Oh my I've missed a lot!

 

Claire: Claire is very similar to Michael for me in that she had a royal decline. In the first season she was a favourite, then I kept losing track about her whereabouts, and then in the final few seasons she became intolerable when she became a rabid, wild animal and lost total control. I also think her link with Jack wasn't fully explored as well as it could have and felt shoe-horned in. It was great that their lives were even more intertwined than we could have ever guessed though and obviously Christian was a key player behind the scenes with a lot of the stories. One of my absolute favourite episodes of the whole show's run is 'Raised By Another' in the first season. The scenes with the psychic are genuinely terrifying and I am forever mystified by the pregnancy secrets and mysteries of the island. It's all gripping stuff! Her flashbacks are brilliant, but this episode in particular is one of the best the show ever had imo.

 

Sayid: Too low! Yes he had a bit of a decline towards the end (that's becoming a theme for a few of the recent dropouts here lmao) but I think he's one of the show's strong points. A glue for the islanders, a methodical, practical, intelligent, yet brutal force to be reckoned with. My one gripe is that his flashback episodes border on the repetitive. Naveen Andrews is one of the best actors in the show and my God does he portray Sayid with painful realism. You can feel his pain, empathise with his sorrow and feel his brutality throughout. His "centric" episodes aren't my favourites, but he's such an essential character.

 

Jack: Mixed feelings for the show's central character. His relationship with Christian is a highlight of the series - when he sees Christian on the island in the early episodes, I knew this was going to be a special show, just haunting. His rise and falls throughout the show are also great. Yes he's the leading man, but he is so flawed throughout and it was so brave of the show to give the "main character" such a complex story arc, never remaining top dog for long and being flawed in so many ways. I think Matthew Fox lived and breathed that everyman character so well. His journey with Kate x Sawyer is brilliant too. Overall, he's a brilliantly well-realised character, if a little annoying at times when he's acting all "holier than thou" :kink:. And as far as the man of faith vs man of science debate goes, I am team Locke the whole way!! So I'm happy Locke has beaten Jack in this countdown too!

 

Ugh this show is just brilliant - every character has great moments and flaws. It's all so RELATABLE and REAL (as far as the characters go - obviously not real when the black smoke appears and the island "moves" xx).

I think that's about right for Jack, he's obviously always very compelling and watchable as the main driving force, but he suffered from just being a clear hero archetype from day one, and ultimately he didn't feel as well developed or interesting as those around him. It's not a problem unique to the show, a lot of main protagonists whose goal is only to be the main hero feel a little bit bland compared to others. I do agree also he was frustrating to watch at points with his stubbornness as the seasons went on and different paths formed, I always enjoyed him being put in his place x

 

12 Daniel Faraday

Played by: Jeremy Davies

Main: Seasons 4-5

Guest: Season 6

 

Dr. Daniel Faraday is one of the freighter team who become stranded on the island during season 4. He is the first to integrate with the survivors of Flight 815, though they remain sceptical of him and his intentions, particularly when he and Charlotte sneak off to the Tempest station to neutralise a source of poison gas. Faraday confesses to Jack that the freighter was not sent to rescue them, but to find Ben Linus. Faraday nonetheless proves his loyalty by ferrying survivors to and from the freighter, hoping to save as many people as possible. The island "moves" and the freighter explodes when he's midway through, but he makes it back as he and the other survivors start to travel through time. Faraday plays a key part in the timey-wimey nature of season 5, luring Desmond out of the hatch in the past and telling him to find Daniel's mother once Desmond's off the island - an event that happens later in the season. He confesses his love for Charlotte, though the time jumps later cause her to die, and she tells him she remembers seeing him on the island from when she lived there as a child and told her never to return. Faraday leaves the island and returns back three years later, planning to detonate a hydrogen bomb so Flight 815 would never have crashed. Faraday's killed by a younger version of his own mother, realising she sent him to the island with the knowledge that he'd die.

 

Faraday is by far my favourite character to have been introduced in the last three seasons of the show! I didn't always understand the plots of season 5 but I loved how significant Faraday was in those events, particularly after I found him a solid but disposable character in season 4. His kind nature was a welcome contrast to the sometimes-frosty Charlotte and the abrupt Miles, and he definitely got the best development of the three, too. I was really sad when he was killed off almost immediately after returning to the island in season 5 - I was hoping he'd play a bigger part in the rest of the show, particularly after he'd started to integrate into the group - but his death was most definitely poetic and proved the true nature of his mother, Eloise Hawking, who we were learning more and more about at that point. Faraday and Charlotte had a cute story too, and it was smart how they weaved him into the slightly chaotic nature of the fifth season. He was one of the shining beacons of one of the less-good seasons of the show and I found him highly watchable - I wish we'd seen more of him!

