The true candidate by Waldronite

So we learned in What They Died For that Jacob brought his candidates to the island because he was looking for a replacement. These would be people who were unhappy in their off-island lives. People who would welcome the chance to start fresh. Also, in contrast to what happened to him, he wanted his successor to be someone who would CHOOSE to take on this role voluntarily.

It is clear from listening to Jacob's criteria for choosing candidates that there was only ever one man who fit that description - and it was not Jack. No, the man that should have been Jacob's replacement all along was John Locke.

I hope that this point is obvious enough that it does not have to be argued at great length. John Locke was a man who not only had nothing left to live for in the real world, but was positively searching for a new meaning in his life. He insisted from the beginning that they were all there for a reason and would have been willing, more than any of the other candidates, to dedicate himself to the cause of protecting the island.

I, like many viewers, was sad when the writers killed off Locke. However, knowing what we know now, I am even more vexed. Little did we know back in season 5 that when Ben strangled Locke, he was depriving him of the opportunity to fulfil his true destiny.

It is for this reason that I believe that one of the twists in the finale will be the return of John Locke. The REAL John Locke. I have no idea how this is going to happen, but I believe it must happen in order for the series as a whole to give the character of Locke a proper resolution.

I refuse to believe that the writers spent 4 seasons building the character of John Locke just to give his character such a poor ending - especially in light of what we know now. The only satisfying resolution to the character will be for Locke to achieve, one way or another, the destiny that was his since the crash of 815.