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This is an article about the Other named "Jacob". For other uses of "Jacob" see Jacob (disambiguation).

Jacob

Portrayed by [[{{{Actor}}}]]

Portrayed by Rob Kyker and Carlton Cuse

First seen

"The Man Behind the Curtain"

Last seen

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Appeared in

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Mentioned in

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Centric episode(s)

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Name

Jacob

Also Known As

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Status

Unknown

Age

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Date of birth

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Date of death

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({{{DeathEp}}})

Origin

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Profession

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In Australia...

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On the plane...

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On the island...

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Family members

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Connection

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Season(s)

S1 - S2 - S3 - MP - S4

[[:Category:{{{Images}}}|Images]]

Jacob, previously referred to as "Him", is said to be the leader of the Others and the person from whom Ben received his instructions. Initially, Ben was the only one who knew how to reach, hear, or speak to Jacob; however, Locke has heard Jacob speak and Hurley has accidentally stumbled upon his dilapidated-looking cabin located deep in the jungle. Jacob has apparently enlisted the aid of the dead to act as his representative. Many details of Jacob's identity, history, powers, and authority are still shrouded in mystery.

On the Island

The name "Jacob" appears in the Room 23 video. ("Not in Portland")

The earliest known reference to Jacob on the Island occurred when Juliet asked Ben to return home. Ben informed her that her sister's cancer had returned, and Jacob would heal it only if she agreed to stay on the Island. ("One of Us")

Later, when Walt was being held in Room 23, Juliet told Ben that his decision to keep him here was dangerous. Ben replied by saying it was Jacob who wanted Walt to be in Room 23. ("Room 23")

Episodically, he was first mentioned by name in "I Do". According to Danny Pickett, Jack "wasn't even on Jacob's list". ("I Do") Soon after, when Karl was being forced to watch the Room 23 video, the phrase "God loves you as He loved Jacob" appeared. ("Not in Portland")

First appearance of Jacob's eye ("The Man Behind the Curtain")

Locke's encounter with Jacob

The first physical encounter with Jacob occurred on Day 89. After questioning Ben's claim that there was a leader above him, Locke took advantage of the announcement of Naomi's arrival to the Island to make Ben take him to Jacob. Ben explained that Jacob was not the sort of person one visits, but instead was the sort of person to whom one is summoned. Reluctantly, Ben agreed to take Locke to see Jacob. On the way, they came across a line of gray ash on the ground. They arrived at a small cabin nearby. Ben told Locke to turn off his flashlight because Jacob hated technology. Ben cautiously approached the cabin, and announced to Jacob that he and Locke were entering.

Inside, Ben introduced Locke to Jacob, and gestured to an empty chair; there appeared to be nobody else in the room. Ben proceeded to speak and argue with Jacob, while Locke stood in complete disbelief. Locke accused Ben of putting on a show, but Ben insisted that there was someone sitting in the chair and that John was too limited to see. Locke told Ben that he was pathetic and turned to leave, but as he did so, he heard an ominous voice saying, "Help me". Locke asked Ben to repeat himself, but Ben said that he had not said anything. Ben seemed shocked that Locke had heard a voice.

First appearance of Christian Shephard in Jacob's cabin ("The Beginning of the End")

Locke shined his flashlight onto Ben's face, and the room suddenly started to shake. Ropes and chains shook on the wall, chairs rocked, and windows smashed. Ben's lantern fell to the floor, shattered, and caught fire, but was quickly and inexplicably extinguished. Ben also appeared to shake someone in the chair, about where their arms or shoulders would be, telling him to stop and that he has had his fun. Immediately after which, as if in response to his demand, Ben was thrown hard against a wall by an unseen force. There were very brief glimpses of a third man sitting in the chair and a close-up of an eye not belonging to Ben or Locke. Locke stumbled outside in fear and confusion. The chaos stopped as quickly as it began. Ben calmly followed him outside and hung up the now intact oil lamp. Locke asked "what on earth" was in there. Ben simply replied with, "That was Jacob". ("The Man Behind the Curtain")

Upon arrival at the mass grave, Ben shot Locke. Locke asked him why he had shot him, to which Ben replied, "Because you heard him", referring to Jacob. When Ben asked what he heard Jacob say, Locke answered, "Help me". Before leaving, Ben said, "Well, I certainly hope he helps you, John." ("The Man Behind the Curtain")

Ben returned to the Others and claimed that Jacob changed the plan; they were to attack the beach and kidnap the pregnant women a night earlier than scheduled. ("Greatest Hits") Ben then told Mikhail that Jacob had told him to stop all communication off of the Island. Bonnie told Mikhail that she trusted Jacob, and if she didn't, it would all fall apart. ("Through the Looking Glass")

Second appearance of Jacob's eye. ("The Beginning of the End")

