There are many books and texts in the show.
Books[]
Becca's notebook[]
Becca's notebook is a notebook written by Becca Franko containing mainly information on A.L.I.E., the Flame and some drawings regarding her work on deciphering the Anomaly Stone. Having been in the possession of the Flamekeepers for nearly a century, it also contains some information that they presumably added to it over time such as the Separation Ritual to call upon the minds of the Commanders to separate Sheidheda's consciousness from the current Commander.
In "Stealing Fire," Titus gives the notebook to Clarke Griffin when she escapes from Polis with the Flame.
In "Demons," Clarke, Bellamy Blake, Raven Reyes, Octavia Blake, Jasper Jordan and Jacapo Sinclair attempt to use the notebook to figure out how to activate the Flame. It also reveals to the group that A.L.I.E. was responsible for the Nuclear Apocalypse, Becca built the Flame as a method of atonement, and she made herself a Nightblood so that the Flame wouldn't reject her. Sinclair's knowledge of Latin allows him to decode the password, but he is surprised by Raven's understanding of the computer language that Becca had used in her notes as Sinclair had never taught it to her, a sign that Raven retains a heightened intelligence after being disconnected from A.L.I.E.
In "Red Sky at Morning," Raven uses Becca's password from the notebook to hack into A.L.I.E. and the City of Light with the AI being unable to stop Raven's access using Becca's password. Although A.L.I.E. is ultimately able to escape Raven's attempt to destroy her, Raven discovers that the AI has a hidden kill switch.
In "Memento Mori," Gaia looks to the notebook while trying to perform the Separation Ritual to isolate Sheidheda from Madi Griffin.
In "Matryoshka," Raven suggests that they can delete Sheidheda and remove him from the Flame for good. However, she needs Becca's notebook to do it and its in Ryker Desai's motorcycle shop. After narrowly avoiding being burned at the stake by Russell Lightbourne, Raven orders Gaia to get her the notebook and they can get rid of the Dark Commander for good.
In "Ashes to Ashes," John Murphy sarcastically comments that he's sure that Madi will be fine as soon as Nathan Miller breaks them out and they get "Becca's Book of Spells" which is in the machine shop. Later, he informs Echo in Trigedasleng that they are coming to the motorcycle shop to get the notebook and that she needs to stay alive until then. After Gaia and Miller manage to escape, they rescue Echo from Ryker Desai and Gaia explains that they had come for the notebook and had no idea that Echo was there too.
In "Adjustment Protocol," the Dark Commander threatens to kill Madi if they try to extract him so Raven tries to hack the Flame even without the notebook. However, without the notebook she can't get past the Flame's AI. When Clarke arrives and reveals her survival, Raven tells her that she's working the problem with Sheidheda, but she needs Becca's notebook. Raven then continues trying to hack past the AI, but without success.
In "The Blood of Sanctum," after the Primes take them to Eligius IV, Gaia finally provides Raven with Becca's notebook. Using the notebook, Raven successfully hacks into the Flame, but discovers a kill code that isn't in Becca's notes. Raven realizes that the Dark Commander is making them choose between saving Madi and destroying the Flame in order to get rid of him. On Gaia's command as the Flamekeeper, Raven activates the kill code, but is interrupted by Russell Lightbourne.
After Madi retakes control, the Dark Commander tries to kill her, prompting Clarke and her friends to try to delete his consciousness again. Raven references the notebook as she hacks in again and activates the kill code, destroying the Flame, but uploading the Dark Commander's consciousness to another location.
In "Anaconda," Becca's notebook is one of the things that she brings down to Earth with her from Polaris. When Callie Cadogan enters the Anomaly Stone lab, Becca has sketched the Stone and is working on cataloguing the symbols based on the frequency of the sound using her notebook, but quickly hides it in the case containing Nightblood after hearing someone coming.
Later, Callie tells Becca that her brother had found the notebook and that he now knows about the Flame. Becca realizes that they intend to kill her in order to get the Flame and tells Callie that she has to help Becca get it out. Callie reminds Becca that the notebook said that she would have to die first, that the Flame will act to protect itself: "if you drown, it'll swim. If you burn, it'll crawl out of the flames." However, Becca tells Callie about the one thing that the notebook didn't mention: the backdoor password to access the Flame, "goodbye for now" in Latin. Callie and her followers subsequently leave the bunker with the Flame and the case of Nightblood and possibly with Becca's notebook too.
Bill Cadogan's autobiography[]
In "The Four Horsemen," Thelonious Jaha shows Clarke Griffin and Bellamy Blake, Bill Cadogan's autobiography on a tablet computer while explaining his search for the Second Dawn Bunker. As a result of reading it, Jaha believes that the bunker is below Cadogan's childhood home which he never sold despite being abused by his father and hating the house.
