Jacob must reform MIB/MIB waiting for something by Freddie

This theory is mostly focused on Jacob/MIB's relationship, what that might mean in relation to the candidates and who Jacob brings to the island, and the ALT/endgame of the show. I have perhaps left out some pieces that I'm taking for granted here or that I've thought through elsewhere, so feel free to add and comment and we can work through some stuff. I have thought pretty extensively about the show and I'm currently rewatching the series (up to 4x03) during the current season. I'm also of the mindset that unless the ALT ends up being something profoundly interesting, that they should have just told the 2007/2008 on-island story with flashbacks/flashforwards, since I'm loving all the island mystery reveals and focus on Jacob/MIB but not seeing right now how they connect up to the ALT in any meaningful way yet.

Okay, now I know this could end up being quite lame in fact, but I'm just wondering if the candidates are possible descendants of Jacob and/or MIB's people, and part of the "still trying to prove me wrong huh?" stuff is about bringing back the right people to the island to convince MIB that theyre not all lost or something like that, that he still has family, that there are still 'good' people since he might believe his people were the only good ones.

Somewhat lame I agree but I'm building off an earlier idea that Jacob has to reform MIB and convince him of something more than just that people are good. My point there is that perhaps Jacob, in the same manner that he explained to Richard about bringing visitors to the island, has to convince MIB of the goodness of humanity and to perhaps change MIB's nature/ways. Of course, I'm assuming Jacob is not lying about most of what he's said and that we can believe him to be sincere, though perhaps not necessarily "good." If the ALT is prologue (I still don't know what the hell it is), then perhaps a way out of the Island sunk/MIB wins model is that MIB doesn't leave the island but Jacob and MIB still make peace. Those two making peace would make more sense to me as the island's end game than Jacob simply managing to help the candidates to destroy MIB, which just repeats the cycle of violence we've seen for so long on the island.

I'm not sure if Jacob can kill MIB so easily either, but perhaps this model explains he didn't kill him or get rid of him - he's like the #1 experiment for jacob's goodness test. The island doesn't have to exist if these two come together. I'm sure others have speculated on this, so I apologize if I'm repeating anyone else's claims. With all the talk about MIB's mother in Recon (which i hadnt heard in detail until last night really because I skipped Recon and only read a synopsis), i think this is a definite possibility. he also doesn't seem to implicate jacob in the "growing pains" but it seems like whatever happened was really traumatic.

One other thing that got me thinking about this was Eko, and his presence reminded me that the 815ers and the candidates are from all around the world. So I started thinking, it's not just that it's a nice multicultural show - it makes sense that they would be from all around the world, just like Dharma folks were, just like the Others were, because the descendants of the island's original inhabitants (or just MIB's people) would be spread out everywhere. who knows...i just thought it was an interesting idea. "They're coming," however, seemed to scare MIB, so perhaps it's a little different than what I'm saying, and Jacob is the one who is looking for the return of some distant people who are connected to him/the island, while MIB absolutely does not want them to come back. Anyway, I thought this perhaps tied in well to who MIB kills and who he lets live, which unfortunately still seems quite arbitrary to me, since those murders could of course be based on more immediate! concerns too. These Jacob/MIB family groups are sort of who I was hoping the Shadow of the Statue crew were, so i'm still holding out hope for it.