#clarke griffin meta

[1doesnotsimplyhavejust1fandam]

Accidentally tripped my way back into my t100 obsession, and am once again begging everyone to remember that Clarke didn’t just mean irradiating Mount Weather when she said “what I did to get them here”. Of course she means that part, but she also means killing Finn, letting the bomb drop on TonDC without warning anyone besides Lexa, even leaving the 47 behind when she was forced to escape in order to get the rest of the Delinquents a real rescue, lying to Bellamy about Octavia being in TonDC, telling Bellamy to. his. face. that it’s worth risking his life to take down the Mountain with the Grounders, and any number of other specific wrongs Clarke would 100% feel she had done. Bellamy’s “what we did” is unbearably kind, and does not even pale as an example of their partnership and love for each other, but he is only thinking of one part of Clarke’s enormous guilt to bear. As is his right. He did just help her commit genocide, he’s not going to be on top of his game (understanding Clarke), nor is he going to necessarily see many of these burdens the same way Clarke, in her special brand of self-deprecation, would.

It does feel as though we as a fandom focus on the same thing as Bellamy. Fair. Genocide of the entire Mountain is certainly going to be more devastating in the way of guilt than lying to Bellamy about Octavia’s safety, or even killing the boy she loves/loved. But Clarke spends much of season 2 either battling for a voice at Camp Jaha, forcing Lexa to take the alliance seriously, or trying to find any way to reach the 47 and get them all out safely, and she has Bellamy and any number of allies and friends alongside her for much of the journey, but the choices she makes for the 47 are largely still hers alone, especially once Bellamy goes into the Mountain. She has many reasons to feel guilty, and not all of them are choices she and Bellamy made together, so his support, while meaningful, doesn’t actually encompass all that is haunting Clarke.

[bellamyblake]

there's a lot to talk about unfairness in s7 and OOC and anything there is that people can be right about but the one thing that will always, ALWAYS kill me is that Bellamy wasn't offered the same courtesy that he has given people before. Yes, as dumb as this idea of ascention can be, just imagine it was s3 ALIE (because it is that recycled plot anyway) and remember what all of them did to those who had taken the chip-

they tried to save them. They tried to prevent them from taking it or wanted to fix things after they took it. And even if it wasn't about chips and ALIE (even though it is the same plot) they could've given Bellamy the benfit of the doubt.

Again, I know the plot sucks and he seems OOC, and you can't make sense of him but remember-they can't make sense of him either and even if they refused to acknowledge this new belief in him, they could've done one thing.

Could've f*cking respected his choice and not killed him.

That's it. And the other thing they could've done is to try and talk to him MORE than the two conversations that he had with Raven and Clarke in which they just accussed him before destroying him.

As a core character they should've chained him and brought him with them and made him 'see' the way they wanted him to see things.

FFS, let's not forget that they did everything to SAVE FINN of all people. Finn. Are you telling me they couldn't extend the courtesy to Bellamy?

When he had extended it to them? Had he not understood Clarke when she left? He did and as much as it hurt him and made him angry and ended up in him making wrong choices, he still recognized HERS.

He understood Jasper when he wanted to stay behind and convinced Jaha not to take away his and the other kids' choices.

THEY all tried to save Raven when she was possessed by ALIE.

But somehow he couldn't be offered that? That's one big BS.

[periwinckles]

Tag 9 people you want to get to know better!

I was tagged by @mollywog and @itskeisyThank you!

Three ships:

Everlark - Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark, the Hunger Games

Remadora - Nymphadora Tonks and Remus Lupin, Harry Potter

Bellarke - Clarke Griffin and Bellamy Blake, the 100 (books and the first five seasons of the tv show, because we all agree S6 and S7 don’t exist, right???)

First ever ship: the pink power ranger+white power ranger? 😅 though to be honest, I’d probably say Harry+Ginny (Harry potter) because that was my first time joining a fandom. It was a fun ride, because when I started shipping them, only the first four books were out, and there was endless discussions and metas, and theories, between each book release. My brother was a harmonian and we made a bet and everything. Awesome times.

Last song: well the Eurovision final was last night 😅 so… not sure, but I guess “queen of kings”, the Norwegian entry, because I went to listen to it again. (It was my favourite to win, sadly it ended up in fifth place)

Last movie: Ode to joy (totally underrated, nice movie for a date night)

Currently reading: nothing? At least where fics are concerned. Books, I have about six or seven on my nightstand, all non fiction.

Currently watching: it’s been a while since I’ve watched a tv show, because it’s so easy to get into it. And to be obsessed with it, and I’m trying to tone the obsessions down. I actually started to rewatch the 100 again because I miss Bellamy and Clarke and their “platonic” friendship, but now I’m reconsidering it because I don’t think I have the energy to be sucked into our again.

Currently consuming: 🥖

Currently craving: chocolate

No pressure but feel free to join in

@verimu @pitualba2015 @wistfulweaverwoman @daydreamingandprocrastination

[nomattertheoceans]

@rosyrosalie​ and I were talking about that moment in ‘Praimfaya’ when Clarke takes the decision to stay behind and fix the radio tower. As she starts climbing, she says:

She uses the Grounder farewell for herself, because she’s persuaded that she will not survive. And we just realized how much better it would have been if instead of using “My fight is over”, she had used “May we meet again.”

