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Lost Benjamin Linus

Benjamin "Ben" Linus is a fictional character portrayed by Michael Emerson on the ABC television series Lost. Ben is the leader of a group of island natives called the Others, and was the main antagonist during seasons 2 and 3, but in subsequent seasons, became more of an uneasy ally and anti-hero. He organizes the capture of some of the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815, which crashes on the Island on September 22, 2004. He convinces Jack Shephard (Matthew Fox), a doctor from the plane crash, to operate on him, then allows another survivor, John Locke (Terry O'Quinn), to join the Others. When a freighter is discovered not far from the Island, he, Locke, and some of the other crash survivors hide in the Others' village called the Barracks, believing the people on the freighter to be dangerous. Ben eventually leaves the Island, and makes Locke the new leader of the Others.

Originally cast for three guest appearances in the second season, Emerson's role was expanded to the leader of the Others and he became a regular cast member from the third season onward. Ben's perfected ability to lie and manipulate has led to speculation of his true motives. Emerson's portrayal of Ben has garnered many positive reviews and resulted in a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor - Drama Series in both 2007 and 2008.

Young Ben

Flashbacks during "The Man Behind the Curtain" show Benjamin Linus being born in the woods outside of Portland, Oregon to Roger (Jon Gries) and Emily Linus (Carrie Preston); Emily dies after giving birth. When Ben is young, he and his father move to the Island, after his dad is offered a job working for the Dharma Initiative. On the Island, Ben begins to see visions of his mother, while Roger starts drinking heavily and verbally abusing him. Ben develops a hatred for the Dharma Initiative and one day runs away from the Barracks. He comes across Richard Alpert (Nestor Carbonell), one of the Island natives known to the Initiative as the "Hostiles", in the jungle, who accepts Ben's request to join his group.. In Namaste, Ben has contact with a captured Sayid, whom has been brought back in time from 2007. Many years later, the "Hostiles" kidnap Alex (Tania Raymonde), a child born to a woman shipwrecked on the Island, when she is one week old. Four years after this, Ben kills his father with poison gas, then discovers every Dharma Initiative member dead, also from poison gas. He joins the "Hostiles" and eventually assumes a leadership role, as he is the only one who can interact with their real leader, Jacob, and communicate his will to the group, and becomes Alex's adoptive father. Two days before the crash of Oceanic Flight 815, Ben discovers that he has a spinal tumor. After witnessing the crash, he sends Ethan Rom (William Mapother) and Goodwin Stanhope (Brett Cullen) to investigate. He chooses Goodwin in order to remove Ben's competition for the affections of Juliet Burke (Elizabeth Mitchell), a woman recruited to the island three years previously in order to help the Others with their fertility problems..

In the season 4 episode, "The Shape Of Things To Come", Charles Widmore accuses Ben of having "stolen the Island" from him. Ben does not dispute or deny this claim at the time. In season 5 episode 7 Charles Widmore revealed that he was previously leader of the Others before Ben effectively exiled him and stole his position.

After the crash
Shown in a flashback of "Exposé", seven weeks after the plane crash, Ben and Juliet enter a Dharma Initiative work station, the Pearl, and watch Jack on a monitor. Ben tells Juliet that he will convince Jack to perform surgery on him.After Goodwin is killed, he shows Juliet the corpse, so she knows that she is Ben's and will be on the Island forever. Ben makes his first appearance in the season two episode "One of Them", where he is caught in a trap set by Alex's mother, Danielle Rousseau (Mira Furlan). He pretends to be Henry Gale, a man that crashed on the island while traveling via hot air balloon. Sayid Jarrah (Naveen Andrews), a former member of the Iraqi Republican Guard, breaks him loose and takes him to the hatch, where he is held captive, interrogated, and tortured by Sayid. While Ben is there, he tries to turn Locke and Jack against each other. Ben is exposed as a fraud when the body of the real Henry Gale is found. Ben refuses to talk to anyone but Locke, whom he successfully convinces that he never put in the numbers to the computer. This eventually leads to the destruction of the Hatch. Michael Dawson (Harold Perrineau), a crash survivor whose son has been kidnapped by the Others, later sets Ben free. When Michael successfully brings Jack, Kate Austen (Evangeline Lilly) and James "Sawyer" Ford (Josh Holloway) to the pier, Ben gives him a boat and describes the Others (the term the survivors use for Ben's group) as the "good guys". Ben and the Others then take Jack, Kate and Sawyer to a smaller island nearby.

