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The Cabin
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Ben discovered the cabin, and set Smokey free[]

At some point after 1977, either DHARMA or the Others caught Smokey and imprisoned him in the cabin using the ring of ash.

Young Ben, now healed by the temple water and wanting out of his DHARMA life, went looking for Jacob and encountered the cabin. Smokey tricked him into thinking he was Jacob, and slowly began grooming the boy to his selfish ends. He even instructed Ben to break the circle of ash, never explaining what it was for.

At this time, only Richard was speaking to the real Jacob. Ben never told Richard he was also speaking to "Jacob" in the cabin. Smokey was free to come and go from the cabin as he pleased now. Ben never realized that he was the one who released Smokey on the island -- Smokey tricked him into thinking that Smokey could be summoned at will.

Sensing that the group's experiments were getting close to tapping into the Island's source, the real Jacob told Richard he wanted DHARMA off the island. Using this edict to his advantage, Jacob (Smokey) commanded Ben to go even further and kill DHARMA, perhaps promising him the glory of eternal leadership of the Others. Ben did as he was told and commanded the gassing of the Barracks, but once the deed was done, Jacob (Smokey) stopped talking to him. Thus began Ben's hatred of Jacob, for the distress of his horrible deeds. Getting Ben to hate Jacob -- and to eventually kill him -- was part of Smokey's plan all along.

It is not clear if Richard also came into contact with Fake Jacob or the cabin. But it seems that he began to follow Ben's orders with some understanding that they were Jacob's as well.

When Ben took John Locke to the cabin, he fully expected no one to be there. So when Jacob (Smokey) talked to John and only John, Ben's anger grew even more.

It is not clear if the real Jacob was unable or unwilling to act while Smokey manipulated Ben (and by extension, Richard and the Others).

  • Ben states in The Incident: Part Two and several times in Season 6 that he never saw Jacob. Ben is also surprised and confused to learn, after killing Jacob, that the Black Smoke can manifest in human form. In turn, the Man in Black (in Locke's body) never suggests Ben has met him, and explains himself and his actions as if Ben were ignorant of his human manifestations and history with Jacob. This totally contradicts the above theory.

Whose Cabin is it?[]

Bernard and Rose's or Horace and Amy's depending on your point of reference[]

It's not some centuries old prison for the monster or the fortress of solitude for Jacob. The monster lived in the basement underneath the temple...whenever Ben drew the Monster to his house the monster was in the temple basement and it took only so long for the monster to get to Ben's house...Ben knew enough of the monster's time table to be surprised at him not showing up in Dead is Dead. He knew it didn't take that long to get to his house. Jacob lived in the foot.

In the real timeline Horace did build the cabin for his wife but he hadn't done it by the time of the 815 gang's trip to the 70s. When everyone went back to 1974 Bernard began constructing his own cabin. The gang created a new timeline starting when they first went back to 1954 and later to 1974 and 1977. The timelines have not been diverged since 1977 when the bomb went off but rather since 1954 as that was the earliest point they made any crucial tampering of the timeline. Whatever Happened Didn't Happen. Everything from season 5 were events that laid the foundation for the events happening in season 6 alt timeline not just the bomb stuff.

The cabin that the real Horace built/would build was populated with things like pictures of Labradors and jars of paint because Horace somehow perceived the cabin in the alt timeline and because Rose and Vincent lived in the other cabin. The real Horace being the quantum physicist he is may have a way to traverse to timelines inside the cabin. Upon discovering this Jacob had no choice BUT to engineer the destruction of Dharma and he had a ring of ash placed around the cabin to keep the monster out not to keep him in. He also had the cabin teleport all over the island so the monster could not use pawns to break the circle for him. Once John Locke broke the ash circle in The Man Behind The Curtain the monster was able to enter the cabin and learn everything he could about the alternate reality and use it to begin his plan to murder Jacob and John Locke.


Jacob's[]

