The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Truth by lafidaninfa

After watching “Across the Sea” and since we are approaching the end of “LOST” I have to admit that I felt rather emotional and decided to post my first theory that sums up my thoughts about the last episode and LOST in general.
I could jabber endlessly if I wanted to share everything that I have in mind about LOST and its final episodes, but I’ll just stick to what I’ve managed to put together after last night’s episode.

Mother: She is definitely evil, since she doesn’t hesitate to kill Claudia in cold blood, steals and raises her babies, lies to them constantly and subtly manipulates them. Later on, she destroys the Romans’ camp possibly by commanding or embodying the Smoke Monster. Even her death was premeditated – as we can see she tells Jacob that her “time is over”. The MIB was actually manipulated to kill her, as much as Ben was driven to kill Jacob. Maybe the birth of the twins was Mother’s loophole to be released from her task to “serve” the Island and this is the reason she thanked MIB as she died. She knew that if MIB wasn’t willing to protect the island as a guardian, then he should protect it from the inside, by trapping his soul inside the Smoke Monster, which in that way could never hurt Jacob and in the same time preserve Jacob’s innocence.
Jacob: Our first glimpse of baby Jacob is that of a smiling baby and as he grows up he seems to support the saying “ignorance is bliss”. He seems rather slow, gullible, doesn’t pose questions and is unwilling to doubt Mother even when her scheme comes to light. We also learn that Jacob was bitter and jealous of his younger brother as he could see Mother’s affection for him. After all he repeatedly beats him up whenever he is agitated. Instead of being the calm Jacob we saw throughout season 6, he seems to have a temper. In no case does he seem to be special, but nonetheless he is chosen as the protector of the Island” as the only possible leader. Only after his nomination as Mother’s successor, does he gain the gift of not ageing and starts to acquire destructive and manipulative qualities. Jacob finally gets to cause his own brother’s death, even though they were told that they couldn’t hurt each other. It is possible that MIB was just unconscious when he went down the stream, but I’m quite sure I saw him hit his head on a rock after Jacob threw him in the water. In any case, even if he didn’t actually kill his brother, Jacob “stole his body and took his humanity”, when he “fed” him to the Smoke Monster. Outside the Island we can see Jacob interact with the Losties, drastically changing their lives, most of the times to the worst (for example he indirectly caused Nadia’s death). He has become manipulative as Mother was, and as we can see is behind everything bad that happens to the Losties and ultimately causes their coming to the Island. That is proven by the fact that their lives are much better and happier when the whole Jacob-Island thing is gone. He may claim to profess free will, but in the end he is the one pulling the strings.
Now let’s get to the curious case of the MIB: After “Across the Sea” I believe that we can no longer associate this man with Smokie, as we cannot associate John Locke with Flocke. They are both dead in reality and Smokie seems to have somehow captured their soul and copied their appearance, since we can definitely discern traits of their character displayed in the manifestations of the Smoke Monster (“I just want to go home”, “don’t tell me what I can’t do”).
Now about the original MIB: he came to the world unexpectedly, his mother didn’t even give him a name, and we do not know if he finally had one. He was the outsider literally and metaphorically, and he always knew he “did not belong there”. And that’s why he was “special”. He was always curious and had a lot of questions as a normal child would do. He was much cleverer than Jacob and more intuitive. He could even lie his way out of trouble. But in the same time the MIB really loved his brother; he wanted to enlighten him, to protect him, to take him away with him, away from this liar who killed their real mother and away from their heavenly prison. He never stood against Jacob even when he was being beaten up and he even went to his death without much resistance. The MIB also seems to be able to distinguish right and wrong, as he can see how corrupt his people are. His only bad action throughout the show is the murder of Mother, which is surely is the ultimate sin, but as already stated was foreseen and caused by her actions. After he was taken over by Smokie, we can in no case identify the MIB with his physical manifestation, since he is already dead. And as we know in LOST “dead is dead”. Consequently, all his actions after the emergence of Smokie cannot be registered to the MIB, but are simply the actions of the incarnate evil or whatever the Smoke Monster is.
To sum up it seems that neither Jacob nor the MIB are 100% good or evil, and so they cannot be personifications of good and evil respectively as some of us formerly thought (their association with white and black colors seems to be a red herring). But they seem to have been cast the roles of the two antagonists, with Jacob acting as the protector and the MIB’s soul as the unwilling and unaware keeper of the Monster/evil.
Last but not least The Losties: As Mother said to Jacob he “must protect the Island as long as he can and then find his replacement”. Here come the Losties, the candidates, the replacements. After “The Lighthouse” and “The Candidate” we can deduce that Jack will have to act as Jacob’s replacement. He will be the variable to change the Valenzetti equation and save the world from doomsday. (Is it a coincidence that Jack was the only candidate whose Oceanic 815 seat number was the same as the one on the cave and lighthouse – 23?). In order to beat the Monster and win the war, Jack will have to use Desmond’s unique powers. As we know Desmond is the only Lostie immune to the electromagnetic power, from which as I believe the Smoke Monster is built, so he will be the one who can neutralize it. That’s the reason why Flocke had Sayid kill him: he couldn’t do it himself, even if Desmond wasn’t a Candidate and thus protected by the rules that forbid him to kill Jacobs’s replacements.
That’s all for the moment! Sorry if anything has already been covered elsewhere. I’m waiting for your thoughts/comments!