Lost Characters: The Definitive Ranking

The Lost rewatch features come to an end with this comprehensive analysis of the best and worst people on the show. If you missed it, and have some clogged tear ducts, here is the list of the five most heart-wrenching moments on the show.

The characters on Lost were all flawed, it was revealed to be the reason they were brought to the island in the first place. Some adapted better than others, and in the course of six seasons/100+ days/three years/a trip back to the 70s, however you wish to judge the length of time on the show, there became definitive people you rooted for and ones you hoped would go the way of old Arzt. In compiling these rankings I went from the timeline of landing on the island to the end of the series. Moments we saw in flashbacks before the island didn’t determine how I perceived the likability or contempt for a given character.

MOST HATED

–#5: Kate

Her antics grew tiresome as she proceeded to ruin relationships and manifest tension between Jack and Sawyer. Before Kate left the island the first time her overarching story line was liking Jack until he liked her back and then pulling away towards Sawyer, only to retreat back toward Jack once Sawyer reciprocated her feelings. She also was insanely stubborn, to the point of endangering herself and the group on multiple occasions. Jack was flawed in that way as well but the whole saving people pretty much the whole time gives him a redeeming quality that Kate doesn’t possess.

-#4: Charles Widmore

“This swallow is worth more than you can make in a month.” Damn, the introduction to Charles Widmore hits you right away that he is a cold-hearted, cruel man. He sends a squad of mercenary soldiers to inflict whatever damage and casualties are necessary to grab Ben Linus and later brings Desmond back to the island in his attempt to find the heart. Oh yeah, Widmore also proceeded to snap the neck of his friend back in the 50’s who was talking to Juliet in Latin. We don’t see the events that lead to Widmore’s exile from the island (and they aren’t part of the timeline for judging these characters) but you can infer that this malcontent has a long history of greed and selfishness.

-#3: Michael

Through the first three seasons, before the shift in tone across the back half of the series, Michael is the front-runner for most despised person on the show. At the end of Season 2 he proceeds to let Ben escape, kills Ana Lucia and Libby in cold blood, and leads his friends in a sabotaged trip across the island under the guise of helping to rescue his son. Michael also BLAMED SAWYER FOR HIS SON GETTING TAKEN OFF THE RAFT. I don’t know why I capitalized that stretch, maybe to highlight the absurdity of Sawyer getting shot during the capture and then getting blamed for it. Michael did not have a single redeeming quality while on the island. He was mean to Walt, insulated himself from everyone else, and then once off the island ended up leaving Walt because he couldn’t handle the guilt of killing two people…to sum it up: yes, he ended up deserting the only person who he supposedly did everything for in the first place.

-#2: John Locke

I’m not even going to lump in the post-Locke death Man In Black possessing his body actions against Locke, he was despicable well before then. It did end up working out well that Locke was the physical form of the MIB, it was essentially a manifestation of Locke’s inner thoughts from his entire time on the island. John Locke: selfish, arrogant, and a megalomaniac. The ability to walk again upon crashing on the island gave Locke the Globo Gym mentality of being better than everyone else. He carried himself like a false prophet, justifying Boone dying by “a sacrifice that the island demanded.” OR HEY LOCKE, JUST DON’T BE NEGLIGENT AND KILL A GUY. He also knocked Sayid out and destroyed his transceiver. Locke then proceeded to destroy both the Hatch and Flame in later seasons, nearly killing multiple more in the process, because he was so convinced he was right. He was then too much of a coward to kill his own dad, forcing Sawyer to do it. If you were on the fence because those events didn’t directly involve Locke killing anyone, you’re in luck! Don’t forget towards the end of Season 3 when he flings a knife right into Naomi’s back. Good riddance Locke, you really were terrible.

–#1: Ben Linus

This is part testament to Michael Emerson that he turned his character into an indispensable part of the show. Lost is certainly much better for the depth and enigmatic persona of Benjamin Linus. The rich character arc and life of Linus is the evil villain who sustains the show in its latter seasons. From his psychological mind games in trying to ruin Locke and Juliet to the depths of what he does to stay in power and then alive, Ben Linus is as unrepentant in his cruelty as they come. The obsession and ruining Juliet’s life came primarily before our show timeline but no worries, there were still plenty of notable examples of evildoing.

