The Lost Blog - Top Ten Characters

For a show with so many unforgettable characters ranging from those you love, to those you love to hate, to those who just make you laugh, and even those who annoy you a little, LOST like most truly great TV shows takes its greatest strength from his characters. Below are, in my less than humble opinion, the 10 greatest characters in the history of the show. I apologise if your favourite isn't there, but at the end of the day, these characters represent everything which is bold, ambitious, mysterious and down right excellent about LOST.

10. ROSE AND BERNARD

You've got to love Rose and Bernard. "Retiring" on the island after the island disappears Rose and Bernard were another reason why the creators of LOST were so bold and confident in their creation. There aren't many shows on TV which have a relationship as rich, loving and comforting as Rose and Bernard. They enter the show separately as Rose survives with the main crash and Bernard is one of the few Tailies to survive. Their reunion is without doubt one of the most moving scenes in LOST, made the more so by Rose's constant insistence that Bernard is still alive. As the show progresses difficulties emerge as Rose, dying of cancer before the crash, but now cured, doesn't want to leave, while Bernard, the loving, devoted husband is doing everything he can (including building a giant SOS signal) to get her rescued. What makes them so amazing is that they are given a happy ending. As we see in The Incident when they are stumbled upon and explain their lack of interest in running off into the jungle to do something stupid. They even get a brief cameo in the finale, as they break their "rules" by rescuing Desmond. A final, fitting gesture for a beautiful couple.
GREATEST EPISODE - S.O.S (Season Two)
We finally get a Rose and Bernard centric episode and see the elegant and beautiful way they came to be together and realise the depth of the love they have for each.


9. DANIELLE ROUSSEAU

A crazy French woman who has been living on the island for 16 years since her research team crash landed on the island. A woman who had to kill all of her team, including her lover and father of her daughter. A woman who gave birth to her daughter alone only to see her kidnapped a week later. A woman who has lived alone, surviving on the island making traps and somehow avoiding detection. You can kind of forgive Rousseau for being such a crazy person. Her first appearance in  "Solitary" came as a unexpected addition to the characters as she captured and tortured the torturer Sayid. Later she re-emerged telling the survivors that "they" were coming, only to try and steal Claire's baby. Again, you can kind of forgive her. Rousseau was a survivor, someone who had learnt to live in on the island, and someone who understood the deep mysteries and dangers of the island, but wasn't really interested in them. She was also not interested in leaving, this being her home now. When she is finally reunited with Alex, all of the hurt and pain she has lived with all her life is wracked across her face (Mira Furlan is another of the stunning actresses on the show). The real disappoint with Rousseau is that she was so easily disposed off, and so unexpectedly, by Keamy and his team of mercenaries. In hindsight it makes sense, but that made it no less tragic when it happened. It was with her death that I truly realised how beloved she was, and how much I would miss her. That we get a flash sideways glimpse of her with Alex and Ben in "What They Died For" helped repair some of the damage. It's also strange that with a cast of so many female characters Rousseau is the one who stuck with me, the one I was most intrigued with and the one I wanted to know more about.
GREATEST EPISODE - Through The Looking Glass - Season Three
Not only does she supply the dynamite the blows the Others up, but she also leads the survivors to the radio tower and finally turns off her signal, oh, and she is finally reunited with Alex, and cracks Ben with the butt of her gun.


8.DANIEL FARADAY

The last addition to the show to appear on this list, Faraday was one of those characters that almost instantly made you think, now we're gonna get some answers. A mathematical genius and the one who helps Desmond find his constant, Faraday helped us come to terms with the whole time travel aspect of LOST; "Think of the island like a record spinning on a turn table, only now that record is skipping". The first real intrigue around him arrived at the end of "The Constant" when we saw in his little notebook that he'd written Desmond could be his constant, implying some foreknowledge of events to come. Back off the island, and long before he came on the freighter, Faraday was dabbling with temporal displacement and tragically destroyed his lovers mind, and nearly his own. The real tragedy of Faraday though was that all his life he had been pushed down a path he didn't want to walk by a mother who knew from his very birth, the fate which would befall him. In "The Variable", Faraday devises an ingenius plan to destory the electromagnetic pocket, preventing The Incident which would lead to the Hatch being built which would in turn result in Oceanic 815 crashing on the island. Only, he never got to see through his plan, gunned down by his own mother, who at the time didn't know it was him; his last words were to remind her that "she knew" and leave Eloise Hawking his special notepad full of brain fryingly complex physics which explained what was happening on the island.
GREATEST EPISODE - The Variable - (Season Five)
After an absence of some time, Faraday returns with an ingenious plan o save everyone on the island only to meet his demise. A sad tragic life but one which meant so much.  

