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> CHARACTER INFORMATION
NAME: Clarke Griffin
CANON: The 100
AGE: 18 (19 depending on passage of time)
CANON POINT: 5x1, 58 days after Praimfaya (before she hears and goes after Madi).
HISTORY: The 100 episode guide | Clarke on The 100 wiki
PERSONALITY: Leadership, and what people do while leading, is and will always be one of the most important things in Clarke Griffin's life. She grew up in a privileged class surrounded by the people who would be fortunate enough to save themselves while making decisions for thousands of others. Where she grew up does matter: a collection of space stations that came together to form what became known as the Ark following the nuclear apocalypse on Earth. In order to ensure that people could survive, the people came together to form a harsh society that had to deal with rations, very little supplies, the possible loss of air, and zero leniency when it came to criminal actions. Even if someone did something for the greater good or to save their child, they would still be "floated"—sent out into space via a space vacuum. It was unpleasant. And it was all Clarke knew. Fast forward to a couple weeks before her eighteenth birthday, and Clarke found herself sent to the ground with a hundred other "delinquents" to see if the Earth was survivable.
Clarke's privileged upbringing helped form the girl she became on the ground: stubborn, a little uptight, but confident it came to deciding what would have to be done in any given scenario. That isn't to say that Clarke has no doubts. She's seen leaders doubt themselves. Still, there is a sense to how Clarke carries herself and manages a variety of situations that can only be formed by having the decisive certainty to move forward. She can't risk her doubts getting in her way. She can know what they are and recognize them, but if something seems like the right decision, she won't be stopped. Some of this is thanks to the ruthlessness of the Ark as a whole, since everyone from that world has seen numerous monstrosities performed in the name of survival, but some of it is just because of Clarke herself. She is ruthlessly decisive when she makes up her mind. She knows the importance of putting that face forward, even if it's not her best.
It helps that Clarke is a little more on the rigid side in how she presents and carries herself. Most people take Clarke as the type of person who's unable to have fun. That's both accurate and not accurate at the same time. It's more that Clarke's the type of person who gladly takes the world on her shoulders. She feels like she has to be the one to make these hard decisions for other people. If she doesn't make them, who will? And if she does make them, she does it with the mindset that it's a burden that she can carry. Clarke isn't a fun killer, though. She's shown to know some party games, and she laughs and understands why everyone is partying with Jasper early in season four. It's more that she wants other people to have those opportunities more than her, and if she feels like it's gone on for too long, she's willing to put her foot down. Clarke herself is more of a dark wit, dark fun kind of person. Those moments are stolen and fleeting, because the world is always waiting for her to have to make yet another difficult decision.
The fact that Clarke does take those burdens onto herself is because she cares a lot about other people, especially her people. She will do anything necessary to ensure their survival, to the point that she pushes herself to extreme limits to make sure they can go on living. The root of this is also in Clarke's upbringing: she's the daughter of an engineer with a big heart and a doctor who would do anything to ensure their survival. Both of them had strong moral cores, and while Clarke gained that, she ended up with a far more malleable one by necessity. That said, it isn't difficult to become someone that Clarke cares about in the first place. Her heart may seem cold and she may seem willing to do harsh things, but she is able to make friends and alliances easily. Sometimes alliances are just that, but the shift from "alliance" to "friendship" can be subtle and quick for someone like her. It's likely surprising given how she presents herself, but every terrible thing she's ever accomplished is because she cares a lot about other people. She just happens to see herself as the one who has to make the decisions to help them.
No matter how it's put—relentless, dogged, adaptable, obstinate, difficult, ruthless—it's undeniable that Clarke is the type of person who can brush other people the wrong way because of her need to make these decisions for others. She's the type of person who would happily knock down a giant wall if it got her what her people needed in that moment. She's killed hundreds of people, and while it has certainly never been easy for her, she is the type of person who can make that decision in the first place. If pushed to the limit, she's willing to ignore someone else's autonomy for the sake of survival. There are moments where she can become blinded by what she feels needs to be done, rather than any other options to the alternative. In fact, Clarke begins to feel like the worst decision is the only option the more she begins to make those same awful choices. It leads to her betraying others and hurting them because she can't see any other light in the tunnel.
Part of that is because Clarke tends to present herself as someone who thinks logically about her decisions. Others may perceive her as more of a "head" than "heart" kind of individual, but that's not nearly as accurate as it may seem. Yes, she may weigh people's lives in her hands and may be able to rationalize a lot of her decisions, but she also reveals on multiple occasions that she cares a lot about others. Emotions are a factor. When she tries to break away from them, to act as if they don't matter, she hurts others and most importantly herself. She needs to remember how compassionate she is, or she'll only make the terrible decision. And yes, those emotions may be the cause for that choice in the end, but it's better for everyone if she acknowledges them. It's just that Clarke isn't the type of person to put those emotions loudly on display (her narrative counterpart and contrast, Bellamy, does this on the regular). She is the type to act accordingly to them, but the display of that tends to be very restrained, with her keeping a cool outward disposition so that she can carry out what she needs to do in the moment.