 

Who's going to *just* miss out on the top 10? :o

Daniel is definitely one of the strongest new additions not on the initial flight! His centric episode 'The Variable' is arguably one of the best in S5 which as you mention gets very tangled up and messy at times. He's a great presence in the show - bringing a sense of calm to the manic rushing around of others, or a sense of intellectualism in the face of ignorance or people not knowing what is happening around them. I still don't think I fully understand his back story or his involvement in it all :kink: but a great character and so watchable. As you say, if only he was in it more!

Shannon's death really was irritating. They were doing a great job of maturing her and adding complexity but obviously the writers saw her as expendable. At the time of airing she was one of the least popular characters in the cast, which probably played into why the writers chose her as the early season death. I remember there being news reports that a main character was being killed off early in Season 2 and praying it wouldn't be Shannon. But after a great start in the S2 premiere, she disappeared between episodes 2-5 before her own episode (apart from a non-speaking role in episode 4), so it didn't look good for her. It was such a shame, especially given the show's main women were already outnumbered by main almost 3 to 1 and her character was very different to the rest of the cast.

Edited July 12, 20222 yr by 365

Daniel is definitely one of the strongest new additions not on the initial flight! His centric episode 'The Variable' is arguably one of the best in S5 which as you mention gets very tangled up and messy at times. He's a great presence in the show - bringing a sense of calm to the manic rushing around of others, or a sense of intellectualism in the face of ignorance or people not knowing what is happening around them. I still don't think I fully understand his back story or his involvement in it all :kink: but a great character and so watchable. As you say, if only he was in it more!

The Variable was definitely a highlight and that ending was a stellar twist!

 

Shannon's death really was irritating. They were doing a great job of maturing her and adding complexity but obviously the writers saw her as expendable. At the time of airing she was one of the least popular characters in the cast, which probably played into why the writers chose her as the early season death. I remember there being news reports that a main character was being killed off early in Season 2 and praying it wouldn't be Shannon. But after a great start in the S2 premiere, she disappeared between episodes 2-5 before her own episode (apart from a non-speaking role in episode 4), so it didn't look good for her. It was such a shame, especially given the show's main women were already outnumbered by main almost 3 to 1 and her character was very different to the rest of the cast.

It feels like a hugely wasted opportunity to write in a redemption arc sadly - I get why Shannon was unpopular to a degree but good writing and planning can result in a change of opinion so easily, there's no clearer example than Steve in Stranger Things! Shannon probably wouldn't have had quite that big a turnaround but there was definitely scope to go further with her.

 

11 Mr. Eko

Played by: Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje

Main: Seasons 2-3

 

The mysterious Mr. Eko was one of the tail section survivors introduced in season 2. The night they arrived, he killed two of the Others that raided their camp and kidnapped some of his fellow survivors in order to save himself, leading to him remaining mute for 40 days. He captures Jin, Sawyer and Michael when they arrive back on the island after the raft fails. Eko's backstory is explored in a few centric episodes, showing he was the leader of a gang in Nigeria before assuming his brother's identity after he is killed. Eko recognises the Virgin Mary statue in Charlie's possession and demands to be taken to where he found it, knowing his brother's body was on the Beechcraft. Together, they burn the plane and the remaining heroin statues. When Locke believes pushing the button in the hatch is pointless, Eko disagrees and they fight, the station ultimately imploding when Eko is not able to type the numbers in in time. He survives the blast but is killed by the black smoke which presented itself as Yemi, his brother.

 

Mr. Eko is undoubtedly one of the most captivating characters that Lost had. He was an enigma when we first met him, and each flashback episode contributed to a wonderfully complex backstory where his intentions and morals become blurred. On the island, Eko is one of the most watchable characters and has some really fantastic chemistry with the middle section survivors, notably Charlie (when they're building the church together) and Locke (in the hatch, and especially during their argument!). Eko provided a nice contrast to Ana Lucia, who was introduced around the same time - Eko slotted into the group and made the effort, while Ana Lucia's brash nature kept her ostracised for the most part. I wish we'd seen Eko in the show for longer, he was such a fascinating character acted to *perfection* by Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, and had he been there longer, he'd definitely have been a shoo-in for the top 10.

