The reason for the candidates by TuckWhitey

The cave of candidates has showed us that our friends from flight 815 are not exactly as special as some of us might have believed. In fact, their names shared the den with what looked like at least one-hundred other names. So, really the only thing that makes them more special than any of the other people listed inside the cave is that their names haven't yet been crossed out (except of course John Locke). And judging by the fact that Un-Locke crossed out Locke's name, implies that death is the reason the names are crossed out.

This means that Jacob brought people to the Island that he considered to be candidates and they died and were crossed out, so he brought more candidates they died were crossed out and so on again and again, over and over. And judging from the way Jacob really doesn't interact at all with any of the candidates beyond steering them to the Island, this implies that he isn't searching for that perfect person to be the "chosen" candidate, he is simply bringing candidates to the Island and replacing them until something specific happens which finally sets into motion a purpose for the candidates. That specific event is Jacob's death and the purpose is to act as a vessel for Jacob to "claim".

What lies in the shadow of the statue? He who will save us all. That is obviously a description of Jacob as a Jesus like figure. And when Sayid is claimed he is lifted from the pool with is arms spread and his feet together like Jesus on the cross and coming back to life is a pretty clear parallel to the resurection of christ as is Sayid's Middle Eastern descent. Also, as many of the other theorisers before me have picked up on is the way Un-Locke doesn't seem to be an entity in disguise as he seems to have taken on Locke's essence as well as appearance the best example of this is when Un-Locke loses his cool with the mystery kid and exclaims "Don't tell me what I can't do?" one of Locke's re-occuring quotes. This is probably the same thing that happens when someone is claimed and the reason Jacob needs candidates and not just any freshly dead body to claim he needs those with the right traits and not those that would otherwise corrupt him with unwanted characteristics.

First time poster. Sorry for the disorganization and I hope I'm at least close and that I haven't missed anything that completely discredits my theory.