he sits in there and waits for meals on wheels. ha ha. sorry.

anyway, i think that richard is not jacob but a disciple of jacob. he may never have been chosen to be the one, but the one chosen to FIND the one. again, matrix-ish. but i believe he operates in the morpheus role, in that case. so jacob tells him his destiny is to find "the one" and when he sees ben in the forest as a child he thinks it's him, but then later realizes its not, or that his time is limited and now it's locke's time. and he has to help locke to accept and fulfill that destiny.

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I love my beautiful turnipheads...

That fully explains why he's so cranky and hates technology

Richard as a disciple of Jacob seems to be a pretty popular theory and it sounds good to me. BTW, did anyone else notice how much freaking eyeliner he was wearing when he took the guns away? My girlfriend doesn't wear that much makeup...

What do mean a "real person?" From screen caps and re-watching the first episode where we see Jacob's cabin for the first time, there is certainly someone in there. They actually have his picture on his Lostpedia page. Therefore, he's not just a figment of Ben's imagination or, worse, some lie that Ben is making up to force control over everyone.

It's not yet unproven that Richard is Locke's dad, but I'm just wondering and have been wondering why everyone is trying to force a biological connection to these two characters. Just because Richard was at Locke's birth, doesn't make him the dad. It just makes him interested in him. If he really wanted Locke to come to the island, he could've actually claimed he was his father and, after some blood tests, take Locke back with him. I don't think we would have to go through so much cloak and dagger BS if Richard is, in fact, his biological dad. Locke was always there for the taking because of his foster child status. Why not raise the next "chosen one" by yourself if he/she is so important? Why leave it up to fate to get him to the island after having Locke live the majority of his life? Why roll the dice with Ben?

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Abaddon

The folks who run Lostpedia are not writers or producers of the show. They are not experts. They're just avid viewers like us! Certainly some things they claim are backed up because the show has explained some mysteries and plot points already. Other things they claim that are still unanswered are just educated guesses. They don't know who Jacob is any better than we do, so a picture in Lostpedia is not necessarily proof of anything. Not saying that Jacob isn't real, just that the folks at Lostpedia are no smarter than we are and their claims are not written in stone. Let's give ourselves a little more credit.

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"Helen, do you remember that authentic Australian walkabout I told you about?"

No, no, no...not what I meant. Obviously, the authorship of Lostpedia is by the people. I meant to say that they actually have the screencap from the show where we see a glimpse of Jacob (you can see it yourself on episode 20 of season 3...he shows up for just a second when stuff starts flying around the cabin).

I'm really going off of that (me actually seeing Jacob on screen when I watched the DVD's of the show) and using that screencap as some sort of proof to back it up.

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Abaddon

When did Richard become one of the chosen spokespeople of the island? I do not remember him ever being talked about that way. Was there a history of island leaders that I missed. I gather the assumptions to be Jacob is/runs the island, and their have been his spokespeople, his conveyences so to speak, but I remember no actual recurrence of those people as yet.

I see what you mean- Jacob's extent of reality is a hard one to decide on A product of collective imagination? apparition of a spritual kind? ghost of a significant former inhabitant of the island? a real person? (and oh, I'm sure there're people to make some Jacob- Smokie connection too)

But also, while it is an open source of information written collectively, Lostpedia is a far better source of information or speculation for LOST when compared to forums available on the Web. The authorship standards and regulations of Lostpedia are inspired by those of Wikipedia, if not a blueprint of them. More systematic and open to on-going betterment, Lostpedia allows better differentiation between facts and hunches, between theories and illogical patchwork. Forums I like for different reasons (communicating, debating, checking spoilers) but I personally take what's on Lostpedia a little more serious for its numerous submission criteria.

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"Bear...? Is that you?"-- Hurley S03E4

Ok.. Jacob does seem contrived. However, the cabin moves? "Move the island!?" If 'he' can move the cabin ... what does it mean when Locke says ... "MOVE the island" .... ???

Maybe the leader of the island does change .. but the fact that they can MOVE objects.. should make us rethink reality.

I still think that Richard is a key factor. Maybe he's not John's father but he is someone we should redress in this equation.

Wikipedia and lostpedia aren't exactly valid sources for me, just general references at this point. (I'm the queen of skepticism... hehe)

I do have a different prospective on this now but I'll post it on a a new thread. (Don't want to divert from the 'father/son), thread now.

The only real, valid source is the show itself. Everything we see has a reason, and most things are intertwined. If Richard was his father, wouldn't he take him when the girl put him up for adoption? Although Cooper doesn't seem like he could be TWICE Emily's age, it may have been an exageration, like he was 23 when she was 15 and Mother didn't approve.

Let's just take what we've seen Richard do. Show up at Lockes birth, be there when Ben runs off as a boy, and recruit Juliette, all while being 38. We've seen him investigate Locke as a boy, and then offer him an alternative to killing his father later. We've seen Richard be the only one to question Ben, to his face... Tom wasn't happy but didn't disagree. We know he's an impeccable dresser, as a pirate or corp. recruiter, and doesn't celebrate his birthday.... and that's about it.

So, what is he..

In regards to Richard, how can so many of the fringe characters be so important? Can Richard really have a significant long term role? He wasn't even in the show as of last December. Sorry to bring the outside world in.