2 Jobs, 2 Vacancies, 2 Substitutes by Gristol

Forgive if this is an old idea.

Jacob is dead and needs to be replaced, so there are candidates for his position. These candidates are reflected--in more ways than one--in the lighthouse, on Jacob's list.

The list in the cave--which is MIB's home--is MIB's list of candidates for his job, or role. He made that list and the two are not necessarily identical. He watches his own set of candidates.

I think for MIB to leave the island, or truly be free of whatever this is, a substitute will be required. He hints at this when he offers Ben the job of staying behind to run the island.

However it is that MIB came to be in the position he's in, I think he recognizes a purpose or role he must play--a reason he can't leave, but he also believes that this role can be played by another--a substitute for himself.

I think it is reasonable that MIB is where he is because he killed an earlier incarnation of Jacob, perhaps even freeing an earlier incarnation of himself. If he can repeat the process--putting someone in a position not just to kill Jacob, which the rules don't allow him to do himself, but also qualify for his spot as the killer of Jacob, and then he can truly go home freed of whatever his purpose was on the island.

I hesitate to put Ben at the top of the list to replace MIB, but he is the one who killed Jacob. And it's interesting that "The Substitute" episode focused on Locke in the "ALT" but ended with Ben. Maybe a cute misdirection?

I've also wondered what the reason is for MIB to be recruiting, to prepare for the coming "war." He has a second objective besides killing Jacob--which triggered the transition--and that is to avoid the fate of his earlier incarnation, probably death.

I think the rules, in simple terms, dictate that if Jacob dies, MIB must die.

But not if MIB can find a substitute to do it--die--for him, leaving him out of the loop.

And thus the true loophole manifests.