#meta: luna kom floukru

[lingeringscars]

luna who gets reaped alongside her brother. luna who kills him immediately. luna who actually kills everyone in the games because there is nowhere to escape. luna who wins her games and then disappears off the face of panem. luna coming back for the quarter quell. luna coming back to kill literally everyone. luna getting killed. thanks! also she's from district 4 <3

[wren-blue]

Despair AU John Murphy - “If she dies, you die”

(season 4 spoilers)

I explained this more over on instagram (see link below), but I was thinking about an au where they kill emori in the radiation oven instead of not-baylis, and Luna & Murphy escape the lab together in order to wipe out humanity for their cruelty. 

If you have any thoughts on this concept, I’d love to hear them!

instagram link - more info!

[osleyakomwonkru]

Octavia Blake and the Long Moral Darkness of the Soul, Part 1: What is Darkness?

If you’ve followed me for awhile, it is possible that you’re confused about how exactly I perceive our dear Octavia Blake.

I’ve written a lot about how she doesn’t need redemption. I’ve also written a lot about her dark spirals, her inner darkness and her journey back to self-love.

These might sound like contradictory viewpoints, but really they’re not. Let me tell you why.

Redemption (at least insofar as it typically applies in media tropes) is external - a character has wronged someone or multiple someones, and a redemption arc is their way forward to atone and make up for their wrongs. This is what Bellamy did in both seasons 1 and 4, and Kane in season 2, as two examples.

But like I said above, I don’t believe Octavia needs redemption, because I don’t believe she wronged anyone. She was ruthless as Blodreina, to be certain, but ruthless doesn’t mean wrong. She wasn’t wrong. She has, however, been battling her inner darkness, and that’s an entirely different beast than redemption.

In Part 1 of this series, we’ll look at precisely what darkness is in the context of this show, and why Octavia is unique among main characters in possessing it. (But not unique among all characters).

In Part 2, we’ll look at the perhaps-surprising beginnings of Octavia’s darkness, and how the kindness of strangers and an echo of hope helped her emerge from it to save the human race.

In Part 3, we’ll look at Octavia’s second descent into darkness, and how once again it was the kindness of strangers and not those ostensibly close to her that helped her emerge from it, to once again save the human race (well, jury is still out on the details, but chances are good, anyway).

So let’s get into it, shall we?

What Exactly is “Darkness” in The 100?

So, to have a discussion on darkness, we need to define precisely what darkness is. In so doing, it will also come to light how Octavia’s darkness is something that no other main character on the show possesses, or indeed, could possess, because of the circumstances at hand.

“Who we are and who we need to be to survive are two very different things.” - Bellamy and Clarke’s mantra of moral absolution

“First we survive, then we get our humanity back.” - Abby and Kane’s mantra of moral absolution

Two phrases. Two generations. Same principle. Also same limited scope - this is a forgiveness and absolution they only ever grant each other, and not to anyone else outside of this quartet (usually also only within the pairs, but there’s been some cross-generational absolution between Abby and Clarke, as well as Bellamy and Kane).

These phrases are fundamental, because they explain where the “darkness” resides - on the survival end of that spectrum. But both phrases come with the implication that what you do for survival exists within a limited scope of time, and that you can spend the rest of your time being “who you are”. To put it a different way: It is our intentions that matter, not our actions.

Now this is something I’ve talked about at length - the intentions vs actions spectrum, and how most of the characters of this show reside firmly on the intentions side, but that Octavia, by virtue of not only her upbringing but her most defining moments beyond that as well, has only ever been able to exist on the actions side.

If your actions define who you are, then what you do for survival isn’t just a momentary blip or detour in your moral standing, it is a part of who you are. An immoral deed isn’t something that you can just absolve yourself of or justify to yourself and go about your day, it is still inside you, and until you can do a moral deed of equivalent or greater worth to make up for it, there is no absolution, there is only darkness.

Thus, Octavia’s darkness is a result of having to live in “who we need to be to survive” for a long time without any sort of respite. Which is why it is internal rather than external (thus something where redemption applies) - it is a discord between one’s own morality and what has to be done. You live in that darkness long enough, you start to believe there’s no way out of it anymore.

The Ark adults do, of course, know a few things about this sort of situation - but on the Ark, they had each other to lean on. They didn’t have to do anything alone. They supported each other, they did what they had to do together (diffusion of responsibility) - which is part of why their abandonment of Octavia in the bunker to ensure their survival alone is so horrific.

Not only that, but the Ark adults are also masters of believing in intentions over actions - but no one, not one of them, has ever thought to allow Octavia into that club. To teach her that your actions aren’t the only things that define you, that your intentions do too, and sometimes shit happens along the way and you can get past that - because this is not something anyone has ever taught her, and her experiences keep reinforcing the idea that actions are all there is. It’s almost comical how Kane keeps telling her “your actions have consequences”, as if that isn’t the fundamental guiding principle of her life already.

