Lost Discussion Group: Who Lives? Who Dies?

Since I kicked off this LDG with my Tweet, I guess I should kick off the commenting (although, to be fair James, my suggestion was for a Lost version of “Marry, Boff, Kill,” where we guess who dies, who ends up together, and who sleeps together but maybe never gets married).

I’m reading Tale of Two Cities right now, and so I have to believe a sacrifice is coming in terms of the central Jack-Sawyer-Kate dynamic. So let’s pick….Sawyer dying in order to save Jack and Kate (and, perhaps, in the process getting to have that hinted at cup of coffee with Juliet in the alt-timeline?).

Sayid will die, I’m almost certain of it — but, again, I have to believe he gets some type of redemption from it….maybe not sacrifice, but perhaps being put in a position to kill or be killed, and choosing to turn his back on the violence that has practically defined his life and allow himself to be killed. (If this is at the hands of Smokey, to allow the Losties extra time to escape, all the better.)

Hurley dying is almost unthinkable, but then again, I can think of almost no other character whose death would put me to tears faster (I mean, we almost expect a Jack/Sawyer/Kate/Ben/Sayid type to die in some form of noble sacrifice, but to let the lovable big guy die? That’d just be cruel, Lindelof and Cuse…)

The show is, in part, about family (both those we’re born into and those that life throws us into, a la the 815ers), and I cannot fathom that Claire will be permanently exiled from Aaron, nor Desmond permanently torn from Penny and little Charlie. Sun and Jin need to get back to their little girl, too. We’re also due a tie-up in some form of Rose and Bernard….maybe a reveal that THEY were the Adam and Eve skeletons?

As for Ben and Locke, methinks they don’t leave the Island — they’re both almost incapable of living away from it. Whether that means they live or die (or die again, in Locke’s case) is too foggy to foretell.

Oh, and let’s just assume that Widmore and his goons die, Miles and Lapidus somehow inexplicably lives (really, WHY is Lapidus even there?), Richard Alpert dies (he’s lived long enough — the Island is finished with him), and Paolo and Nikki stay dead.

Happily Ever After:
Jack
Kate
Hurley
Lapidus
Jin
Sun
Claire
Desmond
Cindy & the kids

Sacrificed for Greater Good:
Sawyer
Sayid
Ben
Richard Alpert
Sideways Locke

Getting Dead:
Widmore
Widmore’s friends
Most of the others who followed Flocke
Smokey

Maybe I’m wrong on this, but it looked to me like the Others that followed Locke from the temple already got incinerated by Widmore’s beach part bombardment last week. I got the impression that Jack and Locke were the only ones to escape.

My only problem with the scenario of a Sawyer sacrifice — intelligently laid out by Chad — is didn’t we already see that? Would it feel like he was jumping out of the chopper all over again?

I do love the idea of Sayid gaining redemption by refusing to kill anymore.

I’ll be honest… the only person I’m banking on not dying is Jack. I could just as well draw names out of a hat to predict who’s going to die.

If Hurley died, I don’t think I’d cry. I love him, and he’s one of my favorite characters, but I just don’t have that emotional pull to him like for either of Charlie’s deaths or Des and Penny getting together.

Had a dream last night that Smoke killed Sayid just by using some jedi mind deathblow, predicated on the notion that the “evil” inside Sayid is actually just Smoke, and he can turn Sayid off & on like a light switch. For some reason Dale Cooper from Twin Peaks and Tattoo from Fantasy Island were there too…It must have something to do with Lapidus.

Desmond dies = 1 very unhappy viewer

hehe, I can’t be the only one laughing at JP’s use of “who gets a happy ending”, can I? …Guess I’ll never grow out of my junior high humor.

I say Vincent becomes the new Jacob and gets his happy endings. Other than that I’m okay with all the other characters getting off’d or a happy ending.

The biggest problem for this kind of topic is that we still don’t know the final fate of the Sideways-verse. If both can exist through the end of the series, then the show may very well end up killing every Original Recipe except the “winning Candidate”.

(Yes, that particularly includes Desmond, as I have six words for you: “See you in another life, brother.”)

On the other hand, if only one timeline survives, then we may be looking at one of the bleakest endings in history: Jack (& Co.?) choosing between letting the universe of amorality, if not evil, win, and killing the only living versions of Libby, Michael, Boone, Locke, etc. etc. etc.

Desmond dies because Darlton hates us.

Sayid dies because he’s already dead.

Ben dies because he got that line about what the island would do to the rest of them. Foreshadowing, table for 1, please.

Widmore and the Tina Fey lookalike are toast, too.

Jack is the new Jacob and Locke is Smokey, and they get to spend eternity on the island together. And a new hilarious sitcom is born.

If I remember my Homer, Odysseus, after he returns to Penelope, sets off again and dies far away from her and his son. But if Darlton killed off Desmond, the millions who watch Lost would never watch any show they ever did again, so I doubt Desmond dies. Besides he doesn’t have any tragic flaws.

