On The CW, The 100 is one of the most popular and controversial shows. With daring character choices and a brutal death count, the show doesn't pull any punches. After all, in their first episode, they have a kid get stabbed through the chest.
In the five seasons thus far, fans have watched future-tech meet tribal culture, watched a space station fall out of the sky, seen people battle an AI cult, live through the end of the world, and leave the planet entirely. It's been a wild ride.
Even though the show ends lives like it's collecting fleshy bobble-heads for its collection, some of these deaths have been far more important, and have meant far more to the show, than others. Some of them are also just downright satisfying.
Here are (for various reasons) a ranking of the best deaths On The 100.
Updated On August 16, 2020 By Amanda Bruce: As The 100 nears its end, even more characters have lost their lives - and still more undoubtedly will. The series has never been one to shy away from death. With so many of the character deaths important to push the story forward, this list has been updated to feature even more since its original publishing.
JOSEPHINE LIGHTBOURNE
When Josephine was introduced in the sixth season, it seemed like she could live forever using Clarke's body as her latest host. Luckily, that wasn't the case.
While Josephine was a fascinating character for the audience, her tendency to make everything about her definitely got on the nerves of the audience. She and Clarke fighting over the mindspace made for one of Clarke's toughest battles in the series up to that point. Josephine having to be destroyed in order for Clarke to regain use of her body was a big moment in the series, reminding the audience just how difficult things could get.
KARA COOPER
She wasn't introduced to the series until the fifth season, but Kara Cooper certainly left an impression. Kara became Octavia's right hand during their six years in the bunker. She fully committed to following Blodreina's rule without question - and that made her particularly dangerous.
Kara was responsible for raising the worms Octavia intended to have released on their enemies. Bellamy and Clarke hatched a plan to kill Kara using her own experiments, releasing the worms on her in a secured area. It was a gross death, but a poetic one.
RUSSELL LIGHTBOURNE
The reveal of Russell's death was a good one because it pushed the final season of the series into a surprising direction. Just when the audience thought Madi was safe from Sheidheda, they realized that wasn't the case after all.
When Sheidheda's code was expelled from Madi's brain, fans wondered just where it had gone. The answer was into Russell's mindspace. There, Sheidheda brutally took him out. It was a move that gave JR Bourne a whole new character to play, and Sanctum a whole new threat to deal with.
CHARMAINE DIYOZA
Despite beginning her time as an antagonist, Diyoza quickly became a fan favorite of the series. She was tough as nails, but she just wanted to get to a better world for her daughter.
Diyoza got that, though not in the way she expected - on a prison planet with her former enemy Octavia Blake. The duo and Diyoza's daughter, Hope, formed an unconventional family. There was nothing Diyoza wouldn't do to teach her daughter that she didn't have to live the same violent life Diyoza herself once lived. When she sacrificed herself so that Hope wouldn't commit genocide, it was a difficult scene for fans to watch, but one that showed how much she cared for her daughter.
CHARLES PIKE
When Charles Pike landed on the ground, he immediately started causing problems with his superiority complex. Between the grounders and him, he'd prefer wiping them out over trying to find a peaceful solution. The hate and fear seething out of the man was insidious and domineering. There's a reason so many scared people who he swayed.
However, when Pike shot the friendly Grounder, Lincoln, he crossed a line. Not only was he already living among them, but he was dating Octavia Blake. After a big battle ends and Pike and Octavia turn to one another, her revenge is so satisfying. A swift stab through the gut feels like justice, even if it began the dark turn for Octavia's character.
THELONIUS JAHA
Throughout The 100, Thelonius Jaha, leader of the Ark, always played a sort of bad guy with good intentions. When the Ark had to crash land for any chance of survival, he stayed behind to eject everyone. It was the perfect, sad swan song for a man who tried to do his best and couldn't. This was the least he could give them. However, Jaha finds a way down himself and then spends the next few seasons waffling around without a real place or character arc.
In the wake of Praimfaya, Jaha was among the people Octavia left outside the bunker. As a sort of second culling, it was a fitting way for him to go. At least he died on the same soul as his son.
QUEEN NIA
When it came to the Grounders Coalition, the largest thorn in their side was Queen Nia, the obstinate leader of Azgeda, the Ice Nation. She was power-hungry and wanted to force leadership into her nation's hands, not Lexa's. Between Roan and Ontari, she was almost successful. However, Lexa knew Nia was the power hungry one, not her son Roan. When they're forced into fatal combat, Lexa ends the fight not by ending Roan, but by spearing his mother through the chest.
Ontari did become the next Commander, even if briefly, and Roan did become an important leader among the Grounders as long as he lived. Her own hubris, treachery, and greed, though, led to her passing on before she could watch any of that happen.
