While this many years later fans are still divided by the series finale of ABC hit Lost, not every character made it straight to that weird limbo in the last episode. Some fan favorites were "lost" along the way and certainly deserved more time on this earth, as well as on-screen. The series began with forty-eight survivors, though in season two a handful more were from the plane's tail section were located.
Then people like Boone and Shannon died, and fans were introduced to the Others. So who got a fitting ending? Who got what they deserved from the show's storyline and production? Whether in the series finale or before? Here are just a few who did, and a few others who suffered and did not deserve it.
Fitting - Nikki and Paulo
Sometimes a fitting ending has nothing to do with the storyline and everything to do with character. Nikki and Paulo were introduced in Lost season three. They were meant to represent the other survivors, those who lived through the crash of flight 815 but were largely ignored while viewers explored the details and lives of about fifteen recurring characters in general.
Unfortunately, they were far more annoying than they were eye-opening. The pair are diamond thieves and apparently spent much of season one and two trying to find the diamonds they lost in the crash. No one liked them or their storyline and so both were killed off the show. In reality, they were buried alive for viewers to witness. Catharsis was felt by all.
Deserved More - Claire
Poor pregnant Claire deserved better (or at least more of an explanation) when she disappeared into Jacob's cabin in season four. While her son Aaron gets off the island with the Oceanic Six, Claire goes missing for all of season five, and it's not clear why.
She reappears in the show's final season as a lone hermit/warrior looking for her son. She does all sorts of things like attacking Kate and working with the Man in Black. In the end, she boards a plane with Sawyer and Kate, but really, she got a convoluted ending, and we never got to see her with Aaron in this life again.
Fitting - Jin
When fans first met Jin, he didn't know any English, and it seemed as if he was an abusive husband who didn't really love his wife, Sun. However, not only does Jin learn to communicate and contribute with his other island survivors, he and his wife come together and realize that they really did love each other all along.
When Charles Widmore's submarine is flooding, Jin refuses to leave his wife, who is trapped and unable to swim to safety. They had already been separated since season four and there was no way Jin was going to lose Sun again. It was romantic and horribly devastating at the same time.
Deserved More - Juliet
Ever since Juliet was introduced when Jack, Kate, and Sawyer were taken captive in season three, it was clear that the creators really wanted us to like and be intrigued by this new character. All that hard work should have made Juliet's ending feel heartbreaking and too soon.
Juliet, rather than Jack, plays the hero setting off the hydrogen bomb in hopes of keeping the 815 flight from ever crashing. Obviously that doesn't really work, and, despite the explosion, Juliet isn't dead right away. In fact, her love interest, Sawyer, finds her beneath the rubble. They heartbreakingly say goodbye, and it's just too much. They both deserved more. More love and more time together.
Fitting - Michael
Michael was largely a fan favorite when Lost premiered in 2004. His love of his son Walt and his idea to build a raft to actually get off the island were fun to watch. However, his murder of Libby and Anna Lucia lost him a lot of brownie points, and his moping was much less interesting for viewers.
His redemption, though, found a place back in the hearts of fans. Returning to the island on the freighter, he plays the martyr, detonating a bomb and sacrificing himself for his fellow castaways Jin and Desmond. It was time for Michael to go, and he went on his own terms.
Deserved More - Locke
The last Locke viewers get to see is not the Locke they met in the opening pilot of season one. The man who accepted the island got the use of his legs back, and searched for answers rather than rescue deserved more than to perish back in the real world at the hands of Ben himself.
Ben stole Locke's agency, telling him not to commit suicide and then strangling him later. His death wasn't what he deserved, and then, to end his story as no more than a form for the Man in Black, it's hard not to feel a little bit robbed.
Fitting - Jack
Jack ends Lost where he started it, but as a very different man. While Lost will always be known for its ensemble cast, Jack was the first and most followed character. To watch him go from survivor leader and organizer to the caretaker of the island he worked so long to escape is a full circle, not every character on the show received.
Jack was always a doctor, always looking to fix people and the situations around him. He was a protector of life, and that made him the perfect person to take over as caretaker of the island that forced him to be his best self in the first place.
Deserved More - Mr. Eko
It's hard now to remember that Mr. Eko was only around for one season because his character made quite an impression on viewers and characters alike. At the very least, he deserved more time on the island as well as on-screen.
His storyline was all about belief and accepting himself. Unfortunately, the smoke monster literally punched life out of him before he really had a chance to accomplish or explore either.
Fitting - Charlie
The musician/drug addict became a father figure and hero. What more could anyone have asked for for the beloved Charlie?
Perhaps everyone wanted to see him have more time with Aaron and Claire and get his happily ever after, but it was epic to see him use his sharpie to write something other than initials on his knuckles. "Not Penny's Boat," was both a heroic act as well as quite the fitting image for Charlie to go out on.
Deserved More - Walt
Other than baby Aaron, Walt was the only child amongst the crash survivors. He is kidnapped at the end of season one sending his father Michael on a chase that would never be completely successful.
He leaves the island with Michael at the end of season two and that's about it. After his kidnapping, the idea that he is special, spouted by Locke as well as the Others, it seems like there could have been more for Walt.