Hurley's encounter

On Day 91, Hurley became lost in the jungle and came across Jacob's cabin. He walked up to the cabin and peered in through a broken window. Sitting in the same rocking chair as seen in "The Man Behind the Curtain" was Christian Shephard. Jacob's eye suddenly became visible through the window, frightening Hurley, who ran away. When he turned back toward the cabin, it was no longer there. Instead, as he turned back, the cabin was now in front of him. The door to the cabin swung open, seemingly by itself. Hurley closed his eyes and counted to five, telling himself that there was nothing there, there was nothing to be afraid of. Once again, when he opened his eyes, the cabin was gone. Hurley then fell over backwards and was scared by Locke standing over him. ("The Beginning of the End")

Second appearance of Christian Shephard in Jacob's cabin ("Cabin Fever")

After the survivors split into two factions, Locke decided to visit Jacob for advice. However, when he attempted to find the cabin, it was not in the same place as Locke had last seen it. Hurley accidentally revealed that he had previously seen such a cabin elsewhere, but quickly replied that he thought they meant the plane's cabin. ("The Economist")

Locke's encounter with Jacob's Surrogate

After Keamy and his men attacked the barracks, Locke decided to ask Jacob for advice. Ben and Hurley accompanied him, as Hurley was the last person to see the cabin. ("The Shape of Things to Come") Along the way, Locke had a dream of Horace Goodspeed building the cabin. Horace told Locke that he needed to find "...me. And when you do, you'll find him." They went to Horace's corpse in the mass grave and inside his shirt pocket was a map which lead to Jacob's cabin. Once there, Locke entered alone. Inside, Locke encountered Christian Shephard, who claimed not to be Jacob but "can speak on his behalf". After Locke exited the cabin, Ben asked, "Did he tell you what we're supposed to do?" Locke replied, "He wants us to move the Island". ("Cabin Fever") Jacob did not tell Locke how to move the Island; according to Ben, this was because Jacob wanted Ben to be the one to move the Island and thereby be banished forever from the Island. ("There's No Place Like Home, Parts 2 & 3")

Episode references

There are several instances in which the Others refer to a leader without explicitly mentioning a name. These may or may not be referring to Jacob:

• Tom said to Ethan, "You know what he'll do when he finds out", implying that "he" is above both of them in the Others' hierarchy. ("Maternity Leave")
• While being held captive by the survivors and being interrogated by Sayid and Ana Lucia, Ben stated, "If I tell you about [the Others], you don't know what he'll do! … He'll kill me!"
• Soon after, Ben told Locke, "The man in charge—he's a great man, John, a brilliant man—but he's not a forgiving man. He'll kill me because I failed, John. I failed my mission." ("Two for the Road")
• Mikhail Bakunin, when describing the list, said, "The man who brought me here, who brought all of my people here, he is a magnificent man." ("Par Avion")

Trivia

General

• Jacob's eye is brown, not the color of Ben's or Locke's.
• The only words which the audience has heard from Jacob are "Help me" (heard here).
• Jacob is the middle name of Jeffrey Jacob Abrams (J.J. Abrams).
• On the DVD commentary track for "The Man Behind the Curtain", Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse described an interesting relationship between Jacob and Ben, which is more of a symbiosis than a master/servant role. They stated the ash surrounding the cabin was described as a controlling mechanism, such as a "magic circle".
• Jacob's mysterious introduction as an invisible character with an other-worldly voice was a plot twist.
• On the front cover of Lost: The Complete Third Season, the text "Jacob loves you" is visible.

Production notes

• Jacob was confirmed to be "him" In the 3/20/07 Official Lost Podcast.
• There are no official images of Jacob yet. According to an E! Online interview on May 23rd 2007, in response to the question if the role of Jacob had already been cast, Damon Lindelof stated "False; you do see a guy, but … I'm still sticking to my 'false'."
• The filming location for Jacob's cabin in "The Man Behind the Curtain" was also used for Eko's grave. [1]

Cultural references

• Jacob's Hands is a book by Aldous Huxley about a man called Jacob who can heal animals and humans with his hands.
  • Aldous Huxley worked with the real Richard Alpert at Harvard University studying psychedelic drugs.
  • Aldous Huxley also also wrote a book called "Island," where its protagonist (Will Farnaby) shipwrecked in an Island and encountered its inhabitants. An analysis of this book can be found at [2]
• In Adrian Lynes' Jacob's Ladder, Tim Robbins plays a Vietnam veteran in a purgatory-like state.
• In Marvel Comics, Benjamin Jacob Grimm, a.k.a. the Thing, was raised by his uncle Jacob Grimm, who was a doctor.
• Jakob Böhme (1575 – November 17, 1624) was a German Christian mystic. Böhme had mystical experiences throughout his youth, culminating in a vision in 1600 that he received through observing the exquisite beauty of a beam of sunlight reflected in a pewter dish. He believed this vision revealed to him the spiritual structure of the world, as well as the relationship between God and man, and good and evil.
• Jacob bears some similarities to the character of Management from the HBO series Carnivale.
  • They are somehow imprisoned, forcing characters to come to them
  • They are desperate for someone to help them, someone from the outside to continue their work
  • They are believed to be mythical by some people, yet revered by a specific subculture
  • They have supernatural powers, such as the ability to make themselves invisible
  • They work primarily through another character, who is played by an actor named Michael
• In A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by the ghost of his dead business partner, Jacob Marley. Marley's ghost carries a heavy fetter, or chain, and explains to Scrooge that he (Marley) is doomed to walk the earth for eternity as a punishment for his avaricious and incurious life. He tells Scrooge that he (Scrooge) has a chance to escape the same fate, and that he must expect to be visited by three spirits over the coming nights.

