Horace's Cabin in the Sky

It was pretty obvious to me that the latest episode, "Cabin Fever," gave us our first look at Jacob. Otherwise known as Horace the Mathematician.

The most obvious clue being that he said he was building his own cabin. Slightly less obvious being that Jacob, in an earlier episode, let out a creepy plea to John Locke to "HELP MEEEE." Now his ghost is showing Locke a map, perhaps so John can unearth the truth about his death and put him to rest. Horace seems to be in some type of purgatory, having to chop down the same tree for eternity. Which is another reason he would ask for John's help.

But who is Horace? My theory on Jacob/Horace is that he is actually Horus - the ancient Egyptian deity. Very recently we saw hieroglyphics on a door in my Ben's home. This room may have previously belonged to Horace. Coincidentally, while pondering Jacob/Horace this morning, I got an email from an atheist mailing list with the following text:

The Basis for the Story of Jesus Christ
HORUS an Egypician god 3000 BC -- the holy ghost impregnates a virgin and a child-god is born on 25 Dec. this child is adorned by 3 kings who followed the star of the east (Sirus) , this child prodigy and teacher at age 12, baptized at age 30 began a ministry and traveled with 12 disciples and preformed miracles of walking on water and heeling the sick. After betrayal was crucified, buried for three days and resurrected. Horus was in conflict with Set, sun vs. dark, good vs. evil. as in "sunset". Horus as in "hour".

Maybe I'm missing the big picture, but what struck me about this was the "sun vs. dark, good vs. evil" bit. Lost expert, Jay Wood, made an excellent point in his book that the opposing forces of light/dark, black/white and good/evil are very important in Lost.

Wikipedia says that Horus was known as the god of the sky, his name meaning, "he who is above." It was said that the sun was one of his eyes and the moon the other -- did you just see a picture in your head of Locke holding the black and white backgammon pieces to his eyes? Horus was represented by a man with a hawk's head. Could Jacob/Horace also be the Hurley bird?

Now that we know Jacob is actually the ancient Egyptian god of the sky, we know where the island is: in the sky. A picture on the cover of the comic book Richard Alpert shows a young John Locke, in fact, contains a picture of a floating island. (Shout out to Mike for spotting this and positing the first floating island theory I've heard).

It may not always be in the sky, but it can rise up and float around, and I think that's what we're going to see next week. If I had to guess, I would say it will look much like Morla rising from the swamps of despair in the Neverending Story. But of course, every devoted fan would let out a horrified scream if they saw a magnificent CG shot next week of the island pulling up roots and floating off to a new location (as little Australian children look and say "mummy, what's that?"). That will be happening in my imagination, though.

This image also brings up other literary references, most notably, Gulliver's Travels, where Swift describes the rebellion of the surface city of Lindalino against the flying island of Laputa. The island could pick up and fly around to defend itself.

Seeing this picture of Morla brings up another theory: maybe the smoke monster actually IS the island. Imagine Morla here, with holes in her shell from which she could send out vicious columns of smoke. Next week, we could see the island rise, and the face of the black smoke monster has been beneath the water the entire time. And even further down, he wiggles his four toes.

Another tidbit: Horace's jumper says he's a mathematician. Who's on record for having the first written numbers? You guessed it, the Egyptians. Remember too when we first saw hieroglyphics-- when nobody pushed the button. Perhaps programmed by Horace?