  • The painting of the dog in the Cabin is called "Jacob's Dog". The artist is unknown and Jacob was never seen with a dog. The only dog on the island in present time would have been Vincent.
  • Ok by the commentary, it seems like the producers/writers wanted it to be Jacob's cabin. Here is what I think. The cabin was built by Horace. After Horace was "purged" the cabin became a meeting place for Jacob and Richard or other leaders of the "Hostiles", including Temple leaders. The Ash was put around the cabin to keep Smokey out, so he couldn't interfere and/or kill anyone. Ben knew about the cabin but never, saw or met with Jacob, which explains the manipulation of Ben by Smokey to kill Jacob. Smokey was in the cabin when Ben took Locke there, it is inferred that the ring was broken before this. This could have been done by anyone coming across the cabin after the Purge. Rousseau, other Hostiles, Henry Gale, or even Ben himself. The ash ring seems to surround the cabin in a big radius so it could have been broken anywhere in the circle without anyone knowing it, also an animal; polar bear, boar, horse, monkey, or tree frog could have broken the ring, or the weather could have, lots of things could have. Once smokey got in, he used it to manipulate people thinking he was Jacob or working for Jacob. After Jacob realized that Smokey was using it, he just used the statue and that's where Richard met with Jacob. Jacob knew of Ilana and Bram's coming so he went to the Cabin and left the picture of the statue to let them know where to find him, so they could expose Smokey.
  • It was Jacob in the cabin. He'd been hiding there because, due to the ring of ash, it was the only place he was safe from his brother. When the ring was broken, perhaps inadvertently by Hurley or Locke, he was susceptible to his enemy, so he left and took refuge under the Statue. He even left a note - pinned to the wall with a knife - telling Ilana & Bram where he could be found.
    • Why would Jacob want to be safe from his brother? We know from the The Incident Part 1 & 2 that Man in Black can't hurt Jacob directly. So it WAS Jacob's Cabin, but somehow he imprisoned his brother in the cabin by surounding it with ash. Then he moved to the Statue. Sometime later on, the ash was broken by a visit from Hurley, Claire, Ben or Locke. Only thing I can't account for is how Man in Black was able to move around the Island in Season 1 and 2 as the smoke monster, someone any theories?
      • The ash circle had to be broken by Locke, Hurley, or Ben, but not Claire. By the time Hurley sees the cabin, he, Locke, and Ben are the only known visitors. Hurley sees Christian and we know that's MIB, who hasn't been in touch with Claire yet.
      • If the ash can stop the MIB/Black Moster it doesn't make sense that he was imprisioned at the cabin because we could see the Smokey in the first episode of the show. So he was not released by cabin's visitors, because he was already free. So, it's more reasonable he was out and, then, when the ash was broken, he could get in. So he started to manipulate people that doens't know Jacob as the "Power on the Island".
      • Perhaps the ash around the cabin was a way to seperate the man from the spirit, I.E trap/displace jacobs nemisis phsical in the cabin form from the spirit/smoke which roams lose around the island. When the ash is broken after he asks john for help he is free to put his plan into action of becoming a whole man again.
    • It was Jacob's cabin, but he was already gone from the cabin when Locke and Ben first visit the cabin. As seen in "The Incident, Part 1", he can be touched and has a "human" body, but that "person" Locke saw in the cabin asking him for help was not human, it was a vision, so the Man in Black had already started to manipulate him even then. He manipulated Locke into killing Naomi, sending Ben off the island, dying so the he could impersonate him afterwards, and so on to everything we have seen up to "The Incident, Part 1".
      • Man in Black tried to get to Jack and Claire too, but Locke was the one with the disposition to blindly follow orders. It has been using him from the beginning, since it pulled him into the hole back in season one's finale.
  • It could either be that 1) Jacob's brother was the one trapped in the cabin asking Locke to help him (he used Christian's body until he could get closer to Jacob by using Locke's body) or 2) Jacob's brother kept Jacob locked in the cabin while he was out impersonating Christian, looking for his loophole in order to kill Jacob. Somehow Jacob managed to escape the cabin.
  • The cabin was originally Jacob's. He used it to communicate with Richard and the Others’ leaders (except Ben). The ash circle was there to keep Man in Black out, and thus keep those conferences private. When somebody -- possibly Locke -- broke the circle, Jacob confined himself to the statue, which the Rules state only the Leader may enter. Jacob is able to travel around much like the Monster, and in this way left the knife in the wall.
  • Initially Jacob lived in the cabin. The ring of ash was to keep Man in Black out. Then the Man in Black , posed as Christian Shephard, used Claire to break the ash, thus threatening Jacob. Jacob then moved to the Statue, while the Man in Black inhabited the cabin, waiting for John Locke. When Locke came, "Christian" said that he could speak on Jacob's behalf knowing that Ben would turn the wheel and leave the island so he (Man in Black ) could execute his plan of killing Jacob.
    • Jacob doesn't need protection from the Man in Black , cause he can't hurt him. So what are the ashes for then?
  • It was Jacob's cabin, but it was Jacob's brother whom Ben and Locke met sitting in the chair in the first visit to the cabin. The man said to Locke "help me", referring to being the loop hole that will eventually lead to the killing of Jacob. The ring of ash was to keep Jacob's brotherin, imprisoned by Jacob. When Ilana & Bram visited the burned down cabin they realized that the black ash was disturbed and that the Man in Black has escaped.
    • Ilana & Bram went to the cabin to see Jacob, meaning they thought that Jacob resided in the cabin & not that it was used to imprison the Man in Black. When they saw that the ring of ash had been broken, they knew that this meant is was possible that the Man in Black was inside, which is why they became cautious.
  • The tapestry depicting the statue is pinned to the wall using the same knife Jacob uses to cut the fish in the opening scene of The Incident. We know it is Jacob's knife, and we know Jacob weaves tapestry.
  • Jacob had been weaving the tapestry at the Shadow of the Statue for a long time. The cabin is more a place of refuge or escape. The ash was definitely a barrier, noted by Locke the first time he went there, but it is unclear whether its purpose s to keep something in or out.