Biblical references

General

• Jacob is a great-great-grandfather of Aaron (elder brother of Moses) via Levi, Kohath and Amram.
• Another name for Tribulation is "The Time of Jacob's Trouble" Jeremiah 30:5-7
• During Biblical times, many gods were worshiped and to differentiate the Jewish god from these various other gods, he was referred to as the "God of Jacob".

Jacob's name

• Jacob is literally translated in Hebrew as "holds the heel," and is a play-on-words that means, "trickster" or "deceiver."
  • His mother Rebekah named him this because, while his twin brother Esau was firstborn, Jacob came out of the womb hanging onto his heel.
• The English rendering "Jacob" comes from the Latin "Jacobus", which was from the Greek Ιακωβος (Iakobos), which comes from the Hebrew name יַעֲקֹב(Ya'aqov)[3]
  • The English name "James" also comes from Iakobos; thus, it has the same meaning and can be considered an alternate translation of the same name.[4]
• Jacob was later given the name "Israel," which means "Struggled with God," with an implication of prevailing.
  • Jacob, in the Torah, literally fought an Angel and prevailed, thus giving him the name Israel.
    • In Contemporary Christian circles, this "angel" is often seen as a pre-incarnate form of Jesus Christ.

Jacob's Ladder

Jacob's Ladder?...to the left of Ben

• Jacob envisioned a "Ladder to Heaven" (described in the Book of Genesis 28:11-19) during his flight from his brother Esau.
  • According to the Jewish teachings in the Midrash, the ladder signified the exiles which the Jewish people would suffer before the coming of the Messiah. The top step on the ladder is supposedly guarded by a vision of Esau and represents Edom which God assures Jacob will be brought down at the End of Days.
  • When the phrase, "God Loves you as He Loved Jacob", is superimposed on a staircase in the Room 23 video, it is a direct reference to "Jacob's Stairway to Heaven" in Genesis 28:10-15 [5]

Jacob's brother Esau

• According to the Book of Malachi, God "loved Jacob but hated his brother Esau" (Malachi 1:1-3).
  • This is the only time God specifically says he "loves" an individual in the Hebrew books.
  • Romans 9:13 also says "As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated."
    • Furthermore, the verses before and after 9:13 deal predominantly with fertility. For instance, 9:9 says "For this is the word of promise, At this time will I come, and Sarah shall have a son," which could refer to the pregnancy of Sarah.
  • Esau was favored by their father Isaac, but Jacob was favored by their mother.
  • Esau was the firstborn, but Jacob conned him into selling his birthright.
  • Esau was an outdoorsman and hunter, while Jacob was studious, reserved, and "dwelled in tents".
  • Esau married outside his people and founded the kingdom of Edom in what is now southwestern Israel.
  • Jacob impersonated Esau in order to gain a blessing that his father Isaac meant for Esau.

Jacob and Rachel

• Jacob loved Rachel, daughter of Laban.
  • He worked seven years to earn her hand in marriage, but Laban conned Jacob actually making him marry Rachel's sister Leah (whom he disguised) and forcing Jacob to work another seven years for the right of marrying Rachel.
  • Rachel was apparently barren, but later amazingly gave birth to Joseph and Benjamin after failing to become pregnant for years. She died whilst giving birth to Benjamin

Jacob's son Benjamin

• Jacob had twelve sons, the youngest of whom was named Benjamin.
  • Benjamin had 11 brothers but only one full brother, Joseph, who also was Jacob's favorite.
  • Jacob was led to believe that his favorite son, Joseph, was dead after Joseph's brothers sold him into slavery. After the brothers went to Egypt during a famine, Joseph set up his brother Benjamin for a crime he did not commit, then revealed his true identity to his brothers and demanded that the brothers bring Jacob to Egypt. Only then did Jacob learn that Joseph was still alive.
• The tribe of Benjamin's women and children were all killed, and the remaining members of the tribe could not longer proliferate. The historical solution they came up with was to kill the men from another sub-tribe and take their women and children. Women are unable to carry to term on the Island, and the Others have been taking women and children from Oceanic Flight 815.

Twelve Tribes of Israel

• Jacob was the patriarch of what became the 12 Tribes of Israel, people chosen by God to be "set apart" and special.
  • Jacob became the "father of a nation" through his 12 sons—he was clearly a very fertile man. (The Others and Mittelos Bioscience seem to be doing research connected with fertility. Alvar Hanso states on the Hanso Foundation website that the foundation's goal is to "bring rebirth to a dying land and a dying people")

Unanswered questions

For fan theories about these unanswered questions, see: Jacob/Theories

• What exactly is the nature of Jacob?
• What is Jacob's history?
• What powers does Jacob possess, and why does he use them?
• Why does Christian speak on Jacob's behalf?