Had anyone ever seen Jacob before Ben and FakeLocke?

FakeLocke asks the Others, "has anyone ever seen Jacob" (all answer NO). We find out Ben never saw him either. Richard did not go into see him with Ben and FakeLocke. Richard also tells FakeLocke and Locke (earlier) that you just don't go and see Jacob. Maybe Richard has never seen him either. Perhaps some of this whole game revolves around having a faith in Jacob. Faith is believing in something you can't prove. Free will may depend upon the players never meeting Jacob, but rather choosing to believe in him.

The only one that seems to have met Jacob, and knew who he was, was Alana. Yes, some of the Losties met him, but they had no idea who he was and I have to assume the plan was that they would never meet him on the island as Jacob. So, what is her story?

Jacob's long-lost 2nd cousin. I have no idea

we saw in the season finale that Jacob visited many of the Losties at various times. Ben had never seen Jacob though.

Yes, he did touch many off the island, but they did not know who he was. I ask because of the idea of free will - as Jacob tells Ben right before he stabs him. Jacob tells Ben he can decide what he wants to do rather than try to convince him not to stab him.

If he intercedes as "Jacob", and the person knowshim as Jacob, then is that in violation of his belief of free will, or is making sure the players have free will part of the rules of the game? It would seem more that that it is a rule. Neither he nor MM can intervene if a player knows who the are. That is what makes me believe that nobody has met Jacob after they have heard about him. (again - exception SEEMS to be Alana) Once that happens, Jacob ceases to become something to have faith in and that alters the free will decisions.

when Jacob touched them he established a quantum connection with them so that they all must come together at the same time and place on the Island where Jacob is, even though Jacob may be dead when they arrive.

in fact, if Jacob is dead, those returning will be the new Jacob of the Island.

when he touched them he targeted them to himself so that when the hydrogen bomb blows up and sends out the weird energy of the Island through Space-Time, the wave carries them back to him in the future.

quantum targeting

I agree that Jacob represents faith. It seems as if he knows what's going to happen in every scene he's in. He seems to move independantly of time and space itself. I think he knew what Ben was going do to, freewill or not. It had already happened. I wonder if Jacob allowed Sayid's wife to die, or even twisted things so that she does. Maybe he knew that this was the only way he would come back to the island, so he stops him before his wife walks out in the street. If he was happy, why would he come back? Or maybe they were both going to die and he only saved Sayid because she would've died no matter what, like Charlie. Either way, that scene still bothers me.

I hear ya error, crazy scene, totally unexpected at the time. Another possiblity is that Jacob knew that he was going to need help because MM was going to hurt him in the future with Ben's help.

Let me clarify. That's why Jacob contacted Ilana.

seems like a pretty evil deed to destroy the life someone has tried to make for themselves just to enlist that persons help. Jacob didn't exactly seem like a "good guy" either, i mean, i really felt bad for Ben. I think he deserved at least a few nice words for serving Jacob for so long. I mean, Ben basically gave his life to the island and now the island's soul states, "what about you?" Coldblooded....

I know, I felt that way too but what I later understood was that Ben is selfish, everything is about him and I think jacob was trying to tell him with as little words needed, it's not about you, there is something more, the bigger picture that takes priority. Stop thinking of yourself only. As for Nadia, I don't think that jacob engineered it to happen that way, I think he already knew that fate, destiny, God (call it what you may) was already going to take her life. He just knew where it would be.

Good explanation. I still feel there are some holes, which i hope will be filled next season. Why do i have the feeling that even after this whole thing ends for good, we'll still have a million questions that at that point, will be unanswerable? Unless they make a movie...Oh glorious fantasies....

Jacob called back Sayid from the street to save his life ... Sayid was needed on the Island to shoot Ben which would lead to the eventual return of Jacob's replacements ... Jacob let himself be killed on purpose ... Nadia did not enter into the equation.

Okay, i watched the scene where Nadia dies again and i think i realized what happened. Jacob wouldn't normally get a chance to touch Sayid, being a badass and all. Jacob stops Sayid in the middle of the crosswalk as Nadia keeps walking. Jacob doesn't touch Sayid until the moment when Nadia is lying on the ground, right before he runs to her. Sayid probably never even noticed Jacob touched him. I couldn't think of any better time for Jacob to do this. I'm still not convinced that Nadia was killed on purpose. It looked like an accident to me. If i remember correctly, Ben made it sound like a hit. Wouldn't they have used a gun in this 'assassination attempt' to kill Sayid? I guess Ben just manipulated Sayid as he does best.

I also fear that all of our questions are not going to be answered in the last 17 episodes and I'm going be PISSED! There are so many loose ends, they better do a good job because they're going to have alot of ticked off people. It's obvious that Nadia was/is not part of the "big picture" and yes, Jacob saved his life by distracting him away from Nadia-that's how I also see it.

Great discussion so far, first off, nadia had about 10 minutes of legit air time, and shes not that important. Anyway, it seems as the others are acting on faith alone, and that those lists actually came from Jacob. What the lists were for, we are still uncertain, only that we know the island had the names already when they landed. Anyway, Jacob wants to show his enemy that he can prove these people can run on free will alone. Daniel Faraday was the one to recenetly open thier eyes. They are variables, in the equation of life. Variables can remain constant, sure, just put in 0. But when free will kicks in it can change something, a small variable may not be able to make a difference giving the same outcome. but a large variable such as an extravagant number, (jughead) could change the complete outcome of what is supposed to come. Course correction in mind, the universe will try to fix it, but there is only so many corrections that it is bound to leave a mistake. The universe cannot act on free will, but Tom explained in season 4 to Michael, that it could, causing Michaels inability to kill himself. The island was able to course correct jughead as well, we saw it in the finale when Jack put the bomb down there, nothing happened. But, this can only go so far with the human interference that can change and force where she wants to hit the bomb so she can set it off. Eventually if Michael used a knife or kept attempting to kill himself, he may have succeeded by using a human interference, or dr. kovorkian to kill him