Even if he has sometimes been able to soften us, let’s recognize that the character of Ben in Lost has above all shown us that he was capable of the worst to achieve his ends. Small anthology of his worst moments.
Here’s our pick of Benjamin Linus’ most selfish moments in Lost, the missing. First known as Henry Gale, we learn during the series that Ben uses this alias to hide that he is actually the leader of the “Others” infiltrated among the passengers of Oceanic Flight 815.
By definition, everything below is SPOILER.
Is there a doctor in the room? (beginning of S03)
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Suffering from a serious cancerous tumour, Ben needs to be operated on. He therefore calls on the surgeon Jack Shephard, who has just arrived on the island recently. However, the latter refuses to operate on Ben, who has lied to him since their first meeting. In order to convince Jack to operate, the leader of the Others therefore decides to manipulate him by exploiting his guilt at the idea of not saving a patient, and kidnaps and then mistreats Kate and Sawyer in order to put pressure on the doctor.
The DHARMA Genocide (S03E20)
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While Ben is still a young man, he helps the native inhabitants of the island, then led by Richard Alpert, to get rid of the DHARMA Initiative. The latter were on the island to carry out experiments, in particular on electromagnetism. They will mostly be gassed, and only a few of its members will survive, like Ethan or Ben. This one will attend calmly and coldly to the death of his father, gassed in his car. After the DHARMA members were killed, Ben gained the opportunity to join the “Others” and eventually become their leader.
A daughter taken from her mother (S03E23)
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Long before the passengers of Oceanic Flight 815 arrived, Ben was ordered by Charles Widmore, then leader of the Others, to kill Danielle Rousseau, who was stranded on the island. Almost on a whim, Ben, noticing that she is the mother of a little girl, Alex, takes the baby away and threatens Danielle, advising her never to try to find him and the child. He will raise Alex as his daughter, hiding from her that her mother is on the island.
Jealous of Everything (S03E20)
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John Locke managed to communicate with Jacob, the “island overseer”, something Ben never got to experience, despite his lifelong devotion to this purpose. Jealous, he drives John to the DHARMA Initiative members’ cemetery and shoots him without regret. After asking him what Jacob said to him, he abandons him to bleed out in a pit from which he will not be able to climb. Charming ! However, after receiving a visit from young Walt, Locke will find the strength to survive and climb out of the pit in an attempt to stop Jack and the other survivors from leaving the island.
Farewell Alex (S04E09)
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Keamy, leader of a troop of mercenaries, must recover Ben on behalf of Charles Widmore. In order to convince him to come out of hiding, he threatens to kill his adopted daughter, Alex. Ben, believing he can always manipulate the killer and having confidence that the island will not put him through this, stands his ground and refuses to turn himself in, even stating to change Keamy’s mind that Alex will not means nothing to him. She will die from a bullet in the back of the head, and Ben will never recover.
The Death of John Locke (S05E07)
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Because he needs him to know how to get back to the island, Ben saves the life of John Locke, who was going to commit suicide after his failure to convince the survivors of Flight 815 to return to the island. Then, when he understands that it is Eloise Hawkins who will bring the survivors back to the island and that once back, Locke will be one of the serious candidates to replace Jacob, Ben strangles his rival. He takes over the role formerly held by Locke on his own in order to reunite Jack, Kate, Jin, Sun and the others with Eloise for a return to the island.