Diyoza's journal[]
Charmaine Diyoza owned a journal when she returned to Earth on Eligius IV. Part of it contained the codes for the Damocles Bomb as well as a threatening message to the governments of Earth that the Eligius Prisoners were expecting to find when they returned home.
In "Damocles (Part 2)," after being defeated by Wonkru, Paxton McCreary uses the codes in Diyoza's journal to begin the Damocles Event in order to destroy Shallow Valley in an act of scorched earth retaliation.
In "Memento Mori," Diyoza draws the Temporal Anomaly in her journal and shows it to Octavia Blake and Gabriel Santiago after Gabriel notices that Octavia's withered arm is causing her to draw the symbol constantly.
Kaylee's journal[]
Kaylee Lee kept a journal throughout her life as one of the Primes of Sanctum. After her death, it was inherited by Emori.
In "From the Ashes," Emori reads from the journal to John Murphy, commenting that Kaylee had changed because of love too. Isaac, a Null, had made Kaylee see what the Primes had become. Posing as Kaylee, Emori later defuses a tense situation between the factions on Sanctum, reminding Trey that "we are one." Emori explains that she got that saying from Kaylee's journal: it was Kaylee's slogan when she stopped Oblation.
In "The Queen's Gambit," Emori is carrying Kaylee's journal when she departs to begin preparing the Reunification Ceremony for the Children of Gabriel and their parents.
Lincoln's journal[]
Lincoln owned a journal in which he chronicled a variety of information, mostly in the form of drawings.
In "Contents Under Pressure," while looking through Lincoln's bag, Bellamy Blake finds his journal. Lincoln reacts in visible protest to that, causing Bellamy to believe that they've found something that Lincoln doesn't want them to see. Flipping through the drawing, Bellamy comments that "these aren't bad" before coming across a drawing of his sister. Continuing, Bellamy finds a drawing of the Delinquents' Camp with tally marks on the opposite page. Bellamy guesses that the marks will add up to 102 with ten crossed out, the number of people that they've lost. Bellamy realizes that Lincoln has been watching them ever since they got to Earth.
In "I Am Become Death," Octavia Blake looks through the various drawings in the journal, including, a Reaper and a scary looking gas-masked figure. As Octavia smiles at Lincoln's drawing of her, Bellamy enters, looking for her due to the return of John Murphy infected with a virus. Bellamy tells her that Derek has just died of the virus and that it's "another mark for your boyfriend's book."
After the bombing of the bridge, Octavia returns to Lincoln's cave where he warns her that the Mountain Men will come and kill them all. Octavia asks if he's talking about the drawings in his journal which Lincoln confirms. Deciding not to go with him, Octavia returns Lincoln's journal to its owner.
In "Demons," Bellamy, Octavia, Clarke Griffin, Monty Green, Jacapo Sinclair and Jasper Jordan return to the abandoned Arkadia to search for Lincoln's journal in order to find Luna and her clan. Octavia and Jasper search Lincoln's quarters, upsetting Octavia when they find his guard jacket instead. The two eventually find the journal with its drawings and a map to Luna. However, Carl Emerson attacks before they can return to the others with the book.
In "Join or Die," Clarke's group follows the map in Lincoln's journal, but only find piles of rocks at the end of it, much to their frustration. After they start a fire and Jasper throws in leaves that causes it to burn green, Octavia spots the same leaf in the journal and realizes that it's a messenger fire. The group then builds up the fire with the leaves and succeed in signaling Luna's clan to come for them.
Madi's sketchbook[]
In "From the Ashes," Madi sketches things such as Polaris and Polis which she should have no knowledge of. When Gaia asks her about it, Madi states that she doesn't know why she did besides being bored in school. Gaia later shows Clarke the drawings and states that Madi is drawing memories that are not her own. Though Clarke asks if its Sheidheda, Gaia suggests that it could be any of the Commanders or all of them.
In "Nakara," Madi draws symbols from the Anomaly Stone which she thinks is from Earth but doesn't understand what it means.
In "The Stranger," Knight brings Sheidheda Madi's sketchbook and he recognizes her drawings of the Anomaly Stone symbols.
In "Blood Giant," Madi warns Clarke against giving Bill Cadogan the Flame, telling her that she remembers things. Clarke realizes that Madi is talking about her sketchbook and orders Madi to never tell anyone about that, knowing that it holds proof that Madi could potentially hold the information that Cadogan needs in her head.