Bellamy also started the show very actions-oriented - and it makes sense, because of both the life and death stakes the Blakes lived with from the moment of Octavia’s birth and their low socioeconomic status (which both on the Ark and in today’s world means that actions have higher stakes and thus have to matter more than intentions with regards to survival). But he has one key life experience that Octavia does not - he earns the favour of highborn Clarke in season 1, and she forgives him his trespasses, and initiates him into the privilege of believing in intentions over actions. This was a pivotal moment for him (in 1x08), but it was also a memo he never passed on to his sister.

So thus we see - when it comes to the main characters, Octavia is unique in her darkness, a combination of needing to live on the survival end of the spectrum for too long, as well as not being allowed to believe that intentions matter too. Others have dipped their toe from time to time, but no one else has had to live there as long as she has. But there is one recurring character who knows this darkness well, and that would be Luna.

Luna was raised in an environment that created this type of darkness for people who were not born as natural leaders, people like Lexa and Clarke who could compartmentalize like leaders need to do. But she was raised to be a Commander nonetheless, by virtue of being a Nightblood. And she was good at the fighting aspect of it, which may have been part of what bothered her. In a sense, that may have been the case for Octavia too - she was a warrior prodigy, and over time, came to be defined by that because her skills were always needed, especially in Skaikru-Grounder contexts where she was the only member of Skaikru (at the time) who knew Grounder fighting methods. 

Luna struggles with this throughout season 4 - she wants to believe what Raven tells her, that it isn’t her blood (which she’s always associated with violence) that defines her, but her heart. But as the season goes on, she sees that her heart isn’t enough. She’s already lost her entire clan, then she loses her bodily autonomy as Skaikru commits more violence using her blood.

For all of her best intentions, her world all turned to ruin, through no fault of her own.

She articulates all of this despair to Octavia during the Conclave: “You were right when you said I used to think that people were basically good, if you took them out of this world and showed them the way of peace, the darkness would fade, just like the darkness in me faded. I even stopped blaming myself for killing my brother in the conclave. But the truth is, when I saw him standing across from me in the arena, and I knew only one of us could live, I wanted it to be me. I ran, because I was afraid of what I am. I am the darkness. We all are. And this is the end.”

It was the end for Luna, but it wasn’t the end for Octavia. For Octavia, it was a new beginning - the Conclave was Octavia’s first rebirth from the darkness. But where exactly did that first darkness start?

Hint: It’s not where you think.

[blodreina-noumou]

The 100 Ladies Appreciation Week - Day Two - Favorite Character (Dead): Favorite Episode

I’m a bit late today, but I still wanted to make a post to commemorate my top three dearly departed ladies from the series. Want to join in the fun? Check out the prompts here.  ( @the100--positivity )

1. Luna kom Floukru - “Join or Die” - 3x13

After three seasons of hints and teases, we finally get to meet her - Lincoln’s comrade in peace, the hidden clan leader, the allies of the woods across the sea - Luna kom Floukru. I’m a big fan of a well-done introduction, and Luna’s did not disappoint me. In the midst of Clarke and company’s desperation to stop ALIE, Clarke never stops to consider why Luna fled, or that she might not want to help them. Indeed, she had been foreshadowed as an ultimate solution to the conflict that held Lincoln and Octavia in place with skaikru. So when they arrive and meet this fierce, stoic woman, we’re as surprised as the delinquents are to hear her firm and simple, “No.” It was a surprising twist and the beginning of my love affair with this curly-haired sea goddess. This moment, where we’ve yet to learn any of Luna’s motivations or the reality of her time as a nightblood novitiate, stands as one of the strongest in her arc overall.

(It was a very close call between this episode and 4x06, when she calms Raven and ignites my dim hope for Sea Mechanic. Ai giv ai op gon nemiyon kom lanik-de. I give myself to the miracle of the sea. Still in my top three favorite lines.)

2. Lexa kom Trikru - “Watch the Thrones” - 3x04

We get to learn so much about Lexa in this episode. We finally get to see her in hand-to-hand combat, after several episodes of hearing constantly what an unstoppable fighter she is. Better yet, her opponent is someone we know to be very skilled, so it’s all the more impressive when she overcomes him. Her skill at fighting is only outmatched by her skill in politics. In one fight, she eliminates her biggest threat and secures a strong ally, all while keeping the coalition alive, along with Clarke and Skaikru’s place as the 13th clan. She overcomes the coup beautifully, and is rewarded (and frankly, rewards us) with my all-time favorite scene on the show. A tender, soft, and honest moment shared between her and Clarke. The softest version of “Clexa’s Theme” in the background. The shy smiles, the little jokes. Although the fraught politics that define their relationship quickly intervene, Lexa still finds humor and warmth in her response to Clarke’s, “Reshop, heda.” She responds, “Goodnight, ambassador,” with so much naked warmth and affection on her face that it becomes brilliantly clear just how deeply the badass, stoic, unbeatable warrior has fallen for our space princess. For one shining moment, they were safe and smiled at each other.

(A close second here was Lexa’s introductory episode. Her reveal as commander is one of my favorites of all time.)

