Board Thread:Show-Related Questions/@comment-173.44.55.206-20170304204724/@comment-27819070-20170305055614

This is an interesting question. Becca arrived in Polis only 2 years after the apocalypse. She was greated by survivors in Hazmat suits. I don't know that Trikru, or any other clan, really existed yet at that point. I think Becca became "commander" for more of a religious reason than anything else. She was immune to the radiation because she was a nightblood, which made her a leader by genetics. I assume she took the role of leader "commander" over survivors because she could more easily survive that new world. She was leader of a group of survivors, possibly several groups of survivors, but Trikru probably wasn't really a thought at the time. Since Becca Pramheda seems to be common heritage for all 12 clans, and most all of them appear to have nightbloods (her decendants) among them, I assume that their were no clans until after Becca died, and all the survivors united under her, we're just a single group, which split up for unknown (probably geographical, or developing cultural) reasons. So in a way, yes, Becca was likely defacto leader of all twelve clans, but she was never leader of the coalition (as it did not yet exist, and, as was said above, it was founded by Lexa).

This is an awesome question, which, we unfortunately, don't have enough information to answer definitively without speculation. Hopefully they will cover more of the grounders backstory, and Becca's role in it, in a future episode.