So even after this revealing episode the question of who is the real bad guy, Ben or Charles if either, still exists.
Let's look at each man.
You want to say that Ben is evil now. Why? Well obviously he killed Locke, and he'd tried to kill him before by shooting him. Ben has always been manipulating things, but the fact that we don't know what he is ultimately doing is what keeps us from stamping him full out with the bad guy tag.
So far we do know that he manipulated Michael into killing people and dragging Jack and co. into the woods, all for the purpose of getting Jack to remove his tumor. Well that's selfish.
But then we know that later he was attempting to use Juliet to continue studies on pregnant women. What was that all about? Best I can tell that doesn't make him the good guy for any reason.
Perhaps most importantly we know that when we first saw him at Jacob's cabin, we find the cabin surrounded by ash. The ash clearly seems to be keeping some sort of entity bound inside of it, very much like some sort of voodoo. Although perhaps it is keeping something out. Regardless it seems ominous, and the fact that Jacob asks John for help inside the cabin would seem to strongly indicate that Ben is not doing Jacob any favors. Then Ben kills Locke, and it seems clear that Ben does not in anyway want locke talking to Jacob.
The significance is that the others clearly like Jacob. Richard is reverant to him in 1954, as evidenced by Locke's reference to him then. But with Ben seemingly neglecting Jacob, that would put him at odds with Richard.
The story goes that Ben is led to Richard in the Jungle. Richard, by virtue of his long hair, and scruffiness has been beaten by the military and Dharma. But he abdicates his power to Ben who is able to restore control to the hostiles through the purge. This was a clever plow by the dark force on the island to get its man Ben close to Jacob, so that Ben could enslave him with the ash and control the island.
Widmore it would follow is good. Before the purge he had earned leadership of the hostiles, but was usurped when Ben became the means of defeating Dharma from within, and since Ben had access to the Dharma stations, used the Orchid to trick in some way, Charles into leaving the island. This must in some way relate to "the incident". Either Charles turning the wheel began or ended this "incident."
Widmore then is the legitimate leader of the island. His effort to reclaim the island were genuine, and his orders were simply to get Ben off at all costs. Keemy may or may have exceeded his orders, but he was authorized to get Ben, by almost any means. If Jacob is good, and emprisoned by Ben, then Widmores actions are justified.
There is however, the possibility, and a strong possibility that a twist exists to flip this logic on its head.
What if Widmore is bad? If so, then he is using Locke to get to the island in order to control it for himself. His ruthless tactics represent the dark force of the island. We've seen his character act rashly and selfishly, yelling at John in 1954, and killing a man (albiet he did so protecting his people). In this scenerio then he using Locke off the island simply to get back.
If this is so then Ben must be good. The fact that Jacob is encircled in ash is either something that is actually protecting him or something that Ben is powerless to do anything about. Ben has committed terrible acts, but in the end he knew that he had to kill Locke in order to bring him back as something greater. Ben committed that sin as a sacrafice so that Locke didn't have to.
Honestly, the more I try to justify Ben being good, the more I realize that isn't likely. If he was, why did he get cancer, or why didn't the island heal him?
I think the key lies in knowing more about Widmore. Until we see under what circumstance that Widmore left or was removed from the island, then the evidence points to the idea that Widmore is in fact good, and Ben has been a selfish ruler who was used by the dark force of the island.
There are a few interesting notes. Both he and Ben, along with Christian, all know of Mrs. Hawking. They all want the O6 to go back. So they all want the same things. I think a big question is, is that since Widmore so blatantly spied on all of them, then there can't be any doubt that he knew they got on the 316. And since that must be true, then he most certainly had somebody on that plane if in fact he himself wasn't there. But if Widmore's goal is to usurp Ben, whether that be for good or evil, then his goal is equally to get back to the island. Therefore the game is a race between Ben and Widmore to get back, and so Widmore had to absolutely be on that plane. Unless of course he's going by boat with a certain son in law.
Hummm,,,, If he's going by boat, then is he recreating an experience of having gone by boat before? And if he is going with Desmond, then is it possible that Ben did attempt to kill Penny at the docks, only to be stopped by Widmore's men, who beat the daylights out of him?
PS: If you spell Mrs. Hawking as Hawkings, then I want you to go drink a bottle of antifreeze right now. Go on. I'll wait!!!Theory by Locke4God
Let's look at each man.