3. Harper Mcintyre - “DNR” - 4x09

Although it’s hard to see her in so much pain, there’s something incredibly compelling about watching Harper fall apart in season four. She’s known for many things - surviving some of the most intense drilling at Mount Weather, being one of the best guns in Skaikru, and being unfailingly kind and sweet. She takes on so much guilt for inadvertently causing a man’s death in season four that it pushes her to the point of wanting to give it all up for good. Chelsey’s performance is incredible, and the way this part of her arc tests her relationship with Monty is important and real. That Harper rises beyond this dark time to live a long, happy life just makes this episode all the more bittersweet. It’s very well-done and was one of the few times we were really able to get into her head.

[ravenxluna]

Luna Would’ve Been a Great Leader of the Second Dawn Bunker

Okay, so today is when the 100 writers are posting the script for episode 10. Which, as we all know, was the conclave. So picture this: AU in which Luna basically takes Octavia’s place in this episode, makes the decision to share the bunker (which would’ve actually been in character for her), and shows mercy to Octavia so she survives but isn’t the leader.

-“But with your clan gone, who will you fight for?”

“I fight for everyone. I fight for life. When I win, everyone will be saved.”

-Luna, after finding Octavia at the end of the conclave: “There are people worth saving. You aren’t one now, but I believe people can change.” Then she’d go on to help Octavia with her anger management issues, that whole “I know the darkness” thing. I feel like she’d be good at this, we already saw how she helped Raven.

-(Just going to point out that Octavia has kind of turned into a ruthless killer this season, and it seems unlikely to me that she would stop in one episode. Wait, actually, she doesn’t really stop, just kills the right people— those who will benefit her most. Seems to be in keeping with her previous actions, now that I think about it. Just not really the redemption arc it’s made out to be.)

-OKAY SO LUNA WOULD BE A GREAT LEADER OF THE BUNKER AND NOBODY CAN TELL ME OTHERWISE. She ran her own isolated society for years. She’d know all about rationing and keeping the peace, and is one of only two people on the show who have actually led a group of people living in close quarters for so long.  (The other being Jaha, but for fairly obvious reasons she would be the better choice to lead the second dawn bunker.) She might be a little out of her element being underground, but would anyone else not be? It’s not like any of the others had experienced it, they had all grown up on the ground or in space.

-I know that they were going for “the girl under the floor” stuff, but honestly, the “floukru queen” turned “wonkru queen” does it for me

-It takes a while for her to trust Skaikru again, but it happens eventually. Then when Raven comes back with the others, they’re reunited because sea mechanic needs to happen please and thank you

-It’s in character for her to be peaceful, calm people down, fiercely uphold her ideals, and balance out all of the warriors among them with her different point of view. But people would also know not to push her around or challenge her authority, because of her extreme skills in combat.

-Also, because of her nightblood status (and by having won the conclave) she would be held in higher regard by the grounders, as a person who actually knew and understood their religion. Also, being a nightblood would make it unlikely, or even impossible, for her to die from radiation poisoning should there be any risk of that. It’s important to have a leader you can count on, and I’d say that not dying is a part of that.

TLDR: Luna would have been an amazing leader and great asset to the show and to grounders and skaikru alike, and I’m pretty upset with the 100 writers for butchering her character and killing her off in the space of one episode. (Even if I still love the show.)

[raincityruckus]

So. Clearly for Grounders, having your hair done is a part of being an adult in the community. Clarke’s hair gets real elaborate when she’s running with Lexa. JR had Lexa’s hair covered when she was playing at being a meek serving girl because it would give away her station. Even Grounders with short hair have hair they need help with, Lincoln’s gonna have a hard time maintaining his own Mohawk and Indra has many skills but a flawlessly crisp line on the back of her own head probably isn’t one of them. Taking a braid from the hair of a fallen warrior is part of remembering them as we saw with Tris and Anya.

Octavia is obviously the best example of this. Pilot Octavia has her hair down and as she becomes more a more a part of Lincoln’s people her hair becomes increasingly “done”. After Lincoln dies, her hair goes back down for a while until she reconfirms her place in that community through her relationship with Indra. From there her hair gets increasingly complicated until she is the new quasi-Commander.

I have so much more I could say about Octavia’s hair and how she positions herself but like, this is already so long.

And, like, it makes sense for that to be the case. Who doesn’t like having their hair brushed? Who doesn’t enjoy the scalp massage during a haircut? Playing with someone’s hair is a pretty common sign of affection. And many of the hairstyles, especially of people with positions of more power are such that you would really struggle to do them alone. So you end up with this incredibly martial, violent society which eschews softness and vulnerability but one of their symbols of belonging community is fuckin’ playing with each other’s hair. (I have a lot of sappy feelings about that.)

The Grounders we see with their hair down and unstyled are imprisoned (Anya and Echo in the Mountain) or exiled (Emori and Roan when he’s looking for Clarke)*. Except Luna, who never has her hair done. You think Adria wouldn’t have braided her hair for her? Fuck nah.

So Luna who kills her brother and flees her Conclave rejects this one trapping of her people which is a soft, intimate representation of community relationships. She says that she’s casting aside the violence and bloodthirsty tradition of her people but she doesn’t really. She still has armed guards, and has no problem violating the bodily autonomy of people she doesn’t yet trust. Remember, when she has Seal Team Cockblock drug Adventure Squad they haven’t done anything to fuck with her yet. The only part of her society that she actually turns her back on aside from the Flame and the Heda, is this one thing representational of belonging and community. And even when we’re talking about the Flame and the authority of the Heda it’s a rejection that is mostly for show. Floukru are still one of the original 12 clans in the Coalition so she still engages with and at least nominally plays by the rules of that system - which of course they do, they must rely quite heavily on trade to supplement their food needs.

