CHARACTER OF JAMES

Of all of the LOST characters, James "Sawyer" Ford had the biggest change when one compares the island events to the sideways world.

James was born in 1968 in Alabama. As a young child, his mother got romantically involved with a con artist named Sawyer (who was John Locke's father). Sawyer swindled the family out of their life savings. His father then shot his mother, and then killed himself while James hid under his bed. Afterward, James vowed to get revenge against the con man Sawyer. He was "touched" at the funeral by Jacob who gave him a pen to finish his revenge letter. It was the fact of finishing and keeping the letter he penned as a boy that caused James to drop out of school and become his own con man.

He used similar cons of the man who destroyed his family. He tried to swindle Cassidy out of money, but she found out about the trick before its conclusion. As a result, James had an apprentice in Cassidy (and later the mother to his child). But Cassidy gave him up to the authorities when the relationship soured, so James spent time in prison. In a legally dubious outcome, "the warden" commuted James' sentence when he conned another prisoner in disclosing the location of some stolen money. (A warden has no power to commute sentences; only a parole board or governor could do so.)
His share of the prison con went into an account for his daughter, Clementine.

James was later conned by a friend of his to go to Australia to kill the man he was told was "Sawyer." On the trip, he met Jack's father in a bar. Christian talked about his strained relationship with his son. He encouraged James to finish the business he planned to do in Australia. James then went to find the man, Duckett, and shot him. But he then found out that he was conned by his friend, Hibbs, who wanted Duckett killed as a score for an old debt. James found out that Duckett was not Sawyer. So James fled the scene a murderer. Later, James got arrested after a bar fight and was deported on Flight 815.

CHARACTER TRAITS

James played the "bad boy" role in the series. He was the opposite of Jack's community approach. James was only involved if he stood to personally benefit. His motto was "every man for himself." This pure independent streak was the result of his childhood without parent. He was raised by his aunt and uncle in a trailer park. It appears he had no real friends when he was growing up. He seemed obsessive in regard to finding Sawyer. He was intelligent, and an avid reader. He used his mental capacities to read people. He would use his street smarts to manipulate people. He had a stinging wit that he used more often than not to keep people from getting close to him. He was self-centered, outspoken and insensitive to other people's needs or feelings. As a con artist, he was quite defensive around people; always looking over his shoulder. But in some respects, he was still boyishly naive - - - with women and easily conned by others, such as his former partner, Hibbs, and on the island, by MIB in the final episodes of the series. He is quick to anger and had a cold blooded sensibility toward his own survival and meeting his own goals.

JAMES' JOURNEY

James's journey was one contained on the island. (The other main character, Claire, also stayed on the island throughout the series until the end.) As a result, we have a clear time line of James' growth as a human being. First, he was the rebellious outcast hoarder who did not want to be part of the survivor's group. He did not want to be told what he had to do. He believed that he could survive on his own (which he had done since his parents deaths). He used his manipulative con-man traits in order to become a deal maker for needed supplies or situational control with having weapons. He never wanted to be a leader. It was this lone wolf personality that was attractive to Kate, who also had been living on her own since killing her father. As a person who was self-sufficient, James never sought the trust of other people for his survival. However, he would use the concept of trust to get what he wanted from other people.

After immediately making enemies by his self-serving behavior, James became bored with the beach camp isolation. When he joined a group looking for the radio tower, he began his flirtation with Kate. When he saved the group by killing the attacking polar bear, it put him in the center of controversy: he had stolen the marshal's gun, and he knew how to use it with deadly accuracy. He became more of a threat than an asset. When approached about hoarding medical supplies, Jack and Sayid tortured him to reveal the location of the needed supplies. He took the torture, but relented to tell Kate in secret. When he revealed he never had what they were looking for, Kate was shocked and upset at his attitude. Why would a man have such little regard to his own life or safety? (Kate would gain insight by finding Sawyer's letter.) When James escaped, Sayid tackled him, severing an artery with a knife. Jack saved James' life, but James was ungrateful - - - saying that he would have let Jack die. Kate's relationship with James began to heat up, which created a rivalry between Jack and James. (Kate was manipulating both of them in order to keep her past a secret and to secure benefits of whomever was in power.)

But James used intelligence he gathered to further his advantage. A prime example of his harsh betrayal of confidences was when he told Kate's secret to the group in order to get her kicked off the raft. James took her place on Michael's raft. He causally discarded his relationship with Kate for a chance to leave the island. It was cold and hurtful. But, from deep within, James burst with a protective urge when the Others came to take Walt from their raft. James attempted to stop them, was shot and left for dead in the water. After washing ashore into the tail section camp, James started to feel the need to take a more commanding role. Control of the situation now seemed paramount to his own survival. He used his new deep seeded hatred for the Others as a substitute to the lifetime rage against the man he was trying to find, Sawyer. James became the de facto leader of the anti-Others sub-group. (The irony of that position is that when the island time flashed to 1974, James became a valuable member of the Dharma community at the barracks and established the truce with the Others.)

During the time jump, James as LeFleur (the "flower") blossomed into a responsible adult. He was in charge of security, an important role in the Dharma group. He had a blissful domestic life with Juliet. In certain respects, he did not want this new life to end. But it did in 1977 when Jack got the remains of the O6 group back to the island. The flash forward from the Incident which killed Juliet reverted James back into his avenger mode. His sole motivation was to leave the island by any means, including pairing up with the murderous MIB.