First of all, it rubs me the wrong way that she would use the Grounder prayer only a few days after she tried to become their leader by force, and decided to leave them all to die outside the bunker. But that’s not the main reason why I would have prefered it.

“May we meet again” is a prayer from her own culture, she grew up with it and it would make sense for her to use it in what she thinks are the last moments of her life

“May we meet again” is also more of a “collective” prayer, as in, it’s a promise that people make to each otherto once again be reunited. The Grounder prayer is much more final, and much more personal. In this moment, she decides to give her life to save the others, so I’d love for her to also address them in her last farewell.

They’re going back to the Ark, so using an Arker prayer would have been a nice touch

They literally DID meet again!

“Safe passage on your travels”: CLARKE IS LITERALLY OFFERING THEM SAFE PASSAGE TO THE RING

“until our final journey to the ground” THEY LITERALLY MET AGAIN WHEN THEY CAME BACK TO THE GROUND

Anyway it would have been so perfect and now I’m sort of mad I realized that because i’m disappointed with the choice the writers made lmaooooo

[thinkbeautyful]

Alright a bit of a ramble here for the first ep of the final season of the 100. It seems like there was an expectation that the fans probably rewatched at least the last season (s6) since everything just continues to hurtle forward, which is not new for this show. Every season opener has hit the ground running so to speak, and more specifically this kind of plot flow happened between s1 and s2 (I think that’s bc just like that time, they knew they would be getting another season. From s2-s5 it was on the rocks most of the time whether or not there would be another season, just saying). That being said, they literally just got Clarke back. The show picked up right where it left off and it seems that it’s throwing off things, but mostly bc the last few seasons there were major time hops. Anyway, what I was thinking about with Clarke is how everyone is treating her with extra care and she’s pushing away from everyone, even Madi. (Let’s be honest, the only person she lets herself break down with fully is Bellamy and he’s been taken before she’s even had a chance to adjust to being in full control of her own body AND she has zero idea that’s even happened bc she fot her hands full dealing w Sanctum.) there’s this trauma my therapist and I talked about that happens when things start to look up after being really bad for a long time, you can’t handle it and usually back up or ahut down. For Clarke, she’s spent the last couple SEASONS trying to salvage relationships and it isn’t until now that her mother, the woman who loved her through everything else she did DIED that she now has people with her, rooting for her, trying to help and support her. She’s been alone for so long carrying a million different guilts that the care everyone is showing her is making her shut off her emotions. That’s what makes her break at the end of this first ep so realistic. Y’all it’s been two seasons and she’s just trying to be the good guy and it has NOT WORKED. They referenced Wanheda at the end of last season and again in this ep with her and Gaia and I think going back to that commander of death persona is the only time she ever really felt in control amidst chaos. She’s grieving multiple losses. They’ve been in Sanctum for less than a month. She’s has to deal with losing Monty, Harper, and Abby within that timeframe. Her coleader is off truing to figure things out w hia sister. Her “daughter” still doesn’t think of her as her mother. So she throws herself into work, trying to cope but finally snaps when Russell hands her what? A memory of not just her latest loss, but the very first death of a loved one: her father. A symbol of not just one but both of her parents now. That she has no living relatives left. Imagine that grief. Imagine that weight. And that’s all to explain why i think it’s completely logical for the way things escalated. Not only that, but Russell literally almost killed her too, sacrificing her body and mind to Josephine, who literally almost finished her off for good. Maybe it’s too much for people, coming in hot with the storyline, but this is the last season, the final chance to bring things together and put in every last detail they can think to add. Maybe it’s a lot but I for one am here for it.

[talistheintrovert]

i feel like im the only one that thinks neither clarke or spacekru was in the right last season?? there were no good choices. both clarke and spacekru need to apologize to each other. clarke made some shitty decisions to save her child. they made shitty decisions (involving her child) to save everyone. this was the season of shitty decisions lmao.

I had a hard time working out how to respond to this ask, because on the one hand, I agree with you - the whole point of this show is that nothing is ever black and white, there is never any ultimate right or wrong, it’s all shades of grey - but on the other hand I still think Clarke is morally more in the right that the others. 

I should explain.

This difference between those two factions of shitty decision making is CONTEXT. Without context, it’s very easy to disregard their motives and circumstances and say that both were in the wrong. I’m going to use a super basic analogy here. 97% of scientists believe that climate change is real. When people debate it, they usually have one scientist who believes and one that does not, in order to make it “even”. Without context, that seems perfectly fair. However, in order to make the debate actually even, you would need 97 scientists on the side of climate change and only 3 opposing. It’s the CONTEXT that is important to the debate. 