  • The ash circles had been broken since before it was shown the first time, when Ben took Locke there. We just didn't see it was broken until Llana spotted it. The cabin was used by Jacob who put the ash circle there to keep it from being used by the Smoke Monster. It used to be a sanctuary, but no longer. In every appearance of the cabin on the show it was the Smoke Monster who occupied it. Maybe the S.Monster was pretending to be Jacob in order to manipulate Ben. The last time we saw Clair before her return in Season 6 she was in the cabin with "Christian", who was really the S.M. who is now her "friend". She states that both her father and her friend told her the Others have her baby, which we know to be a lie. The Smoke Monster is manipulative to the nth degree and will use any thing he can to get what he wants, including using a magical jumping cabin.
  • I don't know who was residing in it but don't think it was Jacob or the Man in Black. As stated above The Man in Black can't hurt Jacob directly, so there would have been no need for the ring of ash to keep him out. Also, the Man in Black was not trapped inside the Ash circle as we saw the smoke on the island numerous times, meaning he was not inside the cabin.
    • The Man in Black cannot hurt Jacob directly, but he CAN hurt him indirectly by manipulating other people on the island to harm Jacob. I think the MIB was the one confined in Jacob's cabin. Jacob put him there so that he could not manipulate any other "candidates". Sort of like what Richard Alpert told Jacob in "Ab Aeterno", that if Jacob didn't "step in" to help the candidates that he brings to the island, the MIB would step in. It is implied that the MIB would manipulate the candidates into turning against Jacob or the MIB would kill the candidate. So perhaps Jacob took Richard's advice and "locked" the MIB into his cabin. Richard became the go between. The MIB somehow got out of the cabin and inhabited Christian Shepard's body, then went back to the cabin waiting for Locke to manipulate him and Ben so that he could inhabit Locke's body and ultimately kill Jacob. The black smoke monster is just the "spirit" form of the MIB. The spirit can still hurt Jacob indirectly by killing important people. It seems the smoke monster can inhabit dead people's bodies -- even before he escaped Jacob's cabin. The MIB though knew that he needed to inhabit Locke's body though in order to get Ben to do what Locke said and to kill Jacob. Perhaps Jacob could not lock up the spirit form of the MIB, and could only lock up physical body of the MIB which escaped Jacob's cabin and took possession of Christian's body and then Locke's body.
  • The cabin is not Jacob's home, but a secure meeting place to talk to the leader of the Others. He lives under the statue, and did not want to invite people into his home, so he used the cabin. In order to make it secure so his conversations can not be listened too by MiB, he had it surrounded by ash. Since no one knew of the MiB at the time, the ash also made it so MiB can not impersonate Jacob or pretend to speak for Jacob. Once the ash barrier was broken, MiB was able to pretend to speak for Jacob, and deceive people.
  • Jacob was using the cabin to communicate with Richard and other leaders. He left messages in the cabin to say what he wanted to be done by the Others. Jacob himself, however, lived in the four-toed statue. Not in the cabin. The ash was laid around the cabin so that the Man in Black couldn't interfere with Jacob instructing the Others what to do. But at some point before the evenst of 'The Man Behind the Curtain' the line of ash got broken (this all is said in the Lost Encyclopedia). So Jacob doesn't use the cabin for messages anymore. Jacob probably tells Richard this piece of information, but he doesn't tell Ben anything because he doesn't trust Ben. And would you blame him? He lies to his people, distracts them with furtility problems (like Richard said) and gives the Others assignments, lying that they came from Jacob. So at the events of 'The Man Behind the Curtain' Ben, still thinking the Cabin is used for messages (he's never seen Jacob), he decides to deceive John into thinking Jacob is sitting in the rocking chair. It is clear in the episode that the fact there actually is someone in the rocking chair scares the living daylights out of him. This, in fact, is the Man in Black impersonating a random person. He manipulates Locke, saying: 'Help me.' While Ben and John fully believe it is Jacob, this leads John to believe he has to help Jacob. The Man in Black makes a personal connection with John, because he makes sure Ben doesn't hear it, which gives John more self confidence (and makes sure he becomes the new leader of the Others, which is very important voor the MiB). This makes sure Locke later returns to the cabin in the episode 'Cabin Fever'. And of course, this sets the events in motion that make sure the Man in Black can impersonate Locke, the leader of the Others, making sure he is in the position to get to Jacob. But let's not get ahead of things, and let's go back to the episode 'The Beginning of the End' (season 4 premiere). The episode in which we see the a) cabin physically move from spot to spot and b) not one, but clearly two men residing in the cabin. My interpretation of this is that those two men are the Man in Black (of course, because we see Christian Shepard in the cabin) and Jacob (I mean, who else could it be). I think that at this point Jacob knows for sure the Man in Black is using his cabin, because when Ben comes back at camp, after he has shot Locke (in 'The Man behind the Curtain'), he gives Richard and the rest of the Others a new assignment, stating it comes directly from Jacob. Richard looks at him very sceptical, of course knowing that it couldn't be Jacob because he lives in the statue now. Richard believes, I think, that someone actually gave that assignment (while it was actually Ben making it up), and that it was the Man in Black: the very thing Jacob warned him about. So after Richard informed Jacob, Jacob now has confirmation the Man in Black is using his cabin. I think that Jacob at that moment tried to imprison the Man in Black by surrounding the cabin with ash. Jacob went inside to see if he really trapped his brother. But it didn't work out however, because the Man in Black, with his telekenatic powers (which he showed in 'Dr. Linus' in season six), could move the cabin once inside. So he just teleported the cabin out of the ash circle, which Hurley witnesses in 'The Beginning of the End'. The door of the cabin opens (Hurley closes his eyes, so we don't see it) and the Man in Black (Christian) shows to Jacob he can walk out of the cabin. Then he teleports him, Jacob and the whole cabin to another place. I think the writers included this scene to tell us that Jacob can't simply trap the Man in Black when he resides in the cabin. When The Man in Black (in the form of Christian) abducts Claire and infects her, he makes sure that she keeps the ash line broken. Because if he has to move the cabin constantly it would get very hard for Locke to find it. And after all, the Man in Black needs Locke. Three years later Ilana and her crew find the cabin with the broken ashline (Claire makes sure it keeps broken so that the Man in Black easily could enter and leave the cabin). At that moment they know someone else has been using the cabin, but luckily Jacob left them the tapistry which makes sure Ilana goes to the statue.