7. RICHARD ALPERT

The man with the black eyeliner who never ages. Richard didn't appear in Lost until Season Three episode 7 "Not in Portland" as he tried to recuirt Juliet to come to work for him. One of the greatest aspects of Alpert's characterisation is his enigmatic quality. Even to so called Island stalwarts like Ben, Richard seems a mystery. Richard's first on island appearance was in "The Man From Tallahassee" six episodes later. For the rest of Season Three Richard is mysterious and barely present. For most of Season Four Richard is also absent, only to appear in Locke's childhood testing his suitability to be leader of The Others, though we didn't know it yet. It's really at this point that Richard became such a fan favourite and the enigma he remained for most of the show, As advisor to Jacob, Richard seemed to have all the answers, but as it turns out, after Jacob's death, he's as much in the dark as all of us. When we find out his back story (Ab Aeterno) we learn he was a slave on the Black Rock and more importantly that the Man in Black first tried to convince him to kill Jacob in his attempt to find a loophole. What finally made Richard so wonderful was that he came to the island due to a tragic love story back in mid 1800s when his wife died. Part of the allure of Richard stems from the fantastic performance from Nestor Carbonell whose performance in "Ab Aeterno" is one of the finest single episode performances in the entire show.
GREATEST EPISODE - Ab Aeterno - (Season Six)
We finally get to see Richard backstory and by god is a heartbreaker. Also, Carbonell's performance is astonishing.

6.JACK SHEPHARD

The life of Jack can really be split in two with the pre and post moments shifting at the "We have to go back" moment at the end of Series Three. For the most part Jack was a tad annoying. Overly earnest, always wanting to fix things and reluctantly, if predictably,  becoming the leader of the survivors. This positioned him in a thankless task. While the "cool" characters like Sawyer, Hurley and Locke could go off and enjoy themselves Jack was always tied down to protecting everyone and giving rousing speeches such as "live together, die alone". But what makes Jack so excellent is the flip his character undergoes from "that" moment on. When he cries out "we have to go back", everything on LOST changed forever and suddenly there was a new dynamism to Jack. His journey from man of science to man of faith became complete in my opinion in one of his finest moments when at the request of Richard he offers to help him die by lighting a fuse to some dynamite. Rather than flee, Jack is so sure he has been brought to the island for a reason he sits and watches with a shocked Alpert as the fuse goes out just moments before it blows. From this point on we all knew Jack was "the obvious choice" but more importantly he was the right choice. He was the one who had the power to change everything, to defeat the Man in Black. Jack Shephard went from being an annoyance to one of the most compelling characters in the show and for that reason he makes the list.
GREATEST EPISODE - I Do - Season Three
Jack cuts Ben's dural sac (whatever one of those is) and threatens to leave Ben to die unless they let Kate and Sawyer leave. Not only does this personify Jack but it also shows us a more ruthless interesting side to the man. Jack is beginning to realise how to play the game.

5. JAMES "SAWYER" FORD

When Lost started Sawyer was bloody annoying. All rugged good looks and quick witted charm. He was everything I hoped LOST wouldn't become. Thank science then that he turned out to be such a bone fide hero. Unlike Jack though, or even Locke, Sawyer is the atypical antihero. On the surface he is a brooding, selfish, smart conman, but underneath he is a insecure, weak, tortured soul whose father murdered his mother, then killed himself with Sawyer in the room. Hence the name Sawyer. Ford took the name when his parents died, it being the name of the man who conned his mother and father and led to their deaths. What makes Sawyer such an incredible character is his arc. From a guy who hordes supplies including medical, from the wreckage and cons the entire group out of their weapons to a guy who is willing to sacrifice himself on any number of occasions to save his fellow survivors. He even becomes something of a leader when he and a number of others are left behind and end up in 1974, successfully managing to ingratiate himself and the rest into Dharma life becoming the head of security. Sawyer will also always be remembered for his love triangle with Kate and Jack. For so long this seemed like a central plotline and helped to distinguish to polarity between Jack and Sawyer, but eventually this peetered out and Sawyer became a man defined for his dry wit and cutting insults. His finest moment came when he sacrificed himself to save the Oceanic Six by throwing himself off the helicopter and he will always be remembered for his ability to read others at the drop of a hat and see all angles.
GREATEST EPISODE - The Long Con (Season Two)
While everyone is bickering and getting nervous about the Others, Sawyer exploits Jack, Kate, Locke, Ana Lucia and pretty much the entire camp to find and steal the armoury. "There's a new sheriff in town boys". Classic Sawyer.

4. JOHN LOCKE

If it hadn't been for the fact that John Locke died he might well still be my favourite character. So although his image and the actor remained in the show until the very end, because he wasn't John Locke, it means he as lost the top spot. Locke is the character who grabbed you immediately, from the moment he hurled a massive knife into a chair next to Sawyer. The born hunter who provided food for the Losties and from that shot of him smiling whilst sucking on an orange there has been something captivating about him. Locke enabled us to discover so much about the island. Unchained to protecting the survivors like natural born leader Jack, Locke was able to venture into the island, he was able to look into the eye of the island and what he saw was... beautiful. He took us willingly deep into the mysteries of the island, immediately aware of just how special this place was and that all their fates had brought them here for a reason. This derived from the realisation that Locke was wheelchair bound before landing on the island. Yet despite all this seemingly heroic characters Locke is arguably the weakest and most insecure of all the survivors. Desperately clutching at purpose and reason, for meaning to his existence Locke is fated to be the tragic hero, struck down just when he thought he was about to fulfil his destiny. The great paradox of Locke is that off the island he was a sad pitiful character, and perhaps this is why I like him. I understand his depression for working for a box making company. His desire to find his father and have a meaningful relationship, only to be constantly fooled and conned, and not just by his father. He was the one character I always wanted to succeed, whether it be getting into the Hatch or succeeding Ben as the leader of the Others. The truth though, a truth which unfortunately applies to most people, is that he didn't have what it took. He might have been right about the island, but he was unable to through off the shackles and insecurities of his life. Locke was doomed from the beginning, and that just makes him more loveable.
GREATEST EPISODE - The Man From Tallahassee - (Season Three)
We finally found out how Locke ended up in his wheelchair and Locke makes moves to join the Others.

