The Mysteries: The Others (as war criminals)

But it cannot all be Ben’s fault. The Others have a history of massacring large groups of people. Richard admitted in 1954 that the Others wiped a unit of US army soldiers stationed on the island.[1] He claims both that he was forced to kill them because they wouldn’t leave and that the army started it by firing on the Others first.[2] I know we all enjoy Richard’s charms, but are we going to give legitimacy to the Alpert insurgency? The Others follow that up with the flaming arrow attack on the survivors’ beach, killing about 20 people including Hurley’s buddy Neil.[3] Even if the army did start a war with the Others, the survivors were innocent band standers; civilians really. When one goes around committing purges on a hunch, that party bears the risk of mistaken identity.

In 1954, Ben hasn’t even been born yet and Charles Widmore is a geeky teenager. Richard either ordered the attacks himself or got the orders directly from Jacob or was following another temporary leader with a disposition towards mass murder. The third purge occurred in 1992 when the Others wiped out the Dharma Initiative, including Ben’s old buddy Horace Goodspeed.[4] It’s unclear who made that decision. Richard leads the Others into the barracks after all the Dharma folks are dead. But Ben also played a very active role, gassing Roger himself and gave orders to Richard once the dust settled.[5] As for Widmore, Ben didn’t exile him until after the Purge[6], so maybe it was Widmore’s decision.

I am fully convinced that Ben is evil. What we don’t know is whether or not Jacob is evil. The Others and Ben all claim to work for Jacob. Unless they are all lying, then at some point Jacob is responsible for the actions of his employees. Free will aside, t is just negligent of Jacob to keep appointing leaders who turn out to be selfish, power hungry killers. The same could be said of Richard. What is the point of having Richard around as the leader’s cosmic advisor/observer if the Others keep winding up with blood all over their hands?

[1] “Jughead”
[2] Id.
[3] “The Lie”
[4] “The Man Behind the Curtain”
[5] Id.
[6] “Dead is Dead”