, I believe the end game here is to have TWO of our characters take over the island roles currently played by MIB and Jacob. Caretakers/jailers/protectors of the island, but most of all, rivals in an eternal game.

And now that MIB is inside Locke, one of the players has already been picked, unwillingly, by MIB: LOCKE.
Here's a my key piece of evidence -- when Flocke fell chasing the young boy and was then admonished by the boy not to "kill him" -- he reacted with the very Locke like "don'r tell me what i cannot do!" I believe Locke's "Spirit" (for want of a better word== essence, maybe?) is inside FLOCKE -- and real Locke's influence will only get stronger -- til he takes over the role once played by MIB.

MIB will realize he has been played by Jacob as he begins to feel "real" Locke's power/personality reassert itself inside him. And real Locke may very well be able to "save" some of our other characters from being killed by FLocke/Smokey

Remember the ALT lost luggage scene? Locke comforted Jack about his father's body -something like yeah his body is missing but WHO CAN say where he IS. Apply that to Locke's now buried body. It doesn't matter -- the essense of LOCKE lives on, and it will overcome MIB to assume his role as "the black stone" in the eternal game of Island Backgammon.

Where this leaves Jacob and his presumably soon to be appointed "white stone" player -- we shall see.

In a nutshell: Jacob sacrificed himself with a huge gambit that he KNEW MIB could not resist -- in order to get Locke (the one we all know and love) to be the next Black Player. Since the early years were all about Locke's Faith versus Jack's Science, the easy , (but not necessarily correct) next assumption is Jack will be the White player and that is how the show will end. I"m not quite ready to go there yet.

Sorry for any typos or non sequiturs -- writing while sick, and taking care of two sick kids!