archivedblogposts Answer:

I completely understand your feelings!!! Just know that it is okay to love a character who is in the wrong, who is making mistakes and doing bad things.

Now in defense of Bellamy, there really is no defense. Only that he doesn’t think that what he is doing is wrong. He’s not TRYING to be evil or bad, he’s TRYING to protect his people the only way he knows how. The most I can do for you is offer Bellamy’s point of view. Not so you can condone his actions, but so you can understand where he is coming from:

• Since the day the 100 landed on Earth, they have been attacked by Grounders. The 100 were just a bunch of clumsy and clueless juvenile delinquents who were viewed as enemy invaders by the TriKru and attacked. TriKru declared war on them first without even trying to understand them or talk to them and find out what was going on. They saw falling spaceship and thought “War; let’s kill them”, regardless of the fact there were only 100 of them and they were CHILDREN. They literally saw 100 children as an enemy threat. Even Lincoln said in season 1, “What my people are doing to your people is wrong.”
• Bellamy as the oldest felt it his duty to protect them, and you can see how at the end of season 1 he felt he failed. (“18 dead.” “82 alive.”) He took each death incredibly hard and never really felt like he accomplished anything and mostly that he failed as a leader. This may be the reason he took a step back in his leadership roles season 2 and let Clarke make most of the decisions, and now in season 3 just completely listens to Pike.
  
• Moving on to season 2, Bellamy and the rest of Skaikru were sort of forced into an alliance with TriKru by Clarke. It’s not something they really agreed with but they grudgingly accepted it because they saw the Mountain Men as the greater evil, and the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Even then, they saw much violence with TriKru. For one thing, the alliance began with Finn’s death. Finn was Bellamy’s FRIEND. Then Lexa had Raven tortured for a crime her own bodyguard committed to undermine the alliance. The he saw Lexa and Clarke allow TonDC to be destroyed and all the people in it die. His own sister almost died and only made it out by chance. And finally, when Skaikru needed them most TriKru threw them under the bus. Lincoln called this act dishonorable, and it was. They had promised to get EVERYONE out of the mountain to spare the innocents, but when things got tough they easily sold out Skaikru and left his friends to die. Then Bellamy was put into a position: Let these kids who I promised myself I’d protect die, or spare the innocent people in this mountain, the ones who helped me and the ones who trusted me. It was a lose-lose decision as he cared for both parties involved, but ultimately he chose family and killed 300+ people in that mountain.
• Now in season 3, Bellamy is trying to move on with his life and forget the horrors of Mount Weather. Something he has to do by himself since Clarke left and Monty is on 24 hr Jasper watch. And when his friend Echo comes along - someone who had been in a life or death situation with him and saved him life - and told him a lie, he believed her. He vouched for her. He trusted her. And she used that to help the Ice Nation kill 40+ people in Mount Weather, including his girlfriend Gina. At this point Bellamy is full of guilt, because he vouched for Echo. He trusted her and she stabbed him in the back and killed his people, just as he trusted Lexa and she stabbed him in the back.
• Bellamy had been questioning himself for a long time now, but this Echo incident was really the final nail in the coffin. At this point he had absolutely no confidence in himself, and thus he had that tearful conversation with Kane where he resigned from the Guard. Bellamy didn’t believe in himself anymore, and he hadn’t for a long time, and so he feels he needs to place his faith in someone else. For a time it was Clarke, but she left. Then it was Kane, but the Mount Weather incident happened. And now it’s Pike.
• And now Clarke reappears, making all the decisions for Skaikru as she always does. Making alliances with Grounders AGAIN. The same people who have killed and lied to Skaikru nonstop. And Bellamy just doesn’t trust them. Not anymore. He’s been lied to too many times, broken too many times, and lost too many people. He literally cannot afford to trust any Grounder anymore.
• Bellamy is scared, angry, and confused, and Pike is saying a lot of things that make sense to him. “I blame myself too. I’m also responsible for those deaths at Mount Weather. But I’ll never let that happen again. I’ll never let another Grounder take advantage of me and abuse my trust and kill my people.” Why do you think Pike chose Bellamy of all people to be his protegee? He saw a broken man and decided to piece him back together in his own way.
• Clarke, Kane, and Octavia keep insisting that Bellamy killed an army that was there to protect them, and Bellamy is just not listening anymore. And why should he? That SAME ARMY had been killing his friends in season 1. He has been fighting with them nonstop since landing on the ground. And they have NEVER kept their word before, so why should he believe them when they say this enormous army is just there for “peacekeeping” and “to protect them”? Lexa’s word means nothing to him. Not anymore.
• Now from the audience’s POV, Lexa IS trustworthy. We’ve seen a change in her and we’ve also seen the Grounder Culture. We know what they’re truly like. But we have an omniscient POV. We’ve seen things no other character has and know everything. Bellamy only knows what he knows through his limited experience. And honestly, Lexa hasn’t made an effort to appeal to the Skaikru or speak to them. She only concerns herself with winning Clarke over. But Clarke does not speak for the Skaikru. Unlike Grounders Skaikru have a democracy and elect officials. So if a majority of the people feel threatened by Grounders and don’t trust them, they’re going to vote for an official with that mindset, like Pike. Clarke should not have been wasting time being an ambassador for Skaikru when she didn’t bother asking them if they WANTED an ambassador. She should have been at home EDUCATING her people. They won’t know things unless you tell them, and their experiences have been negative!!

So basically: Bellamy is wrong. Does he think he’s wrong? Maybe. He seemed quite conflicted in this last episode. But does he think he’s protecting his people? Yes, he does! Bellamy is making poor, yet understandable, decisions. What he needs is help. Not for people to turn their back on him.

And I want you to notice how Clarke was with Bellamy during that scene in 3x05. She wasn’t angry or accusatory. She was sorry. She was understanding. She wasn’t like, “Fuck you, you murderous piece of shit!” She was like, “I know you. This isn’t you. I need you. We can fix this.” Because Clarke understands that Bellamy is not coming from a place of bloodthirstiness. He’s scared and he’s following someone he thinks can protect the people he loves.

Hate comes from anger. Anger comes from fear.

People do horrible things when they’re scared.