Board 8 > Don't tell me what I can't do: a 10-year LOST retrospective/character ranking

(+) Yeah! (+)

GameStonk posted...

ask someone who never watched LOST to pick out a character and I guarantee you they choose Hurley.

This was me before I watched through the show, but almost entirely because of Weezer.

I do like how you slipped the word "rotund" into his write-up. Nice little reference to a tiny moment that really sticks out to me.

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Underleveled posted...

This was me before I watched through the show, but almost entirely because of Weezer.

I do like how you slipped the word "rotund" into his write-up. Nice little reference to a tiny moment that really sticks out to me.

Oh god I completely forgot Weezer named an album after him

probably my same top 4, yeah, with maybe jin rounding out the top 5
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It's a very good, if standard, top 4. Not sure if Locke would make mine but the others probably would.

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good list! I'm not much of a Lost fan really, but this has been a fun read so far.

your top four is also a perfect match to the only four people on the show that I would describe as genuinely good characters (juliet might sneak into fifth spot overall), so good work on that too!

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I'm already on record saying Locke is trash, but the others are good.

Terry O'Quinn is good, but the underlying character of John Locke has always been terrible.

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1. Jin
2.
3.
4. Hurley
5. Juliet
6. Lapidus
7. Jack
8. Eko
9.
10.
11. Charlie
12. Miles
13. Penny
14. Sayid
15. Faraday
16. Rose
17. Sun
18. Kate
19. Walt
20. Alpert
21. Michael
22. Bernard
23. Keamy
24. Christian
25. Ana Lucia
26. Rousseau
27. Widmore
28. Shannon
29. Boone
30. Barry (Man in Black)
31. Claire
32. Dr. Chang
33. Jacob
34. Nikki
35. Charlotte
36. Libby
37. Paulo
38. Alex
39. Ilana
40. Eloise

List as of a few weeks ago. After all the write-ups and flashbacks and articles, I'd probably move Jack and Kate and Alpert lower, and Man in Black, Boone, Shannon, and Miles higher.

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FFDragon posted...

I'm already on record saying Locke is trash, but the others are good.

Terry O'Quinn is good, but the underlying character of John Locke has always been terrible.

Terrible character or unlikeable character/terrible person?

Locke is all of the above for me. You can definitely have an unlikable character who is fun to watch -- Ben exists on the same island even! (No one line on LOST tops "You guys got any milk?")

There is just nothing about Locke that makes me want to see him on screen. Like, it's not even enough to root for him to fail, and even when he does there's no satisfaction to it since part of the writer's room most certainly wanted to play him straight.

The only thought I had when Ben choked him out was: "Finally." That's not heel heat, that's X-Pac heat.

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FFDragon posted...

Locke is all of the above for me. You can definitely have an unlikable character who is fun to watch -- Ben exists on the same island even! (No one line on LOST tops "You guys got any milk?")

Weirdly I feel exactly the opposite. The writers made everyone too easily manipulated by Ben, and then they also try to make us sympathetic toward him for some reason? His arc makes no sense to me at all.

Locke is a deeply flawed character who's fun to watch because all of his confidence and mysticism is an act that he convinces himself of. I was simultaneously rooting for him while also being like "jesus dude, come ON"


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Well I think we can agree on one thing then:

The "I forgive you" line was monumentally frustrating for both of us.

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Don't see the appeal in Christian.

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FFDragon posted...

Well I think we can agree on one thing then:

The "I forgive you" line was monumentally frustrating for both of us.

I forgot this scene even existed until now, maybe because of all the other S6 bullshit

Yeah, I hate it

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Sawyer > Ben > Desmond > Locke

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Locke is frankly the character who got me into the show early on (Walkabout was really the ep that made me want to keep watching), and for the first several seasons his episodes were among the best.

He was pathetic and gullible, which led to him being manipulative and self-sabotaging, as he tried to convince himself he was more so many times but repeatedly failed. It was certainly frustrating and had me almost yelling at my TV at times, but frankly that was more interesting to watch than 90 percent of the characters on the show.

