Ben Linus (Michael Emmerson) was the main antagonist of the TV series Lost. Even when working with the heroes, he always had some kind of ulterior motive. Ben is one of the sneakiest and most untrustworthy characters in television history, as he always did what you least expected him to do. Unfortunately, Lost went down the path of trying to redeem Ben for all his evil deeds. This redemption story arc could have worked and been a great progressive storyline in the series if it had been done gradually. However, the rushed plot means the entire arc still feels absurd 14 years later.
Lostis ending and Ben’s redemption felt unrealistic and completely undeserved. He killed countless people, injured and tortured innocent people, and was the leader of “The others“. Even if he didn’t mean to, his actions still had a malignant impact on the people around him, like the murder of Alex and Danielle, who Ben truly cared about and wanted to protect. Some movie and TV characters just don’t deserve to be redeemed because they did so many terrible things. Benjamin Linus would be at the top of this list.
Ben Linus was one of Lost’s main villains
Ben was pulling strings from the first episode
Although Ben was not featured in Lost Until halfway through the show’s second season, he was the show’s main villain from the beginning. In the first season, the plane crash survivors were constantly harassed by “The others”, an evil group of people that inhabit the island. The Others threatened and harmed some of the survivors, tried to kill Charlie, and even kidnapped a pregnant Claire. Even though he hasn’t been seen, the leader of the Others was Ben Linuswho was always pulling strings and giving orders on what needed to be done.
Ben’s purpose in the series was to cause pain and suffering to all the other characters.
Leading into the second and third seasons, Bwas still manipulating and pulling everyone’s strings. In season 2, Ben convinces Michael to kill Ana Lucia and Libby to save his life. In the third season of the series, Ben kidnapped Jack, Kate and Sawyer, causing the season to take place mainly in the Others’ camp. Ben’s goal on the series was to cause pain and suffering to all the other characters to make television better, and that’s exactly what he did. Ben’s terrible actions have already made for brilliant television. There was no need to try to rescue the character.
Even in the last two seasons of Lost, Ben was still doing terrible things
Ben murdered three characters in the last two seasons
If Ben started to become a good character in the final seasons, his redemption arc would be a little more believable, but even in the last two seasons, Ben was responsible for three of the show’s biggest deaths. He killed Jacob, the island’s protector, and Ben also strangled John Locke to death. He even shot and killed his archenemy, Charles Widmore, just two episodes before his redemption. Ben was struggling with his inner demons and losing until the last episode of Lost.
In the final season, Ben was given the choice to believe and follow Jacob, the island’s protector, or The Man in Black, Jacob’s evil brother who was destroying everything. Ultimately, Ben chose to side with the Man in Black. This test would have been a great opportunity to test Ben’s chance at a redemption arc. If he had chosen to side with Jacob, it would have begun his redemption and gave him the happy ending he deserved. However, since he sided with the Man in Black, Ben didn’t deserve to be happy.
Ben Linus didn’t deserve to be redeemed
He committed many evil acts
The final episode of Lost revealed that Ben decided to spend all eternity in the afterlife getting to know Alex and Danielle again. Although he was separated from everyone else on the show and did not enter the Lost church to move forward, he was left in limbo with the people he loved and cared about. Ben Linus did nothing to deserve this ending. Some characters like Ana Lucia were forced to spend eternity in limbo with no memory of who they are, but Ben having a kinder ending than them seems ridiculous.
Throughout his time in LostBen killed hundreds of people, committed genocide, tortured and harassed innocent people and regrets none of it. Although there is some time between the end of the events on the island and the events in the afterlife, not enough character progression has been shown on screen to ensure a happy ending for Good. Ultimately, Ben’s redemption story was completely undeserved and sent a terrible message to fans of the series who hated the character and wanted to see him get his comeuppance.