Man in Black[]

  • Jacob is Taweret and his brother is the Monster. There is no inherent 'power' of the island, it has been these two all along. Lost is all about dualities, and they are two opposing forces. Some time in the 19th century Jacob and the Man in Black are on the beach, and the Man in Black is in a human form. the Man in Black wants to kill Jacob but it seems he can't because of the Rules, and he needs a loophole. One of the rules is that the Man in Black can't kill Jacob himself. To get around that, the Man in Black gives up (loses?) his body sometime between the beach scene and the Dharma Initiative. Consider that in the timeline, we haven't seen the Man in Black in his human form since the 19th century. All he can do is to occupy bodies of people who have died (Christian Shepherd, Yemi, Locke). The ash at the cabin seems to be some kind of barrier. It's possible we can't know what it means yet, but I don't think it strictly kept the Man in Black imprisoned, because I believe we saw him both inside (asking Locke to 'help' him, also as Christian) and outside (Christian again, Monster, Yemi). Either way, Ilana's reaction at seeing the ash broken means it's an indicator that the Man in Black has accomplished something against Jacob.
    • Nemesisthe Man in Black has been manipulating Ben all along. He's been giving him instructions while pretending to be Jacob (explains why Ben believes that Jacob hates progress), then while Ben is in the temple, the Man in Black appearing as the monster uses Alex's death as leverage to get Ben to blindly follow false Locke (also Nemesis).
    • Also supporting the idea that the Man in Black has been somehow disabled since the beach scene: just before Jacob is killed, the Man in Black (as Locke) says "you have no idea what I've gone through to BE HERE" suggesting that he has been disabled/exiled/imprisoned in some way.
  • The cabin is not Jacob's cabin, it's Jacob's brother's Cabin. Jacob's brother was imprisoned by Jacob (or his allies: Ilana and Co.) in the cabin, using the circle of ashes. Ilana went to the cabin because she feared that the Man in Black has escaped and taken the form of John Locke, and she wants to determine whether the Man in Black is still there. She noticed that the circle of ashes is broken, and this worried her because it means that Esau could have escaped. When she went in and found nobody there and the cloth with the picture of the statue, this told her and her people that the Man in Black had gone there.
  • Jacob never resided in the cabin, it was always Jacob's brother that lived there. He was trapped in the cabin by the ash laid around it. When Ilana arrived and noticed that this line of ash was broken, and that the man had likely escaped, she and the rest of the crew were fearful. The picture of the statue was left almost as a mockery, like "This is where you'll find me now." So they burned the cabin and headed to the statue to save Jacob.
    • The picture of the was a final discovery of where Jacob was hiding, as it was held up by a knife.
    • He probably wasn't trapped, because a) we've seen the smoke monster rampaging outside during this time, and b) Christian was him charading around in human form. It's more likely that he was "released" by the same thing that brough the Losties to the island, and the smoke ring prevents him from getting IN to the cabin.
  • Ilana did not go into the cabin expecting to find Jacob -- she expected to find the Man in Black , because the ring of ash has been containing him. The note on the wall is not a signal from Jacob at all -- it's a sort of gloating clue that the Enemy has escaped, and that Jacob's days are numbered. The place has been used to house evil, so Ilana orders it to be destroyed.
  • In the episode Dead is Dead when Ben is talking to Sun outside his old house in the barracks John comes stumbling in from the woods. Consider that he went to Jacob's cabin. There, he either 1) realized it was not Jacob that lived there which is why he asked Richard and not Ben to take him to Jacob on the beach, 2) intentionally disturbed the ring of ash, or 3) pinned the cloth image to the wall.
  • Jacob's cabin was never Jacob's cabin: it was Jacob's Nemesis’ cabin. The circle of ash was there put by Jacob and his allies to contain Nemesis inside the cabin. When Ilana goes to the cabin she is not looking for Jacob, or Richard. She is going there to check and see if Nemesis is there. She wants to check that before doing anything else because she fears that Nemesis has escaped and taken the form of Locke (as they saw Locke after the crash of Ajira 316), and she wants to make sure. When she realizes that he is not there, and sees the cloth with the picture of the statue, she is worried, because that signals that Nemesis has escaped and is going towards Jacob.
    • Also, when Ben took Locke to the cabin he said that Jacob does not like progress, but he was wrong about that (or lying since he never actually met Jacob). We know that Jacob is not against progress, as seen by his statement at the beginning of The Incident. But that wasn't Jacob’s cabin, it was Nemesis’ cabin and it is Nemesis who does not like progress.
    • Also the fact that Ilana asks Frank and Richard the question "What lies in the shadow of the statue?" and she expects the answer "He who will protect us all" (implying Jacob, because of the obvious alliance between Ilana and Jacob), suggests that the cabin is not Jacobs but his Nemesis dwelling, because the secret location of Jacobs home is the statue.