Of course, in later seasons Locke had a lot less to offer, and Desmond was around as the best character in the show, so he moved further down my list. But the idea that he was never interesting to watch is something I find it very hard to understand.

Full disclosure I haven't watched this show in over a decade since I was like 21 so maybe I would view it differently re-watching in my 30s. Lots of movies hit different or I interpret differently in my old age...

The problem with the "Desmond > Locke" state of mind is that Locke was good when the show was good and mattered. Desmond was too, but his only real highlight was the Season 2 finale. By the time you get to the shitshow of seasons 4, 5, and 6, who really cares at that point. That'd be like saying Theon Greyjoy or Bran Stark are better than Tyrion Lannister or Jaime Lannister in Game of Thrones, because of Theon or Bran's development in later seasons that nobody cares about, while completely disregarding the Tyrion or Jaime quality from the early seasons that people loved just because they became a nonentity in the lamer late seasons.

That said, Desmond is still easily a Top 3 Lost character, but that's just how bad most of the characters are, even when the show was great.

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#4. John Locke


It's possible that Locke is one of the most divisive characters on the show. I remember some people absolutely worshiping him back in the day, whereas others completely despised him. In a way, both sides are right.

Locke is wrong about everything. He is a spiritualist who believes in fate and predestination and brushes off all mistakes as being out of his control. He is a wannabe survivalist who is constantly getting other people hurt, kidnapped, or killed. In the real world, he is a total loser--what some would probably call a "cuck" nowadays--who gets bamboozled, bullied, and completely screwed out of everything throughout his whole life.

But at the same time, Locke is right about everything. He is correct in his belief that there is a higher power controlling the destinies of everyone on Flight 815. He is right in believing that the Island needs their protection from an evil force. And he was truly transformed from his old self (both physically and spiritually) as soon as he crashed on the Island, which we learn in a scene that still gives me chills and can only be rivaled by the ending of "The Constant."

The fact that we're even having these kinds of arguments proves to me that Locke is an amazing character worthy of being near the top of this list. Although there are certainly some stumbles here and there given the incredible amount of screentime he has, Locke is a rich character full of depth and complexity in ways that almost no one else on the show really is written. If the creators simply made Locke out to be the hero who used to be a loser and now is a rugged champion of all things good, we'd be sick of him after a season. It's the fact that we as an audience know that he is right about the big picture, yet simultaneously wrong about the smaller things needed to get there, that makes for interesting tension, especially when compared with the more logical points of view.

Had the writers made Jack a more consistently rational presence (rather than a bipolar maniac), I think this dynamic and theme would have been much, much clearer. But after a second viewing, I'm able to see through the smoke and realize how necessary Locke really is.

Locke is an absolutely fascinating character, and Terry O'Quinn's performance is phenomenal - EASILY top 3 in the series. And I can't help but feel at least a little bad for a guy that the universe collectively took a lifelong crap on from the womb to the grave. But it also got annoying just how many deaths and otherwise awful situations he was directly responsible for out of his obsessive need to be "special."

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Anyway, your top 3 represent my #1, 2 and 7, so good job.

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I think you have the same top 3 as me (not positive Ben is my #3, but Desmond and Sawyer are definitely #1 and #2)

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Good Locke write-up, he's fascinating and well-written even if I don't particularly like him. Having him be ultimately wrong and actually killing him off when they did is one of the bravest moves the show made late-game. Now Desmond has a clear path to #1 aw yeah

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Thats a very good write up of Locke. Walkabout was the episode that sucked me into the show. Locke would probably be 6 or 7 for me. But Terry OQuinns performance on the show is probably number 2, right behind Micheal Emerson.

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locke probably ends the series as my favorite character of the show's run. it's kind of sad that he's not present in seasons 5 and 6, which is probably a reason they're worse.
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#3. Benjamin Linus


My former favorite from ten years ago, Ben didn't so much "fall" in my list as the top two had grown. But one thing has remained the same: Ben is the best villain in the series and completely saves the show from itself midway through.