In order for spacekru and Clarke to be both equally in the wrong, their situations would have to be the same. And they are very much NOT. From Clarke’s perspective - because Bellamy didn’t want to kill his sister, Clarke tried to find another way to stop her; she compromised even though she knew there was an easier way to solve the problem. Then she was captured. The last thing she said to Bellamy before she was captured was, “Keep Madi safe - promise me!” and he did. The next time she saw him, they reaffirmed that they were in this T O G E T H E R and she trusted him to make things right. At this point, Clarke didn’t expect to live, she just wanted Madi to be okay, and she trusted Bellamy to take care of her. THEN the next time she sees Bellamy, he tells her that he’s putting the flame in Madi. Clarke’s one and only person for six years, her daughter, the person she entrusted Bellamy to, a C H I L D. My dude. My guy. My pal. This is betrayal at its RAWEST level. This isn’t Clarke staying at Polis to keep an eye on Lexa, this is using a CHILD to overthrow a cult army. Those are drastically different things. So when Clarke took Madi and ran, she was well within her rights to do so. She a) had no guarantee that if they stayed, they would live, b) probably hoped Octavia would show mercy on her own brother and c) had just been betrayed by someone she loved. And then when she got to the camp, the only reason she helped McCreary was to keep her mother alive, NOT because she agreed with him or because she wanted the rest of them dead, but because she thought that the only two people she had left in the world were Madi and Abby - if she couldn’t trust Bellamy, she couldn’t trust anyone. 

Spacekru are the ones who put McCreary in charge in the first place, by overthrowing Diyoza - which, by the way, wouldn’t have happened if any of them thought to USE THE FUCKING RADIO, EVEN ONCE - but I digress. If Diyoza had remained in charge, odds are the conflict would have deescalated much sooner, and Earth would probably still be a planet instead of a husk of radioactive rock, but I digress. Bellamy made his decision to chip Madi because, “This is how we save our friends, this is how we save Clarke,” while failing to take into account the fact that Madi is a literal child. Also the fact that through the previous 4 seasons Bellamy has been vocally outspoken against grounder culture, the flame, and IN PARTICULAR child soldiers - y’know, because that’s basically what The 100 were at first; children forced into a war they were too young for - means that his choice was especially baffling, but I digress. 

Having Madi become the commander when there was no actual certainty that wonkru would follow her makes her a target for assassination not just by Octavia herself, but by any of her followers who would reject Madi’s supposed “right” to the commandership. Bellamy also made his decision after being directly told that it would mean Clarke never forgave him………… and then was somehow upset when she left?????? WOT. I’m sorry but that writing makes no sense. I can understand the rest of spacekru holding a grudge against Clarke for that, but Bellamy??? He did what he did to SAVE Clarke. He achieved his objective. Yes, she slapped him and then left, but he had ALREADY BEEN TOLD that she would never forgive him. He made his decision with all the information at his fingertips, knowing exactly what harm he was causing to Clarke and Madi, and then was somehow surprised when it backfired. 

Not to mention that Raven and Echo are, from their perspective, understandably mad with Clarke for leaving Bellamy to die, and take Bellamy’s side. Which, with the information they have, makes perfect sense. What still doesn’t make sense, however, is then choosing to kidnap Madi and take her to an active warzone. For all they know, at this point, Madi being the commander is well past its usefulness - the two armies are already marching towards each other, the war is inevitable, the die has been cast. And yet they attempt to take Madi anyway. 

,,,,,,why?

Spacekru as a concept bothered me in these scenes because the “family” thing seemed to be used as a reason why they were in the right - Bellamy wouldn’t kill Octavia because she’s his family, he wanted to give Madi the flame to save his family, Raven and Echo justified their actions in the valley because of their family. But why is their “family” more important than Clarke’s? Because there are more of them? Because they have six years of history together that we didn’t see?

 They have an entire “family” of people to back each other up. Not to mention (and I’m about to get very morbid here, so I apologise) if one member of spacekru dies, they still have the rest of their “family” to help each other get through it. If Madi dies, all Clarke has left is her mother, (and Bellamy, or at least she hoped so). Clarke hasn’t had that six years with a support network. She doesn’t have anyone else on her side. She’s alone, she’s scared, and she’s heartbroken, and spacekru doesn’t have that problem.

Both sides being in the wrong makes sense on paper, but when you take into account both sides motivations and where they came from in regards to those decisions, and with how they were executed, it just doesn’t hold up. Clarke was entirely alone and her entire life was completely upheaved and then her best friend fucked her over and his “family” all took his side without question, despite supposedly loving, or at least liking, Clarke. I’m sorry, but… those two things don’t even remotely compare.

