The 100 Holy Trinity

By starrymag | April 18, 2016

By: Caitlin Walsh

 

You pray to your Holy Trinity and I’ll pray to mine. Yours may be the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Mine? The Princess, The Warrior and The Mechanic.

 

These women are hands down some of the best characters on television. Not female characters–characters, period. They are resilient. They are brave. They are tough as nails and they’ve all gotten back up every single time. They’ve lost, they’ve loved and you’re damn right they’ve fought.

 

They are the women we need on our screens, the women we need to aspire to and to be inspired by. We are blessed to have them.

 

Clarke, Octavia and Raven may have their differences. They might fight and disagree, glare and judge, but at the end of the day, they’re delinquents. And they’d fight for each other, I’d like to believe. They’re so similar, in so many ways, even if they can’t see it. They love deeply. They fight valiantly. They survive.

 

You pray to your trinity–I’ll keep mine.

 

 

 

 

Clarke Griffin

Princess. Wanheda.

 

Where do I even begin? As early as Season One, Clarke Griffin (Eliza Taylor) proved she wasn’t the princess–she’s the damn queen. She is one of the few bisexual lead characters on television and while it’s an important portion of what defines Clarke Griffin, it is far from the only thing that defines her. For so many of us, she’s this beacon–this character we see ourselves in and this character who is her sexuality and so much more.

 

From the very first episode, we’ve seen serious multifaceted depth with this character thanks to the stunning work of Eliza Taylor. She was never just a love interest, never just a sidekick, never second fiddle. She is a co-leader, she is logical and most of the time exceptionally level headed. Clarke has always made it a point to put her people first, leading with her head, not her heart (that latter role belongs to one Bellamy Blake [Bob Morley]). She pushes herself to make the impossible decisions and her world has done nothing but blur gray. The lines between right and wrong seem get harder and harder to define.

She does the best she can.

 

She’s not perfect. Her decisions will never please everyone (you never can) and because of her decisions, many have been saved, but more have died (though always with cause). The many were her own. The more were not. Playing God though has taken its toll. Clarke Griffin has been chipped away at, losing sight of who she is or how to be herself anymore. This season has thus far been a journey in her slowly finding her way back to herself, again, and strides have been made, sure. She’s given her heart a chance to open itself to love again, despite the fact that she can’t love herself–but that has only ended in more heartbreak, more broken pieces.

All she knows how to do right now is focus on a mission. She takes it step by step. In a way, she’s still running – it’s what Clarke does best. She’s grieving Lexa (Alycia Debnam-Carey) so she hones in on the chip, on stopping Ontari (Rhiannon Fish). She’s looking for Lincoln (Ricky Whittle) and for Luna. She busies herself so that she can’t stop to grieve for even a second. She’s not wrong in what she’s doing–Clarke will always put everyone else before herself and time is of the essence in so many ways right now (the chip, A.L.I.E., Raven, etc.). But she’s not right, either.

 

Because when all’s said and done, Clarke Griffin will never take care of herself first. She will never prioritize herself, never love herself more than others. And when the fighting is done, even just for a minute, she’ll need to find a way to look at herself, again.

 

But every now and then, we see glimpses of the Clarke we love. That spark is still there. She’s still fighting. She’ll still drop everything to help her friends (i.e. Raven) and the people she loves, even if she’s convinced they don’t and couldn’t love her back. She’ll still stand toe to toe with those who would threaten her life, steeling herself as queens do. Clarke Griffin still doesn’t back down.

 

I pray that someday I can have even half the lion heart that Clarke Griffin has and just a fraction of her logic.

 

 

 

Octavia Blake

The girl under the floor. Sister. Warrior.

 

For quite some time, Octavia Blake has been one of my favorite characters on television. Maybe it’s Marie Avgeropoulos being a queen herself. Maybe it’s that I want to so be as badass as Octavia Blake, who has never been sure of where she belonged but fights to find out. Octavia lives and dies by get knocked down, get back up. To this day, her drive to prove herself to Indra (Adina Porter) and the Grounders by fighting, and losing, horribly, but getting back up after every single blow will always be one of my favorite scenes on television. Wide eyed, wondrous Octavia who chased radioactive butterflies and flirted shamelessly with boys grew into a skilled and hardened warrior. She doesn’t want anyone to protect her–she’ll fend for herself. She’s a girl who was born a secret, illegal, and was never allowed contact with anyone. She was resigned to a life below the floorboards and for much of her life, she’d never been able to look forward to anything else. There was no getting out of her situation on the Ark.

