Mayan Jacob and MIB by Lilpiano

I was reading a book a while back called Finger Prints of the Gods, and I came across a story that sounded a lot like the Jacob and MIB story. I have a lot of information here sited from a lot of internet sources about the two characters. I know this doesn't explain everything but it really does seem like the writers pulled some characteristics from this specific Mayan account.

In almost every ancient civilization there is a record of a Caucasian looking man with a beard who came to teach mankind how to live a civilized life. He is normally associated with science or magic. He is always remembered as a teacher. In most stories he is said to have carried out his mission in great kindness and tried to avoid or shun the use of force. He taught by careful instruction and personal example. He used these methods to teach the techniques and knowledge necessary for a cultured and productive life. There are variations in the story of the strange man who taught primitive people how to become civilized. There is one variation that I would like to point out, that I think fits with our LOST story very well. The Aztecs and Mayans had a record of a strange Caucasian man with a beard who came and to teach them many things. His name was Quetzalcotal.

Quetzalcoatl is a Mesoamerican deity whose name comes from the Nahuatl language and has the meaning of "feathered-serpent". He is the god intelligence and self-reflection, a patron of priests. He was known as “the civilizer” to their culture. He is depicted as having brought all the skills and sciences necessary to create a civilized life and ushering in a golden age. He was believed to have introduced the knowledge of writing in Central America. He was also known as; a master builder, who taught the people the secrets of masonry and architecture, the father of mathematics, metallurgy (the technique or science of working or heating metals so as to give them certain desired shapes or properties), and astrology, founder of agriculture, discovered and introduced corn, a great doctor, master of medicine, lawgiver, protector of craftsmen, patron of all the arts. He disclosed the mysteries and properties of plants. He was said to have measured the earth. He was also said to ha! ve measured the earth. He was a teacher who taught that no living thing was to be harmed and that sacrifices were to be made not of human beings but of birds and butterflies. He taught them how to use fire for cooking and how they should live together as husband and wife. His over-all mission was to bring peace to the people. After the last world, the Fourth Sun had been destroyed, Quetzalcoatl went to Mictlan, the land of the death, and created our current world, the Fifth Sun, by using his own blood to give new life to bones (could the island be part of this world created?). In one version, Quetzalcoatl, through self-sacrifice, organized the cosmos and formed a world nourishing both man's physical and spiritual life. He created the fifth cycle of mankind by using the ancestor's ashes and bones to give their bodies form. Knowing humans must be connected to Heaven and the essence of the Divine for their survival. He used his own blood to animate them and became humanity's p! rotector
(this could also describe so aspects of the island.)'

Quetzalcoatl was always said to have disciples. His disciples were described as men of good carriage who had great knowledge and were cunning artists in all kinds of fine work. In some accounts his disciples possessed the power to turn into birds
(maybe the Hurley bird.)

But, Quetzalcotal had an enemy who was a stranger like he was... and his name was Tezcatlipoca, who had a nick name which was "Smoking Mirror". It is interesting to note that Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca both collaborated in the creation of the different creations and that both of them were seen as instrumental in the creation of life. Tezcatlipoca is known as the god of the nocturnal sky, god of the ancestral memory, god of time and the Lord of the North, the embodiment of change through conflict. He had many descriptive names which alluded to different aspects of his deity: Titlacauan ("We are his Slaves"), Ipalnemoani ("He by whom we live"), Necoc Yaotl ("Enemy of Both Sides"), Tloque Nahuaque ("Lord of the Near and the Nigh") and Yohualli Èecatl("Night, Wind"), Ome acatl ("Two Reed"), Ilhuicahua Tlalticpaque ("Possessor of the Sky and Earth"). He was described as ever-young, omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient. He was associated with the night, darkness, and the sc! ared jaguar. He was invisible and implacable appearing to men sometimes as a flying shadow or sometimes as a dreadful monster. He was said to have been the owner of a mysterious object called "the smoking mirror" that’s how he got his nickname. He used the mirror to observe from afar the activities of men and gods
(sounds very similar to the lighthouse mirror.)

Tezcatlipoca can tempt humans into self-destruction, but when he takes his turkey form he can also cleanse them of contamination, absolve them of guilt, and overcome their fate (like what FLocke does to convince people to join his team, well minus the whole turkey thing.) While the actions taken by Tezcatlipoca were both violent and dangerous, he was not considered by his people to be "evil”
(no one on FLocke’s team sees him as evil, Claire sees him as “her friend” and tries to convince people to join there side.)
Another version states that prior to the existence of humankind, the surface of the Earth was covered entirely by water. Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl dwelled in the heavens, while Tlatecuhtli, the great caiman, lived under the water. Tezcatlipoca, always the trickster, one day decided to tempt Tlatecuhtli to emerge from the water. He lured her to the surface by putting his big foot into the water. Suddenly, she bit Tezcatlipoca's foot and wouldn't let go. In the struggle, Tlatecuhtli lost her jaw and Tezcatlipoca lost his foot. Unable to return to the sea, the great caiman's spiny, crocodilian back formed the mountain ridges of the world, and the Earth as we know it. The other gods later replaced Tezcatlipoca's foot with a round mirror, partially as a reminder to him of what he had done. This act by Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl angered the other deities. To console the mutilated caiman, the deities decreed that all the tribes of humankind would live on her rugged back. (So! what if Jacob isn’t MIB’s number one nemesis then maybe it is one of these other deities, and maybe Jacob was sorry for teaming with MIB and went back to these deities for forgiveness, while MIB does not feel the need to apologize and that is why he hates Jacob so much.)

(This seems to be the battle of Light and Dark that has been played on so much recently in LOST)

This next part is found in the book "Finger Prints of the Gods" on no other page than page number 108...

Tezcatlipoca was said to have been locked in conflict with Quetzalcotal that had continued over an immense span of years. At certain times one seemed to be getting the upper hand, at certain times the other. Finally the cosmic struggle came to an end when good was vanquished by evil and Quetzalcotal was driven out of the land. Thereafter, under the influence of Tezcatlipoca's nightmarish cult, human sacrifice was reinstated throughout Central America

(what if the influence of human sacrifice was cause by the sickness or infection referred to in LOST?). Quetzalcotal promised his followers he would return one day to overthrow the cult of Tezcatlipoca to inaugurate an era when the god's would again "accept sacrifices of flowers" and cease their clamor for human blood.

References:
http://www.azteccalendar.com/god/Quetzalcoatl.html http://www.plu.edu/~westgale/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quetzalcoatl
Book: Fingerprints of the Gods by Graham Hancock