the blast door map

another question:

Walt and Locke would seem to be redundant characters, would they not? We know Locke has "the gift" and was therefore a threat to Ben. Among the Losties, why do we need two "special" people?

it reminds me of one of my favorite scenes from 'welcome to the dollhouse:"

DAWN: I was wondering if . . . Well, I've been thinking seriously of building another clubhouse, and I wanted to know, would you be interested in being my first honorary member?

STEVE: What are you talking about?

DAWN: The "special people" club.

STEVE: Special people?

DAWN: What's the matter?

STEVE: Do you know what "special people" means?

DAWN: What?

STEVE: Special people equals retarded. Your club is for retards.

ok well here's the thing, i think it's going a bit far to call locke and walt redundant. they may share a trait, but their functions in the story are -wildly- different.

first let's look at what each contributes. walt:

• driving force for all of michael's objectives
• possesses mysterious unknown, undefined power
• resents that michael has suddenly been placed as a father figure, when he hasn't earned it, and doesn't even seem to want it
• several times, out of nowhere, appears as a vision

locke:

• mysteriously able to walk after the crash
• the ultimate tragic story - seeking his father's approval leads to his downfall
• feels redeemed by the crash, feels he can speak to the island
• eternally conflicted by whether he is a hunter, a farmer, or a leader
• his father turns out to be 'sawyer.'
• is poised to become new leader of either or both the hostiles, and the survivors.

and the list goes on and on. basically, i don't see them as redundant at all.

now, locke and eko were redundant. they both served as the mystical leaders of their respective camps, and once the two camps came together, eko had served his story purpose, and needed to go.

and as for being 'special,' that word is so vague that we can't use it to qualify both of them as being 'the same.' and from what we've seen, it's clear that locke and walt are not special in the same ways. locke has not demonstrated any supernatural abilities (even his healing after being shot by ben may have been walt's doing and not locke's) , and beyond that, we still have no idea what ben, or anyone really means when they say 'special.'

it also seems like there's something specifically special about walt and locke together. they are both drawn to each other, which doesn't make them redundant, but rather a device through which we might discover more about their, and the island's properties.

what i am curious about is exactly what the order was from jacob when the others took walt in the first place. did they at first capture him only because he was a kid, and they need kids, and then jacob demanded that he be kept even after he demonstrated frightening abilites? or was the plan always to capture walt specifically because jacob wanted him all along? i think we'll get a lot of walt answers in season 4.

so the nutshell answer is that it may feel like locke and walt have similar properties, but from a story perspective, their functions are very different.

reading this blog? post more questions in the comments!