== He's Dead, John == 
 From the episode "The Cost of Living". To paraphrase Star Trek's "Bones" McCoy droll facts of life and death in space. I suppose that the actor who played Mr. Eko unintendedly did a favor to the producers and writers by having the plot move in a different direction, sans the Eko character. As we've come to know the situation, the MIB was the Smoke Monster, and the contentious rival on the island with Jacob for control. Since it's been established that the monster can assume the form of dead corspes on the island, and uses them to manipulate the survivors there (ultimately to their demise,)and by lying and otherwise driving ppl insane to expediate its ends, then Mr. Eko's death was a stroke of luck for the 815 crew. Why would I say this? It's because Eko was  A WILD CARD AND A MAD DOG!!!  With his volatile and warped personality (as mass murderer-turned-guilt-ridden-and-pentative-man-of-the-cloth) this was the made-for order perscription of a potentially perfect killing tool to exterinate the survivors, AND even perhaps the "Others", as Eko was uniquly capable of.  We've seen how "Smokey" successfully drove and manipulated Russeau, and later Calire to do his bidding to kill as many of the inhabitants on the island as possible. With Eko, MIB had the "trifecta" puppet: Meancing strength and prowess, religious fervor, and needy for direction and purpose.  The "815" people really didn't understand whom or what they had in their midst. Perhaps Ben Linus did! "Smokey" wanted to use Eko ASAP, so while the nefarious Nigerian was recuperating from his attack by the "Dharma Bears", "Smokey" arranged a terrifying image to Mr. Eko that the latter was well familiar with (that being the image of SHANGO'S FIREY JUSTICE. As the legend goes in the West African Orisha myths, Shango, the original Thunder God, was also the diety of swift and exacting justice; he would send the "dancing fire" to chase the guilty out of every abode of safety and rest until the evil one confessed. Bravo to the writers  and the actor for insering this into the plot). When confronted with "Smokey", using Eko's  dead brother Demme to manipulate him, the Monster gets a big surprise and learns that Eko, in his own mind, doesn't think he's done anything wrong, as he thought he was protecting his brother. This curously enrages the monster who quickly and gruesomely dispatches Eko. Perhaps "Smokey" surmised that Eko was too volatile even for "it" to manipulate, and therfore was of no use to him in any attempt to kill the island's inhabitants. Moral of this episode is that one should never trust a religious fanatic of any stripe. Just like those two hapless fools who recently DELIBERATELY sailed into Somali waters and let themselves be captured, and quickly killed by the cosairs. All in the name of "faith".  

 From  a comment dated in the spring of 2010A.D.   Veryverser