A SAINT AND A SINNER

Of all the secondary characters in LOST, Helen Norwood would probably be nominated as the most important to the underlying mythology themes of the series. She was a saint compared to all the sinners.

Helen was Locke's girlfriend for a period during his life before the plane crash, whom he had intended to marry. (In the sideways world, they were engaged to be married in October, 2004) After Locke returned to the mainland in an attempt to bring back the O6 survivors, it was revealed that she had died of a brain aneurysm in 2006. 

Locke's relationship with Helen was a bitter triumph of self-destruction. Helen had the patience of a saint. She kept giving Locke chance after chance, but Locke refused to let go of his past. Locke's anger, frustration and revenge for how he perceived his life going so wrong clouded his judgment that the best thing about his life was right in front of him: Helen, who unconditionally loved him before and after his horrible disability.

Locke and Helen met at an anger-management support group of which they were both members. After his outburst at the group about their whining, Helen approached Locke outside and told him that she appreciated his candor and shared his frustrations. She also flirted by telling him that she liked bald men - despite Locke not being bald she said that she was prepared to wait. 

Their friendship moved to the bedroom fairly quickly and continued to blossom. During a meal at a restaurant, Helen gave Locke a key to her flat as a six-month anniversary present. She told him that she'd followed him and discovered that he was sneaking out at night to lurk outside his father's   house. The gift of the key was given on the condition that he stopped going there, to which Locke agreed.

Despite his promise to stop, Locke continued to spend long periods in his car waiting outside Cooper's house. Helen followed him again and shunted her car into the back of his, stormed over to his window and snatched his keys from the ignition. She threw the keys over the security gates in the drive and implored him to give up on his obsession and take a "leap of faith" with her. Shortly after, Locke moved in with Helen. Locke eventually started making plans to propose to Helen over a romantic picnic. Unfortunately on the morning of the picnic Helen spotted Cooper's obituary in the newspaper and that the funeral was scheduled for that day. Helen accompanied Locke to the funeral to support him. Some days after the funeral, Cooper revealed to Locke that he was still alive and convinced him to participate in a criminal financial scheme in exchange for a share of the money. Locke's suspicious behavior and a run in with gang members searching for Cooper led Helen to follow him again. She turned up at the motel, where Locke was meeting Cooper to hand over the money. She demanded of Cooper: "Are you him?", slapped him and berated him for his treatment of Locke before leaving to go back to her car. Locke caught up with her in the parking lot outside and pleaded for forgiveness, went down on one knee and proposed. Helen shook her head and drove off.

But Helen was with Locke in the sideways afterlife. Things seemed different. Cooper was in a nursing home, unable to speak or function, but Helen took care of him as well as Locke. She was not demanding but supportive. Helen was the embodiment of a good partner: kind, charming, witty, loyal, trusting, helpful, and nonjudgmental. 

Helen was the best thing in Locke's life, but he failed to realize it.  In all relationships, there are fleeting moments where a couple becomes a couple, connects as a couple, and lasts as a couple. There are few if any second chances at romance with a person spurned during a first encounter. Locke had several chances to make things right but he failed over and over. 

Helen deserved better. Much better. She was like a guardian angel who gave Locke a glimpse of what he life "could have been" if not for Locke's delusional self-torment issues.

Helen also deserved a better ending in the series. We are told she died after breaking up with Locke. She died alone. She did not meet Locke in the sideways church to share or rekindle their affection for eternity. So, despite doing nothing wrong, Helen's soul is apparently trapped in a purgatory of Locke's own creation. That's a sad fate for a character who did nothing wrong to deserve such treatment.

It is almost a reverse life lesson. Locke, whose bad behavior and choices, hurt so many other lives but he was rewarded with eternal life with his island friends. Meanwhile, Helen, who took care of people, was kind and loyal to a fault, gets nothing for being of high moral character.

SAINT HELEN

If there was ever a character that deserved better, it was Helen Norwood.

She was only in a handful of episodes, but her character was actually the only true shining light in the series.

Helen was introduced at an anger management support group which Locke became a new member. After his outburst at the group about their whining, Helen approached Locke outside and told him that she appreciated his candor and shared his frustrations. She also flirted by telling him that she liked bald men - despite Locke not being bald she said that she was prepared to wait. 

