The 100: Top 10 Reasons to Ship #Bellarke
Shipping is a funny thing. You start watching a show, as I did with The 100, mostly for the plot. You hardly ever watch for the ship at first, though I admit that I was already predisposed to like Bellarke thanks to all the wonderful comments I’d gotten about them.
On some shows, you stay for the ship, or the possibilities of the ship (Hello, Arrow!). On other shows, however, it is the story that grabs you, the story that twists you around, the story that makes you barely blink as Netflix keeps streaming episode after episode.
At least, until that moment. The moment. You all know what I’m talking about. You’ve felt it. It’s the instant where you go from, okay, I could ship that, to OMG-YES-GIVE-IT-TO-ME-I NEED-IT-LIKE-I-NEED-AIR. And though I’d been warned, I didn’t quite expect it to happen so suddenly. Not to me. I’m an old pro at this shipping stuff, I thought. I can ship calmly. Quietly.
Yeah, right.
I couldn’t. (You won’t be able to, either), and since I’m now so deep into the Bellarke hole that I even purchased the books, I’ve compiled a list of reasons why you should join me in shipping Bellamy and Clarke.
10. He calls her princess …and then Clarke
The first few times Bellamy uses the nickname, the words are said with derision. “Princess” in his voice is not a term of endearment. But just as their relationship changes from contempt to grudging respect, and later on, obvious affection, Bellamy stops calling her princess, and, in the only way he can, verbalizes that the change in her relationship by finally, finally, calling her Clarke.
9. Because of the chemistry between the actors
My favorite types of relationships are the ones that develop organically because of the actors’ chemistry. Now, this isn’t exactly one of those, Bellamy and Clarke seem to be the slow-burn set out from the start, but still, you can’t deny that Bob Morley and Eliza Taylor have out-of-this world chemistry. Finn? Who’s that? From the first time these two shared a scene, back in the Pilot episode, the chemistry was obvious. They weren’t even trying, and we kind of/sort of wanted them to rip each others’ clothes off. And hey, that’s what you want of your ship.
8. They make each other laugh
The 100 is not a comedy. In fact, The 100 is not even your typical drama. This is hard-core, dystopian end of the world stuff these people are dealing with. And yet, in between all of those problems, all of the worries, Bellamy and Clarke still find time to laugh at each other (with each other). My mom used to say, marry the guy that makes you laugh, sweetheart. Everything else goes away. Spot on, mom. Spot on.
7. They’re two sides of the same coin
For all their disagreements, Bellamy and Clarke are the same in the important ways. And I don’t only mean bad-ass leaders who’d do anything for their people, no, I mean two softies who hide the biggest hearts behind body armor. To survive in the conditions they’ve had to live in is a feat, to still be able to feel despite all they’ve had to do to survive …that’s nothing short of amazing.
Lissete Lanuza Sáenz
Lawyer. Writer. Columnist. Geek. Falls in madly in love with fictional characters. Hates the color yellow, misogyny, and people who are late. Can always be found with a book. Watches an absurd amount of TV every week, often, while eating coffee ice cream. She has no regrets. You can check out her blog here: Absurday. Lissete is a senior writer for Tell-Tale TV. Follow @lizziethat
16 comments
This was beautiful.
HELL YEAH for everything in this article. For me Bellarke is the most perfect, beautifull, logical relationship / love story that ever existed in this world. I don’t think I could ever be over them. They just meant to be and the only thing that could stop it if show won’t get more seasons and there will be not enough time to develope them properly into a couple. But really I would be ok even if they stay platonic at the end as long as they are still together. Only with Bellamy and Clarke I truly understood the meaning of OTP.
I don’t necessarily need them to be romantic, I just think they’re going to be. This isn’t a show about romance, but you can write romance anywhere – romance is a part of life. Either way, I think they’re too entwined at this point in the narrative for the characters to be truly separated, at this point, they’re not only friends, they’re partners.
AGREE TIMES ONE BILLION
Is this a joke?
I know people ship them because of the books, but it’s weird to see an article like this about the TV show. Chemistry and platonic friendship, sure. One of my favorite things on the show – as long as it remains platonic, very rare for a lead male/lead female. Romantic though? I’m not seeing it at all.
Re first point: They haven’t been set up AT ALL. And it’s a huge disservice to both the show and the individual characters to reduce their relationship to a “slow burn romance”. What’s more, this show isn’t about romantic relationships – the minute you pair off the lead m/f together in a romance it becomes that. Can you imagine how much weaker S2 would have been with the added Bellamy/Clarke romance? Suddenly it’s not about leadership and saving their people and humanity but yay ships. Frankly, I wouldn’t watch that show, nor do I believe it would be worthy of the critical acclaim it rightfully got in S2.
