Finding the key to ‘Lost's’ John Locke

On a first-season episode of "Lost," the castaways are gathered on the beach mulling over the dilemma of how to find food. Suddenly a knife flies through the air. The mysterious bald Locke has revealed that he, at least, has a hunting weapon — but what about the rest of the castaways? In a memorable scene, Locke kicks open a metal box to reveal that he's brought a gleaming array of knives along with him. Weapons for everyone!

It's an incredibly cool scene, and was one of those early "Lost" moments that endeared many viewers to the enigmatic Locke. If you're going to be trapped on an island, especially an island full of polar bears and random monsters and things that go bump in the night, John Locke appeared to be the kind of man you want to have along. Cool in a crisis, armed to the teeth, able to live off the land while the rest of us bumble along, lost without our cappuccino machines and SUVs.

Irony was quick to descend. As Locke's flashback depicted, he was, in fact, a wheelchair-bound peon working in a cube farm. Only in his rich fantasy life was he a military man, a colonel accustomed to giving orders and having them followed. But after the plane crash, on the island, his alter ego seemed to be in charge. On the island, Locke was a man worthy of respect, a man people followed and admired. On the island, Locke could walk.

That was just the start. It was Locke who found the hatch that would eventually lead the castaways into Dharma's Swan station. Locke managed to finally get the hatch blown open (even if he needed Jack's help) and became the station's de facto general manager — wholeheartedly buying in to everything the Dharma orientation film warned about.

And yet ... Let's not forget how Boone died, sent into the Beechcraft when Locke briefly lost use of his legs. Before Boone went, he revealed that Locke never wanted the hatch disclosed to his compadres. Nor has Locke ever let them know about his wheelchair-bound past. Locke's interest in Walt was enough to set Michael off, and it's almost as eerie as his sudden interest in Claire's baby Aaron.

His flashbacks reveal a man filled with rage at betrayal by his kidney-thieving would-be father. That rage was again triggered this season, when prisoner Henry Gale ruminates about Locke being second fiddle to Jack, comments tailor-made to push Locke's buttons. Locke has, shall we say, issues.

So is Locke a force for good or evil on the island?  Is he earnestly trying to lead his fellow castaways to safety (if not rescue) or is he, as the ingenious Channel 4 promo for “Lost” depicts him, the conductor of this whole band, secretly choosing the tune and making everyone play along?

Locke is good?
It's easy to line up arguments that John Locke is a good guy. Flashbacks to his pre-crash life reaffirm this notion. Locke was kicked around at work, in his dating life, and by his own family. His mother gave him up at birth (we presume — was that DNA test legit?) and the man who may or may not have been his father claimed one of his kidneys, then turned his back on him. When Locke tried to escape into his fantasy life of war games during a work break, a manager mocked him mercilessly. Who can't help but feel sorry for a man this alone, this abused?

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Yet Locke reacted not with violence, but with the patience of a saint. He carried this attitude with him to the island, where Sawyer once said to Charlie, “You even made Locke take a swing at you. Hell, that's like getting Gandhi to beat his kids!” Though Locke's position on the island was one of strength, he somehow managed to exude a sort of untouchable calm.

Locke landed on the island because he'd flown to Australia hoping for an Outback walkabout, a chance to challenge himself against nature. One problem: At the time of the flight, he'd been in a wheelchair for four years, for a reason the show has yet to explain. When the trip organizers discovered that Locke hadn't exactly been honest about his condition, they refused to take him, setting off a tantrum of desperation in which viewers learned that there's one thing that should never be said to John Locke: Don't tell him there's something he can't do. Somehow, he'll prove you wrong.

On the island, as chaos and fire reigned around him, Locke somehow regained the use of his legs. Rather than sit back and marvel in his miracle, he immediately slipped into a role as doctor Jack's second-in-command, using a strength and confidence that he somehow pulled out of the air to help create order out of disorder. For a man who'd worked in a toy store and at a box company, Locke suddenly seemed to have useful knowledge of everything from how to hunt wild boar to identifying unfamiliar currency as Nigerian naira. He built a cradle for Claire's baby, Aaron, and played backgammon with Michael's son, Walt. Castaways started bringing their problems to Locke, looking to him for strength and answers. He'd come a long way from the nerdy peon who was being berated by a box-company manager.

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