MiB touching Richard on the shoulder in the Black Rock, reminded me of Jacob touching John after his fall from eight stories. In both cases, there is a possibilty that the touch actually brought them back from the dead. If so, did MiB set Richard up to act as his mole? The cat who ate the canary (from the Island of dogs) is, in my humble opinion, in this case, MiB.

He did use Richard later on as the recipient of the compass, creating a veritable paradox, an impossible loop. A loop, which involved, obviously, John Locke, and his promotion as a potential leader, who would be invited into the statue.

Could that mean, vice versa, that Jacob somehow set up John Locke as his mole?

The way he touched Richard I think was clearly meant to harken back to Jacob touching Locke since he did it in the same manner.

I'm not sure if it was meant to suggest that the touch of Jacob and the touch of MiB are similar somehow, or, if it was just meant to make us think it was Jacob touching Richard, to set up the surprise that it was MiB when they showed his face.

When they showed the hand, I thought it was Jacob at first but then I thought, "Hey, wait a minute... that hand looks too old to be Jacob's" although for some reason it being MiB didn't cross my mind.

MiB touching Richard on the shoulder in the Black Rock, reminded me of Jacob touching John after his fall from eight stories. In both cases, there is a possibilty that the touch actually brought them back from the dead. If so, did MiB set Richard up to act as his mole? The cat who ate the canary (from the Island of dogs) is, in my humble opinion, in this case, MiB.

He did use Richard later on as the recipient of the compass, creating a veritable paradox, an impossible loop. A loop, which involved, obviously, John Locke, and his promotion as a potential leader, who would be invited into the statue.

Could that mean, vice versa, that Jacob somehow set up John Locke as his mole?

Just rewatched the episode and this scene stood out to me alot and I didn't notice it very much on the first watch. It is very intresting to see MIB touch Richard in much the same way Jacob touches people. What affects this could have, I don't know. But being a huge Locke fan, I really like your idea about Locke being used by Jacob as a mole. I thought maybe what they might be setting up is that MIB underestimated Locke and Jacob knew this would happen so him being stuck in Locke's form with his memories and as we have seen some of his mentality could have been what Jacob wanted all along because he knew the personality of Locke would one day come to control MIB. But this is just a fantasy of a Locke fan. I also hoped he would rise from the grave and have a showdown with his possessed MIB double. It could happen.

I have a theory that involves "touching". It is very significant, I think. MiB touched Richard before he sent Richard to kill Jacob. Once Richard changed sides to Jacob, Jacob touched him. We're not talking every day handshake type touching. The way they film this specific "touching" is different, they want you to specifically see that it happens. Its like the person is "officially" on MiB or Jacob's side after the "touching" happens. My theory is that you have to "officially" be on someone's side to kill the other one (part of the "rules"?). BTW, did you notice that in the last episode (last week not this week) that MiB offered Kate his hand to help her stand up and she refused it? VERY significant, I believe. Also, MiB has touched (I don't know if it is the significant "touching" or not) Sawyer (when he slipped from the ladder going into the cave) and Sayid (in the episode where Sayid couldn't kill him) now. I can't remember if he touched Jin or not. Hurley, Jack, Kate, and Richard have not been "touched" by him after being touched by Jacob, so in my mind they are still "Team Jacob". Oh and BTW, MiB touched Ben before Ben killed Jacob and after Ben started questioning Jacob and losing his faith in him, which (my theory) switched Ben to "Team MiB" and allowed Ben to be able to kill Jacob.