 

Earth wasn’t a death sentence for Octavia Blake. It was her chance to live.

 

Octavia found the chance to love and to belong. She may still be looking for where she belongs and who she is, never feeling like she really fits in with anyone. But she always belonged with Lincoln. Lincoln was home. Octavia’s lost people before–her mother, Atom, friends along the way, but never like Lincoln. Lincoln didn’t complete Octavia, she was complete on her own. But he accepted and loved her unconditionally and completely, and Octavia was home with him.

 

So, she’s broken now, too. Lincoln shot in front of her eyes, Bellamy, who she’d never considered not having to trust and love, is someone she blames; someone she thinks she can’t even recognize. And for the record, what Octavia did to Bellamy was horrible, wrong and disgusting. That much is fact. And Bellamy accepting it because he thinks he deserves it? It was one of the hardest scenes to watch of this show–maybe of any.

It was an instance of Octavia letting her Blake temper get the better of her, her emotions completely overriding any logic or rationality or even humanity. And I don’t condone abuse, truly–she was wrong. But I’m not writing Octavia Blake off, yet. She screwed up. She’s broken and lost. She’s hurt. It doesn’t justify her actions, nothing can. There is no justification. But there can be redemption. There can be penance. We know she’s better than this–we’ve seen it. This isn’t who she is.

 

She’s Octavia Blake, who follows her heart and is so fiercely independent, so determined to find somewhere she belongs outside of her brother’s shadow. She may be hot headed and misguided at times, judgmental and snappish here and there, but she’s also loyal as they come and free and wild. She’s tough. She’s insecure, too, but she’s fighting. She always, always gets back up. She’s been slaying demons since she was small, in some form or another.

 

I pray that maybe someday, I can be even half the badass Octavia Blake is, and the attitude to go with it.

 

 

 

 

Raven Reyes

Mechanic. Wrench Monkey. Spacewalker.

 

Every week, Raven Reyes (Lindsey Morgan) makes me want to go back in time and bust my ass a lot harder in school. She’s the most resilient and possibly strong willed of the bunch. Crash land on Earth in a pod, she single handedly repaired, alone? No problem. Build bombs and outsmart engineers at every turn? No problem. Have surgery to remove a bullet from her back with no anesthetic? Of course. Lose use of one of your legs and still perform every task you used to, refusing to be left behind?

 

Yes. I’m here for it. I’m always here for it (and shout out to Lindsey Morgan to delivering in every single scene). Not to mention that not once has she lost her sense of humor. She’s sarcastic and gritty and everything I can only hope to be.

 

That’s not to say that Raven is without her faults. She’s proud, too proud at times. She won’t accept help from anyone, even when it’s a doctor’s advice – even when it’s necessary. She’s been on her own, more or less, for a long time as she had a deadbeat mother, no one to rely on aside from Finn Collins and that’s not changing any time soon. She’s closed herself off to most of the world, keeping everyone at arms length – Wick, Abby (Paige Turco), Clarke and Bellamy. She’s never let anyone get too close–Clarke may have been the closest that ever came to it. She’s stubborn beyond compare, far surpassing even Clarke and Octavia. She snaps and lashes out as defense mechanisms–best to hurt before you can get hurt, right?

 

And she may be broken down right now, unsure of her place. She was someone who was so sure-footed in everything she did before she was hurt. She was loved, she was admired, she was praised. She came from nothing and fought for everything. She proved herself as a student, as a mechanic, as a standout brain. She takes shit from no one. But without the use of her leg and the pain that comes with that, she’s not so sure of how she fits in anymore–not that she’d ever admit it to a soul.

 

She’s beyond smart and she can solve anything. She’s unstoppable, with an unparalleled brain and willpower. With a snarky comment, a dry erase board and some space, Raven Reyes can do anything. She refuses to be left behind, disability be damned. She’s useful. She so desperately fears being useless, being left behind and forgotten, that sometimes she fights in the wrong ways to stay useful–if only she’d realize how useful she can always be. She means something to so many, and you can tell that Raven Reyes isn’t used to mattering to so many people.

 

She’s a feminist icon, through and through. She owns her sexuality, never letting sex get in the way of what’s important, of what work lies ahead. She doesn’t let feelings interfere, even when her heart’s been breaking, like it did with Finn. Raven Reyes is stronger than most anyone. She hasn’t met a challenge she won’t take on or a problem she won’t solve. Even when an A.I. is taking over her mind, controlling her thoughts and moves, she’s gritting her teeth and fighting. She’ll fight to the death because that is who she is.

I pray that someday, I can be even half as witty and useful as Raven Reyes.