LUNA
When fans first met Luna, conflict had exhausted her. She led Floukru, a clan that stayed out of Grounders politics and protected people rather than battled them. Though her clan was small, they were well-defended and she was proud of them.
Everything changed, though, when the Praimfaya radiation plague spread throughout her clan and her nightblood made her the sole survivor. Filled with anguish and hate, she came to the Commander Final Conclave in plans to win and let no one enter the bunker. Everyone would die to Praimfaya.
During a speech about accepting the darkness in her, though, Octavia stabs her and wins the Final Conclave. This secured the bunker for 100 members of each clan.
LINCOLN
After his whirlwind, culture-defying romance with Octavia in season one, Lincoln became a fan favorite. Not only for his romantics, but also for his level-headed desire for peace and acceptance. Unfortunately, when the close-minded Pike came down from the sky, that put him in a lot of danger. When he refused to hurt the other Grounders at Pike's request, he took him out into the yard and shot him in the head.
The death itself wasn't good and it broke many hearts. However, it was the ruthless sign that serious changes were coming to Skaikru and Octavia. Once she lost Lincoln, she never was the same again. Though it hurt, this death made everything much, much more interesting.
ONTARI
Raised by the Ice Nation to be their perfect, treacherous ace in the hole at the Commander Conclave, Ontari was a spoiled brat with a lust for power. She took what she wanted when she wanted it. This lead to awful actions like murdering the other nightbloods in their sleep and forcing Murphy to be her walking pleasure doll.
When Jaha crushed Ontari's skull, it was satisfying to see her go. In the end there, she was just a scared little girl afraid to lose all her things. Though it did cause a lot of problems for the heroes, seeing her Commander reign end spelled a brighter future for the Grounders Coalition. Assuming they survived, of course.
CARL EMERSON
One of the hardest decisions Clarke and Bellamy had to make was about the Mountain Men. Though they were humans, and most of them innocent, the only way they could stop their bone marrow experiments and missile threats were to wipe them all out. Together, they flooded the chambers with radiation and accepted the horrible thing they'd done.
The Mountain Men had one survivor though, Carl Emerson. Emerson was a soldier they had been experimenting on to make him acclimate to the radiation. After he lost all of his people and was exiled, all he wanted was revenge.
However, Clarke was resourceful and shoved A.L.I.E. 2.0 on his neck and it killed him. While defeating a bad guy was satisfying, it also was an experience that showed the serious consequences that can come with war-time actions.
PAXTON MCCREARY
Between being a mass murderer and an all around unpleasant guy, Paxton McCreary was the worst of the Eligius Prisoners. Sure, they all were criminals that had mutinied, but he was the most extreme and vile. Even though Charmaine was carrying his child, he threatened her life and said the second the kid was out he'd end her.
Before Paxton could do a hostile takeover of anything or hurt anyone else, Clarke took care of the garbage. Stomping through his skull until it was irreparable, she took away the biggest threat to everyone nearby. It was the kind of send-off a guy like Paxton deserved.
A.L.I.E.
In the wake of the end of the world, a brilliant scientist, Becca, tried to create an AI to help protect people. Instead, her A.L.I.E. program decided humanity was too dangerous, hacked various national weapons systems, and sent nukes everywhere. When Jaha crash lands near her core, A.L.I.E. tries to take over all over again, wanting to infect everyone with her and control their actions.
A.L.I.E. nearly succeeds, but at the last second, Clarke and crew shut her down. They find the kill switch and flip it. Watching the insidious A.L.I.E. go dark and everyone be freed is a sweet moment after watching the whole world fall under her spell.
FINN COLLINS
If there was a particular moment where The Delinquents could never go back to being space kids, it was when they had to sacrifice Finn Collins. Both Clarke and Raven loved him, and most of the others respected him. However, his time on the planet's surface changed him. Having to kill for survival broke his mind and turned him into a raging, trigger-happy mess.
When The Grounders came for him, it was heartbreaking but not a surprise. They agreed to be allies as long as they could bring Finn to justice. Clarke mercifully stabbed him instead of the tearing and thrashing The Grounders planned, but it sufficed. This death changed everything on the show, ultimately for the story's benefit. The Delinquents were no longer kids and there was no going back.
MONTY GREEN & HARPER MCINTYRE
Of all The 100 deaths, none are as noble and admirable as Monty and Harper. The pair elected to stay awake on a starship so that they could guide their cryo-sleeping friends to a new planet. Though they may never see the planet themselves, they would save hundreds of people.
Though many of these deaths marked great story changes or satisfying ends for bad people, these deaths are good because it's the best of humanity. Monty and Harper chose to live their lives alone to give the people they loved a chance to live. While The 100 is full of brutal massacres and a lot of ruthlessness, what keeps the main cast so interesting and likable is their inner humanity.
Monty and Harper may be gone, but the two of them alone saved everyone else. Those are good deaths that made the world better for the people they left behind.