I may be making a leap here, but I really do not think that the writers planned for "Henry Gale" to ever be the leader of The Others. After all, why in the world would Ben be doing grunt work on the main island, and why would he be dumb enough to stumble into one of Rousseau's traps? My assumption is that Henry was going to be revealed as an ordinary Other on a recon mission, but after seeing how insanely good Michael Emerson's performance was, they elevated Ben into a bigger role that would span the series. Whatever the story may be, it sure as hell paid off in dividends.

Let me pose it you this way: how many other characters can personally kill half of the cast and literally commit genocide and still be a fan favorite? That's just how great Ben is. His squirreliness is resourcefulness, his deceptiveness is his cunning, and you find yourself admiring just how many situations he's able to get himself out of with nothing more than some cuts and bloody noses.

Ben is also one thing that most others in the show are not: competent. When so many characters are just grossly inept--even the "all-knowing" Jacob--Ben seems to be one step ahead of everyone else. He knows where the trap doors are, he knows everyone's secret personal information; hell, he even seems to be the only one who knows how to move the Island, basically acting like a God.

Ben just provides that boss factor that is actually paid off in his actions. He's the smartest guy on the Island but never lets it on unless he needs to. He single-handedly saves the show, and I think was duly rewarded by (somehow) surviving through to the epilogue.

Congrats, your top 2 are my top 2. Now let's see if you get the order right.

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Sawyer's my #1 so I'm stoked to see him this high.

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GameStonk posted...

I may be making a leap here, but I really do not think that the writers planned for "Henry Gale" to ever be the leader of The Others. After all, why in the world would Ben be doing grunt work on the main island, and why would he be dumb enough to stumble into one of Rousseau's traps? My assumption is that Henry was going to be revealed as an ordinary Other on a recon mission, but after seeing how insanely good Michael Emerson's performance was, they elevated Ben into a bigger role that would span the series. Whatever the story may be, it sure as hell paid off in dividends.

I'm pretty sure the creators came out and said this was the case.

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I'd also say that Ben evolved from a straight-up villain in the early seasons to more of an anti-hero in the later seasons.

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What about you?

GameStonk posted...

My assumption is that Henry was going to be revealed as an ordinary Other on a recon mission, but after seeing how insanely good Michael Emerson's performance was, they elevated Ben into a bigger role that would span the series.

IIRC they confirmed this at one point.

Perfect top 2

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I honestly had no idea Sawyer was this beloved. I knew Desmond was obvious though.

On Tiermaker, the sitewide consensus tier (based on 179 lists) is:

S: Sawyer, Desmond, Hurley, Locke, Sayid, Charlie, Jin, Ben
A: Jack, Sun, Vincent, Juliet, Kate, Faraday, Eko, Richard, Claire
B: Miles, Danielle, Boone, Frank, Shannon, Alex, Rose, Ana-Lucia
C: Penny, Walt, Libby, Michael, Bernard, Christian, Jacob, Charlotte, MIB
D: Widmore, Tom, Eloise, Keamy, Ilana, Paulo, Nikki

Obviously some very questionable placements on there, and a lot of differences from our group's opinions, but the top 2 are identical.

Also compared to our selection it excludes Dr. Chang but adds Vincent and Tom.

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Ben absolutely should not have been "rewarded" by living to the end of the series. Everything he did was selfish, and he was nothing but a horrible asshole, and he completely should have died at the end instead of being Hurley's number 2.

That's about the only complaint I'll let towards Ben though.

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So since I forgot to mention it before while we were on the subject (but still has to do with characters living/dying), I'd like to take this time to point out a false spoiler I went through the series believing.

When I first found out that the Weezer album Hurley was named after a character on LOST, I decided to just take a quick look at pics of the character. And when typed "lost hurley" into the Google search bar, one of the autofill options was "lost hurley death" and so I went through the entire series believing that Hurley would die at some point. Obviously I was very surprised to find out his actual fate.

Of course, it seems like for most epic-type media that has a large cast and a lot of deaths, "death" is a top autofill option for most characters, even ones that live. Including LOST.

