Locke, Flocke, Schlocke

So, in the last entry I made mention of the Man In Black aka Jacob’s Nemesis aka “Esau” taking the form of Locke. While this isn’t universally accepted among Losties, it’s generally accepted and it’s what I’m going with. I also noted that the Biblical Esau was a hunter, like Locke, but posed the question: was Locke really a hunter? That is, was he meant to be a hunter? Remember that scene in "Cabin Fever" (s.4 e.11) where Richard Alpert visits Locke’s (foster) home when Locke was a child? He set objects in front of him and asked him to identify which ones were already his. Locke chooses the vial of sand, and the compass. And by the look on Richard’s face, they are correct choices. Then Locke looks first at the "Book of Laws", then at a knife – one of the objects – and takes the knife. Richard stops smiling and asks, “Are you sure the knife is yours?” Locke nods. Richard takes the knife and disappointedly, almost disgustedly says, “Well, it’s not.” He tells Locke’s foster mother that Locke is “not ready” for their “school”, and leaves very abruptly. Later, as a teenager, Locke is told by a school counselor or teacher that Richard Alpert is offering Locke an excellent educational opportunity in science, (through Mittelos Laboratories in Portland, so this is probably really an invitation to the island), but Locke angrily rejects it, insisting that he is not a scientist, but a sportsman and an outdoorsman. The counselor gently but firmly advises Locke that although he may not want to be a scientist, “that’s who you are, John.” What exactly is going on here with Locke? It seems that throughout his life he has been resisting his true calling, which is not to be a hunter. Where then did the hunter come from? Was in fact Locke’s ambition to be a hunter “Esau”’s idea from the beginning? Has he entered Locke’s mind to influence him away from his true calling as a spiritual leader to be a hunter instead? Has he spent all of Locke’s life setting Locke up to be this person so that he (“Esau”) could use him to kill Jacob?


Consider that when Richard pays Locke that visit as a child, he sees what looks like a drawing of a man attacked by the smoke monster. Richard asks John if he drew that picture and John nods yes. If the Man in Black or “Esau” is the same as the smoke monster, this seems to be powerful evidence that the smoke monster is somehow in Locke’s mind influencing him. Note that this is different from saying that Locke was the Man in Black all along. John Locke is a real person, separate from “Esau”, and called to be a scientist, perhaps even a lawgiver and mystic. But the Man In Black/“Esau” has been with Locke from the beginning of his life, working to steer Locke away from his true calling and be manipulated by “Esau” instead.


By the way, Richard visited Locke first as a newborn baby, then as a child, because in 1954, two years before Locke was born, the grown up, Oceanic 815 Locke told Richard that he was the island’s leader – in fact that Richard himself had told Locke so – and added, “if you don’t believe me, I suggest you come and visit me.” This connects with Lost’s concept of time that seems to reflect the work of mathematician Kurt Gödel. And I’ll write about that later.