Jacob & Esau, Part 2

Adding to Urban's interesting post, let me further dissect the relationship between Jacob and Esau, and perhaps their motives too. Urban already wrote about Esau inhabiting those who've already died in order to influence the events on the island. Christian Shephard, the first dead body to arrive from flight 815, was used to lead Jack to fresh water and the caves. The reason behind it might be as simple as keeping the Lostie's alive after the crash so that they may be manipulated later. Christian later showed up in the Cabin, Donkey Wheel room, and briefly on the freighter. If we still believe that Christian has always been Esau, then the freighter appearance is a no brainer. Not wanting more people to come to the island and fight/corrupt/destroy, he tricked Michael into blowing it all to hell. It seemed every other appearance of Christian was used solely to trick Locke (EXCEPT one other appearance, which will be covered later).




The next obvious link comes in the form of Ben's hot but dead daughter, Alex. Appearing as Smokey, Alex scares Ben into doing everything John Locke orders him to do. Why? Because Newly Reanimated Locke (or Esau being another dead body from the island) would order Ben to kill Jacob. You can then theorize that Smokey has always been Esau. What is Smokey? It's always been described as a security system, something that is used to keep people out, which is a concept Esau strongly supports. Smokey has also appeared in the form of Yemi, right before Eko gets the Soul-Glo beaten out of him. What could explain that? Eko, after a lifetime of war, murder, pillaging, shows up on the island a changed person who shows repentance for what he's done. At first he's spared by Esau. Maybe Eko is a good one after all? Wrong. Their next meeting, Eko says he doesn't regret anything and did what he had to do. Verdict? A stone cold stunner via Esau.

You now have to question every "ghost" sighting in L O S T, both on the island and off the island. Ben saw his Mom on the island, which Urban already pointed out, leading to the Purge of Dharma Initiative. The ghosts off of the Island (Christian at Jack's hospital, Ana Lucia, Libby, and Charlie visiting Hurley) all had the purpose of telling the Losties to get back to the island, whereas the on-island ghosts had manipulation up their sleeve, usually leading to the deaths of the island's inhabitants. What can made of it? Well, it seems that Jacob can inhabit bodies of the dead just like Esau, but they both hold this talent in different places. Jacob has been the ghosts off the island, trying to get the Losties to return. Esau, the ghosts on the island. You get the sense that this is one great game between the two.



Jacob has the power to bring people to the island, to select those who are worthy. He wants people to live there in harmony, and believes that the right people can live on the island without resorting to war, corruption, etc. (Rose and Gandalf are proof of this. Jacob cured her cancer because she was a chosen one who could live in harmony with the island). Esau is a dick who thinks people are going to wreck everything, so it's best not to have any of them. So...their epic game, far greater than Ben vs. Widmore and their "rules" over the fight for the island, goes something like this. Jacob selects who he wants to come to the island, but once they get on the island, he cannot interfere with what they do. He must take his naps underneath the Egyptian foot and let the chips fall where they may. Esau's role, it seems, is to let Jacob try and bring his best to the island. He cannot travel abroad. He can't bring people to the island, but for those who come, he can interfere all he likes. Sound a bit like God and Satan??? Through Smokey and Ghosties, he manipulates the events to prove that everyone resorts to corruption and then he kills them. And now a few puzzlers to leave you with:

What about Walt? Can his appearance to Locke after his gutshot be explained by Esau/Jacob? Walt's not dead, so it wasn't a ghost. But then again Walt is very special, and perhaps has some biblical powers of his own? Who knows.

The Loophole: Esau couldn't kill Jacob, so what was the loophole to do him in? Did someone else have to do it, or was Ben "special" all along. If Esau is Smokey, and Smokey's lair is the bowels of the temple, don't you find it interesting that the one place Richard could take Baby Ben to save him from his gunshot wound, the place that would change him forever, was the temple? Did Esau save Ben? Did he give him some gift that allowed Ben to stab Jacob? Though Ben blindly followed Jacob, it seems he's been linked more often than not to Esau. It was Ben who killed Locke and told Jack to take Locke's body from the funeral parlor, the body that would eventually come back to the island, allowing Esau to take over in ghost form.

Any other dead characters who have reappeared? Tom, aka Mr. Friendly, encountered Michael in New York, urging him to get on board the freighter in order to sabotage it. Was Tom really just a ghost, having already been killed by Sawyer? Everyone explained his appearance as a timeline fit after Michael left in 2 but before Tom died in season 3. New York Tom mentioned some strange things, saying that island wouldn't let Michael kill himself, that it wasn't finished with him. Is this the kind of info he was usually briefed on, or was he just dumb muscle? Maybe Esau can leave the island when he wants, but he hates leaving because he loves the island so much. Perhaps the biggest question from this line of thought: Is Esau gay?