      • The ash ring is not for imprisoning the Nemesis. He needs a loophole to kill Jacob, he cant kill him just like that, so there has been no need to contain him up until now.
        • The ash ring is not there to keep Esau (Nemesis/Samuel/MIB) from being able to kill Jacob, it is there to entrap him, thus halting his progress in finding his "loophole".
  • If we go off the theory that the nemisis has taken on christians form, then Claire or Locke couldn't be responsible for breaking the ash line because he was in the forest as soon as the plane crashed (asuming vincent was concious immediadtly after the crash when he communicates with the form of christian). So either the Nemisis and christian are seperate people (entity's/whatever), or that circle of ash around the cabin is not for containment
    • Not necessarily. Nemesis could be physically trapped in the cabin, but still be able to move around the island in spirit form -- i.e. as the Smoke Monster, or in people's dreams or through apparitions, such as Christian.
      • Wait a second ! If he could still move in spirits, then whats the point of containing him. I seriously doubt the ash was there to contain him in any way. Because as the smoke "monster", he was known to do damage to a lot of people.
  • The Cabin always belonged to Jacob's Nemesis, the circle of ash was used to keep him there.The Nemesis either has the ability to inhabit other people's bodies (primarily dead ones) or is bodyless himself and that's why he can only appear in the form of other people (like Voldemort in Harry Potter).We know that Ben has never seen or spoken to Jacob, who prefered to contact the Others via Richard.This fact always offended Ben and the Nemesis being able to scan other people's minds, their memories and emotions used it.He talked to him pretending to be Jacob and that was also a part of the loop.When Locke came to the Cabin, it was the Nemesis's voice saying "Help me".Ben said that Jacob hated progress, in the Incident Jacob states that everything has to happen just once and all the rest is just progress.So it again proves that it was Jacob's Nemesis, since he was against the progress.Someone has broken the circle and therefore the Nemesis got freedom.It was him who posted the piece of tapestry on the wall. Jacob wouldn't destroy his own work. And the picture of the statue was posted with a knife, which is a sign of hostility.Also Locke always ahd a vast collection of knives.And when Flocke asked Richard about Jacob's whereabouts,Alpert took him directly to the statue, he knew that Jacob resided there.
  • "What lies in the shadow of the statue"'s answer indicates that it is Jacob who dwells there. It is a known fact then. So, the cabin never belonged to Jacob.It belongs to his Nemesis. He was the one who talked to John Lock asking him to help his (and indeed he will in a way that is still unclear,by becoming the Nemesis himself). And when Richard visists John when he was young in his foster house, John picked the ashes from the things that Richard displayed infront of him.This indicates that it was Nemesis that talked to him in the cabin and it was John who - somehow- was able to help him, as he also could have a control over that ashes.
  • Ilana was looking for Jacob in the cabin. This is supported by the fact that when she comes out of the cabin she says Jacob hasn't lived there for a very long time. Therefore she knows that at one point he did live there, it was not always the cabin of the Nemesis. They noticed the ash and that tipped her off as to a problem so she proceeded to investigate by herself and found the scrap of tapestry that directed them to the statue, where Jacob waited for her ("They're coming). Unfortunately, Ben and Unlocke got there first.
  • The nemesis has been in the cabin for the run of the show to date. In "The Incident, Part 1 - Enhanced" the pop-ups confirm that Jacob has never been seen prior to his appearance in the opening scene of that episode. So the nemesis has been imprisoned there at least since Ben went to visit the cabin. When Locke asks Ricard to take him to Jacob, Richard doesn't go to the cabin first, he leads everyone directly to the statue. He must have been going to the statue for all lists, notes and direction for quite some time.
  • The nemesis appears as the eye. An eye appears in "The Shape of Things to Come" and "The Man Behind the Curtain." It is the eye of the nemesis, since Jacob does not appear until "The Incident, Part 1 - Enhanced." In "The Man Behind the Curtain" we see his head and torso in shadow. In "The Shape of Things to Come" when Christian speaks to Locke on Jacob's behalf he is unknowingly speaking on behalf of the nemesis. Hurley was lured close and accidentally broke the circle of ash, the nemesis took over Christian White-shoes who then lured in Claire, lied to Locke in the Cabin and at the wheel cave, and then took over as Unlocke when 316 crashed. Christian-Nemesis waited at the barracks until he appeared to Sun in "Whatever Happened, Happened."
    • When a dead character's body is missing or not present, it is in service to the island. Bodies unaccounted for include Christian, Yemi, Ben's mother and Alex. This is different from the nemesis acting in the guise of Locke. Similarly, tangible apparitions such as Kate's horse and Hugo's imaginary friend Dave are a product of the island, not the nemesis.

