A.L.I.E. 2.0

The Flame
Type	Artificial intelligence
Origin	Polaris
Creator	Becca Franco
Used by	Becca Franko (former) Callie Cadogan (former) Commanders (former) Sheidheda (former) Lexa (former) Clarke Griffin (former) Madi Griffin (former)
Seasons	Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven
First appearance	Thirteen
Last appearance	Anaconda (flashback)

“	That thing is what will save us. A.L.I.E. didn't understand what it meant to be human, but A.L.I.E 2 will.	”
— Becca

A.L.I.E. 2.0, also known as the Spirit of the Commander was an artificial intelligence residing on a cybernetic implant, the Flame, created by neuroscientist Becca Franko. It is designed to allow an AI to directly interface with the human brain and augment it. A.L.I.E. 2.0 holds the memory and consciousness of all previous hosts (a.k.a. Commanders).

The Flame was later deactivated by Raven Reyes in an attempt to save Madi from Sheidheda. Having kept the Flame, Gaia, the last Flamekeeper, buries it alongside Abigail Griffin's ring on Sanctum. It's revealed to be the Key that the Disciples believe will help them win the last war as the Flame can help them discover "the final code" leading to Judgment Day.

Overview

The A.I. known as A.L.I.E. 2.0 was the second iteration of the program created by Becca. Becca started creating the second version after its predecessor, A.L.I.E., stated that it would fix the "root problem" of "too many people". Becca believed A.L.I.E. failed because it was incapable of understanding what it meant to be human. Thus Becca didn't design A.L.I.E. 2.0 to be a conscious, sentient A.I. in the way that its predecessor was, but to interface with humanity on a biological level. She believed this would allow it to understand basic human feelings and desires.

The Flame itself is actually a cybernetic implant created by neuroscientist Becca Franco. It is a passive artificial intelligence that merges with an organic brain via the brain stem, and shares and stores information. The Flame saves the consciousnesses of the previous Commanders who are able to interact with the current Commander, usually through dreams. These stored minds became known as the Spirit of the Commanders. Through these projections, the current Commander is given guidance and memories are shared.

A.L.I.E. 2.0 interfaces directly with people on a biological level via surgical implantation in the back of the neck. Upon leaving Polaris, Becca implanted it into her neck when she came down to Earth and became the first Commander. She used genetic modification so that her body would not reject the A.I. (as Carl Emerson's did). Without a Nightblood host, the Flame liquefies the host's brain in a matter of seconds.

Only those with Nightblood can bond with the Flame. When not in use, the chip retracts and goes inert. It is activated with the Latin phrase "ascende superius" ("up higher" or "seek higher things"), and deactivated with the Latin phrase "quia nunc vale" ("goodbye for now").

In "Stealing Fire", Titus claims that, once the Flame is connected to a Commander's brain, it "deepens what's already there". It is unknown if this is because it is easier for past Commanders to connect with a mind similar to their own or due to other reasons. In "Demons," Raven suggests that the reason current Commanders such as Lexa don't know that their minds are enhanced by an AI is because parts of the program degraded over time and got lost.

In "The Blood of Sanctum", Raven manages to hack into the AI using Becca's notebook and discovers a kill code that Sheidheda has implanted that is not in the notebook. Raven can remove Sheidheda but the kill code will then destroy the Flame. With agreement from Gaia Raven chooses to save Madi and destroy the Flame. However, Sheidheda manages to transfer himself to an unknown location to survive. The Flame is then surgically removed by Eric Jackson and is left deactivated with its tentacles extended. It is unknown if only Sheidheda survived or if the other Commanders were transferred as well.

In "From the Ashes", its revealed that Sheidheda downloaded himself into Russell Lightbourne's Mind Drive when the Flame was deleted. After Russell is knocked unconscious by Clarke, Sheidheda is able to resurrect himself in Russell's final host by killing the Prime in the Mindspace. It remains unclear if the other Commanders were able to survive in some manner as well, particularly as Madi is experiencing memories that are not her own which Gaia suggests could come from one or all of the other Commanders. Clarke and her friends decide to keep the fact that the Flame is destroyed a secret from Wonkru to keep the peace.

