Survival in The 100
TW: talks about canon-typical violence and death and suicidal thoughts of characters
Survival in The 100 is presented in a really interesting way. In some respects, The 100 doesn’t hold back on killing off characters. But in other ways, there are some characters that seem like they are able to survive anything (like Clarke). She was kidnapped (twice), dragged through the woods by Anya, shot by her own people, invaded a highly armed compound (Mt Weather), was tortured by her own mother, had a blood transfusion so an AI could be placed in her head that would kill her normally, survived a bone marrow transfusion, got almost burned alive by a radiation wave, captured again and had a shock collar on, and literally survived her body being overtaken by Josephine where she was thought dead.
Some fans may not realize just how many thing she has actually survived until they see a list like that, and that isn’t even everything. I’ve heard a lot of people talk about how this show doesn’t kill off the central characters but that isn’t necessarily true. Season 6 and Season 7 killed off Kane, Abby, Monty, Harper, Madi (mostly) and Bellamy. We’ve also seen a lot of characters reach a breaking point, almost taking their own lives (Murphy, Clarke). We’ve also seen what characters become when they are trying to survive. “Who we are and who we need to be to survive” as Bellamy puts it, are different. For example, when Clarke irradiated Mt Weather or when Octavia made the people in the bunker become cannibals to survive, we see the brutal side of survival. I think seeing that brutal side is important, it reminds us that there is a moral grey area with these characters, and we ask ourselves what is really justified.
