The time has come, after seven (or six, depending on how salty you are after September) seasons of The 100, to take a look back at all the highlights of the series! I am going to highlight all kinds of things, from characters to music to deaths and more, so stay tuned!
Today’s topic is… Best Minor Characters! This was so hard to come up with specifications for! What makes a minor character versus recurring? I decided to make a few rules that the entrants had to meet:
- Cannot have appeared in more than 10 episodes
- Not a ton of backstory
- Didn’t really have much of a character arc (this was, of course, more subjective)
For example, Ilian did not count because he served several major plot points, relationships, and backstory. Ditto Nelson, Levitt, and some others. (Don’t worry, we’ll save those guys for another post!) And it was hard, even to narrow down after that! So I do, of course, have some honorable mentions!
Season 3
Is Macallan on the list because he is Shawn Mendes? Honestly, yeah. But also, because he sang a really cool version of “Add It Up” and got the crap kicked out of him by Jasper and got yelled at by his two moms, Raven and Gina.
Season 3
Go ahead, give in to your primal urge to declare “Gina was real“, I’ll wait. The Bellarke shipper in me didn’t love that Gina existed, but I also understood why she did. It was nice that Bellamy found a brief sense of peace, and also, she was a very obvious plot device (kill Gina, Bell joins Pike’s Anti-Grounder party). The times I liked Gina the most though were as Raven’s friend. It was high time Raven had a buddy to just joke around with, be herself with. And, not to be too corny, but Gina was real, in that she felt like a realistic character.
Seasons 6-7
The Workmans are kind of the best. Not only did they needlessly lose their daughter just so Priya could keep on keepin’ on, but they were so kind even though they certainly could have disappeared into their grief, but they were constant beacons of awesome in a very bleak situation. Also, cookies.
Season 6
Did I love Jade, or did I love Bethany Brown? Both, both is good. I mean, granted, Jade was kind of a crappy guard, losing her charges over and over, often leading to their deaths. But I adored her snark and her banter with Echo, and she was entertaining. Too bad her loyalty led to her body being stolen and Clarke floating said stolen body, but alas.
Season 7
The truth is, I am still salty that he was actually dead, as I had sworn over and over that he was very alive through the backhalf of Season 7. But in true backhalf Season 7 fashion, we really didn’t get anything we wanted, did we? Alas. Orlando was entertaining, if nothing else. He brought Echo, Gabriel, and Hope together as a cohesive unit, and for that he at least deserves a spot. But I also think he truly grew to love them, and I wish we’d gotten to see more of the ramifications of Echo’s actions (which, is why I was so damn sure he was alive, but anyway).
Season 1
Tor didn’t have much time with us, but what he did have was hugely impactful. We first see him as a sympathetic, kind father trying to raise his daughter alone on a dying Ark. That alone would make our hearts hurt for him, but when he comes as the representative for the people willing to die in the first culling, wow, the tears are real. Abby is, at first, a bit shocked that he would leave his daughter. But he explains that Abby had initially told him there was nothing he could do to stop his daughter from going blind. But by buying her this extra air, now he can. While plenty of folks (over 300, after all) likely had terribly sad stories and loved ones who led them to choose to be culled, Tor was the literal face of these people, and for that, his importance remains huge.
Just looking at the hair clip kills me, tbh. ?
Picasso: Seasons 6-7
Helios: Seasons 3-4
Some of you probably would have put the animals higher on the list, but I feel like humans were supposed to be the focus? Anyway. Helios was a hero, and in my headcanon, lived a long happy life with Zoran and Wick after they got out of the Art Supply store. I mean, Helios straight up saved Octavia’s life when Echo pushed her over that cliff. The human killed her, the horse revived her. It’s just that simple.
As for Picasso, she’s legit the last dog in existence. Until the gang goes back to Sanctum and/or Bardo and realizes that they want more dogs in addition to wanting those babies. Plus, Picasso is smart! She knew that Sheidheda was no good, and she knew it was appropriate to leave the Primes and become the Griffin family dog.
