Marcus Kane

Marcus Kane is a major character in the first, second, third and fourth seasons. He is portrayed by starring cast member Henry Ian Cusick and debuts in the season premiere.

Kane was a Council member on The Ark and Chancellor of Camp Jaha before his departure from the camp. Kane was on the Council when they decided to send the 100 to earth and when they decided to cull 320 Ark citizens to save oxygen.

Once the Ark came to earth, Kane helped establish Camp Jaha as its first Chancellor before passing along the Chancellorship to Abigail Griffin in order to seek peace with the Grounders. After his return to Camp Jaha, he often sided with Clarke Griffin and worked as an emissary between the Sky People and the Grounders.

After Abby decides to step down as Chancellor, Kane is suppose to be elected the new Chancellor of Arkadia, but he loses the impromptu election and Charles Pike becomes Chancellor. Seeing Pike's tyrannical way of running things, Kane leads a small rebellion against Pike to attempt to restore order to Arkadia. Kane is captured and sentenced to execution by Pike but manages to escape to safety, leaving Lincoln behind to be executed by Pike.

Early Life
Not much is known about Kane's early life, only that he was born on the Ark to Vera Kane and at some point was made a member of The Council and Thelonious Jaha second in command.

Kane was friend with Jake Griffin and knew Nygel from childhood.

When Jake decided to defy the council and go public. Kane pressed charges against him and include his daughter, Clarke Griffin, in those charges.

Throughout the Series

 * -|Season One =


 * -|Season Two =


 * -|Season Three =

Physical Appearance
Kane is a tall man in his forties with wavy dark brown hair and eyes, and tan skin. He appears to have an authoritative presence.

Personality
Kane is a pragmatic individual, cold and willing to do whatever he deems necessary to "save the human race" for the beginning of the series. Rather than seeing himself as overly dedicated or mean, he saw others as lacking what it takes to do what needs to be done. He cared little for the lives of individuals, only for the idea of the human race as a whole.

Following the events of The Culling, however, Kane is filled with regret and remorse over his actions, depicted over the course of the next season and a half. After his failed attempts at leadership, he learns to place trust in his leaders. Marcus eventually ends up being very loyal to those above him. On Earth, he supports and trusts Clarke as his leader.

After Section 17, Marcus becomes very selfless and willing to sacrifice himself. He stands up and begins to offer to leave himself behind on The Ark to allow the remaining humans to make it to Earth in We Are Grounders (Part 2), though Thelonious Jaha is already launching the ship before Marcus can do as such. In Fog of War, when Jaha and Marcus are informed they must kill the other to stop the bloodshed, Marcus never considers hurting Jaha an option. When Thelonious refuses to kill Marcus, Kane cuts his own wrist deeply with the knife.

Kane often thinks logically rather than emotionally, though he is no longer "cold". What he believes is right is more often than not helpful for more people, such as his suggestion to turn in Finn to the The Grounders (Earth) and establish safety for the remaining Sky People, though he is written off as unfeeling for his objective approach.

Relationships

 * -|Abby Griffin =

Abby Griffin
Marcus and Abby knew each other for a long time, and severed together on the council. However, their friendship deteriorates after Abby informs of her husband and Marcus's friend, Jake Griffin, intent to defy the council ruling and Kane pressing charges against him, which leads to his execution and her daughter placement in isolation. Since then, Abby seen to be constantly disregarding the rules and oppose Marcus's strict adherence to them, she even risks being executed herself to keep Jaha alive so that he would not become Chancellor.

After the culling Marcus changes and they slowly being to rebuild their friendship. He successfully argues for Abby release and Later, in The Calm, he seems to start caring for Abby, saving her life when he is exploring the other deck to look for survivors. On Earth, Marcus was the first person to follow Abby out of the Ark ship once it landed.