Various[]

It is plausible to believe that multiple characters occupied the cabin at some point. Firstly the cabin was constructed by Horace Goodspeed purely for a private getaway and relaxation for himself. After the purge Horace was dead, it is highly possible that a mysterious unknown man sojourned in the cabin for some time (the same man seen briefly in "The Man Behind The Curtain" although this was probably the MIB in his guise) this man could have been a lucky Dharma Initiative worker who was aware of Horace's cabin and escaped the purge and took refuge there for the rest of his days. Equally he merely could have been someone else unexplained. In any case this man most likely died some time after. It is after this I beleive that Jacob decided to use the cabin as a second home, a place of meeting Illana or a place to relax and do some possible deep thinking. However he insured the ash rings around the cabin to keep out the MIB and furthermore "touched" the cabin allowing it to randomly move around the island by the same phenomenon as the Island itself does. He could have done this to insure the MIB would not be sure on its exact location. Jacob probably made sure the cabin teleported to three distinct spots on a constant loop after random amounts of time. I say three distinct spots. The first being the orgin (where Horace created it) the second being where it was in "The Man Behind The Curtain" which was the only spot Ben was aware of and the third being were Hurley saw it in "The Beginning Of The End" after Hurley saw it vanish it merely moved back to the first spot (where Horace built it and where Locke was directed to in Cabin Fever, again Horace was probably the MIB in his guise in Locke's dream) Jacob probably had put circles of ash around the places the cabin would move to, hence why Locke found the ash circle but no cabin. However some time after this MIB learned of this cabin teleporatation and the exact spots it would move to and Jacob probably decided to abandon living there and merely moved out leaving it free for the MIB to occupy. In "The Man Behind The Curtain" this was the MIB in the cabin impersonating the unknown possible Dharma escapee and pretending to be Jacob. It was also the MIB in the cabin as Christian Shephard when Hurley saw it, the eye could have been the real ghost of the unknown man (as Hurley can see the dead) warning Hurley to run from the MIB's presence. The dream Locke had was the MIB in Horace's form instructing Locke how to get there and then was also him inside the cabin when Locke finally arrived.

It allowed the monster to take new forms of Dead bodies on the Island[]

  • it is the only way llana would know for sure that the monster is stuck in the form of john locke

Origin[]

  • Horace was shown building the cabin in Locke's dream in "Cabin Fever" saying that it was a place where he and his wife would go to get away from the DHARMA Initiative.
  • The entire cabin and everything from Horace's story including the ring of ash is simply a manifestation of the power on the island that causes the same illusions of the apparitions of characters, animals, etc. This explains why it can change locations, and it can only be found by specific people who have the power to see things that aren't there, including Hurley.
    • This also explains why any information relative to the cabin is usually given in the form of a dream or through illusions, and why the members of the cabin seem to change depending on who's inside (as far as we know). The ring of ash is also part of the illusion, and has some significance to the conjurer, as it is with the cabin itself and its contents. This significance is unclear as of now.
    • While it is true that the "map" to the cabin was found on a real corpse and is an actual physical object, it is merely acting as a fetter, or a channel for Locke to find the real cabin by proxy. The cabin was never actually made; Horace died before it was, but yet, remains a fleeting memory for the one who is creating it.
  • The cabin will be made out of the wood of the Black Rock that was blown up by Hurley.

