The Dark Light of the Soul by Michael

Since "Across The Sea" aired, there have been a lot of speculations as to the nature of the Smoke Monster - is it the MIB, is it it's own entity using the MIB's appearance? Here is my theory on what it is, how it came to be, and how it will be stopped. This goes off a number of ideas I have seen floating out there but combined with a concept of mine that I don't believe I have seen articulated.

Nothing can exist with out a contrast - day/night, earth/sky, love/hate, wet/dry. Without one half, the other has no context, no meaning. The Light in the cave that Mother introduced to the boys can be a metaphor for a number of things - the light of creation, the light of the soul, etc. It ultimately doesn't mater, exactly what it is, what matters is that it is something very special and important, to the island and the world.

But light cannot exist without darkness and vice versa. What we have come to refer to as the smoke monster exists as that contrast to the light. However, just because something exists as a 'dark' side, does not automatically mean that it is 'bad'. 'Good' and 'bad' are moral constructs invented by humanity. We may see a Killer Whale eat a sea lion on a nature show and, because the sea lion is 'cute' and we attach ourselves to it, we deem the whale as bad when all it is doing is surviving as it needs to in nature. What I am driving at is that the Black Smoke is not inherently evil but just an opposite to the Light.

One heavily referenced source in Lost is 'Star Wars', he main theme of the prequels was how Anikin would bring 'Balance to the Force'. The Jedi assumed this would be a good and enlightening thing, but my interpretation of it was that Anikin would bring back the ways of the Sith and balance the Light and the Dark sides once again after centuries of the Light side being overly powerful. I bring this up in my theory because I believe what Jacob is trying to do with the Candidates is bring balance back to the Light of the Island.

The Light and Dark of the Island (and the world) remained in Balance for millennia within the caves. At some point, someone entered the cave and broke that balance by introducing a human soul to the Light and Dark. The soul's scale was tipped the wrong way (as described to Sayid by Dogen) and corrupted the Light and Dark with fear, anger, hate, and greed. This produced the 'Monster' and gave the Dark Light a consciousness. That person may have been 'Mother' or it may have been someone centuries before that Mother eventually encountered and either defeated or scummed to in order for her to become the embodiment of the Dark Light.

When the MIB killed Mother (with the Dagger that had been exposed to the electromagnetic properties of the island), he released her soul from the control of the Dark Light. I think by doing this, the MIB actually temporarily brought some balance back to the island as the Dark Light no longer had a soul to guide it and allow it to act as the 'bad' half of the duality.

Jacob actually broke the duality in half again by sending the MIB down into the light. Jacob introduced another soul to the island, and this one was less interested in protecting the island like Mother was but instead wanted to to escape it and join the rest of the world 'across the sea'.

After years of thought and discovery, Jacob realizes what he has done and feels that he has to find someone out in the world who's inner scale tips as much to the 'good' side of the soul as the MIB's tips to the 'bad' side. He does this by bringing the candidates to the island and testing them, especially against the corruptible nature of the MIB. Only one person left seems to fit this bill - Hurley.

Jacob will convince Hurley to enter the Light cave and thus give the 'Light' side of the Island a soul and then it will counterbalance the soul that the 'Dark' half has in the MIB. This, in a sense, is the replacement that Jacob has been seeking - someone who can balance out his brother.

However, there is another way that will save everyone and restore the original balance and Desmond is already working on that. The MIB's soul is trapped with the Dark Light/Black Smoke and cannot escape. He uses the form of Locke in the same way he used the form of his old body - to manipulate and corrupt, as well as try to remember what it feels like to be a man again. How would you go about releasing a soul from an entity that has claimed it with a body?

We have been told that the MB is 'stuck' using Locke's body right now for some reason. In order to separate MIB's soul from John Locke's body, another soul must need to claim it - ALT-Locke. Desmond's soul has connected with and jumped between the main universe and the Alt. I believe Des is hoping to get Alt-Locke to try and do the same thing somehow. If Alt-Locke can connect with the main universe, he can jump into the form of himself that the MIB is using and force the MIB/Black Smoke out of it - disrupting the connection, freeing the MIB's soul and re-establishing true balance back to the island.

Wrapping up quickly here (cuz damn this got long), everyone is free of the island at this point but I believe that the Island still needs looking after and protecting. Jack stays, taking over the mantel from Jacob who the island finally allows to die and rejoin his brother and mother.

Not sure how well this really makes sense outside of my head. Comments welcome.