Replacing Jacob by EmilyG

So what does it take to replace Jacob? I ask this in the most literal sense---HOW does a Candidate become the Big Dude? It can't be a purely automatic process, as Jacob's death doesn't appear to have "triggered" anything in the Candidates. If all the Candidates but one get killed off, will the last one standing suddenly know the secrets of the universe? Have the ability to heal, to render a man immortal, etc.? If so, that sucks in every possible way; "here, you win purely by process of elimination. Be prepared for many long, long nights all by yourself since all your friends are dead." It's like winning the world's shittiest Publisher's Clearinghouse Sweepstakes, except instead of money you get a pile of sand and trees and corpses.

If there's some actual physical process that a candidate needs to go through to become the next Jacob, then can someone OTHER than a Candidate undergo it? I'm starting to wonder if that's indeed the case. Widmore made such a huge deal out of the Island "belonging" to him, maybe the reason the Island needs a protector is because, without someone designated, the greedy can come and usurp it, taking the Island's power for themselves and essentially rendering themselves a god. If someone like, say, Widmore managed to become the next Jacob, he'd essentially be granted immortality, the ability to grant eternal youth to himself and his followers, power over time and space, etc., etc. Which would be very, very bad for the outside world.

The Losties tend to view the leadership position like a ping-pong ball that's been set on fire. With that attitude, I'm skeptical that any single person will be the new Jacob. In fact, maybe the ultimate goal has been to grant ALL of them "mastery" over the Island's powers? (Just as there were multiple kings and Queens in Narnia?) This way, people like Widmore can't execute a coup because even if they killed one or two Losties, they'd never manage to kill them all. All the trials that these people have gone through might have been meant to forge them into a cohesive unit, a group capable of being stuck together for an extended period of time--centuries, perhaps?--to use each person's individual strengths as "leader" when the time calls for it. Need to manipulate newcomers to the Island? Sawyer's in charge. Need decisive action and a bullheaded singlemindedness? Jack's in charge. Need to make friends with the newcomers? Hurley's in charge. Need to open a can of spectacular wh! oop-ass? Sayid's in charge. Etc, etc.

Maybe we'll end up with a situation where either they're all "the new Jacob", or perhaps a situation where the Island Leadership position switches among them as the situation requires. This way, outsiders can't take over because they don't know who to kill. And lord knows if the Losties haven't killed each other yet, it's very unlikely they'll do so in the future.