She’s over here like “I do not care if you are Russell or Sheidheda, you are trash either way”
Season 7
I adored Hatch for the short time he was on our screens. Sure, he was a criminal, but he wasn’t a bad guy. He obviously loved Nikki so much that he was willing to trade his life for hers, and he cared about people. He was kind to Murphy when he didn’t need to be, and even when he knew that Raven’s plan would kill him, he worked with all his soul to finish the project. He was funny, too. I won’t lie, I cried when he died.
We missed out on so many potential funny Hatch moments, I sob.
Nikki, I have a more complicated relationship with. I love Alaina Huffman, and I think she did a phenomenal job with the character. I also liked that it was Nikki who was the mastermind criminal extraordinaire, and Hatch was the one following his wife around like a lost puppy. And I get her anger at Raven, I do. I think they could have done more with her, to be honest, but hell, it was Season 7, so. In my headcanon, she is at the very least Raven’s bestie now, and who knows, maybe more? ?
Season 2
Forget Zoran’s dad, mostly because he had like two lines, but also because he brought the “bad men” to club Jaha right in front of Zoran! In my version, Sienna and Wick raised Zorn and Helios in the Art Supply Store, so. Anyway, I feel like Zoran and Sienna both showed us a side of Grounders we hadn’t seen up to that point. Certainly, Jaha had no experience with Grounders, or anyone who he didn’t grow up with in space, and seeing a vulnerable little boy and his brave mother trying to survive in the Dead Zone was a good place to start. (We’ll try to forget that if it wasn’t for Sienna, Jaha may never have tried to find ALIE.) Zoran was a great foil to Wells, and Sienna’s choice to save her child and flee juxtaposes to Jaha’s choice to send Wells to Earth perfectly. That the choice paints them in a far more compassionate light than Jaha is perhaps one of the first examples that we see that leads the viewer (as well as most of Skaikru) tp realize that people from the Ark are in no way inherently morally superior to Grounders.
Season 5
Gosh, I adored Brell! Several times in Season 5, I knew my girl was going to come through in some way, and I cannot for the life of me understand why she didn’t show up again in S6 (or at least, S7 when all of Wonkru was woken up). She was an advisor to Octavia, but one of the more… reluctant ones. She wasn’t as all-in on Wonkru’s messages as Miller or some of the others, and she still held out hope that one day, the Commander would be back in play. Yet she still managed to stay on O’s good side and secure safety for her people while in the bunker. It’s fine, she’s back at the Lake Village with everyone else, I think she and Gaia are together.
I need to make some Brell GIFs, clearly.
Season 7
I loved Dev with my whole entire heart for what he did for Hope. Losing her mom and Auntie O could have, should have, broken her beyond repair. But because Dev was the actual best, he was there for her so it didn’t. Dude practically raised her, and gave her so many skills and information that she would need for the fight that was ahead. He certainly knew full well he’d likely never leave Skyring, but he helped her anyway, was her family.
Seasons 1-2
Wick was just such a breath of fresh, sarcastic, goofy air in a show that was in dire need of such things. It was bleak when Wick showed up to help Kane on the Ark, and even bleaker when people were being drained for blood (and marrow) in Mount Weather when he and Raven teamed up. He was the chill calm to Raven’s intensity, and what she needed most. I don’t think there was ever a certain conclusion as to why Wick disappeared after Season 2, though there were some rumors of bad behavior on the actor’s part. Regardless, I won’t judge the character for that, so here he is.
Seasons 2-4
If you thought maybe I could choose between these top two men, you’d be wrong. I tried, and I failed, so they both win. David Miller was everything. Which time was he the best? Let’s think. Was it when he helped the kids sneak out of camp to free the missing delinquents? Was it when he befriended (and risked his life for) Lincoln at Mount Weather? No, it was obviously when he gave his life for his son’s, not a single shred of doubt in his mind. He was just such a good, decent man, who cared about his son and his people, and that is kind of everything.
