John Locke: Exposed
+5 21 Votes
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By risebysin
- John Locke: Exposed
- Created: Nov 15, 2007
- Last updated: Aug 14, 2008
- After episode: 1.19: Deus Ex Machina
- Status: Current
- Flag this theory:
John Locke helped Ethan kidnap Charlie & Claire
— risebysin
I can’t say(and I don’t think anyone can) the exact source of John Locke’s information. Perhaps Ben, perhaps dreams, perhaps visions of the future, perhaps the Island…..it could be any of several options we’ve been presented with. Whether intentional or not, John Locke has been convinced that he is destined for greatness. The suggestion that he was immaculately conceived, his newly functioning legs, his amazing ability to heal, the repeated telling of the Others anticipating his arrival, etc….they all go into feed what may be delusions of grandeur. However for the time being it doesn’t matter if he is or isn’t a messianic character…..whether it’s true or not, he believes it to be true, and believes he is on a predestined path. He waits for the island to tell him what to do. In short, he is vulnerable. His mediocre life has forced him to cling desperately to the hope this new life provides. He’s been tugged and pulled in different directions by Cooper & Ben. In short……he is not to be trusted. I can’t explain his motives, and I’m not even sure he was given one. But after watching the first 19 episodes, I think I’ve found out some suspicious things that Locke has been up to. I submit for your consideration:
-John Locke crashes onto the island, discovers he has regained the ability to walk, and proceeds to sit around on his ass for 2 days. -John Locke knocked out Sayid when he was putting up the tranceiver. -Ethan Rom first appears alongside Locke as Locke explains that they’ve been hunting together. -Mysteriously, Ethan Rom carries 2 unconscious bodies, one of which is pregnant, through a jungle. For miles. -When Claire & Charlie are kidnapped Locke & Jack are first on the scene. Locke convinces Jack to double back to the cave and organize people, providing a litany of pretty unconvincing excuses which Jack falls for. -When Locke, Kate, Jack & Boone go off after Charlie & Claire, Locke repeatedly suggests that people return to camp. -At a certain point the trail of Ethan divides into TWO paths. Locke tries to convince Kate & Jack to ignore the trail of white tape that Charlie has left them and to go down the second path(which doesn’t lead to Ethan btw) -Once separated from Kate & Jack, Locke tries to convince Boone to turn back to camp. -Ethan beats up a disoriented concussed Jack. -Charlie is found hanging down the path that Locke steered Jack & Kate away from. -Once back at camp(minus Claire) Locke argues with Jack and convinces him NOT to move everyone to the caves, suggesting that they’d be fish in a barrel. Instead, he convinces Jack to set up a perimeter of watchmen around the Beach camp. -Once Jack agrees, Boone offers to take a post, and Locke replies(after days of convincing Boone that he’s more capable than he is) ‘absolutely Boone. We’re counting on you’. -Boone falls asleep on the job and somehow a Lostie is killed. -Locke convinces everyone that an Other came in from the Ocean and not the jungle. -When Claire returns and agrees to pose as bait for Ethan, Locke convinces Jack to let Charlie not only come, but be armed. Locke wanted a vexed Charlie to silence Ethan. -A non-concussed Jack beats the ever-living tar out of Ethan. Ethan, the man that is supposedly super-human and can carry 350 pounds on his back through a jungle, gets his ass-whooped by a spinal surgeon. -Later on Locke quizzes Claire about her memory, hanging a bit too suspiciously on her response.
In short I propose the following:
John Locke helped Ethan kidnap Claire and Charlie. He helped hang Charlie because Ethan couldn’t carry 2 people on his own, Locke had to put Charlie somewhere and go back. He helped distract and delay the search parties long enough for Ethan to get away. Locke positioned Boone to fail at being a watchman. Locke killed a Lostie from the inside. Locke, for a reason that is unknown to us at this point, was/is working with the Others. His vulnerability and naivety is undeniable. For whatever reason, Locke did it. He hears a voice in his head and believes that the Island is speaking to him. He also believes that if he doesn’t do the island’s bidding that he will return to his previous crippled state. Locke OWES the voice. Locke is a slave to the voice. John Locke is capable of anything and everything.
Re-watch the first 19 episodes and tell me I’m wrong. Expect a Locke flashback exposing his role in these events.
I originally was going to add that I believed Locke led Boone to his demise. After re-watching Deus Ex Machina, I’m forced to conclude the opposite. Locke trusted his father and lost a piece of himself, and perhaps more importantly, lost his faith. Similarily, Locke trusted the ‘voice’, and it took a piece of him, Boone, and more importantly, faith. The parallel being drawn in the episode is painfully obvious, especially in the final moments when Locke is pounding on the hatch door in gut-wrenching fashion, questioning how it could’ve happened the way it did. With all that said, his legs did regain their strength, proving that even in painful moments he’s still a slave to the voice’s commands.
