LOST: The Villainy of Jacob

If you have not watched LOST seasons 1-5, then stop reading now. Seriously, stop now because following are spoilers that certainly diminish the enjoyment of the episodes for you that are yet to come. BUT, if you HAVE watched season 6, and this past week's episode "Across the Sea", then feel free to read on and prepared to be shocked.

In this past week's episode of LOST we learned that Man in Black and Jacob are fraternal twin brothers born of a woman named Claudia. We also learned that the origin of the black and white motif in the series began when Boy in Black discovered what appears to be an ancient Egyptian board game called Senet on the beach of the island. After discovering the board game, Boy in Black challenges Jacob to a game, and so begins the duo's ongoing relationship to all things black and white.

Something that you may not know is that the pieces that the boys use on the Senet board look a lot more like the game pieces from another game: Othello.

While Othello the game as we know it was not around until around 1890, it is still an important insight by the writer's that something more is going on in the relationship between Jacob and Man in Black.

In Othello the game, the objective of a player is to have any many pieces as possible at the conclusion of the game be of their color (either black or white). This mirrors the game and relationship that Man in Black and Jacob exhibit as Jacob looks for a candidate to replace him as Protector of the Island.

There is another reference, a more important reference indicated by Othello, and that is the Shakespearean play of the same name. The play centers around a black man, named Othello, who is imprisoned (unfairly we later learn) by the authorities after a jealous compatriot named Iago manipulates him into killing his wife Desdomona. Iago achieves this feat by making Othello believe that Michael Cassio, a man who was rewarded with a promotion that Iago desired, was having an affair with his wife. The accusation is untrue, but Othello believes it and kills her. Does this sound familiar? A black man imprisoned after being manipulated in a game controlled by a man named Iago? By the way, you should know that the word Iago is a variant of a name that English speaking people know well: Jacob.

An interesting strategy by the way in Othello is that of parity, which according to Wikipedia is "about getting the last move in every empty region in the end-game, and thereby increasing the number of stable discs. The concept of parity led to a change in the perception of the game, as it led to distinct strategies for playing black and white. It forced black to play more aggressive moves and gave white the opportunity to stay calm and focus on keeping the parity. As a result the opening books and mid-game were focused on black being the 'attacker' and white being the 'defender'." This parity also mirrors the structure of the characters of Man in Black, who is often considered by most LOST fans as the attacker, and the role of Jacob (Man in White) as the defender.

So there you have it. As usual, the writers (in this Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse), have buried a subtextual reference in their writing that gives us a clue about ultimately the true nature of Jacob. This foreshadowing treasure was born out later in Jacob's punishment of the Man in Black's freewill and desire to leave the island and learn more about himself and his origins. Prohibited by their adoptive Mother from killing his brother, Jacob accomplishes the task with a "fate worse than death", the lifelong imprisonment of Man in Black's memories and self in an amorphous electromagnetic black smoke.

I think that in the final two episodes we will see more and more of Jacob's treachery play out. I think more sympathy will be generated for the Man in Black's plight, and he will be redeemed. After all, this is a pair of producers who love the Star Wars saga, which was ultimately the fall and redemption of Anakin Skywalker. Another series from whom we have been fed references throughout the series and particularly during season 6.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reversi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iago
http://www.thinkbabynames.com/meaning/1/Iago