What's the symbolism, if any, that Kate was playing with the Backgammon board when Locke came in to say goodbye?

I think it has no significance at all.

Your going way to far into it, man.

See the moustrap thread!

"There are two players. One side is light, and one side is dark." -- Locke

There has to be some significance to it!

Yes I agree, it's there for a purpose... to lead us back to the one side is light/one is dark line from Locke AND it's just before Locke walks in...

I also agree. When I saw it, I thought of Locke playing with Walt and the black and white stones from Adam and Eve.

For the first season, the symbolism of the backgammon set was the heart of the show. One light, one dark. I really hope they bring the redemption theme back. We've been far too long without it.

check out:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thematic_motifs_of_Lost

[ their caps, not mine. also i reformated for reading on a 'puter screen ]

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Black and white


The colors black and white, which traditionally reflect
opposition or dualism (i.e. yin and yang),
appear frequently throughout the series.

Their dichotomy is laid out
in the show's pilot episode — Locke explains backgammon
to Walt by holding up one black and one white piece,
saying, "Two players, two sides — one is light, one is dark."


The colors are often used to represent ambiguous or contradictory
natures within a character's own personality.

In the opening sequence of "Raised by Another,"
Locke appears as an ominous image in Claire's nightmare
about her unborn child, with one eyeball black and the other white.

In "Deus Ex Machina," the glasses that Sawyer wears to
accommodate his hyperopia are created from the frames of
two different pairs of glasses: one side white, the other black.

Also to be noted would be the Hanso Foundations logo,
a black and white yin and yang emblem.


On other occasions, the colors represent opposition between
individuals.

In the closing scene of "Collision," Jack and Ana Lucia,
ostensibly leaders of their respective factions,
face each other with Jack wearing white and Ana Lucia wearing black;

in "The Long Con," Jack and Locke,
immediately following an argument between the two,
are seen wearing opposing white and black shirts.


However, on other occasions,
the colors are featured in unexpected or as-of-yet
unexplained ways — such as in "House of the Rising Sun,"
when Jack finds a pouch containing
one white stone and one black stone
on a pair of mummified corpses.

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