Personally, I think we haven't gotten all of Locke's story...yet.

Remember, in the first flashbacks (at the Box Factory) he looked like he does now (hairstyle, demeanor).

In the episode "Walkabout," when they are attacked by the boar, and Kate asks Locke if he's okay, he says something like, "Helen? Are you all right?"

I think that the part we haven't been told yet goes something like this (if I was the one writing it):

Locke wins Helen back. Maybe by telling her that he was helping his father to get him out of his life. Remember, he didn't take the money. He ran out of the motel room after Helen, and I think the guilty looks his Dad gave him as he left was because Daddy didn't leave any of the money behind. Daddy was a con man.

Anyway, back to the backstory. They (Helen and Locke) reconcile. Then there is a car accident in which she is killed and Locke paralysed (maybe we can see that "golden" car again). Locke was probably driving, so he feels guilty that he survived. To get rid of the guilt, he starts thinking about his "destiny." He was spared in order to do something... something big.

After he got his legs back on the island, he acts with an almost religious fervor, perhaps because he views his recovery as a "sign."

Oh, and remember the the exclamation, "It wasn't supposed to happen this way!", when he was arguing with Jack in the Hatch?

I think Locke has had his vision of his destiny shaken and for most of this season has been a lot more uncertain than he was in the first season. Not sure of the path he is to take.


So, those are my thoughts on this.
You guys can go back to what you were doing.

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charlie98210
"Whoa!" she said. "Cry 'Havoc!' And let loose the dogs of war!"
And, like Banquo's ghost, they just won't go away.