Locke tells Sun that he'll help find their friends, Ricahard's compass

At the others beach camp, Sun is once again looking at Jin's wedding ring, thinking about what Richard told her about all of the Dharma folk or her friends, it's unclear, being dead. Locke comes over to her and she asks him does he think it's true that all of their friends are dead. Locke says "I don't think we went through all this for nothing Sun. Richard Alpert comes over and Locke asks him if he still has the compass that he gave him. Richard pulls it out of his pocket and says "Little rusty but she can still find north."

Locke calls over to Ben who is sitting on the beach near-by and asks him to join he and Richard on their errand. Ben asks if Locke is afraid to leave him there with his former people and also asks if he thinks he'll stage a coup. Locke says "I'm not afraid of anything you can do anymore, Ben." Ben says that in that case, he's love to come. Locke tells Sun to stay there and he'll be back in a few hours. He continues saying "But whatever happens, Sun, you have my word--if there's a way for you and Jin to be together again, if there's a way to save our people... I'll find it."

Whatever Locke's source of confidence is, it seems to have made him cocky. Again we are left asking, who is giving him his directions right now?

Locke asks Richard how to get off the island, time skips again

John Locke shows Richard Alpert the compass he gave him next to the fallen beach baron. Locke asks Richard how to get off the island but Richard says that it's "privileged information." Locke tells Richard that he should tell him because he's his leader. Richard says "We have a very specific process for selecting our leadership and it's starts at a very, very young age." Locke asks what year it is and Richard says "1954." Locke says that Richard should visit him in two years when he's born on May 30, 1956 in Tustin, CA. The island starts to shift in time again and Locke ask one more time how to get off the island but Richard doesn't get a chance to respond before the shift.

So, Locke told Richard to visit him which is why we saw him in Locke's flashback in the season 4 episode "Cabin Fever" (check out those screens here). This might explain why Locke doesn't initially recognize Richard on the island in season 3 even though he appeared to meet him at least once in the past during the test. This poses the question that was Locke really destined to lead the others/natives or did he appoint himself leader by talking to Richard in the past? The rules guiding this whole time travel thing is immensely confusing yet still incredibly interesting.

Also, why do the non-time traveling people on the island not notice the time shifts (ie Richard and the other here as well as Ethan in "Because You Left")? This lends credence to the idea that not only did the island move but now the people are shifting in time, not the island. Who knows though.

Richard Alpert comes to help Locke, gives him a compass

After John Locke moves forward in time, he goes to the plane and uses a belt to put around his bullet wound. While in the plane he sees more Virgin Mary statues and one of the charred bodies. Richard Alpert pops out of the jungle with a torch and a Dharma first aid kit from The Staff station. When Locke tells him that Ethan shot him, Alpert says "What goes around comes around." When Locke asks how he knew where to find him and that he was shot, Richard says that he told him, or rather he will tell him. Richard cleans Locke's wound and pulls the bullet out. Hell tells Locke that the next time they see each other, that he won't recognize Locke. He then gives Locke a compass and when Locke asks what it does, in another great line Richard says "It points north John."

He tells Locke that he has to get his people back to the island in order to save the island. Richard knows that the helicopter didn't go down with the ship and that everyone made it home. How he knows this is a mystery. Then the bombshell. Richard tells Locke "You're going to have to die John." Locke's reaction to this is the 13th image down.

Locke then goes back to the past, seemingly around the same time as before because the yellow beachcraft is still on the cliff and smoking. Locke then looks at the compass which is not the same one that Richard tested him with as a child (see those screens here).

So many questions here. Why does Locke have to die? How will he get off the island? When did Locke tell Richard that he'd been shot? What's the significance of the compass? Also, does it seem weird that Richard wears reading glasses? I guess Ben did too, but I guess the island has bigger fish to fry than taking care of people's optometry needs.

Locke chooses the wrong item, Richard Alpert disappointed

When Richard Alpert shows up at Locke's home, he sits him down and pulls some items out of a bag. They include:

• a baseball glove
• Book of Laws (the Torah)
  
• a container of granules (maybe sand)
• a compass
• a Mystery Tales comic book (one of the stories is, "What was the secret of the mysterious "Hidden Land!"")
• a knife

Alpert asks John, "Which one of these things belong to you already?" After picking up the compass and the container of granules, then he briefly looks at the Book of Laws and Richard looks hopeful. He then chooses the knife though. Richard looks incredibly disappointed and quickly packs up the items and leaves.

Was the Book of Laws the right choice? Also, what was the point of this exercise? Was it to see if John was prepared for his destiny?