In "Anaconda," its revealed that the Flame is designed to survive the death of its host, the only way to remove it aside from the passcode. According to Becca's notebook, the AI will protect itself, "if you drown, it will swim. If you burn, it will crawl out of the flames." The enhanced abilities granted to Becca by the Flame allowed her to decipher the Anomaly Stone code for Bardo and "the final code" that leads to Judgment Day. Becca tells Callie Cadogan that without Nightblood, the Flame liquifies the nervous system of the host rather than merge with it, but it is more dangerous to have the Flame bond with the wrong mind due to the danger of the Flame's power in the wrong hands. Becca states that she believes that in the right mind, the Flame is the key to saving the world.

Spirit of the Commander

Main article: Nightbloods

Becca Pramheda, the first commander

The Grounders don't know that it's an A.I, to them its origins are shrouded in myths, and enshrined as the "Flame", a receptacle of the wisdom and spirit of previous Commanders.

Due to the rejection of A.L.I.E. 2.0 from non-Nightblood hosts, only other Nightbloods can receive the Flame and become Commander. The Fleimkepa is responsible for retrieval of the Flame from the previous Commander and overseeing the Conclave for the selection of the new Commander. The Flame is then implanted in the newly chosen Commander during a ceremony of Ascension.

It is shown that the Flame literally keeps the spirits of the previous Commanders within it, or at least copies of their minds. The current Commander can use the Flame to call upon the previous Commanders for wisdom. However, one of these spirits is Sheidheda, the Dark Commander which requires a Separation Ritual calling upon the spirits of the previous Commanders to isolate Sheidheda from the current Commander.

In "Matryoshka", Raven Reyes realizes that Sheidheda has managed to somehow manipulate the AI into isolating the code containing the spirits of the other Commanders. As a result, Raven believes that the code containing the spirits can be deleted and thus they can remove Sheidheda from the Flame for good. When Raven tries to delete Sheidheda in "Adjustment Protocol" without Becca's notebook, she is unable to hack past the AI and erase him. Raven notes that it seems like the Flame's AI is trying to protect Sheidheda for some reason. In turn, Sheidheda is able to briefly possess Madi's body and claims to be able to kill Madi if he is deleted from the Flame. In "The Blood of Sanctum", Sheidheda is able to avoid the Flame's deletion by uploading himself into Russell Lightbourne's Mind Drive, but it is unknown if the other Spirits of the Commanders survived in a similar manner as Madi is experiencing memories that could be coming from one or all of them.

In "Anaconda," Clarke claims that Callie Cadogan's mind still exists inside of her head, but its unclear if she's telling the truth as the Disciples believed that she had the Flame and were unaware of its destruction.

Memory Storage

The Flame saves the consciousnesses or "spirits" of the previous Commanders. The current Commander can use the Flame to call upon the previous Commanders for wisdom. The previous Commanders can then appear to the current one in a sort of dream. Through these projections, the current Commander is given guidance and memories are shared.

In "Thirteen", Clarke interrupts Lexa as she is meditating. It is possible that at that moment, Lexa was asking her predecessors for help to decide what to do about Skaikru.

In the City of Light, the minds of Lexa and Becca Franko help Clarke in her fight against A.L.I.E..

After Madi receives the Flame in "Sic Semper Tyrannis", the first vision or dream she receives is the one of Becca's death in "The Warriors Will." Later during Season 5, she seems to have received memories from Lexa since she now knows things Clarke never told her and that only Lexa could have known.

However, a past Commander called Sheidheda, the Dark Commander, has tried to influence new Commanders ever since he died by telling them in their visions to kill their Flamekeeper as he did, or in Madi's case, even take over their body and make decisions for them. To keep this from happening, the Flamekeeper have come up with a procedure which requires a Separation Ritual calling upon the spirits of the other previous Commanders to isolate Sheidheda from the current Commander.

When Sheidheda was trying to influence Madi, he appeared to her in a dark room lit only with candles that looked as though it might be in Polis. It is unknown if this is a place the other Spirits of past Commanders use as well or if Sheidheda is the only one.

In "From the Ashes", Madi is experiencing memories that are not her own which Gaia suggests could come from one or all of the other Commanders. As she draws pictures of flashbacks seen by the Commanders, it is implied that Madi still retains the memories of the Commanders after she was implanted by the Flame before it was deactivated and taken out.

