Ok, so let's ponder for a moment
When Ben says "You heard him?!" to John in TMBTC, referring to him hearing Jacob, it was with the same exact tone as "Jin's alive?!"
When Locke provides the evidence of both these events, Ben tries to kill him. In both instances Locke survives... in a way.
The first time Ben tries to kill him, Locke gets shot in the space where his kidney used to be. The second time Ben strangles him, but mysteriously Locke is reanimated, and fully alive and well back on the island. The island just isn't finished with you yet dear Locke!
If you want to go out on a limb and believe that Ben even manipulated the original cast of 815 to get on the plane as the first attempt at Locke's life on these same principles, go for it. The plane crash should kill everyone, but Locke survives as well as almost everyone else. Not only that, but he survives even stronger, with the ability to walk now! And a new purpose in life.
Or go out on a limb even further, that Ben manipulated every aspect of John vs. Anthony Cooper that led up to the events of John getting thrown out a window.
So it's ALL Ben, from the start. Tailoring this great leader one "evil" act at a time.
Now a lot of people are starting to lean on Ben as being an evil guy for all these shenanigans, however, I believe Ben more to be a man of faith as well. Whatever his motives are it seems that Ben knows that John simply cannot die... yet, and is only playing the role of the faithful servant. Ben knows this, because of what John reveals to him. This new knowledge John unveils to Ben, supports a new timeline in which John truly is the leader of the Others, and the Island will probably want him alive. It is my belief that Ben is personally proving to himself as well as John, that John himself is special because he keeps surviving. Each attempt on John's life, John seems to bounce back with a new agenda. John gains spiritual faith, the ability to walk from a cripled status, the ability to survive gunshot wounds, connect with the island, and talk with spirit-folk such as Jacob.
This time around Ben has tailored himself the perfect leader, and now that this time around things are actually happening DIFFERENTLY, proving to Ben that he did things right! Just think... "Jin's alive?!" Each time John says something to Ben, that is different that the expected timeline, ben gets excited because guess what, Ben was right all along, this John fellow was the leader-to-be all along.
So Ben tries to kill him., knowing that Locke can't die, just to keep seeing if it's true, also knowing that if he does he will be reincarnated (hence Ben driving the truck with the "reincarnation" anagram on it"), also knowing that these "attempts" are grooming this otherwise weak man into being a strong and faithful leader.
i.e. Ben is still the good guy after all, and he's tailoring a great future leader for his people. After all, Ben does apologize to Locke in the Orchid for "making his life so miserable" and I believed that he was truly being heartfelt in the moment (possibly shed a little tear myself). Ben has no reason to lie to John at this point because he has no idea that he's going to be able to get back ever! Sounded like he was truly ready to hand over the position to me.
Now onto Jacob, people think that Ben shot John because John can hear Jacob and Ben can't, and he's jealous, enraged, etc.. However, it has never been my belief that Ben can't hear Jacob, I believe he still can. It just seems that the previous time loop around, or more simply the expectations of Ben, contained a reality where John COULDN'T hear Jacob, and Jin wasn't alive. Perhaps in the previous time loop, John chose the knife and he himself killed Anthony Cooper, or whatever happened differently. Now that Ben knows Locke can hear Jacob, he has to kill him to make sure he really is the leader destined, knowing the leader will somehow always survive.
Anyway, if it ends up Ben is the bad guy, and was just being a selfish crying little jerk who wanted to keep it all to himself and really thought John would die in any of these instances, then it puts a hole in Ben's abilities that we've seen time and time again. To me Ben knows just about everything there is about this island, it seems highly unlikely that he could actually be mistaken to believe that Locke could actually die. Theory by matt
When Ben says "You heard him?!" to John in TMBTC, referring to him hearing Jacob, it was with the same exact tone as "Jin's alive?!"
When Locke provides the evidence of both these events, Ben tries to kill him. In both instances Locke survives... in a way.
The first time Ben tries to kill him, Locke gets shot in the space where his kidney used to be. The second time Ben strangles him, but mysteriously Locke is reanimated, and fully alive and well back on the island. The island just isn't finished with you yet dear Locke!
If you want to go out on a limb and believe that Ben even manipulated the original cast of 815 to get on the plane as the first attempt at Locke's life on these same principles, go for it. The plane crash should kill everyone, but Locke survives as well as almost everyone else. Not only that, but he survives even stronger, with the ability to walk now! And a new purpose in life.
Or go out on a limb even further, that Ben manipulated every aspect of John vs. Anthony Cooper that led up to the events of John getting thrown out a window.
So it's ALL Ben, from the start. Tailoring this great leader one "evil" act at a time.
Now a lot of people are starting to lean on Ben as being an evil guy for all these shenanigans, however, I believe Ben more to be a man of faith as well. Whatever his motives are it seems that Ben knows that John simply cannot die... yet, and is only playing the role of the faithful servant. Ben knows this, because of what John reveals to him. This new knowledge John unveils to Ben, supports a new timeline in which John truly is the leader of the Others, and the Island will probably want him alive. It is my belief that Ben is personally proving to himself as well as John, that John himself is special because he keeps surviving. Each attempt on John's life, John seems to bounce back with a new agenda. John gains spiritual faith, the ability to walk from a cripled status, the ability to survive gunshot wounds, connect with the island, and talk with spirit-folk such as Jacob.
This time around Ben has tailored himself the perfect leader, and now that this time around things are actually happening DIFFERENTLY, proving to Ben that he did things right! Just think... "Jin's alive?!" Each time John says something to Ben, that is different that the expected timeline, ben gets excited because guess what, Ben was right all along, this John fellow was the leader-to-be all along.
So Ben tries to kill him., knowing that Locke can't die, just to keep seeing if it's true, also knowing that if he does he will be reincarnated (hence Ben driving the truck with the "reincarnation" anagram on it"), also knowing that these "attempts" are grooming this otherwise weak man into being a strong and faithful leader.
i.e. Ben is still the good guy after all, and he's tailoring a great future leader for his people. After all, Ben does apologize to Locke in the Orchid for "making his life so miserable" and I believed that he was truly being heartfelt in the moment (possibly shed a little tear myself). Ben has no reason to lie to John at this point because he has no idea that he's going to be able to get back ever! Sounded like he was truly ready to hand over the position to me.
Now onto Jacob, people think that Ben shot John because John can hear Jacob and Ben can't, and he's jealous, enraged, etc.. However, it has never been my belief that Ben can't hear Jacob, I believe he still can. It just seems that the previous time loop around, or more simply the expectations of Ben, contained a reality where John COULDN'T hear Jacob, and Jin wasn't alive. Perhaps in the previous time loop, John chose the knife and he himself killed Anthony Cooper, or whatever happened differently. Now that Ben knows Locke can hear Jacob, he has to kill him to make sure he really is the leader destined, knowing the leader will somehow always survive.
Anyway, if it ends up Ben is the bad guy, and was just being a selfish crying little jerk who wanted to keep it all to himself and really thought John would die in any of these instances, then it puts a hole in Ben's abilities that we've seen time and time again. To me Ben knows just about everything there is about this island, it seems highly unlikely that he could actually be mistaken to believe that Locke could actually die. Theory by matt
