John Locke: Exposed Pt. 2, Ben & Jacob
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By risebysin
- John Locke: Exposed Pt. 2, Ben & Jacob
- Created: Nov 16, 2007
- Last updated: Aug 14, 2008
- After episode: 3.22: Through The Looking Glass
- Status: Current
- Flag this theory:
“The time will come when Locke will realize that once again, he is the world’s biggest sucker, and the loser he was always afraid he might be.”
— risebysin
I’d like to add that after reading some recent theories, your responses to my previous post, and re-considering my theory, I’ve stumbled onto a pattern of behavior regarding Ben & Locke that I think can help understand the events that transpired in Jacob’s cabin.
Consider the following:
Ben tells Locke that God can’t see the island.
Ben tells Locke that he didn’t enter the numbers and nothing happened.
Locke loses faith and questions The Source(island/dreams/visions/whatever-word-you-want-to-use)
The hatch explodes.
It would appear that Ben is trying to get Locke to question The Source, but in reality, he is doing the opposite. Ben planted seeds of doubt in Locke’s head, Locke acted in opposition to The Source, it went horribly wrong, and now Locke’s faith in The Source has increased tenfold. Locke now is acting with complete disregard for his own instincts. He is a slave to The Source. He learned the hard way what happens when he doesn’t do The Source’s bidding. He is now convinced that The Source, the same voice that told him he would walk again, that it would rain in a minute, to go to the sea plane with Boone, etc……is not to be questioned. He now completely believes that he is a pre-ordained messiah with a great destiny.
With this unshakable confidence, he does The Source’s bidding. He blows up the submarine, further isolating the island and freeing Ben from the burden of letting Jack leave on it. He warns the Losties of the incoming attack, which we all know was what Ben wanted because he intentionally let Locke see where he hid the tape recorder. Every step of the way, his actions coincide with Ben’s wishes.
He joins The Others. He’s welcomed into the fray. He’s told of how everyone has been expecting him, how enamored everyone is with him, how every single Other is hoping that John Locke is everything the prophecy has foretold. He now believes that he is the chosen one of all chosen ones, he has no doubts about this whatsoever. Then Ben takes him to see Jacob and everyone acts like it’s some great honor that is reserved for only the greatest of men.
And what happens when Locke gets to Jacob’s cabin? Ben acts as though there’s nooooooo way for Locke to hear Jacob. How can this be? How can you hear him? This isn’t supposed to happen.
I call bullshit.
Every step of the way Ben has been manipulating Locke to trust The Source. Ben has convinced Locke that he is the chosen one. He took the most insignificant pathetic nobody on God’s green earth and told him he was Jesus. What nobody wouldn’t want to believe this desperately? Even in his pathetic real life, Locke had delusions of grandeur, calling himself Genera Locke. Even in his real life, his mother told him he was immaculately conceived and he fell for it! i mean seriously, what a freaking sucker! That’s how desperate John Locke is to be somebody and Ben knows it.
Right now John Locke is eating out of Ben’s hand. He will do whatever The Source tells him, no questions asked. He learned the hard way what happens when stupid old John doesn’t do what the voice tells him to do. Hatches blow up.
The time will come when Locke will realize that once again, he is the world’s biggest sucker, and the loser he was always afraid he might be. And then, at that very moment……he will redeem himself by doing something brave. We will feel broken-hearted for our favorite Lostie, we will pity him, and we will hold him in the highest regard when it’s all said and done.
So maybe The Source was right….maybe he is a Jesus-type. Maybe he will sacrifice himself for everyone’s benefit.
But not just yet……he still has a couple seasons worth of Ben’s bidding to do.
Do not trust John Locke.
These two actions lead to Locke losing faith and blowing up the hatch. His hunch gone wrong, Locke trusts even more in the voice/island/source/etc , even more convinced that he is destined for greatness and that the island won’t steer him in the wrong direction. So in turn, by getting Locke to lose faith, he actually increased Locke’s faith tenfold, and really forced Locke to never question the voice ever again, out of fear that he’ll screw up even worse.
Rise, Well said! I couldn’t agree more. Locke is definitely Ben’s biatch, and biggest pawn! Locke could eventually turn the tables on Ben, so it will be interesting to see where the story goes, in future. Nice work! +1
rise, nice work. Do you think, though, that Ben shooting Locke will be the defining moment for him? Will he see that he’s been manipulated by Ben and form a more concrete union with the island itself? I wonder.
+1
He still doesn’t know that Ben is behind The Source, as far as Locke is concerned the two are unrelated.
Ben has set Locke up to believe that Ben & Jacob are at odds, that Jacob needs Locke’s help to defeat(couldn’t think of a better word) Ben. However, since Jacob and Ben are in cahoots(assuming Jacob is real), Locke will still be doing Ben’s bidding. Locke will be a slave to The Source until his final moments when he will redeem himself. Ben, Jacob, and whoever and whatever ‘side’ they represent will be creative in exploiting Locke’s hunger to be significant.
