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Could Lexa’s Death On ‘The 100’ Be Viewed Positively By The LGBT Community?

By Alexandria Ingham
Published on: 03:15 PST, Mar 17, 2016

Is it possible that Lexa’s death on The 100 could actually be viewed in a positive way by the LGBT community? At the moment, there are thousands of people angry and frustrated at the removal of a lesbian character, but there could be another way to look at this.

There were valid points when The 100 decided to suddenly kill off Lexa. It showed that Jason Rothenberg was going in the same direction as so many other shows: bringing in gay characters just to get rid of them. There are very few shows on TV that support gay and lesbian characters, and most of them will kill them off in some way. Supernatural faced backlash for killing off Charlie during Season 10 for no reason.

The Mary Sue shares the same points raised, even though most fans did see Lexa’s death coming eventually. The argument was that it was so sudden and unnecessary for the time. That is what they believe based on the episode — and the one that followed. However, they do not know what the writers have planned for the future. They also may not have been aware that Rothenberg had actress Alycia Debnam-Carey, who played Lexa, for a short space of time due to her commitments to Fear the Walking Dead.

Rothenberg is also under fire for how he has handled the complaints over the 100 episode. While the cast and other writers have comforted those deeply hurt by the decision to end Clexa (the ship name for Clarke and Lexa), the executive producer has defended his actions and retweeted the supportive posts. He has not acknowledged the amount he has hurt some of his fan base.

That being said, it is possible that 100 fans could look at this death positively. While it hurt, the way the relationship was introduced and developed was in the same way any heterosexual relationship would have been introduced and developed. There were no shock tactics used or a big deal made by other characters. It was as if this all naturally progressed, without Clarke having to find herself after that first kiss with Lexa. The big deal seemed more about them being on opposite sides and Lexa not being allowed to love more than the fact that they were two women.

With that in mind, it could be argued that Lexa’s death was not due to her being a lesbian, but due to her character needing to be killed off. Had she been in no relationship or a heterosexual relationship, nobody would have really cared that she was coming out of the show. They would have likely accepted it as storytelling.

In some ways, it was a necessary death for the story to continue. As commander of the Grounders who wanted peace, she would always end up angering her clans, having to choose between their history and her love for Clarke. The clans would never be able to attack Arkadia, following her orders that only those to die would be those who left the walls. The friction would be gone, except for friction between the Grounders. With Lexa gone, a new commander will take his or her position, and there is no guarantee that Clarke’s people will be saved. Now is her chance to turn to Roan for help.

LGBT fans of The 100 will note that there is still another gay relationship that again has not been introduced without fanfare. Miller and Bryan clearly had a relationship while on the Ark and that has developed while on Earth. They will go through normal relationship troubles, as Bryan has betrayed Miller’s trust by planting a bug, and Miller has been working with Kane to overthrow Pike.

There are more opportunities to bring in other gay or lesbian relationships. The 100 has successfully managed to treat two as normal relationships within the post-apocalyptic universe, whereas other shows have always made gay and lesbian couples something different. By doing that and treating the death in the same way a heterosexual death would have been treated could be seen as something positive and progressive about The 100.

[Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images]

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