holy fudge, marissa! That actually makes a lot of sense! lol

It would also be a kind of "ha! Widmore's on the good side! Didn't see that coming, did you?" thing for the writers too. And I have to admit, I wouldn't have put money on Widmore being Team Jacob. But... yes! It really does make sense!

I've pretty much been assuming he's on Team Jacob because of how he helped Locke last season. Remember when Jacob told Hurley that some people he can just tell them what they need to do and they'll do it? Yeah, thats what i figure the relationship he has with Charles Widmore is.

Also remember how when Ben moved the island there was nothing where he appeared but three years later Widmore had set up a camera at that exact spot? Almost as if someone told him to do just that and wait for something to happen there.

So unless he decided to go wild and randomly put a camera up in the desert shortly before someone would appear there I'm convinced he's been doing Jacobs bidding.
But I hate to be that guy, but i'm still not convinced Jacobs side is "the good side" :P

^ I knw what you mean, Pat, Jacob seems sketchy to me, too... but MIB even more so.
He makes too much sense. When he justified telling Claire that Aaron was in the Temple, I completely bought it.

But then I thought about it.

Lying to a greiving mother? Why not just tell her the truth? Why not say "don't worry, you're son is safe. He was never stolen. He was saved. No need to be angery at all."

He's playing people. Offering Ben the power he's always wanted, offering Sayid Nadia back, giving Claire someone to hate, telling Kate that Claire won't make a good mother (and so she should be Aaron's mother)...
Sorry, Smokey.
I ain't buyin' what you're sellin'.

I'm not saying Man in Black is all peaches and roses, but I doubt he's evil. He's clearly a very angry person that just wants off the damn island and is willing to manipulate people and offer them things to get what he wants (a good question will be whether or not he's able to provide it).

But Jacob has clearly bent peoples lives to meet his will(although he's often done it in a passive way) and made some of them offers that weren't actual offers at all.(Dogen hey come with me do whatever i saw and never see your family again and you won't have a dead son!)

All i'm saying is that while there may be two sides I doubt either truly falls on either side of the good/evil line despite what either side thinks.

I'm starting to agree with you. I really don't trust either of these two.
Honestly, I'm on Team Sawyer - get the heck out of there before shiztnit starts to get really crazy.
(Actually, can it get any crazier then time travel? It's Lost, so... it probably can.)

Going back to A Wrinkle in Time, link a summary. Now, check this out:
The three children learn from Mrs. Whatsit and her friends Mrs. Who and Mrs. Which that the universe is threatened by a great evil called the Dark Thing and taking the form of a giant cloud, engulfing the stars around it.

Now, there's another thing for our space/time travelling heroes to worry about in this book: IT.
IT - The disembodied brain that controls all the inhabitants of Camazotz with its revolting, pulsing rhythm. IT, identified with the Black Thing, is the embodiment of evil on this planet.
In the story, IT takes control over Charles Wallace and speaks through him.
(*ahem*, Locke and the Smoke Monster anyone?)

Anyhow, Meg, Charles Wallace's sister, figures out how to save her brother by using the one thing that IT doesn't have: her abiliity to love.
The summary says:
Thus, by concentrating on her love for Charles Wallace, she is able to restore him to his true identity. Meg releases Charles from IT's clutches and tessers with him through time and space...

So, could this be the answer to Lost's questions?
Porbably not.
This whole "love" thing sounds more like it belongs in Harry Potter than Lost.
But it's an idea.

The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham:

Locke: Why would you help me?
Widmore: Because there's a war coming, John. And if you're not back on the Island when that happens, the wrong side is going to win.


Locke: Richard Alpert. He said the only way to get them to come back was if I died.
Widmore: I don't know why he said that, but I'm not gonna let that happen.

---

Did Widmore know what was going to happen? Did he know what powers the Smoke Monster really had? Unlike Ben?