-Kidnapping: continues the terrific tradition established by Widmore of trying to take babies when The Others kidnap Claire and try to take the baby. Failed at that attempt but did succeed in kidnapping Walt.

-Kill Count: Oh the killing, so much killing. The body count that Ben wracks up or can be attributed to him is astounding. He initiates the plan to wipe out the entire Dharma Initiative, stood by while his (stolen) daughter was killed, betrayed the island and everything he supposedly stood for by killing Jacob, got Widmore’s assistant killed by Locke and then finished off Widmore himself, and was prepared to go further on his blood lust adventure when he thought Locke would leave him the island. Yet, the most despicable act was when he tried to go kill Penny. Thankfully, not even Lost stooped to that level of cruelty, but the mere action and motivation adds another notch against Linus.

A great villain enriches a show or movie, and provides significant drama and action needed to captivate viewers. The Joker might have been the best character in The Dark Knight but no one was rooting for him to succeed. The same occurs here; Benjamin Linus may be the most dynamic character in the series because he was the foil to all that was good on the show.

Best of the Bunch

-#10: Sun

Certainly the nicest person out of all the survivors. I didn’t think she was capable of a mean thought…until they left the island and she went stealth takeover mode of her father’s company (and also that whole wanting to kill Ben thing). Early on she was a de facto physician’s assistant to Jack and just went about creating and tending to her garden so they might have vegetables and a sustained food supply.

-#9: Daniel Faraday

Such a terrific character, and would be much higher on the the list if he would have been a larger part of the show. You could argue that Faraday saves everyone on the island because he explains the time travel problem, saves Desmond, turns the poisonous gas inert, and essentially serves as the mouthpiece for the writers to get the more mind-bending concepts of time travel into a digestible form for the audience. His love for Charlotte is incredibly sweet, and he does everything possible to try and save her, including the (yes at the time probably pretty creepy) message to her as a little girl. But we know it for what it was, and the earnest intent highlights that he has a good heart.

-#8: Jack

If you just watched the first two seasons of Lost then Jack is the clear number one, hero and beloved man of the people. However, the shift in tone towards needing Jack to lose confidence and find himself again on the island turned him into a frustrating character for much of the middle to end of the series. It’s unfortunate because he was such an easy character to like, rushing in right away to save everyone from the plane wreckage, his rallying cry, and so much more. Yet, Jack began to display a stubbornness that bordered on recklessness in refusing to believe that there was a reason that brought them to the island. Then, once he got back to the real world…whoops, I was wrong! That Jack was miserable, moody, and only concerned about himself getting back to the island, not the well-being of the other Oceanic 6. It took until the series finale when Jack returned to his altruistic ways of Season 1.

-#7: Juliet

On the surface perhaps a controversial selection, but let’s a look at all the factors which warrant Juliet’s inclusion. She never wanted to be on the island in the first place, was promised three times she would be able to leave and never got the chance. First, Ben said six months: that clearly didn’t happen. Then the most heartbreaking one: watching her and Jack walk to the sub, knowing they probably would have been happy together, only to see Locke blow it up. She also wanted to leave in 1974, Sawyer convinced her to stay…and then she ends up dying. Juliet was tough and blunt, which certainly didn’t help ease the transition when she joined the survivors but she was trying to help them after leaving Ben’s group. Her wit and demeanor also was perfect when paired with Sawyer.

–#6: Mr. Eko

Remember, tabula rasa here in judging these characters only on their actions from the timeline of crashing onto the island. A ruthless drug lord in his past life, Mr. Eko was the calming voice and presence during his short time with the group. After rewatching Season 2 I had the “Hello, Charlie” cadence in Mr. Eko’s voice stuck in my head. His abrupt death (which we learned was due to a contractual dispute in real life so he was written off the show) also kept most of the purity of the character. No long on-screen presence means no chance to muddy the waters like Jack or others who became less likable as the series went on.

