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Twitter'Gods' once 'Lost', perhaps now found
"Lost" loves to put literature onscreen. It's a way to not only enable our inner book nerd, but also points to works that might shed light on events in the show itself. While the list of novels presented in the show is vast and varied, there's one not on the list that I wouldn't be surprised to see come Season 6: Neil Gaiman's "American Gods."
If you haven't read the book, don't worry. I will not give away spoilers here, nor do you need to have a deep understanding of the book to follow along with the rest of today's entry. I will say two things: 1) Gaiman's a god, and so it's hard to go wrong by picking this book up for yourself, and 2) having read it quite a while back, I'm relying on facts over on its Wikipedia page to help me with some of the specifics here today.
The gist of the book? An epic battle between the gods of old and the gods of new, conducted through a human agent that may or may not hold the key to tipping the scales. The old gods consist of European deities such as Odin and Zorya, but also figures in play in "Lost": Horus and Anubis. The new gods are manifestations of modern American life, so there are gods for cable television, the internet, automobiles, etc. Rife in "American Gods" is the notion of certain geographic areas of the world as fertile for not only growing crops, but deities as well. There's a combination of ecosystem and collective unconsciousness that produces these gods.
To me, this is a fascinating concept and a potential way to look at Jacob and The Man in Black. This Roman Catholic learned at an early age that God predated the universe, with all things flowing from Him. Gaiman approaches the construction of gods as something natural, organic, and above all man-made. The implication? We not only make our gods, but make them in the image of our own surroundings. So maybe we should stop looking at the two gods of "Lost" not as eternal creatures that predate those that built the statue on the Island, but in fact a byproduct of those people, sustained throughout the centuries by those that continually come to the Island.
Viewed from this perspective, the secretive, isolated nature of the Island and those that inhabit it potentially makes more sense. Change, the form of modern technology, inherently upsets the intrinsic nature of Jacob. Events such as hydrogen bomb testing or the construction of elaborate, underground, metallic scientific facilities affect the DNA of the landscape. Couple that with the collective psychic yearning for concrete answers over abstract faith and you have an essential corruption of the Island's fundamental qualities. Change those qualities, and you change the gods sprung from that particular place.
Another connection between "Lost" and "American Gods" lies in its use of humans as part of a long con to upset the balance of power on the godly plane. Again, I won't spoil the book, but there's a Locke-like figure at the heart of "Gods," albeit one that doesn't exactly follow Locke's ultimate path. However, I will say that man's ultimate ability to upset said power balance relates to one of the central aspects of the Island: mind into matter. Will matters. Choice matters. And they matter not only for the edification of the soul, but for the power that either Jacob or The Man in Black can ultimately wield.
Put another way: If Jeff Jensen is correct that "Follow the Leader" is an ode to "Peter Pan," then the power of the gods on the Island relates to Tinkerbell's ability to cheat death. I'm serious. Peter tells Wendy in the novel and the audience during theatrical versions that believing hard enough and clapping hard enough could bring Tink back to life after she swallowed the poison intended for Peter. The bottom line? Jacob and The Man in Black have as much power as people give unto them.
They have been equally powerful for as long as recorded history due to the fact they represent the light and dark side of humanity, itself having waged war with each other in the souls of men for as long as man has walked the earth. In the final moments of Season 5, The Man in Black thinks he's finally broken the cycle of history, smashed through the circle of ash, and tipped the scales once and for all. But much like Obi-Wan passively allowing Darth Vader to strike him down, Jacob might have just become more powerful than the Man in Black can possibly imagine. So you know what this means: SEASON 6 LIGHT SABER FIGHTS, BABY!
OK, so maybe not, as totally awesome as Hurley wielding a light saber would be. But I think in the final season of the show, we'll see just how important Jacob's visits to the Lostaways were, and to what extent those touches will influence their ability to defeat The Man in Black. Because of Jacob lives on inside of them, he never died at all. But for him to truly return, these people will have to help him along. Just as The Man in Black needed a host of humans to finally "kill" Jacob, Jacob needs a host of humans to once again live.