In a lot of ways, Clarke shapes herself into what others need her to be. Her mother needs her to be a good guy, but Clarke hasn't ever known a world without the harsh decisions that she has had to make for others. Her mother even made a harsh decision herself, turning in her husband (Clarke's father) to keep him from bringing critical information to light. Bellamy sees her as the person who centers him, but the reality is that he keeps her grounded in turn, reminding her that her inherent compassion and desire to act on it is okay. All of the delinquents needed someone responsible and take charge when they hit the ground, so she stepped into the role without hesitation. Her people needed someone to make alliances with the enemy, so she did it. Her people needed someone to not give up so they could rocket off into space, so she did it. Clarke is not all reactions—if anything, she's more preemptive in her decision-making process, perceiving what might be needed before it's asked for—but she has definitely evolved into the person she is today because of the people in her life.
As for that nonexistent light in the tunnel: the other thing that leads into that mindset is that Clarke has lost a lot in her short life. Her father was floated for treason because he wanted to tell everyone about an oxygen crisis on the Ark. She had to kill the first boy she loved (Finn Collins). She watched someone she loved die while taking a bullet meant for her (Lexa). She's made decisions that have led to hundreds of deaths, if not thousands at this point. Most recently, she's had to say good-bye to everyone she's loved, watching some of them go off into space, while she's unable to reach (or help) the others down in a bunker. Driven by nothing more than the instinct to survive, she wanders for days until she reaches her breaking point … and nearly commits suicide as a result. Losing everything has taken its toll on Clarke for far longer than that moment, but that's the only time she's permitted herself to give up. The thing is: she spots a bird and follows it to the only remaining patch of land on Earth, and she doesn't give up.
The best way to summarize how Clarke has managed this is with a line from season two that comes up time and time again: "I bear it so they don't have to." Clarke isolates herself with her decisions, pulling away from others at first so she can manage her pain and suffering alone between seasons two and three, and later in staying in Polis, in withdrawing from others while she tries to deal with Praimfaya, and more. Her trauma is what leads her to this isolation. To some degree, she doesn't seem to feel as if coping with all of it is as important as continuing to bear the weight of her responsibility for her people. That's where the harsh decisions come from, and that's where and why she continues to make these choices. It's pragmatism driven to the extreme; rather than putting someone else in those shoes, she always wears them herself. After she hits that patch of land, she remarks that her fight is over—which obviously isn't true. She has no one to bear the burden of responsibility for in that brief moment, so she allows herself to experience what briefly amounts to a clean break. She isn't giving up so much as letting go for the time being, as she only has to be concerned with herself.
Not giving up undoubtedly says everything that needs to be said about Clarke. Life has given her countless reasons to do just that, and she hasn't. She continues on as strongly as possible, and she continues to fight and care for others all the while. She grieves, she deals, and she moves on. Does she always do this through healthy means? No, but life hasn't granted her the possibility for those healthy means. She'll keep on moving forward anyway and doing what's necessary. Life isn't just about survival, but to get there, survival has to come first.
CRAU: N/A
SPECIES: Human
APPEARANCE: linked image
SKILLS:
Leadership skills: Simply put: Clarke grew up among the privileged on the Ark, and picked up some of the more ruthless tendencies of the leadership caste. She knows how to rally around her, perform diplomacy, and make the hard choices representative of someone who's grown up within a dystopian society. She's quick on her feet, able to adapt and do whatever is necessary for her people. Many people look to Clarke as a leader because she readily steps into that role, and she happily challenges other people who are not ready or able to make the decisions that she can.
Survival skills: Before Clarke came down to the ground, she learned Earth skills, which helped her with hunting, tracking, and handling herself. She wasn't necessarily the best at employing these skills, but she could direct and organize people in that direction. Since then, she's picked up enough to survive on her own in the wilderness through hunting large predators with few injuries, knowing what food is edible, as well as hiding herself so she's not easily found.
Medic skills: Clarke is not a doctor, but it's apparent that she either began training on the Ark to head in that direction or picked up a lot from her mother (or a mix of the two). She can take blood, do sutures, close wounds, and determine whether someone is poisoned, so it's easy to guess that she can give basic physicals to people. Any advanced surgery is outside of her skillset without some advisement from someone more experienced.
