Jacob's long con by Eric Knows it All

I don't believe that Jacob is really dead.

Jacob wants to leave his post as "island protector" but I don't think dying was his way out.

I'm not sure how all the details of this theory work out but here is what I think..... (this theory has some similarities to other LOST theories but there are some major aspects of this theory that are unique - as far as I know). I'm not even sure I believe this theory but hey... it's fun to ponder these things.

I believe that Jacob is pulling a long con, a very long looooong con. Jacob has tricked the MIB into thinking that the MIB killed Jacob via Ben (the loophole). However, I believe Ben killed a ALT version of Jacob that was created via time travel and the sideways realities. Jacob wanted the MIB to kill the ALT version of himself, after all he wanted off the island entirely (not just in one reality). And Jacob couldn't have multiple versions of himself living elsewhere (have you ever seen the Prestige?). Therefore the ALT version of Jacob needed to die in the foot of the statue and somebody other than the MIB needed to do the deed.

Jacob has been off the island many times but he still had his responsibility on the island therefore these trips off the island to recruit and manipulate the candidates were not what Jacob was truly seeking. Jacob wanted a fresh start, a clean slate (a Tabula Rasa).

So how did Jacob accomplish getting a fresh new life off the island?

The answer takes us all the way back to the Pilot episode pt. 2. After the plane crash Claire hadn't felt her baby move in a long time, Claire tells Shannon... "I haven't felt the baby move since yesterday". What we don't know is that tragically Claire's baby has died inside the womb. Jacob claims Aaron's body and leaps in Clarie's belly, Claire feels her baby move once again. Jacob moves in Claires womb the moment that Gin feeds her fish (Jacob likes fish, just ask the MIB). The scene where Clarie's baby moves is also directly after the most famous scene of all, where Locke explains to Walt about there being two sides "one dark, and one white". Therefore, at that point of the show the long con has just begun and both sides have been introduced.

Jacob manipulated the psychic that Claire visited in Australia to convince Claire to board flight 815 thereby giving Jacob what he needed (a baby boy body to claim). Jacob also manipulated all the rest of our losties to get them to fill the roles he needed filling to pull off his long con.

Jacob also needed his new body to be able to withstand the effects of the electromagnetism on the island which is why he had Claire abducted by Ethan and "the others" and treated with medication, the same medication that allows Desmond to remain healthy. Or possibly "the others" are actually unknowingly working against Jacob's plan and were trying to keep him on the island by removing him from Claire's womb but that plan was foiled when Claire escaped with the help of Rousseau.

Either way, Jacob/Aaron made his way off the island with the help of the Oceanic 6 and is now living a fresh new life off the island being raised by Claire's mother.

The MIB thinks he killed Jacob. Yet in reality he only killed a ALT version of Jacob and even that killing was by Jacob's design.

So now all we need is Jacob's replacement which is looking more and more like Jack even though Desmond has been fulfilling some of Jacob's duties as of late.

Jacob's long con will be complete once his replacement fully realizes and accepts his role as the island protector and the guy who keeps evil (the smoke monster) from leaving the island.

Unkown's....
- Why is there 3 Lockes? (Smokie, the dead and buried Locke, and the ALT Locke)
- What will happen with the non-ALT, off island, reality? Which is where Aaron/Jacob reside? That's the same place that Walt and baby Ji Yeon Kwon reside.
- Was Locke smokie all along? Or was smokie Vincent all along? Or maybe both? (at times)
- How did all of this start in the first place? Was it a time travel experiment gone horribly wrong?
- Will all of our losties (except Jack) need to die on the island? Therefore will Jack in the ALT need to die?
- Will one of those deaths be Kate killing Sawyer? A dying Sawyer asked Kate in Season 2 "why did you kill me?"
- What does Widmore want with the island?
- What happens with Richard? Does he stay on as Jack's "adviser"?
- How do the mirror's in the lighthouse fit into all of this?
- Who are "Adam and Eve"?
- Cabin antics, how did all of that fit in?
- Claire and Sayid, kinda claimed, kinda not??
- Will Jack set things right by "lifting it up"?