Grey powder (Ring of Ash)[]

Composition[]

  • As of "The Incident, Part 1", we see Jacob's chamber internally. The fire pit appears to consist of burning grey ash. This is the same ash that surrounded Jacob's cabin.
    • It has been inferred that the ash is what kept Jacob or his nemesis in the cabin. Therefore the ash has some power over them. This is evidenced by how Jacob seemed to burst into flames like he was made of straw when kicked into the fire pit. Also, the fact that Ilana seemed to feel the need to go on the defensive once they found the circle of ash broken at the cabin in "The Incident, Part 1", and felt the need to burn the cabin when finding out it was abandoned.
  • The powder is ash from a volcanic eruption. Olivia told her students in "The Man Behind the Curtain" that there is an active volcano on the Island, although it hasn't erupted "in a very long time". Additionally, while only semi-canon, the Enhanced Episodes said the line of gray ash around Jacob's cabin is volcanic ash.
  • The ash is very likely to be volcanic ash, from the volcano that was/is on the island. But c'mon folks, remember what island we are on. Perhaps the ash has special properties like some of the other areas on the island. It makes perfect sense on this island.
  • The ash is the remains of people which Jacob's spirit has inhabited. In The Substitute, we see Ilana gathering ash from the fire pit in Jacob's lair beneath the statue after she learns from Ben that Jacob burned up in it. These people were killed by the MIB and Jacob's followers used the ash to trap him somehow.
  • It is ash from the bodies of the people the MIB has killed or pretended to be; anyone with a connection to the MIB. This is why the bodies of the people the MIB has posed as have disappeared (such as Yemi and Christian); because Jacob has taken them and burned them as a means of containing the MIB even more.
  • The ash is made of the Banyan trees that seemed to repel the monster in the early seasons.

Function[]

