The rules by Mike

This is a simple summary of what I believe we can infer now about "the rules."


1. The touch of the Protector imbues eternal health. This immortality is limited; a recipient can still die off of the island. The following facts are consistent with this:

a. recipients Jack and Richard were unable to kill themselves at the Black Rock
b. recipient Sayid survived a fatal gunshot wound and drowning
c. recipients Sayid, Sun, Jin, and Locke all died off the island
d. recipient Kate will, by all indications, survive her gunshot wound now that she is back on the island
e. recipient Richard has lived for hundreds of years
f. MiB apparently wants to kill the candidates, but has not tried to do so directly.


2. The protector can only die at the hands of one he has touched.

a. Jacob's mother died at the hands of MiB.
b. Jacob died at the hands of recipient Ben.
c. MiB chose Ben, the character erstwhile believed closest to Jacob (apart from Richard), to kill him.
d. (circumstantially) Jacob's mother was a ready killer.


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and now, if you will indulge me some related speculation:

1. Jacob had NOT touched Ben until Ben killed him. This implies to me that (a) MiB believed mistakenly that Ben was an immortal and (b) Jacob intentionally fell forward onto Ben, touching him, because he wished to die. The fact that Jacob provoked Ben with his last words is consistent with this.

2. Ben and Widmore may have been masquerading as immortals, or Widmore may in fact be an immortal. Ben led many to believe that he had had direct contact with Jacob before he was actually touched. The "rules" between Ben and Widmore may be a pact to respect Jacob's gift and not engage each other off the island.

3. Locke's ability to walk is a direct result of this eternal health from Jacob's touch.

4. The touch does not imply candidacy. There have been candidates that Jacob did not touch (i.e. Horus, Faraday, Claire, Rousseau, etc) and there have been recipients that were not candidates (i.e. Richard, one of the Kwons). It follows that, whether Kate and Ben are still candidates or not, they are immortal.