Hi Rosy, I read in one of your other asks that you have been talking of canon Bellarke since 3.05. We all know the combustion that 3.07 was on and off camera. The writers (maybe or not under pressure) then confused Bellarke a hell lot in S03 before they got their brains back in Perverse Instantiation. I feel like that's the worst season for them together. Then there was the indisputable love saga that is S04 where Bellarke was set in stone.
My question to you is, say L had lived beyond 3.07, would you still hold on to your theory of canon Bellarke since 3.05?
Hmm. My theory is not “canon bellarke since 3.05.” 3.05 was when I had the revelation that the story was centered around Bellarke and their relationship and required them to be together, which means that’s when I decided they were endgame and the whole show was actually their love story in the apocalypse, and HOW they became leaders and saved the world, with the ultimate goal of creating a better society. That was just when I sat down and looked at their symbolism and story structure and allusions.
3.02 was the first time I actually made the connection that this show was being literary, because they gave us that Dante’s Inferno reference with the painting, and went “Look at this! LOOK! I SAID LOOK!!” Then my art history geek kicked into action, and then my comparative lit geek kicked into action and the gears stared grinding. It took me three episodes (including the one that triggered my PTSD) and a LOT of confusion on my part before I put the pieces together enough to see a picture. And at that point, I don’t think I recognized that the story they were constructing went past one season, but rather carried over across ALL the seasons. So a lot developed for me after that revelation.
My theory has Bellarke as the main relationship from s1, even the pilot, although that was before they figured out their long term plot and how serious it would get, they still put the seeds of the importance of Bellarke in ep 1, as her main antagonist, it was fully possible they might have done a simpler enemies to lovers story with them. Especially considering that Bellarke was the main romantic pairing of the book and initial concept.
Okay. But back to your question about CL. Would I still maintain my theory that Bellarke was the main relationship and romance story if L had lived.
You say s3 was the worst for Bellarke, but I actually argue that it was the TEST for Bellarke. They were individually lost and traumatized and their relationship was torn apart. Hakeldama showed the moment where they ripped off the bandaids and revealed their true pain and hearts to each other– and we saw that Bellarke WAS real. Solid. And unshakeable.
But HOW? He rejected her and handcuffed her! She shocklashed him and ran back to Lxa! Because that was the first time in s3 when both of them were real. With ANYONE. And it held up a mirror for them to face who they were and what they had become. Then they went and faced that, and both chose to leave their influences and return to their people– in full on tragedy mode, but they CHOSE.
If L hadn’t died, I don’t know how they would have resolved her storyline. She’d pretty much ruined her leadership by putting desire (for love, for power, for fame and a legacy) above her people since Rubicon. She either would have died later or become an outcast after taking out the flame and losing her power, idk. Maybe she would have taken Echo’s place in spacekru. They would have had to give her a whole new story and path. It’s hard to imagine and it might have changed the story, but it would NEVER have changed the fact that Clarke and Bellamy are and always have been, the central relationship of the 100. This is no longer just my theory. This was confirmed, multiple times by JR.
The story was NEVER about L. She was a supporting character in CLARKE’S story. I think this was the biggest misinterpretation of s3, and we got it from both CLs and BCs. People said that L was the hero now, Clarke was the Love Interest, and Bellamy was being villainized and NONE OF THAT WAS SO. That was a totally backwards interpretation of the season. Clarke was the hero and L was her foil. Bellamy was the hero and Pike was his foil. The grounders weren’t the good guys. And the skaikru weren’t the bad guys. They reversed the story to make their favorite the hero of the show. This ended BADLY for everyone involved.
The season was a TEST of Clarke and Bellamy’s characters and of their relationship. And they both passed the test. Leaving both characters and relationship FAR stronger at the end of the season than the beginning. Season 3 did not LOSE Bellarke. It TESTED them, and then FOUND them again, stronger.
The CL relationship, while significant and powerful and passionate, was never part of the main story. It was ONLY a part of Clarke’s character development. It didn’t affect the vast majority of characters in the story. Where the Bellarke relationship affects nearly everyone. L was the shadow to Clarke. She was the temptation. She was a mirror of what Clarke could become if she followed her princess in the tower leadership ways. JUST LIKE Pike was for Bellamy. Could Pike’s story have continued on? Certainly, but his role would have had to change just like L’s did. If you invalidated Bellamy’s role in s3, to focus on CL, then you missed the parallels and the way the story kept them on the same KIND of journey, clearly saying that it was THESE TWO at the center of the season, not CL or L.
I never read CL as the OTP or the central relationship. That was CLEARLY bellarke. I thought that MAKING it the center of the show was another misreading, and it seemed like every conversation they had about feelings was influenced by power and power issues, rather than trust and honesty. What people read as romantic is a personal thing, though, so if people were attracted to that, it’s a ship and let ship proposition.
But as for it’s place in the story or Clarke’s journey or Bellarke as central relationship? It was never the main point. It was an obstacle to Clarke becoming who she needed to be to be a hero. People who consider CL to be the OTP of the show don’t like this interpretation, but I’m not sure how much clearer it can be that leads of the show, who the show runner has declared to be the central relationship and soulmates who love and need each other ARE THE ACTUAL MAIN SHIP AND OTP? It was never CL? Even without the death they decided to part ways because their loyalties could not be reconciled.
I mean. I’ve been asked this before. In different terms. If L had lived, would CL be endgame. And I have to say. No. I’m clearly coming from the perspective that Bellarke is endgame and the center of the story. From the pilot. This is why I am not worried when Clarke or Bellamy are with other people. I don’t believe in OTP soulmates one true love kind of thing. My concept of soulmates is more… you have this intense true connection with people, but it can happen with many people in your life and they are not necessarily romantic at all. And in that case, I consider CL to be soulmates because their connection was true, but it was not endgame, it was not Clarke’s one true love. THIS SHOW,HOWEVER, DOES believe in that kind of soulmate, the one true love, other side of the coin thing. And when they call Clarke and Bellamy the head and the heart, they are showing their hand that Bellarke are endgame, soulmates, one true love and according to the s4 cliffhanger, and 5.01 and 5.03, destined to be romantic, too.