But Jack does. His life has been one of anger, shame, disconnection, bad relationships, drinking and so on. Now Jack has found an answer to his life with the island, a faith he derided in John Locke earlier. I think he will sacrifice himself for the island or for his friends. And I would be okay with this. He doesn’t have anyone. On this side. We could see his death, and then cut to the flash-sideways universe and him and his son enjoying a picnic or watching the game. So, yeah, the sideways universe might be there to give happy endings to dead characters in the island line. Ben could die, but live on in the sideways world as a respected teacher and maybe principal.

I kind of wonder the whole point of making Sayid a zombie this season. Was it necessary to pile on so much misfortune esp. in the sideways world? I hope he lives and finds a reason to live. Locke I think will either come back and stay on the island–whereas his sideways self will marry and have children, thus following the good/sideways, bad/island destinies–with Jack and they will be the skeletons found in the cave, happy guardians of the island, forevermore.

Grr! I totally agree with you on pretty much everything you said! With that in mind, I definitely don’t think Hurley will die or come to some otherwise tragic end. You’re right that it would be about the most upsetting character death, like, EVER, but I just don’t see it actually happening.

Richard pretty much needs to die to complete his story arc, because he’s lived too long, and we all realize eternal life is not necessarily desirable.

I am fully expecting Ben to die in some sacrificial/greater-good-type way, but I still kind of hope he doesn’t because I just love him so much and want him to be happy. But it seems like he’s done too many things that he still needs to atone for in a sacrificial-type way.

Mostly, I just can’t wait to see how it all goes down!

Throughout the show, I’ve always felt like Jack is the one character I could count on to live, which up until this season pissed me off because I didn’t really like him, but your comment has made me realize how moving/meaningful it would be for Jack to die/sacrifice himself. I’ve really liked Jack’s journey this season, and now I kinda think he needs to die to give meaning to his journey. Then again, if his death is in any way connected to saving Kate, I will be thoroughly annoyed and it will be robbed of the significance it ostensibly has. In short, Kate still sucks, but if Jack sacrifices himself for anyone but her, it will probably be a good thing.

True, I forgot about that. Guess most, if not all, of them are gone already…

I agree that all signs point to a sacrificial Ben death — perhaps holding Smokey at bay while the rest board the plane?
(And leaving by plane is absolutely essential. It completes the arc from the beginning of the series — plus escape by slow sinking sub just won’t cut it emotionally or visually.)

So…

Lapidus lives in order to fly them off island.

The rest?

The Living:

Jack & Kate
Hurley
Desmond
Jin & Sun

The Dead:

Ben
Sayid (who probably will help Ben in staying and holding off Smokey so others can escape)
Claire (too crazy, dies before final episode)

Not sure, but probably dead:

Sawyer (though I hate it)
Miles (entirely expendable at this point & will probably buy it before finale)

I have a lot of trouble seeing how Jack would die. I’m not saying the writers won’t kill him, I just strongly doubt they will. I can easily see Jack sacrificing himself by becoming the new Jacob and being stuck on the island forever. But, Jack, the hero of the show from the pilot on, dying? Like I said, I have trouble seeing it.

Ben and Sayid kindof have to die. The two of them have suffered so much that dying (probably in some heroic fashion) would be more of a release for their characters rather than a tragedy.

Sun, Jin, Claire, Kate, Desmond, and Hurley are all going to live because they are not going to kill parents, the love interest, or the most likable and benign character of the show.

I realized as I read this how sad it will be not to have LDG anymore to lurk on anymore.

I pretty much agree with Chaddog, (maybe it is the name :) ) with a few exceptions,however.

I think Jack will be the new Jacob, in fact I think this change we have seen in him bespeaks of that. He stays, Claire goes home to raise Aaron, and Kate cannot stand leaving Jack behind this time FINALLY she does not run she stays…. they eventually become Adam and Eve. I know we have all thought how incredibly bittersweet and ironic that would be after all. Vincent will reappear with them. I personally think Vincent is an embodiment of Jacob. Maybe it is the blonde hair.

I think James will die in the battle somehow. He just seemed angry and fate seemed to be pushing him to that end.

I think Hurley will live. I think the PTB know how much beloved he is by the fans. GOD him dying… I cannot even think it.

Sun and Jinn go home and raise their daughter Sun takes over her fathers business.

Sayid does not kill Desmond. In that he has found redemption and dies. Perhaps Locke or James kills him. Penny will be back. I think she as to be… somehow.

Ben I think is destined to die, there is no redemption for him. I do beleive we saw that in the scene of everyone coming back, both he and Richard were alone. Richard dies as well, but probably not until he discovers he found redemption too. Both he and Richard and Sayid have all seemed resigned to me…

Miles survives… I dunno why yet though. Lapidus I have not a clue…

VF

Lives, maybe happily, maybe not:
Jack
Kate
Hurley
Sawyer (I just want him to live)
Frank (just want him to live, too)

Dies – Sacrifice for the Greater Good

Ben
Sayid
Locke (somehow bleeds thru into the MIB and makes him go somewhere that disperses his EM energy)

Dies – just plain old dies

Widmore and his team
Any remaining (if there are any) temple traitors
Jin and Sun
Claire
Miles (l’d like him to live too, but going off with Ben and Richard makes me think that he won’t. Sawyer will miss him.)
Richard