In the beginning of season three, Ben gives Juliet the task of interrogating Jack, while Kate and Sawyer are kept in cages. 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. After they escape, Ben's operation is finished. He returns to the Barracks with the rest of the Others, and Jack in tow. When Locke comes to rescue Jack, he and Ben have a confrontation, which results in Ben telling Locke of a "magic box", and shows him his father, Anthony Cooper (Kevin Tighe), is held captive and was brought there because of the box. Ben offers Locke the opportunity to join the Others, but only if he kills Cooper. Locke returns a few days later with Cooper's corpse, so Ben takes him to meet Jacob. When Ben discovers Locke can hear Jacob, he shoots Locke, and leaves him for dead. 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 that 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.

In the first episode of season four "The Beginning of the End", the survivors divide into two groups, those who believe the people from the freighter to be dangerous, Ben among them, join Locke and head to the Barracks. After Ben confesses the freighter crew has come to capture him, Miles Straume (Ken Leung), a medium from the freighter, makes a deal with Ben, asking for $3.2 million dollars in exchange for Miles telling Charles Widmore (Alan Dale), the man who sent the freighter so he could exploit the Island, that Ben is dead. Ben agrees to Miles' terms when he begins to get angry, insisting that Ben not treat him like he is "one of them", directed at Kate, claiming he "knows exactly what Ben is". Ben eventually gets his freedom when he tells Locke who sent the freighter. Later, Ben urges Alex, and her boyfriend and mother, to travel to the Temple, for protection from the people on the freighter, but on the way the group is ambushed by mercenaries from the freighter, who take Alex as a hostage. In "The Shape of Things to Come", Martin Keamy (Kevin Durand), the leader of the mercenaries, threatens to shoot Alex if Ben does not come forward, Ben staunchly denies any attachment to her, which results in her execution. Ben claims Widmore has "changed the rules", then summons the smoke monster to attack the mercenaries. He leaves with Locke and Hurley (Jorge Garcia) to communicate with Jacob. Locke enters Jacob's cabin alone, and returns stating they need to move the Island. They go to the Orchid, a Dharma station allows them to do this. Ben sends Locke to become the new leader of the Others, then enters a secret level of the Orchid. He turns a large frozen wheel in the wall, which causes the Island to emit an intense white light. When viewed by Jack, Kate, Hurley, Sayid, Sun and Desmond, the Island seems to completely disappear from the ocean. In fact, it has moved to another location. Ben vanishes and is transported to the Sahara Desert.

After the Island
The flashforwards in "The Shape of Things to Come" show that after Ben arrives in the Sahara Desert, he travels to a hotel and discovers it is ten months ahead of when he left the Island. Ben finds Sayid at the funeral of his wife Nadia (Andrea Gabriel), and recruits Sayid as his personal assassin, telling him that Widmore ordered the assassination of his wife.. Ben would provide Sayid a list of targets to be assasinated over the next few years, but at some point, Sayid stops working for Ben under circumstances that have yet to be revealed. Ben infiltrates Widmore's penthouse apartment in London and tells Widmore he intends to have his daughter Penelope (Sonya Walger) murdered as revenge for the death of Alex. Three years later, Ben visits Jack in a funeral home that houses the body of John Locke. Ben tells Jack that he will help him return to the Island, but the only way to get back to the Island is if everyone who had left it returns; therefore, that includes bringing the body of Locke with them. The flashbacks in "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham" reveal that Ben himself had killed Locke and made it look like suicide. Ben in involved in a lot of the events that lead the Oceanic Six to being on board Ajira Airways Flight 316, when as it overflies an area that the Island is it, it is bombarded with a white light that causes several to all of the Oceanic Six members onboard the flight to vanish in front of many of the other passengers. Ben remains on board when the plane crash lands on the Hydra Island. He attempts to flee the island and return to the main island when he is struck over the head by Sun, whom leave him on the Hydra Island in the care of the other flight 316 survivors, including a resurrected John Locke.

