This isn’t a theory, but it’s still quite good. The Ack Attack is always a good site, this list just proves that. I highly recommend you check out her site if you haven’t already.
This is her list of the Top Ten Villains on Lost. I dare you to try to guess her list before you go there. I got it wrong simple because I forgot that her number one villain was actually a villain, also I forgot about Smokey. This is why I don’t do top ten lists, I tend to omit important things.
– izi
Here is the list I came up with before checking out the site.
10. Pickett (asshole!)
9. Tom w/beard (scary!)
8. Ethan (short-lived creepy!)
7. Abbadon (creepy!)
6. Radzinski (fanatic!)
5. Mikhail (fanatic!)
4. Keamy (scary!)
3. Widmore (archvillain!)
2. Smokey/MIB (WTF!?!)
1. Ben (EvilEvilEVIL!)
Despite your picture, I forgot Anthony Cooper when writing up the list. 🙂 In hindsight, I’d knock Tom off the list (because he ceased to be scary once he lost the beard), drop Ethan and Abbadon to 9th and 8th place and slot Mr. Cooper in 7th place. He’s a fantastic villain, but he really hasn’t had as much screen time on the show to elevate him higher up on my list. I’d probably rate him a 5 if he was on the show more.
Finally, I don’t think that Eloise Hawking is a villain. She certainly has her ulterior motives, but IMO, she seems to be bound by destiny to steer people certain directions, which is a far cry from the irrationality of Pickett, brutality of Keamy, or crap-in-your-pants freakiness of the Smoke Monster.
They did weird things with Tom, first he was a villain, then he became completely relatable and nice then every once in a while he would go all evil again.
I think Ms Hawking might be villainous because she shot her own son then didn’t try to change that. Also she seems to like Desmond to suffer. But I know where you’re coming from, she’s more of a bailiff than a prosecutor or an executor. She’s there to guide people to their destiny but she’s not necessarily the cause.