The Lamentable Tragedy of the Death of Lexa

On March 3rd, "The Hundred" which had a stellar Season 2 last year, disposed of Lexa, a beloved character in a problematic way to push forward a what would have been a very fascinating plot. Many different analyses have already covered the different social implications, storytelling flaws and the ensuing furore that have not stopped. 

But seeing that the man who killed her is her father figure and his name is Titus here's what I'm going to focus on. The manner of death and how it relates to the theme of Tragedy for all three characters involved in that scene.  

It got me dusting off my Shakespeare notes from college to read up "The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus" again over the weekend. Skimming through it quickly - Titus was a righteous and fair Roman general, who after wining the war against the Goths, was given the choice by the people to decide who should inherit the throne. The contenders - Saturninus (the first born of the late Emperor hence a more legit claim) vs Bassianus (Saturninus' brother who have the people's love hence support)

But before all this GOT worthy shit can start, Titus has held prisoner the Queen of Goths and to appease the Dead, he decides that her son should be sacrificed. (BLOOD MUST HAVE BLOOD ANYONE?)

Because of HIS particular set of actions, Queen of Goth, Tamora got so enraged she then sets in motion a series of events, which when also paired with Titus' own 'righteous' choices (choosing the 'right' king Saturninus although he is malicious towards Titus, etc, oh there's so much more) which led to the final act where Titus KILLS HIS OWN DAUGHTER though that's not the main focus of that act. (It's a pretty brutal play)

Before I jump into how this relates more specifically to The 100, lemme just put it out here the definition of A TRAGIC DEATH. In my point of view, it's a death that as undesired as it is, it still fulfills an emotional satisfaction for the audience for the character whose death is in mention. Also, in literature the definition of "Tragedy" is (ok it's from Wiki, bite me JR) "a form of drama based on human suffering that invokes an accompanying catharsis or pleasure in audiences."

Henceforth my argument as follows - the Death of Lexa serves as a tragedy for The 100's Titus because he thinks he's doing the right thing, for the person which whom he accidentally kills. We despair at his actions but the catharsis comes from the fact that he 'learnt' from his lessons or he had suffered just as much as the audience had, by his own actions.

The Death of Lexa also is a tragedy for Clarke because she was betrayed once by the girl (Lexa) who like/loves her and finally not only forgiving her (Lexa) but fully reciprocating emotionally and physically, only to have her (Lexa) die for her (again. may I add. *coughFinncough*) Plus, in 3x04 Lexa points out Clarke's tendency to 'fix things' while trying to make her accept that some things, like her death, are just not in her control. This gets revisited when Clarke desperately tries to save Lexa saying "I will fix you, just stay with me."

Now let me jump to some other past deaths that can be deemed 'tragic deaths' -

Death of Finn. Same as Titus. I can literally cut and paste the sentence with just some minor changes. We despair at his actions but the catharsis comes from the fact that he 'learnt' from his lessons and he has suffered just as much as by his own actions. Also fits into my argument of a tragic death, it's a death that as undesired as it is, it still fulfills an emotional satisfaction for the audience because it was done by the girl whom he did it for and for him to suffer a death less torturous.

Death of Finn for Clarke. Also a tragedy, she was the one whom he did it all for and she's the one who ended his life. Pretty straight (heh) forward here.

Even death of Anya (2x04) who died via stray bullet to the stomach (exact same spot and last words as Lexa too, mind you.) was tragic because if the radio balloon hadn't gone up, Clarke and Anya would have never found Camp Jaha. Yet it was the same radio balloon that had the Ark guards on high alert to shoot any and all grounders on sight. Final stab was the fact that Clarke and Anya had made peace and Anya agreed to get an audience with the commander after fighting and almost killing each other all ep long. Tragedy, Tragic Death.

But LEXA'S. "Tragic death - It's a death that as undesired as it is, it still fulfills an emotional satisfaction for the audience for the character whose death is in mention."

What catharsis did we get from her character's story when she died? What emotional satisfaction did we get in her death? That she died after finally having having the girl who she loves, love her back? That her father figure was after the girl she loves but ACCIDENTALLY shot her?

Where is the tragedy FOR her of HER death?

There is no tragedy for Lexa here. Her death doesn't even come close to tragic. Even Romeo's and Juliet's are more tragic than hers and theirs were barely tragic either. It's not tragic, it's just unfortunate and plain dumb luck. Even if she freaking cliched-ly jumped in front of the bullet slow motion style, it would have sufficed the tragic death requirements. LEXA'S DEATH DID NOT FULFILL AN EMOTIONAL SATISFACTION FOR THE AUDIENCE. 

And if someone try to interject with 'oh because she was such a warrior that's why for her to die such a banal death is a tragedy' then you really should really go take a Shakespeare 101 class. The word you might be looking for is 'misfortune'

Or 'oh the 100 is full of deaths and she's just one of the many' Excuse me. Even Sterling (oh who in the world is Sterling???? Well he's in 2x04 and he's the redshirt hero who tried to climb down the cliff to save his friend Mel from Factory station but tragically his rope tying skills were not that great) had a proper legit tragic death. How can Lexa, a fully fleshed out universally loved character, not have something decent? Her death was not a culmination/resolution of her character's story arc, she died as a plot device. At best, also to further the characterization of Clarke and Titus. But the point is, she was not granted the same death,the same respect as all the other characters in the show and plus the fact that she's so highly loved, it's a stab to the heart.

The whole scene was constructed as a tragedy for Titus and Clarke only. There's gut wrenching emotional satisfaction for Titus (serves you right asshole) and Clarke (poor girl not again and so soon after you finally let her in) And now reading up again on Shakespeare again, it's going to seem like someone who is the rightful heir (Saturninus/Ontari?) is going to give Titus more tragedy because Lexa did tell him to serve the next Heda well and yet she got him to swear to protect Clarke. 

Great fucking job Show, we would have cared/loved/gushed over this upcoming juiciness and your AI story if you didn't fuck up Lexa's death in BLIND pursuit of your need to prioritize your head over our heart as Lexa's Death was supposed to be her story, not Titus.

And THAT'S the real Tragedy of the Death of Lexa.