[harpermiller]

A Clarke meta thats been a long time coming

So I've always felt like i related to Clarke the most on the 100. Maybe cause we look alike or are both bisexual or both have natural leadership skills. But i have never in my life identified more with a character than i do with Clarke Griffin in season 5 and from what i can tell of season 6. Here’s a meta about Clarke’s feelings (or at least how i interpret them)

Lets start with Spacekru - She stayed behind, they all left her. 6 years later and nothing is the same. Lets analyse it in the sense of going off to college. All of Clarke’s friends moved away and she stayed at home. They got new lives and grew closer together and she changed too, but ultimately not in the way she should would have if she had left too. So suddenly they return and even though she knows she shouldn’t be expecting things to be the same, she does and things are so different. Suddenly she is an outcast in her own inner circle and they are all talking about things they did and went through and she feels utterly lost and left behind - even if she is so proud of them for having the strength to leave. Season 6 is even worse because there’s not even that pretense of them being her friends. They outright shun her and leave her out and her feelings of isolation seem greater than they ever have. But she’s trying to keep her mask up of indifference because that’s what they expect - Clarke to be a pillar of strength and unfeeling. So when she finally breaks it will be interesting how the pieces fall in her wake and who will be the most affected by her breakdown. 

Moving on to Bellamy, first in the platonic sense - He essentially replaced her, even if her didn’t mean to. Echo filled gaps and spaces that Clarke once filled. His confidant, best friend, and co-leader - they became Raven and Echo. For Clarke to see it in action probably ripped her heart out (The feeling of watching someone take your place next to your best friend is a horrible one and tbh i think that the writers are nailing it so far). And watching that person you were replaced by turn your former best friend against you is the icing on the cake of heartbreak. Having their friendship slowly find its footing again in season 6 almost gives Clarke a sense of false hope - because even when they seem to have a moment alone, there’s the glaring reality that she doesn’t fit in his life anymore. And i don’t think that Bellamy realizes that she feels this way. 

Now if we look at it romantically - seeing yourself be replaced by a romantic partner (even if unrequited) stings just as much as when it happens with a best friend (However, Clarke is probably feeling the heartache of loosing her best friend more than seeing him romantically with someone else). The little glances that Clarke sends Bellamy, especially when he’s with Echo, are so obvious that it hurts my heart. Its that utterly heartbreaking “I screwed up, i missed my chance, he’s moved on”. She thinks that nothing can happen between them - that as long as he’s happy then she can be happy (which tbh is being a bigger person than most people on this planet could ever be). But the little glances and that lingering hope - that ever present “if i had gone with them, would things be different”. 

This doesn’t really make sense, its basically me rambling my thoughts, and I don’t even know where this is going but no matter how you look at it - platonic or romantic - Clarke is feeling replaced and redundant. Clarke feels like she no longer belongs with the people she once considered family and they are finding every opportunity to remind her of it. I hope in season 6, that gets resolved. That Clarke is either appreciated (and apologized to) by her friends and gains that relationship with Bellamy back or that she finds new people who appreciate her in way that her old friends wouldn’t couldn’t.

[bombshellsandbluebells]

Also, one of the last things I’ll say about Clarke right now - I truly believe that part of the point of Clarke’s arc this season was the fact that, in order to process her guilt and the terrible things she had done, she learned to believe that your actions have no moral weight or cost if you’re trying to survive.

She says it in the first episode. “Animals kill. They don’t think about it, they just do. Kill or be killed.”

Clarke learned to believe that her actions were no different than an animal. There was no moral weight to killing people if it was necessary to survive. That’s why she showed a complete lack of mercy or true empathy this season. She killed people without stopping to think about it or feeling bad because she felt she had to to save Madi. She put people she once cared about in terrible positions without trying to find another solution like she has in the past because she didn’t care - she only cared about Madi.

Clarke in season 5 is not a healthy person, and while a lot of that stems from the trauma of six years of almost complete isolation, most also comes from her new belief system that death and murder have no consequence or cost. What did it matter if she killed people? She was doing it to survive.

And how in the world do you unlearn a belief system that says there are no costs and consequences when you hurt others without being forced to face consequences? Clarke HAS to face the consequences for hurting Spacekru, or else she continues believing that her actions have no weight. Or else she continues on with a lack of mercy and empathy. Or else she keeps repeating the same cycle of decisions.

I don’t know if I think s6 will handle the continuation of these messages well, but I know that making Clarke deal with the cost of hurting other people is the first step.

[brimay]

Clarke had just left Bellamy to die! And apparently she thought he was dead (which she never had a reaction too)??? @ that last anon... so Clarke being really obsessed about protecting Madi was just what? Nothing? Clarke was turning her grief into protecting Madi (even if it meant hurting Madi)

Yeah. The thing about this show is that it deals with a lot of serious psychological issues, including mental disorders like PTSD, depression and — in Clarke’s s5 case — attachment disorder. 

It’s natural when you have a show like The 100, in which the characters are constantly put in incredibly stressful and harmful situations, that it becomes psychological. But one of my main criticisms of this show is that it — for a show that’s so fundamentally psychological in many aspects — doesn’t do a very good job at explaining and/or dealing with mental illness. 

Clarke’s behavior in season 5 is really the cause of her unhealthy attachment to Madi, but this isn’t properly explained in canon, so it’s easy for people to get confused. Instead, Jason explains this unhealthy behavior by saying “oh, it’s just her being a mother.” 

Which, no. Clarke’s not well. Her relationship with Madi is not a healthy one, and it shouldn’t be overlooked. 

