Ben Linus
Benjamin Linus | |
---|---|
Lost character | |
First appearance | "One of Them" (2006) |
Last appearance | "The New Man in Charge" (2010) |
Created by | |
Portrayed by | Others Teacher (flash-sideways) |
Children | Alex Rousseau (adoptive daughter) |
Relatives | Roger Linus (father) Emily Linus (mother) |
Nationality | American |
Benjamin Linus is a fictional character portrayed by
As with most characters on Lost, Ben's history is revealed through flashbacks and episodes set in other time periods which are revealed slowly as the series progresses.
In 2010, Ben Linus was ranked #24 on the
Arc
Prior to the crash
Flashbacks during "
Season five's "
Two days before the crash of Oceanic Flight 815, Ben discovers he has a
After the crash
Seasons two to four
Ben makes his first appearance in the season two episode "One of Them", where he is caught in a trap set by Danielle Rousseau (Mira Furlan). He pretends to be Henry Gale, a man from Minnesota who crashed on the island while traveling via hot air balloon. Rousseau turns him over to Sayid, who takes him to the Swan Station, where he is held captive and interrogated.[6] Ben is exposed as a fraud when the body of the real Henry Gale is found, but he is set free by Michael Dawson (Harold Perrineau), a crash survivor whose son has been kidnapped by the Others.[7] When Michael successfully brings Jack, Kate, and Sawyer to the pier, Ben gives him a boat so he can leave the Island with his son.[8] Ben then takes Jack, Kate, and Sawyer to a smaller island nearby.[9]
In the beginning of season three, Ben gives Juliet the task of interrogating Jack, while Kate and Sawyer are kept in cages.[10] In the season 3 episode "Exposé", Ben and Juliet enter a Dharma station, the Pearl, and watch Jack on a monitor. Ben tells Juliet he will convince Jack to perform surgery on him.[11] After Goodwin dies, Ben shows Juliet the corpse, so she knows she is Ben's and will be on the Island forever.[5] He admits to Jack about having a tumor on his spine, and asks him to remove it in order for him to leave the Island. During the surgery he wakes up, where Jack refuses to finish until Kate and Sawyer are safely away from the Others.[12] After they escape, Ben's operation is finished.[13] He returns to the Barracks with the rest of the Others, and Jack in tow.[14] When John Locke (Terry O'Quinn) comes to rescue Jack, he and Ben have a confrontation. Ben tells Locke of a "magic box" which can produce whatever someone wishes for and shows him his father, Anthony Cooper (Kevin Tighe), who they are holding captive and was brought to the Island because of the box.[15] Ben offers Locke the opportunity to join the Others, but only if he kills Cooper; Ben knows he won't kill in cold blood, and so makes the offer as a way to humiliate Locke.[16] Locke returns a few days later with Cooper's corpse, having used Sawyer to do the deed for him, so Ben takes him to meet Jacob. When Ben discovers Locke can hear Jacob, he shoots Locke and leaves him for dead.[3] He returns to the Others' camp, and tells Richard, now his second-in-command, to lead the remaining Others to the Temple. Ben takes Alex with him as he attempts to prevent Jack from sending a radio message to a nearby freighter. He reunites Alex with her mother, and claims if Jack contacts the freighter, every single person on the Island will die. Ben is beaten and taken hostage, and forced to watch as the freighter is contacted.[17]
In the first episode of season four, "
The
Seasons five and six
When Locke leaves the island to bring the survivors back to the island, Ben tracks him down. He gets Locke to reveal what he knows about returning to the island, then kills him and stages it as a suicide. Ben visits Jack in the funeral home housing Locke's body, telling Jack he will help him return to the island, but the only way to get back is to bring everyone who had left it, including Locke's corpse. Ben boards Ajira Airways Flight 316 with the rest of survivors, which then crashes on the island. Jack, Kate, Hurley, and Sayid are transported to 1977, while Sun and Ben remain in 2007 with a resurrected Locke. The plane crash lands on the Hydra Island, so Ben attempts to take a boat to the main island. Sun strikes him in the back of the head and takes the boat with Frank, so Ben is left in the care of the other survivors, including Locke. After Ben regains consciousness and finds Locke to be alive, he convinces Locke he knew bringing him to the island would resurrect him, and he stopped Locke's suicide attempt merely to gain information. Locke travels with Ben, who is to be judged by the Monster. After they