Thinking myself – have taken this to mean that Richard didn’t really know that much about Locke after all, and that Locke became leader because he himself said that he would.
Ben got sacked as leader of the others because he wasn’t the right man for the job. He was dishonest, selfish, and didn’t come across as doing everything in the islands best interests. He shot Locke in the stomach when he knew the island wanted Locke to take over, then off island he strangled Locke to death, then he returned to the island which as he said himself is forbidden.
Richard, he’s old. As far as we know he’s older than most of the characters on the show, which means that he’s old enough to know better than trust Ben (the man who did all that was mentioned in the paragraph above, and more), let alone trust him enough to confide in him. Also, Richard has spent a long long time believing Locke to be special and to belong to them (“Welcome home John.” At the end of Season 4 for example.) Is one choice of Locke’s going to change Richard’s opinions – an opinion he’s had since at least the 1950s?
No. Richard knows very well that Ben has to follow Locke, and he knows that smokey let him live. Richard was testing Ben. He said it because he wanted to know if Ben could now be trusted or not.
Ben got sacked as leader of the others because he wasn’t the right man for the job. He was dishonest, selfish, and didn’t come across as doing everything in the islands best interests. He shot Locke in the stomach when he knew the island wanted Locke to take over, then off island he strangled Locke to death, then he returned to the island which as he said himself is forbidden.
Richard, he’s old. As far as we know he’s older than most of the characters on the show, which means that he’s old enough to know better than trust Ben (the man who did all that was mentioned in the paragraph above, and more), let alone trust him enough to confide in him. Also, Richard has spent a long long time believing Locke to be special and to belong to them (“Welcome home John.” At the end of Season 4 for example.) Is one choice of Locke’s going to change Richard’s opinions – an opinion he’s had since at least the 1950s?
No. Richard knows very well that Ben has to follow Locke, and he knows that smokey let him live. Richard was testing Ben. He said it because he wanted to know if Ben could now be trusted or not.