Their friendship moved to the bedroom fairly quickly and continued to blossom. During a meal at a restaurant, Helen gave Locke a key to her flat as a six-month anniversary present. She told him that she'd followed him and discovered that he was sneaking out at night to lurk outside his father's house. The gift of the key was given on the condition that he stopped going there, to which Locke agreed.

Helen was the only person who truly loved Locke, with all his faults and pains. She was his soul mate. During the period before Flight 815, Locke intended to marry Helen.

But in typical Locke fashion, that plan fell a part. Just as Locke was preparing to propose to Helen over a romantic picnic, Helen read Anthony Cooper's obituary in the newspaper and that the funeral was scheduled for that day. Helen accompanied Locke to the funeral to support him. 

Some days after the funeral, Cooper revealed to Locke that he was still alive and convinced him to participate in a criminal financial scheme in exchange for a share of the money. Locke's suspicious behavior and a run in with some criminals searching for the double-crossing Cooper led Helen to follow him again. She turned up at the motel where Locke was meeting Cooper to hand over the money. She demanded of Cooper: "Are you him?", slapped him and berated him for his treatment of Locke before leaving to go back to her car. Locke caught up with her in the parking lot outside and pleaded for forgiveness, went down on one knee and proposed. Helen shook her head and drove off, never to see Locke again.

After Locke returned from the Island to reunite the Oceanic Six, he asked Widmore's driver, Abaddon, to find Helen for him. He was against the idea, but eventually found her.  Helen died of an apparent brain aneurysm on April 8, 2006. Abaddon brought Locke to the cemetery where she was buried in Santa Monica, California.

Nothing is really known about Helen after she left Locke in the motel parking lot. Some speculate that the break-up with Helen was in the mid 1980s. If that is true, Helen had twenty years to get over Locke. But it hard to believe that Locke ever got over Helen. Locke's life did change on September 22, 2004 when he boarded Flight 815. He had hit a new low in his personal life. Ironically, the crash gave him a second chance to prove himself to someone. We know he never really did.


Because in the flash sideways fantasy world, John was engaged to Helen and they planned on getting married in October 2004. Being very sick of the wedding planning, caterers, bands, and picking out fabrics for chair backs (both a shade of green), she asked John if they can "do it shotgun style" in Las Vegas instead. She also mentioned taking her parents and John's father with them, to which John replied that Helen deserved better and he knows everything will be done. However, Locke's father is in a nursing home. He was described by his son as a "great father," and after John received his flying license he took Cooper along as his first passenger. This first flight resulted in a horrendous crash that paralyzed John and put his father into a vegetative state. Helen was the one who helped care for Cooper.

When Locke tells Helen he met a spinal surgeon on his flight from Sydney, Helen thought it may be destiny and thinks that John should call him. The next day she overheard John on the phone with Dr. Jack Shephard's office but he hangs up. She was glad John called and wanted to know when he was getting a consultation from Dr. Shephard. Locke confessed that he was fired from the box company. When his case of lost knives was returned, he told Helen to open the case and explained what happened when he tried to go on a walkabout but was not allowed to go. John acknowledged that he knows, she wanted him to go to more consultations about his back and "needed him to get out of this chair," but also shared with her that he doesn't want her to wait for a miracle, because he believed no such thing existed. She replied there are miracles, but assured him that he was the only one she ever needed, and ripped up Jack's business card.

After Locke's hit and run accident, Helen rushed to her fiance's bedside at the  hospital. She thanked Dr. Shephard as the two embraced. It was the miracle that she wanted Locke to have in his life.
 
But when Locke was cured of his paralysis and his memories of his former life were restored, he "moved on" without Helen. And that puts a heartless stab in the "happy ending" staged in the sideways church.

It seems that the sideways world was pure fantasy of Locke: he imagined a loving father and a great fiancee. He reversed the blame for his own injuries by hurting his father and himself in a plane crash. It is the mirror image of what was happening in the island realm.

Helen, which means "shining light" in Greek, was the sole person in the series who could have actually saved Locke from his own inner demons. But Locke rejected her. As a result, we can imagine Helen living a lonely and bitter life just like Locke. It would seem Helen should have been given a better fate.

But she did not have her own after life dream scape. She did not "move on" with her fiancee.  She may not have "moved on" at all. She was merely a fantasy footnote in Locke's dream world. Perhaps the lesson is that Locke did not deserve a woman like Helen because he could not see her great qualities through his twisted anger demons.