Good and bad people

Ethan tells Claire that the Others are "good people"

Several characters talk of "good people" and "bad people" in Lost. Characters' interpretations of these terms vary greatly. Self-proclaimed "good" characters have hurt and even killed other people. By the final season, the term evolved into a running joke, and characters openly distrusted anyone calling themselves "the good guys".

Occurrences

The following characters have been called good and/or bad by other characters. Only direct references are included below.

		Good/Bad	Referenced by
	Aaron	Good	Eko, Kate
	Alex	Good	Claire
	Ana Lucia	Good/Bad	Libby/Ben
	Ben	Good/Bad	Ben, Hurley/Juliet, Locke, Sayid
	Charlie	Good	Charlie, Desmond, Nadia
	Claire	Good/Bad	Richard Malkin, Ethan/Dogen
	Desmond	Good/Bad	Penelope/Charles Widmore
	Eko	Good/Bad	Charlotte Malkin/Yemi, Amina
	Ethan	Bad	Charlie
	Hurley	Good	Carmen, Ben
	Jack	Good	Rose, Christian Shephard, Achara, Kate, Daniel
	Jin	Good	Poor man, Desmond, Bernard
	Juliet	Good	Jack, Sun
	Kate	Good/Bad	Locke, Daniel/Kate, Edward Mars
	Locke	Good	Ben, Eddie Colburn
	Michael	Good/Bad	Ben/Hurley
	Naomi	Bad	Ben
	Sawyer	Good/Bad	Pierre/Sawyer, Cassidy
	Sayid	Good/Bad	Hurley, Sayid/Sayid
	The Others	Good/Bad	Ethan, Ben/Claire, Charlie
	Jacob	Good/Bad	Ben, Mikhail/Man In Black
	The Man in Black	Bad	Jacob, Dogen, Ilana
	Widmore	Bad	Ben

Details are listed below, sorted by episode.

Good

Season 1

• Rose tells Jack, "You have a nice way about you. A good soul, patient, caring. I suppose that's why you became a doctor." ("Walkabout")
• Richard Malkin tells Claire "Your nature, your spirit, your goodness, must be an influence in the development of this child (Aaron). ("Raised by Another")
• When Richard Malkin was talking about the ones that were going to raise Aaron, he told Claire: "They're good people." ("Raised by Another")
• Hurley eulogizes about Scott Jackson, calling him a "good guy". ("Homecoming")
• Christian Shephard tells Sawyer about his son Jack: "He's a good man, maybe a great one. Right now, he thinks that I hate him." ("Outlaws")

Season 2

• The poor man tells Jin, who is working as a hotel doorman: "Thank you -- you're a good man." ("...And Found")
• Goodwin explains that he killed Nathan because "Nathan was not a good person". ("The Other 48 Days")
• In a deleted scene, Libby tells Sayid "Deep down, she's a good person" in reference to Ana Lucia. ("Collision")
• Kate angrily tells Jack, "I'm sorry that I am not as perfect as you. I'm sorry that I'm not as good." ("What Kate Did")
• Kate says to Sawyer, thinking she is confessing to Wayne, "It's because I hated that you were a part of me -- that I would never be good. That I would never have anything good." ("What Kate Did")
• Charlie tells Eko he "was a good person". ("The 23rd Psalm")
• Sawyer tells Charlie "I'm not a good person.". ("The Long Con")
• Sayid says: "I was 23 years old when the Americans came to my country. I was a good man. I was a soldier. And when they left I was something different." ("One of Them")
• When Sayid is threatening to shoot him, Ben screams, "You can't do this! I am not a bad person!" ("One of Them")
• Claire tells Danielle Rousseau that "She was not like the Others, she was good," referring to Alexandra Rousseau, who she met in the Medical Station. ("Maternity Leave")
• Ethan claims that "they" are "good family": "We are good people, Claire. Good family." ("Maternity Leave")
• Before injecting Claire, Ethan tells her "You've been such a good girl." ("Maternity Leave")
• Jack says to Kate of the "The Hunting Party" incident, "They could have kept you but they didn't. Then again, they didn't really want me, either." Kate responds, "Damaged goods, both of us." ("S.O.S.")
• While strangling Ana Lucia, Ben tells her, "You killed two of us -- good people who were leaving you alone." ("Two for the Road")
• Benjamin Linus states that John Locke is "one of the good ones" and that Henry came to get John. ("Two for the Road")
• Charlotte gives Eko a 'message from the other side' (from Yemi), saying: "He says you were a good priest... He said that even though you were pretending, you're a good man." ("?")
• Ben says: "We're the good guys, Michael." ("Live Together, Die Alone, Part 1")

Season 3

• Eddie Colburn tells Locke (who is holding him at gunpoint) "You're not a murderer. You're a good man.", and then turns his back and walks away. ("Further Instructions")
• Amina tells Eko when they meet that she believes he is good, like his brother Yemi before him. Later, however, after Eko kills the men at the church, her son Daniel asks him, "Are you a bad man? My mom says you are a bad man." Eko retorts "Only God knows." ("The Cost of Living")
• Penelope tells Desmond she loves him because he is a good man. He later, while doubting himself, tells her that being a good man is not enough. ("Flashes Before Your Eyes")
• Desmond tells Charlie that he's a good man. ("Flashes Before Your Eyes")
• Carmen refers to Hurley as "such a good son". ("Tricia Tanaka Is Dead")
• Locke said that he told the Others that Kate was "a good person". But after being told who she was and what she had done, he indicated that they did not agree because "forgiveness is not one of their strong suits". ("Left Behind")
• Jack tells Juliet on the beach that the survivors are "good people." ("One of Us")
• Desmond refers to Jin as "good man". ("Catch-22")
• Sun says, "And Juliet, I believe she's a good person." ("The Man Behind the Curtain")
• Jack says sarcastically to Ben, "Oh, I almost forgot, you're the good guys." ("Through the Looking Glass, Part 1")

