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Why do people like Ben?

posted by Doctanian on - last edited - Viewed by 1.0K users

I'm not saying you shouldn't like Ben. I just don't get it.

Personally, I think it's because he's so much of a woobie, people feel sorry for him no matter what. Yes, he's young and a teenager, but if Clementine and Carl can be productive, there's really no excuse. He's one of those characters that doesn't do anything right, pouts that he can't do anything right, and thus receives sympathy galore. Even if you support him, he still fucks up and fucks you over, so saying that people are too hard on him is bullshit. The only harsh criticism he got was when he told Kenny he dealt with the bandits and Kenny's response was reasonable.Before, then, he was a member of the team at the motor inn.

My problem? Has nothing to do with Carley, bandits, letting zombies in Crawford's school or his numerous other fuckups.

One main thing.

[*]HE LEFT CLEMENTINE TO DIE. The same girl that would later defend him from being thrown off the boat.
[*]He doesn't watch her when you tell him to, instead he makes excuses. He should've brought her upstairs with him.
[*]He didn't even help you look for her when she's missing.
[*]When Lee gets bit, an option to bring him along is by making him feel guilty with Clementine. He had to be reminded that Clementine stood up for him.

If anything, Clem should've reminded him of his sister he said he had in Episode 5.

Even Larry showed concern for Clementine. Larry even tries to save Lee if you give him the axe. Hell, the main fucking antagonist, Campman, showed more love for Clem than Ben. A fucking Hobo showed more love for Clem.

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  • @Doctanian said: As Chuck said about Clementine, "She'll die a little girl if you treat her like one. You gotta consider her a living person. That's it. You're either living or you're not. You ain't little, you ain't a girl, you ain't a boy, you ain't strong or smart. You're alive."

    Age has nothing to do with it.

    That also covers Ben . Ben is (was, boohoo)alive, nothing else matterss

  • He's good person and tries to do his best, but sometimes I wish he was a bit less scared by everything.

  • @rachellouise85 said: That also covers Ben . Ben is alive, nothing else matterss

    Ben is alive while 5 other people died because of him and 2 more are soon to follow.

    He's not even trying to make anything right. All he's doing is whining about how his life sucks, how he lost his loved ones and that nobody likes him. As if nobody else lost his family, especially not because of fudgin' Ben and his infinite idiocy. I'd break Ben's face and feed him to the very next walker that happens to bump into the group. Without any hesitation or remorse. Yo Ben. Go, tell him how your life sucks and cry him a river. He's a good listener.

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    I am also not a huge fan of the "Ben is just a kid" in the Walking Dead universe. I mean, literally, we repeatedly give him ONE thing to do, and that's watch Clementine for a few minutes. And he failed, repeatedly, for absolutely NO GOOD REASON to do this ONE tiny thing. It's absolutely absurd. He may be a "kid", but he's a teenager and definitely old enough to know better in the damn zombie apocalypse to leave an 8/9 year old kid alone all by herself after adults explicitly told him to watch her for a short period of time so they could deal with serious issues.

    He was a burden to the group, and a traitor-which while I'm willing to forgive that, the fact that he couldn't be bothered to watch Clem on more than one occasion (on one occasion because he was DRINKING with Kenny and basically didn't give a shit about her), makes me really not trust him at all. The ZA happens, you watch each other's backs, period. He couldn't do that.

  • @shedim - good for you :3.My point was that that argument covers everyone, you can't just pick and choose who to apply it to. Either nothing else matters for everyone, or other things do matter.

  • Because I don't judge people for their faults. I judge people for their actions, yes Ben screwed up a lot, but none of it was ever malicious. I don't condemn people for being cowards, I don't sit back and pronounce judgement as if I am the moral authority. I try to accept people for who and what they are. I would never have trusted Ben to be in charge of anything, but I also would not condemn a boy for being nothing more than a boy.

  • I can see why they like Ben; he's likeable, maybe even loveable as a person. Just hard to look past all his screw-ups.

    And like the OP, not protecting Clem was the final nail in the coffin. He didn't even try to grab her. He got surrounded, looked at her, thought about it and then ran for his life.

    Him being a teenager is definitely not an excuse. Clementine is a 9 year old girl and look how much composure she had when things got serious/dangerous. Duck, too, to a lesser extent.

    With the exception of some useful tidbits (infection is airborne, aim at the head, etc.) he was overall detrimental to the group, more so than any other character. Larry was sort of a prick, but at least he did stuff. What did Ben do other than "keep watch" and fail to open the armory door at the school?


    So if everyone can screw up as he pleases over and over again and get away with it because the oh-so-poor-guy lost his family, totally unlike everyobody else still considered a poor child...even though he's got a beard...the group isn't going to survive one day.

    Can't remember the last time I've seen a kid with a beard. Can you?

  • I like Ben because Ben is like me. No matter how hard he tries, he always tends to mess up and everyone starts hating him for that. Which, is kind of like me ._.

  • Its not Bens fault for being the way he is. He was inexperienced and had no way of knowing how to defend himself and act in situations. No one trained him, guided him, or valued his opinion and made him feel apart of the group. At least Clementine got some 101 lessons from Lee. Ben got nothing.

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