Bellarke vs Clexa

Bellarke vs Clexa is a ship war in The 100 fandom, between fans of two Clarke Griffin pairings: Bellamy Blake/Clarke Griffin (better known as Bellarke) and Clarke Griffin/Lexa (better known as Clexa). The ship war has generated much controversy within the fandom, drawing the attention of the showrunners and mainstream media alike.
==About==
Since the beginning of the television series, there have been shippers of the pairing Bellamy Blake/Clarke Griffin, because they are arguably the two main characters. There may have been expectations from some fans of the pairing that it would become canon, as the two have a romantic relationship in the source material, The 100 book series.
In Season 2, the character of Commander Lexa was introduced, and she quickly became a fan favorite - plus, she was a canonically gay character. Some fans began shipping the pairing of Clarke Griffin/Lexa early on, but their popularity increased after Lexa kissed Clarke near the end of Season 2. At this point, the showrunner Jason Rothenberg confirmed that Clarke is bisexual.
=== First Peak ===
The ship war started in Season 2, but began to heat up in advance of Season 3, when it was confirmed that Lexa would be returning to the series. The ship war continued early in the third season when Clarke was reunited with Lexa.
Writing at The Learned Fangirl, Bethany Scettrini described some of the tactics used by Bellarke and Clexa shippers during the ship war:
The peak of the ship war seemed to occur in the weeks prior to, and following, the airing of the episode "Thirteen", in which Lexa is killed shortly after consummating her relationship with Clarke. Some Bellarke shippers openly celebrated Lexa's death on social media and rubbed it in the faces of Clexa fans, certain that this meant their ship had won.Twitter thread by @msidkha. Archived version.Tweet by @laaurengirl. Archived version.Twitter thread by @osokigon. Archived version.Twitter thread by @alyciasgoId. Archived version. This event led to intense acrimony on both sides.
=== Second Peak ===
The ship war slowly fizzled out in the years following Lexa's death, but did not stop completely as viewers still waited to see what Clarke's "endgame" relationship would be when the series ended. Some fans accepted that Clexa was over, while some Clexa shippers continued to push for the show to bring Lexa back. Despite Clexa's apparent loss, it was not assured that Bellarke would win; Bellarke shippers were vocal about their desire that the show make Bellarke canon and endgame. Things began to heat up again with the anticipation of Season 7, the final season.
The ship war eventually reached a second, smaller peak, starting with the death of Bellamy at the hands of Clarke in the S7 episode "Blood Giant", thus ending any possibility that Bellarke would become more than friends. The fact that Bellamy had not simply died, but had been shot and killed by Clarke herself, made this development an especially hard blow to Bellarke shippers. Some Clexa shippers openly celebrated Bellamy's death on social media. Some felt happy that Bellamy fans were suffering as they had suffered after Lexa's death, and some felt happy that if Clexa couldn't win, at least Bellarke couldn't either. This event reignited the acrimony on both sides. Many argued about whether or not it was appropriate of Clexa shippers to act this way as "payback" for the past behavior of Bellarke shippers.Twitter thread by @alyciasdamie. "Receipt" threads on Twitter were common among Clexa fans during this time, sharing screenshots to expose Bellarke shippers who were condemning their behavior for having engaged in the same behavior after Lexa's death.
===End===
The series finale a few episodes later featured the surprise return of "Lexa" — technically a godlike being who took on Lexa's form because she was Clarke's greatest love. The fact that it was Lexa who had shown up for Clarke, beating out even Clarke's recently deceased mother, plus the exclusion of Bellamy from the finale left many Clexa fans feeling like they had come out on top in the end.
Post Apocalyptic Media declared Clexa the winner of the ship war after the series finale:
==Showrunner Involvement==
Unlike other ship wars, in which the show's creators often learn about the conflict tangentially, fans expressed themselves by directly contacting the writers and the showrunner, Jason Rothenberg, usually via Twitter. The Twitter accounts of the show's creators were inundated with tweets from shippers. Rothenberg voiced his frustration with this in a February 16, 2016 tweet:
However, some fans pointed out the apparent hypocrisy of this move when just days earlier, Rothenberg had fanned the flames of the dispute by tweeting a TV Guide interview with Eliza Taylor, the actress who plays Clarke Griffin, entitled The 100: Eliza Taylor Weighs In on Clexa vs. Bellarke Debate. Rothenberg wrote: "I'm guessing this won't calm things down. @MisElizaJane #Clexa #Bellarke #The100"
In a follow-up tweet, Rothenberg added,
==Accusations of Homophobia==
During the ship war, fans who preferred the pairing of Bellamy Blake/Clarke Griffin were sometimes accused of being homophobic or biphobic by Clarke Griffin/Lexa shippers, with truthofherdreams stating:
ollraight described some of the offending posts:
shayaronnie added:
Some of the accusations also stem from Bellarke being a fanon m/f ship and Clexa being a rare canon f/f ship, with zwanheda stating:
kcrras added:
thumb|upright=2.0|A The 100 confession about the Clexa fandom and their accusations of homophobia
Reactions to these accusations varied, but usually but involved Bellarke shippers denying any homophobic intentions, bitchdoe stating:
assemblethe1oo added:
smudged-dreams turned the notion on its head and pointed out that Clexa shippers may also be biphobic:
==Opinions on the War==
The Bellarke vs Clexa is only a portion of The 100's fandom. Fans, within and outside of the Bellarke and Clexa factions, were disturbed by the sometimes cruel nature of the ship war. andreminyard gives an example:
Others felt that it was ruining the The 100 fandom overall, with asweetdeception giving this reaction:
Thewritersdiary added:
Leading some fans, like clexadakru, to call for calmness and a stop to the ship war:
In between the fourth and fifth seasons, Reddit user allkindsofallie revisited the ongoing ship war in The 100 subreddit:
==Resources==
* Tumblr Tags: anti-bellarke, anti-clexa
* The ship wars: what it means when fans don’t agree who belongs together
* OTPs, NOTPs, BROTPs, OT3s, and Can’t-We-All-Just-Get-Along-TPs: The Art of War in Online Fandom
==References==
Category:The 100
Category:Shipwars
Category:2015 Events
Category:2010s EventsCategory:2018 Featured Articles