fail to find the Monster at the Barracks, they head to the Temple. As Ben and Locke travel through a series of tunnels beneath the Temple, Ben falls through the floor, so Locke leaves to get something that he can pull him up with. The Monster flows out of a grate below and surrounds Ben, showing flashes of decisions he made in his life involving Alex. The Monster takes the form of Alex and pushes Ben against a wall. She says she knows Ben is planning to kill Locke again, and if he does she will hunt him down and destroy him. She orders him to follow Locke and do whatever he asks, then disappears. They return to the Others' camp, where Locke gathers the group together and announces he is taking them to see Jacob.[24] As they are walking, Ben relates his experience with the Monster and his promise to do whatever Locke asks, so Locke convinces Ben to kill Jacob.[25] Richard leads them to the base of the statue, where Jacob lives. Within, they are met by Jacob (Mark Pellegrino). Jacob greets Locke and observes Locke has found a loophole. It is revealed that Locke was not resurrected, and is instead the Monster taking the form of Locke. Ben confronts Jacob about why he never revealed himself at any time during Ben's tenure as leader, but when Jacob is dismissive towards him, he stabs Jacob twice, killing him – and in doing so, binds his destiny to the island, sealing his own fate.
After Jacob's death, the Monster tells Ben to fetch Richard, as he wants to speak to him. However, when Ben exits the statue, Richard throws him down beside the corpse of the real John Locke, which has been brought to the statue by survivors of the Ajira flight, led by Ilana Verdansky (Zuleikha Robinson). Ben is forced by Ilana's group to bring them to the imposter Locke. They start shooting at the Monster, but he disappears, then returns in its black smoke form, killing Ilana's group. The Monster returns to Locke's form and mockingly informs Ben of the real Locke's last thoughts, while being strangled by Ben. Afterwards, Ben comforts Ilana when he finds her crying in Jacob's chamber and sets off with her, Sun, and Frank Lapidus (Jeff Fahey) to bury Locke before going to the Temple, where they believe they will be safe from the Monster. At Locke's funeral, Ben provides the eulogy, and expresses his sincere apologies for killing Locke. When they arrive at the Temple, the Monster is destroying the place. They return to the beach as a temporary shelter, and Ben attempts to make amends with everyone for killing Jacob. Ilana then forces him to dig a grave and explains she will kill Ben for murdering her father figure. Later, the Monster visits Ben, telling him to join him and then magically frees Ben. After Ben escapes, Ilana chases after him, and the two come face-to-face at the jungle when Ben points a rifle at her. Ben explains to her why he really killed Jacob, particularly grieving his daughter. Ilana understands and allows him to rejoin their group, which he does. Hurley, Jack, and Richard show up and join their group, then have a meeting, deciding what to do next. Richard suggests they should stop the Monster escaping by blowing up the Ajira plane. After Hurley destroys the available dynamite from the shipwrecked Black Rock, Richard insists he will find other explosives. Ben and Miles join Richard, while the rest decide to go talk to the Monster. When Ben, Richard and Miles arrive at the Barracks, Widmore is there, and is soon joined by the Monster. Ben murders Widmore before he is able to make a deal with the Monster to spare his daughter. The Monster and Ben find Desmond and the Monster forces him to go destroy the Island. They run into Jack's group and they both go to the heart of the Island, where Desmond removes the cork of the Island, causing the Island to begin collapsing. After Jack kills the Monster, Ben and Hurley volunteer to stay behind on the Island with Jack to assist him relighting the Island. Jack tells them he will die doing this and Jack gives Hurley the new position of being protector of the Island. Ben advises him to approach his Island duties with his kindness and helpful attitude. Hurley asks Ben to become his advisor, to which he is honored. After an undisclosed period of time, Ben, on orders from Hurley, arrives at the Dharma Logistics Warehouse in Guam. He speaks to the two workers there and instructs them that the facility is being shut down. Afterward, Ben arrives at the Santa Rosa Mental Hospital and visits Walt. Ben tells him that he is still special and that he can help his father, Michael, even though he is dead, and offers Walt a job to return to the island.