Both characters, have better stuff to do than have their screen time wasted on a pointless romance (and one that came out of nowhere)? Clarke might be involved in a lot of grounder clan / sky people politics next season. Bellamy, back and camp, back in a leadership position will have to deal with the 100, with Kane, Abby. Their platonic dynamic when the two storylines converge is interesting enough without diluting.
Lots more to say tbh, I disagree with 7, 5, 4, 3, 2 in particular (and along with the rest I fail to see why they’re romantic in any way) but this comment is long enough.
I said this before in another comment, but I’ll say it again – romance is a part of life. The show doesn’t have to be about romantic relationships for one to develop. Hardly any show is ever about a romantic relationship. But there are relationships within most shows, because, well, because that’s the way life works. You don’t have to dump the plot to make romance work, or to make The 100 the Bellarke romance hour. I think these writers have proven very capable of taking the story into interesting places., and if it ends up not being romance, so be it. I just think that, considering the chemistry between the actors, and how the story has progressed so far, it’s more likely than not that they’re going to go there. Not soon. Not at the detriment of everything else. But, in my opinion, that’s what they’re setting up, yes.
Different perspectives then. I take the show as it is and there’s nothing to suggest they’re setting up a future Bellamy and Clarke romantic pairing, based on what we’ve seen so far.
If anything, the emphasis is on their platonic friendship, which as mentioned, is very refreshing, especially for a show on the CW.
And I do think the show would end up being dumbed down. Like I said, imagine S2 with this romance: instead of Clarke making decisions in order to save her people, it becomes about her and Bellamy. As an example: the low point of the entire show for me was in the beginning of S1, and the Finn, Raven and Clarke triangle was one of the main reasons: it dragged the overall quality down: just another dystopian scenario with a triangle in the middle.
There are a million shows with similar romance arcs (I disagree about “hardly any show” look at most shows on TV right now: all lead m/f romance that takes center stage, a lot of them with a stupid triangle to boot), I think this one is trying to be different and I applaud them for it.
“I know people ship them because of the books”, not at all! People ship them because is obvious, I saw that from the first episode.. And generally discovered the books after the show. You can say the book attracts because of the bellarke, but no we ship because of the book… It wasn’t known even still.
I’ve actually never read the books, and I don’t have any plan to. I ship them because I love how much the two of them have grown to trust and rely on each other. The hug is what sealed the deal for me. There’s something more there.
I agree with Lizzie that if it happens, it won’t happen anytime soon. I also don’t NEED them to be romantic. I would like them to have scenes together and continue to develop their friendship and partnership. It’s hard not to see that they care about each other. Maybe that care is a side effect from being on the ground, constantly in danger, where you have had to save the other person’s life once or twice. It could be that’s all it is, but there are feelings there.
I don’t think that if Bellarke turns romantic that it will affect the show in a negative way. We’ve had romances on the show where even though a couple starts dating (if that’s even what they call it on the ground), the goal is still survival. We’ve had Linctavia, Wicken, and Clexa, all of which have existed in harmony with the plot and even created some touch decisions (I’m still not over Lexa’s “may we meet again.”). If Bellarke turns romantic, I don’t think it would be a detriment to the show or take away from the pain and darkness that is The 100.
Weird you say that about trusting each other, and it’s in the top 10 too. This show is never that black and white. I don’t think you can say that about any characters, save perhaps Bellamy and Octavia. Not even Abby and Clarke.
Bellamy was certainly not that trustworthy in S1 and yes, things changed in S2, but what happens if for example Octavia’s life is on the line. Could Bellamy be trusted to sacrifice his sister to save a group of arkers for example? And Clarke certainly lied to Bellamy about the missile, even though she knew Octavia is the most important thing in his life. Is that still trustworthy?
Me? I’m happy the show doesn’t shy away from making difficult choices with their characters, and hoping they’ll raise the bar in S3: who knows what new alliances might form?
What I find interesting is that the show has shown that trust only goes so far. Like you said, there have been times where either the trust isn’t strong enough or the person just can’t risk it. Maybe sometimes details aren’t shared because the other person doesn’t want someone to fight them on their decision (like with the bombing of TonDC). The mission is above all else.
Most of the 100 trust each other with their lives in some situations (getting out of mount weather, just general being out away from camp), and I think considering where Bellamy and Clarke started, they trust each other now. Bellamy was definitely not trustworthy for most if not all of season one.
I’m really excited to see more of Bellamy and Octavia now that she’s a bit more grounder than he would probably like. I want to see their relationship more. I hope the show doesn’t shy away from the tough choices, and we continue to see everyone’s relationships and trust tested. Also if we could see more of the 100, that would be great. I’m excited about the grounders and I love Lexa, but I want more of the 100.
