LOST: Who is Jakob?
Interesting Article Courtesy of The Tail Section —
Perhaps the biggest question raised in the entirety of Lost’s third season is who, or what, Jacob is. Ever since he sort of appeared in “The Man Behind the Curtain,” creating one of the creepiest moments in Lost’s history, fans have been circulating theories about his true identity. Some of the theories seem rather plausible while others seem really out there, and now it’s time to dig through them all and decide which is most likely to be true.
Jacob is Vincent: I definitely throw this one in the “out there” pile, but some people are convinced that Vincent must be tied in to Lost mythology in some major way. The theory that Vincent is a manifestation of Jacob came about due to a painting of a dog inside Jacob’s cabin, coupled with the fact that Vincent disappears a lot and knows his way around the island pretty well. I’m in the camp who thinks that Vincent is just a normal dog and nothing more, so I consider this idea to be bogus.
Jacob is an older version of Locke: Now, this idea is a little bit more down to earth, though I still don’t buy it. If there truly are wacky time abnormalities happening on the island, it is possible that Jacob could be Future Locke. Locke does have a special connection to the island, and has made it known that he has no plans to leave in the event of a rescue. However, it seems hard to back this theory up with the evidence we have so far. All I know is that the Jacob we caught a glimpse of had a lot more hair than Locke currently does, and therefore I rule him out. If someone makes Locke a fancy toupee in the near future I’ll reconsider.
Jacob is Christian Shephard: In The Bible it states that Jacob was the first person to be called “shepherd” by God. Considering that Christian is a Shephard, and he was missing from his coffin back in season one, could he really be Jacob? The only way this would be possible is if the island resurrected Jack’s dad from the dead, which is something I doubt could happen, no matter how many close calls Mikhail came back from.
Jacob is Alvar Hanso: Could Jacob be the man who founded the Hanso Foundation and funded the DHARMA Initiative? If so, we have to throw out what we learned from The Lost Experience, which placed Hanso in Norway back in September of 2006. Plus the Others are enemies with DHARMA, so why would they be worshipping Hanso? The timeline problem can possibly be explained away with time travel theories, but I still see no reason why people like Ben and Mikhail would consider Alvar Hanso “magnificent.”
Jacob is Enzo Valenzetti: Valenzetti is a character who played a big role in The Lost Experience. He’s a mathematician responsible for creating an equation involving Hurley’s cursed numbers, and therefore rather important to the Lost mythology. He was thought to have died in a plane crash in Europe, but a body was never recovered.
Is it possible that Valenzetti faked his death and went to live on the island? Definitely. However, considering that his research sparked the creation of the DHARMA Initiative, I can again see no reason for the Others to worship him. It’s too bad, because I like the idea of the man behind the numbers playing a bigger role in the course of the series, but I just don’t see it being him.
Jacob is Jack Shephard: As we learned in everyone’s favorite Lost episode “Stranger in a Strange Land,” Jack’s tattoo means “He walks among us, but he is not one of us.” There’s also the fact that Jack wasn’t on Jacob’s list of castaways to snag. Could that be because they’re one and the same? Throw in Jack’s realization that he was never supposed to leave the island, mix it with some time travel, and Jack could easily be the man behind the curtain.
Though I know there’s plenty to contradict it, I can actually buy this idea. Jack’s need to return to the island could be because a part of him is stuck there in time. The fact that the Others don’t recognize Jack as Jacob makes perfect sense, since Ben claims to be the only one who knows Jacob. And Ben does, in some strange way, look up to Jack. I’m keeping this one in my file of possibilities.
Jacob is Smokey The Monster: The idea that Jacob and Smokey are one and the same is an interesting one. Could the monster be taking the form of a man and tricking Ben into believing he exists? Maybe this is the same thing that’s also taken the form of Eko’s brother, Jack’s dad, Walt, and Ben’s mom. Since we already seem to know that Smokey can take the form of other individuals, I also think this is a strong possibility.
Jacob is a projection from Ben’s mind: When Ben first took Locke to see Jacob, I was positive it was going to be revealed that Ben was loony and Jacob was only in his head. It turns out that wasn’t the case…or was it?
We already suspect that Walt has mind powers, and we know that the Others find Walt to be extremely special. Could Ben be so interested in Walt because he has the same powers? Ben is also the only one who knows Jacob, which leads me to believe that maybe Jacob only appears when Ben is around. It’s quite possible that he could be a manifestation brought on by Ben’s brain power, and that Ben is the real man behind the curtain.
Jacob is just Jacob: What if Jacob isn’t anyone we already know, but entirely his own person and a new character in the Lost mythology? Some people believe that Jacob was a boy with mind powers who was experimented on by the DHARMA Initiative. When the experiments went wrong, Jacob lost corporeal form and became one with the island. His form appeared to age, but his mind and his powers were forever linked to the rest of the island.
