Character Spotlight: Charles Widmore

Last week's episode only confirmed what many of us have speculated about for four seasons...Charles Widmore is a key player in the game of Lost. As my friend Jeff reminded me, we should always just follow the rich white guy.

Just who is Daddy Widmore? He is a wealthy British man who owns or runs Widmore Industries and many subsidiaries. In 1996, Widmore bid on and won the journal from the Black Rock (owned by a Hanso), a 19th century slave ship which is now situated in the middle of the island for unknown reasons. According to former Other leader Ben Linus, Widmore has been searching for the island and sent the freighter on a mission to find it. Ben said that Widmore wants to exploit the island, to expose it to the world to make millions from its healing and other powers. From the mouth and mind of Ben, however, this statement must be taken with a grain of salt and an ounce of doubt.

Penelope Widmore is Charles' daughter and the love of Desmond's life. Daddy has never approved of Desmond, and told him that he'd never be a "great man." The status of her relationship with her father in Lost time (2004) is unknown, but she herself has been searching for the island as well. Penny somehow discovered that Desmond was on the island and knew to look for an electromagnetic anomaly to pinpoint the location.


The influence and reach of Widmore has been illustrated in various ways on Lost thus far. Where have we seen Widmore's name before?

• Widmore Labs: On the real Henry Gale's crashed hot air balloon & on pregnancy tests (Sun's and Juliet's sister Rachel's)
  
• Widmore Industries: Charles' London office, where Desmond visited him to ask for Penny's hand in marriage
  
• Widmore Corporation: Sponsors/organizers of Desmond's race around the world, which ended when he crashed on the island in 2001
• Widmore Construction: Banner on side of London building in Charlie flashback

Other links to the passengers of Flight 815 and the island:

• A painting on the wall of Widmore's London office features a polar bear and the word 'namaste'
• MacCutcheon Whiskey, his expensive beverage of choice was found in luggage on the island (Locke's dad Cooper also had it before throwing Locke out of the window)
  

Lingering questions about Daddy Widmore:

1. Did he find out about the island and its powers from the contents of the Black Rock journal?
2. Did he have anything to do with how and why Desmond crashed his sailboat on the island? For that matter, did he have anything to do with Desmond's stint in military prison?
   
3. Was Elizabeth (the seemingly sane version of Libby) sent by Widmore to provide that sailboat to Desmond?
   
4. If he financed the freighter, did he also hire Oceanic attorney Matthew Abbadon to select the crew and team to find Ben and the island? And if so, what is his connection to Oceanic and Flight 815? Was he a board member or major stockholder?
5. Did he provide Naomi with the photo of Penny & Desmond that she had with her when she parachuted onto the island?
6. Will Desmond find out that he financed the freighter? Will Widmore himself show up on the freighter?
   
7. Is he somehow connected to/involved with Paik Heavy Industries (owned/run by Sun's dad)?
8. Is he the "Economist?"
9. Michael worked in construction before Flight 815...was he under Widmore's employ?
   

Bad Twin/Find815/The Lost Experience
Although I read Bad Twin (a few hours of my life I'd like back) and played along on Find815, I never participated in The Lost Experience. All three, however, link Widmore to both Hanso and Paik in some way. Are we to apply what we learned from these off-show activities to the series, or do they merely serve as conspiracy fodder to further muddy the Lost waters?

I believe we can now implicate Mr. Widmore in the overall conspiracy about how Flight 815 crashed and why, and acknowledge that he plays a huge role in the history and future of the island.

Thoughts? Theories?