May We Meet Again

We all know Clarke is the Head and Bellamy is the Heart. But we have a leading trio, not a leading duo - people (including JRoth, a lot of the time) seem to forget this. There’s a lot of focus on Clarke and Bellamy, but we can’t ignore Octavia - the Soul.

People might forget this leading trio concept, because we rarely see them together anymore, and that’s one reason why I am excited for the upcoming episodes, because it seems that we finally will again. But it’s unmistakable - even though Octavia’s storyline usually diverges from the others, she’s just as vital a part of the narrative, and character appearances bear that out - as of 6x09, 80 episodes of The 100 have aired. Clarke, Bellamy and Octavia are the only characters to appear in more than 70 (77 for Octavia, 78 for Bellamy, Clarke is difficult because of the recent Josephine problem, but Eliza Taylor has been in 79 episodes). The next highest episode appearance count is for Raven at 63 - a full season less than the leading trio.

The leading trio is a common trope in media, but this leading trio is modeled differently than most, because it is based more on classical Greek plays rather than modern media (where the trio is often a love triangle of some kind).

The protagonist, Clarke, the Head. The deuteragonist, Bellamy, the Heart. And the tritagonist, Octavia, the Soul.

In the three-actor structure of classic Greek plays, the tritagonist is set in opposition to the protagonist, and thus the deuteragonist is then no longer the adversary, and instead becomes the confidant of the protagonist. 

Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? But it is more complicated still, because Octavia is a mirror not only to Clarke, but to Bellamy as well.

Clarke and Octavia have been set as foils to each other since the Pilot. Even conveniently colour-coded - Clarke, the protagonist, has light hair, while Octavia, the tritagonist, has dark hair. Where Clarke is cautious, Octavia is reckless. Clarke is the Princess, Octavia is the Non-Person. Until Raven lands on the ground, they’re also the only active female members of the delinquents, when compared to half a dozen male characters - Bellamy, Wells, Finn, Jasper, Murphy, Monty.

As the seasons go on, things evolve further, to the point that in season 5, Octavia is not only a foil to Clarke, but her dark mirror - they’ve done many similar things for the causes of their people - both Octavia herself and Madi make this clear - but unlike Clarke, who will even apologize and argue with herself about her actions (see: her mindspace), Octavia knows what she’s done and doesn’t pretend otherwise (see: her mindspace).

This sort of approach terrifies Clarke. But even more, it terrifies Bellamy.

Because Octavia is Bellamy’s mirror too. She spent the entirety of her formative years with only him and their mother. She is everything that he is, reflected back at him - his strengths and his flaws, his violence and his compassion, and more besides. 

But how does all of this make Octavia the Soul?

The Soul is, in essence, the representation of Humanity itself. I’ve seen other people write about similar ideas, that Octavia is the representation of humanity as a whole, rising and falling and needing redemption, etc., and they’re not entirely wrong, though I do often disagree on specific aspects of their characterization of Octavia. But the basic idea of Octavia as representative of humanity is sound.

The mood of a season can be seen in a microcosm with Octavia, because the state of humanity as a whole is reflected in her own journey.

For example, at the end of season 3, everyone thinks that the world has been saved, but then Clarke tells Bellamy the dark truth - they didn’t save the world after all, which is directly followed by the last shots of the season - Octavia killing Pike and walking away, and the very last shot being Bellamy’s reaction as the music turns grim. Humanity has a dark and troubled path ahead, so does Octavia.

Then at the end of season 4, there’s a more optimistic mood - Octavia saved humanity and gave them hope and the opportunity to survive. Despite what happened later, that moment was hopeful, both for her and for the rest of humanity.

Then we see how season 6 starts - people want to stubbornly believe that everything is good and everything is fine, they don’t want to look beneath the surface or dig too hard, because that would undermine this fantasy. This applies both to trying to ignore Sanctum’s dark secrets and Octavia’s troubled mind. Not addressing her issues and casting her out is easier than trying to deal with the difficult reality of her depression and suicidal ideation. They (Bellamy especially) don’t want to see her, because she reminds them of their own flaws that they don’t want to face (again, Bellamy especially, I wonder if we’ll get a mindspace episode for him, alas, probably not).

If we dive into more theological matters - and why not, since this season has been full of discussions of hell and other such theological topics - we’ll see that Octavia as the Soul is represented here as well. Octavia has been both a victim soul and a scapegoat -  a victim soul when she has willingly taken on the suffering of humanity so they can be redeemed (taking away the choice during the Dark Year), and a scapegoat when she has been burdened with the sins of others and driven away (such as being blamed for the destruction of Earth, which she has even internalized and blames herself for, even though that was McCreary).

So as we head into the last act of the season, and Clarke, Bellamy and Octavia being on a collision course with each other - what will all this mean?

The three of them will come together in some fashion, at which point both Clarke and Bellamy are going to have to confront their feelings vis-a-vis Octavia. Clarke is likely to be more sympathetic, having begun to realize that she and Octavia have a lot of things in common, and, as her mindspace told her, that she has things to apologize to Octavia for. Bellamy will have a harder time, because he wrote her off many episodes ago, and he isn’t expecting to see her again. We haven’t had that “say I’m your sister” line from the trailer yet, so I’m not expecting a happy reunion.

I mean, is this even in doubt? Linctavia. Linctavia a thousand times over.

He saved her.

She saved him.

They worked towards peace together.

Their loyalty to each other inspired change in the people around them, motivating them to see beyond the labels of “Sky People” and “Grounders”. 

Even after his death, his wish for peace and unity continued to inspire her. It was for him that she shared the bunker. It was for him that she united the clans.

“I wasn’t fighting for Skaikru today. I thought I was fighting for myself, but I now know that’s not true either. I was fighting for us all. Skaikru will not take the bunker alone. We will share it. Equally. Because we are equal. We are one clan, and we will survive Praimfaya together. Ogeda.”

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?