Ranked: The 15 Saddest Deaths on CW’s The 100

5. Wells Jaha

The murder of Wells Jaha, the prince of the Ark, at the hands of a grieving twelve-year-old in the third episode of the first season, is why some Black viewers either immediately tuned out of the show or decided not to tune into the series altogether.

It is disturbingly common for Black characters to die violently in genre fiction. Wells’ death is particularly upsetting because of his innate goodness and determination to see the delinquents through the difficulty of being on Earth.

In “Earth Kills,” Charlotte murdered Wells in an effort to slay her demons. Meaning a boy whose entire characterization was based on wanting to help people got likened to evil because of the actions of his father. And subsequently paid for it with his life and died alone after just reuniting with Clarke who found out he wasn’t responsible for her father’s execution and only took the blame for it so she wouldn’t be angry with her mom.

Black characters dying for shock value, and in an effort to protect or renew white innocence, isn’t new. It’s just ever more hurtful each time that it happens especially when what should be a significant passing isn’t treated as such.

Wells was Clarke’s best friend but the episode following his death centered more on saving and protecting Charlotte as well as on blaming others. And while Charlotte decided to kill herself in the end, it just all seemed to be too much and infuriating because the narrative quickly moved on on the ground as if he never really mattered.