In The 48 they go out looking for the The Camp of the Delinquents and Clarke together. When Abby gives guns to the Delinquents to help them escape and look for Clarke and the others, Marcus sentences her to shock-lashing in Reapercussions before passing along the Chancellorship to Abby. In Resurrection, Abby finds Marcus trapped under rubble after the missile on Tondc, pulling on a piece of metal to make noise and she grabs his hand to stop him. Abby tries to help him and he tells her to leave him and go find Clarke until Abby explains that Clarke got out as she already knew about the attack. When rocks fall down and trap them both further, they talk about how their actions on the Ark have influenced Clarke and the sins they have to answer for. Later, after they are captured by Mount Weather and Abby has her bone marrow extracted, they return to Camp Jaha, holding hands.
 * -|Thelonious Jaha =

Thelonious Jaha
Thelonious Jaha appears to be on friendly terms with Kane, despite accusing him of shooting him in the Pilot. Jaha accuses Kane outright of trying to take his place, learning Kane would execute Abigail for saving him. Kane has appeared to care about Jaha, advising him not to take his own life with the 320 whose lives will be taken in the Culling. Jaha knows Kane well enough to recognize that he is intoxicated in Contents Under Pressure. When Jaha stays behind as the Ark descends to Earth Kane stays in contact and is seen asking about him multiple times later on Earth. When they are both held captive by the Grounders in Fog of War, Marcus and Jaha appear to be glad to see one another. They both refuse to kill one another and eventually Kane tells Jaha to kill him and ultimately cuts his own arm when Jaha refuses to comply, to which Jaha is visibly distressed. Marcus, despite being a firm believer of punishments (his sentence of 10 shocklashes to Abby in Reapercussions), insisted that Thelonious be pardoned for treason in Remember Me.


 * -|Vera Kane =

Vera Kane
Vera Kane was Marcus' mother. They had a strained and distant relationship, although he began to let her in again after he told her he didn't know who he was anymore. Not soon after however he was again distant with her until on Unity Day she is a victim of the bombing and as she is dying Marcus recites the traveler's blessing he learned from her in his childhood. When he arrives on Earth he plants the Eden Tree his mother had taken care of on the Ark.


 * -|Callie Cartwig =

Callie Cartwig
Callie Cartwig and Kane appeared to share some kind of romantic connection and Kane seemed to care about her somewhat. He says to her he cannot compromise for anything, "even her" in the Pilot. She has since died.


 * -|Octavia Blake =

Octavia Blake
Octavia and Kane have a mutual respect for each other and Kane acts in a fatherly way toward her. In "Survival of the Fittest", Kane picks her up out of the mud after she is beaten by Fio and asks her what she's trying to prove to which she replies, "Ge smak daun, gyon op nodotaim." Later, he acknowledges that Octavia is the one who brought the Grounders together with the Sky People. He asks her to "look out for [her] people," she replies that she is. Octavia is the one to find Kane in the rubble in "Survival of the Fittest". Kane is the first person Octavia releases in Mount Weather when she retrieves the keys after the irradiation of Level 5 in "Blood Must Have Blood (Part 2)".

In Season Three, Kane shows to have more trust in Octavia. In "Watch the Thrones", they are on the same side in the conflict at camp between Pike and the others. Kane sends Octavia outside of the walls in his place to rendezvous with Clarke and Lexa in "Hakeldama". He helps her and Clarke escape Arkadia later in the episode with Abby's help. In "Bitter Harvest", Octavia spies on Pike's people for Kane, keeping him informed on what they are doing outside of the walls of Arkadia. She informs him that they are willing to kill a kid to keep whatever they're doing secret, that he has to find out what Pike's up to. He tells her to "be safe." Octavia helps Kane escape execution in "Stealing Fire" with the help of others and he carries her out of Arkadia when Lincoln drugs her to sacrifice himself for his people. In "Perverse Instantiation (Part 1)", Octavia is unable to harm Kane too much when he is attacking her and Indra under A.L.I.E.'s control.

Killed Victims

 * Jake Griffin, indirectly
 * 320 Ark residents, indirectly (The Culling)
 * Tristan

Notes and Trivia

 * Though initially portrayed in the Pilot as power-hungry, throughout Seasons 1 and 2, he has become self-aware and regretful of his actions, showing remorse for his decisions on the Ark and taking full responsibility for the choices he has made.
 * Kane's plot line focuses on redemption.
 * While on the Ark he says the popular quote, "Salvation comes at a price."
 * Earth Kills is the first episode he doesn't appear in.
 * On multiple occasions, Marcus has decided that killing himself in order to help others is the best option to solve life or death issues, often putting himself up for sacrifice.
 * It was suspected he ordered the attack on Chancellor Jaha, though it was revealed in His Sister's Keeper that it was Commander Shumway who really did.
 * Some fans have theorized that Kane could be Octavia's or Bellamy's father, but Jason Rothenburg tweeted that these theories are false.
 * He was the first Chancellor of Camp Jaha.