The 100 season 5 finale brought the death of many characters, and thus there are not many original members of the 100 left. Exactly how many have we lost in 5 seasons?
Set in a post-apocalyptic world, the opening premise of the show involved one of the last strands of the human race sending 100 of their own teenage delinquents down to Earth from their Ark space station to gauge whether the ground was habitable again.
The 100 has developed and evolved drastically since this first idea and the end of season 5 mixed up things once again when our characters found themselves on a completely different planet, following the complete demolition of their last survivable land.
Many of our favorite characters have met brutal and moving ends in the past five years. The season 5 finale brought us the devastating and emotional death of the beloved Harper and Monty who were part of, what I like to call, The Original 100.
Believe it or not, there are only four characters left from the original 100 juvenile prisoners who were sent to the ground from the Ark back in the very first episode.
Clarke, Octavia, Murphy and Miller are the only ones left. Now before you yell at me and talk about Bellamy and Raven, who are still alive and kicking, neither of them were prisoners of the Ark and neither were a part of the headcount of the 100 juveniles.
The 100 — “Shifting Sands” — Image Number: HUN505a_0089.jpg — Pictured (L-R): Bob Morley as Bellamy and Eliza Taylor as Clarke — Photo: Katie Yu/The CW — © 2018 The CW Network, LLC. All rights reserved.
Bellamy snuck on the original drop ship as a guard to be with his sister, Octavia, and Raven traveled down to Earth on her own escape pod a while after the others. Although Bellamy heavily identifies himself as part of the 100, even referencing it in the season 5 finale by calling the group “us”, he’s still not technically one of them. This may have always been the reason he fell into being such an influential character in the first season, becoming a leader to The 100. He had a higher superiority over the others being the oldest and having the privilege of not being a convicted felon.
In contrast to this, Octavia has shown moments where she almost completely rejects The 100 label as she has become somewhat of an anomaly and an outsider. Nobody even knew she existed on the Ark as her mother broke the law by giving birth to her, so she was kept hidden away and, once found, was imprisoned in isolation.
The 100 — “Shifting Sands” — Image Number: HUN505a_0185.jpg — Pictured (L-R): Adina Porter as Indra, Marie Avgeropoulos as Octavia and Kyra Zagorsky as Kara — Photo: Katie Yu/The CW — © 2018 The CW Network, LLC. All rights reserved.
Octavia was then discriminated against on Earth for wanting to integrate with the Grounders and was rejected for being foreign. Even in the latest season, Octavia is still treated as being different and has come a long way down a deep and dark road.
Similarly, Raven never really shown interest in being named as a part of The 100 community. This wouldn’t have worked anyway as her character is, like Bellamy, a lot older, more mature and independent. Unlike Bellamy who spent a lot of time in the first season trying to guide The 100, Raven never really attached to the group. She only bonded with a couple of select people, namely her then-boyfriend Finn, who was the whole reason she followed the group down to Earth in the first place.
Only having four survivors from The Original 100 isn’t too bad when you consider that we were barely introduced to many of them in the first place. Following a hectic war with the Grounders after they first land on Earth, about half of the delinquents are killed off by the end of the first season.
The 100 — “The Warriors Will” — Image Number: HUN510b_0022.jpg — Pictured: Jarod Joseph as Nathan Miller — Photo: Diyah Pera/The CW — © 2018 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
If they did survive, and escape the multitude of other enemies over the years, they still had to face Apocalypse Two during season 4. It seems only Miller from the delinquents was chosen for a VIP seat in the bunker that could not save everyone.
Even if they were chosen to be saved by the oncoming radiation (which is highly unlikely as only the most useful people would have been spared), they still had to get around Octavia’s violent and brutal democracy of the fighting pits in the bunker over the course of six years and survive the war against McCreary. It’s hard to see anyone else making it through all of that.
There were a ton of named background characters from The 100 introduced throughout season 1, but many of them did not play prominent roles and the ones that did have been reduced over time.
It’s telling that the characters who are still fighting are Clarke and Murphy, both “cockroaches” in their own right, Octavia, a complete badass, and Miller who, although he may not be a major character, has gone through so much from the very beginning.
What’s for certain is that all four characters have gone through heaps of change. Clarke and Octavia have grown from innocent teenagers to fighters and leaders, as well as bringing about their fair share of death and destruction.
Murphy has gone from an arrogant traitor, only interested in his own survival, to a loyal and brave friend and partner to Emori. We’ve seen Murphy’s vulnerable and romantic side over the past couple of seasons which shows his development and growth.
Finally, Miller has evolved from a slightly immature and bouncy boy to a strong soldier, with fighting, resilient spirit that can only be gained through years of experience in war and turmoil. It’s easily why he is one of my favorite characters.
Who is your favorite from the original 100?