You remember the coffin. It was small, lonely, and tucked away in a funeral home in a neighborhood Jack Shephard probably hadn't visited in years. For an entire season, fans obsessively paused their DVRs to read a blurry newspaper clipping, trying to figure out who "Jeremy Bentham" was. Why was Jack so broken over this guy? Why didn't anyone else show up to the viewing?
When the lid finally opened in the Season 4 finale, the reveal was a gut punch. It wasn't a new character. It was John Locke.
The Man Behind the Alias
So, who is Jeremy Bentham in Lost, really? Basically, it’s the fake identity John Locke adopts after he leaves the Island to bring back the "Oceanic Six." If you're a casual viewer, you might have missed the specifics of how he got that name.
After Locke turns the donkey wheel at the Orchid station—the one that literally moves the Island through time and space—he wakes up in the middle of the Tunisian desert. He’s got a broken leg and zero resources. Charles Widmore, the Island’s former leader and a man who definitely has his own agenda, finds him. Widmore is the one who hands Locke a Canadian passport with the name "Jeremy Bentham" on it.
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Widmore claims he’s helping Locke, but honestly, in the world of Lost, help always comes with strings. He gives Locke an assistant, Matthew Abaddon (played by the late, great Lance Reddick), and sends him on a mission to convince Jack, Kate, Sayid, Hurley, and Sun to return to the place they fought so hard to escape.
Why That Name?
The writers of Lost loved their philosophy. It’s kinda their thing.
The real-life Jeremy Bentham was an 18th-century English philosopher who founded the school of utilitarianism. His big idea? The "greatest happiness of the greatest number." It’s the idea that the morality of an action is determined by its utility in providing the most good for the most people.
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This fits the character of John Locke like a glove. By this point in the show, Locke believes he has to sacrifice his own life and happiness—and arguably the happiness of the survivors living their lives off-island—to save the Island itself.
There’s also a weird, macabre connection to the real philosopher. The actual Jeremy Bentham requested that his body be preserved and displayed after his death. He’s still sitting in a glass case at University College London today. In the show, Locke’s body becomes a literal "auto-icon." It’s transported back to the Island in a coffin on Ajira Flight 316 because the Island "needs" him to return, even if he’s dead.
What Really Happened in that Hotel Room
The episode "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham" is one of the most depressing hours of television you'll ever watch. Locke goes around to all his old friends, and they basically tell him to get lost. He’s a man out of time, a "prophet" that nobody believes.
He hits rock bottom in a dingy hotel room. He’s ready to hang himself. Then, Ben Linus shows up.
Ben does what Ben does best: he manipulates. He talks Locke down from the ledge, making him feel special again. He gets Locke to reveal a key piece of information—that Eloise Hawking is the one who can help them find the Island. The second Ben has that info, the mask drops. He strangles Locke to death and stages it to look like a suicide.
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It’s a brutal, senseless end for a character we spent years rooting for.
The Big Misconception: Was it Always Locke?
One thing that confuses people is the "resurrection." When the Ajira flight crashes, we see John Locke walking around again, seemingly healed and back to his old self.
For a long time, viewers thought the Island had brought him back to life. But the finale of Season 5 flipped the script. The "Locke" walking around was actually the Man in Black (the Smoke Monster) wearing Locke's face to manipulate everyone. The real John Locke—the man who lived as Jeremy Bentham—was still in that box.
He died thinking he was a failure. He died alone.
Key Takeaways for Fans
If you're revisiting the show or just trying to clear up the timeline, keep these points in mind:
- The Origin: The name was a gift from Charles Widmore to keep Locke's movements secret from Ben's spies.
- The Mission: Locke spent his final weeks as "Bentham" trying to convince the Oceanic Six that they were never meant to leave.
- The Catalyst: Even though Locke failed to convince them in person, his death (and the suicide note he left for Jack) was the ultimate reason Jack finally decided to go back.
- The Tragedy: John Locke never actually came back to life. His legacy was used as a puppet by the Island’s greatest villain.
Next time you’re rewatching Season 4 or 5, pay attention to the way the other characters react to the name Bentham. It’s a testament to Terry O'Quinn's acting that he could make a man using a fake name feel more "real" and vulnerable than almost anyone else on the screen.
To better understand the philosophy behind the show, you might want to look into the "Panopticon," another idea from the real Jeremy Bentham that describes a prison where the inmates never know when they are being watched—a pretty perfect metaphor for the Island.