The Loop Hole

I don't even know where to begin in talking about the season finale of LOST. In fact, this post will most likely be very scatter brained - just forewarning you. I do want to say that if every episode was this fast and packed, LOST would suck. I hate them trying to pack so much in at the end. More happened in this episode then in all of season 5!! Why didn't they stretch out some of the season finale info throughout the season? It just seemed like a looooot of information to take in all at once.
We now know that in the "Pilot, Part 2" episode from Season 1, Locke's comments to Walt about Backgammon are more relevant to this show than any other dialogue thus far (excluding maybe last night's quote by Jacob regarding "a loop hole"; that's pretty significant as well). Locke tells Walt that the game dates back 5,000 years. Locke was referring to the Mesopotamian Royal Game of Ur, which is also related to the Egyptian game of Senet.(Lostpedia) Locke explains the rules of Backgammon to Walt, "There are two players. One side is light, and one side is dark." While doing this he holds the game pieces up to his eyes, which is another recurring image of LOST. But more about all of this later.

First let's talk about the new information we got and the questions that were answered:
1. Jacob is an actual person who visited several 815ers before they crashed on the island - Locke, Kate, Sawyer, Jack, Jin, and Sun. He also visited Sayid and Hurley but, for reasons still unknown to us, he saw them AFTER the Oceanic Six had come back.
2. Jacob gave Hurley the guitar case.
3. Richard is the way he is (seems to live forever) because of Jacob.
4. Charles Whidmore was not the reason Nadia died....Jacob was.
5. Rose, Bernard, and Vincent are living the retired life in a hut on the island.
6. Jacob is what is lying in the shadow of the statue.
7. The statue was definitely holding an Ankh.
8. Illana and Braum work for Jacob.

And now for the new questions which we will ponder for the next 7 months:
1. Who is the other guy with Jacob? (I'll talk more about that in a minute)
2. What is Frank a "candidate" for?
3. Is Sayid dead?
4. Is Juliet dead?
5. Where is the 1977 crew now and did their "plan" work?
6. What was the significance of Sun finding Charlie's Drive Shaft ring? Am I over-thinking this because I want Charlie back.....maybe.
7 - 1,000,000,000. Other questions that are blowing my mind and making my nose bleed.

The rest of this post is very largely based on my theory that Jacob is THE Jacob from the Bible and the other guy we saw with him in the opening scene of the season finale was his brother Esau. So bear with me. Okay, so in the Bible, in the Book of Genesis, Jacob has a twin brother named Esau. They are the grandsons of Abraham. You remember him from Sunday School, right? "Father Abraham had many sons. Many sons had father Abraham. I am one of them and so are you. So let's all praise the Lord." Anyway, when Rebecca, their mother, who was from Mesopotamia, was pregnant, she felt her sons fighting in the womb so she asked God what was up with that. He told her, "Two nations are within you; ....two rival people; One will be stronger than the other; The older will serve the younger." When they were born, Jacob came out second, holding on to Esau's heel! Pretty interesting, right?
Some other noteworthy facts about Jacob and Esau:
1. Jacob tricked his father, Isaac, into giving Jacob his last blessing before he died when really Isaac had wanted to give that blessing to Esau. This blessing said, "May nations be your servants, and may peoples bow down before you. May you rule over all your relatives.... May those who curse you be cursed, and may those who bless you be blessed." Because Jacob received the final blessing from Isaac, all that was left for Esau to receive from Isaac was, "You will live by your sword, but be your brother's slave. Yet when you rebel, you will break away from his control." Needless to say, Esau hated Jacob for what he had done.
2. Jacob tricked Esau into giving him his rights as the first-born son.
3. Isaac, Rebecca, Jacob, and Esau dug many wells. Some of which were named Quarrel, Enmity, and Freedom.
I'm still reading the Bible to find out more about Jacob and Esau's story and if I find any other interesting tidbits I will add them to this post. I have a million questions regarding the Jacob/Illana scene - What language were they speaking? Why was she in bandages? What is their relationship? What did he need her to do?

My theory is that Esau is the Smoke Monster and he is a "body snatcher" (which was one of my theories from very early on). I recently made a list of characters who have seen dead people or people from their past on the island. With that list I also included people who were "scanned" by Smokie at some point. My theory is when Esau is the Smoke Monster, he looks at people's thoughts and re-creates people that they have known in order to influence them to do something for him or something like that. I don't have all of the details worked out just yet. Actually, I used to have them all worked out but every time we get a new episode with Smokie I have to tweak my theory a bit.
Anyway, here is my list (in no particular order):
1. Shannon sees Walt
2. Hurley sees his imaginary friend (I don't know for sure if this is Smokie, it may just be Hurley's imaginary friend!!)
3. Locke sees Walt in the pit after Ben shoots him - that's gotta be Smokie cause he SAVED LOCKE'S LIFE!! Also Locke was scanned by Smokie.
4. Sayid sees Walt
5. Mr Eko sees his brother, Yemi. Eko was scanned by Smokie.
6. Little Ben sees his mom
7. Many people see Christian
8. Big Ben sees Alex - also this has gotta be Smokie/Esau and it would explain why Locke disappears conveniently during the time Ben is alone with the Smoke Monster/Alex. And right before Ben sees Alex he is scanned by Smokie.
9. Jack sees his Dad - this was where this theory of mine all began.
Think about it - a plane crashes, there is a dead body in it, that body goes missing from the coffin, the person who was in the coffin is now walking around the island, PLUS when we first see Christian on the island he is silent, spooky, doesn't seem to know anything, and awkward. Perhaps Esau didn't know who the body belonged to yet. I think this also explains why we found Christian in the cabin - Esau was in Christian's body and was "the other person" mentioned last night by Illana who was using the cabin.
Two other characters scanned by Smokie are Kate and Juliet. On a side note, a friend of mine posed the question, "when Smokie was trying to get Kate and Juliet but Juliet turned on the sonic fence, why didn't Smokie just go OVER the fence like Kate did once before?" I mean the thing can fly so .....

I also thought it was interesting that Moses was mentioned again in this episode. If you remember, Moses was mentioned by Mr. Eko in 3x10-"The 23rd Psalm". The following is from Lostpedia:
Mr. Eko informed Claire that Aaron was the name of Moses' elder brother. Aaron was a spokesman of sorts for Moses, persuading the Israelites to follow his brother and performing miracles with his staff, which turned into a viper before Pharaoh and unleashed the first three plagues. Aaron joined Moses, Nadav and Avidu on Mount Sinai to receive the Covenant, and saw a vision of God (Exodus 24:9). During Moses' 40-day encounter with God, Aaron ceded to popular demand by making a golden calf, outraging his brother (Exodus 32). Aaron became chief priest after the Ark and Tabernacle were constructed. He died at the age of 123 on Mount Hor. I don't know what the connection is yet but I will definitely read the Moses and Aaron stories in the Bible after I finish with my Jacob and Esau readings. If I find anything noteworthy I will most likely write a new post on Moses and Aaron and their connection to LOST.

Other random notes and thoughts:
Is Faraday "weird" because Ellie was exposed to radiation while he was in the womb?
Sayid walking around with a hydrogen bomb on his back seemed to make sense.....not.
Why didn't Jack mention that the "count to 5" schtick was Christian's thing when he originally told the story to Kate?
Thank God for Miles! He is the only one with any brains. My neighbors probably heard me shout, "FINALLY" when Miles tells the other dodos his thoughts about "The Incident".

Enough for now. Next post - I Am Jack's Stupid Idea vs. Tyler Durden