The Original Smoke Monster is Locke by Amos Tversky

As always, apologies if something similar to this has been posted previously.

There are a lot of interesting theories going around about the identity of the smoke monster (e.g., it’s Christian Shepherd, it’s a mirror twin of Jacob, etc.). Below I outline evidence in support of the theory that the original smoke monster is Locke. The idea is that (in some universe…) Locke arrived on the island on Flight 815, had some sort of run-in with electromagnetism (hatch implosion?), and later died/started to display the properties of the smoke monster. Subsequent to that, he traveled back in time (without his original body), possibly thousands of years, and began to await his original arrival in 2004. Over the years he has assumed many forms, but his final form is his original/natural form: John Locke. As with all LOST theories, I’m not claiming that this theory as stated is undoubtedly true, but I have amassed a few interesting points of evidence that I thought I would share.

Evidence:

1. Go back to the scene a couple of weeks ago when Locke asks a tied-up Desmond, ‘Do you know who I am?' and Desmond calmly responds, 'Of course I do, you’re John Locke.' A natural interpretation might be that Desmond simply does not recognize that Locke is Flocke. Alternatively, this might mean that Desmond realizes that Locke is Flocke, but further recognizes that Flocke is Locke. The calmness with which Desmond states this and the disconcerted response of Flocke (his facial reaction, his decision to then kill Desmond) may support this latter interpretation.

2. Flocke and Locke both had “crazy” mothers. They could be talking about the same woman.

3. Five year-old John drew pictures of the smoke monster attacking people.

4. Flocke and Locke have some of the same mannerisms and pharses. This could be a side-effect of the smoke monster inhabiting Locke, but it could also be because they are the same person.

5. Locke’s mother told him that he was “immaculately conceived.” It was later determined that Anthony Cooper was his father, leading most of us to believe that this is just his mom being crazy; however, there may be a strange twist to this. Similar to how the compass is a self-contained paradox (e.g., Richard gives Locke a compass, who travels back and gives the compass to Richard to later give to himself, etc.), Locke/Flocke may be a self-contained paradox. Specifically, Locke arrives on the island in 2004 and via some unknown process (possibly hatch implosion) begins to gain the properties of the smoke monster. At some point, Locke (i.e., the smoke monster) then travels back in time to set in motion the events that brought him to the island to become the smoker monster. In other words, the smoke monster (John Locke) may not have existed had the smoke monster/John Locke not already existed. So, it may not matter that John Locke had a biological father; what may! be “immaculate” about this is that Locke could never have been conceived without Locke already existing.

6. Locke plays “mousetrap” with his foster brother and, later, with a kid as a store clerk. This could be an allusion to him being ‘trapped’ on the island, as Flocke has described himself being. Additionally, both Locke and Flocke seem to have an interest in games/manipulation.

7. Locke was the first survivor to encounter the smoke monster. He said that he saw white light and that it was beautiful. When he told Eko this, Eko said, “that is not what I saw.” Also, in none of our experiences with the smoke monster has he appeared as a white light or anything beautiful.

8. In season 1, Locke’s backgammon conversation with Walt and Claire’s dream about him may be allusions to Locke being the ‘dark man.’

9. In season 3, Locke was able to see the man in the cabin who said, “help me.” This was probably not Jacob, so presumably, this was an incarnation of the smoke monster. Ben could not hear or see it, only Locke. Similarly, Locke went on a unique “vision quest” early in season 3 after returning from the hatch implosion, and has had at least three island/monster-directed dreams. These all suggest that Locke has a unique relationship with the monster. For example, Locke had a dream about Horace (s4), where he said, “Jacob has been waiting for you for a long time.” This might suggest that Jacob was/is aware that Locke is his dark counterpart (or that Horace was the monster and was lying). In any case, this dream eventually led Locke et al. back to the Cabin where Christian (who we now know was the smoke monster) said he was speaking on behalf of Jacob, but obviously was not.

10. In the Season 1 finale, Locke is almost pulled down into a hole with the monster, and he actually gets mad that Jack et al. did not allow him to go down into the hole.

11. The smoke monster (as Christian Shepherd) told Locke that he would have to sacrifice himself. When Locke’s body arrives back on the island, the monster then assumes Locke’s form (possibly the monster’s true form). Importantly, Ilana says that the monster will no longer be shifting forms; she says that Locke’s form will be the monster’s final form. In the last episode, the monster claims that Locke was a sucker who believed in the island and that’s why he assumed his form. But we know that we cannot exactly trust what the monster says. Why assume Locke’s form, especially as your final form? He’s old and many people on the island didn’t like him. One possible answer (and the core of this theory) is that he assumed Locke’s form as his final form because it was his original/true form.

12. The writers have been very careful in that they’ve never given the monster/dark man’s name. This will undoubtedly be an important detail. If his real name is indeed “John Locke,” this would be good reason for them not to tell his name. Ironically, given that the monster has now assumed Locke’s form, Locke is probably the last person we would suspect to be the real monster.

There are probably several other points of evidence in support of this theory and, moreover, there is probably a fair amount of evidence that is difficult to fit into this theory (e.g., why would Jacob revive Locke after his father pushed him out the window) – though these do not necessarily invalidate this theory. As with any good writing, at this point we have enough evidence to provoke theories like this, but not enough to conclusively support them.