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Stray
05-10-2007, 09:42 AM
• "The Black Rock is not far. This is where it all began -- where my team got infected -- where Montand lost his arm." - Danielle Rousseau to Jack Shepard et al in Exodus, Part 1
• "A week ago I couldn't move my toes, but the minute you showed up, I started to feel pins and needles." - Ben Linus to John Locke in The Brig
• "I guess I just don't see a reason to celebrate the day you killed your mother. She was seven months pregnant, but you just couldn't wait." - Roger Linus to Ben Linus in The Man Behind the Curtain

The third quote there is paraphrased since there's no transcript for TMBTC yet. Healing. The power to heal. We've always assumed it's the island itself that has healing powers, but do we really have any reason to believe this? We've heard testimony from Rousseau that members of her team who arrived on the island sixteen years ago died horrible deaths. A man named Montand lost his arm. Why weren't those people miraculously healed?

In The Man Behind the Curtain we saw Dharma in it's heyday, and nobody seemed under the impression that wounds could be healed miraculously. Certainly one wouldn't operate under this assumption while grabbing a rifle and waging war with the "hostiles." Additionally, we saw a video depicting Marvin Candle outside the barracks with his prosthetic arm. Clearly, the island didn't heal him.

As it turns out, we don't have a singular confirmed case of miraculous healing prior to the crash of Oceanic Flight 815. By the same account, there are dozens of children on the island during the Dharma days, there are men and women, presumably a few couples -- it doesn't appear that there was any fertility problem back then, either; at least not until Ben's arrival. It is also apparent that Ben didn't start recovering from his spinal surgery until Locke arrived at the Barracks.

What I'm getting at is that Locke is truly the one with healing powers, and Ben with the powers of death and destruction. I don't believe that either of these men know what they're doing (well, Ben might), but Locke's presence seems to be the thing with healing properties, and if I'm not mistaken, the pregnant women amongst the others are dying because of Ben's presence. Note that Ben's mother was seven months pregnant when he was born and she died. Seven months is just passing the cusp of the third trimester, and Juliet has told us that pregnant Others never make it to the third term.

The one major kink in this idea is obviously that Naomi healed without Locke's presence (it could be interpreted that since Locke was the one who pushed Mikhail into the sonic fence, he began to heal then and there), but perhaps Locke merely channels positive, healing energy and Ben channels negative energy; the energy is already extant on the island (perhaps throughout the world) but these two men, for whatever reason, can amplify it.

It's also been suggested that Ben is holding Jacob captive, keeping him in his weakened, semi-corporeal state and of course, Ben is the one who "activated" Clarie's illness. Perhaps the idea that he was activating something that was injected into her during her stay at the Staff is another one of his elaborate lies, and he in fact mentally/spiritually attacked her with his negative energy.

Ben the Black King; amoral, murderous, patricidal, devious, lying, treacherous, reliant on modern technology, man of chickens and guns. John the White Knight; virtuous, honest, hunter, tracker, incapable of murder, healed by the island, reliant on himself, man of nature's bounty and knives. What do you make of all this? Does Locke's presence heal? Is Ben's presence killing pregnant women? Tell us what you think.

fletchmorg
05-10-2007, 09:52 AM
The one drawback to Locke, he sacrificed Boone, he has admitted that. And much like James killing Anthony, he may have not actually done it, but he made sure it happened.

But great charecter analysis.

OALpilot
05-10-2007, 10:29 AM
The one drawback to Locke, he sacrificed Boone, he has admitted that. And much like James killing Anthony, he may have not actually done it, but he made sure it happened.

But great charecter analysis.


Didn't Locke say Boone was a necessary sacrifice by the island, not that he sacrificed Boone?

Debisobsessed
05-10-2007, 10:45 AM
I can't exactly call Locke white knight. He's become outright scary, violent and obssessed lately. He's not my hero.

bakerboys
05-10-2007, 11:11 AM
I agree with you, DIO, Locke has become a scary, violent man and not one that I like much lately.

fletchmorg
05-10-2007, 11:17 AM
Didn't Locke say Boone was a necessary sacrifice by the island, not that he sacrificed Boone?

I'm pretty sure that Lockes said that on more than one occasion Locke has said "The Island demanded a sacrifice" or "Boone was a necessary sacrifice." That is off memory.

ayrez
05-10-2007, 11:24 AM
It was discussed between Ben and Juliet (before the plane crash) that no one had ever had cancer on the island. Plus, Mikail insinuated to Desmond that Naomi would be better tomorrow after having her lung punctured because people have a way of healing very quickly on the island (paraphrasing.) I don't think he would have been so matter of fact about it if John were the healer and not the island--or something/someone that's been around the island for a while.