The Top 10

 

Benjamin Linus

Charlie Pace

Desmond Hume

Hugo "Hurley" Reyes

James "Sawyer" Ford

Jin-Soo Kwon

John Locke

Juliet Burke

Kate Austen

Sun-Hwa Kwon

 

Who do you hope to see high up? Who's already outstayed their welcome? Share your thoughts!

Juliet, Sun and Desmond to sweep.

That's a great top 10, if I were to compile my own, I feel it'd be very similar!

 

Loved Mr Eko, he was always the most intriguing of the new arrivals and his back story was wonderfully done.

Mr Eko :heart:

 

The way they introduced him as a brutish force but he mellowed and was actually one of the softest and most caring members. His devotion to building the church on the island and helping those that needed it was great and his backstory was so complex and conflicting - continually kept on our toes! His death scene is harrowing too, the black smoke at its greatest and most formiddable! Totally captivating character as you say and a worthy 11th place.

 

Now onto that top 10 - it's the exact same top 10 that I would have :o So I am super hyped for this~

 

10 Benjamin Linus

Played by: Michael Emerson

Recurring: Season 2

Main: Seasons 3-6

 

Captured by Rousseau in season 2, Henry Gale is held captive and interrogated at the hatch by the survivors of Flight 815. He's found out to be fraud - he's actually Benjamin Linus, the leader of the Others - and is set free by a rogue Michael. He keeps Jack, Kate and Sawyer prisoner, and convinces Jack to perform surgery on him to remove a tumour. Jack reluctantly does this but uses Ben's survival as a bargaining tool. He later offers Locke the opportunity to join them, asking him to kill his father, but instead, Locke uses Sawyer to do the deed, knowing he was the man who Sawyer had been keen to get revenge on for years. The freighter team in season 4 arrived to capture Locke, but he bargains with Miles to tell Widmore that he's dead. The mercenaries from the freighter nonetheless catch up to him, killing his daughter Alex as well as her mother Rousseau and boyfriend Carl. Ben moves the island, being transported to the Sahara Desert in the process, and recruits Sayid (back home as one of the Oceanic Six) as his personal assassin. He tracks Locke down after Locke leaves the island and kills him, staging it as a suicide, and brings the Oceanic Six back together to travel back to the island, which they manage successfully. When the Ajira flight crashes, Ben remains in 2007 with Sun, Frank and Ilana, and follows who he believes to be a revived Locke to the base of Jacob's statue. He kills Jacob at Locke's request, though he learns that Locke isn't actually Locke - he's the black smoke monster. Ilana disapproves of Ben and forces him to dig a grave, but explains why he killed Jacob and how he lost Alex to save his life. Ben goes along with Richard's plan to blow up the Ajira plane, which never materialises, but Ben agrees to stay on the island with Hurley to help him protect it. He's seen in the afterlife as a teacher, and doesn't join the rest of the characters in the church, opting to stay outside a bit longer.

 

Ben is one of the most fascinating and interesting characters to watch because you never really know where his head's at. He was always several steps ahead of everyone else, manipulating situations for his own personal gain, right from when we saw him introduced as Henry Gale and the interactions he had with the likes of Locke, Sayid and Ana Lucia. Then a shift came in season 5 and 6, and suddenly Ben was several steps behind the Man in Black, and suddenly his power-hungry character was forced to be on the back foot, and it was a wonderful fall from grace, one of the most exciting shifts in a character through the whole show, particularly in those later seasons. I rarely rooted for Ben in any moment, but unlike Ana Lucia, he wasn't supposedly meant to be a hero with controversial methods, he was *meant* to be villainous at times. That's what made him so interesting and so unpredictable, and therefore VERY watchable. Special shout-out to the chemistry between Michael Emerson and Terry O'Quinn - any scene between those two was guaranteed to be riveting and it was the best part of the "Locke isn't really Locke" twist, because suddenly Ben didn't have power and control over a man he thought he could persuade into anything for the sake of the island. A hugely essential character and one with a fitting ending - with his humility restored, Ben stayed behind to protect the island with Hurley, and he redeemed himself somewhat.

Michael Emerson *is* Benjamin Linus. What a superb actor, totally encapsulating one of the most twisted, complex characters the show had to offer.

 

Early Ben (/Henry) was incredibly entoxicating. You hated him and everything he said and did and yet you wanted him on screen, you wanted him to manipulate situations, to tell stories that you were never sure were fictional or real, you wanted him to punish the islanders, you wanted his devious plots to be realised - all because you have no idea what his intentions are and so you're in it for the ride. A true villain, but made to be personable and "normal". At first he seems like the most powerful man ever, but then word of Jacob spreads and gradually (again expertly acted by Emerson), he becomes weedier and weedier, weaker and weaker until he is totally powerless.

