More on Lost

well...some things i had to think about last night while watching lost:

Locke had to kill his father
Memories of his terrible father crippled him (in his case not just metaphorically but literally). he's been set free on the island...but the "old man" comes back from time to time...he no longer has the power he once had...instead, he (the old man) is bound up, chained up and then held (gagged) in the brig of a old slaving ship (which locke pointed out to sawyer).

Locke needed sawyer's "help" to kill the old man.
locke cannot kill him by himself...he may want to, he may need to, he may know that it is right...but he is still powerless. he needs the man who can relate to and identify with him to do it for him. he needs the man who has felt the same pain as he felt and who has the ability to do it to kill his father for him.