Unlike other Grounders who have actually decided to reject the needless violence of their society Luna lacks the courage of her convictions. Niylah, Lincoln, and Ilian are all peace loving hippies who want something more for themselves than fighting and bloodshed. And they have all removed themselves from their society in much more concrete terms than Luna has. Niylah lives alone at her trading post, certainly she interacts with her people but she is among them not of them. Ilian lived with his family at their farm and after their deaths he returns there (remember he is going back with or without Octavia) to plant a garden. Lincoln lives in a swanky bachelor cave and draws pretty girls.**

These three all continue to engage with their people, continue to care about the continuity of their communities, and they all still maintain the symbol of their emotional ties to that community with sweet hair-dos. They aren’t declarative or performative about their crystal munching Birkenstock ways; They believe what they believe and they live their truth. Additionally they put aside their own distaste for violence and bloodshed in defense of their people because their peace loving ways are the natural extension of their respect for humanity not a distancing from it.

But with Luna it’s all performance and manifesto. She denounces the authority of the Heda and yet stays in the Coalition. She wants nothing to do with society but she becomes a clan leader. She rejects violence at any cost but has an armed guard on her rig and will kill in defense of her own life. The only part of her alleged rejection of Grounder society which isn’t in name only, is that she doesn’t have her hair done. She wears it totally down always. I’d love to have seen her Conclave, see how she wore her hair before killing her brother. Because, let’s be real, she wears her hair down to punish herself for it. It is her self inflicted exile and punishment. She doesn’t hate Grounder society she hates herself.

Her “rejection” of Grounder society isn’t a true expression of some longing for peace and respect for human life, it’s a self imposed punishment for the death of her brother. She believes herself the rightful Heda, she says as much to Clarke; By stepping away from the power structure even nominally she’s engaging in a masochistic act of self denial. That’s why she doesn’t have the courage of her convictions and that’s why at the end of all things she’s a massive shitting fuckknuckle. Her “face”-heel turn never surprised me because she was never sincere in her rejection of violence or the traditions of the society she supposedly loathed. It is her own capacity to take lives that she hates and through that, herself.

TL;DR Luna wears her hair down because she hates herself and she is rejecting the only part of Grounder society that is a preformative representation of community bonds and belonging, symbolically exiling and punishing herself.

* I know Lexa has her hair down a couple times, I know. Bedtime doesn’t count, alright? Sleeping on braids that complicated would hurt your scalp. And anyway, while none of the scenes we get of Lexa with her hair unbound have her imprisoned or in exile, they are definitely of her being out of sync with her people and fracturing her bond to them. They are all scenes in which she is operating outside the Grounder community. She is notably alone with Clarke, who is obviously not a Grounder. In these scenes she questions or reexamines her traditions while nurturing this bond with a non-Grounder that has her closest advisors questioning her dedication to her people. So no, she’s not imprisoned or exiled, but there is a weakening of her community bond to the Grounders. Consider that she dies with her hair unbound at the hand of the man who represents her ceremonial position as the leader of her people.

** I also have just so many thoughts about how these three Grounders who maintain a healthy respect for human life and try to live in a new, peaceful way have meaningful relationships with Octavia. Sorry, that’s a lie. I have so many feelings about it and how it plays into her positioning as the one person who is really qualified to redefine what society looks like for the people in the Bunker. But this is already unacceptably long and @metastation already said a bunch of great stuff about Octavia’s unique position in their finale episodes.

PS. I know that the costume and makeup people probably didn’t think this hard about it. I have dishes to do and I am procrastinating.

[novalian]

Luna has always been such a muted, gentle character in demeanor if not in her philosophies, so it’s clear right from the start that something has snapped. She is full of broken glass in this episode, shoving her way through the crowd as she enters, brittle and angry. Even her voice seems rougher. ‘I fight for no one – I fight for a death. When I win, no one will be saved.’ This is spite and it is very hard to empathize with on the surface because we’re so invested in the characters of this world, but in all honesty, I see Luna’s point. I don’t think she’s right, but I do empathize with her rage and despair that even at the end of the world, with days left to go, humanity chooses this – ‘This is what mankind chooses to do with its final days. Another battle? More blood?’ 

This character was once a near-mythologized figure of peace and pacifism, and she has turned into a person who would rather fight for the death of all mankind than walk away and let the survivalist clans war among themselves. That is not the apathy and indifference that walked her down the pier on Becca’s Island before Raven persuaded her to come back. That is anger. And I think that while her own society caused the first, it’s Skaikru that caused the second.

