Is This Why Locke Died Off Island?

[Miss Austen]

In Season 4 we see Locke apparently dead in a coffin and he is reported to have killed himself.

Could this be that because the island heals, the reverse is true off island? In other words, injuries you sustained on the island reverse themselves. So when Ben shot Locke, perhaps that injury reversed itself and proved ultimately fatal off island.

This could be why Ben wants to take Locke back to the island so that he is healed again - food for thought!

[D-Roc]

It's certainly interesting. I would say that the island still appears to heal/protect the likes of Sayid, Jack (the O6), so I'm not sure yiour theory applies directly.

That said, the island seems able to discriminate, to pick and choose who it heals and 'when'. So perhaps the blanket of protection was lifted from Locke, and as you say, the injuries etc that he received before began to take effect. Or perhaps the island killed him. Interestingly the island didn't try it's best to kill Ben..instead giving him a tumor rather than just 'taking him out', so to speak. Not sure how that ties in, but thought i'd mention it.

I also wonder whether or not Ben is still being protected off the island? It would certainly seem so seeing as Widmore still cannot kill Ben (as was revealed in the final scene of TSoTTC - 4.09), so why would Locke..Ben's successor be able to die? Why hasn't he been given the same priviledges?

Oh, I should also add that Sayid seemed certain that Locke didn't commit suicide and that he was murdered instead (from his response to Hurley in 4.14).

[Miss Austen]

Hi Roc,

Re your comments about Ben seeming to be more protected than Locke. I don't think that would surprise me somehow. The only bad thing to happen to Ben so far on the island was his daughter being killed. Ben seems to have led a charmed life. As Ben himself said, a day or so after he learnt he had a tumour on the spine, a spinal surgeon fell out of the sky!

I think Locke has possibly had the worse life off island. No wonder he wasn't bothered about going back.

I still can't believe somehow that Locke is the leader of The Others and this may be why he wasn't protected. Ben just seems to have accepted Locke replacing him too calmly. Something doesn't seem right.

[TimeTravellingBunny]

Originally Posted by Miss Austen

I still can't believe somehow that Locke is the leader of The Others and this may be why he wasn't protected. Ben just seems to have accepted Locke replacing him too calmly. Something doesn't seem right.

Why? Ben is not all-powerful. If both Jacob/the island and the Others want Locke as the new leader, what could Ben do? He shot Locke, but he stayed alive. I wonder if he was partly checking if Locke was really the chosen one and if Jacob/the island will save him... (That would be a good way to explain the stupidity of leaving your rival lying in a pit with a bullet in his gut, instead of finishing him off. )

It doesn't make sense to me that the leader of the Others wasn't protected... I would expect the opposite... But we don't know the real story behind Locke's "death" so it's early to draw any conclusions. (Then again, I don't believe he is really dead.)