Yeah, great post! I am wondering about Jacob, though. Are you thinking that Ben and Jacob were both manipulating Locke, or just Ben? (with the whole “help me” line) Does Jacob want to manipulate Locke also?
Also, Ben manipulating John into allowing the hatch to implode to restore his “faith” seems pretty dangerous. Simply because it caused the communications to go down and the Science team/freighter to see the Island. Is that what Ben wanted? Ben is becoming more and more of an evil genius thanks to this Haitus. I hope he doesn’t fall from grace in season 4.
scratch that first part, you got it.
Ben wanted The Pearl, The Swan, & The Submarine to be destroyed. It’s almost like he’s covering tracks, isn’t it? It’s like any useful remnant or Dharma/Hostiles footprint is being erased.
Obviously we haven’t been given enough to go on to figure out what is coming, where Ben’s crew is headed, what their goals and purpose are. That makes it tougher to speculate if Ben cares about the freighter, is inviting them, knows they will be defeated, wants them to come and clean up and kill useless people…..there are too many blanks to fill in just yet in that department.
Agreed, Rise! We don’t know to what end Ben’s manipulation is headed at this point!
Dharmacide, I don’t think Jacob is part of Ben’s manipulation on Locke. I think of Jacob as also being held captive to Ben’s manipulations, as well.
Been giving you drive-by +1’s on these, rise… not sure about ALL the details, but… as usual, I like the way you think.
Where ya been Prof? And feel free to critique and disagree, my brain works better when the likes of you kat jaz etc are ripping things to shreds.
The one detail I wish I knew was the means by which Locke is getting his information. I don’t believe that he’s constantly visiting the dreamworld via jungle juice.
I wouldn’t be surprised if there was an actual voice in his head, somehow planted there. Okay, I’d be surprised, but not really.
Good Post,rise. I wrote a theory a while back called “Is Locke the Islands Bitch?”, but I didn’t reference Ben in there, and I think you are right that he is manipulating Locke.+1
LOL@’Is Locke the island’s bitch’. Simply brilliant.
Honestly though, the guy was playing Risk during his lunchbreak. La-hu-sa-her.
Ah - Mannn! …RISE!!!
heh…
“OK, Question!” {you know, as Dewight would say… }
“Um…What the heck is wrong with Risk? I like that game! ”
World Domination!!
Hey Rise, I forgot to tell ya, good post by the way. You got me thinkin’…
Well, I see what your saying and you could very well be right… “BUT”…for some reason, I don’t like it. Something about it bothers me! I’m not sure if it’s because that whole “Poor Pathetic Locke- manipulated AGAIN” angle seems to obvious or predictable to me, so I’m trying to see things from a different perspective…
OR… maybe it’s more of an emotional reason… I mean, hasn’t the man been through enough? My heart goes out to the man… I can’t help it. So I definitely don’t want Ben to have the satisfaction of manipulating Locke..ugh, that makes me so mad! I want to see Ben get fooled by Locke..that would be great!
Now about Locke being a loser… I don’t think Locke is a Loser! I don’t get it…what makes him a loser, exactly? It’s not his fault his mom was a freak and his dad was pure evil. What exactly did Locke do that was so negative?
He selflessly gave his dad his kidney and it turned out to be a con… that is sad, but it definitely doesn’t make him a loser. His dad is the loser, that freakin’ idiot… heartless- selfish- loser! John however has a big heart and wants to do something that brings value to others… I see him as a giver, not a taker. And whatever he has been given, he sees it with the perspective, “I’ve been given this for a reason.” I admire that.
I think Locke has shown some heroic qualities with noble motives… Sooo, I guess I’m still hoping that Locke turns out to be one of the heroes in this journey. Has he done some crazy and confusing things? Absolutely, but I think there is a method to his madness. I hope that Locke, at some point, has a moment where he proves everyone wrong and they are left thinking, “Oh wow, so he was right all along! Now I get it…” So perhaps Locke is doing some “orchestrating” of his own…
OR perhaps I’m more gullible than John Locke… :)
I like the idea that Ben was stopping Locke from believing in the Island when he tried to trick him into not pressing the numbers. I’d never consolidated Ben’s motives for doing that - this is a good explanation.
Interesting idea that Ben’s manipulation is continuing to plan I’ve always gone along the opposite view and taken it that Locke was becoming too much of a threat to Ben and Ben is rapidly losing control and power over Locke. Him turning out to be a big sucker all along would fit though, so I’m not so sure in my own beliefs on that one.
+1
Rise, Checked out Gatsby the Great, and loved Karuna Rage! Sweet! You certainly are versatile and have eclectic tastes!
Thanks Dabs, can’t say I expected anyone on here to dig my music so that’s a pleasant surprise :)
does it actually matter that Ben’s bidding and John’s are the same? Can’t it just be Fantastic irony? The messiah and the devil with similar goals? No doubt Ben’s the sort of manipulating salesman you want selling sand to Sayid but John’s going to rid us of Ben soon, or if not pull his pants around his ankles so Ben gets some payback. I’m not sure John’s a be-atch. Or do I just not want to believe it?