| “ | Kind of hard to celebrate the day you killed your mom. | „ |
| ~ Roger blaming Ben for his mother's death in childbirth. |
Roger Linus is a minor antagonist in the series Lost. He is a member of the DHARMA Initiative and the father of Benjamin Linus who he regularly abuses, both physically and emotionally, before being killed by him.
He was played by Jon Gries, who also portrayed Clive Skurky in Hitman: Absolution, Greg Hunt in The White Lotus and Clifford Walsh in Criminal Minds.
History[]
He used to live in Portland and went hiking with his wife Emily, but she suddenly went into labor and gave birth to their son Ben before dying. This caused Roger to spiral into alcoholism and he later accepted a job with the DHARMA Initiative. Upon arriving on the island with Ben however, Roger became infuriated that he'd been misled about what position he'd get and would only be a janitor, causing him to blow up at his friend Horace in front of Ben. He continued to argue with Horace who told him that his job would be able to provide for Ben's future, but Roger furiously said he didn't care about Ben, not realizing Ben was listening.
He regularly forgot Ben's birthday, and on one occasion got drunk on his birthday and viciously told the boy that he considered it the anniversary of the day Ben killed his mother, driving the boy to tears. Ben ran away into the jungle and met Richard, one of the Others. He told Richard he hated living with DHARMA and Richard told him he might have a place with the Others one day but he would have to be patient, and Ben is implied to have become a spy for Richard.
When a time-travelling Sayid was captured, Roger sadistically taunted him and physically abused Ben when he tried to comfort Sayid, later breaking the boy's glasses in a rage. This pushed Ben to set Sayid free in the hope of being taken to the Others, but instead Sayid shot him. Despite his abuse Roger was concerned about Ben's condition and admitted to Kate that he hadn't been a good father, but as Ben's condition deteriorated Kate and the other survivors had to take him to the Others so they could heal him. Roger was angered when he found Ben was missing and got drunk again, and when Kate tried to reassure him he became suspicious and claimed she was responsible. He later came across Sayid again and shot him, ignoring Sayid's warning that he was carrying a nuclear device that could have detonated. The survivors later flashed back to 2007 but Sayid died temporarily from the gunshot wound.
Despite his brief lucidity regarding his treatment of Ben, Roger apparently reverted to abusing and neglecting him until Ben was an adult. On the day of the Others' purge of the DHARMA Initiative, Roger once more forgot his son's birthday. Ben asked him whether he really blamed him for his mother's death but Roger noncommittally replied "What do I know?" This was the last straw and Ben told him that he also missed his mother but unlike her he had to put up with Roger's abuse all his life, before donning a gas mask and gassing his father to death, as the Others had implicitly ordered him to do in order to join them.
In the flash-sideways (which was revealed to be purgatory) Roger had a better relationship with Ben, living out an alternate life where they'd left the island and Ben took care of him in his old age.
External Links[]
- Roger Linus on the Lostpedia Wiki
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 Villains
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