Sacrifice of the Little Prince?

Well, it's Lost-eve night and I know that y'all are as excited as I am to see what tomorrow night brings us. Before my thoughts are completely consumed by what the new episode brings, however, I wanted to discuss a theory that Nicole brought up in the comments last week.

"There's some major Christ symbolism going on:

• The island selects a "chosen one"


• The "chosen one" gets killed


• The island resurrects the "chosen one"


• The "chosen one" goes on the lead the island's people.

Ben was the chosen one, he just got killed and will now be resurrected to lead the others. Then, when it becomes Locke's time to lead, Ben realizes he has to kill Locke so Locke can fulfill that same destiny - if Locke would have killed himself then it would all be messed up. This might also be why Ben tried to kill Locke before - but it wasn't time yet. I bet Richard was at one time a leader too (got killed and resurrected years ago - which is why he doesn't age)."

This is an intriguing theory. I know that there is more to it than an attempt by Nicole to justify some of Ben's more abhorrent behaviors. I don't know that Ben's first attempt to kill Locke was really to help John on his chosen one journey so much as an attempt to keep Locke from supplanting Ben. Whether Ben's eventual killing of Locke had pure or mixed motives will be seen.

We've known for most of this season that Locke would die, which Christian/Jacob called a sacrifice. No one said how he had to die. Let's look back at the event. John, heartbroken from his failure to convince any of the Oceanic 6 to return to the island, takes steps to hang himself. Ben breaks into the room, and talks John out of suicide. After talking with Locke a little while, suddenly Ben chokes John to death. He then arranges the scene to look like the suicide John had planned. The only thing he missed was the suicide note.

If Nicole's theory is right, then Ben will die, only to be resurrected so he can lead.

Similarly, Jesus was the Son of God, you know, the "chosen one". He was killed as a sacrifice to save us from our sins. He was then resurrected, and continued to lead his people. Another tale of sacrifice was found in The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, in which Aslan chose to be executed by the Witch to save his people, only to be resurrected later.

One difference between Lost and Jesus and Aslan is that Jesus and Aslan knew exactly what they were getting into. They made a choice to submit to death fully aware of the ramifications of their choices. Neither Locke nor Ben made a choice. Yes, Locke knew he had to die, and he made a conscious decision to die, but he changed his mind at Ben's urging. Ben never told Locke, "I'm sorry John, you have to die. And it can't be by your own hand." Nor did Sayid let Ben know his plan to save the future by killing the young Ben. Unlike Jesus and Aslan, there was no free will on the part of Ben and Locke. Instead, it's only the executioners who acted with free will.

Whatever the case may be, I suspect that we've not seen the end of Ben. After all, tomorrow night's episode is titled Whatever Happened, Happened.