Four toed hippo and other such abominations

Well, I must say I think that the nail was hit right on the head with the Pandora bit. As the curious and direct Sagittarius I will now offer up a steaming plate of fresh speculation for you to chew on.

The statue: Thought by many to be the Egyptian god Anubis, who is associated with the underworld, it turns out this four-toed creature is actually the demon-goddess Taweret. I know, I know, who the hell is that? Well, for those of you who are too lazy to do a wikipedia search: Taweret is associated with fertility and child bearing (go figure). The Egyptians believed she protects the pregnant mother from evil spirits. She does this with... dun dun dun, "magic knives." Hmm where have we seen those before. Remember all the pregnancy problems on the island? Yeah, seems like Taweret stopped doing her work. Lazy, lazy Taweret.

Now let's see how far we can run with this one... Taweret was both a goddess and a demon, so maybe that's the whole "my mother was crazy bit" comes in (from MIB). She was also believed to be the mother of Osiris. You know Osiris, as in "The Legend of Osiris"

Basically Osiris ruled over the world and made sure everything was cool. Then his brother got jealous...

"Yet there was trouble. Proud Set, noble Set, the brother of Osiris, he who defended the Sun Boat from Apep the Destroyer, was unsettled in his heart. He coveted the throne of Osiris. He coveted Isis. He coveted the power over the living world and he desired to take it from his brother. In his dark mind he conceived of a plot to kill Osiris and take all from him. He built a box and inscribed it with wicked magic that would chain anyone who entered it from escaping."

Hmmm, sounds familiar. Another interesting bit of the legend is that Osiris' spirit enters his wife Isis and she bears a son Horus, who is HIDDEN AWAY ON AN ISLAND "far away from the gaze of his uncle Set." Horus eventually defeats Set and casts him into the darkness.

So who is who??? Is Jacob more like Osiris or Set or Horus, and which one is Locke/smokey/MIB?

Another interesting comparison of these two, which DWAL touched on last week, is the whole Jacob/Esau link. Again a pair of brothers, In the bible Jacob the younger steals inheritance from Esau with the help of his mother(!) and the two spend the rest of their lives fighting. For what it's worth remember Jacob's ladder (the biblical Jacob saw this in a vision) . It stretched to heaven and represented the exiles of the Jewish people (exiles aka castaways maybe).

The story of Jacob in the bible also has ties to Egypt as Jacob's son Joseph brings the whole family (who become the twelve tribes) to Egypt.

Fun stuff, I know, but what does this mean for LOST?? In my humble opinion, these parallels are just influences on the story. How many stories in the history of human mythology do we have about jealous brothers, crazy mothers, and the dichotomy of good vs. evil? Well, a lot.

I think the strongest link here is to Egypt, especially with Richard sporting the "Eye of Horus" look.

Possibilities:

A) The island is some sort of mythical portal to the afterlife and Jacob and "Smokey McGee" are the gatekeepers.

B) The island is a prison for misbehaving immortals. Jacob and Smokey pass the time by competing over lost souls (get it) whom they devour to gain sustenance.

C) A combination of A and B

D) J.J Abrams: Oh wait you internet addicted idiots, all of this is a giant rotten red-herring and you suckers fell for the bait. Way to go. It's not mythological at all, it's all science related. I tricked you with giant Egyptian statues and magic daggers. Booya.

That's all for now... Can't wait for this week's episode! Potato salad at the Tree House hatch!

-Sagittarius