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Sawyer would've been my #1

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Im happy Sawyer is in your top 2.

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Sawyer absolutely has the best arc of the show. Desmond is a bit overrated because of how good he is in Season 2 and 4. I can't tell you anything about what he did in Seasons 5 and 6.

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I know he got talked about a while ago but I got into S4 on my rewatch this weekend and I cannot comprehend how anybody likes Daniel Faraday. The way he talks and the way he moves are utterly repulsive to me.

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#2. Desmond Hume


And here we have it! My second-favorite character from LOST is pretty widely regarded as a top-tier guy--and for good reason. Desmond is consistently amazing throughout the series and has given us some of the best moments the show has to offer. The discovery of The Hatch. "Not Penny's Boat." The phone call from "The Constant." Just when you start to think things are getting stale, a Desmond episode comes along to reignite the hype and that wonderful feeling that LOST can bring at its peak.

As you'll note in my write-up for Sawyer, I really enjoy the characters who have realistic reactions to the insanity of the events on The Island. It not only makes those characters more relateable on a human level, but it also grounds the show in a certain sense of realism that helps separate it from the SyFy channel schlock that it could have been. And Desmond exemplifies this perfectly in season 2. After spending years saving the world on a daily basis in The Hatch, Desmond is a broken man. The conviction he had in earnestly believing that something terrible would happen if he stopped pressing the button turns him into a lunatic, which is completely understandable. But when he starts to believe that everything about these past few years of his life was a lie, he does what any of us would probably do--drinks rum straight out of the bottle and stays hammered all day. How could you not love that?

As much as I love Desmond's little season 2 arc and how it serves as a microcosm for faith, he gets even better as the series progresses, culminating in season 4. Once he essentially is "unstuck in time," Desmond arguably becomes the most important character on the show. Time travel is a really precarious trope to introduce anywhere, especially in a series that is supposed to be somewhat grounded in reality, and the LOST writers are somehow able to make it work, all thanks to Desmond. I don't need to repeat this again, but "The Constant" is easily the best episode of the show, arguably one of the best episodes of television ever, and it is the very moment that most of us probably began to realize we care more about Desmond than any of the Flight 815 survivors, despite spending the whole series with them.

By the time LOST wrapped up, there's not a single person you want to see have a happy ending more than Desmond. In a way, his journey is the most grueling. He has been on the Island longer than most; he lives in the past, present, and future simultaneously; and all he really wants is to be left alone with his wife and son. And as much as I began to hate the series by its conclusion, I would totally watch another season where Hurley and Ben try to help Desmond get back to Penny again. And that says a hell of a lot.

#1. James "Sawyer" Ford

After rewatching LOST ten years later, Sawyer skyrocketed up to the top of my list pretty quickly. I always somewhat liked the character, but to me he was kind of your basic Han Solo-type rogue with a fairly predictable arc. However, with each episode I watched, I began to appreciate his humor more and more and was endlessly entertained by the slow reveal of his backstory. But what absolutely set him over the top for me--wait for it...was season 6.

We all can probably agree that season 6 was a destructive run for the show that almost sucks all of the good out of the series as a whole. But despite all the awful twists and terrible endings for our beloved characters, Sawyer stands out as the shining beacon of hope that we are not alone in this.

Season 6 Sawyer perfectly encapsulates how I felt about the direction the series took. His lines are almost verbatim what I was screaming at my TV or uttering to my wife as we marathoned the series together. "Why the hell did they have to come back to the Island??" "They just ruined everything for no reason." "Son of a bitch."

Sawyer had completed one of the most satisfying arcs in the series by the end of season 5. The selfish bad boy with a secret heart of gold finally got over his demons and was able to build a great life for himself with a great girl, great friends, and great job as "LaFleur" in the 1970s. And then Jack and Kate had to come back and fuck everything up for him, literally nuking his current set-up so that...the Man in Black could have Jacob killed and almost everyone could die?