  • Sacred or acient ash is one of the only ways to be protected from the Smoke Monster. Perhaps the ring ot ash around the cabin was to keep the Smoke Monster in the cabin, which the figure seen in the chair was the Man in Black's interpretation of someone.
  • The cabin was built as a specific "safe" place to find Jacob. Since the Man in Black can appear in many different forms, the cabin provides a place that Jacob can enter, but he cannot. Therefore, when speaking with someone in the cabin, and the ash circle is intact, you know that it's Jacob inside.
    • But Ben later admitted that he did not think anyone was in the cabin.
  • The ash is a means of holding Jacob or Nemesis prisoner within this circle. That is also why, whoever it is, asks Locke to "help me".
    • Or keeping someone out. Horace Goodspeed built the cabin as a place he could get away and relax. The ash is placed there to act as a sort of fence.
      • Note that in a large amount of lore, salt and dust like substances are placed in circular form around places such as homes to ward off or keep out certain things or beings. While it makes perfect since that this may be used to keep beings inside the cabin there are things that would point otherwise. The ash/dust/gunpowder or whatever the substance actually is, was not placed relativity close to the cabin. It was however placed several meters away. This is just a theory, but placing the circle of ash that far away from the cabin to keep something in wouldn't make that much since unless they wanted to give the being some outdoor space to "move they're legs". Placing the substance further away would actually protect the cabin a little more from those outside the circle that could simply just throw a torch at the cabin being that they themselves couldn't pass.
  • The powder is Ben's means for fixing the location of the cabin in time and space. The circle must have been broken, hence Hurley sees the cabin in one location and when he turns it is behind him.
  • We have seen in multiple episodes that the location of the cabin changes. The powder marks the area that is continually moving along with the cabin.
  • The powder keeps the cabin and anything within the circle from moving through time unpredictably like the rest of the Island.
  • Jacob/Nemesis is one incarnation of the monster, and the monster also inhabits the gray dust surrounding the cabin.
  • The powder is to contain Jacob/The Cabin in one location, making it easier for Ben to locate him if he needs to. Hurley stumbled upon the cabin in the woods and while approaching it, disturbed the circle of powder - lifting the position fix it had. Hence, Locke & Ben cannot find the cabin now as it is moving around the island at will.
  • The ash circle is meant to protect the cabin from dark entity. As we seen in first episode of season six, it is possible to repel the dark entity by surrounding an area with a circle of ash.
  • The ash was ment to keep Jacob's Nemesis trapped inside so he could not manage to find a loophole, but since he's been seen outside the cabin since the beginning as the smoke monster it can be asumed that it was either broken or a section of it had been replaced with another substance such as gun powder.
  • The ash can perform one of the following
    • Keep the smoke monster out
    • Keep the smoke monster in
    • Assuming that the smoke monsters seem to be freely roaming the island in nearly every season and that the MIB is the only smoke monster, we have to assume that the powder keeps the smoke monster out
      • If the smoke monster cannot harm Jacob, then keeping the smoke monster out implies that its intended to protected somebody other than Jacob or perhaps something. There could be something in the cabin that Jacob wanted to protect from the MIB until somebody in the future could find it and use it to help further Jacob's plans
  • The cabin is in a fixed location on the island inside an ash circle; however, either Jacob or the MIB is able to recreate an apparition of the cabin in the same way they can create an apparition of Horace, Walt or Christian. The cabin llana found and locke found with Ben was the actual cabin in the real location. The cabin Hurley found was an apparition (sort of like how Hurley can see the dead as his special talent).
  • When Ben took Locke to see Jacob, there was a definite tension within Ben. However, after the Jacob character appeared to Locke in the cabin, Ben was seen shaking the chair that Jacob was in telling Jacob that that was enough...you have had enough fun. For a man who fears Jacob so much, Ben's actions here shows less of a man before a god and more of a god before a God, almost as if in Ben's own words...he had done what he always does...exploit the situation. Jacob is trapped within the ash circle probably via Ben and through that Ben has gained certain information about the Island and those beings existing on the Island before DHARMA. These are only suggestions and time and episodes will tell.
  • Ashes are used in some hoodoo rituals to keep evil spirits imprisoned, so if Hurley did disturb the ash then Jacob is free to move about the Island.
  • Support: Jacob said "help me" to Locke.
    • Support: And I recall reading that if you watch "The Man Behind the Curtain" with commentary on, they specifically state that Ben used the ash to contain Jacob.
    • Support: There is a possible "Circle of Protection" around the cabin, as well. Neither confirms with certainty that he is being held captive, but there is evidence to suggest it is a possibility.
  • Jacob or the Island wasn't ready to give Locke the next set of orders, he/it wants Locke to stand on his on two feet and take over, not be a child that needs constant coddling. This is something Ben expected since Locke is "the one" the Others were waiting for.
  • The cabin will be used as a "box" by Hurley and Ben to store the FLocke puppet's body after it has been "killed" in "The End". The circle of ash will then be put there to prevent the Smoke Monster from using it again. Since the cabin flashes through certain points in time, some of the things we have seen happening there in the past originate from this point on.

Appearances and Disappearances[]

  • The cabin moves all over the island via the same phenomenon that moves the island all over the world. Horace tapped into and localized this phenomenon. When the island shifts around the world the cabin moves to another location on the island. The island and the cabin shifts have to do with electromagnetic hotspots. These electromagnetic hotspots appear to be the cause of much of the island's supernatural properties (healing cancer, undoing infertility, time travel, the island being invisible, perhaps even the visions of the dead).
    • Horace Goodspeed built the cabin as an experiment to recreate, albeit on a smaller scale, the movement of the island. Thus, as the island moves around, the cabin moves around within the island. As a side effect, the cabin becomes unhinged from the island's relative space-time continuum (which in turn is already unhinged from the rest of the world). Thus, to an outside observer, the cabin, unless anchored, skips across the island, just as the island does.
    • This idea I like. The cabin could jump in time or be a constant. That is how Christian/nemisis got back to the point in time when the statue was in tact (when john fell down the well). The cabin could move in space but stay in time, allowing for the people inside to go through time.
    • How do we know that Horace actually built it? Locke saw it in a dream or vision, but couldn't it have been the MIB pretending to be Horace?
  • Jacob's cabin can shift locations and appears only to those who either know where it is, or who are "chosen" (which explains why Ben and Locke can find it, but Richard—according to Ben—doesn't know where it is). When Hurley says, "It could be anywhere," in ("The Economist"), this is literally true. Hurley has seen the cabin change locations.
    • Hurley's experience could have simply been an Island-induced vision. It is unclear if the location where he saw it matches that seen by any other visitors. The cabin seems to really exist (with enough substance to be entered, burned, etc.), at the location indicated by Horace's map, but perhaps it can be cloaked - or the person seeking it confused - so that it can't be found if the responsible power doesn't want it to be. So, Ben and Ilana knew the location, and Locke discovered it using the map. It seems that when Ben and Locke went there, it was still "enchanted", but when Ilana found it, it was truly abandoned.
  • The cabin was set into motion to disappear and appear to protect it and keep the nemesis imprisoned. Horace built it as a get-away but Jacob put it to new purpose as a movable prison of his nemesis.
  • The cabin could move because it does not have foundations, and the smoke monster was inside it moving it.
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