Akilah and Lottie's dynamic in s3 is so complex and interesting and fucked up, and it's super frustrating how some people have reduced it to Akilah the Fragile Innocent being manipulated by Big Bad Crazy Lottie. Because truthfully, Akilah was very much an active player in the situation, acting on her own motivations which eventually led her to murderous intent.
First, we gotta acknowledge that Akilah was one of many that played a role in validating Lottie's delusions in season 2. It's true that she wasn't an early convert to the cult of the Wilderness; she attended the meditations because most of the group did, and she found comfort in ritual and magical thinking, but she wasn't a true believer. Still, she joined the "I trust Lottie" chorus and looked to her for guidance. She used Lottie and the concept of the Wilderness to survive the winter.
In season 3, Lottie's delusions stopped being to her benefit, but Akilah wasn't getting dragged along against her will. When Lottie tried to pressure her into taking shrooms, she said no fucking thanks and walked away. She was comfortable refusing something she didn't want to do. Then she was accidentally exposed to the cave gas and had a "vision," which opened her up to the possibility she had a connection to the Wilderness. Despite having doubts, she's the one that kept approaching Lottie and drove their forays into the cave for more visions.
When Travis told Akilah he lied about the Wilderness choosing her, she put all the blame on Lottie for "making" her believe. She joined in on a revenge murder plot against Shauna and Lottie, and she poisoned their only ethical food source to force a hunt as winter approached with, as far as she was aware, zero chance of rescue.
That is absolutely unhinged behavior! I understand how she got there, and I don't blame her. It's exactly what we've come to expect from this gaggle of desperate teenagers. I just think too many people wanna water it down into something more easily digestible, where there's obvious heroes and villains, and that just does not work with this show. Let Akilah be complex! Let her have her own motivations and agency and skewed morality! Let situations be messy and complicated!
Akilah is a sweet baby angel that's deeply traumatized, and she's a deranged cannibal that escalates violence. Lottie pressured her into doing dangerous things against her better judgement, and she was a willing participant who wanted to believe for her own reasons. Lottie used Akilah to get a Wilderness fix, and Akilah used Lottie and then scapegoated her into the architect of her woes.
