Ok so here's the comprehensive theory my husband and I came up with after last night's episode after some discussion. Contrary to what most believe (from what I've read on the forums), we believe that Jacob is the bad guy and Esau (other guy) is the good guy. Not simply based on the biblical thing but because we believe that the island, pre-other people, represented a garden of eden of sorts a utopia. We believe that the island is a metaphor for the world...and just like in the bible it ends up being corrupted by others. The biblical reference that states that the elder shall serve the younger (in regards to biblical Esau and Jacob), we believe that it means that the traditionally good people (basically all characters on Lost that are not supernatural in some way) are actually unknowingly serving the purposes of evil (Jacob) hence his in one way or another being responsible for everything that eventually led them to the island. We also believe that Jacob and Esau are metaphors for evil and good/ devil and god. Our personal theory that we base this on is that Richard said that Jacob made him the way he is. Implying he was at one time an average mortal, but upon meeting Jacob (via the Black Rock we suppose) he ended up more or less doing the traditional Faustian deal of "selllng his soul" for immortality. We also believe that the entire tale of LOST is basically an elaborate backgammon game between the two sides where everyone is being used as pawns. My husband suggested that Adam and Eve were Rose and Bernard. I initially didn't believe it, but upon reading something interesting on Lostpedia I actually now thoroughly agree. Here is the excerpt (in case you didn't know the Nadlers are Rose and Bernard.)

From LOSTpedia: Also,the producers promised an anagram in the episode NOT IN PORTLAND as a clue to that mystery. "Only fools are enslaved by time and space" (of the room 23 video) can be re-arranged to form the phrase: "bones of Nadlers may lay lost deep in cave". Rose and Bernard have also been missing during the DHARMA period on the island. Lost from the other beach members and without supplies (which did not travel back in time) they knew the cave was their best chance for survival. Rose and Bernard would have continued to time travel with everyone else as long as they were alive. If they died before Locke's departure corrected the "time-skipping" their corpses would have remained in whatever time period they diesd in. If they died after Locke left, then they would have ended up in 1974 with the rest of the losties. Whether it was only 30 years (not 40-50 as Jack said), or more than that, their bodies would be plenty decomposed by the time they were found in 2004.

Oh and as most have surmised we do believe that Esau=Smokey/Island/any ghostly manifestation i.e. Ben's mom, Christian, etc. We believe he is truly working for the good of the island and to protect it from evil. Also based on something I read in a forum...we believe that the true John Locke still has potential for playing a role in the rest of the story based on the fact that the question asked was "what lies within the shadow of the statue", not who lives within. Locke's corpse was lying in the shadow at the time. Whether that's a bit of a stretch who knows.

Our theory for what happens next is that we will see more of the Black Rock era i.e. Richard and co. We think that the point of this entire time traveling season was to prove that all things were pre-destined. Even when they would intentionally try to throw things askew...they ended up doing/causing exactly what was supposed to happen. That was what happened at the very end as well. As Miles said..in trying to prevent "The Incident" they caused it. Just as was intended. It's a rather Calvinistic approach to the tale.

Well that's enough for now.