Why jacob's Brother is the One who will save Them All by Laurelnev

Here is why I think Jacob's Brother is a good guy, and why I think he may be the one who saves them all.

Island Mom is kidnapped by Old Guardian long before Claudia and company ever washed ashore. Mom was raised on the Island, raised to believe that there truly was nothing across the sea. She watched as Old Guardian tracked and killed every man that somehow washed ashore on the Island. When Mother starts growing into a woman herself, Old Guardian brings Mother to the Tunnel/Waterfall of Light and shares their purpose for existing and all of the Island's secrets. Old Guardian is only semi-immortal. She may die, but only if certain conditions are met first. Old Guardian must wait for another group to wash ashore before she can officially pass the torch on to the next generation. And she must somehow manipulate those "others" to kill her. As Guardian, not only must she recruit her own replacement; additionally, she may not take herself out of the game. She must expire at the hands of another.

This cycle repeats when Island Mom kidnaps Alison J Mom (hereby to be referred to as Ali Mom.) When Ali mom reaches womanhood, Island Mom may pass down the secrets, and when the time is right, may manipulate others into letting her pass the torch. Ali Mom sees Island Mom killed by "men from the other side of the Island," and believes all the lies Island Mom passed down to her, that all men are bad, and they only destroy and corrupt. Ali Mom assumes the role of Protector of the Light for too many years. Then, Pregnant Claudia washes ashore. As legend has portended, Ali Mom's Replacement has finally arrived.

Ali Mom delivers the baby, only it's a boy. Ali Mom is disappointed because, as far as she knows, there have only been Mother Guardians, and all men are bad. Things momentarily look up--there's a twin. The optimism's short lived though, as it's another boy. The unwanted, unexpected child. Claudia had only one name picked out. Despite the fact there were two boys, Ali Mom saw her relief. She killed the mama and took the babies for her own, just as she had been raised to do.

Ali Mom raised Jacob and Bro (what I'm calling the unnamed brother) just as she had been raised--to blindly accept their role and their lot. They existed only to protect the light, and there was nothing important in the world beyond that. Nothing important existed across the sea. Only one son refused to blindly follow. Like Pandora, Bro was gifted with inquisitiveness and curiosity. Bro questioned that the Island was all there was. He craved a life outside the Island, and he was sure one existed. And although "the light" was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen, he questioned the importance of guarding it as he grew older.

He left his sheltered life to join the Others, and to try to see what else existed outside of his brother and his "mother". He learned the others were his people, and like him, they came from some place that lay across the sea. He went to live amongst them, learning that his mother was right about at least one thing. The men DID fight, corrupt, and destroy. But perhaps he could use them to find his true home, something the island had never seemed to be.

Meanwhile, Jacob stayed with Ali Mom and became the epitome of the "good child". He did not fight, corrupt, or destroy, with one notable exception. He DID fight with his brother, like typical siblings do. Jacob, the named one, felt like his place was with his Mother. He preferred to be the voyeur, watching from afar. He had no desire to live amongst the others, yet he couldn't fathom why they were inherently bad. watching from above, they looked pretty cool to Jacob.

Fast forward a couple of decades, and Bro thinks he's finally found a way to leave the Island. Except it involves finding and harnessing the light. Only doing so involves showing the light to the others, letting them know it exists. This pisses off Ali Mom to no end. After all, she is the Great Protector of the Light. She destroys all of the others and everything Bro has spent 30 years building in one fell swoop. At the same time, Ali Mom sees her opportunity to pass the torch.

Bro has always played the role of protective Big Bro to Jacob, even during those years they lived apart. But any time Bro has disappointed either Mom or Jacob, Jacob has reacted with violence. Bro just kind of sits back and takes it. Mom knows that after destroying Bro's life's work, hopes, and dreams, he will be angry enough to finally strike back. But she's raised him so that he'd never directly hurt Jacob.

So Ali Mom manipulates Bro into killing her. What she didn't foresee is that Jacob would be violent enough to throw Bro into the light. She figured she'd pass the protection tiara down to Jacob, and Bro, in turn, would always protect Jacob.

When Jacob committed fratricide, maybe he also failed at the task he was raised to fulfill. The light apparently went out after the smoke emerged from the tunnel, ejecting Bro's human form along the way. Well, maybe at that point, Jacob changed his responsibility. He somehow split the light into black smoke and electromagnetic energy. To fulfill his responsibilities, he had to somehow reunite that black smoke and EM energy. And the first step in achieving that involved finding a replacement for Bro as a conduit for that black smoke. Jacob has spent the rest of his years trying to find candidates to replace his brother as a conduit for that smoke--the thing worse than death Ali Mom warned him about.

Let's assume Bro knows all of this, and he doesn't want someone condemned to the life to which he was condemned by Jacob. And since Jacob damned Bro to begin with, Bro knows Jacob will not rest until he assuages his guilt for Bro's death. And Bro knows he cannot reclaim his human form until Jacob finds someone to replace him, only Bro does not want to condemn anyone to his fate. And he knows as long as Jacob is alive, Jacob will not allow a candidate to replace Bro, because as soon as he does, Bro books across the sea to find the home he has always sought.

So here's where the long con comes in. Bro knows he has to convince Jacob a candidate is at hand, and when Jacob starts putting the pieces in place to replace Bro, he can kill Jacob. Once a replacement is at the ready, the current guardian can by killed at the hand of an other. Then, Bro has to ensure those pieces don't get put into place, or else he will be condemning his replacement to his hellacious existence. So he has to gather the replacements together and off them before they can assume his place, if only for their own protection.

Desmond is special because of his resistance, even immunity to EM. Desmond's resistance will allow him to reunite the smoke with the EM, without having to have anyone take Bro's place. But because he is the one to reignite the light, he must become its Guardian, and this is the sacrifice that the island demands.

Bro thinks protecting the light is all a part of the lie that Ali Mom told him. He is willing to sacrifice the light if it frees anyone from having to spend an eternity serving it. He thinks he can break the cycle, regain his human form (or at least die), and then finally leave the island. His ultimate goal is to save anyone from having to lead the life of HIS family.

After all, Island Mom's last words were "Thank You" after she had been stabbed by Bro. What if Bro is doing what is best for them all?