Bellamy Blake/Clarke Griffin

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Pairing
Pairing: Bellamy Blake/Clarke Griffin
Alternative name(s): Bellarke, Blarke
Gender category: M/F
Fandom: The 100
Canonical?: Non-canon in the TV series; Canon in the books
Prevalence: Popular
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Bellamy/Clarke is the m/f pairing of Bellamy Blake and Clarke Griffin in The 100 TV series and book series.

Canon

In season one, these characters were originally quite antagonistic towards each other. Bellamy viewed Clarke's position in the Arc hierarchy negatively, as she was one of the elites. His stance on moving away from the rules of the Arc puts him in direct conflict with Clarke, who often disagreed with him. Clarke is often portrayed as more moral and less willing to kill to survive. As the season progresses, they both take on leadership roles and often have to put their differences aside to work together.

In season 2 Clarke is taken to Mount Weather and Bellamy, at Camp Jaha, is determined to search for the missing Delinquents. After they are reunited, Bellamy and Clarke form a more united front. They work together to save Lincoln, and on plans to rescue the others from Mount Weather. They both try to protect Finn from Grounder justice, but ultimately fail. Clarke tells Lexa that she trusts Bellamy to infiltrate Mount Weather, because she knows he will succeed. Their goals and morals are more closely aligned now. They are both willing to make sacrifices, and ultimately kill, to save their people. Bellamy and Clarke jointly pull the lever which irradiates Mount Weather, killing all the men, women and children who had lived at that compound. On their return to Camp Jaha, Clarke explains that she can't go back after the events of Mount Weather. She tells him to take care of everyone, before walking away.

In the third season, Clarke and Bellamy's friendship is often strained, as they find themselves on opposite sides of political and armed conflicts. Bellamy, in Clarke's absence, joins with Commander Pike in massacring a Grounder Army, in direct conflict to Clarke's hope for a peaceful resolution. Both characters are still concerned with their people's safety and ultimately work together to save Raven from the City of Light and stop A.L.I.E.'s army. Clarke is willing to forgive Bellamy for his previous actions, and Bellamy realizes his mistake of acting out of vengeance and tries to stop Octavia from making the same mistake in the season finale.

In season 4, Clarke and Bellamy both work to save their people from the inevitable nuclear apocalypse. When it seems like only 100 people can be saved, Clarke makes a list. She includes Bellamy's name, but he insists that she include herself as well. They are both still willing to defy and challenge each other when they believe they are doing what is right. Bellamy breaks the truce with Azgeda to save a group of their people. Clarke plans to steal the bunker from the other clans to ensure the survival of humanity, pointing a gun at Bellamy when he challenges her. The season ends with Bellamy returning to the Arc to wait out Praimfaya, thinking Clarke is dead. Clarke ends up surviving as a result of the Nightblood cure, trying to radio Bellamy everyday.

By season 7, Clarke and Bellamy have become best friends. However, their friendship sours when Bellamy betrays his friends and joins the Disciples. Clarke ends up killing Bellamy to protect her adoptive daughter Madi.

Fandom

After the release of promotional pictures from 2x5 "Human Trials", the Bellarke fandom exploded with reactions and various fanworks due to the images of a Bellarke hug and reunion. "We Are Excited for Bellarke Reunion" trended on Twitter in reaction [1], despite the fact that it hadn't even been a planned trend.[1]

Statistics

  • In 2015, Bellarke was number 11 in "most reblogged" ships on Tumblr.[2]
  • In 2016, Bellarke was ranked 16th in the top 20 "most reblogged" ships on Tumblr, dropping five spots from the 2015[3]
  • In 2017, Bellarke was ranked 15th in the top 30 "most reblogged" ships on Tumblr, gaining one spot from the previous year.[4]
  • As of January 2018, there are over 9k of fanworks listed as Bellamy/Clarke at AO3,[5] and Bellamy Blake/Clarke Griffin are the 2nd most popular The 100 pairing.[6]
  • In 2018, Bellarke gained eight places, ranking 7th on Tumblr's Top 100 ships of 2018[7]

Common Tropes & Themes

Challenges

Awards

Ship War

Main article: Bellarke vs Clexa

Some fans of this pairing have engaged in a ship war with fans of the pairing Clarke Griffin/Lexa

Bellamy's Death

Bellamy's death at the hands of Clarke in season 7 episode 13 was an especially hard blow to Bellarke shippers. Fans felt that their ship had been ruined,[9] with much of their anger directed at the showrunner Jason Rothenberg.

i literally can't rewatch the bellarke scenes knowing that in the end clarke kills him, jason ruined my comfort ship completely[10]

It's the fact that Jason completely ruined Bellarke for me. Not only did he kill one half of our ship, but he also made the other half do it. Like what the fuck is that??? How can I still stan bellarke after knowing what Clarke did?? Congrats Jason. You won.[11]

Season 7 as a whole divided the fandom, with some Bellarke shippers turning on Clarke for killing Bellamy and denouncing the pairing.[12][13]

Y'all still ship Bellarke in this economy sorry I ain’t shipping Bellamy with his KILLER bye[14]

yeah so...try not to make clarke shooting bellamy as the intro to your bellarke edits. clarke is his murderer not his lover. (not meant as clarke slander just stating why its weird)[15]

I see a lot of people hating on Clarke, and I get that, but.
You know this isn't her. You know she's OOC. This is J*son acting through her.
Clarke has been dead ever since the end of s6. J*son did that. She died as the character we loved. I still love her, and bellarke.[16]

Others decided to ignore the existence/canonicity of season 7 and continue shipping Bellarke, particularly to "spite" the showrunner.

