What side are you on?

[KryptonianBlaze]

Lionel is a total Machiavellian and so whatever benefits his interests, he will follow along that path. And yes, he is the great MB.

[smallvillelogan]

He's still evil at his core... he just must help Clark now as Jor-El's emissary. Last season when he told Lana he would kill Clark if she didn't marry Lex, I thought he was still completely evil. But then in 'Phantom' when it's explained why he did it, it cleared things up for me... even though threatening Lana with Clark's life is still way twisted. But that was cool.

[Degobunny]

Lionel was for the Sith, towards the end there though he started turning to good. Hence why Lex the apprentice had the overthrow the master, to save us all from good Lionel!!

[laurarawlins]

Lionel Luthor the secret double agent for the good side

Have you seen the Harry Potter film series? And do you remember that Severus Snape character? Who pretends to be on side of evil, but the entire time he's been secretly on the side of good? Well Lionel Luthor is the Severus Snape of Smallville. He pretends to be in league with Lex, when he is in secret protecting Clark out of love for Martha and needed Lana's help to protect Clark by forcibly marrying Lex in order to get Lana to further his cause of protecting Clark from Lex because Lana probably wouldn't gone along with Lionel's plan if she hadn't tricked Clark into unveiling his powers in front of her without him knowing she was there witnessing his powers when Clark came to Chloe's rescue in the episode Promise. Lionel may appear evil and may seem to be the type to have a hidden agenda, it's a matter of what that agenda is going to turn out to be. He is the antagonist turned ally. He starts out as one of villains and ends up on the side of good and dies for love. Lionel is definitely the character with an air of mystery to him. As it is revealed later on in the series he is a member of a secret society who called themselves Veritas whose mission is to protect the traveler which is Clark. So he is secretly a good guy, he is just very misunderstood.

[Chandu.Lahari]

In terms of "whose side" is he on, I'd agree that Lionel eventually started protecting Clark so I guess he was on Clark's side. But I would DEFINITELY not call him a "force of good". IMO, Lionel is the true villain of the story because he made Lex what he is. He is the world's worst father, a manipulative and moral-less man, and more selfish and self-centered than Lana could ever be. Ugh, just thinking about Lionel makes my skin crawl--what an abusive, twisted, corrupted, loathsome, despicable character!

And honestly, I still don't understand why he forced Lana to marry Lex. What information did Lana "uncover" exactly by being on the "inside"? The whole thing was flippantly used to make Lana into some sort of a martyr (again) and also explain away why Lionel forced her into the marriage, but... nothing ever came of it except for a crappy period episode that was used to fill space before wrapping up season 6. Lionel never redeemed himself in my mind. He was always a delusional man and because of that delusions, he mistreated everybody in his life. Especially Lex.

[laurarawlins]

From Lionel's point of view

Lionel's father allegedly abused him (implying a familiar cycle of abuse that continues with Lex), Lionel still harbors deep resentment toward his long-dead father. If Lachlan had raised Lionel the way Jonathan and Martha raised Clark. Lionel would have been a better father to Lex. but love, kindness and respect was foreign to Lionel and didn't know how to express it to Lex because Lex made it complicated for him to love him because he kept disappointing Lionel. somehow Lex just seemed off to Lionel, Lionel may have failed Lex as a father, but ultimately Lex had failed him as a son and he was mean to lex sometimes but he loved him it's just Lex didn't believe nor he did felt that his father's love was real. how tragic. Lex didn't make it easy for Lionel. Lex was too focused on trying get his father to love him as much as he was trying to discover Clark's secret that he didn't focus on anything else besides his father's love and approval and knowing Clark's secret all the same time. If Lex was born into a dysfunctional family with that much instability like he has been already and still is, the odds are he is going to be just as unstable.


As we seen with the evil Lex in the episode Onxy in season 4. While evil Lex was certainly caused by Lionel's cruel parenting, in return Lionel's regression to evil was caused by his son, once Lex had become whole again he was disappointed in Lionel's change back to his old ways. Nevertheless, Lionel seemed grateful to Lex for showing him that despite his enhanced value for life, he refuses to be controlled by his only son. As Lionel killed his father, Lex killed Lionel, proving that he was a product of Lionel's parenting. This could have been avoided if Lionel had been kinder to his son and showed him the love that Lex longed for much earlier in their relationship but Lex proved to be just as untrustworthy and more ruthless than Lionel was by using meteor freaks to carry out his simplest needs and killing people over the slightest inconvenience, something Lionel had never done.

Lionel constantly saw Lex as a threat and could not fully let Lex in. In many ways Lionel represented the evil criminal master mind that Lex was destined to become. Nevertheless while Lionel saw the error of his ways and worked to redeem himself, Lex took the darker path and finally became the product of Lionel's cruelty that he had always hoped for.