User blog:TheOmegaWerewolf/Lexa's Character Development

I don't blog often but this is just something I thought was important enough to be addressed. Originally, I was going to just post it in s comment but it ran a bit long so I decided to create a whole new blog post for it.

Lexa's Character Development
Does anyone even pay attention to what the other characters say about Lexa? You learn a lot about Lexa through their perspectives. It's interesting because while you learn about Lexa through her actions, other characters' perspectives teach you a lot as well.

Titus recognized a major difference in her that set her aside from all the previous Commanders. Indra told everyone in 'Remember Me' that Lexa was merciful for only requesting Raven's life instead of everyone's after the poisoning. Lincoln knew Lexa was merciful and pointed out how that's viewed as a weakness by his people. The ambassadors and Nia stood against Lexa because she was merciful and didn't obliterate Mount Weather. Kane knew she was a visionary and that's why he saw hope in making a peace treaty with her people. She let Clarke kill Finn quickly because she didn't want him to die in such a horrid way because she recognized that as revenge. She united the 12 Clans, and that's only something she was able to do because she saw no point in war.

The whole "blood must have blood" act was put on for her people because she didn't want to be viewed as weak, however, she never really agreed with it. Lexa always thought like a visionary, but Clarke was the one who made Lexa more aware of it. Lexa knows the risks of going through with her plan, but to achieve peace she is willing to sacrifice everything. It's a risky gamble and hopefully one that will pay off in the end.

Regardless, this doesn't make Lexa weak. In fact, it makes her one of the strongest characters on the show because she's able to see where the problem of history repeating itself lies (with all of the war and hatred between the various Clans) and is able to fix it. Also, she challenges the beliefs of the harsh Grounder society because she believes all of that violence will only make things worse. We've seen Lincoln challenge the beliefs but not remotely close to the extent Lexa has, but other than that, she's the only one who really stepped up and understood the need for change.

It's naive to say that Lexa's decisions are based on her feelings for Clarke because it shows lack of understanding for the character. She didn't suddenly decide to become this peaceful person for Clarke, not at all. She was always peaceful to some extent but Clarke just encouraged her. That encouragement helped Lexa realize that there is, in fact, hope for peace but it just won't be an easy ride there.