i've decided i can't let s7 ruin s1-6 BC for me because then jason would get what he wants. you think i'm gonna give in to that man? no, if it rips my heart in two every time i see a BC scene now then so be it. i'm gonna suck it up and keep shipping them anyway, just out of spite[17]

Don't let the writers ruin Clarke for you
Don't let the writers ruin Bellamy for you
Don't let the writers ruin Bellarke for you

It is exactly what they want
If you let them, they win[18]

Fanworks

Fics

  • Strength Enough To Build A Home by Thea, What makes a family? Don’t ask. Bellarke, from other people’s point of view. (gif sets)
  • the kids don’t stand a chance by Thea, Five times Clarke and Bellamy co-parented the 100, and the one time that they were in need of parenting.
  • Unwind by entwined-fate, Finn was telling her that he loved her and all she could think about was Bellamy Blake. (Berries Made Us Do It)
  • Seared with Scars by justvisiting80, "Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars." (Khalil Gibran) ... This is set just after S1 Episode 7 ("Contents Under Pressure") and will not follow canon from that point on.
  • Unexpected Expectations by Sliverloc303, The Ark has landed, the Grounders declared peace and people have started to build for the future. Bellamy is just glad he wasn't executed but somewhere along the line, everyone just decided that Abby Griffin was his mother-in-law.
  • to build a home by manycoloureddays, Clarke was here doing these three boys a favour; the only person to answer their ad online asking for “someone with no criminal record, a steady paycheck, and some goddamn common sense”. She didn’t need to be judged by Bellamy Blake. (New Girl/Roommates AU, Witch!Clarke)
  • Faint by cardinalrachelieu, Bellamy has the flu, but he's a terrible patient and refuses to rest so Clarke has to repeatedly drag him back to his tent when she finds him roaming around camp 'working'.
  • we can do this (together or not at all) by orangecoconut, And she laughs. It’s soft but it’s there and he realizes he hasn’t heard that sound in a while (since Unity Day, maybe) and it feels him with a relief he hasn’t felt since he saw Octavia again. It warms his skin; the reminder that his partner is back. Annoying or not (and she’s definitely annoying) he wasn’t so sure he could do this without her. (Reunion!fic)
  • The Hospital Wing by SpicyPepper_SweetSugar, a.k.a “The Five Times Bellamy Walks Away from Clarke While In The Hospital Wing and The One Time He Doesn't". Bellamy meets Clarke up on the Ark years before they meet again on Earth. There has always been something there, but he always ended up walking away from her, until one day.
  • Living Proof by anythingbutgrey, They’ve been here for long enough to almost get used to the acid fogs and the night watches and the strange, tough meat of the Earth, but she’s never going to get used to the absence of machine hums. She prefers this, of course, the ability to hear far beyond the confines of anything. She doesn’t have confines anymore. (post-2x04, Reunion!fic)
  • Inconceivable by jaegermighty, rated Mature, "Well," Bellamy says dryly, "this whole diplomacy thing sure is going great." (Futurefic, Grounders Made Them Do It)
  • Trouble Sleeping by AvaRosier, rated Mature, Conversely: The Mating Habits of the North American Werewolf (Princess) (Modern AU, Werewolf!Clarke)
  • Morton's Fork by Quentanilien, For the first time in her life, Clarke acts without thinking. There is only Bellamy, fighting for his life, and her, desperate to save him. Circumstances in the finale take a different turn, and it’s Clarke who throws herself into the fray to save Bellamy. Stuck outside of the dropship together, they run for their lives.
  • my true name is a growl by adolescentwolf, rated Mature, Clarke gets bitten in the woods on a Saturday night under a full, heavy moon. (Teen Wolf AU, Werewolves!Bellarke)
  • Facing Tempests of Dust by grumpybell, rated Mature, Clarke Griffin has grown up in the perfectly controlled environment of the Ark dome, a city created to withstand the destruction of the world outside. Now, she's been sent out with 100 other delinquents to try to survive on their own, but she knows the truth. They weren't sent away for their crimes, but rather to buy time for others in Ark, as the city is failing. While Clarke struggles to lead her band of teenagers, she encounters a man with strange abilities and an offer she finds hard to refuse. (shapeshifter/Grounder!Bellamy)
  • Love Will Come Through by monroeslittle
  • Meet Me in the Morning by monroeslittle
  • Survivor's Guilt by LaughingSenselessly

Arts

Vids

Fanmixes

Recs

Archives & Fannish Links

Tumblr Fandom

Facebook

Resources

References

  1. ^ "We Are Excited For Bellarke Reunion" Trended TODAY! Tumblr post about the trend. Posted November 14, 2014. (Accessed November 14, 2014)
  2. ^ Tumblr 2015 Year in Review: Most Reblogged Ships.
  3. ^ 2016’s Top Ships
  4. ^ 2017′s Top Ships
  5. ^ AO3 link Bellamy/Clarke fanworks is 37.27% of The 100 fanworks on AO3 (which is over 24.3k as of January 12, 2018)
  6. ^ The 100 A03 Statistics
  7. ^ 2018’s Top Ships
  8. ^ Although in the television series, Finn Collins is the one that nicknamed her this; in the books Bellamy had nicknamed her that first.
  9. ^ Tweet by @rhysabell, Archived version
  10. ^ Tweet by @reyesuniverse, Archived version
  11. ^ Tweet by @obxbellarke, Archived version
  12. ^ Tweet by @PraimfayaTrials, Archived version
  13. ^ Tweet by @bellarkeclownn, Archived version
  14. ^ Tweet by @bellarkefeel, Archived version
  15. ^ Tweet by @HELENAFlLMS, Archived version
  16. ^ Tweet by @Deanoora, Archived version
  17. ^ Tweet by @bellsrkeh, Archived version
  18. ^ Tweet by @SheiGarche, Archived version
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