Luna was one of the few Grounders who could actually see her culture and assign moral value to it, which is something many people within a culture cannot do; the ideas and social behaviours you are born into are invisible until you take a closer look. I think she believed that her society – particularly the cult of the Commander, but Grounder culture in general – was responsible for bringing out the worst in people. That seeds of greed and selfishness and hate would always be there, but if you could remove people from that environment – ‘showed them the way of peace’ -  humanity could be good. That was the foundation that Floukru’s oil rig colony was built on. So imagine her disappointment and her heartbreak when she put aside her skepticism and went to live among Skaikru in Becca’s lab to try and help them save mankind. That was such a huge leap of faith for her. And yet even these people, who grew up in a completely different society millions of miles away, turned out to be – in many ways, and certainly in their treatment of Luna – greedy, and selfish, and hateful. Grounders taught Luna that people could be cruel; Skaikru taught her that they are, inherently, and irrespective of influence – ‘cruel, and violent, and selfish to the core.’ It’s just not the whole story as far as human nature goes, and it’s a shame that Luna won’t be around to relearn about the ways that people can be good. She went to her grave believing she was the fool she called Lincoln.

[murphystartedthefire]

There’s a better version of season four where Adria, the last surviving child from Luna’s kru and her implied surrogate daughter, was also a nightblood and inadvertently died as a result of the experiments on the island and it would at least make Luna’s character devolution make a little more sense.

I’m just saying this woman created a safe haven for orphans, refugees, former child soldiers, she has seen the cruelty of humanity long before Clarke No Choice Griffin came along, yet she goes through a total character 180 in 4x10 and I still don’t understand how badly that was handled. I mean, you can add “well she’d also lost everything she cares about” to that but that happened weeks earlier and she already grieved and became semi-nihilistic over it and was talked back into caring in about 60 seconds and landed right back at “I know the darkness in myself, I have found peace, I would rather die than harm an innocent, I don’t want to be the last person alive.”

These are all things she said AFTER losing everything so I kinda think the jump from that to "we’re all actual worthless monster people especially me” like... MAYBE the inciting reason needed to be a little bigger than Clarke violating her consent again? Which was understandably shitty but like, not even the shittiest thing that happens to anyone in that *episode* let alone Luna’s entire life, and also maybe a situation where she was like the ninth-most-important character & mostly unconscious should not be treated like her villain origin story in hindsight?

It’s maddening because (among other things) I can absolutely buy a version of this season where Luna becoming an antagonist and Octavia becoming a heroine & protector is Where They Always Thought The Story Was Going but it really doesn’t track episode-to-episode any better on rewatch.

[bombshellsandbluebells]

Luna kom floukru deserved better

what i think is so completely frustrating and terrible about Luna’s final arc and the way her death was framed

is that this is the FIRST episode of Luna turning to the the darkness and the hatred and the grief and deciding to the hurt the world because of it - this was the FIRST episode of Luna as a villain

up until this point in the season, Luna has not only been a good person with strong and unwavering morals and a sympathetic character, but is usually the moral voice of reason. in the fight between Raven and Murphy, she’s the peacemaker. she calms the situation, ends the fight, and helps counsel both Raven and Murphy separately. in the very last episode that we saw Luna, she takes a stance against the nightblood test, calls it out for what it is, and refuses to participate in something that may kill someone

yet in the very first episode of Luna as a villain, Octavia defeating her and then preaching to her that humanity deserves to live but Luna doesn’t is framed as a victorious moment

up until this episode, Luna is the only one of the two of them that has stood for the idea that humanity as a whole, and individual humans, deserve to live. it’s not necessarily a jump to go from Luna standing against sacrificing someone for a cure to deciding mankind isn’t worth saving. it IS jarring to go from Luna standing against sacrificing someone to being told that she in particular is not worth saving - as if she’s some terrible villain we’ve been rooting against the whole time.

say Luna had been a villain this whole season, say that had been her arc and she had been killing people left and right (like someone cough couch) and generally acting on the idea that humanity doesn’t deserve to be saved, humanity is damned and deserves to die and human lives are worthless, perhaps her defeat could have been a victorious moment that shows how much Octavia (who was on a similar path) has learned

but as is, it comes off as a joke that I am supposed to somehow feel victorious that someone who has spent the entire season acting on that very idea - that human life means nothing - suddenly defeats and then preaches to someone who has JUST fallen into that line of thinking THIS VERY EPISODE

it’s not victorious or heroic to me that Octavia defeated Luna. it’s heartbreaking to me that Luna tried so hard to be good, even up until her last appearance, became disillusioned and turned into a villain because of her experiences, then died just as way to show how far Octavia has come. where was Luna’s redemption? where was her chance to learn this again?