Season 4

• Daniel Faraday tells Miles that Jack and Kate are "good people". ("Confirmed Dead")
• Bernard tells Jin that they are the "good guys". ("Ji Yeon")
• Ben tells Michael to consider himself "one of the good guys". ("Meet Kevin Johnson")

Season 5

• Hurley to his mother on Sayid: "He is my friend. But he's also got this double life where he does crazy ninja moves and spy stuff. But he's a good guy." Carmen replies: "A good guy doesn't kill three men. A good guy doesn't kill any men." ("The Lie")
• Pierre Chang to Jack about Sawyer: "Ah, yes. Good man, LaFleur." ("Namaste")
• Kate tells Carole Littleton about Aaron: "He's so sweet, and kind, and good." ("Whatever Happened, Happened")
• Bram says to Frank: "We're the good guys." Frank responds: "In my experience, the people who go out of their way to tell you they're the good guys are the bad guys." ("The Incident, Part 1")

Season 6

• Frank to Sun, about Ilana's group: "They say they're the good guys." ("LA X, Part 1")
• Dogen tells Sayid that for every man there is a scale and on one side of the scale there is good and on the other side evil. ("Sundown")
  • Sayid tells Dogen that he does not know him even though he thinks he does and that he is a good man. ("Sundown")
• "I needed you to stay good." - Mother to Jacob ("Across the Sea")
• "Am I good, Mother?" - Jacob to Mother (twice) ("Across the Sea")
• "I think you're a good guy, Sayid. You know, a lot of people have told you that you're not. Maybe you've heard it so many times you started believing it. You can't let other people tell you what you are, dude. You have to decide that for yourself." - Hurley to Sayid ("The End")
• "You know, you were a real good number two." - Hurley to Ben ("The End")

Great

• Magnus Hanso's first name is Latin for "Great".
• The DeGroots: The surname DeGroot is derived from the Dutch for "The Great."

Season 1

• Christian Shephard tells Sawyer about his son Jack: "He's not like me, he does what's in his heart. He's a good man, maybe a great one." ("Outlaws")
• Hurley refers to his grandpa Tito as "the greatest guy I know". ("Numbers")

Season 2

• Aaron was a great man, according to Eko. He is referring to the Biblical Aaron but in doing so may be implying that baby Aaron is also great. ("The 23rd Psalm")
• Tariq says of Hassan Jarrah, Sayid's father, "Sayid, you are a loyal soldier. The son of a great hero." ("One of Them")
• Ben refers to Him as "a great man" and a "brilliant man" but not a forgiving man. ("Two for the Road")
• Eko tells Locke that "Yemi was a great man, a priest, a man of God." ("?")

Season 3

• Juliet verbally tells Jack "Ben, he's a great man." (because she knows her conversation is being monitored by video cameras), but contradicts this in cue cards she is holding up in a secret video (which say "Ignore everything I'm saying. Ben is a liar.") ("The Cost of Living")
• Charles Widmore refers to Admiral MacCutcheon as a "great man". ("Flashes Before Your Eyes")
• Charles Widmore tells Desmond that he will "never be a great man". ("Flashes Before Your Eyes")
• Ms. Hawking says that pushing the button is "the one great thing" Desmond will do. ("Flashes Before Your Eyes")
• Achara says Jack is a "great man, a leader." ("Stranger in a Strange Land")

Season 4

• Questioned by Harper, Juliet calls both Ben and Goodwin simply "great". ("The Other Woman")

Season 6

• After being called a real good number two by Hurley, Ben says, "And you were a great number one, Hugo." ("The End")

Bad

Season 1

• Charlie tells Claire that "Ethan's the bad guy." ("Homecoming")

Season 2

• Hurley asks Locke, "And guess who gets to be the bad guy?" referring to himself with the job of rationing the food. ("Everybody Hates Hugo")
• Ben, pretending to be Henry Gale, pleads with Sayid: "You can't do this! I am not a bad person!" ("Dave")

Season 3

• In one of Mr. Eko's flashbacks, Daniel asks Eko "Are you a bad man? My mom says you're a bad man." ("The Cost of Living")
• Kate tells Cassidy she killed her father because "he was a bad guy". ("Left Behind")
• Cassidy tells Kate that "a bad guy" (Sawyer) took her life savings. ("Left Behind")
• Ben states that Naomi is "one of the bad guys." ("Through the Looking Glass, Part 1")

Season 5

• Jin says 'This island is bad!' ("This Place Is Death")
• Under influence of a drug, Sayid admits that he is a bad man ("He's Our You")
• When being interrogated, Juliet says "we're not bad people" ("Follow the Leader")

Season 6

• Jacob explains that he had to get Hurley and Jack away from the Temple, because someone bad is about to arrive there. ("Lighthouse")
• Dogen tells Sayid that for every man there is a scale and on one side of the scale there is good and on the other side evil. ("Sundown")
• Dogen calls the Man in Black "Evil Incarnate". ("Sundown")
• "That thing is evil." - Ilana to the group at the beach about the Man in Black ("Everybody Loves Hugo")
• "Those people are bad, Jacob, very bad." - Mother to her son, about Claudia's people ("Across the Sea")
• "... my people. You wanna know if they’re bad. That woman may be insane, but she’s most definitely right about that. - The Man in Black to Jacob, about Claudia's people ("Across the Sea")

See also

• Crimes of the Islanders