Charles Widmore: Good Guy?

[spocksbrain]

Like so many others on here, I've been rewatching, from episode 1 up to the last episode, getting ready for the final season. Beginning in Season 4, I started to realize that there's no actual evidence that Charles Widmore is really going to kill everyone on the island, or that he has evil intentions at all.

Everything we know about him "wiping everyone out" comes from either Ben, who lies about everything, or Keamy (end of Season 4 when he opens up the safe and reveals the "secondary protocol"), but Keamy has gone crazy at that point, either from the island's effects, PTSD or just revenge. We have no evidence that we've seen that Charles Widmore has bad intentions.

In fact, it appears that Ben has been a false leader all this time (according to Richard, the leaders are chosen very specially, but Ben appears to have politcally maneuvered Charles into getting somehow exiled) and that Charles is a rightful leader according to whatever mystical things are going on on the island. Good indicators of this: the baby/mother thing didn't start until Ben took over, Jacob gives Ben the cold "What about you?" in the final episode, and Ben never appears to have actually spoken to Jacob and didn't even know where to find him.

As for the cryptic "rules" and why Ben and Widmore say they can't kill each other, I suspect that's just the "Others aren't allowed to kill Others" thing -- remember, they were going to put Juliet to death when she killed Whatshisname in Season 3.

So, in sum, I think Widmore is the rightful leader of the Others, tapped into Jacob's will, the island's magic, etc. and that Ben, this whole time, has actually been the bad guy.

 

[Nardpuncher]

I t kind of makes sense I guess since we must follow the first rule of Lost: Do not believe Ben

 

[Mallet]

I don't see any reason why they both can't be evil. Maybe they both want to control the island for their own, evil/greedy/power hungry ends.

It could be that Jacob doesn't like either of them which is maybe why he might be trying to get Jack or Locke to become the new leader.

 

[Hober Mallow]

Widmore is still a big question mark in my mind, particularly in light of this last season. Did we ever find out what he was trying to help Locke do and why?

On the one hand, it seems Desmond's fear about Widmore killing him was a little off the mark. Once Desmond appeared to Widmore, Widmore's only thought was to tell Desmond to get back into hiding and take Penny with him to keep her safe. Not exactly a "Welcome to the family" moment, but it's clear Widmore wasn't going to kill him as Desmond feared. On the other hand, his own daughter seems to think he's quite capable of cold-blooded murder, so who knows?

I hope we get the rest of Widmore's story this coming season. I know he's not exactly a first-tier character, but a little more explanation would be nice.

 

[Hober Mallow]

Widmore is still a big question mark in my mind, particularly in light of this last season. Did we ever find out what he was trying to help Locke do and why?

Having just finished watching the fifth season over again, I'd like to reiterate this. Widmore is hard to pin down. We have a scene where he wants Ben to murder a baby. Ben defends the baby, actually making himself look like the good guy in the scene.

On the one hand, it seems Desmond's fear about Widmore killing him was a little off the mark.

More than that, he seems relieved when Eloise tells him Desmond survived his gunshot wound. I honestly don't know what to think of this guy anymore, especially with the company he keeps. Like Matthew Abaddon.

After rewatching the season, the biggest question I have about him is how he seems to know so much. How did he know the plane crashed on the island? If Abaddon was always working for him, that implies Widmore had knowledge of the impending crash before it even happened.