You want to say that Ben is evil now. Why? Well obviously he killed Locke, and he'd tried to kill him before by shooting him. Ben has always been manipulating things, but the fact that we don't know what he is ultimately doing is what keeps us from stamping him full out with the bad guy tag.
So far we do know that he manipulated Michael into killing people and dragging Jack and co. into the woods, all for the purpose of getting Jack to remove his tumor. Well that's selfish.
But then we know that later he was attempting to use Juliet to continue studies on pregnant women. What was that all about? Best I can tell that doesn't make him the good guy for any reason.
Perhaps most importantly we know that when we first saw him at Jacob's cabin, we find the cabin surrounded by ash. The ash clearly seems to be keeping some sort of entity bound inside of it, very much like some sort of voodoo. Although perhaps it is keeping something out. Regardless it seems ominous, and the fact that Jacob asks John for help inside the cabin would seem to strongly indicate that Ben is not doing Jacob any favors. Then Ben kills Locke, and it seems clear that Ben does not in anyway want locke talking to Jacob.
The significance is that the others clearly like Jacob. Richard is reverant to him in 1954, as evidenced by Locke's reference to him then. But with Ben seemingly neglecting Jacob, that would put him at odds with Richard.
The story goes that Ben is led to Richard in the Jungle. Richard, by virtue of his long hair, and scruffiness has been beaten by the military and Dharma. But he abdicates his power to Ben who is able to restore control to the hostiles through the purge. This was a clever plow by the dark force on the island to get its man Ben close to Jacob, so that Ben could enslave him with the ash and control the island.
Widmore it would follow is good. Before the purge he had earned leadership of the hostiles, but was usurped when Ben became the means of defeating Dharma from within, and since Ben had access to the Dharma stations, used the Orchid to trick in some way, Charles into leaving the island. This must in some way relate to "the incident". Either Charles turning the wheel began or ended this "incident."
Widmore then is the legitimate leader of the island. His effort to reclaim the island were genuine, and his orders were simply to get Ben off at all costs. Keemy may or may have exceeded his orders, but he was authorized to get Ben, by almost any means. If Jacob is good, and emprisoned by Ben, then Widmores actions are justified.
There is however, the possibility, and a strong possibility that a twist exists to flip this logic on its head.
What if Widmore is bad? If so, then he is using Locke to get to the island in order to control it for himself. His ruthless tactics represent the dark force of the island. We've seen his character act rashly and selfishly, yelling at John in 1954, and killing a man (albiet he did so protecting his people). In this scenerio then he using Locke off the island simply to get back.
If this is so then Ben must be good. The fact that Jacob is encircled in ash is either something that is actually protecting him or something that Ben is powerless to do anything about. Ben has committed terrible acts, but in the end he knew that he had to kill Locke in order to bring him back as something greater. Ben committed that sin as a sacrafice so that Locke didn't have to.
Honestly, the more I try to justify Ben being good, the more I realize that isn't likely. If he was, why did he get cancer, or why didn't the island heal him?
I think the key lies in knowing more about Widmore. Until we see under what circumstance that Widmore left or was removed from the island, then the evidence points to the idea that Widmore is in fact good, and Ben has been a selfish ruler who was used by the dark force of the island.
There are a few interesting notes. Both he and Ben, along with Christian, all know of Mrs. Hawking. They all want the O6 to go back. So they all want the same things. I think a big question is, is that since Widmore so blatantly spied on all of them, then there can't be any doubt that he knew they got on the 316. And since that must be true, then he most certainly had somebody on that plane if in fact he himself wasn't there. But if Widmore's goal is to usurp Ben, whether that be for good or evil, then his goal is equally to get back to the island. Therefore the game is a race between Ben and Widmore to get back, and so Widmore had to absolutely be on that plane. Unless of course he's going by boat with a certain son in law.
Hummm,,,, If he's going by boat, then is he recreating an experience of having gone by boat before? And if he is going with Desmond, then is it possible that Ben did attempt to kill Penny at the docks, only to be stopped by Widmore's men, who beat the daylights out of him?
PS: If you spell Mrs. Hawking as Hawkings, then I want you to go drink a bottle of antifreeze right now. Go on. I'll wait!!!Theory by Locke4God