-#5: Jin

The character who grew the most on the island. When they crashed Jin was a jealous, distrustful man with a quick temper. He developed into an essential provider, great friend, and guy who fiercely tried to protect his wife and fellow survivors. Jin helped Michael build the raft and developed a great rapport with Sawyer and Hurley. He starts to learn English for Sun (and then becomes fluent after 3+ years on the island), and as mentioned in the tearjerker moments post, sacrifices himself to be with Sun while she is trapped in the sinking submarine. We’ll end the Jin paragraph on a happy note though.

-#4: Sayid

The most adept at actually surviving and living on the island, in addition to the only one who seemed to have common sense at times. When the plane crashed Jack was saving people, and everyone else was clueless save for Sayid. He rigged up a transceiver, found a way to get a signal and generally advanced the cause of them getting off the island (had it been a normal island) more than anyone. He also was the only one who thought “hey, this Henry Gale dude is probably lying” and trekked to the spot of the balloon and then dug to uncover the grave and prove Ben was lying…a lot of good that did him though because Jack and Locke bungled the whole situation. Sayid was also able to broker a tenuous friendship with Rousseau, no small task for someone who probably went without human interaction for approximately 15 years. He did kill quite a handful of people, that’s not great, but it was always done to protect his friends and fellow survivors. That would resonate in his final action, when Sayid grabbed the bomb on the submarine and sacrificed himself so the others would have a chance at survival.

-#3: Charlie

I touched on a lot of what made Charlie great in writing about his poignant death, and it was his compassion for others that puts him up here as one of the most likable characters on the show. Before he dove down to the Looking Glass he also saved Jack back in Season 1 when he crawled into the cave that had collapsed. Charlie brought the genuine joy to the group and it was usually some combination of him, Hurley, and Jin that provided the lighthearted moments on the show. When they find and start up the old Dharma van and the “camping trip” with Desmond where they all sit around the fire telling ghost stories are two of the purest moments in the whole series. Charlie was also the guy who connected with Mr. Eko the most, helping him in the initial plan to build a church and then saving him from the dynamite when Mr. Eko tried to blow up the blast door in the Hatch. There didn’t seem to be a major character who Charlie wasn’t friendly with, and he was certainly one of the defining people of the first three seasons.

#2: Desmond

Desmond and Penny’s relationship headlines some of the best moments on Lost but Desmond on his own existed as a great character as well. He saves everyone on the island (and maybe the whole world???) when climbs under the Hatch to turn the fail safe key, fully believing it will kill him, and then when he’s hit with the magical power of premonitions uses the visions to repeatedly save Charlie. Even after he finally gets off the island and reunites with Penny to almost literally sail off into the sunset, Desmond risks that idyllic life to help the people on the island when he relays the message from Faraday to Eloise Hawking. It is kind of tough to judge where that afterlife portion of the series fits in with evaluating a character but the one easy takeaway was that Desmond was working to bring everyone together. He’s also the only man ever known to survive three direct, massive blasts of electromagnetism. See you in another life, brother.

-#1: Sawyer

If ever there was a person meant for the blank slate that the island offered it was Sawyer. Early on he did embrace the lone wolf mentality and was a slightly abrasive presence but the gruff exterior was a defense mechanism to avoid vulnerability. Sawyer did want to be liked and eventually his true character as a selfless protector was revealed. He had the best personality, wit, and depth of any character on the show. A perceived tough guy who really just wanted to sit and read books. Out of Jack’s shadow he thrived as a respected member of The Others and was clearly beloved by that group in the three years he spent as “LaFleur.” Miles grew quite attached to him during that time, and initially he seemed to dislike everyone. Sawyer also became known for two things: his “son of a bitch” line when a crazy discovery or situation occurred (of which there were many!) and his vast catalog of nicknames. Those nicknames were so ingrained in his personality that the most difficult stretch he spent on the island (and he was tortured, shot, and beaten up numerous times) might have been when he loses to Hurley in ping pong and then can’t call anyone by a nickname for a week. In an alternate ending perhaps Sawyer becomes the protector of the island; it was the place where he found the best version of himself…and as for those nicknames, enjoy.