Trust and/or love are not fixed things. They evolve, change, deepen., and I think the show has done a good job of showing this so far. I have no reason to believe they won’t continue to show us that relationships can change and evolve, and this comment is not even just about Clarke and Bellamy’s relationship, but it’s about Octavia too, and Lexa, and, honestly, about most of these people, because if this show does something well is make me care about pretty much everyone.
So, yes, show me change. Make the unthinkable choice with these people that I’m now attached to, whatever that choice might be. Even if it’s romance.
“I know people ship them because of the books, but it’s weird to see an article like this about the TV show.”
Actually a lot of casual viewers of the show who aren’t really involved in the fandom really like Bellarke from the TV show. Every person I’ve spoken to who watches the show but isn’t heavily invested all love Bellamy and Clarke, and if you like The 100 on Facebook there are plenty of comments talking about Bellarke. Where somewhere like Twitter has very dedicated fans (from all fan-groups) the Facebook page is a bit more of an insight to the casual viewers, considering it’s got over 1M likes and a lot of them talk about Bellarke too.
I personally never read the book and when I watched the TV show I definitely was intrigued by their relationship as I felt their bond (along with Octavia/Bellamy) was one of the most profound relationships that the show has to offer.
Also, I think some people kind of miss the point of shipping haha. I’m always quite confused when a non-canon ship is very popular and people’s reactions seem to be “it’s not canon!!!! They haven’t touched lips!!! How can you like them??” More and more we’re seeing non-canon ships become more and more popular (at the top of my head I can think of Destiel, Bellarke, Derek, Stydia, Bucky/Steve, etc); the reason for this is anyone’s guess but my personal opinion is that the fun of shipping is the wait for something to happen as well as the creative freedom of simply enjoying something that is an extension to what we know on the show. For instance, with Bellarke we KNOW they trust each other, we KNOW they depend on each other in a healthy way, we KNOW they love each other (in a platonic sense right now), we KNOW they forgive each other and we KNOW that they’re partners and arguably best friends. To some people and the way they experience love, is the idea of finding love with someone they trust, respect, love and forgive is quite a nice thought and something they would like to see in the story. And from this fanarts and headcanons and fanfictions and articles like this are born. Sometimes it can be as simple as “wow these two characters have a great bond, how cool would it be to see them together?” Remember that once upon a time, Olicity was a non-canon couple that people enjoyed too, and fans would squeal every time one of them touched the others shoulder and now they’re running off in the sunset together (literally). So I don’t think those fans who were losing their minds before Olicity were canon were somehow ‘missing the point of the story’, they were just enjoying the story being told on their own terms. Same thing for people who ship Bellarke or Destiel or Bucky/Steve or Quinn/Rachel or whatever non-canon popular ships there are. They’re just having fun and enjoying the story; same as everyone else.
Lastly, maybe I’m the only one, but I am kind of confused by this whole “Bellamy and Clarke can never happen because they are friends!” thing. I’m not sure if ya’ll have heard of a friends to lovers trope but it’s quite popular throughout fiction and has been for years. Also, it’s not like the moment their lips touch (IF they touch) that suddenly means seasons of development and friendship between them is somehow lost. There seems to be this idea (mainly perpetrated by Hollywood) that you can ONLY be friends with someone or you can ONLY be in love with them and there is no middle ground whatsoever. I’d like to see a relationship on screen where they are partners and best friends and comrades who also just happen to have romantic feelings for each other. I’m quite over that whole idea of romance where you have to fall in love with each other in a window of time and if you don’t instantly develop romantic feelings then it can never be canon.
The executive producer and creator of the show has tweeted multiple times that Bellarke isn’t a thing romantically and isn’t planned to be one either. However, he has said that anything is possible and if later in the future the story goes there then so be it. But he’s not planning on taking it there. IMO, I don’t see the romantic chemistry that Bellarke shippers see.
He has never said it’s not planned to ever happen. In fact he has always maintained that it could happen or it could not happen; it just ultimately depends on how they decide tell the story. I believe Jason also heavily implied once on Twitter that whether they happen or not is dependent on how many seasons the show gets (I remember him tweeting something along the lines of “more viewers means more seasons which means more chances for your ship to happen #Bellarke”). I don’t know if they’re endgame or not (I wouldn’t be surprised if there is no endgame ship in this show) but I do think that if they ever were to go down the Bellarke route, that they have certainly put down a stable foundation for a relationship so far in the 2 seasons of the show.
I AGREE with evrrything you just said. Bellarke is beautiful. Thank you for saying what we all wanted to say. Xx
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