Weapons: Clarke has no formal training in knives or guns. However, she is capable of delivering a fatal blow with most sharp objects because of her medical knowledge. As for guns, she's a naturally good shot and has nearly impeccable aim.
NEW POWER: Life steal. Its seed power will involve Clarke draining energy from other people, with her feeling a "caffeine high" burst in return. My thought is that this will grow in time, with her ability to control it happening in turn.
POWER REASONING: Clarke is known as "Wanheda" in canon, which means "the Commander of Death." While she does nearly every ruthless thing she possible can for the sake of saving her people, it ends up with a very long body trail. Having a power that can evolve toward healing suits her as a result, but would selfishly benefit her ruthless tendencies at first.
NAME: Clarke Griffin
CANON: The 100
AGE: 18 (19 depending on passage of time)
CANON POINT: 5x1, 58 days after Praimfaya (before she hears and goes after Madi).
HISTORY: The 100 episode guide | Clarke on The 100 wiki
PERSONALITY: Leadership, and what people do while leading, is and will always be one of the most important things in Clarke Griffin's life. She grew up in a privileged class surrounded by the people who would be fortunate enough to save themselves while making decisions for thousands of others. Where she grew up does matter: a collection of space stations that came together to form what became known as the Ark following the nuclear apocalypse on Earth. In order to ensure that people could survive, the people came together to form a harsh society that had to deal with rations, very little supplies, the possible loss of air, and zero leniency when it came to criminal actions. Even if someone did something for the greater good or to save their child, they would still be "floated"—sent out into space via a space vacuum. It was unpleasant. And it was all Clarke knew. Fast forward to a couple weeks before her eighteenth birthday, and Clarke found herself sent to the ground with a hundred other "delinquents" to see if the Earth was survivable.
Clarke's privileged upbringing helped form the girl she became on the ground: stubborn, a little uptight, but confident it came to deciding what would have to be done in any given scenario. That isn't to say that Clarke has no doubts. She's seen leaders doubt themselves. Still, there is a sense to how Clarke carries herself and manages a variety of situations that can only be formed by having the decisive certainty to move forward. She can't risk her doubts getting in her way. She can know what they are and recognize them, but if something seems like the right decision, she won't be stopped. Some of this is thanks to the ruthlessness of the Ark as a whole, since everyone from that world has seen numerous monstrosities performed in the name of survival, but some of it is just because of Clarke herself. She is ruthlessly decisive when she makes up her mind. She knows the importance of putting that face forward, even if it's not her best.
It helps that Clarke is a little more on the rigid side in how she presents and carries herself. Most people take Clarke as the type of person who's unable to have fun. That's both accurate and not accurate at the same time. It's more that Clarke's the type of person who gladly takes the world on her shoulders. She feels like she has to be the one to make these hard decisions for other people. If she doesn't make them, who will? And if she does make them, she does it with the mindset that it's a burden that she can carry. Clarke isn't a fun killer, though. She's shown to know some party games, and she laughs and understands why everyone is partying with Jasper early in season four. It's more that she wants other people to have those opportunities more than her, and if she feels like it's gone on for too long, she's willing to put her foot down. Clarke herself is more of a dark wit, dark fun kind of person. Those moments are stolen and fleeting, because the world is always waiting for her to have to make yet another difficult decision.
The fact that Clarke does take those burdens onto herself is because she cares a lot about other people, especially her people. She will do anything necessary to ensure their survival, to the point that she pushes herself to extreme limits to make sure they can go on living. The root of this is also in Clarke's upbringing: she's the daughter of an engineer with a big heart and a doctor who would do anything to ensure their survival. Both of them had strong moral cores, and while Clarke gained that, she ended up with a far more malleable one by necessity. That said, it isn't difficult to become someone that Clarke cares about in the first place. Her heart may seem cold and she may seem willing to do harsh things, but she is able to make friends and alliances easily. Sometimes alliances are just that, but the shift from "alliance" to "friendship" can be subtle and quick for someone like her. It's likely surprising given how she presents herself, but every terrible thing she's ever accomplished is because she cares a lot about other people. She just happens to see herself as the one who has to make the decisions to help them.
No matter how it's put—relentless, dogged, adaptable, obstinate, difficult, ruthless—it's undeniable that Clarke is the type of person who can brush other people the wrong way because of her need to make these decisions for others. She's the type of person who would happily knock down a giant wall if it got her what her people needed in that moment. She's killed hundreds of people, and while it has certainly never been easy for her, she is the type of person who can make that decision in the first place. If pushed to the limit, she's willing to ignore someone else's autonomy for the sake of survival. There are moments where she can become blinded by what she feels needs to be done, rather than any other options to the alternative. In fact, Clarke begins to feel like the worst decision is the only option the more she begins to make those same awful choices. It leads to her betraying others and hurting them because she can't see any other light in the tunnel.
