Who STOLE the Light? by Will has four toes

At first this post was going to be about how the mother was a smoke monster and how MIB is the true protector. Since I waited too long and many people have already brought that up, I'm going with a theory that's a little more against the grain. It seems that most people are content with the idea that the light is being protected from man, but what if it was at some point stolen from man, and the Losties need to free the light, not be the one chosen to protect it.

Since the beginning of history, there have been conquerors that obsessed with finding limitless power. Seemingly this light can grant both. If someone did succeed in stealing a portion of this light from mankind, it makes sense that somebody who has done the ultimate selfishness act, would look to isolate themselves as much as possible (say on an island) to minimize the risk of loosing the light. Now what if the light, while unable to free itself, was able to curse the person who stole it - ya know the whole can't leave the island, being a soulless smoke monster. In short damnation.

It seems clear that these smoke monsters need a successor. I think that mother making a point that Kid In Black can lie is very important for some reason. That ability to lie is crucial to finding a successor - the ability to tailor lies in ways that would make the position seem desirable to specific candidates. Perhaps when someone becomes the smoke monster there are two possible outcomes. 1)free yourself by tempting/tricking someone into replacing you (progress) or 2)after a certain number of years, if a replacement is not tempted/tricked into accepting, the damnation becomes permanent, and the light is able to free itself (it only ends once).

I'm starting to believe that the "alt reality" where characters' lives are seemingly better, is the end game. I think the stolen light was taken from our Losties' bloodlines leaving their inner scales tipped to black. If the light was released, thus balancing their scales, this would account for the positive changes in their lives.

I know many of my details are reaching a bit, but I'm fairly confident in the general idea of releasing, not protecting the light. We clearly saw that island underwater, and I think that was supposed to indicate that the light is no longer contained there.

All this said, I honestly prefer the theories I've read that have the final scene as Jack and Locke or Jack and Sawyer sitting on a log having just become the new Jacob and MIB.