James was part of the final mission with Jack, Hurley, Kate, Ben and Desmond. When he knew that Flocke needed Desmond to destroy the island, he went out to find him. As Jack wanted Desmond as a "weapon," James did not stop Jack's plan. He held back and told his comrades that they all needed to get back to the plane.  After Kate killed MIB, Sawyer was there to get Kate to jump into the ocean to the sailboat in order to get on the plane. It was implicit that Sawyer take responsibility for Kate's safety and survival as Jack made the decision that he had to stay on the island (to die) as the final act of friendship between the two rivals. As a result, James helped Kate finish her mission in finding Claire and getting her off the island.

SIDEWAYS JAMES

In the sideways world, James Ford was almost the opposite of his island persona. In the sideways, he was not a criminal, but a police detective. He still was trying to find the man who caused his family's demise. He still had women relationship problems (the ill fated hook up with Charlotte). He still had trust issues even with his police partner, Miles. He still lived on the edge of acceptable behavior and the law. He did have real concern for victims of crimes. He accepted leadership responsibility in solving crimes. It seemed that overall, James was a competent police officer.

Profession: from con artist criminal to police officer
Social: from loner to man with friends like Miles
Personal: from a loner to a man who seeks companionship but whose secret destroys the chance

James's "awakening" was the corniest of the main characters. Miles directed James to head to the hospital to check on Park because Sayid had escaped custody. Once James got there, Jin and Sun, who had already awakened, smiled and said they were safe. Ford was confused and said he had to do his job, but Sun said they'd see each other again the same night. Ford asked what that was supposed to mean but didn't get an answer.

Later at the hospital, James asked Jack where he could buy some grub, and Jack said he should try the vending machines. When Sawyer's candy got stuck in the machine, Juliet came to help him. When she handed him the candy, he saw flashes of their relationship. They both awakened and embraced each other.  Sideways James reverted to island Sawyer. He moved on with Juliet in the church.

If the island world was Sawyer's true reality, than his reward was monumental based upon his past actions. He killed an innocent man in Duckett. He killed three Others and Anthony Cooper. He negligently caused Nikki and Paulo to be buried alive. He also caused the submarine explosion which killed Sayid, Sun, Jin and at least two of Widmore's men. A dozen people died as a result of James' actions. But James suffers no judgment or punishment in The End. For those who believe that redemption was the key theme to the series, this is a real problem.

So what was James Ford's character meant to represent in the series? James is the anglicized version of the Hebrew name Jacob, the island's guardian. James only protected the peace of the island in the 1974 flashback era, but Jacob, for whom MIB called him "The Devil," was still in charge of the island.

Sawyer met both Locke and Jack's fathers. Both characters had daddy issues. But Sawyer had an opportunity to interact with those men. One thing that was discussed with both men which some could call a clue was that both Cooper and Christian referred to their meeting place with Sawyer as "hell." In the Australian bar, Christian joked that the country was as close to hell as you could get without getting burned. On the island, Cooper said he was in a car accident, that they were not on an island but were in fact dead in hell.

"James Ford" was a notorious Illinois criminal in the early 1800s. He was called "Satan's Ferryman" because he ran a criminal operation from Kentucky to Illinois (Elizabethtown) with his ferry boat. (In another coincidence, Libby's boat was called The Elizabeth, which Sawyer used to ferry Kate to Hydra Island in the finale episode.) Outwardly, he was a civic leader. But behind the scenes he was a counterfeiter, river pirate and serial killer preying on travelers running a gang of outlaws. In 1833, he was killed by vigilantes who wanted to close the gap between the lawlessness and law abiding citizenry.

But James was one of the few who left the island. From the perspective of the church reunion, it may be assumed that he did not go back to Cassidy or have a relationship with his daughter, since they were not there for him. It also would appear that his three years with Juliet in the past was more important than any future decades with Kate off-island. One could assume there was no rekindled relationship between them. Which begs the question - - - what really happened to the Ajira passengers?  Did they actually get back to civilization or did the plane crash elsewhere sealing their island time (and forcing  Claire's reunion with Aaron until the sideways concert)?

When Sawyer confronted Jacob about why they were candidates, Jacob's response was cruel. Sawyer asked why he should have to suffer for Jacob's mistake of creating the smoke monster who killed their friends when Sawyer said he was doing just fine until Jacob interfered with his life. Jacob pointed out that none of them had happy lives, they were all flawed, which is why he chose them, because they were all like him, alone looking for something that they couldn't find.

James did not live a happy life. He had serious character flaws. He was looking for revenge, but unlike Jacob's assertion, he found that man that caused his inner pain, Cooper, and killed him. But as a result, Sawyer found no inner peace. He left the island alone with something he could not have, his Dharma life with Juliet. So how did living a criminal life and then killing all those people but  getting Kate and Claire on the Ajira plane grant him the reward of reuniting with Juliet in the after life? After Juliet's death, James did not live a better life. He reverted to his old, selfish, vindictive self. His actions were not redemptive, but calculated to serve his own purpose. So it is hard to fathom why Sawyer ends up with Juliet, unless it is Juliet's reward for the pain, suffering and her sacrifice to the island that she wanted to end up with James in the end.