Part of that is because Clarke tends to present herself as someone who thinks logically about her decisions. Others may perceive her as more of a "head" than "heart" kind of individual, but that's not nearly as accurate as it may seem. Yes, she may weigh people's lives in her hands and may be able to rationalize a lot of her decisions, but she also reveals on multiple occasions that she cares a lot about others. Emotions are a factor. When she tries to break away from them, to act as if they don't matter, she hurts others and most importantly herself. She needs to remember how compassionate she is, or she'll only make the terrible decision. And yes, those emotions may be the cause for that choice in the end, but it's better for everyone if she acknowledges them. It's just that Clarke isn't the type of person to put those emotions loudly on display (her narrative counterpart and contrast, Bellamy, does this on the regular). She is the type to act accordingly to them, but the display of that tends to be very restrained, with her keeping a cool outward disposition so that she can carry out what she needs to do in the moment.
In a lot of ways, Clarke shapes herself into what others need her to be. Her mother needs her to be a good guy, but Clarke hasn't ever known a world without the harsh decisions that she has had to make for others. Her mother even made a harsh decision herself, turning in her husband (Clarke's father) to keep him from bringing critical information to light. Bellamy sees her as the person who centers him, but the reality is that he keeps her grounded in turn, reminding her that her inherent compassion and desire to act on it is okay. All of the delinquents needed someone responsible and take charge when they hit the ground, so she stepped into the role without hesitation. Her people needed someone to make alliances with the enemy, so she did it. Her people needed someone to not give up so they could rocket off into space, so she did it. Clarke is not all reactions—if anything, she's more preemptive in her decision-making process, perceiving what might be needed before it's asked for—but she has definitely evolved into the person she is today because of the people in her life.
As for that nonexistent light in the tunnel: the other thing that leads into that mindset is that Clarke has lost a lot in her short life. Her father was floated for treason because he wanted to tell everyone about an oxygen crisis on the Ark. She had to kill the first boy she loved (Finn Collins). She watched someone she loved die while taking a bullet meant for her (Lexa). She's made decisions that have led to hundreds of deaths, if not thousands at this point. Most recently, she's had to say good-bye to everyone she's loved, watching some of them go off into space, while she's unable to reach (or help) the others down in a bunker. Driven by nothing more than the instinct to survive, she wanders for days until she reaches her breaking point … and nearly commits suicide as a result. Losing everything has taken its toll on Clarke for far longer than that moment, but that's the only time she's permitted herself to give up. The thing is: she spots a bird and follows it to the only remaining patch of land on Earth, and she doesn't give up.
The best way to summarize how Clarke has managed this is with a line from season two that comes up time and time again: "I bear it so they don't have to." Clarke isolates herself with her decisions, pulling away from others at first so she can manage her pain and suffering alone between seasons two and three, and later in staying in Polis, in withdrawing from others while she tries to deal with Praimfaya, and more. Her trauma is what leads her to this isolation. To some degree, she doesn't seem to feel as if coping with all of it is as important as continuing to bear the weight of her responsibility for her people. That's where the harsh decisions come from, and that's where and why she continues to make these choices. It's pragmatism driven to the extreme; rather than putting someone else in those shoes, she always wears them herself. After she hits that patch of land, she remarks that her fight is over—which obviously isn't true. She has no one to bear the burden of responsibility for in that brief moment, so she allows herself to experience what briefly amounts to a clean break. She isn't giving up so much as letting go for the time being, as she only has to be concerned with herself.
Not giving up undoubtedly says everything that needs to be said about Clarke. Life has given her countless reasons to do just that, and she hasn't. She continues on as strongly as possible, and she continues to fight and care for others all the while. She grieves, she deals, and she moves on. Does she always do this through healthy means? No, but life hasn't granted her the possibility for those healthy means. She'll keep on moving forward anyway and doing what's necessary. Life isn't just about survival, but to get there, survival has to come first.
CRAU: N/A
SPECIES: Human
APPEARANCE: linked image
SKILLS:
NEW POWER: Life steal. Its seed power will involve Clarke draining energy from other people, with her feeling a "caffeine high" burst in return. My thought is that this will grow in time, with her ability to control it happening in turn.
POWER REASONING: Clarke is known as "Wanheda" in canon, which means "the Commander of Death." While she does nearly every ruthless thing she possible can for the sake of saving her people, it ends up with a very long body trail. Having a power that can evolve toward healing suits her as a result, but would selfishly benefit her ruthless tendencies at first.