The events of
4.11 Cabin Fever have further strengthened my belief in the notion of pre-protection.
We discover that Locke was indeed a 'special' child and was watched over by
Richard Alpert since his birth. There's even the suggestion from emily that Locke was "immaculately conceived" (1.19) - a claim I have
always believed.
With this in mind we can see that pre-protection..a third-party shaping and crafting (governing?) the lives of our Losties also existed in the form of Richard Alpert (Mittelos/The Hostiles/The Others). Considering his status, it's possible to assume that Richard is a representative of the island itself..and in much the same way the island prevented
Michael and
Jack from killing themselves (4.08 & 3.23 respectively), the island has also overseen the live(s) and actions of John Locke. One could even argue that the island (fate?) assisted the removal of his kidney and his paralysis in order to
break him..for the very purpose of
re-building him..causing him to believe in the
'possible', enticing him to view his own 'mircale' as a sign that he was
important.
All of the fits in perfectly with the notion of
'footprints in the sand' - the concept of a governing/powerful force being with someone even though they might not have known it at the
t-i-m-e. This governing force is invisible, however sometimes it hires agents to do it's work (Alpert etc), and usually it gets it's way - go figure, Locke ends up on the island.
As I theoried in my
original post - the island has always been there..watching and presiding over Locke (and others)..Locke is who he is BECAUSE of the Island..which in turn provides him with his sense of 'destiny'.
So now that we have some evidence as to how far the island's 'hold' goes back..it begs the question of whether or not this is the first time that Locke (and the others) have experienced their lives..or whether this is the 2nd or 3rd (etc) try. Is the island trying to 'get it right'..is this the last chance for everything to fall into place? In other 'loops', did Locke make 'other' choices?