The 100: What The Key Really Is (It’s Not Clarke)

The first half of The 100 season 7 focused on Clarke being the key to humanity’s last war, but that’s not the whole story. In its final season, The 100 has been exploring the origins of the show’s world and a new group of humans who managed to survive the original nuclear apocalypse.

That group, the Disciples, are religious fanatics living on the planet Bardo, connected to Sanctum by the Anomaly. Their leader, Anders, has been searching for Clarke, calling her the key to the last war humanity will face. Episode 8, “Anaconda”, revealed that those things aren’t necessarily true; the real leader of the Disciples is Bill Cadogan, who led the Second Dawn cult centuries before, and the key to the war isn’t Clarke herself.

Anders and the rest of the Disciples were looking for wasn’t Clarke herself but the Flame, the AI developed by Becca Franco that became the origin of the Grounder commanders. The 100 season 7 episode 8, “Anaconda,” explains how the Disciples got to Bardo, tying it in to several plot points from earlier seasons. The Grounders on Earth and Disciples on Bardo both came from the Second Dawn cult, with Becca and her use of the Flame being central to the schism that split the Second Dawn in half.

In the episode’s flashback to Earth, Cadogan was convinced that humanity’s salvation would come from the Anomaly Stone, which Becca was able to understand better than anyone else due to using the Flame. Octavia’s memories showed Clarke using the Flame while trying to destroy the City of Light, leading Anders to believe that getting Clarke would be the key to understanding the Anomaly Stone. Cadogan tries to confirm this when he confronts Clarke, asking her if his daughter, Calliope, is in there, which Clarke assures him is the case.

There’s one obvious problem here: by finding Clarke, Anders and Cadogan don’t actually have the Flame. Clarke hasn’t had the Flame in her head since the finale of season 3, with her adopted daughter Madi being the last one to do so. On top of that, the Flame was destroyed at the end of season 6 to save Madi’s life. Given the importance of the Flame, and that Clarke still has Josephine’s mind drive in her head, Clarke’s likely bluffing that she has the Flame to get Cadogan’s cooperation. While it seems to be working for now, it’s unclear how long she can keep up the charade until the Disciples realize that Clarke doesn’t actually have the key they’re looking for.

Even though it’s been destroyed, the Flame continues to play a big role on The 100, being sought out by the main antagonists of season 7. Now that it’s been revealed the Disciples are searching for the Flame and not necessarily Clarke herself, there’s room for more conflict breaking out when the Disciples discover the truth about the Flame.