It is a bit outdated now, but I think it is an idea that was worth mentioning. What if Jacob was the actual biological father of the candidates? All of them have "father issues":
- 1) Jack's father was a drunkard and had a secret second family. He also seemed to have some personal problem with Jack. Jack's mother would have had lots of time to be with another man in Christian's absense, and he suspecting Jack not to be his son would explain their problematic relationship.
- 2) Kate's father... well, I remember that establishing WHO was actually her father was a problem. So, according to the old saying: if her mom was involved with two men to the point of not being clear which of them was her father, it is not impossible that there was a third one in the game (or even more... hehehe)
- 3) Hugo's father left him. Why? Maybe he found out Hugo was not his son? Ok, Hugo's mom is very religious and so, but, come on, we know this means nothing in real life.
- 4) James' father killed James' mom because she cheated him with a con man. Again the old saying, if she did it once, who knows if she had done it before, resulting in baby James and a not-so-very-happy husband...
And also the other ones:
- 5) Miles' mother refused to talk to him about his father. Why was she so ashamed of him? Maybe Dr. Chang wasn't really the man... this would also explain Miles' ability to "commune with the dead".
- 6) Who's Aarons father? Not a single mention to him, if I remember.
- 7) What I said about Jack also fits to Claire. But I don't think it would fit to both at the same time.
- 8) Locke's father didn't even know of his existence, until he needed someone compatible for the transplant. I don't know if they did any DNA test but I guess only the blood type must be compatible (I emphasize the word *guess* here...)
I don't want to defend this as a theory, but I have not been able to find anything to contradict this idea. I think the point here is: why did the authors attribute "father issues" to each of the main candidates? Just a coincidence? Did they intend to use it in the plot, but abandoned the idea? Was it just one of the ways they found to make the candidates' lives "flawed" as Jacob said?
To complete the idea, two more which, if not giving any space to the idea of Jacob being involved, at least seem to reveal some kind of a pattern; this is the type of ambiguous data that we can use to prove almost anything, I know, but here they are even so:
- 9) Sayid's father pressed him and his brother to be "real men". Sayid ended up becoming a torturer and a murderer, despite the fact that he was an intelligent and kind person.
- 10) Sun's father has always been a problem to her. Demanding, authoritative &c., being indirectly responsible for her being on that Oceanic flight.
Well, that is it. No theory, no celestial revelation, just some ideas that came to mind.
To make a balance, you may be interested in some some serious reading about daddy issues.