Uncharted Island

“God loves you as he loved Jacob.”

That was one of the frames on the screen Karl was forced to watch in Room 23.

Jacob also had a list, and Jack was not on it. There has been much speculation about Jacob since he was first mentioned on LOST. There was speculation about him even before his name was first mentioned… more correctly, speculation about Him.

Did “The Man Behind the Curtain” really give us answers about Jacob?

Some people seem to think that everything witnessed in Jacob’s cabin was more of Ben’s smoke and mirrors, possibly assisted by Richard or someone else, since Ben made a big point of telling everyone where they were going. I’ll admit that I thought Ben was more than a little bit crazy talk to an empty chair for a while. But when Locke heard the voice, I did believe it to be Jacob’s voice. The fans who managed to grab a screencap of Jacob’s profile helped confirm that in my mind. I tried not to blink during the scene, but I certainly never saw Jacob in the chair until I signed on to read the fan forums.

So who - or what - is Jacob?

Some people believe that Jacob is a ghost or a spirit. The dust on the ground that Locke had stopped to check out may have been ash used as a binding circle to keep the ghost inside. I’m not sure I hold with this theory. My first thought was that the dust was powder from the dynamite that Danielle was swiping from the Black Rock. Ben could’ve been taking it as well. But I won’t completely count this out as a possibility. After all, Jacob was invisible to Locke and to us for all but a fraction of a second. Without TiVo, I don’t think any of us would’ve known he was there at all.

But does that hold with the interviews given by Damon and Carlton saying that the show would remain grounded in science and pseudoscience?

Ben’s original bit about how no one else had ever seen or spoken to Jacob did make him sound like his imaginary friend, but it became apparent that Jacob only reveals himself to those he chooses. How does he do this? He appears invisible somehow. Is this because he does not have substantial corporeal form, or because he is able to bend the light around himself so you can’t see him even if you’re looking right at him? He “speaks” to people telepathically. Is this a choice, or does he not have an audible voice? When Locke “heard” Jacob, I was reminded of reading the character of Death in Neil Gaiman’s books, where there aren’t any quotation marks to denote speech. He would’ve said HELP ME to Locke… in capital letters, denoting a voice that comes from everywhere and nowhere.

Whatever he is, it’s possible that Jacob is Ben’s prisoner. Perhaps that ash line really does confine him to the spooky hermit shack. Is that why he said HELP ME to Locke? Or was it, as I’ve seen suggested, an interrupted thought, such as HELP ME GET RID OF THIS ANNOYING LITTLE GNAT?

That line of dust does seem to me like it should have some significance, but it really opposes my own personal concept of Jacob. My first thought, which I admit is hard to shake, is that Jacob is what we’ve been referring to as Smokey. If the dust or ash keeps Jacob confined, then he cannot be Smokey. But I’m going to ignore the dust for now, and explain my line of thinking.

The way Ben first described Him when he was a prisoner in the Swan hatch made Him sound like a great and terrible man. Unforgiving. Harsh. The Others certainly seemed intimidated by Jacob even though they’d never met him. And what do we know about Smokey? We don’t know what Smokey physically is, but great and terrible certainly seems to fit the bill. It seems to have a consciousness. It came face to face with Locke, killed Mr. Eko, threatened Kate and Juliet… among many other incidents. I hate to take a comic book approach, but maybe Jacob was a man who came to draw too much of the island’s mysterious power, and now he can take on the form of this shape-shifting smoke creature. Or - and this could accommodate for the binding circle that keeps Jacob in - Smokey answers to Jacob, like a familiar, and serves as Jacob’s scout and servant while he is imprisoned.

Much more discussion is sure to come, as more fans come together to brainstorm, and more secrets are revealed.