I don’t think Clarke necessarily turned her grief into protecting Madi. I think the unhealthy attachment that she’s had to Madi during those six years on the ground explains her behavior in season 5 (it doesn’t justify it, though). She’s willing to do literally anything to protect this attachment, even betray the person that she loves the most (Bellamy).

(I know I went off track here, but…) 

[montee-macintyre]

The past, present and (probable) future of a Ms. Clarke

I’ll tell you how I think she will end this season. She’s going to make a selfish choice.  How can she not? Since Day One on Earth, she’s been pushed, mangled, shot at, and making the tough choices for the good of everybody else, from a POV of selfishness? Yes. “I bear it so they don’t have to.” But this season I put her on the spot of saying: I won’t bear it, this is home and I want it to be that way; another aspect of selfishness.

Clarke from S1 to S3 basically was that I Alone May Do. She would put herself in harm’s way; she would be the one going in the frontlines to face danger because if she makes the decisions, she must be held accountable for them.

Leaving in S2 was her putting herself accountable for Mt Weather, because she knew the rest would see her as the Savior. But Clarke in not a Savior, she is most definitely not Wanheda (she tried in S3 and that was chaotic), she is (was) mostly Head.

So 6 years happen, she and Madi and no one else. No contact from either Ark or Bunker and for the first time ever, there are no choices. No deciding telling everyone about a system failure, leaving Bellamy or Finn behind, killing hundreds, risking nuclear Armageddon to save the others; can you imagine what it felt like? Waking up every day and thinking: Today I’ll talk to Bellamy and fish dinner.

She had no idea whatsoever of Eligius, but she knew that as soon as everyone was back on Earth and out of the ground, they would get to live like she did. Simple choices. No Only Choices.

After 505 she has to, somehow, pull back to that old persona pre Praimfaya. What to do with Wonkru? Risk the end of the only green place on Earth? Killing the whole lot of the Eligius?

My theory is that at she could make a deal with Diyoza, if O.ctavia wanting Madi as Next of Kin is imminent and that is *again* her only choice. That is not one made on the idea of everybody else, but the idea of me and my child. And after that shake up moment between Bellamy and E.cho, at one point she might say: It probably wouldn’t be so bad.

After that, I see something relating to Octagon and her bad judgement, but also that big clash Hakeldama style between her and Bellamy (that others have pointed out would be amazing to see, and I agree. Reverse Hakeldama? Yas.)  But in the end, I believe she will make a conscious choice of: I can’t be that person again, so this is where I will stand, my kid beside me.

That will most likely involve Bellamy (more on that in another moment), SpaceKru and her closest allies from the Bunker (Octagon excluded)

But yes, Clarke fills in as Heart now and that ending (and the event that will be known as The Confession ™) will be define what her character goes for looking forward to S6.

[elonmusksboyfriend]

Rewatching The 100 and it honestly just makes me sad thinking about the ending.

Through out the entire show, the only goal was the preservation of humanity. Humanity was the point of the entire story & the ending just throws that away. It’s so cheap.

[osleyakomwonkru]

Octavia as The 100′s Jesus Figure, Part 4: Bardo, The Crucifixion and Second Coming of Octavia Blake

So we’re back for a fourth part of this series, which I started after season 6, because wouldn’t you know it - there’s more to be said.

In Part 1, Origin Story and the Meeting of Two Saviours, I discussed Octavia’s origin story as the Dark Saviour and her relationship with the show’s other Saviour Lincoln, and how with his death he invested her with the mission to save all of their people.

In Part 2, Saving Humanity and the First Passion of Octavia Blake, I talked about Octavia finally accepting and understanding her mission as the Saviour, redeeming the sins of humanity, and her first Passion narrative, which was left incomplete, and thus she lived.

In Part 3, Planet Alpha and the Second Passion of Octavia Blake, I wrote about Octavia’s second Passion narrative on Planet Alpha, which led to her road to Golgotha at the Anomaly, from which she is resurrected (the Crucifixion narrative still remaining a mystery) and then meets those she knew once again, before her ascension as the Anomaly reclaimed her in the last seconds of the S6 finale.

So now, Part 4 - Here we will get into that missing Crucifixion narrative, as well as the events that come to pass with Octavia’s Second Coming, the Judgment of Humanity, and how things may have played out differently had it been Octavia who walked into the glowy ball of light instead of Cadogan, Clarke and Raven.

From Dark to Light

Before we return to that missing Crucifixion narrative, which takes place on Bardo, Octavia, along with Diyoza and Hope, land on a different planet for ten years. This planet also has its purpose in our Saviour narrative, because while the show starts on dark themes, and thus needed Octavia as a Dark Saviour, in season 7 it began to shift to a theme of light and transcendence.

Enter the appropriately named Penance.

Octavia spends ten years on Skyring/Penance/Planet Beta, healing from her pain and darkness, and thus is no longer the Dark Saviour the narrative needed her to be before to bring salvation to her people, now she can be the Light Saviour who will save all of humanity.

