Jacob Wants to Save the Island...MIB Wants to Save the World by Dharma Lite

This has been bugging me for a while but I think I've got a grasp on why some people are saying "Jacob is the evil one, and MIB is the good guy."

If you really search for it you'll find that Jacob's main concern is saving the island, protecting the island, it’s been said several times things are done “in the best interest of the island” which would easily make him seem like the good guy (not to mention a martyr), while all we really know about MIB is that he forms into smoke and kills pretty much everything in his path.

BUT never once has it been stated that Jacob cared about saving the world or humanity. Touching each of these candidates, because they were "special" means they are worthy of protecting the island not for the sake of the world, but for Jacob’s plan to preserve a special island.

Now the Dharma Initiative came to the island to not only take advantage of the island's unique properties, but also to alter the Valenzetti Equation by changing the numerical values of any one of the core factors(the numbers aka the candidates) in the equation in order to give humanity a chance to survive by, effectively, changing doomsday. Notice that their intentions are to save humanity, not the island, by changing the numbers, but they were unsuccessful. While they appreciate what the island is, they realize the greater good is to save the world.

The entire back and forth between Jacob and MIB on the beach is basically saying this. Jacob is saying that the most important thing is to bring candidates to the island to save it because “if it only ends once everything else was just progress”, while MIB is saying he's wrong because all that ever happens is "they come, they fight, they destroy, they corrupt" and to him it's pointless to attempt preserving an island when all that follows is death and destruction.

It seems like bringing people to the island is almost a pain in the ass for MIB, and he's actually thinking in the people's best interest in trying to set them free. At this point he figures the only way to stop Jacob from bringing random candidates to the island over and over again is by killing Jacob and leaving on his own with as many people that will go with him.

So MIB doesn't want the Valenzetti variables on the island being protected, because if they're protected, the equation will never change and the world will end. If they leave the island, they won’t be protected, and the equation CAN be altered.

Jacob’s ideal is basically to save the important one(s) and save the island, because it is special. MIB’s ideal is save humanity and let the island be. They both have two very noble intentions, yet they clash because they are basically each other’s opposite.

The six variables: Locke, Ford, Reyes, Shephard, Jarrah, and Kwon, are basically the keys to everything. In the end I think the one variable that will be changed will be Jack (I think that would be a fitting ending) and it will be his choice to either save the island (become the new Jacob), or save the world (he will die). The faith he has recently learned, or the science (smarts) he always had.

There’s holes in this theory as in every theory I know ex. Locke has technically changed to Flocke, but I don't think he is altered, I think MIB took his place. Since I learned that these numbers were assigned to these people, I’ve assumed that the only way the variable would change would be if one of them died.

This is the basic framework of the entire end game, and I know there’s about 20 more additions and variations to this than I detailed here, but I would say this makes the most sense as far as a never ending battle between two very old friends.

Any questions/comments/insults are more than welcome as that can only lead to the development of this theory, I’m a simple LOST fanatic with a broad imagination and this show has definitely pushed my entire thought process to the limit. Thanks for reading guys.