MiB/Locke recruiting in ALT just like Jacob was in MLT by adammr

In the alt, we're starting to see Locke run into a lot of people... he's shaken Jack's hand, Hugo's hand, etc.

Does this sound familiar at all?

I'm starting to think that alt-Locke is acting a whole heck of a lot like Jacob was in the MTL off-island. Except instead of meeting people at times of great despair or conflict, he's meeting them at relatively good points in their lives, which is quite interesting.

In the alt it seems that Jacob hasn't touched anyone's lives, and that's why a lot of things seem to have turned out a little different. I have to wonder if, out of respect for course correction, it is possible that Locke is bringing everyone back through some new course of events.

Also note that Flocke on the island used a lot of real Locke's quotes ("don't tell me what I can't do" struck me as odd coming from MiB...). Doesn't it seem odd that REAL Locke used a quote, and now a separate entity is mimicking his form, and it's ALSO using those quotes? Makes me wonder if perhaps John Locke has been MiB for a good portion of the time of Lost...

Anyway, I think that in essence, the alt is showing what happens in a world without interference from Jacob, and what happens is that MiB is able to bring everyone back around to the island for his own purposes.

Perhaps we'll even find out that Jacob brought the Losties to the island specifically to prevent them from being used by MiB for his purposes - in effect, Jacob bringing the Losties to the island was a way of preempting MiB's next move, thus keeping MiB trapped on the island.

(I also found it interesting that Ilana called Lapidus a "candidate" even before Jacob died. This goes against what Flocke said about Sawyer being a candidate to replace Jacob protecting the island. If Jacob wasn't dead yet, why would Ilana be talking about finding a candidate to replace him?)