The afterlife experienced by the survivors is shown during season six. In "
Personality
"That's what my father does – he manipulates people. He makes you think it's your idea but it's his."
Alex in "The Man from Tallahassee"
Ben, although extremely well-mannered, has an impeccable ability to lie and manipulate the people around him, even when he is at a physical disadvantage. He often speaks in a low, emotionless monotone when at his most unreadable, frequently sprinkling his speech with sarcasm or dry, mirthless jokes.
"I have full sympathy [for Ben]. I believe he has a mission and an agenda that he hasn't shared with us yet. The survival of the earth may depend on Ben's work, so it justifies his ruthless behavior. Maybe I'm just fantasizing or deluding myself."
Actor Michael Emerson, who plays Ben[29]
Ben's unclear motives have led to speculation about his possible status as a villain. Ben Rawson-Jones from Digital Spy describes Ben as a "supposed villain", pondering "Could he really have been the good guy all along" following the fourth-season episode "The Shape of Things to Come".[30] Actor Michael Emerson suspects where Ben's loyalties lie will always be ambiguous, making this a "wonderful role".[31] He is rarely shown losing control of his emotions, but when he does, it is done in a big and childish way.[32] Emerson explains "He's cold because any trace of warmth makes him vulnerable to his enemies".[33] Ben is also known for his commitment to the island and doing whatever is necessary to protect it.[34] He has no qualms with Locke attempting to kill Naomi (Marsha Thomason) and even Jack after the survivors begin to call the freighter.[17] He undertakes the risky and unpredictable step of moving the Island to prevent the freighter crew, and thus Charles Widmore, from finding it.[23] He always has a plan and is described by Kevin Thompson from The Palm Beach Post as a "know-it-all",[35] which another reviewer thinks is because "[Ben] talks quietly, in a menacingly measured drawl... with lots of pauses and emphases".[36]
Development
In 2001, Michael Emerson won a
Referring to the scene in the third season where Ben seemingly fits Sawyer with a lethal pacemaker, Emerson comments "Sadistic may be the word, but he doesn't seem to take much relish in it. He's just sort of detached, he looks at it coldly. I sometimes feel like everything to him is a sort of scientific experiment and he is interested in a dispassionate way in how the experiment runs its course. I think some day if we ever find out what his parentage is, that his parents were people of science".[43] Elizabeth Mitchell, who plays Juliet, did not think it was a "huge surprise for Juliet that Ben had feelings for [Juliet], but I still think it was... it was horrifying under the circumstances". She also thought "[Juliet has] this kind of wonderful mind, and I think that Ben probably has a tremendous respect for that. It's not because Juliet is so enticing, it's just the fact that she's got this amazing mind, she has this amazing, you know, intelligence, and I think that's what intrigues him, that's what draws him into her".[32] During season four the producers deliberately left it ambiguous as to whether Ben was a part of the Oceanic 6 (six survivors of the plane crash that make it off the Island) after he appeared in one of Sayid's flashforwards.[44]
Reception
Critical reception
During the beginning of season three, Chris Carabott from
Aubry D'Arminio of Entertainment Weekly describes "savvy Ben" as a "captivating minor character".
Awards
In 2006, Michael Emerson was nominated for the Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries, or Television Film, but lost out to Tony Plana from Ugly Betty.[63]
In 2007, following the third season, Emerson was nominated for the
In 2008, Emerson was nominated again for the
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External links