Luna’s “victorious” defeat one episode into her villain arc suggests that it doesn’t matter how hard you try, when you fail and make mistakes and end up hurting others because you’ve been hurt, you don’t deserve a second chance, you don’t deserve to live

while Octavia’s storyline literally tells us it’s okay if you make mistakes and fall onto a terrible path because of your experiences, it’s okay if you hurt others because you’re hurting as long as you redeem yourself in the end (somehow? by killing more people I guess?)

both of these don’t work together

had the show spent serious time building a villain arc for Luna, having her commit worse and worse acts and showing no remorse for them, perhaps I could have felt victorious when she died. but how it’s handled is an insult to her character and turns Octavia’s “redemption” into a joke

[diyozaaa]

OCTAVIA WILL DIE IN S4

I'M FREAKING OUT So it looks like Octavia will fight Luna? The only reason why this would happen would be because of another conclave for commander? But that wouldn't even make sense because it goes against Luna's morals. I think Luna could win though? The whole 'I ran away because I knew I would win' thing with her would of been totally pointless unless she really is a superior fighter. Luna isn't just over confident for the hell of it, we see her character as pretty much the one with the most humanity in the show. She doesn't want to fight, she hates to see people hurt, she just wants peace. She already killed her own brother... Who knows exactly what she's capable of. Octavia's death has pretty much been foreshadowed all season. Anyone who goes on a rampage for vengeance is not going to be in the best position and look how many mistakes she has made this season... Killing without a second thought.. She is not going to be lucky every time. She sees herself as this fearless fighter who can conquer the world but she's also careless. "If I die I die, at least I go down fighting" Who does this sound very similar to? You got it.... Lexa. Someone who spoke often about her own death in season 3 and who said something similar before her fight with Roan. Then we come to her cheating death in her fight against Echo. Like seriously... How did she survive that? .... Many people will presume that she is now safe for the remainder of this season but oh what a great red herring that would of been, nobody would be expecting it. Finally... The Blake siblings. It's obvious due to rumours that Bellamy is going to go in search of Octavia, find her and bring her back. Now how would he be able to bring her back unless they reconcile first? Currently that girl will not listen to a single thing Bellamy says, no way would she willingly go anywhere with him right now. My feeling is they will make up (finally, I mean it's been kinda ridiculous how long she's held a grudge against her poor brother) and then she will die, imminently. It would fit the 100's love of a good tragedy. Octavia wastes so much time with unnecessary hatred towards Bellamy, the end of the world is near! Life is too short! We will more than likely see a beautiful moment between the pair then before we know it she will be gone. I honestly don't see her arc going anywhere else.... She's a bit like Finn... Her actions have taken her too far and I don't see a way back for her. The journey she has taken this season combined with the Blake sibling's journey this season just leads me to believe that Octavia is on borrowed time. Also.... We have had NO major deaths yet and the season is almost over. We know what the 100 is like... This is an incredibly unusual situation we're in right now. We are long overdue a major character loss... We will have major character losses and along with Jasper, Octavia seems the most logical and likely.

[em-ori]

Luna kom floukru.

What do I have to say about this sea queen? Well lots if you look deeper into her backstory and into her life on the ocean.

Luna First meeting: When we first see Luna she’s living on a rig in the ocean. A simple life compared to what she went through as a kid/ teenager. This was at first shooking. A night blood that lives peacefully, no killer instinct…or So we thought, we see her non peaceful side come “back” so to speak when she defends herself against Clarke who wants to put the chip in her head, (really Clarke? Disappointed in you.) This is the moment her non peaceful side starts to emerge from the past. When we first met her she’s a mystery all we know about her is what Lincoln told Octavia, all we know is that she lives in a village by the ocean, more like on the ocean if you ask me. When A.L.I.Es soldiers come to the rig, (ugh really destroy the peacefulness?) When Luna is inserted with the chip or Light drug, (as I like to call it.) This is when her non peaceful side really shows, she kills her “Boyfriend?” “Husband?” And when she is finally free of the Light drug, she is angry at herself at A.L.I.E. for destroying what little happiness she had to scrap and fight for when she left the Grounders. This is when we see the Luna that was long buried.

When Luna Comes Back: When Luna comes back sick and more likely afraid for her people, why are they dying? They just ate some fish. We see her soft side the side she’s holding onto, the side that keeps her grounded. When her people die, she is even more mad, sad and angry. Why did it have to come to this? I guess peace only lasts so long and the past comes back to haunt you. When they find out that she’s the only way or so they thought that they could survive. They want her blood, but she thinks her blood is a curse not hope. Not a way to save people, why does she think it’s a curse, because since they found out she was a night blood when she was most likely a kid she was trained to kill, trained to hurt people even if they are family, and that to her is a curse. A monstrous thing, she doesn’t want other people to have her cursed blood. She doesn’t want people to kill each other. She is tried of the fighting the pointless fighting, she wants peace, but nonetheless she let’s them do tests on her, she let’s them take her blood. Until they want to give it to Emori, because she will not let someone else die because of her blood/ bone marrow. She will not let people get hurt because of her.

Why I think Luna is fighting: I think Luna is going to fight in the conclave because she doesn’t want the grounders to have the bunker, partly because of what they did to her when she was a kid and partly because she knows they can’t and won’t stop fighting it’s in there nature they don’t know peace, look at Luna even after so many years of peace her killer instinct came back, it’s like when they first learn to walk they learn to kill. It’s part of them, and she doesn’t want anyone to have the bunker not if they are not worthy of it, not if they won’t try to make peace to be peaceful, she wants them to be afraid of her, of what she can do. Because if they are afraid maybe they will listen to reason. Maybe they will agree to share the bunker to be peaceful, but if you look at Luna you can say once a night blood always a night blood, it’s not so easy to run from your past because it will catch up.

