Believing a Higher Power
In The 100, there are numerous storylines that are based on believing in a higher power and viewing their leaders as a God of sorts. In this section, I will be analyzing these themes of religious beliefs, which includes the Commanders, the Flame, ALIE, and the City of Light. This is an interesting topic for many reasons, as most of these beliefs are related in some way. It is also interesting due to the fact that religion and science often present conflict, however, in The 100, they work together to enhance the beliefs of the characters. As mentioned previously, this series takes place in a post-apocalyptic world where science is key to their survival, but as these topics will identify, could also destroy the world and humanity again.
The Commander
The Commanders are the first example of a higher power in this series. The Commander is the leader of the clan, who inherits what is called "the Flame" or "the spirit of the Commander". The three Commanders that we see in the series are Lexa, Madi, and Becca. Becca was the first Commander, whose spirit is in the Flame, Lexa was the Commander for majority of the series, and Madi became Commander within the last few seasons. All three of these women were viewed as God-like figures; the people listened to their commands and did anything they could to protect their leader.
Left to right: Becca, Madi, Lexa.
The Flame
The Flame is actually a chip that has the spirit of the Commander in it. For the Commander to inherit the spirit, the chip is inserted in the back of their neck. When a person has the chip and has been deemed Commander, they hold power over the Grounders immediately. It is important to note that the Flame "stores the memories of past commanders, enabling current commanders to access them. In that regard, when Lexa spoke about communing with her predecessors, she was being literal, though it sounds religious" (Sarner). If you have never seen The 100 before, this is when this topic may begin to get confusing; the Flame is also ALIE, and is connected to the City of Light. This means that the Flame is both scientific and religious, however, the he Flame is not seen as science to the Grounders; they purely see it as a religious reverence.
ALIE & the City of Light
ALIE is a form of Artificial Intelligence, created by the first Commander Becca. Becca created this AI before she caused the nuclear destruction of Earth, in hopes of saving humanity. As mentioned previously, ALIE and the Flame are the same thing. However, there are two versions of ALIE; the one that is the Flame and one that brings people to the City of Light. People were given the chip by Jaha after he met ALIE and discovered the relief this could offer his people. The way in which he gave the chip to people resembles taking a piece of bread at communion, and when they took the chip that brought them to the City of Light, all of their pain and worries dissipated. The feeling that the City of Light provides the characters is parallel to the feelings that people associate with going to Heaven. It is peaceful and everybody is happy.
Jaha passing out ALIE chips to people of Skaikru.
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Jaha discovering the City of Light.
Jasper, a character who suffered from depression in the series, in the City of Light. His demeanor and views completely changed when he took the chip.
Science & Religion
As mentioned previously, religion and science often conflict with each other. So, the fact that the producers of The 100 chose to portray religion with a scientific twist in this series is very interesting to me. As Guido Perez states in his book regarding science vs religion, he states that:
"Although most people claim that science and religion are incompatible with each other, there are those who affirm that they are compatible as long as God doesn’t intervene in the world violating the laws of physics. Some argue that we are hybrid beings who exhibit both emotions and a rational mind, science studies the properties of physical things and religion addresses existential concerns" (Perez 5).
Science is a large portion of this series, as Skaikru had the scientific knowledge to be able to survive on Earth and discover how the Flame and ALIE were connected with the City of Light. However, for the Grounders who had no scientific knowledge, the Flame always was and continued to be a spiritual thing for them, which Skaikru respected and adopted into their own beliefs. The relationship between science and religion in this series caused conflict of course, but also helped humanity survive and evolve.