Jim LaFleur = James Ford + Sawyer

OK, it's been a while since my last post. I'll do what I can to make up 6 and write 3 more by the end of this week...

One of the most striking features of LaFleur was the development of Josh Holloway's character. James Ford created "Sawyer" as a way of carrying his grief and desire for vengeance with him until he killed the Sawyer responsible for his parents' deaths, Anthony Cooper. Once Ford avenged himself and his parents he no longer had a reason to maintain the Sawyer identity. There wasn't much time to see his transformation during season 4 when the mercenaries from the freighter were out to kill everyone, but it was clear that this persona had already begun to dissolve as Ford took on the role of group leader and began to act with everyone else's interests in mind.
I feel this new being is in fact his natural self, what James Ford would have been had he not carried Sawyer with him for 30 years. Whereas Sawyer is a surly, selfish con artist James Ford (presumably) is the warm, loving, friendly guy that occasionally peeked his head out in the earlier episodes but is all we see throughout season 5.
Of course, the current character we see is not named Sawyer or James Ford but Jim LaFleur. He initially presents himself as James but everyone comes to call him Jim over the course of 3 years. This character is one part Sawyer in that he is evidently the product of a con meant to help him and his people live with Dharma. He is also James Ford in that his cold, vengeful heart has been pacified and filled with love and compassion for others. Nonetheless, as Phil tells Jack when he goes to visit LaFleur, he doesn't like to be called James. While abandoning the emotionally damaged Sawyer makes sense, I think this being doesn't simply become James because that persona is too innocent. The only time we ever saw James in the past was when he was a scared little boy unable to control his surroundings. The current character has the good intentions of this young boy but invokes the sharp wit and calculating mind of Sawyer. As a result Jim seems to be a necessary a rational creation for the James Ford/Sawyer cross.