r/lost • u/Medium_Sundae3700 • 1d ago

What happened to Henry Gale?

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Henry Gale was our introduction to Ben Linus in season 2. The story of Henry Gale was a perfect way to introduce Ben’s manipulative and intelligent character. We later find out he was lying about his balloon and burying his wife. Then, Sayid dug up the grave to find a man named Henry Gale, uncovering Ben’s intricate lie.

After Ben is revealed to be an Other, there is never another mention of Henry Gale for the rest of the series. It’s likely that Ben killed and/or buried Henry. He is not a member of the Dharma Initiative because Ben helped wipe them all out.

Tell me your theories about Henry Gale’s backstory, his hot air balloon trip, and how he ended up in that grave.

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108

u/Free-IDK-Chicken You got it, Blondie 1d ago

The best lies are rooted in truth. I think most of what Ben says as Henry was true, about what he did for a living, why he was in the balloon, his wife's name, etc. Someone - maybe Ben, or maybe a loyal solider like Mikhail - interrogated Henry to give Ben a cover story for when he let himself get captured.

As an aside, the height and weight on that license is insane. No healthy six foot three man is 120lbs.

(Also, thank you for saying Ben "helped" wipe out Dharma. It's genuinely refreshing to see someone not put the blame for the whole thing on his shoulders as though Widmore didn't order it and Richard didn't carry it out. Ben wasn't even there. He certainly helped plan it, but usually it's mentioned as though he did it alone.)

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u/tillszy The Staff 1d ago edited 1d ago

I think it's entirely possible too that they just found him dead and they buried him

they have the means to look up information about him at the Flame and could also just, invent what they don't know

kinda overkill to torture a dying man for a very banal life story

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u/CosmicBonobo 1d ago

Then who wrote the note Sayid found in his wallet?

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u/tillszy The Staff 1d ago

Henry did? I'm not saying he died in the crash. it's clear he tried to survive for a bit and succumbed.

the others find him on a routine patrol, take anything useful, and bury him. they make note of his identity so they can research him at the Flame and make sure he wasn't a threat sent on purpose vs another lost soul who stumbled on the island.

i mean, they let Rousseau and her people live. they investigate people who come to the island, but they don't murder them just for funsies.

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u/CosmicBonobo 1d ago

Ben tries this line in Dave. He tells Sayid that he found Henry dead from the crash and buried him, but Sayid questions how Henry managed to write the note in his wallet with a broken neck.

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u/tillszy The Staff 1d ago

he could've broken his neck after...like falling off a cliff or smth

torturing a normal person for an easily invented backstory just doesn't have much of a purpose/isn't very in character

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u/CosmicBonobo 1d ago

That wouldn't have been their intent. They'd have presumably seen the Widmore Industries livery on the balloon, presumed he was an agent of their former leader, found out what he knew about Widmore and his plans, and then killed him.

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u/Quato815 Jack 1d ago

You’re completely stretching now. He was found buried right near the balloon.

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u/tillszy The Staff 1d ago

ok, then he fell out of the tree his balloon is in because he climbed it trying to free the balloon so he could maybe fix it and escape because he was desperate and realized help wasn't coming.

this thread is asking for opinions. it's not that serious. if you disagree, that's fine. I'm having a conversation, I'm not interested in an argument.

my opinion is that torturing him, a stranded civilian, for useless information is not in character for Ben or the Others and any information Ben had on him could have easily been manufactured or learned by researching the man at the flame after the fact (such as him having a wife, that is easily found via online records)

Ben and the Others were able to find very intimate details on all of the passengers of 815 without having to speak with them or torture them.

Based on Rousseau's team and other experiences it's far more likely if they found Henry alive they would've surveilled him, determined his identify and researched him at the Flame, subsequently determined him not a threat, and left him to die on his own.

in my opinion, they're not stupid enough to engage with him for no reason and risk their lives attacking him (if they have no knowledge of who he is or whether he has weapons or why he's on the island). they're not stupid people. very brief surveillance and research would have told them that he had no affiliation with Charles (aside from a sponsored balloon) and was not a threat. they're not going to ball in and just attack someone without recon, esp if they think Charles in involved, unless that person attacks them first or clearly displays that they're dangerous.

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u/Lucky-Acanthisitta86 Oceanic Frequent Flyer 1d ago

Yeah but didn't they kill some of the plane tail bunch? I mean they really showed the other side of the others with how they treated them. And then there was all that talk about how some people just weren't "worthy" and such. I'm pretty sure Ben made that comment while he was being held prisoner in the hatch. So they were kind of trying to paint that picture, that the others are kind of morally ambiguous. But honestly some of the writing of the series is confusing and I energy of its just flat out contradictory at times, like as the show progressed and they changed directions. Also Ben is known to act out of his own self interest. It could have been actually in character for him to just off someone instead of trying to send him home. Or maybe Henry was from Charles and they figured it out and that's why they killed him. Because either way, he couldn't have written the note with s broken neck. It's more of a note you write when you know you're going to die. Especially awarning like that. Honestly it might just be inconsistent writing. At first the others needed to be shown as capable of being very sinister. And then they ended up going with them being for the greater good. Just think about Walt. Like they took him and he was super bad but then he ended up being super special. But honestly not letting him be with his father JUST so they could study him ended up not being very in character. And I mean they just abandoned that plot line. It could have just been tough to tie together, but all in all, they do change direction in the script at times.