"Boone..Boone made it fall, sacrifice the island demanded"
This now famous line still haunts me to this day - it's not so much the quote itself, but it's the
way Locke utters those words..especially when he defeatedly 'confessed' to events in the
"?" (2.20) episode. The look of guilt and regret on his face was tinged only with the look of digust. Disgust that he had been, yet again, roped in by the forces of destiny, greatness and by the unquantifiable drive to follow his dreams..
"Tell me John, haven't you ever followed a dream?"
However, what if Boone
WAS a "sacrifice that the island demanded"?
Bear with me, I 'may' have some evidence:
One of my other theories states that the island needs the memories/souls/subconscious of
dead people in order to affect the living via "dreams".
We can see that each of these dead people have indeed played a very
real part in 'shaping' or 're-shaping' the paths of the ones closest to them..each of them via a
manifestation, vision or dream:
The deceased Christian > Jack
The deceaced Yemi > Eko
Yemi has twice appeared to Eko. The first occasion was the morning after Ana-Lucia/Libby had been killed - he wanted Eko to help Locke to find the question mark..the same question mark where Boone had originally died. Eko's next Yemi-visitation was in "The Cost of Living", where Yemi appeared to him before and after numerous other 'apparitions' from his guilt ridden past had manifested. Note how Yemi appears 'dusty' when he confronts Eko towards the end of the episode - I think this is related to his body being missing from the burnt Beachcraft were Eko put him to rest - did the island physically remove Yemi's body? Is the island only able to physically replicate the identity of a dead person? Is this why Jacob has difficulty sustaining a physical presence?
The deceased Ana-Lucia > Eko
The thugs that he killed > Eko
The deceased Emily Linus > Young Ben
The deceased Boone > Locke
The 'possibly' deceased Walt > Locke
I believe that in order for the island to inhabit the subconscious of those living on the island (people like Locke, Ben, Jack etc) it must first gain access to the
subconscious of the deceased. Think of it as a broadband connection via a subconscious connection/relay.
Therefore, it could be argued that the island did demand/require Boone's death in order to gain another soul with which to embody and cause an affect.
The nature of that effect? Well, it can be seen both in the rebuilding of Locke's committment to the island - in particular the mudhut 'visitation' of 'island Boone', which delivered a crucial message to Locke - "
you gotta clean up your mess, John". This eventually led Locke to save Eko..who ended up being another island casualty not long afterwards. Could Eko have been another 'sacrifice'? Perhaps not in the same mould as Boone's death, because I believe that Eko had a 'chance' to save himself, but failed to choose the right option (apologise) in the eyes of Smokey/the Island.
In short, I believe that the island could..'could' need the souls/subconscious of dead people in order to (re)shape the game, as it were. It seems clear that the island has an agenda. This agenda could be to survive..to feed..to evolve, or a number of other possibilities.
In order for the island to coerce it's 'players' into the right paths it must be able to communicate with them in a way that they will understand..in a human way. Therefore it needs to become a 'character' in itself..it has to take on human characteristics and embody human emotions and traits. In order to do this it has to become the people who are connected to the players (those on the island) - this is where I believe the visions, dreams and manifestations come in. The island (or Smokey) is not only studying and learning from these people, but it is taking the guise of the dead in order to motivate them into performing specific acts at specific moments in time.
I think that there is a pattern emerging with these manifestations and visions - each of these visitations are not only from the 'dead' (Smokey cannot emody the living) but they are linked to the respective islanders by GUILT. Each one of the islanders who have had visions/manifestations feel GUILTY for the deaths of the manifestations/visions. Ben was made to feel guilty about killing his mother, Jack feels at fault for Christians death, Locke feels to blame for Boone's death..and so on.
So it could be argued that the island is able to use the twin motivator of an individuals 'guilt' and the subconscious of the dead and the living in order to achieve these manifestations. Is this why Ben is such an advocate on "letting go" of his father/Dharma? Because that way, if he has no baggage, the island cannot use his subconscious memory of them to invade his conscious and manipulate him? It would certainly make sense.
The one slight anomally is
Walt - it is not yet clear whether he is dead or alive. If he is dead then that would explain why he (or Smokey in the guise of Walt) was able to appear before Locke moments before he blew his brains out. If he is alive, then it could be explained by the fact that Walt is special and the island is either able to partially access his powers, or that it is simply Walt himself astral projecting.