My thoughts on Luna the sea queen, I wrote alot because i really like her character, can’t wait to see what happens to her, it’s interesting to see her go from peace to fighting again, but then again we can’t be that surprised she is a night blood trained from birth basically to kill, to lead. So we had to see it coming right? I didn’t think I had so much to say on her character until I started writing, and I must say I do think she will either not give the bunker to anyone or maybe will hope the clans make peace if she wins. But then again who really knows? Thank you for reading my thoughts on sea queen Luna. No offence meant to anyone who reads this so sorry if I offended you.

I guess I will tag some people, add our thoughts or correct me if I’m wrong. also sorry for any spelling or grammar mistakes Thank you again, @onelittletigger @bobmorlee @bellamyblakesgun @lindseysfandoms @mrsbellamy-blake @hedarraven @bellarkelifestyle

[lingeringscars]

I didn't flee the conclave because I was afraid I would lose. I fled because I knew I would win

[insufficient-earth-skills]

RE: Luna

Of course the only girl fated to survive Praimfayah thanks to her blood, dies. Was it ever going to be otherwise?

[metastation]

HELLO AND WELCOME BACK TO META STATION, WHERE THE AWESOME SELINA WILKEN FROM HYPABLE JOINS US TO FLAIL ABOUT THE FUCKING AMAZINGNESS OF THIS EPISODE, WHERE WE BID EMOTIONAL GOODBYES TO THREE SIGNIFICANT CHARACTERS, CRY WITH BLAKE SIBLING FEELS, FINALLY BEGIN TO LOVE WHERE OCTAVIA’S ARC IS GOING, AND THEN LOSE OUR MIND OVER CLARKE/JAHA/DANTE WALLACE LEADERSHIP PARALLELS WITH THAT INSANE TWIST ENDING

P.S. SORRY THIS IS IN ALL-CAPS BUT IT’S IMPOSSIBLE TO HAVE LOWERCASE FEELINGS ABOUT AN EPISODE THIS FANTASTIC

0:00 - After Our Grumpfest Last Week, This FANTASTIC Episode Has Restored Our Faith in This Season and This Show 0:08 – The Conclave Does Right By Octavia and We Want to Scream Forever About It 0:15 – Let’s Discuss That Gaia and Indra Hug: The Throne Room Scenes Keep the Emotional Stakes Real 0:25 – R.I.P. Ilian kom Trishanakru, Who We Finally Began to Kinda Come Around to Liking During This Episode 0:36 – Octavia kom Skaikru Becomes Octavia kom Everykru By Returning to Her Truest Core Self and Remembering Who Lincoln Really Was 0:49 – Is Season 4 Too Episodic For the Stakes of Big Moments to Carry Forward The Way They Did In Earlier Seasons? 0:55 – We Debate Whether Octilian Needed to Be Sexual Or Not 0:59 – Erin Calls Claire a “Kabby Baby Truther” 1:01 – R.I.P. Luna kom Floukru, Whose Sudden Descent Into Darkness We Have Many Thoughts About 1:14 – A Science Island Thread About Clarke and Luna Would Have Fixed So Many Issues In Both of Their Storylines 1:22 – R.I.P. Roan kom Azgeda, One of This Show’s Most Beautifully-Realized Characters Who We Already Miss Desperately 1:37 – “Before They Were Ruthless Murder Machines, They Were Nerds”: We Love It When the Show Remembers That the Blakes Are Really Smart 1:41 – Bellamy Finally Finds the Balance Between Protecting Octavia and Letting Her Go 1:43 – Drink! Hamilton Reference! 1:49 – Selina Tells Us Her Least Favorite Moment of the Whole Series 1:52 – A Brief Sideline For Claire to Scream Her Family Feels About This Episode’s Next-Level Kellamy Content 1:57 – WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK, CLARKE GRIFFIN????: We Are Mixed On Whether That Twist Should Have Come Out of Nowhere, But We All Love the Twist Itself 2:10 – Jaha and Clarke, Self-Proclaimed “Chosen Ones” 2:28 – How Much You Wanna Bet Kidnapping Bellamy and Not Kane Was Part of a Jaha Power Play? I THINK SOMEONE WANTS TO BE CHANCELLOR AGAIN 2:31 – Is the Bunker Storyline Going to Finally Bring Us the Abby/Bellamy Rebel Squad Team-Up of Our Dreams????? 2:40 – Locking the Bunker Doors Is Clarke’s List v2.0 2:47 – We’re Very Excited to Watch the Griffins Fight and the Blakes Reconcile Next Week

P.S. this episode was made possible by the amazing humans of Editkru on Twitter - Jess, Emily, Maylina, Brittany and Cecille - who tagged in to divide up the editing with us so we could get it online this weekend even with Claire out of town.  We are hugely grateful to them for their help!!!

[falafel14]

Meta Masterpost: Character Essays for The 100

So I’m updating my meta master list with all the character centric essays for the benefit of any new followers I may have picked up recently. I currently have three half-written character essays sitting in my drafts - focusing on Maya, Harper and Octavia - which I will be finishing and posting towards the end of S4. After those three essays are done I may be retiring from writing The 100 meta. As you can see my main character investments are the delinquents (over the grounders and the adults) and I’ve written about most of them already. But do let me know in the notes on this post...is there any other character I haven’t written about yet that you’d like to see me write a meta essay for?