This entire plot direction made no sense to the audience and even less sense to Sawyer. And throughout season 6, he is just as pissed as we are about this, and therefore becomes the only character who acts rationally. With Juliet dead, Sawyer just stops giving a fuck. All he cares about now is getting as far away from the hellscape of the Island as possible, and he's willing to wheel and deal with anyone (good or bad) as long as it means he can put this misery behind him. It's the most relatable I have ever found a character on the show.

I don't mean to come across like season 6 was the only reason for Sawyer getting the top spot--he was certainly my #1 leading up to this for a number of reasons anyway (a super fun backstory, great humor that isn't too overdone, punches Jack a bunch, etc.). However, as my heart continued to sink in my rewatch of the decrescendo of the show, Sawyer stood out as a reason for me to keep watching. He was me at the end--beaten down, disappointed, wistful; but also able to remember the good times, and the crazy fun ride that LOST had taken us on.

That's supposed to be this gif: https://data.whicdn.com/images/62487915/original.gif

oh well!

I recommend uploading gifs to imgur cuz gamefaqs embeds them

I have been lurking in this topic and I do not have strong feelings for LOST despite seeing all of it as it was airing but I think this is a very good list and you did a great job hosting and doing write ups, thank you for this project

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Thanks Zen! Here is the final:

1. Sawyer
2. Desmond
3. Ben
4. Locke
5. Christian
6. Hurley
7. Man in Black
8. Charlie
9. Miles
10. Rose & Bernard
11. Sayid
12. Juliet
13. Frank
14. Jin
15. Faraday
16. Penny
17. Keamy
18. Jackface Line of Demarcation
19. Sun
20. Rousseau
21. Richard
22. Widmore
23. Dr. Chang Fodder Line
24. Jacob
25. Eko
26. Alex
27. Claire
28. Boone
29. Libby
30. Walt
31. Eloise
32. Shannon
33. Charlotte
34. Michael
35. Kate
36. Ilana
37. Paulo & Nikki
38. Ana Lucia

Very cool read. It got me to consider doing my own rewatch. Thanks for doing this!

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Perfection.

1. James "Sawyer" Ford
2. Desmond Hume
3. Charlie Pace
4. Juliet Burke
5. Hugo "Hurley" Reyes
6. Jin-Soo Kwon
7. Benjamin Linus
8. Alex Rousseau
9. Miles Straum
10. Sun-Hwa Kwon
11. Sayid Jarrah
12. Frank Lapidus
13. John Locke
14. Danielle Rousseau
15. Penny Widmore
16. Jack Shephard
17. Rose Nadler
18. Daniel Faraday
19. Ana-Lucia Cortez
20. Christian Shephard
21. Kate Austen
22. Richard Alpert
23. Bernard Nadler
24. The Man in Black
25. Mr. Eko
26. Michael Dawson
27. Eloise Hawking
28. Jacob
29. Charles Widmore
30. Walt Lloyd
31. Claire Littleton
32. Pierre Chang
33. Libby Smith
34. Charlotte Lewis
35. Ilana Verdanksy
36. Shannon Rutherford
37. Boone Carlyle
38. Martin Keamy
39. Paulo
40. Nikki Fernandez

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Great ranking and I agree with a good chunk of it! It made me realize how much of the show I really don't remember too well anymore too but it brought back a lot of memories at the same time.

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Cool list! I like getting back to Lost discussions every now and then, even if my opinion on parts of the show has soured.

Sawyer was my fav from the start, and at some point along the way I realised I liked Desmond even more. They're both really really good characters though who actually have a consistent progression from season to season. I'll admit I didn't think S6 Sawyer was him at his best (1, 3, 5 were his best years imo) but he wasn't ruined like most of the others, and Desmond just never missed a beat. Of course Desmond is helped by his strong ties to the overall plot, but even when the mystery stuff got super messy his episodes kept that emotional connection around to keep you invested. And they both had great relationships with the rest of the cast.

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great list. Thanks for doing the write up. I like you having Sawyer as number 1. He had such a great character arc.

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Sawyer is the right choice for #1.

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Love the Sawyer love