Key characters
| Short Name | Full Name | Episodes | Theories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boone | Boone Carlyle | 1.13 | 173 |
Key events
| Theme | Relevant Episodes | Theories |
|---|---|---|
| Claire is captured | 2.15 | 153 |
| Locke Can Walk | 299 |
Wow, Rise! These are brilliant observations about Locke! I happen to think that you are 100% correct! You certainly connected all the dots!
I have been very suspicious of John from the beginning. I know we are being shown his apparent goodness at times, but I seriously believe that he possesses knowledge, and is using it to further his own selfish purposes! Yes, he is being massively manipulated by Ben, however, we don’t know to what extent that manipulation is playing into the inside information John possesses.
Very nice work! +1
-1
Locke helped the others kidnap claire? There is wrong, and then there is WRONG. And then there is this theory, which creates a whole new level of wrongness.
And tell me again, how Locke is helping ethan kidnap two people, AND working with Kate, Jack and Boone to follow Ethan?
Wanna come play in my sandbox Quarantine? I filled it with sharp razorblades specially for you dude.
Insightful.
Though I disagree with some of it. John Locke’s full purpose has yet to be revealed. In fact I don’t even think we’ve scratched the surface of his capabilities good or bad.
I shall have to go back and watch Season 1 though and give your theory a try.
risebysin, very good theory and very well written, too! +1
Maybe I’m wrong but I’ve always had the impression that Locke is an evil guy. It’s hard to explain why, it’s more a feeling rather than something I have evidence for.
But I remember some scenes with Locke at the beach, shortly after the crash. He always looked evil, the expressions on his face showed no happiness, no relief but malice, in my opinion.
I remember a scene at the beach where we see him with an orange in his mouth, this together with the scratch on his face makes him look a little bit like the clown from Stephen King’s IT (Tim Curry is great!). At least that was the picture that immediately came to mind.
I may be wrong about this but maybe somebody else here thinks in a same direction. Could Locke be a very evil and dark character…more evil than we thought until now?
since they were working in the jungle alone together, ethan could have slowly told locke about the whole Other agenda and explained what happened with his legs, perhaps knowing as the undercover cop did that locke has an amenable personality. locke’s corroboration with ethan, if possible, may have been the first level of initiation, continuing with the events in ‘The Brig.’ Saying Boone is a sacrifice “the island” (others) demanded might support this, and it would be a good twist. and when smokie almost pulled him into a hole, didn’t he say he was being tested, just as killing his dad is a test?
although i think that his interaction with ben right before blowing up the sub calls this all into question.
sorry, +1
I agree with your thoughts, Beyond Twilight! Like you say, it is a only a feeling, but it is one that I have had and just can’t seen to find my around, even when he appears to be doing seemingly “good” deeds!
Locke is complex. His agenda, complicated, maybe even mystical. But he is not evil.
The most that we could find is that The Others are the good guys, and Locke is now part of whatever it is they are protecting. But he is not in any way malevolent.
It seems the drive-by -1’s continue, we should fix that don’t you think?
Anyways, it remains to be seen if Locke’s actions were good or bad. I don’t feel confident making a concrete judgement one way or another, but I AM confident that he helped kidnap Claire & Charlie.
He wasn’t leading Kate, Jack & Boone through the jungle when Claire & Charlie got kidnapped, obviously. When Charlie ran to Ethan and asked him to get Jack, Ethan instead got Locke, and Locke quickly helped him move through the jungle, eventually parting ways with Ethan, forming the 2nd trail & hanging Charlie.
rise, great theory. Locke is truly hard to get a grasp on, but you did quite a good job. I must say, with the exception of when he woke up on the island and realized he could walk–- I did think his reaction should have been one of sheer joy–— I always explained away his actions as being bitter because of his painful former life.
You explained Locke’s actions over the last three years and brought him into a very different light for me.
+1 Good job.
Nice thought rise, but you are wrong on a few points, Locke didn’t convince Jack to allow Charlie to come, Charlie followed them and took the weopon that Jack dropped during his scuffle with Ethan.
Also I think Ethan genuinely did come in from the sea, I thought the submarine explained how that was possible.
Another thing is I don’t think he was helping the Others (although I did during Season 1) but as we have seen Locke is very concerned with what is ‘supposed to happen’ and I think that he may well have believed Claires kidnapping was something that was ‘supposed to happen’ and was just making sure of it.