Bellamy Blake: Everybody’s Big Brother

Clarke Griffin: The Girl Who Became Death

Finn Collins: Taking the Easy Way Out

Harper McIntyre: She’s Lost Control Again (coming soon)

Jasper Jordan: The Dying Kid

John Murphy: Saving His Own Ass

Luna kom Floukru: We Do Not Fish For Children

Maya Vie: Natural Born Revolutionary

Monty Green: Cold Child Thawing

Octavia Blake: The Black Sheep of Every Family (coming soon)

Raven Reyes: Her Brain over Her Pain

Here’s hoping for this post to get a reblog from @the-100-meta-library. What a great blog that’s turned out to be! I love it.

[novalian]

i don't get why luna was all 'please don't turn us away because of what i did to you' in 403 but then in 404 she was back to basically 'screw you people suck'. it's like she went from understanding that refusing to help was wrong to reverting back with no reason. thoughts?

I actually think Luna is very consistent in herviews; she has criteria for the sort of people she considers ‘good’ or ‘worthsaving’, and they’re the same criteria she used as a barometer for lettingpeople live on her rig – you have to be ‘done with fighting’ (with children whohave never had to fight being theexception). By this logic, Luna looks at the world and sees her people –pacifistic, non-interfering, apolitical – as good and the rest of the world,with its varying degrees of violence and range of conflicting/conflict-creatingpolitical ideologies, as bad.

In 4x03, Luna is desperate; her people are dying outbecause their food sources are poisoned. Skaikru and their medicine are thelast hope that she might be able to save them. So she begs them not to turn herpeople away because Luna refused to help them when they neededit; she’s asking for an act of grace instead of quid pro quo. But I don’t thinkshe considers her refusal to help Skaikru as an injustice in the same way thatSkaikru refusing to help her people would be, because by Luna’s definition,Skaikru are ‘bad’ and her people are ‘good.’

I get the impression that Luna asking ‘Do you thinkI deserve this for refusing the flame?’ is generally interpreted as her beingself-loathing, but I actually interpret it as more of an accusation; that Lunabelieves Bellamy must consider her illness and the deaths of her people askarmic retribution for refusing to help, and she judges him for it. To me, sheseems taken aback when he answers with ‘No-one deserves to suffer’. She doesn’texpect that kind of empathy and forgiveness from Skaikru.

In 4x04, all her people are dead (Nyko is her friendbut he isn’t one of her precious peaceful few). There are no people left whoLuna believes are worth saving, including herself. Because Luna might be theleader and protector of Floukru, but I think she has a very Clarke-likephilosophy about that – I bear it so they don’t haveto. We’ve seen thatalthough she is extremely reluctant to fight, she will do so if forced, and Ithink she hates that about herself even while believing it’s necessary.

I get the feeling that Luna was deeply traumatizedby her time in Polis and by her conclave – she killed her own brother, and Ithink that gave her a visceral, emotional, almost physical aversion to violenceand a complete inability to conceptualize of a cause that might be worthkilling for. While she will kill for Floukru when forced, I think she takesthat on as a mark on her soul; it’s not something she’s ever at peace with. Andin fact I think she struggles far more with her beliefs about pacifism andnon-interference than her absolute condemnation of those who don’t adhere to itimplies; the part of her that was raised as a Nightblood, that was taught tofight and who still emerges in times when her people, who she considers thelast good thing on earth, are threatened – that part is at odds with what shebelieves is right. And she judges herself to be as bad and unworthy of beingsaved as she does everyone who isn’t Floukru; I think if Luna were asked if shewere more like Skaikru at heart or her own people, she would say Skaikru.

This is why the interactions with Raven are soimportant, by the way. Raven saw Luna heartbroken over the loss of Adria, achild, and connected that in her brilliant Raven brain to Luna’s criteria fortaking people in (Raven does not get enough credit for her emotionalintelligence, btw). She knows, even though she has hardly even spoken to Luna,that Luna’s idea of goodness is innocence. So she reminds Luna that there aremore children out there (and that as long as the human race continues, therewill always be more children). They deservea chance. Raven doesn’t try to convince her that Skaikru are good, or even thatRaven herself is – she speaks to Luna on her level, even though I think Ravenwould expand her own definition of ‘good’ to include people who fight for theright reasons (and maybe this is something Luna will come to consider). By theend of the episode, Luna has renewed hope because she’s reminded that even byher own narrow definition, there are good people outside of Floukru worthsaving (which is one of the themes of the show – finding things you value inpeople who aren’t your own). Raven has reminded her of the goodness of children– and also of people who are done withfighting, as represented by the moment when she lays down her gun and givesLuna a choice.

Sorry, this got long (and went on a Sea Mechanictangent). But basically, I think Luna has been consistent; and I think thatrather than reverting to an isolationist perspective in 4x04 and then swingingaround again, this is in fact the first time we’ve seen her consider thathelping people outside her own small circle is a worthwhile thing to do.