My last LOST blog post for the series 20th anniversary. What could be more appropriate than to spotlight the first mystery of them all? That's right! I'm talking about the Smoke Monster. From the first night the Flight 815 survivors were on the Island, they knew something was strange about the place, as they heard the monster and knocked down trees in the distance.
The Man in Black
I debated whether this blog post fit more in the category of "Creature Feature" or "Character Spotlight", because Smokey was once a man. If you watched through the final season of LOST, this is old news. Born on the Island at the heels of his brother Jacob, he was raised by an unnamed woman who killed their birth mother.
Despite being raised as a native, he was antsy to leave the Island from a young age. And that was before he saw a vision of his birth mother. Even so, he kept a civil relationship with his brother. Long story short, desperate to leave the Island, he ended up killing his adoptive mother. But in retribution and anger, Jacob threw his brother in the "Heart of the Island". The Island's electromagnetism somehow separated him from his body and turned him into the smoke monster.
Powers and Abilities
Connected to the Heart of the Island, the Man in Black was invulnerable to physical attacks and conventional weapons, both in human form and smoke form--though dynamite scared him off. Though intangible he was super strong, capable of disposing of human being and trees with ease. To whatever extent he also displayed some telekinetic and/or telepathic abilities, influencing dreams and "scanning" human beings. At least some of these abilities were eliminated when Desmond unplugged the Heart of the Island.
Countless times through history the Man in Black took the form of deceased humans (and maybe a horse or spider on occasion). He was confirmed to at least take the forms of Isabella, Christian Shepard, Yemi, Alex Rousseau, and John Locke. Sometimes it seemed like he needed the body physically on the Island, but cases like Isabella prove otherwise. By the time he arranged Jacob's murder, the Man in Black was limited to transforming between Locke and Smokey.
Though powerful, he was limited in his ability to travel except over land. He may have been able to travel short distances over water (unclear) but he definitely couldn't ascend high enough (even in smoke form) to clear DHARMA's sonic fence and had issues with ash circles or whatever reason. And though murderous he was unable to harm Jacob or his candidates directly, working through manipulation, due to some power in place guardians of the Island.
History with Island Visitors
As far back as the Black Rock, Jacob and the Man in Black played this game of chess to see who'd win: the Man in Black claiming that mankind only comes to corrupt and Jacob banking on humanity continually progressing and growing. Caught in the chaos of the chess match included the likes of the US Army testing explosives, Rousseau's team, the DHARMA Initiative, and of course the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 (and Ajira Flight 316).
Jacob: You'll have to ask 'em when they get here.
MIB: I don't have to ask. You brought them here. Still trying to prove me wrong, aren't you?
Jacob: You are wrong.
MIB: Am I? They come. They fight. They destroy. They corrupt. It always ends the same.
Jacob: It only ends once. Anything that happens before that is just progress.
Though this exchange from "The Incident" presented their feud as a test of the nature of mankind, the final season of LOST set the focus of their ongoing battle as a search for a loophole to kill Jacob and leave the Island. Each time a new group arrived on the Island, the Man in Black would use his powers of deception (posing as Isabella, Alex, Locke, etc.) to further his plans. In the end, both sides of kind won, I guess: the Man in Black got Ben to kill Jacob, but Jack (as Jacob's replacement) stopped Smokey from leaving the Island.
It's a curious question to pose, with the two brothers as the centerpiece: Mankind good or evil? The question has been asked and philosophized over for millennia. And in true LOST fashion, that question between human nature and free will remained subjective in the finale.
I suppose I could give some gospel related answer about the "natural man" or about being children of God, but I think the message of progress is more relevant to my life. Progress over perfection. Anything that happens before it "ends" is only progress.
Unanswered Questions
Besides the unanswered question of philosophers through the ages, it only makes sense to end this blog post and the LOST anniversary with some unanswered questions about Smokey:
- How/why did the Heart of the Island transform him into Smoke and not Desmond or Jack?
- How/why did Smokey's birth mother appear to him?
- What would've happened in the Man in Black left the Island?
- How did the Man in Black end up in the Cabin?
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