 

Of course he has to be one with the island in the end, it's the only way! A fitting end for him.

 

Also I have to shout out one of my all-time favourite scenes of the show:

 

 

THE MIND GAMES

 

The complete creepy, ignorant-acting-but-actually-all-knowing presence

 

THE MYSTERY AND INTRIGUE ABOUT WHO HE IS OR WHAT HE IS

 

The pitting of islanders against each other.

 

The slow crunching of the cereal - spinechilling.

 

A masterclass.

 

And his manipulation of Locke here:

 

 

What a character!!

Ben was far and away my favourite character followed by Eko, Desmond and Sayid I think. After that Jin, Sawyer, Hugo and John.

 

I'd definitely have binned Charlie, Juliet and Kate a while back and I a bunch of my favourite characters don't count, such as Rouseau, Dr Chang, Alex, Eloise, Tom and Naomi

 

9 Desmond Hume

Played by: Henry Ian Cusick

Recurring: Season 2

Main: Seasons 3-6

 

Desmond is the first character we see in season 2, being the character living in the mysterious hatch. We learn that he washed up on the island in an attempt to impress his girlfriend Penny's father Charles Widmore in a race around the world. He spends three years in the Swan station, aka the hatch, entering the sequence of numbers every 108 minutes, a job that he gives up when Locke and the other survivors of Flight 815 discover him. Despite trying to leave the island, he failed and joined the camp, turning the fail-safe key in the hatch to prevent disaster upon its implosion, and he ended up with premonitions as a result; premonitions that he used to save Charlie's life until he no longer could. Together with the Oceanic Six, he finds Penny again on her boat and he gets off the island, where he went on a mission set up by Faraday to seek out his mother, Eloise Hawking, but didn't return to the island with the others until season 6 when he was kidnapped by Charles Widmore, who put him inside an electromagnetic generator, where he saw a version of existence where Flight 815 didn't crash. He removed the stone at the heart of the island, thinking it'd take him back there, but it only caused pain for him and it made the island unstable. Jack returned the stone and sacrificed himself to save Desmond, who we assume is taken back home by Hurley and Ben.

 

As soon as we see him, Desmond becomes such an intriguing character through the presence of the hatch. So many questions came with his arrival, and though he initially only features in a few episodes, he becomes such a welcome presence in the show upon his return. Desmond is a team player and gels with the group of survivors easily, forming a particularly strong bond with Charlie in season 3. He feels like a breath of normality amongst the crazy and complex characters around him, not that he doesn't have his own complex backstory too. The relationship with Penny is one that I loved watching develop and unfold, both through the current and flashback scenes. The season 4 episode The Constant was one of the best episodes too, as Desmond suffered the side effects of travelling in the helicopter away from the island to the freighter. I must admit, I think Desmond became a little surplus to requirements in seasons 5 and 6 after he'd left the island and they still wanted to find a way to include him, but his presence was never unappreciated. Easy to see why he's such a fan favourite!

 

#brother

Two incredible characters to start off, I agree you never quite knew what side Ben was on and it made it fascinating to watch and whether to sympathise with him or not, I was never quite sure even when it finished. Desmond's accent alone is worthy of a place in the top 10, but he was also really well done too. The Constant is easily one of the best episodes from the sometimes patchy later seasons.

The Constant could be the best episode of the entire show? Certainly away from Season openings and finales.

 

Desmond is a bit too low in my opinion! He ranks in my top 5 I think. Such an enigmatic presence whenever he's on screen. His initial scenes with Jack in the running stadium and then when it's revealed he is the man in the hatch - genius. Then there are SO MANY Desmond moments that are huge highlights including his flashes and the drama of Charlie's impending death, his obsession with pressing the button, the failsafe key and the incident, Penny contacting the island, waking up naked in the middle of the island after the implosion !

 

Although he isn't as present as some of the other major characters, he is a centre-piece to the entire show and one of the key reasons why I love it so much. He hold together so many of the mysteries and helps us to understand the time shifts in a more relatable way than Faraday.

 

Acted brilliantly too, he's a star of the show! Desmond fan for life. Also in a Reddit survivor series of their favourite Lost characters, Desmond ranked at #1! Huge fan favourite and totally deserved.

Hey brother!

wow really thought Desmond would be top 3!!

 

surprised Jin is still to come, low top 20 at best for me and definitely not top 10 material

Desmond is fantastic, his backstory was so captivating. He really deserved that emmy he was nominated for in 2006.