Her new demeanour - though I hesitate to say new because it was born of ten years of peace, plenty, family, and healing, it wasn’t new to her, merely to those who used to know her for whom time had been much shorter - is evidence of her new Light. It confuses many, because they hadn’t had the same time and healing as she had, but it is evident in every move she makes. Rather than the tornado of righteous fury that she used to be, now Octavia is the steady and calm voice of reason - to Echo, to Hope, and especially to Clarke.

But back to that crucifixion narrative.

Every Noble Crown will be a Crown of Thorns

Her peaceful world torn asunder, Octavia is taken to Bardo, and thrown into M-Cap at the first opportunity. Others have mentioned how the M-Cap headcap looks like a crown of thorns, and they’re quite right - this is where Octavia’s Crucifixion narrative comes to fruition. No one spends as much time in that crown of thorns as she does.

She fights it, at first, but when acceptance is what will provide salvation to her people (or person, in this case, being Hope), she accepts her fate and faces her past - brutal days of reliving her history as the Dark Saviour, to firmly close that chapter of her life (a symbolic death rather than just her regular baptism-rebirth cycle).

She’s freed from her crown of thorns when Hope comes. Hope, the symbol of her new Light, and the Light that she will carry with her as she returns to Sanctum to be resurrected among those she once knew, those who had believed her to be lost, but who dearly needed the Light she was to bring them.

Revelation and The Second Coming

There are a lot of different moving pieces involved in the apocalyptic scenarios of Revelation, and how these come to play in season 7 of The 100 isn’t any different. So let’s take a look at some of the other key players and how they connect to Octavia’s story.

The False Prophet, The Dragon and The Beast

Now, in my Part 3 of this series (written after the S6 finale), I predicted that Bellamy would have a large part in the revelation of Octavia’s Saviour narrative. Obviously, that part didn’t come to pass, because of Bob’s absence from the show, but you can still see hints within the narrative that suggest he would have been a part of it before Bob pulled out (most notably, the Hesperides flashback in 7x04 - this flashback is pretty pointless in the context of Hope telling Echo and Gabriel that story, but if you imagine Bellamy being there to hear about how his sister raised Hope in much the same way he raised her - then it becomes way more meaningful).

But the narrative as it played out also presents interesting Biblical allusions, by casting Bellamy in the role of false prophet, fighting on the side of the Beast (Cadogan), instead of on the side of Christ (his sister).

The false prophet is said to be the second beast to rise in Revelation 13, who has “two horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon” (Revelation 13:11) who is given the authority to speak on behalf of the first Beast (Cadogan), to deceive the people so that they will worship this Beast. The false prophet having the appearance of a lamb is relevant here, because Jesus is often referred to as the Lamb of God - thus, the false prophet (Bellamy) resembles the true Saviour (Octavia), not coincidental since they are in fact siblings and thus do bear some physical resemblances.

So who is The Dragon - that is, Satan? It is easy to say that the Dragon is Sheidheda, for it is the Dragon who is imprisoned, only to be released to deceive and wage war before being finally defeated. But it goes deeper than that - The Dragon is the dark side of the Flame itself, Sheidheda’s only the last prophet of that darkness. It is the Flame that gives Cadogan, the Beast, the power he needs to rule over his people - the glimpse of the idea of Judgment Day as something for the Disciples to work towards - “The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority” (Revelation 13:2) - even when the good side of the Flame, the Humanity that Becca believed so vital, wanted to keep it from him.

The Children of the Kingdom of Heaven

Jesus says “unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3). Octavia’s always been tied to different children throughout The 100 narrative, first as the child herself, and then others such as Gavriel, Ethan, Madi, Rose and Hope. But the important children for the purpose of this post are the three that are the “next generation” so to speak of the leading trio of the show, and their important roles in the final battle.

There’s Jordan, the Head-centered, who takes over Clarke’s role as John the Baptist, the prophet who bore witness to the Light (Jesus) so that others would believe. His testimony shows that the Final War is instead a Test, and he’s instrumental in making sure that Octavia can stop the war and pass the test to grant humanity eternal life instead.

There’s Hope, the Heart-centered, who takes over Bellamy’s role as Saint Peter, the disciple who becomes the leader of the church after Jesus’ ascension. Hope is Octavia’s grounding force, her new rock, and her love gives her strength to continue her journey.

And then there’s Madi, the Soul-centered, who is Octavia’s next generation counterpart. It’s made clear from the start of Madi’s introduction in season 5 that Octavia is her favourite, that Octavia is the one she looked up to, and even in season 7, these parallels are there, as Madi is ready to sacrifice herself to save the others, and in more peaceful ways too, like when she’s hiding in the reactor with her two new friends, reminiscent of season 1 Octavia and her friendship with Monty and Jasper. Madi, too, meets her Crucifixion in the M-Cap chair, in an even crueler and more vicious manner than Octavia did. But when Octavia saves humanity, this liberates Madi’s soul and grants her eternal life as well.

I am the Way, The Truth and the Life

Wonkru falls apart in Octavia’s absence. There’s no other way to say it. Wonkru crumbling in 7x03 is made even more conspicuous by the fact that they don’t even mention Octavia, because they’re still denying her, despite everything she brought them. They don’t realize that she’s the one to save them all, they don’t realize that, as Jesus says, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, no one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 4:16) - something that they will finally come to understand in the climax of the final episode.