I am so glad that Miller really did get to rebuild the world ?❤️
Seasons 2-4
Oh, this unsung hero! Nyko was, even before we met Zoran and Sienna, the first Grounder outside of Lincoln to show Skaikru kindness and mercy. Nyko clearly picked his friends well, as he was as close to Lincoln as brothers, and said so many times. He risked his life to help Octavia at Lincoln’s behest, then tried to protect O again, even after he thought Lincoln to be dead. Nyko strives, perhaps even more than Lincoln, for there to be peace among the clans. He and Abby develop a professional rapport as well, leading to Nyko bringing the sick that are beyond his help to her time and time again. And when it comes to the end of the world, he makes the ultimate sacrifice to protect Luna and the nightblood. He was truly too good for this world.
I just plain miss them.
Ohhhh excellent choices! I wouldn’t have been able to narrow any of them down and I’m also wondering where our favorite Waterworld almost-heida fits on the list. 😉
I now want to see all of these characters together on their own show….where they get more lines and more development.
Ah she’ll be in a post for Recurring Characters (which I will probably have to break down by male and female because there are too many to choose from- especially when you consider that Harper, Emori, Lexa, Diyoza, etc were never main characters!
I agree, they’d make such a fun show! Can you even imagine? Nikki would obviously be their leader (read: dictator hah)
I cannot accept Harper, Emori, and Diyoza not being main characters. They didn’t continue through all seasons, but plot fully hinged upon them, they were in at least 2 seasons, and they had backstory. Were they just always listed as “guest starring”, or what?
Indeed, all listed as “guest starring”. Hell, even INDRA was a recurring character (though that was Adina’s choice, Jason offered her a main role more than once- and I think Diyoza being recurring was also Ivana’s choice, IIRC). Like- I don’t see how Echo was a main character, but not Emori, you know?
There must be some political aspect to that, and why you’d turn down a starring role. It also makes 0 sense that Emori, who gets *more* screen time than Echo, I think, is a ‘guest star’ while Echo is a main star. Who decides these things? Bah!
Well, Adina is a single mom raising two kids, and she doesn’t like to take on main roles because she loses the flexibility factor. Ivana had just had a baby, of course, so that makes sense too. But I agree wholly about Echo and Emori. And three guesses as to whose decision it was ? And like- I love Shelby, and Hope ended up being a really great character, but it was SUCH a slap in the face to have Shelby as main cast and not Luisa or Jarod or Sachin.
Just when I thought I couldn’t admire Adina more….
Well, you know how I feel about Harper. 🙂 Oh wait, she’s not here. That means she’s coming up in a different post- yay!
Jade I have no recollection of! Ack. Machine Gun Annie- she had SO much potential. I agree with your thoughts.
Zoran and Sienna- yeah. Great point too about how her choice conflicts with other choices- I had not thought of that! Great insight.
Nyko- you kind of reminded me how much of a role he had! He gets overlooked sometimes. I liked him with Lunakru too.
YEP Harper is way more than “minor” in my book, no matter how much she was underused by Jason.
I cannot believe you don’t remember Jade! She was the one who was in charge of Rose at first, lost her, then was in charge of finding Diyoza and giving her orders to kill Gabriel, then she was in charge of killing Echo and failed, then she was in charge of Josie/Clarke, and lost Josie too, and then I guess she gave up on life and became Jasmine Mason VII, and then Clarke floated her.
Aw thank you! I actually just watched the episode where Nyko dies (A Lie Guarded, 4×04) and of course right before that was when he brought Luna and what was left of FLokru to Abby, and it is so sad, but he is awesome, how he helps Luna and Abby and Jackson with literally anything they need, and then holds Luna and Adria as Adria dies… GAH. I am still mad that they killed him, tbh!
Believe it or not, but I’ve never seen The 100. I am going to see if I can get hold of it as soon as possible. Only hear good things about the show and your post has me as curious as hell now.
AW thank you, that is high praise! I hope you do get to watch it at some point, it is definitely entertaining! It looks as though the first 3 seasons are on Netflix South Africa, if you ever are so inclined!
great post. thanks for sharing
sherry @ fundinmental