OH shit. I just thought of this.

Was that the smoke monster? Was the guy in the beginning and the smoke monster somehow the same thing? It can shape shift, as it did into Alex. Who told Ben to do whatever Locke told him too, i.e. kill Jacob. So it shape shifts into Locke who tells Ben to kill Jacob.

But. Why did it have to wait for John to do that?

Why could Ben kill Jacob and not say, that first guy at the beginning?

Of course that theory could be incredibly wrong, haha.

One of my major problems with the finale was the Jacob thing seemed forced. We wait five seasons, we find out who Jacob is, he goes around doing crazy shit and then he's dead.

I'm lost, no pun intended. Where do they go from here?

LOL now the time travel part seems simple.