The Other Others by Sara Kane

Why was Widmore comfortable ordering the murder of everyone on the Island? Why simply remove Ben from the Island, rather than order Keamy to kill him? I mean, we don't know exactly what 'the rules' are re: Island leaders, but we do know the MIB was able to order Ben to kill Jacob.

Just a thought: Ben said he'd brought most of the Others to the Island. So what happened to the Others that Sawyer et al encountered in the '50s and the '70s? There doesn't appear to be a large group of 60-somethings hanging out on the Island (unless they're retired at the Temple, which I think is unlikely).

The Others that we saw in Seasons 1-4 had essentially replaced the Dharma Initiative---they were living in the Barracks, conducting experiments at Dharma stations (Goodwin at the Tempest is a good exmaple), and importing certain outsiders into their community (like Juliet). Alex had no idea what the Temple was, and Richard had to lead the Others to it---it's very possible that only Ben and Richard actually knew about the Temple. The only Others that we knew in 2004 that were seen in the '70s were either Ben or Richard, and WIdmore wanted Ben alive (and we don't know that Richard can even die).

I'd say the Dharma Initiative wasn't the only community on the Island that was 'wiped out' before Flight 815 crashed. The original Others were either killed by Dharma (which would put the Purge in a whole new light) or were exiled before/with Widmore. Maybe they were Christian Shepherd, Mr. Paik, etc.? And that's the real reason Widmore didn't want to be seen with Sun?

And that may be why Widmore was willing to kill everyone on the Island---they weren't really 'his' people. Only Ben and Richard were true Others and the former wouldn't die (and the latter might not be able to die).