Granted there’s a lot that happened in 7x07 but why is not one talking about Anders’ reaction to seeing Echo?? I’ve watched every person of the Deciples and checked the color of their blood and all that I’ve seen is red. And I really thought we’d have a society that didn’t know of Nightblood as maybe they could have “transcended” from Second Dawn. Idk. But here’s my thinking rambles.
Anders wasn’t that surprised when he saw Echo. Maybe curious as to why she cut her face but not surprised by her Nightblood. We know later on that Anders went to a secret level and woke up Bill Cadogan, founder/leader of SD/Shepherd of the Deciples. Cadogan was strongly Anti-Becca Franco and her tech. We know for a fact that Becca went down to Earth after the Neculear Apocalypse with intent on giving survivors her Nightblood serum. We also know that she was greeted and promptly burned alive by Second Dawn members. We know that they later injected themselves with Becca’s Nightblood serum. We know that these people are the ascendants of Grounders.
Which begs the question, who took the serum and why? Due to Anders’ lack of expression, it’s likely that either he knows from Cadogan that to access the Flame/A.L.I.E 2.0 you need Nightblood. This makes turning Echo into a Nightblood and a focus point of the season way more reasonable and important as she can now be used for another purpose other than as a warrior — I’ll expand on this soon. It’s also a possibility that Bill Cadogan is a Nightblood himself and maybe even the only one, hence why he’s been in cryosleep for hundreds of years. Maybe Anders is a resurrected guy with Mind Drives or some other way or a descendant of someone Cadogan trusted and thus that family line became the equivalent to a Flame Keeper.
We also know that with Levitt and Octavia’s mantra they only saw up to CoL and Battle of Polis where Clarke had the Flame in her head. They still do believe she does, and they know she’s a Nightblood as well given the blood transfusion from Ontari. We know from A.L.I.E 1.0 and Raven that everything is basically in code and can be converted into actual words/pictures/and that possession is a possible thing as also seen by Sheidheda through the Mind Drives.
The last war mankind with ever wage, is likely about immortality or preventing death as we’ve already had a bit of temptation of this in season 6 and the plot went in the way to destroy it.
So here’s where it comes altogether. Given the promo, Cadogan likely lost or loses his family and a lot of his followers. He blames Becca and A.L.I.E. 1.0 for the cause of the Nuclear Apocalypse so much that his followers burn her to death at first sight. Cadogan examines Becca’s tech and Nightblood Serum and this is when divisions are drawn. Some fucker finds an an anomaly stone and some other fucker wants to rebuild society. Second Dawn splits into two factions: Grounders and Deciples. Cadogan has a choice to make, he can’t unite them as they want different things but because he’s Anti-Becca, he chooses against those who become Grounders and leads those who will become Deciples. He once again uses his same tactics when he started the bunker when starting the Deciples and time traveling. We know that there’s specific codes for each person and that they’ve only found a sequence hundred of years ago. Once the anomaly stone on Earth was opened, it’s likely that all of Cadogan’s supporters went through seeing as the Grounders’ biggest threat was always Mount Weather and a lot of their saying and beliefs stem from Second Dawn mottos. Both societies believe feelings are a weakness, we know Cadogan makes all this shit up so he’s likely stone cold after losing his family and friends. He may of even been so lonely that he seccumbed into Becca’s Tech (Maybe the Flame before it was possibly stolen from him and used to signify Commanders of the Grounders). Instead of idolizing her, he uses her tech to try and find a way to expand not only the human mind, but also the human lifespan. He may even be trying to bring people back from the dead. But the only way to access Becca’s tech is through the Nightblood serum. As he could be harmed to the instability of her early models, Cadogan could of used people as guinea pigs instead. Thus, Nightbloods are rare in this society too but seeing one isn’t bazare. Cadogan likely chooses strong-minded warriors who have mastered their emotions and then turns them into Nightbloods, giving them whatever Becca Tech they have. (I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s actually a second Flame and it’s linked to the original one — could be by Becca, could be created by Cadogan or someone who was trying to copy the Flame.) So, Echo being a Nightblood is like a free experiment. And the fact that Clarke so perfectly arrives the same day Echo exposes her secret of Nightblood to Anders’ is too perfect.
Cadogan and Anders can use Echo to access the Key — being an “it” and therefore the Flame they believe is in Clarke’s head but is actually destroyed — into “downloading” all of the information off the Flame. As all the Commander’s spirits were stored on it and the Mind Drives actually have one’s mind downloaded, it’s likely that Cadogan and his Deciples have tried to bring people back (maybe with the Flame or Flame Copy). It’s likely that, while he can’t bring back his family, Cadogan is trying to make it so the human race will be impossible to kill so the next Becca and A.L.I.E. can’t destroy it again.
So, while we like to think we’re in the next chapter and whatever new problem Clarke and Co are facing is not related to their history??? Think again. Every single season has been related to Becca and her God Effect so you bet JRoth is gonna go full circle with this and Either actually give us Becca Franco or destroy everything she’s ever done. To record, The Ark IS THE ONLY SOCIETY that isn’t touched by Becca. Sure, she was a part of it, but she never left any of her Becca Tech with it. It’s gotten to be so much about Becca’s God Effect that they really made season 5 a war between two Becca clans (Eligius Prisoners bs Wonkru) fight each other over EDEN which ended up destroying the world. Again. This show gives nods to the dead, Becca is the one with the most nods.
So there’s no way season seven is ending until Becca is either brought back to life/Cadogan achieves immortality, or all Becca Tech and clans are destroyed.