But it isn’t time for that story yet. First we must turn to Revelation to see what happens to Wonkru and the others on Sanctum while they’ve chosen to deny her and follow the Dragon and the Beast instead.

Here we see the different plagues that strike the unbelievers - both in Revelation 8-9 and 16.

The first to come are “ugly, festering sores [that] broke out on the people who had the mark of the beast” (Revelation 16:2) - the radiation sickness that is a marker of the broken nuclear reactor in 7x03, which claims as James as one of its first victims. If you don’t remember who he was while watching that episode, look back to 6x02, where he’s one of the people attacking Octavia in the Eligius IV mess hall. He breaks faith with her, and here suffers the consequences of that.

The second and third plagues speak of both the seas and the rivers turning to blood - references to the rivers of blood created by Sheidheda’s massacres, first of the Faithful and then of the Children of Gabriel.

The fourth plague, the sun scorching people with fire, takes us to the eclipse in 7x13, where the sky is red with the eclipse. This leads to the fifth and sixth plagues - the kingdom being plunged into darkness as Emori kills power to the reactor to bring down the shield, which makes it possible for “locusts [to come] down on the earth” (Revelation 9:3) and devour those “who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads” (Revelation 9:5).

It is only the final plague - “rumblings… and a severe earthquake… [where] the great city split into three parts” (Revelation 16:18-19) - that strikes where Octavia is, with “a loud voice from the throne, saying ‘It is done!’” (Revelation 16:17). This line from Revelation calls back to what Octavia says to Hope in 6x13 before her Ascension - “Be brave, tell him it is done” - a sign that Octavia is needed elsewhere again. And soon enough she does depart to Bardo, alongside Clarke. Meanwhile, the survivors remaining on Earth have to reunite the three groups split in the bunker - those in the rotunda (Hope, Jordan, Gaia, Indra, Miller), those in the rec room (Raven, Murphy, Emori, Jackson) and those in the bunkrooms (Echo, Niylah) - to prepare for the final war and judgment.

The Fall of Babylon

Before Octavia can bring light to the world and grant humanity transcendence, there is still one more key part of Revelation that must come to pass, and that is the fall of Babylon: That is, in this ‘verse, Clarke.

Throughout Biblical narrative, Babylon stands in opposition to Jerusalem and its righteousness, just how in The 100 narrative Clarke and Octavia have always been set as foils to each other. Now, Clarke isn’t evil per se, but she’s always been set in her ways and doubles down when questioned about her past deeds - as we see both in how she faces the Primes in 6x03 and the Judge in 7x16. She doesn’t learn, and so she fails. Clarke, like Babylon, is locked out of heaven for not learning the patience and humility that Octavia did: “For her sins are piled up to Heaven, and God has remembered her sins. Give back to her as she has given, pay her back double for what she has done.” (Revelation 18:5-6).

With Clarke fallen, it is now time to begin the Final Judgment.

Final Test and Judgment

After Clarke’s fall, someone must step in to advocate for humanity, to guide the Judge’s gaze to the righteous, to the Saviour - Raven steps through the glowing orb to do so. So which figure in Revelation is most suited here? None other than the writer of Revelation themselves, historically considered to be John of Patmos, who is given these visions by the angels as a warning for humanity.

Raven bore witness to a number of the plagues, and while not always a believer in Octavia - in fact, out of all characters around for all seven seasons, they’ve shared the least screentime with each other - but they’ve still fought on the same side. Also of relevance here is that Raven’s been granted visions in the narrative of the show, like John of Patmos has in Revelation - though hers came as a result of ALIE.

While the Judge takes Raven to the battlefield in Bardo to prove humanity to be unworthy, this battlefield is instead where Octavia proves humanity to be worthy. Indra and Wonkru follow Octavia’s lead, finally recognizing that their only way to salvation was through her (see John 4:16 above), and after the Disciples too laid down their weapons, humanity is deemed worthy and the Judge grants them eternal life in the form of transcendence - rising to the heavens in the manner of the Rapture, “We who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air” (1 Thessalonians 4:17).

Where is the Judgment of the Dead?

Now, one thing missing in season 7 compared to the Book of Revelation and Jesus’ Second Coming is the Judgment of the Dead and welcoming those worthy into the domain of Heaven.

A longstanding phrase in The 100 has been “May We Meet Again”. This is part of the Traveler’s Blessing of Skaikru, and one that they use frequently with one another even in non-death contexts. So with that phrase, a lot of people expected that the dead would also be able to be part of transcendence somehow, and that beloved characters would then also be present on the beach in the final scene as they rejected transcendence to live mortal lives.

I believe, given everything in the past posts about Octavia, that had she been the one to go into the ball of light to face the Judge personally, rather than saving humanity on the battlefield, that this would have happened.

While logically I believe the best form for the Judge to take for Octavia would have been Diyoza, since Diyoza was her greatest teacher, her mind would be more likely to choose her greatest love, Lincoln - who, if we go back to Part 1 of this series, we remember is the other Saviour of this show’s narrative.

