The Theories: Good vs. Evil (the survivors' sins)

I just don’t see that much sin among the castaways. Sure, Sun committed adultery[1], a very traditional sin, and Charlie stole on top of his drug habit[2], but what did Michael or Walt every do pre-crash to deserve a stint in limbo? Ditto Claire, Rose and Bernard. Jin often risked himself saving the people he had been ordered to kill, even if he had to punch them in the face to do so.[3] Hurley was the nicest, least selfish lottery winner ever. Shannon lied and conned a little but were Shannon and Boone condemned for having consensual, adult sex?[4] Jack was just a workaholic and Locke a sad, lonely guy.

In sharp contrast, a not insignificant number of characters committed murder. Early on, it was imaginable that flashbacks would eventually reveal everyone to have taken life prior to coming to the island; call it Ten Little Gilligan’s. But that never came to pass. Among the castaways, murders remained a vocal minority compromised of Sayid, Sawyer, Ana Lucia, Kate, Eko and Nikki and Paulo. These are the people in need of atonement.

Sayid’s crimes are the toughest to judge. He tortured people, and he did so to advance his career, but he never appeared sadistic. He tortured suspected criminals in relatively banal ways: electrocution, nails under fingernails. Those are aggressive interrogation techniques, but probably do not crimes against humanity. The one murder that we know for sure that he commits pre-island is shooting and killing his superior officer.[5] It is an extremely sympathetic act from all viewpoints since it saved Nadia’s life. Still, it was an act of vigilante murder, the same type of act he later committed while serving as Ben’s assassin.

Sawyer committed the second pre-island murder by shooting Frank Duckett.[6] The killing would be more sympathetic if Duckett was the real Sawyer (in fact, the eventual death of the real Sawyer is very audience satisfying), but the dangers of revenge is that sometimes one shoots an innocent person. Either way, Sawyer flew half way around the world and shot down an unarmed man on the orders of loan shark. Ana Lucia similarly stalked and shot an unarmed man in cold blood, the only difference being that he was presumably guilty.[7] In their defense, Sawyer and Ana Lucia both thought they were avenging lost loved ones, Sawyer his parents and Ana Lucia her unborn child, taken in heinous crimes.

None of those three hold a candle to Kate’s advance planning for her murder of her step-father/father Wayne.[8] She herself denies that she killed Wayne to protect her mother or because he made advances on her. Rather, she killed him because she hated that he was “part of her.”[9] Killing someone because his existence is disconcerting would presumably not earn that person a spot on the good guys’ roster. Of course, when it comes to motive, no one holds a candle to Nikki and Paulo. Their crime had none of the others’ grief, guilt or justification; they killed a rich old man for his shiny diamonds.[10]

Lastly, Mr. Eko holds the record for number of victims pre-island. As a boy, first kills his priest to save his younger brother (and probably the other children in his village) from being kidnapped by the militia.[11] In the real world, duress is no defense to murder. Whether it is a defense on Jacob’s world is less relevant since Eko then murders two of his drug suppliers as an adult.[12] He kills another three while disguised as a priest.[13] They attack him first, but only after he makes other plans to sell their drugs, and he kills at least one of them well after the threat has passed.

It isn’t exactly clear how much sympathy the writers have for these characters crimes. For sure, those who killed are often called out on it by their follow survivors. Locke brings Sawyer to meet Anthony Cooper because Locke says he is not a murderer but knows Sawyer has killed.[14] Juliet calls Sawyer and Sayid hypocrites for judging her when they have both done terrible things.[15] Diane Sawyer tells her daughter that Kate killed Wayne for Kate’s benefit and not her mother’s.[16] And Sam Austen, the man who raised Kate, draws a contrast between himself and Kate by telling Kate that he never had murder in his heart.[17]

Despite their crimes, Kate, Sayid and Sawyer all escaped unarmed through the most of the first five seasons. What do we call a place where the worse sinners hang around longer? Sounds like purgatory to me. But my own evidence contradicts itself. Ana Lucia, Mr. Eko, and Nikki and Paulo do all die. The order of dead castaways goes: two unknown red shirts, Boone (maybe some light lust and anger), Shannon (light lying and stealing), Ana Lucia (murder of criminal/murderer), Libby (nothing known), Mr. Eko (six murders, questionable motives), Nikki and Paulo (one cold-blooded murder for profit), and then Charlie (slight stealing). I would love to hear a theory that explains those deaths in terms of their past choices. If the survivors are on the island caught between Jacob and his adversary’s battle of good versus evil, there seem to be a lot of stray bullets taking out innocent civilians.

[1] See “The Glass Ballerina”
[2] See “The Moth”, “Homecoming”
[3]See “…In Translation”, “The Glass Ballerina”
[4] See “Hearts and Minds”
[5] “Solitary”
[6] “Outlaws”
[7] “Collision”
[8] “What Kate Did”
[9] Id.
[10] “Expose”
[11] “The 23rd Psalm”- 2.10
[12] Id.
[13]
[14] “The Brig”
[15] “One of Us”
[16] “Left Behind”
[17] “What Kate Did”