Longer Con by WheresWalt

First off, hats off to Darlton on Across The Sea. Without a doubt the most revealing episode thus far. I know alot of folks out there aren't happy with some of the answers, but in my opinion they gave us just enough to keep these theory boards flowing. Onto the theory..

Ok so, we've assumed now since the end of Season 5 that the struggle or "end game" would be between MIB and Jacob, although it would played out through our Losties.This I believe is still somewhat true, however I believe the game is not between Jacob and MIB, because MIB doesnt exist, not as the man we've seen speaking to Jacob. Since the moment Jacob killed him he's been dead. Instead he is a manifestation of the Smoke Monster. So, essentially the game would be played by Jacob and Smokey, as I think Smokey is its own entity.

Now we have our players, now enter our game pieces. If we can picture Lost as real life version of game with a board and with "pieces", then we can say the Island is the board and any character we've seen on the Island would then be a piece. So, like with many of the games that are referenced in Lost(i.e. Chess, Backgammon, Go, etc..) we can also say that the pieces vary greatly on importance, roll and ability ( such as different movement capabilities by chess pieces). So whenever somebody comes to the Island they have a chance at being a player for either side, depending on there choices from that point, although some of these choices can be influenced, some cannot.

Start when Jacob drinks the wine with his mother and accepts the responsibility of protecting the Island as her replacement. This makes the mother vulnerable and able to be killed because Jacob has already replaced her by drinking the wine. Meanwhile we have a purge killing everyone else on the Island except MIB. Now, MIB kills his mother ending her roll in the game, but more importantly created a virtual reset of the game. We will see this happen over and over as people are brought to the Island. So now we have just 2 players in the game, Smokey and Jacob. MIB no longer exists except for his memories and soul which are owned by Smokey. So when Jacob sees what he thinks is his brother, it is not. Smokey is using the manifestation of his brother to communicate with Jacob because he is the only person Jacob knows and would recognize. This will happen over and over as people come to the Island and corrupt and all that good stuff, and eventually kill each other off, which leaves them with no winner just back to where they started, with 2 players 1 black 1 white. Now we must believe that Jacob is protecting the good that exists in everybody and that Smokey represents all the bad. Although we have to question Jacob after seeing his violent behavior, and cant help but feel sorry for MIB being lied to and betrayed. But anyways the good/evil plot is pretty blatent.

This scenario will occur up until the time of the Black Rocks arrival, where the game will change. Up until that time Jacob was bringing players to the game and then just letting them "play" without his influence. This always resulted in a draw which would always leave a balance between good and evil. This was shown in MIB being born unexpectedly, as the real mother hadn't planned on twins, and the fake mother wanted to have just 1 child as her replacement, but both must exist for the game to continue. So after Jacob realizes that if he doesnt intervene that MIB will, he changes the game. The way he does that is by giving Richard the wine and thus making him his replacement. This was Jacobs long con. Richard was known as an advisor which in turn gave him protection, plus no one other than Jacob, including Richard, knew that he already was Jacobs replacement. I believe this event starts our end game. Eventually more and more players will be added as both of our true "players" (Smokey/Jacob) will be working on long elaborate plots to prove the other wrong and win the "game". The lists we've seen were all the players and most of the major moves have already been made, we just didn't realize it.

So where we're at now Smokey is thinking that his plan to kill Jacob is working, that all he needs to do is get the remaining players to kill each other and he will win. However, Jacob has other things in mind. With no one aware that Richard already replaced Jacob, he will not be a target of Smokey, which will keep him safe and thus somewhat spoil Smokeys plan. On the other hand, Ben may be a wild card for Smokey. I think the end result can only happen one way...another draw. I know it seems anticlamitic but it seems fitting. Neither side can win, a world without a balance of good/evil, life/death, faith/science just wouldn't last long. I think the light/dark represents more than just good/evil but all the differences good and bad that make humanity exist and progress on a whole. Desmond will in a sense create another reset, except this time there will be a new protector of the island, only this time whether it be Richard, Desmond or Jack, or even someone else, they will have the experience of Life, which Jacob never had, so they wont have the need to play the game.

Well, I think all the pieces are in play for whats sure to be an epic battle. Thanks to anyone who took the time to read this and look forward to any feedback.