Originally Posted by sumthnwitty

I also don't think Ben has given up anything to Locke. He may have said that outside the cabin, but Ben is Ben and he hasn't yielded anything. My guess is that he is stepping down on a temporary basis so he can get revenge on Widmore for the death of Alex. [...] Somehow they knew to look for Locke when he was a child and Alpert found him first. Widmore didn't know who Locke was until much later, and then only because he fell from a building and didn't die (I think that's what caught their attention, and his survival against all odds as a premie caught Alperts attention, or at least built a case for him being the chosen one). Which leads back to Widmore and his search for the island....