As I say don’t agree, although you have got me thinking and I think I feel theory coming on! +1
Sorry, I just re-watched, and Locke did convince Jack to let Charlie join them, ‘maybe 5 guns is better than 4”. Charlie was there all along, was invited, and had a gun.
And Ethan took a submarine to the beach? Taking a submarine around an island seems like overkill to me.
Sorry mate but you need to re-watch it again, the five guns where: Jack,Kate, Sayid, Locke and Sawyer. Nobody knew Charlie was there.
Ethan didn’t take the submarine, the Others did and Ethan swan out of it, I wouldn’t say it was overkill if you were trying to convince a group of people that Ethan was just a crazy jungle man.
very interesting observations and well thought out, but one thing that springs to mind for me is that you say Locke was working with the others from the start…if this was so surely he would have recognised Ben when Ben was prisoner in the hatch prtending to be Henry Gale ??
+1. Nice post myself and Angelo re-watched season 1 shortly after Locke had started to blow the be-jesus out of everything on the Island and I have to agree, he is not totally on level. His actions are at best self serving. I don’t think he was actually part of the kidnap, i think Ethan just had the help of the others, but that doesn’t mean Locke didn’t know about it and aid via diversion.
One of the things that i find difficult with Locke is this line he said to Kate
LOCKE: I don’t want to go home, Kate. I want you to know, I made a strong case for you. I told them that you were a good person. Reliable, smart, honest. And then they told me who you were and what you had done. Let’s just say forgiveness isn’t one of their strong suits. Good luck.
At the time it seemed fair enough but when we see a flashback in ‘The Brig’ we get:
BEN: Be my guest.
[Locke pulls of the gag and Cooper bites his hand violently]
BEN: Tom!
[Tom tazers Cooper, allowing John to free himself]
BEN: I warned you, John.
COOPER: Don’t you know, John? Don’t you know where we are?
[Tom closes the door quickly, keeping Locke outside]
LOCKE: [To Ben] What did he mean?
BEN: I’m afraid we don’t have time to deal with that right now, John. We’re leaving first thing in the morning, all of us.
LOCKE: Where are you going?
BEN: We’re going to a new place. Well an old place, actually. Would you like to come with us?
LOCKE: [Pauses] Yes.
BEN: Good. We’re holding Kate a few buildings over from here, maybe you’d like to say goodbye.
So when exactly did this conversation with the others about Kate take place, because with flashback and piecing together we pretty much see everything Locke does and says to the others before saying goodbye to Kate. Something just doesn’t add up for me.
Locke seems to have a fairly good idea of right and wrong but as we’ve seen is easily manipulated. He’s a very emotional character and if you play with his feelings you can manipulate him. So say that when he was hunting with Ethan. Who would have gathered information about the losties, including Locke (he would have knowing about his disability). Ethan could have fed him information on the island, the others, the pregnancy problem, the healing of his disability, etc. Locke could have believed that by helping Ethan he was saving Claire’s life. Ethan didn’t have to tell Locke the truth. Just fabricate something to appeal to Locke. For example Cindy (flight attendant) was not an other (?) but turned very quickly. Why not use this same method on Locke. Locke has no fear of the jungle like our other Losties. Therefore he could have learned some secrets from Ethan.
Excellent post. It never crossed my mind before but sounds plausible. +1
+1
sounds really attractive on first reading but still just working through all the angles in my mind. Locke has shown that he is not always honest with the Losties, but is this really because he was in league with the Others? I think it’s a combination of being instructed by the Island (or whatever is behind the island) and his background.
@Twilight - I thought of that orange scene just before i read your comment :)
Rise, I like the angle you’re taking here. Good stuff. I’ve always thought John was just so easily manipulated due to low self esteem, so I’d have to agree with those that say the Others are messing with him.
The island has always been presented as a place for the Losties to shed their pasts and start over, but we’re seeing more and more of them eventually following the same pattern as in their flashbacks. Locke looks to be a strong-willed, knowledgable mentor to the rest of the Losties, but the Others (Ben, and I think even Richard) are exploiting him for what he truly is at heart…..weak and susceptible.
Although, I do have to say…..it looks like he’s got inside information at the end of the season 3 finale, so who knows?
I like this A LOT but how does Locke pushing the button fit into this? And his obsession with digging up the hatch…wouldn’t he know where the door was?
Good point TS also set me thinking about the interaction between Locke and Ben when he was imprisoned in the swan. wouldn’t they have exchanged info when they were alone?
I don’t see how Locke could have hung Charlie; Boone was with him.
However, as LJ states above, watching Season 1 through in a marathon session Locke does come out of it very self-serving and nowhere near as benevolent as he presents himself. At the end of S3 he’s at a very interesting point; I can’t imagine him being accepted back into camp with open arms!
+1