I'm sure people have mentioned it somewhere, but on this board I have never seen reference to Joseph Campbell or the Monomyth. Maybe I missed it but it seems clear this is the arc the story has always been on. My wife keeps saying Jack being the candidate is too "obvious" but I think that is the whole point. He is the hero on the Hero's Journey

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero%27s_journey

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1b/Heroesjourney.svg/398px-Heroesjourney.svg.png

If you look at the stages of the journey as described by Campbell this all work for Jack

* 2.1 Departure
o 2.1.1 The Call to Adventure
o 2.1.2 Refusal of the Call
o 2.1.3 Supernatural Aid
o 2.1.4 The Crossing of the First Threshold
o 2.1.5 Belly of The Whale
* 2.2 Initiation
o 2.2.1 The Road of Trials
o 2.2.2 The Meeting With the Goddess
o 2.2.3 Woman as Temptress
o 2.2.4 Atonement with the Father
o 2.2.5 Apotheosis
o 2.2.6 The Ultimate Boon
* 2.3 Return
o 2.3.1 Refusal of the Return
o 2.3.2 The Magic Flight (Literally takes a pretty magical flight)
o 2.3.3 Rescue from Without
o 2.3.4 The Crossing of the Return Threshold
o 2.3.5 Master of Two Worlds
o 2.3.6 Freedom to Live


Master of Two Worlds

This step is usually represented by a transcendental hero like Jesus or Buddha. For a human hero, it may mean achieving a balance between the material and spiritual. The person has become comfortable and competent in both the inner and outer worlds.


Freedom to Live

Mastery leads to freedom from the fear of death, which in turn is the freedom to live. This is sometimes referred to as living in the moment, neither anticipating the future nor regretting the past.




I think it's been pretty obvious from the beginning that Jack is the hero, he is the one on this 6 season long quest and he is where it will be. People haven't always liked Jack the character but that is because he, like all heroes, was a flawed hero. But not that he is coming to the end he's reaching the balance, he's becoming free and he's fully accepted his position. A position that was pretty much his from the first scene of the show.

Excellent connection.

I don't think it's all about Jack. I think each of the main characters has lived his/her own Hero's Journey in some way. Try applying the outline to Locke, Sawyer, Kate, Sayid, Ben, etc.

Jack is He-Man now. Master of the Universe!

Rose and Bernard come to mind in The Incident being free from the fear of death.

Don't forget Desmond in this light also because he fears nothing in the sideways world thanks to Charlie and is trying to get everyone to wake up. And actually he was awakened again on the island by his second EM dose. Not to mention the guy was a monk.


The Crossing of the Return Threshold

"The trick in returning is to retain the wisdom gained on the quest, to integrate that wisdom into a human life, and then maybe figure out how to share the wisdom with the rest of the world. This is usually extremely difficult."

For me the thing I dont like about Jack is that alot of his decisions have been influenced by very flawed/copnfused characters such as Locke, MIB, and Jacob and based upon guilt but I guess that includes pretty much everyone on the show anyways. I see him as too much like the old Locke and so has just flipped sides. But like you say he seems to be the saviour on the island.