That would have been a reunion even more epic than the Clarke and Lexa reunion that the show gave us, for Lincoln and Octavia were far closer and together for far longer. And if the Transcendents possessed the powers that they do - instant genocide by crystallization at the wave of an arm, transcendence through the blink of an eye, restoration of healthy and whole bodies if those souls reject transcendence - then surely raising the dead would’ve been a simple task.

The only reason that couldn’t happen was extratextual - there was no way Ricky would work with JRoth again, and so this extra dimension, this aspect of the narrative that could have made things so much sweeter and less bitter, had to be put aside.

Now, that doesn’t diminish Octavia’s Saviour narrative in the least - she did still save humanity. She did still bear the sins of the human race, she was still mocked, cast out and sent to her crucifixion by those who denied her. She did still return from that symbolic death, resurrected, then ascended. When she faced Wonkru again - remember, that battlefield in 7x16 is the first time the bulk of Wonkru has seen her since 5x13 - it was in her Second Coming to bring the Final Judgment to them. The trials they’d faced in Sanctum in her absence showed them the truth - that they had to believe in her again to achieve their salvation.

She was the Way, the Truth and the Life of The 100 universe, and no one would have reached transcendence except through her.

[bellamyblake]

1x02/1x03

[traitorwhoyoulove]

Guys. GUYS.

In the season 3 finale when we see Clarke entering the City of Light, her hair is pinned back and clean and shorter (a.k.a. Clarke with the Good Hair was back).

In these scenes, she looks VERY similar to her in S1. Her hair, the jacket, the Henley tee, it’s all the same as what we see through the entirety of the first season.

But here’s the thing. When we see Clarke take the flame, she’s not wearing either of these. Her hair is still in those god awful dreads that symbolized her desire to run from her people, her desire to hide amongst the Grounders.

Clarke’s version of herself in the City of Light is a reflection of how she sees herself, a simulated version of who she understands herself to be. Which means that Clarke knows that her attempt to assimilate into Polis was not true to who she is. She knows that she was not meant for intricately braided hair, for black war paint, for leather corsets and metal spikes lining her shoulders.

She knows that the real Clarke Griffin belongs in a leather jacket from the Ark, hair tucked from her face so that she can see the world around her, eyes sharp and ready to protect those she loves most. Clarke knows that she is Skaikru, has always been Skaikru, and that will never change no matter how much she tries to run from them.

Now here’s where I start having a lot of feelings. Throughout the entire third season as we learn more about the COL, ALIE continually expresses the idea that once they take the chip, there is no more pain, no more sadness. The City of Light is essentially a computer simulation of the essence of a person’s most free and happy memories.

Take Jasper, for example. When we see him in the City of Light, he’s carrying an ice cream cone with a smile as he crosses the street:

Note that he is NOT wearing the same clothes as season 1 (no goggles, no leather jacket, etc.), but rather the same clothes that fit in the metropolitan setting. So it’s clear that people in the COL are not limited to the clothing they have in reality.

So then it begs the question: why is Clarke wearing clothes she already owns in a place where everything else is new?

I think the answer to that question lies in the concept of the City of Light itself. Again, bear in mind that the COL was created to represent the user’s abstract idea of happiness, of freedom.

Clarke’s attire is notably different from everyone else around her in this scene. It is exceptionally different from what we had just seen her donning just a scene beforehand. Which means that if she’s wearing an outfit and hairstyle that is pointedly different from that which she went in with, one that is almost identical to her daily attire during her time at the Dropship, it means that Clarke’s happiest memories are from that time. 

It means that Clarke Griffin’s idea of happiness and freedom is tents, campfires, a hundred delinquents, and co-leading with Bellamy Blake.

[the-suns-also-rise]

Bookends: The “An Occurrence at Owl Creek” Ending

In Ambrose Bierce’s 1890 Civil War short story, a man condemned for treason against the Union stands at the edge of a bridge, a noose around his neck. As he falls towards the river, the rope snaps, and he plummets into the water. What ensues is a miraculous escape - each danger he survives is more fantastical and surreal than the last. He finally finds his way home and reaches out to embrace his wife when he is blinded by a flash of light – and the noose snaps taut. He had imagined his escape during the seconds between falling from the bridge and the noose breaking his neck.

This is an alternate ending for The 100: 17-year old Clarke is still in solitary, daydreaming of her escape and the fantastical adventures she’ll have afterwards. Doodling in her cell, it’s the only mind space she’ll know for the rest of her short life. On the morrow she will be floated for treason, and the 99+1 delinquents will be sent down to Earth without her.

[thinkbeautyful]

So I know no one probably cares but i just watched the sneak peak for the first ep this season and basically all i can think about is the fact that Clarke is going to absolutely lose her shit this season bc she not only is grieving her mother, along with the fact that Madi straight up almost killed her bc of dark heda but now Bellamy is fucking MISSING at the very beginning of the season after Clarke got to see him for .2 seconds before he disappeared. Great, just great. Thanks for putting our girl through yet more trauma.