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Yes! I have been mulling over this connection for a while now. The long con of the gods part in particular. Thanks for bringing it up!
I'd mentioned a few times on Twitter that American Gods was ringing in my head after the finale... a god v. god game.
I haven't read the book but those are some really interesting points.
I read elsewhere that the creators of the show admitted to looking into how new Dalai Lamas (and other Lamas) are chosen. One of those methods are the showing of the past Lama's possessions to the possible new Lama as we saw when Richard came to 5 year old Locke and asked which object already belonged to him. He determined that there was nothing special about Locke which mystified him.
There is also the mention that Ilana made that even Frank could be "a candidate".
Now, its possible that the shows creators looked into Lama-choosing just for that one scene, or that Ilana found what she was looking for when Richard answered the riddle, but perhaps they are looking for a candidate for a new god, in some way, and had hoped that Locke was it.
Perhaps the "leaders" are folks who are being tested to find out if they are the new "Lama". It wasn't Eloise, Ben, or Locke.
If this theory holds true, I would say it's gonna be WALT!!
"OK, so maybe not, as totally awesome as Hurley wielding a light saber would be."
You do realize I'm gonna have to go and photoshop that now, right?
I like where you're going with this, Ryan. The Losties have always been central to this show; remember "Australia is the key to the whole thing", as Sawyer says in Season 4.
Here's the thing I keep coming back to; I'm not sure if Jacob is completely anti-science and the Man in Black is anti-faith. I bring this up because it's been made abundantly clear, especially in Season 5, that the Others are the dominant force on the Island and continue to be even in 2007. So how could the Dharma Initiative have set foot on the Island, let alone build all of their infrastructure unless the Others allowed it? And the Others have always (at least until the emergence of Ben & Widmore) taken their orders from Jacob, so one can ***ume Jacob WANTED the Dharma Initiative to be there. This indicates to me that Jacob saw value in their scientific endeavors, possibly as a way to balance the strong faith-based lifestyle of him and his followers.
Of course, maybe the Man in Black wasn't a prisoner yet back then and his own power allowed the Dharma Initiative to come. Maybe they were the latest pieces on the game board at that time, to be pitted against Jacob's loyalists. But as we saw from the opening scene in "The Incident", Jacob was the one who always started the game; it was HIS goal to set up the pieces, so he could show his adversary how he was wrong. So if the Dharma Initiative was brought by the Man in Black's power, he was taking an incredible leap of faith, thinking they could prove Jacob wrong. Or maybe they were just pawns, an attempt to get Jacob's followers to break their oath to the Island by indulging their darker natures and murdering their neighbors...with a technological blasphemy such as toxic gas grenades.
Beyond all that though, I also see the creation of "new Locke" as another leap of faith on the part of the Man in Black. By his own words he admitted that he went through a great deal to set that up; was it just due to years of cold, logical calculations or did the Man in Black set up his plan on faith, not knowing if it would ultimately succeed?
Is there a God of Twitter, and does he look like Ashton Kutcher?
Speaking of gods, would it be considered a spoiler to talk about the identity of the statue, now that it has been posted in the abc.com finale recap? Someone has already written it into the Wikipedia entry on said god!
Here is a thought. A few people have made references to a final battle between Locke and Anti-Locke in Season 6. Instead of the real Locke having his body taken over by Jacob, isn't it possible that Locke's spirit will help guide the Losties in their conflict with MIB? Remember that Miles and Hurley can communicate with the departed. Perhaps Locke will speak to them to let everyone on the island know that the Locke they see is an imposter. Once Miles and Hurley have pulled most of the people over to the good side, they will follow the lead of the spiritual Locke. Locke will become what Jacob has been. In essence, Locke will be the savior that he was meant to be. Like I said, just a thought.
Nice post Ryan. I especially liked your prediction in the last paragraph about Jacob's touch.
I have been wanting to read some Neil Gaiman and "American Gods" sounds like a good one to start on.
Pete... wicked insight. The thought that Hurley and Miles could communicate with dead Locke never occured to me.