get the orders from Richard, sparking a deepening resentment Ben had toward Jacob regarding his own importance. For centuries, Jacob feared that The Man in Black would eventually kill him, so he chose candidates who would succeed him after his death. He visited Kate and Sawyer when they were children. Specifically, he protected Kate when she was caught stealing and touched her. He then made contact with a young Sawyer when he was writing a threatening note to Anthony Cooper. He later visited Sun-Hwa Kwon and Jin-Soo Kwon at their wedding and touched them to give his blessing. He also touched Locke when Locke apparently died after being pushed out a window of a very high building. He then touched Jack after Jack was taught about the counting to five strategy from his father. He visited Sayid Jarrah and this leads to saving him from dying with his wife. Hurley was touched by him right before boarding Ajira Flight 316. He managed to make all the candidates attend the Oceanic Flight 815 so they could crash on the island and succeed him. At some point before the crash of Ajira Flight 316, Jacob recruited his long-entrusted bodyguard Ilana Verdansky to help protect the remaining six candidates: Jack, Sawyer, Jin & Sun, Hurley, and Sayid. In turn, Verdansky got a group of others including an associate named Bram, to facilitate the return of the candidates to the island on the Ajira flight and to act as Jacob's bodyguards. After the crash of Oceanic Flight 815 and Ajira 316 The Man in Black finally found a loophole in Ben Linus. The Man in Black in the form of John Locke convinces Ben that Jacob has neglected him and Ben must kill Jacob. Jacob awaited his doom in a statue of Tawaret where he lived. As Ben and Locke/MIB enter, Jacob makes a final attempt to convince Ben not to kill him. However, Ben stabbed Jacob several times and then The Man in Black kicked him into the fire. Jacob then returned as a ghost and guided Hurley and the rest of the survivors as to how to defeat the Man in Black. At some point in the past, Jacob compiled a list of 364 candidates (virtually everyone that has visited the island since at least 1988) on a glass dial in a derelict lighthouse that only he is aware of until he