One thing that I am really curious about is how Ben went from a shy, skinny, overlooked, crybaby kid to the time traveling, butt kicking, leader of a secret organization who manages to get secret files on everyone, controls mysterious technology that exists nowhere else on earth, and has basically unlimited resources? How'd that happen? Who was it who spotted Ben as a potential leader and gave him his first leg up? It must have been Widmore, right? He tells Ben "You stole my island." Widmore must have been the head of Dharma at some point.

Do any of you guys have a sense (or a theory) about how Ben reinvented himself so totally? I am totally fascinated by this question!

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"Helen, do you remember that authentic Australian walkabout I told you about?"

well
Maybe when Widmore bought the first mate's log book at the auction he was buying his own logbook

My theory is that he was like this for a very long time. Remember that his father blamed him for his mother's death and it really bothered him. As we see in the young Ben's future/flashback, Ben personally kills his father. But that was not the only reason he has become who he is. I believe his childhood friend Annie was used as a Dharma experiment and died. The experiment was the time travel experiment. If you remember in one of the episodes where they found the Dharma videos, the doctor (I think he called himself Halofax but used different names) he was holding the number 15 rabbit and seen the other number 15 rabbit and was shocked and rushed to turn the video off. I think they tried to do the same thing with Annie but she died. At that point I think Ben wanted revenge and worked his way up to who he is now.

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When will I learn? The answer to life's problems aren't at the bottom of a bottle, they're on TV!

The Black Rock is a really old ship, so I don't know. I'm thinking Widmore was either high up for Dharma (in this case he wasn't on the island during/after the purge) or he was high up with the original inhabitants (and somehow Ben took over). I'm still confused on how Ben became the new leader.

Almost reminds me of superheroes, like spiderman. Starts out a skinny shy dorky kid. I hope we get to see more of his way back story.

I've been thinking today more about Ben's transformation and how incredibly unlikely it was. For one thing, as a kid he certainly didn't stand out as a charismatic leader or as possessing anything more than average intelligence. For another, it takes the consent of the masses for a person to become a leader. Even if the consent is passive or coerced, people have to go along with you. So someone sometime had to see Ben at a critical moment in his life and say "Hey, kid, I like your moxie! I'm gonna take you under my wing, teach you all I know, and give you all of my resources in order to turn you into the charismatic leader of ancient secret world organization." And THEN all of the people around you would have to decide en masse, "Hey this guy knows what he's talking about, I'm gonna leave everything I know and love in the "real" world and follow him to a totally unknown island in the Pacific...FOREVER! Pretty freaking cool!

You hear stories of actresses from the Hollywood golden age who were spotted by agents at a lunch counter and went on to be incredibly famous and successful. Kind of pales in comparison to Ben's story, don't it? I know I'd much rather be as powerful as Ben but totally unknown to most people in the world than totally successful as a Hollywood actor and a household name. Wouldn't you?

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"Helen, do you remember that authentic Australian walkabout I told you about?"

The day Ben was born on the island (aka the Purge) the day Benjamin Linus as we know him came alive.

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"Bear...? Is that you?"-- Hurley S03E4

Chickenpotpiesarehot, I think you are right. I have often reasoned that within my mind as well.

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Amee Eliza