Just noticed this and wondered if it had any importance. Ben jumps to 2005 and recruits Sayid into killing all these people, who are Widmore's according to Ben. They continue this until 2007, meanwhile at Satna Rosa Hurly gets a visit from Abaddon. After Sayid last killing Ben tells him theyre done and Sayid goes to the Dominican Repulic. Then Locke appears, and Ben kills Abaddon.
Does that tells us that Ben knew about Abaddon's errands all along? If thats true then why didnt he tell Sayid to kill him? Sayid is a much more experienced assasin for this job.
Ben couldve lied all along about Widmore being behind Nadia's death, and all the targets he gave Sayid might belong to a different group. Does that prove that?

Wasn't Sayid still in the Dominican Republic when Ben killed Abaddon? I can't remember now the timeline.

yeah-
i think that was a kill abaddon before he 'takes care of locke' type of killling-
not a 'scheduled assassin' killing

Wasn't Sayid still in the Dominican Republic when Ben killed Abaddon? I can't remember now the timeline.

Yeah thats why I mentioned the timeline between Ben first approaching Sayid till Ben kills Abaddon. Sayid wasnt around to make this kill, but it seems that Ben couldve known about Abaddon for some time now (he visited Hurly in Santa Rosa), and could send Sayid to kill him. Yet he didnt. And we knew which side Abaddon was, and that he was promoting Widmore's agenda for a long time.
From this I conclude that:
1. Ben didnt send Sayid to kill Widmore's men.
or
2. Abaddon wasnt easy to keep track of, so only when he was with Locke Ben found the right time to off him.

Yeah thats why I mentioned the timeline between Ben first approaching Sayid till Ben kills Abaddon. Sayid wasnt around to make this kill, but it seems that Ben couldve known about Abaddon for some time now (he visited Hurly in Santa Rosa), and could send Sayid to kill him. Yet he didnt. And we knew which side Abaddon was, and that he was promoting Widmore's agenda for a long time.
How do you know when Abaddon visited Hurley? Just curious.


From this I conclude that:
1. Ben didnt send Sayid to kill Widmore's men.

There's possibly more to support this. The last guy that Sayid kills is in a building that has Oldham Pharmaceuticals on the outside of it (written in cyrillic). That would be an obvious Dharma tie in. However, that doesn't necessarily exclude Charles from possible ties to the victim.


or
2. Abaddon wasnt easy to keep track of, so only when he was with Locke Ben found the right time to off him.
Nothing to add except we first spot Ben stalking Locke and Abaddon when he visited Walt.

I thought Sayid refused to back to the island, so when Ben visits him while hes working on that housing project and says no to him Ben has to kill Abbadon himself. The why would probably be that Locke would eventually return to the island but instead of taking him it would be Widmore hence Ben needs to get rid of Abbadon.

Ok, I have a theory of sorts to answer your question:

1) We see Ben stalking Locke and Abaddon when Locke meets Walt. So we know Ben is already keeping an eye on Locke's situation.

2) I'm pretty sure Widmore and/or Abaddon were trying to get Locke to commit suicide. I've posted it elsewhere, but my run-down is like so:

- Abbadon knows that Hurley suspects him of being "bad" due to the visit he had with him already in the Santa Rosa mental institution.
- If Abbadon truly wanted to assist Locke in recruiting Hugo, he would have stayed out of sight to make sure he didn't undermine Locke's efforts. He didn't. In fact he made himself rather obvious. Almost as if he wanted Locke to fail at recruiting Hugo.
- Abbadon repeatedly points out to Locke that he is failing at his mission to get the O6'ers together, thereby egging on Locke's feelings of failure and despair.
- Abbadon takes John to what is likely a staged grave (likely staged because he delayed at first, probably stalling for time for it to be prepared) of Helen. That cements the idea that John is back to being alone in the world.
- At the end of it, John is left knowing he's failed, he simply can not return to the island because he failed, and his one other love is (supposedly) dead. He was set up to commit suicide.

3) Once Locke is taken to that grave, where else does he need to go? Only Jack is left at that point. If Ben is on to the idea that Widmore/Abaddon are trying to get Locke to kill himself, he doesn't have much time left to intervene. Once Locke is dead, Abaddon can stash his body wherever and it become much harder to find Locke.

