The 100 series finale ending explained: War or test?

Breaking down the events in The 100 series finale

And so we come to the end of an era. The 100 series finale brought seven seasons of story, pain, war, heartbreak, and joy to an end. Characters lived and died, but would any transcend?

It’s time to break down the ending, including whether it was a test or a war. Who was right?

It was all a test

More from CW

• The CW’s culture of pulling shows continues as Everyone Else Burns and Run the Burbs are removed from the schedule
• All American: Homecoming season 3 release updates, strike delay, and more
• The CW is out of the superhero business with Superman and Lois canceled
• The Spencer Sisters filming locations: Where is the CW drama filmed?
• The Librarians: The Next Chapter release updates and everything we know so far

With the code, Bill steps through the final bridge. His daughter is on the other side, although it turns out this isn’t really his daughter. Those who make the decisions about whether the characters transcend or not take on the form of a person’s greatest love, favorite teacher, or someone they failed.

He quickly learns that he did translate it wrong after all. Jordan got it right. It is a test.

Clarke killed Bill to get justice for Madi. Now she would be the one who would need to take the test for the human race, and Bill’s daughter transforms into Lexa. Not the real Lexa, though, sadly.

Already failing the test, Clarke decides to tell the being in front of her that she has no right to judge the human race. It’s a definite fail, and that’s it.

Raven takes the test

Clarke admits that Raven should have been the one to take the test. Well, Raven decides while Clarke failed, there may be a chance to get the being to change her mind.

This is when we get Abby back. That’s the person Raven looked up to the most, and after everything on The 100 Season 6, I loved this. The being has decided and shows Raven that the humans will wipe themselves out with what will become the last war.

For a minute, it looks like the being will be proven wrong. However, Shiedheda shoots Levitt and the war begins. Octavia and Echo risk their lives to pull Levitt out of the line of fire. Octavia believes the test is going on and the dead can’t transcend. Hope and Jordan help to keep Levitt and Echo (who is shot in the process of getting Levitt) alive, while Octavia stops the fight.

It’s an excellent speech. Octavia has had some of the best character development in the series (Murphy’s character development just beats it for me), and this moment proves it. She convinces both sides (after Indra kills Shiedheda) to put down their weapons.

It’s exactly what the being needed to see that the human race was worthy of transcending.

Is Clarke left alone?

Everyone but Clarke is able to transcend. Despite being locked in after her stroke, even Madi is able to transcend, although she doesn’t want to leave Clarke alone. Even Murphy and Emori are able to transcend despite Emori dying. Murphy put her mind drive into his head knowing it will kill him to give him just a few more hours with her. They’re still alive when it comes to transcending.

It looks like Clarke is left alone. She gets back to Sanctum, where Picasso is alone. Remember, it was about humans and not the animals, although I feel like the animals really probably should have transcended since they can’t be bad.

The two head to Earth in search of shelter and water, but Picasso runs away. Clarke fears that it means she’s going to be left alone. She’s not allowed to transcend because she did the one thing nobody has ever done. She killed someone during the test.

However, others do something nobody has ever done. While Madi remains in transcendence, where she’s without pain, Clarke’s other friends decide to return to Earth. They can’t allow Clarke to live the rest of her life alone. They won’t have children but that doesn’t matter to any of them. It’s all about their little family.

In the end, this could have been an excellent series finale. The last two episodes have been the quality I expected for The 100‘s final season. The planet-hopping and poor decisions earlier in the season overshadowed the season overall. However, at least The 100 series finale was an excellent goodbye to characters and showed us that the human race deserves a second chance.

What did you think of The 100 series finale? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

The 100 series finale is on The CW App on Oct. 1 and all of Season 7 will be on The CW on Oct. 8.