Come May 23rd, the Beatles won't have anything on Jack Shepherd by Ahura Vairya

As we all get closer to the end of LOST, it becomes easier to rule things out. But we should have been ruling one major thing IN since the end of season 5: Zoroastrianism. I say this because Jacob(in the beginning of "The Incident:Part 2") was weaving a symbol. What was what symbol of? You guessed it: Zoroastrianism.

Why does this matter? BECAUSE WE ARE ALL OBSESSED OUT OF OUR MINDS AND WANT TO KNOW WHAT THE *&(% THIS SHOW IS ALL ABOUT! Sorry, I had to vent a bit there. Whew. Now...back to hopeful postulation.

I am going off the wiki of Zoroastrianism, so I will let you know right now to follow this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoroastrianism Go there now and come back to this theory so you can follow along. Take a look at the symbol on the right. That is the EXACT same thing Jacob was weaving. One of the branches of this religion is Zoroastrianism.

First, we will need a basic primer on the main principles of Zoroastrianism (I know, I never heard of it before LOST either).
1. The "God" of this religion is Ahura Mazda. Also referred to as Mazda, for short. The "bad guy" is Angra Mainyu.
2.Mazda's creation AKA "asha" is the antithesis of chaos AKA "druj" and this is believed to be a huge conflict in which humans play an active role.
3.Mazda isn't immanent on Earth and therefore can't directly influence people.
4.Articulation of the "Ahuna Vairyu" hymn is the way in which Mazda eventually beats the embodiment of darkness or malevolence known as "Angra Mainyu".
5. A corpse is a "host for decay, i.e., of druj"
6. Fire is a medium for spiritual insight and enlightenment. Water is main physical source of enlightenment and purity.
7.One branch of Zoroastrianism says that Zurvan (AKA "time") is the one God, who bore twin sons. One of those sons is Ahura Mazda AKA "Ohrmuzd"(good), the other is Angra Mainyu AKA "Ahriman"(evil).
8.Tishtyra is a divinity associated with rainfall and fertility. Apaosha is the demon associated with drought.

Now, on to the theories of what these 8 points imply. You will need to refer back to each of the aforementioned points when reading on. Sorry, it's the best I can do here without making this theory too long, which it is already.

1: Angra Mainyu is often referred to as evil, darkness, or malevolence. Jacob uses those same three words when he describes what the cork retains in "Ab Aeterno". Angra Mainyu's physical embodiment is Azi Dahaka. Azi Dahaka was believed to be able to take form as other men as well as a black snake. MIB takes the form of other men and his black smoke form is almost always in a snake-like shape.

2: The battle between good and evil and humanity's role in it is very obviously shown in LOST, so I will leave it at that.

3: Either Jacob is Mazda and uses astral bodies via the cabin (as stated in other theories) to appear on Earth or he is a sort of direct servant to Mazda.

4: A translation of the Ahuna Vairyu is: "As judgment is to be chosen by the world, so the judgment (which is) in accord with the truth,(which is to be passed) on the actions of good throughout the world,is assigned to the Wise(Mazda),and the power (is assigned) to the Lord (ahura)whom they established as shepherd to the needy."

Basically, it states that man chooses his own judgment and if(or when) that judgment is good, those powers will be assigned to a shepherd of good people. Ummm...Jack is (fairly) obviously the next Jacob and his last name is Shepherd...so,yeah....

5: Evil, AKA druj, AKA Angra Mainyu can use dead bodies as a host. I'm gonna leave it at that, again.

6: MIB kicked Jacob into the fire after Ben stabbed him. Apparently he disappeared directly after. I actually have no idea how this relates to fire being a spiritual medium, but I think it must mean something. BUT...water is the prime spiritual medium and source of purity in Zoroastrianism. I think this has a lot to do with why water triggers memories in the ALT and why MIB can't go across water and/or is possibly weakened by it.

7: This branch of Zoroastrianism is pretty cut-and-dry in how it relates to LOST. Angra Mainyu AKA "Ahriman" would be MIB. Ahura Mazda AKA "Ohrmuzd" would be Jacob. Zurvan is the "hypostasis" of time, meaning he is the foundation of it.

Now I am going to steal this directly from wikipedia: "The "classic" Zurvanite model of creation, preserved only by non-Zoroastrian sources, proceeds as follows: In the beginning, the great God Zurvan existed alone. Desiring offspring that would create 'heaven and hell and everything in between,' Zurvan sacrificed for a thousand years. Towards the end of this period, androgyne Zurvan began to doubt the efficacy of sacrifice and in the moment of this doubt Ohrmuzd and Ahriman were conceived: Ohrmuzd for the sacrifice and Ahriman for the doubt. Upon realizing that twins were to be born, Zurvan resolved to grant the first-born sovereignty over creation. Ohrmuzd perceived Zurvan's decision, which He then communicated to His brother. Ahriman then preempted Ohrmuzd by ripping open the womb to emerge first. Reminded of the resolution to grant Ahriman sovereignty, Zurvan conceded, but limited kingship to a period of 9000 years, after which Ohrmuzd would rule for all eternity (Zaehne! r, 1955:419-428)."

Zurvan decided that he was unsure of the value of sacrifice, and therefor bore two sons to decide its value. Ohrmuzd represented sacrifice, AKA Jacob believing that the good (sacrifice) of humanity is stronger than their propensity to sin (doubt). This very neatly explains their argument detailed in "The Incident: Part 2" and "Ab Aeterno".

8: I wouldn't have mentioned this if it weren't for two things: First, Kate saw a black horse on the island and Apaosha takes the form of an intimidating black horse.
Second, Apaosha is the demon of drought who, if unleashed, could bring drought and destruction to mankind.
These two characters draw many parallels to Jacob and MIB, especially considering that MIB is none too fond of water.

So...what does it all mean for the next 3 episodes? I honestly have no idea. A psychic, I am not. But I do know that this all has something to do with Zoroastrianism because Jacob was weaving the symbol of it under the statue in the season 5 finale. This simply cannot be ignored. Neither can all of these connections between the religion and the happenings and characters of LOST. As far as how it helps to predict the ending of our beloved show, I leave that up to you.

Oh fudge it, I might as well take a stab at it, right? Jack replaces Jacob and fulfills the events described by the Ahuna Vairyu. He drives away chaos and darkness, otherwise known as MIB. In Zoroastrianism theory, this is supposed to lead to a "renovation of Earth" so my guess is that the ALT timeline works out pretty darn well for every one of our Losties. John gets fixed, Jack and Kate get together, Sun is healed, Jin and Sun give birth to Ji-Yeong 2.0, Hurley and Libby do their thing, Desmond completes his purpose (as Widmore had hoped), and all the other couples come together in the hospital for a ridiculously happy (but ultimately satisfying) happy ending. The island will also cease to exist because Jacob will have proven MIB wrong and the game will finally have been decided.

Yes, I know my finally theory leaves A LOT to be desired, but my brain hurts from researching Zoroastrianism and linking it to LOST for the past 6 hours. I will be checking comments regularly, as this will very likely be the highlight of my day/week/month. I really hope it's not the highlight of my year,lol. See you in the comments.