Some excellent reflections on the season 5 finale of LOST have been posted at Entertainment Weekly by Doc Jensen (HT Carmen Andres, who also has posted her own thoughts about the episode). Hereโs a sample, which represents his own theory about the significance of certain events:
Much of the castawaysโ history โ including the crash of Oceanic 815 โ has been molded and manipulated by the entity that is the Nameless Man In Black, an intricate, divine conspiracy whose ultimate goal was to kill Jacob. That was the significance of Alterna-Lockeโs gloating line: โAnd you have no idea what Iโve gone through to be here.โ But what the Adversary didnโt know was that Jacob had been doing some plotting of his own to counter all of his enemyโs moves. And in the last moment of the Jacob/Alterna-Locke/Ben showdown, I think what we saw was Alterna-Locke realizing that heโd been checkmated. โTheyโre coming,โ Jacob sputtered โ referring, I believe, to Jack, Kate, Sawyer and the entire quantum leaping cavalry. I think the Adversary completely understood the significance of what Jacob was saying โ and it pissed him off big time. Hence, why Alterna-Locke angrily kicked Jacob into the fire. Hence, that scowl on his face. It was the pout of defeat.
You should definitely read the whole thing if you are a fan. How often do you get Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and Perry Como pitted against one another to make sense of the religious themes of a science fiction TV show?
Iโve also found myself wondering if the riddle isnโt an explanation of what happened in the season finale. โWhat lies (i.e. deceives) in the shadow of the statue? That which protects us allโ: in some way, through its very existence, Jacobโs Enemy is crucial to our ongoing existence. Somehow for there to be life and existence, the shadow side (to which the riddle question itself alludes) cannot be eliminated altogether, it must simply be held in check. (For those thinking that โThat which protects us allโ might be the island, thereโs a problem: insula is a feminine noun in Latin, while โhe/that whichโ in Richardโs answer is ille, the masculine form).
I also remembered John Lockeโs question to Christian Shepherd (or someone impersonating him) in the cabin. While the claim to be able to speak for Jacob makes me suspect that pseudo-Christian might not be trustworthy, I nonetheless suspect that he was being truthful in saying that John was right about why he was there: Because he had been chosen to be. Jacobโs enemy required someone who would believe in his own importance sufficiently to believe he was to lead the island, and believe he must die and be willing to go through with it.