The Great 'Lost' Debate: Who was that boy in the jungle?

Well, another week, another edition of the Great "Lost" debate series. For a few weeks now, Zap2it's Rick Porter and I have tussled over burning questions in the show's final season. To our great credit, we have not yet resorted to name calling, hair pulling, or comparisons to Bai Ling. So let's hope this level of maturity and professionalism continues this week. The topic at hand? That creepy kid in the jungle.
 
Ryan McGee: OK, Rick, I realize you're a big shot now, what with your appearance on "Instant Dharma" and all. I understand that you're up to your ears in publicists, make-up artists, and screaming fanboys. But if you don't mind, the rest of us down here have a lot of questions about that blonde boy that Smocke and Sawyer saw in the jungle. I've been calling him "Peter Pan," because I think it's funny and that calling him "Connor" would confuse people that haven't seen "Angel." But clearly, he's not Peter Pan. So who is he?
 
The prevailing theories seem to break down as follows: 1) he's Jacob, or at least a younger version of him that The Man in Black would recognize; 2) he's Aaron, or some version of him that we have yet to see; 3) he's the personification of The Island, on the scene to remind The Man in Black that he's misbehaving; 4) he's the loved one that The Man in Black lost, alluded to in his speech to Sawyer; and my personal favorite 5) he's the ring bearer at Locke/Helen's wedding, the wedding at which everyone will apparently all attend in one month's time in the sideways universe and then get beamed magically back to the Island thanks to a giant red ball and Simon Pegg. (Can you tell I'm skeptical about Option #5? Because I am.)
 
Anyways, who ya got out of these options, Rick? Or is there another one I'm missing?
 
Rick Porter: If by "screaming fanboys" you mean "my niece texted me to tell me she liked 'Instant Dharma,'" then yes, I'm rolling in it. But thanks for thinking I'm any kind of shot, big or otherwise.
 
As to the identity of Peter Pan, I'd like to deal with No. 5 first -- because that's not a theory so much as it is fanfic. Other than the Kate-Claire scenes in "What Kate Does" and Locke's brief encounters with Jack, Rose and Hurley, these people don't know one another in the sideways universe -- certainly not well enough to attend Locke's wedding. Unless, of course, Kate has gone underground as a bartender-for-hire, Hurley is overseeing a Mr. Cluck's catering job and Driveshaft is now playing weddings.
 
OK, rant over. I'm inclined to believe that Peter Pan is a reincarnated Jacob, partly because of the way he's dressed (the vest is, I think, a dead giveaway) and partly because of his warning to the Locke in Black about not messing with the rules, which echoes their conversation in "The Incident." I'm also highly intrigued by the idea that Jacob IS Aaron, and by your suggestion -- one I hadn't thought of before -- that the boy is the loved one MIB lost. That would open up another level of storytelling that I'd be fascinated to see.
 
The other thing that got me thinking about Peter Pan's appearance was the fact that Sawyer could see him, but Richard apparently could not. What do you make of that?
 
RM: It's funny that the most obvious choice (Jacob) ironically seems the least likely. I've started calling Darlton "The Boys That Cried 'Lost'," not because I think they deserve that title but because of how fans seem wary of trusting anything onscreen anymore. They feel either burned by past assumptions or unwilling to accept any type of information as anything but a con. So now, I think a lot of people (including myself), have this thought process: "Aha! It's Jacob! Wait. That seems too easy. So it can't be Jacob." And then we end up talking ourselves into the type of pretzel logic employed by Vizzini in "The Princess Bride" and find ourselves dead on the ground thanks to iocane powder consumption.
 
If Jacob IS Aaron (whatever that actually means), it validates two things. Firstly, it validates that Aaron's birth and overall importance is seismic. Recent events that show both Ethan and Alex were also born on the Island negates his unique nature somewhat, but Malkin's prophecy in Season 1 has never stopped haunting me. Secondly, it validates my new theory that Jacob's ashes collected by Ilana in the statue indicate that Jacob's death at the end of Season 5 was part of a ritualistic slaughter, repeated enough times that it can surround not only the cabin, but the statue as well. I'm still working through what that means, but it's certainly intriguing.
 
As for Richard's inability to see the child: I'm starting to think he's the next coming of John Locke. He's a man that at first seemed impossibly cool and bad-ass, but has turned out to be anything but. He doesn't even know what a candidate is? Really? Even Bram knew what a candidate was! In my most recent podcast, Mo Ryan described him as "middle management," and I think that's about right at this point. He was perpetually befuddled in Season 5, conned by The Man in Black, and apparently not cool enough to be allowed to live in the Temple. This makes me all sorts of sad, as Richard used to be one of my favorite characters.
 
RP: The first part of that question is easier to answer: To me, Smocke's look of fear/confusion/anger at seeing the kid only makes me believe more that he's a version of Jacob. Here's a guy (or being, at least) in Smocke who finally thought he was rid of his nemesis, only to see him pop up again not more than a day after said nemesis was killed. To me, the look on Smocke's face read as much "Aw, c'mon!" as "Oh crap."
 
Now, what to make of Smocke yelling out "Don't tell me what I can't do"? It seems to me that MIB was using it in much the same way as the soul who formerly occupied his meat-suit did -- as a defiant, but mostly impotent, cry against those who doubt him. Yes, Locke was healed on the Island, but he was also led down a path where his own faith was twisted in such a way that helped result in the situation we're now seeing play out.
 
I think it's that sort of weakness that could pave the way for MIB's downfall. Maybe in Locke, the guy who puts the dark rock on the scale (the, uh, Black Rock, so to speak) recognizes not just someone he can manipulate but also a kindred spirit, someone with an abiding faith in the power of the Island; so much the better that he's relatively easy to manipulate to less-than-savory ends. But both are so single-minded -- Locke to prove he's everything people think he's not, MIB to get rid of Jacob -- that they can fail to see a bigger picture. The wheelchair-bound Locke we saw in "The Substitute," who was starting to accept his physical limitations, is apparently moving away from that kind of single-mindedness; I have to believe that will make a difference for the better if and when the two timelines start coming together. Don't you?
 
RM: I agree: I've written before that Jacob is all about strategy, whereas The Man in Black is all about tactics. The latter might make the bolder moves on the chessboard, but doesn't realize he's really playing the former's game until it's checkmate. I think Jacob saying, "They're coming," at the end of Season 5 was the first time that The Man in Black realize that the "game" as it were was not yet over. Seeing this male figure is just another example of how things aren't playing out the way he intended, which will only hasten his desire to see his endgame fulfilled.
 
Here's the funny thing, though: for a guy that patiently worked hundreds of years in order to free himself from the chains (metaphorical or not) that bind, he's certainly rushing things now that he's flesh and borrowed bone, no? Methinks he's working a bit too quickly, and that haste will make him miss things like, say, Sawyer's long con that started in the cave and will continue through its final (and, I fear, bitter) conclusion when James Ford picks the perfect time to cripple The Man in Black just as he's about to taste freedom.
 
But hey, we're getting ahead of ourselves here: let's leave that discussion for another time. And let the readers weigh in on this most mysterious boy: one week later, who do you think he is, fair readers? Leave your thoughts below!

Related:

The Great "Lost" Debate series

Live "Lost" chat returns for "Lighthouse" on February 23rd

Photo credit: ABC