LOST: Ben Linus and Charles Widmore

There are two ways to take what Ben said to Charles Widmore in the last moments of last week’s episode when Charles asked if Ben was there to kill him.

“You know I can’t do that.”

What exactly did he mean by that? Did he mean he can’t do that because there’s something that needs to happen, and without Charles it couldn’t happen? I think that’s a little out there as a theory.

I took it to mean that Ben actually can’t hurt Widmore, and I think it’s for the same reason Michael couldn’t shoot himself. There’s something about the island that’s preventing that from happening.

The real question is, of course, why? Was Widmore previously on the island? Was there something he did there that made him invulnerable to Ben, and possibly to everyone else?

How could Widmore have found out about this? An attempted killing that failed? That would just be brushed off as a lucky circumstance that prevented his death. No, I think there’s more to it than that, but I haven’t quite put my finger on it yet.