Man of Science, Man of Faith by Ahopeformatt

As Eloise Hawking stated, The Island is one of many areas around the world with an extremely powerful pocket of Electromagnetic energy. We know this energy is what crashed Oceanic 815, bringing Jack, Locke, and the whole crew to the island. This same electromagnetic energy is also what drew the Dharma initiative to The Island, helped to create The Incident, and was leaking underneath the Swan station (the hatch) that required the button to be pressed.

This scientific side of the show has always been juxtaposed with a mysterious and supernatural element: embodied in this season by Jacob and The Man In Black, two protegenial “keepers” of the island who seem to be undergoing some sort of epic philosophical battle between the nature of good and evil. Jacob “brings” people to The Island, The Man In Black (MIB) is “trapped” on The Island, and serves as a counterpoint to Jacob’s trust in humanity with the idea that all people are inherently evil and corruptible, embodied by his ability to turn into a pillar of black smoke and either kill people or convince them to betray others and help get him off the island.

This dichotomy was introduced in Season One with the clash of Jack and Locke: Man of Science, Man of Faith. I think this is the central debate and issue of the show. When all is said and done, “good” wins with Jack becoming Jacob and killing the MIB (maybe, I don’t know), we will be left with two interpretations of the show to choose from.

Man of Faith: Jacob brought everyone to the island in order to prove the MIB wrong about his pessimism. MIB embodies evil incarnate, and he must not be allowed to leave the island, or else the entire planet would descend into chaos. He even described the Island as a cork in a wine bottle, keeping evil trapped inside. Yet, after Jacob’s death, different candidates were required to come to the island to replace him so as to keep evil on the island and in effect, save the world. Therefore, every mysterious event on the island is caused by either Jacob or The Man In Black: bombs not exploding, planes crashing, hallucinations, and time travel. The final battle will be over good versus evil, and the Candidates, or the remaining survivors of 815, fulfilling their destinies of why they were brought to The Island- something John Locke had been saying all along.

Man of Science: Jack, on the other hand, was always in direct opposition to Locke. This was in fact the central conflict of the first 3 seasons of LOST. While Locke said everything was happening for a reason, and that The Island was guiding them to their written fates, Jack was the proponent of free will, stating there was nothing mysterious guiding them to their destinies. We however eventually come to discover the island’s powerful electromagnetic energy, which interestingly sounds a lot like Jacob and the MIB. When Desmond fails to push the button and release a spurt of Electromagnetic energy, Flight 815 crashes onto the island. This electromagnetic energy, monitored by the Dharma Initiative, was controlled like wine in a wine bottle- and the Swan station was like the cork keeping the energy in. Different candidates were chosen by the Dharma Initiative to monitor this button, as were the button not pressed, the electromagnetic energy would escape to the outside world. Like the MIB, this energy was repeatedly described by Dharma, Kelvin, and Desmond as powerful and unable to leave the island. They were “saving the world” by pressing the button and trapping the MIB…er electromagnetism. This powerful force of nature also can account for strange things happening on the island such as bombs not exploding, planes crashing, hallucinations, and time travel. By finally destroying the island, sinking it, the electromagnetism will disappear, and the world will continue on without it’s powerful impact, albeit creating am alternate universe where Jacob never existe…er, the electromagnetism never existed.

Now again, this does not tie up every loose end on the show. However, I think it could be the way the producers want the ending to be interpreted- the debates between Men of faith and Women of science will still continue after the show. How could electromagnetism have stopped Michael’s gun from firing when he tried to kill himself off island before he came back in Season 4? A simple coincidence and jammed gun, perhaps. Would the bomb in the sub have gone off if they did nothing? Old Locke would have said no, that Jacob would have protected them, and Old Jack would have said yes, and tried in vain to stop it (whoah-a character arc! Imagine that!) But who knows? I think the beauty of this show will be that dialogue that continues after the shows end, and cause us to think rather than watch a bunch of middle aged women desperately try to take the milkman to bed. God, no more desperate middle aged women, please.