3. BENJAMIN LINUS
Has there ever been a more evil yet loveable character on TV. A list of his crimes against humanity would make most serial killers or even dictators look like small fry. Benjamin came to the island after the death of his mother in childbirth, a day Ben's father never let him forget. Feeling alone and wanting a place to belong, he is soon recruited by Richard and grows up undercover within the Dharma Initiative only to orchestra first his own Father's death (in a particularly poignant moment - I completely empathised with him which is just wrong) then the genocide of every member of the Dharma Initiative. Benjamin Linus is LOST's Napoleon; a man so addicted to power he will sacrifice his own daughter's life to maintain it. He attempted to kill John Locke not once but twice, and succeeded (the second time obviously), he stole Rousseau's daughter a week after her birth and barely raised an eyebrow when ordering the deaths of loyal Others. He is also possibly the most beaten up character in TV history. But Ben's greatest quality, if quality is the right word, is his ability to manipulate others to get them to think they are doing what they want, when really they are doing exactly what he wants. For five of the six seasons Ben is so perfectly evil and manipulative that its difficult to believe a single word he says or even know what he plans to do next. And he always has a plan, even allowing himself to be beaten or capture just to learn something about his opponents in order to find their weak spot. Ben is quintessentially brilliant both in his characterisation and in Michael Emerson's superb performance
GREATEST EPISODE  - The Shape of Things To Come (Season Four)
A heart stoppingly brilliant piece of Television where Ben calls upon the Smoke Monster to seek revenge after the death of Alex.

2. HUGO "HURLEY" REYES"
Unique surely in all of Television history, there is not a single scene in the six years of LOST containing Hurley in which he doesn't raise a smile and get a laugh. Even when facing the life threatening events which seemed to afflict the castaways on a daily basis, somehow Hurley was able to look on the bright side, or at least keep a detached, whimsical view of events. Hurley was loveable, cute, fun to be around and probably of all the characters the one you wish was your friend, because with Hurley in your life, the world just seems a little brighter. Yet for him things weren't really that way. It turns out winning over $100million on the lottery is not the answer to all your questions and Hurley believing to be cursed finds it even harder when he sees his winning numbers on the hatch. It doesn't help that he was once in an insane asylum and can speak to dead people (the two are somewhat connected) but his ability ends up making him integral to events on the island.Hurley is all about the good time; building the golf course so everyone could cut loose, finding the Dharma van and being a mean ping pong player Hurley is reason alone to love LOST.  That Hurley inherits the Guardianship of the Island is a poignant and perfect relationship and just feels right. As Jacob said he brought people to the island to prove they were not inherently evil - what better person to prove that fact than Hurley, never holding a grudge and always seeing the best in people.
GREATEST EPISODE - Through the Looking Glass (Season Three)
Hurley uses the Dharma Van to save his fellow Losties and prove he is valuable to the group after all. I literally whoop when that moment happened.

1. DESMOND HUME

First place might have been taken by a character like Walt had he been in the show a bit longer, instead the greatest character in the history of LOST for me is Desmond. Like many a character on LOST Desmond shares his name with a philosopher, but unlike most the shows characters Desmond personifies everything about the show which made it such compulsive addictive viewing. A character overwhelmed my his own sense of cowardice and inferiority he never realises his true heroism until late in the show. Desmond's is also one of the greatest love stories not just in LOST but in TV. His passion and devotion to Penny Widmore is equalled only by her devotion to him. They first meet as Desmond is kicked out of a monestary for drunkenness, his feelings in inadequacy result in his inability to marry her and eventually leads to him being shipwrecked on the island and having to live in The Hatch for three years. Once he escapes he tries to leave but the island isn't done with him. Eventually, after destroying the island, travelling back in time and losing Penny again (though for different reasons) he is finally reunited with Penny and everything seems to end happily ever after. But thanks to Charles Widmore (the main reason for his sense of inadequacy) Desmond is returned to the island as he holds the key to saving the world. Desmond works not just because of  Henry Ian Cusick soul bearing performance but because the character is wrapped up in the mystery of the island. The only person able to withstand an electromagnetic event he is integral to events on the island, despite being absent for so much of the show. Without Desmond LOST would make so much less sense and be so less mysterious and heart-wrenching and for that reason he is quite simply the greatest character ever in LOST. 
GREATEST EPISODE: The Constant (Season Four)
Desmond is finally reunited, if only by phone, with his true love Penny for the most tear jerking moment in Lost history.