Appearances

Season Three
Episode	Appearance Status
Wanheda (Part 1)	Absent
Wanheda (Part 2)	Absent
Ye Who Enter Here	Absent
Watch the Thrones	Absent
Hakeldama	Absent
Bitter Harvest	Absent
Thirteen	Appears
Terms and Conditions	Mentioned
Stealing Fire	Appears
Fallen	Absent
Nevermore	Appears
Demons	Appears
Join or Die	Appears
Red Sky at Morning	Appears
Perverse Instantiation (Part 1)	Appears
Perverse Instantiation (Part 2)	Appears

Season Four
Episode	Appearance Status
Echoes	Appears
Heavy Lies the Crown	Absent
The Four Horsemen	Appears
A Lie Guarded	Absent
The Tinder Box	Absent
We Will Rise	Absent
Gimme Shelter	Absent
God Complex	Absent
DNR	Appears
Die All, Die Merrily	Absent
The Other Side	Absent
The Chosen	Absent
Praimfaya	Absent

Season Five
Episode	Appearance Status
Eden	Absent
Red Queen	Absent
Sleeping Giants	Absent
Pandora's Box	Absent
Shifting Sands	Absent
Exit Wounds	Appears
Acceptable Losses	Absent
How We Get to Peace	Absent
Sic Semper Tyrannis	Appears
The Warriors Will	Absent
The Dark Year	Absent
Damocles (Part 1)	Absent
Damocles (Part 2)	Absent

Season Six
Episode	Appearance Status
Sanctum	Absent
Red Sun Rising	Absent
The Children of Gabriel	Mentioned
The Face Behind the Glass	Absent
The Gospel of Josephine	Absent
Memento Mori	Absent
Nevermind	Absent
The Old Man and the Anomaly	Absent
What You Take With You	Absent
Matryoshka	Absent
Ashes to Ashes	Absent
Adjustment Protocol	Absent
The Blood of Sanctum	Appears

Season Seven
Episode	Appearance Status
From the Ashes	Mentioned
The Garden	Absent
False Gods	Appears
Hesperides	Absent
Welcome to Bardo	Absent
Nakara	Absent
The Queen's Gambit	Absent
Anaconda	Appears
The Flock	Absent
A Little Sacrifice	Mentioned
Etherea	Absent
The Stranger	Absent
Blood Giant	Absent
A Sort of Homecoming	Absent
The Dying of the Light	Absent
The Last War	Absent

Notes and Trivia

• The A.L.I.E. hologram is version 1.0 while version 2.0 is the chip known as the Spirit of the Commander or the Flame.
  • A.L.I.E. has been searching for A.L.I.E. 2.0 since Becca locked her up in the house on the island and went to Polaris to work on version 2.
•  A.L.I.E. fears A.L.I.E. 2.0 because she knows its the only thing that can stop her.
• The access code to A.L.I.E. 2.0 was the Latin phrase ascende superius, meaning "up higher". It was discovered by Sinclair when he translated a phrase in Becca's book.
  • Madi changed the passphrase in Season Five.
• Throughout Season Three, Clarke and her friends appeared to think that the Flame would give them a command of some kind that they could enter to destroy A.L.I.E.. Instead, it simply aided Clarke in finding and using the AI's existing kill switch.
• In "Perverse Instantiation (Part 2)", the Flame was able to protect Clarke Griffin while she was in the City of Light searching for A.L.I.E.'s kill switch. Clarke was also able to use the Flame to summon the spirits of Lexa and Becca Franko.
• In "The Four Horsemen," the Flamekeepers or Gaia at least are shown to keep a totem in the form of the Flame in a necklace around their necks. This fake Flame appears completely identical to the original minus the technology inside. It is unclear where it comes from. It is possible that it was made by craft or glassblowing.
• In "Sic Semper Tyrannis", Madi accepted the Flame and became the Commander.
• When the Flame is destroyed in "The Blood of Sanctum," the computer screen showing its data flickers before the data disappears. All that is left is a message reading Signal Lost A Fatal Error Has Occurred.
• In "From the Ashes", when Madi draws pictures of flashbacks seen by the Commanders, it is implied that Madi still retains the memories of the Commanders after she was implanted by the Flame, before it was deactivated and taken out. Despite the Flame being shut down and taken out, Madi still retains the Commanders' memories, just like how Raven retained her intelligence and her hacking skills after the chip was removed from her with the EMP. It is also currently unconfirmed if the minds of all the Commanders' were destroyed or if they survived like Sheidheda which may also have something to do with this.

Gallery

• The Flame is activated.
• The Flame is implanted into a new successor.
• The Flame - BTS
• The Flame
• The Flame
• The Flame is now deactivated.

1/10

See Also

• A.L.I.E.
• Mind Drive