I don't blame Ben for Alex's death / Morality in Lost

[Him]

Despite the numerous cases of outrage I've read on the internet over the fact that Ben neglected to play it safe with Alex's life and hand himself over as soon as she was threatened, I don't think you can blame Ben for Alex's death. Not for his actions in TSoTtC, at least.

We don't know if Keamy's team were going to kill everyone in the house, possibly even everyone on the Island (including Alex), if he'd handed himself over, but it seems like a distinct possibility, and one not rebutted anywhere near enough to my liking. This isn't really a defence of Ben, it's just saying that I don't think we can decide whether his actions were right or wrong because we don't know all the facts. More importantly, we also don't know what the ramifications of Ben handing himself over are when it comes to the big picture, and not just to those stuck in the house.

That is pretty much crux of the entire show's morality. In a way, the siege of the house was a bit like a small-scale reflection of the whole Ben/Widmore saga.
Would it be a disaster if Ben relinquished control of the Island, for everyone on the island, and possibly even the world? Would it have been a disaster for the folk left in the house if Ben had handed himself over?

I've no doubt it will take almost forever for the former to be answered (the latter I don't think we're ever likely to know), but from analysing the narrative, you could guess it will go in Ben's favour, but it's not set in stone by any means. I wonder if it will tie in the the Lost Experience's Valenzetti Equation, which gives meaning to the numbers, and possibly the Island. It's really quite important to note that the Island's importance and meaning isn't known. I don't see what motives Widmore could have for hurting the human race, or some sort of freak spirit playground. Apparently the Island is exploitable.

In conclusion, I think a lot of Ben's actions, from the purge to Alex's death, we can't properly judge him on. That's not to say we can't judge him on other stuff — like the fact he gave the go ahead to the apparently novel kidnapping of pregnant woman, and that he shot Locke out of mere jealousy — but the main meat of that which Ben's character is centred on, the Island and its importance, we know very little.


N.B I ignored the fact that Ben, we are to believe, thought that Alex would be protected because of 'rules'. It's questionable whether he was right to pay such attention to these rules, and my main reason for doing so, is that it begs the question of why he sent her away to the temple in the first place. It's possible that that the rules angle was seen by the writers as both a way to reintroduce the games theme, and also make it so that Ben wasn't made to look like he knowingly let his daughter die. Although it could be debated, like it is in this thread, I think it would be unpalatable to the general Lost viewer, who isn't really going to think about it all so deeply, that the guy would let his daughter die like that.
Would Ben make the same choices he did if he had the opportunity?

[firebreathingfishies]

Ben has been branded as a liar for practically the whole series. I mean, he was introduced as an uber liar; so who's to say that Charlie Widmore has the full right to have the island (which is probably unlikely really) and that it would probably be safer in his hands than in Ben's? However it in unlikely seeing as Widmore sent a team of mercenaries to wipe everyone out... but then again Ben did purge the dharma folk; perhaps not as brutal as shooting everyone but murder all the same. (sorry if I'm off the point entirely but it's early )

And I also think that the writers made Ben say those things about Alex so we wouldn't sympathise 100% with him when Alex was shot. There's no way we can suddenly have Ben made the victim and have all the sympathy after 2 whole seasons of scheming and purgine people and shooting people and manipulating people. Personally, I love how it has been done. The death of Alex's character has added another side to Ben.

[Him]

Yeah — I'd like to add that seeing how it seemed Ben and Widmore were playing some sort of 'game', but with people's lives, how they could both be bad guys.

I think the writers made him say those things for dramatic effect — the last words Alex heard were those of her father saying he doesn't care for her — but I think it was clear that it was an attempt by Ben to stop Keamy shooting her, with the 'rules' mentioned straight after as further reason he thought such ad-lib arguments would work.

[firebreathingfishies]

He couldn't have really thought it would work though, could he? I mean... if he knew what kind of man Keamy was then surely he wouldn't have expected him to hightail it and go sobbing back to the freighter? That's the only thing that confused me there. I mean fair enough they have these 'rules', but Keamy obviously wasn't there when these rules were invented.

[Him]

Well, if he didn't, then we can't be sure whether or not he was morally right in knowingly letting Alex die.
If he did, we can't be sure whether or not he was morally right to gamble with Alex's life, especially considering the wafer thin arguments he presented.

It doesn't really matter.

[E Pluribus Unum]

I agree with you Him, I don't blame Ben for Alex's death as I believe that she was dead either way. Although I'm conflicted with his handling of the situation, attempting to call someone's bluff like that with your daughter life, like a rather sick and twisted game of roulette, had my skin crawling. Then again, I get the distinct feeling Ben had a reason to believe Alex was safe and was more shocked that Alex was shot - as if it conflicted with what he knows - than he was upset that his daughter was killed (not that I'm debating he cares for her, also. Just that the Island letting it happen was the greater shock)

Having said that however, I do think that - given a clear choice between handing himself over or letting Alex died, he'd still choose the latter. He clearly believes what he is doing is for the greater good. And he's already proved himself a man willing to do questionable things if it means protecting the larger picture.