Actually -- and this is addressed to both you and norwich36 -- I've halfway talked myself into thinking it's been Zod, somehow, *all along* because something struck me when I watched the Clark/Zex scene again this weekend, triggered by the line re: Kal-El having his father's eyes:
The *real* Jor-El would *never* have strangled the *son of Hiram Kent*. We know from Relic that Hiram and his wife protected Jor-El after Louise's death. The real Jor-El would never repay that kindness by treating Hiram's son as disrepectfully as Jonathan is treated in Covenant. But if *Zod* needed Kal-El to collect the keys to his prison (the Fortress), then that explains torturing Jon to force Kal-El to submit to re-programming (Covenant/Crusade). But the power of Martha's love -- and black kryptonite -- undid all that careful re-programming and Kal-El decided he would just ignore Jor-El for much of S4.
So Zod tries another tactic. When Kal-El comes to the caves in Sacred, Zod feeds him cryptic warnings about Bad Things to Come if he doesn't collect and unite the elements. *This* is why that one element -- the one in China -- was surrounded by kryptonite: whoever put it there knew what it was the partial key to -- a prison housing a Very Bad Prisoner. With kryptonite around it, none of Zod's disciples, or, alternatively, no one from the same place (read: planet) as the Very Bad Prisoner could get to the elements (and only people from the same place as the Very Bad Prisoner are likely to have knowledge of VBP in the first place). Now, Zod may not have been aware of that impediment; he may have assumed Kal-El could get to the elements fairly easily.
Now, the wrinkles in Zod's plan to have Kal-El collect the elements are (a) Kal-El's own stubbornness, and (b) the various humans seeking the elements because they believe what are probably mistranslated prophecies claiming the elements when combined open a library of knowledge and power. Everything would have gone a lot more smoothly if Martha hadn't disrupted the re-programming and the Luthors weren't, you know, smart.
Fast-forward to Commencement and Lana conveniently delivering the second element to Kal-El, who in turn decides to return to the caves to find out what the hell's going on with the impending meteor shower. Zod warns of Great Badness Incoming because Kal-El didn't listen to him, implying that all of the imminent destruction is Kal-El's fault, which has the effect of spurring the kid to listen for a change and to try finding the third element. Kal-El adds element #2 to the chamber holding element #1, which in turn causes element #3 to go wacky in Lionel's pocket *and* to call out to Kal-El. Score more points for Zod, because he's now that much closer to having the location of his prison revealed, which means he's also that much closer to being freed from the prison.
*cracks knuckles and gives it a whirl*
Actually -- and this is addressed to both you and
The *real* Jor-El would *never* have strangled the *son of Hiram Kent*. We know from Relic that Hiram and his wife protected Jor-El after Louise's death. The real Jor-El would never repay that kindness by treating Hiram's son as disrepectfully as Jonathan is treated in Covenant. But if *Zod* needed Kal-El to collect the keys to his prison (the Fortress), then that explains torturing Jon to force Kal-El to submit to re-programming (Covenant/Crusade). But the power of Martha's love -- and black kryptonite -- undid all that careful re-programming and Kal-El decided he would just ignore Jor-El for much of S4.
So Zod tries another tactic. When Kal-El comes to the caves in Sacred, Zod feeds him cryptic warnings about Bad Things to Come if he doesn't collect and unite the elements. *This* is why that one element -- the one in China -- was surrounded by kryptonite: whoever put it there knew what it was the partial key to -- a prison housing a Very Bad Prisoner. With kryptonite around it, none of Zod's disciples, or, alternatively, no one from the same place (read: planet) as the Very Bad Prisoner could get to the elements (and only people from the same place as the Very Bad Prisoner are likely to have knowledge of VBP in the first place). Now, Zod may not have been aware of that impediment; he may have assumed Kal-El could get to the elements fairly easily.
Now, the wrinkles in Zod's plan to have Kal-El collect the elements are (a) Kal-El's own stubbornness, and (b) the various humans seeking the elements because they believe what are probably mistranslated prophecies claiming the elements when combined open a library of knowledge and power. Everything would have gone a lot more smoothly if Martha hadn't disrupted the re-programming and the Luthors weren't, you know, smart.
Fast-forward to Commencement and Lana conveniently delivering the second element to Kal-El, who in turn decides to return to the caves to find out what the hell's going on with the impending meteor shower. Zod warns of Great Badness Incoming because Kal-El didn't listen to him, implying that all of the imminent destruction is Kal-El's fault, which has the effect of spurring the kid to listen for a change and to try finding the third element. Kal-El adds element #2 to the chamber holding element #1, which in turn causes element #3 to go wacky in Lionel's pocket *and* to call out to Kal-El. Score more points for Zod, because he's now that much closer to having the location of his prison revealed, which means he's also that much closer to being freed from the prison.