4) What better place to pop someone than a graveyard? Not much traffic at all. No random police patrols are going to roll by. With time running out and the easy solution in front of him, I think Ben just went for it.

Ok, I have a theory of sorts to answer your question:

1) We see Ben stalking Locke and Abaddon when Locke meets Walt. So we know Ben is already keeping an eye on Locke's situation.

2) I'm pretty sure Widmore and/or Abaddon were trying to get Locke to commit suicide. I've posted it elsewhere, but my run-down is like so:

- Abbadon knows that Hurley suspects him of being "bad" due to the visit he had with him already in the Santa Rosa mental institution.
- If Abbadon truly wanted to assist Locke in recruiting Hugo, he would have stayed out of sight to make sure he didn't undermine Locke's efforts. He didn't. In fact he made himself rather obvious. Almost as if he wanted Locke to fail at recruiting Hugo.
- Abbadon repeatedly points out to Locke that he is failing at his mission to get the O6'ers together, thereby egging on Locke's feelings of failure and despair.
- Abbadon takes John to what is likely a staged grave (likely staged because he delayed at first, probably stalling for time for it to be prepared) of Helen. That cements the idea that John is back to being alone in the world.
- At the end of it, John is left knowing he's failed, he simply can not return to the island because he failed, and his one other love is (supposedly) dead. He was set up to commit suicide.

3) Once Locke is taken to that grave, where else does he need to go? Only Jack is left at that point. If Ben is on to the idea that Widmore/Abaddon are trying to get Locke to kill himself, he doesn't have much time left to intervene. Once Locke is dead, Abaddon can stash his body wherever and it become much harder to find Locke.

4) What better place to pop someone than a graveyard? Not much traffic at all. No random police patrols are going to roll by. With time running out and the easy solution in front of him, I think Ben just went for it.

Wow,
I really like that theory...
It actually makes sense based on in show evidence rather than peoples perception of what they think a character "would do" in a given situation, (no matter how out of character it may be) just to fit their personal wrap around theory...

Personally I think the reason he didnt kill Abaddon earlier using Sayid was simply convenience. Why would he take the risk of offing Widmores right hand man and getting th big man angry enough to send his boys out after Sayid and Ben.
I think the deaths of the businessmen could also have been a grooming exercise by Ben. Making Sayid hate him to the point where Sayid will shoot a child in his belief that the old Ben Linus would never exist...
Who says the victims even know Widmore? Ben!?! OK theres a shady moment of dour recognition on the golf course when Sayid identifies himself, but that doesnt necessarally mean he was an associate of Widmore, he may have been an Oceanic board member/share holder who felt guilty... (probably not I admit...).

Ben needed Locke, Eloise would never give him, on his own, the information on how to return. But she would tell them ALL together. He needed to spring Locke and to do that he "needed" to kill Abaddon, (he could have posibly just kidnapped Locke in the evening from his hotel or wherever, but he probably got a morsel of delight from plugging MA, his arch enemies right hand man)

"How do you know when Abaddon visited Hurley? Just curious"

I took it from the timeline in Lostpedia. Im not sure how accurate the dates there are, but chronology seems right.

"There's possibly more to support this. The last guy that Sayid kills is in a building that has Oldham Pharmaceuticals on the outside of it (written in cyrillic). That would be an obvious Dharma tie in. However, that doesn't necessarily exclude Charles from possible ties to the victim"

The last thing Ill call that is "obvious", but I see your point.

Its a good theory, RoyBatty, as Abaddon wasnt really helping Locke except driving him around. And before he was shot, his mission was going according to plan. I forgot about Ben watching the meeting with Walt, but it just shows that he knew about MA for a long time, and decided not to kill him yet, but in the cemetery it was the right moment for some reason.
If Ben was after Widmore's people tho, MA shouldve been one of his first priorities. We can also assume that Ben was following them hoping to get some useful information, but once they went to the cemetry he understood that was MA's last card to play, and he could kill him.

Of course, the other obvious answer would be that Ben didn't kill Abaddon. He just lied about it to John for some crazy Ben reason.

RoyBatty, I love your theory. It fits perfectly into what we already know, and especially the Abbadon bit: showing himself to Hurley, disparaging John's efforts, Helen's 'death.'

And since Locke's body was so crucial Ben would need to be in a position to lay his hands on it before Widmore could.