The 100 season 7, episode 8, "Anaconda" was a backdoor pilot for The 100 prequel TV series in development, and it not only connected some of the dots for the current story but also revealed and explained key details about the Grounders' culture and history. It had been 97 years since the bombs fell when Clarke and the rest of the 100 delinquents from the Ark landed on the ground back, which seemed like a short amount of time for an entirely new culture to develop.
The 12 clans the Sky People found when they returned to Earth believed in a religion that didn't exist prior to the apocalypse, which not only guided them through their lives but also acted as a rule of law - a theocracy built upon technology they called the Flame. Beyond that, they spoke a new language, had gladiatorial battles to determine their next leader, and some of them even had blood alterations. While parts of Grounder history were revealed in seasons 2, 3, and 4, The 100 endeavored to fill in the blanks in season 7.
Unlikely as it seemed, the Second Dawn's leader and his Disciples survived the apocalypse and found their way to Bardo, which is where they came into contact with Clarke and her people. To explain everything, The 100's prequel episode showed what happened after Becca landed back on Earth two years after the apocalypse - and ultimately what led to her death at the stake. By combining Becca's technology and ideas with those from Callie, The 100 revealed the origin of Grounders' history.
What triggered the story of The 100's prequel episode was Bill Cadogan hearing Clarke and Niylah speaking Trigedasleng, a common language spoken by all 12 Grounder clans on Earth. However, it wasn't the only language they spoke. For the vast majority of the series, it was unclear how the language was created, but The 100 season 7, episode 8 explains that it was a made-up language by Bill's daughter, Callie Cadogan, when she was just a child. This was evident when a nuclear bomb swept over the bunker and Callie could be heard saying, "Your fight is over" in Trig. Since she was initially admitted into MIT, it's certainly plausible she was intelligent enough to create her own language at an early age.
Trikru has always been the most prominent Grounder clan, at least with regards to The 100's story; they not only invented the Trig language but some of the biggest characters have come from there, including Indra, Niylah, Lexa, Anya, and Lincoln. The 100 season 7, episode 8 reveals that Trikru appears to have descended from the Tree Crew, an environmentalist group that existed prior to the nuclear apocalypse. Callie and her friends, including August, were part of that group. In fact, joining Tree Crew is why Callie dropped out of college. The Tree Crew symbol can be spotted in a few places in the episode, such as on August's arm.
It's been known for quite some time now that Becca created Nightblood as a way of defending the human nervous system from lethal radiation. Considering that the blood was black, it was an apt name to use, but The 100 season 7, episode 8 reveals that it was Callie's idea to use the name. She told Becca about it shortly before Becca was killed. Furthermore, Callie said they had enough of the serum to turn 2,000 more people into nightbloods, which explains why so many had the blood alteration almost 100 years later.
The story about ALIE and ALIE 2.0 led to some interesting reveals about how that technology came to be worshiped as a religion - but it wasn't explained why the chip was called the Flame. In The 100 season 7, episode 8, Becca tells Callie that she calls the AI chip the Flame, which Callie instantly recognizes as a reference to Prometheus - a Titan in Greek mythology who stole fire and gave it to humanity, giving birth to civilization. Becca saw ALIE 2.0 as her penance, giving humanity a way to survive the crisis that she inadvertently brought about with ALIE 1.0. Interestingly, Bellamy and Octavia's mother used to read Greek myths to them, and Bellamy called his sister Prometheus in an earlier season.
Callie tried to save Becca before the Second Dawn's Disciples burned Becca at the stake, but she was unsuccessful. Instead, Becca entrusted the Flame to her, even giving her the final code needed to lock it. Once Callie and seemingly dozens of other people left the bunker - after first receiving blood alteration using Becca's serum - Callie sought to give it to thousands of more people. And she needed to find someone to take over for Becca - whether that was herself or not remains to be seen, but it's presumed she became the second Commander after Becca - and so, Callie became the first Flamekeeper.
Bill Cadogan and the Disciples have been after the final code for hundreds of years, and it turns out that Becca told Callie what it was shortly before she died. It's perhaps something only the Flamekeepers knew, entrusted to them by the previous keeper going all the way back to Callie; the Latin phrase for "goodbye for now." It locks the Flame until someone new can be found to bind with it so they could save the human race, and not allow the technology to be used by the Second Dawn Disciples to unlock the secrets of the Anomaly stone.
Choosing a new commander isn't easy, and it involves nightbloods from the 12 clans participating in a gladiatorial match in Polis to determine who would be the best fit to lead them next. It seemed archaic, even for a society that was born out of one that was technologically advanced prior to the apocalypse. But it seems it was inspired by what Callie and her brother, Reese, used to do together in the "basement"; while viewers don't see the end of their confrontation, it was a winner-takes-all type of match.
from ScreenRant - Feed https://ift.tt/3gHGAvr
0 Comments