Benjamin Linus

Benjamin Linus is a character on the television show LOST ad is played by Michael Emerson. He is known for his mind-games and manipulative ways. He is very secretive about his aims and what he knows about the Island, and as such, whether he is ultimately good or evil is still a matter of debate. He is the adoptive father of Alex Linus.

Benjamin’s mother died while giving birth to him, something that Ben’s father blamed Ben for. At the age of eight Ben and his father, Roger, came to the Island to work in the DHARMA Initiative. Not long after arriving there, Ben became enthralled with the Natives, who the DHARMA group called the Hostiles. Ben began seeing his mother and one day decided to follow her into the jungle and past the DHARMA boundary line, into the Hostile’s land. While in the jungle Ben ran into Richard Alpert, Richard urged Ben to go home but Ben revealed that he hated living with the DHARMA Initiative and he wanted to become a Hostile. Richard said that it might be possible for him to do so, but that he would have to be very patient. Many years later, Benjamin became a workman for Initiative, but was secretly allied with the Hostiles and their leader Charles Widmore. Charles, one day, assigned Ben with the task of killing a woman named Danielle Rousseau. But when Ben found her he realized she had a baby and Ben couldn’t bring himself to murder her. So he let her live but took her daughter and brought her back to an angry Charles Widmore. Charles thought Ben should have killed Danielle and the baby, but after Ben said that if Charles wanted her dead then he’d have to kill her, Charles gave in and let Ben keep the baby. Later, Ben and the Hostiles devised a plan and poisoned the DHARMA crew with poisonous gas. Ben killed his father himself. Following that Ben took part in banishing Charles Widmore an he became the new leader. The Hostiles moved their camp to the old DHARMA Barracks, since there were houses, electricity and running water there. Many years later, Ben found out he had a tumor on his spine, this frightened him because people on the Island were supposed to be free of diseases.

In 2004, a plane crashed on the Island, and Ben came to learn that a spinal surgeon by the name of Jack Shephard was among the survivors. He then began doing all he could to lure Jack to him, even going as far as to kidnap other survivors. After the survivors met Danielle Rousseau, they began calling the Hostiles by the name she called them: The Others. Danielle Rousseau captured Ben and brought him to the survivors, warning Sayid that he would lie for a long time before he told the truth. Jack, Sayid and John Locke kept him prisoner in the Swan, an old DHARMA station. Ben told them his name was Henry Gale and that he had crashed on the Island on a hot air balloon. While Ben was held captive he did all her could to cause tension between Jack and Locke, whose relationship was already straining due to a power struggle between the two. Sayid, Ana Lucia and Charlie traveled to where Ben’s balloon allegedly crashed, and although they found a crashed balloon they also found the dead body of a man named Henry Gale, revealing that Ben’s story was false. Michael Dawson freed Ben after he made a deal with the Others to get his son back in exchange for freeing Ben and leading Jack, Kate and Sawyer into a trap. Ben was able to use Kate and Sawyer as a way to manipulate Jack into removing his tumor. Later a near-by freighter was brought to everyone’s attention, Ben knew that Charles Widmore had sent the people on it to capture him and kill everyone else on the Island, he tried to stop Jack from contacting it for rescue. Ben ordered the Others, including his daughter Alex, to go to the temple for safety, but unknown to Ben, Alex, Danielle Rousseau and Alex’s boyfriend Carl were attacked by Charles Widmore’s mercenaries, and Alex was taken captive. Meanwhile, Ben was unsuccessful in his efforts to stop Jack from calling for rescue and went with Locke to the Barracks. A mercenary by the name of Martin Keamy showed up there and threatened to kill Ben’s daughter, Alex, if Ben did not come out of the house he was hiding in. Ben thought Keamy was bluffing and so he claimed that Alex meant nothing to him, Ben was utterly horrified when Keamy shot Alex in the head. Ben and Locke went to Jacob’s cabin to find out what to do next. Following those instructions, Ben journeyed to the Orchid station and moved the Island. As a result he had to hand over his leadership of the Others to Locke, and was forced to leave the Island. Benjamin was transported ten months into the future, and dropped in the middle of the Sahara desert. He discovered that six crash survivors had been rescued. He convinced Sayid to help him get his revenge on Widmore, and tried to kill Widmore’s daughter Penny as an act of vengeance for Widmore’s men killing Alex, but failed. Ben soon learned that Locke had left the Island and sought him out. Ben tracked him down at a hotel and walked in on Locke’s would-be suicide by hanging. Ben convinced Locke not to kill himself by telling Locke how important he was, and that he still had work to do. Locke thanked him and mentioned that they should see Eloise Hawking, and upon hearing that name Ben’s demeanor suddenly changed and he strangled Locke, killing him. Ben then gathered up the rest of the survivors and with them along with Locke’s dead body, and they all returned to the Island aboard Ajira Flight 316. After going back to the Island, Ben realized that he had to be judged by the Smoke Monster for the death of Alex. Later he was used by the Man in Black, who was disguised as a resurrected John Locke, to murder Jacob. He then joined Ilana’s group and traveled to the temple, but buried the real John Locke on the way. Ilana asked if anyone wanted to say anything before they buried Locke, when no one answered she asked if anyone even knew him, and Ben hesitated saying that he knew Locke. As Ben looked down at John's corpse he was quiet for a bit and then went on saying that Locke was a "believer, a man of faith," and that he was "a much better man than I will ever be." He added that he was "very sorry [he] murdered him," which took everyone by surprise.

"If I was one of them - these people that you seem to think are your enemies - what would I do? Well, there would be no balloon, so I'd draw a map to a real secluded place like a cave or some underbrush, a good place for a trap... an ambush. And when your friends got there, a bunch of my people would be waiting for them. Then they'd use them to trade for me. I guess it's a good thing I'm not one of them, huh? You guys got any milk?"

"“Thomas the Apostle. When Jesus wanted to return to Judea, knowing that he would probably be murdered there, Thomas said to the others, “Let us also go there and we might die with him.” But Thomas was not remembered for this bravery. His claim to fame came later when he refuses to acknowledge the resurrection. He just couldn’t wrap his mind around it. The story goes that he needed to touch Jesus wounds to be convinced. We are all convinced sooner or later Jack."

"This'll be your last chance, Jack. I'm telling you, making that call is the beginning of the end."