The Significance of Jacob's Touch: Issues w/Sayid & Hurley... by Adrian McDonald

In the S5 finale, we got to when Jacob touched the remaining candidates. We have been led to believe, that Jacob brought these folks to the Island based on past contact with him. But is his touch necessary to accomplish this? Smokie would have us beleive it is, but he does lie. So that could be correct, but we can't rest on it.

Consider Hugo ans Sayid. When we see Jacob touch them, both of them were in their Oceanic 6 years. Sayid is touched shortly after he is reunited with Nadia. In touching Sayid, to "ask for directions", Jacob saved Sayid's life, it seems, while Nadia was hit by the car and died. Sayid then gets recruited by Ben...and so on.

Hugo is not touched until shortly before Ajira flight 316 takes off. Unlike the other candidates, Jacob has a very explicit conversation with Hugo about his reluctance to return to the Island, which he says is Hugo's choice. And I think it was, at least for Hurley, a choice.

But what bothers me about these two is the timing. Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Locke, Sun & Jin...they are all touched/met Jacob before 815. For Kate & Sawyer, long before. If we assume Jacob must touch someone, or at least meet them, in order to bring them to the Island, then one of the following must be true with respect to Hugo & Sayid: A). Both of them were touched by Jacob twice, each also before 815; or B) Sayid and Hugo were not "brought" when they crashed on 815 and were only "brought" on 316.

Both of these seem problematic, but I don't want to get into that. The other possibility is that Jacob can bring people to the Island in a variety of ways and touching them is not a requirement. And I don't think it has to be their choice either. Sayid clearly didn't want to return, was in cuffs and asked even to take a later flight. And did Jacob know Nadia was going to get hit by the car? Did he know Sayid would have been hit, had he not asked for directions?

Jacob & Sayid: Intervention? Non-Intervention? Precognition and Free Will:

Let's assume Jacob did not know about the car. Following this, he did not know Nadia would get hit or die. And did not act when he did to save Sayid's life, but only to touch him. He just happened to touch Sayid at that time. Everything else is coincidence. It's possible, but just not likely at all. Quite the opposite for LOST viewers. So I will reject this.

So let's now assume Jacob did know about the car and Nadia's fate. My question is if Sayid would have been hit also, would it have killed him? If so, and Jacob knew this, then he was intervening in a very direct manner on a level not seen with the others. If Sayid were to have been hit, did Jacob know he would not have survived? Because if he would have lived, however injured (like Locke after his fall), Jacob could have touched him any time in the hospital, right after the crash, even a year later. So why not do so?

I tend to think Jacob knew Sayid would otherwise have been hit and would have died. Why else would the touch happen at that exact moment? And if this is true, as I mention above, this is the most direct intervention we see with a candidate and also with another, that being Nadia. Perhaps Jacob knows how things are going to unfold? Maybe completely or maybe to an extent? Jacob, when he visited Illana in the hospital, seemed to know his death was imminent. His visit concerned his own succession. Did the order to build the runway on Hydra Island come from Jacob, who knew Ajira 316 would need it and even knew who was going to be on it?

This suggests that Jacob has his own "pre-cog" abilities, which are likely much more advanced than Desmond's flashes of Charlie in S3. I am not saying I am sold on this, but it seems very possible.

Question: if Jacob, then, knew what was going to happen with the car, what would happen to Sayid had he not intervened, why didn't Jacob also spare Nadia from getting hit? "Hey, can I ask you Both for directions?" I doubt he was prevented from doing this because of any cosmic rule or law. If he had the foresight I cover above, I assume he knew Nadia needed to get hit because that's ultimately what led Sayid into working for Ben. Did Jacob want this? Did Jacob want Sayid to be Ben's assassin? It's possible he did want that.

Significance of Being Touched by Jacob:

I think the evidence suggests Jacob can bring people to the Island without ever touching them. For example, he never touched Richard Alpert before he arrived on the Island (that we know of). If he brought Richard there, he did it via some other means, other manipulation. Or maybe he didn't bring Richard, and it just happened because he was on the same ship as some other person Jacob was bringing (also possible, but I think unlikely). Of course Richard was touched, on the Island, by Jacob. The touch granted Richard eternal life.

I think all of the remaining candidates, the finalists so to speak, only became candidates when touched by Jacob. The touch was not to bring them to the Island, but rather to impart a gift, akin to eternal life, the gift of being a candidate. Perhaps part of Jacob's soul was transferred into each when touched. In this sense, they are all Jacob and, therefore, cannot be killed by Smokie. Others can kill them, like Ben killing Locke. In fact, we could even think of Ben killing Locke as a test run for Smokie's grand loophole. Killing the candidates from day one for Smokie has been as forbidden and difficult as killing Jacob perhaps.

If a candidate dies, Smokie does not need them for his planned return to the world at large. The body of Locke, for example, was completely dismissed by Smokie. Were Sawyer to die, it may be, his presence on the plane just as a corpse might not be required--only that of the remaining candidates. So he may not need all of them. Perhaps he may just need one of them, if only one is left alive. Who knows?

Thank you for reading. If you liked my post, feel free to visit my blog at: http://lost-looking-glass.blogspot.com/