The 100: 10 Most Used Justifications For Their Actions
In a series like this, nearly episode is made up of impossible choices. When living means hurting or killing others, they will do what is necessary to survive and save their people. To live with those choices, several have taken to latching onto specific justifications for their actions.
For some, those phrases represent a way of life for a long time or something they have learned through personal experience. The more things grew harder, the more they latched on to feeling like they had to preserve whatever humanity they had left.
10 I Did It For My People
When Clarke tries to explain to Monty the reasons behind making the list of the hundred who get to survive Praimfaya in the bunker, Monty calls out Clarke's explanations. Monty cuts off Clarke, telling her that Clarke's go-to line has been "it's all for my people."
Monty quickly compared that to Jaha's reasoning for his actions on the Ark and sending the hundred delinquents to the ground. Bellamy also followed this mentality when he believed following Pike was what was best for Skaikru.
9 We Are The Good Guys
Pushing to do the right thing in an impossible situation forces everyone to re-evaluate their priorities. However, they claim they are the good guys to latch onto the belief that what they are doing is in the name of survival. The opposition is the enemy who has been hurting their people, and doing what must be done makes them the good guys.
Except, nothing is ever that black and white. It takes some more difficult decisions to determine that Skaikru being the good guys may not be the best way to explain their actions. That statement is later replaced by one with more grey.
8 Maybe There Are No Good Guys
After pulling the lever at Mount Weather, "we are the good guys" transforms into "maybe there are no good guys." The new statement allows them to acknowledge their mistakes and adverse outcomes. It's all about perspective, and if you have to kill hundreds to save your own, then while you aren't a bad guy, maybe you aren't a good one either.
Clarke later speaks about it being a question of survival, breaking down to it being a "them vs. us" conflict. Everyone is willing to do what it takes to save their people no matter the cost to the other side.
7 I Bear It So They Don't Have To
Dante Wallace's phrase latches itself onto Clarke. After Mount Weather, Clarke uses the justification to explain leaving Camp Jaha at the end of the second season, believing that by leaving, she is taking the burden with her.
But, that is not the last time Clarke would go back to such a mentality, and she is not the only one who later uses it. Clarke bears plenty, so the rest don't have to, including writing the list and injecting herself with Nightblood instead of Emori.
6 Only Choice
The belief that there is only one option is a dangerous thought because it gives the motivation to fulfill life-threatening ideas. On The 100, there are often times when there appears to only be one way to save their people. Unfortunately, it is at the cost of several others.
However, the phrase is also used as a reference to survival. As Clarke, Bellamy, and their friends prepare to go up to the Ring to escape Praimfaya, Clarke calls going back up to space the "only choice."
5 First We Survive, Then We Get Our Humanity Back
Abby and Kane use this more than anyone else on The 100. As a way of living with the awful things they have done, Kane and Abby lean into claiming that everything they are doing is in the name of survival.
Once the race to survive is over, they can gain their humanity back. However, it is rare to discuss how far they are willing to go or where the line is that it prevents them from getting reaching their humanity.
4 For The Survival Of The Human Race
Nearly every significant decision has been made thinking about the future of the human race. Jaha floated people for the sake of population control and conserving oxygen. Abby was decisive that cannibalism was how to get protein in the bunker.
To get the populations down, keep order in the bunker, and have more protein to consume, Octavia controlled the fighting pits. So many choices were made in the form of sacrificing the few to save the many.
3 My Sister, My Responsibility
Bellamy's mantra his entire life was, "My sister, my responsibility." First given to Bellamy by his mother, he understood from a young age that it was vital to keep Octavia safe and hidden from the rest of the Ark. After Octavia was discovered, Bellamy shot Jaha in the name of that same mantra. Such a mentality did not change on the ground, and Bellamy had ways of being far too over-protective of Octavia as she desired to learn who she was.
In season six, Bellamy renounces the statement, telling Octavia that she is no longer his responsibility. Octavia once uses "My brother, my responsibility." On Skyring, Octavia raised Hope on a similar mantra, as Hope uses the phrase, "My mother, my responsibility."
2 Blood Must Have Blood
The Grounders believed in "Blood must have blood," their society's version of "An eye for an eye." War was the solution for death or the mass murder of their people.
Clarke desperately wanted to change that statement to "Blood must not have blood," while Lexa was the Commander. Unfortunately, Lexa's death put a halt to that wish. Still, it would not have been easy to undo nearly a century's worth of beliefs.
1 Love Is Weakness
With Finn's death still hanging over Clarke's head, she wants to keep those she cares about close. That is why she argued against Bellamy's plan for an inside man to infiltrate Mount Weather.
However, as war comes closer, Lexa's influence is heavy on Clarke, and when Lexa tells Clarke that "love is weakness," it's a new war perspective for Clarke. Taking Lexa's advice, Clarke agrees to Bellamy's plan and sends him to Mount Weather. "Love is weakness" was a belief held by many Commanders.