Personality

Ben has an impeccable ability to lie and manipulate the people around him, even when he is at a physical disadvantage. He claims to have been born on the Island, leading to him being thought of as a miracle by the Others, as pregnant women die on the island; but later confesses to Locke that he was lying. He unsuccessfully tries to convince the survivors that he is Henry Gale, although succeeds in manipulating Locke to turn against Jack whilst held prisoner under this guise. While he claims he will not sacrifice innocent life in order to accomplish his goals, he has been shown to do quite the opposite. In the third season finale, Ben is informed by Tom (M. C. Gainey), an Other, that they have captured three of the crash survivors: Sayid, Bernard Nadler (Sam Anderson), and Jin-Soo Kwon (Daniel Dae Kim). When Tom tells Ben they are unwilling to reveal any information about the rest of the survivors, Ben quickly replies "Shoot Kwon... You want them to answer questions, kill Kwon - do it now". Conversely, Ben refuses to allow his spy on the freighter to destroy it long before it reaches the Island, as he would not kill anyone that "did not deserve to die". Furthermore, when Locke confronts Ben about causing the freighter to explode, Ben coldly replies, "So?"

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". Actor Michael Emerson suspects where Ben's loyalties lie will always be ambiguous, making this a "wonderful role". He is rarely shown losing control of his emotions, but when he does, it is done in a big and childish way. Emerson explains "He's cold because any trace of warmth makes him vulnerable to his enemies". Ben is also known for his commitment to the island and doing whatever is necessary to protect it. He has no qualms with Locke attempting to kill Naomi (Marsha Thomason) and even Jack after the survivors begin to call the freighter. He undertakes the risky and unpredictable step of moving the Island to prevent the freighter crew, and thus Charles Widmore, from finding it. He always has a plan and is described by Kevin Thompson from The Palm Beach Post as a "know-it-all", which another reviewer thinks is because "Ben talks quietly, in a menacingly measured drawl… with lots of pauses and emphases".

Development

In 2001, American actor Michael Emerson won an Emmy award for his guest appearance as serial killer William Hinks on The Practice. The Lost producers liked his work on The Practice, so they were keen to cast Emerson in the role of Ben, then known as "Henry Gale", as they thought he would fit the character well. He was originally contracted to appear in just three episodes of Lost, making his first appearance midway through the second season, in episode "One of Them". The producers were so impressed by him that they contracted him for a further five episodes, citing the scene at the end of "The Whole Truth" where Ben asks for milk as the moment they knew he was a "keeper". He was then made a part of the regular cast from the third season.Had Emerson not worked out during his initial appearances a different actor would have been cast for the leader of the Others, but it was always intended that the survivors would have the leader right under their noses and not realize it. During one episode of the Official Lost Podcast, the producers stated they always knew Ben would be the "Big Bad". Emerson had no idea of his character's importance during his second season recurring role. He was told nothing about Ben's backstory and would only receive scripts at the last minute. He enjoys how the ambiguity of Ben's motives allows him to "paint it the way he pleases". Sterling Beaumon was cast to play Ben in the flashbacks of episode "The Man Behind the Curtain". Emerson's wife Carrie Preston was cast as Ben's mother following Emerson telling people at parties that she was desperate for a part on the show.

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". 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". 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.