Ben and the Frenchies
We’ve seen two sets of non-others go into the temple: the Frenchies and Ben.
The Frenchmen emerged different. Notable differences:
-Some degree of understanding about the Island: “It’s not a monster, its a security system protecting the temple”
-A silver tongue of sorts, manipulative skills, and the ability to bluff whatever emotion is needed at a given time: Robert calming down Rousseau with lies about love, their baby, etc, until she put the gun down and he made his move.
-Killing. Whomever they need to: Robert trying to shoot Rousseau
We have seen Ben exhibit similar behavior.
-He seems to have an understanding of many of the island’s mysteries
-He can hide his true motives impeccably, and uses his words to manipulate almost everybody.
-He has gassed his father, tried to shoot Locke, ordered the Others to kill the survivors, Ordered Sayyid to kill many Widmorians, threatened to Kill Penny, (Possibly killed Penny or bloodied someone on the Doc), Killed Keamy, sent Goodwin to his death, etc. He does not shy from killing.
I hazard that whatever happened to the Frenchmen is the same thing that happened to Ben
Agreed. Shanimal, have you had a chance to look at NMB’s post about Locke and Smokey.
I think last week we saw something very significant about Smokey and how ‘it’ affects people and the repercussions of those encounters. Thanks for making these correlations so clear!
shanimal44, you make some very good observations. I wondered why Robert was trying to kill Danielle when he emerged from his visit with the smoke monster!
Was it because he had changed, and Danielle was threatened by him and Montand? Or, was Robert reacting to what Danielle did to Montand? In other words, Danielle became the threat.
Maybe, because they had changed, Danielle misinterpreted that change for a ‘sickness’ of sorts. Definitely worth pondering!
PS: I seem to be following you today, kimberly! lol
Robert was doing the smoke monster’s bidding. I believe that the monster is representative of a divine being who has the ability to grant immortality for a price. Ben is going to lose his “soul and conscience” to the island.
I agree with this theory whole heartedly. Perhaps a similar thing happened to Locke as well. Also maybe smokey tried to convert Eko and found that it could not change him. He would not be a willing (crazy) pawn like the rest.
In response to Jacob Loves You…
Potato, Potahto.
Could Robert have been trying to kill not Danielle, but Alex?
Kill Alex and you remove the cause of a future schism between Widmore and Ben and Richard.
It seems that Richard is the person who sets everything into a downward spiral by saving Ben, then lying to Widmore about it being Jacob’s will.
Later Ben saves Alex, in direct defiance of Widmore and so starts an uprising among the Others that will ursurp Widmore’s lawful authority.
So perhaps, Yes, Jacob and the island want Alex dead and they will course correct until they achieve that end, even unto bringning Keamy to the island.