Later, as Clarke is about to leave, the severely wounded Dark Commander offers to help Bellamy if Bellamy will help him and directs Bellamy to Madi's sketchbook which is sitting on his throne. Looking through the book, Bellamy quickly understands the significance of what he's seeing, leading to a standoff with Clarke who demands that her former best friend hand the book over to her, threatening to kill Bellamy and the Disciples with him in order to protect her daughter. Bellamy refuses to relent, promising to protect Madi and ultimately goes to hand the book over to another Disciple, forcing a tearful Clarke to kill her best friend who drops the book. However, Clarke runs out of ammo and is forced to leave the sketchbook behind as she flees through the Temporal Anomaly.
In "A Sort of Homecoming," Cadogan looks through the sketchbook as he waits for Sheidheda to wake up, examining in particular a drawing of his daughter Callie Cadogan. When the Dark Commander wakes up, Cadogan asks if he drew the pictures, but Sheidheda states that while he didn't, he knows who did. After the two men strike a deal, the Dark Commander reveals that it was Madi who made the drawings, causing Cadogan to realize that Bellamy knew and that it was why Clarke had killed him.
Sanctum and Mendel: Recessive Traits in Later Generation Studies[]
A book by Josephine Lightbourne on studies of Nightblood.
In "Memento Mori," Josephine, posing as Clarke Griffin, shows the book to Abby Griffin as a way to test her knowledge of Nightblood. However, Abby immediately discards it as useless in her efforts to save the life of Marcus Kane since it's on Nightblood. Instead, Abby shows Josephine another book by the same author about Oblation, calling Josephine a monster.
Oblation By and For the Grace of the Primes[]
A book by Josephine Lightbourne on Oblation, her effort to get rid of Null infants in order to protect the bloodline of the Primes' Nightblood hosts. Abby Griffin refers to it as propaganda.
In "The Gospel of Josephine," after Josephine, posing as Clarke Griffin, tries to test Abby using a book on Nightblood, Abby calls it useless and hands her Oblation By and For the Grace of the Primes. Abby tells Josephine that it's "propaganda on a eugenics project -- purifying of the bloodline. And you thought what we did in Becca's lab was bad? I mean, that woman was a monster," unaware that she's speaking to the author herself. Putting the book down, Josephine suggests that she was a visionary instead.
Red Sun Rising[]
In "Red Sun Rising," Clarke Griffin finds a children's book called Red Sun Rising by Josephine Lightbourne that she realizes serves as a warning about the coming Red Sun Eclipse.
The Double Helix Under the Double Suns[]
A book by Dr. Gabriel Santiago on the studies of genetic variation of life and organism on Sanctum.[1]
Shepherd's Passage[]
Shepherd's Passage is the Disciples' holy book, in effect acting as their version of the Bible. It is used by Bill Cadogan and chronicles his teachings and various journeys in search of Transcendence. Like the Bible, it has multiple books, chapters and verses. After finding it, Bellamy Blake calls it "pocket propaganda for another false god."
In "Etherea," Bellamy Blake finds a copy of the book on Conductor Doucette with the man's name written on the back and flips through it, becoming interested in the part about the Cave of Ascent. After Doucette wakes up, Bellamy asks if they are in the Cave of Ascent on Etherea and states that "the message doesn't add up" because while the Shepherd believes in Transcendence and peace, to get there, they have to fight a war. The two men argue about the book and Doucette accuses Bellamy of only reading the words and not understanding them. During their months-long journey to the Temporal Anomaly, Bellamy and Doucette continue their argument while also using Cadogan's description of his journey on the planet to guide their own journey. While dangling from a cliff face, Doucette orders Bellamy to let him fall and to save himself, revealing that he had written down all of the Anomaly Stone codes that Bellamy would need in the book and slipped into his pack. However, Bellamy chooses to save Doucette rather than to let him fall to his death.
In "The Last War," Octavia asks Levitt if the now-dead Bellamy will Transcend if humanity passes the Judge's test. However, Levitt quotes Shepherd's Passage, Book of Bardo, Chapter 1, Verse 6: "death is the end my friend. Only the living shall Transcend." Octavia sadly quips that she must've slept through the class covering that.
Russell's Memento book[]
Russell Lightbourne kept his memento book that contains many research, Sanctum's construction projects, and memories of his family's time on Sanctum.
Texts[]
Bardoan texts[]
Before taking the test for Transcendence, the Bardoans left texts behind, also called logs by Bill Cadogan, talking about their history and their efforts to reach Transcendence. While the texts talk about the test and the Anomaly Stone's transformation, they do not contain the code to trigger the test.
After arriving on Bardo, the Disciples study the texts and eventually manage to translate the characters after centuries of work. After finding the part about Transcendence, Bill Cadogan realizes that it sounds like what happened when Becca Franko found the final code using the Flame and begins training the Disciples towards reaching Transcendence for the human race. The Disciples translation of the part about the test reads "the Orb becomes like a star, challenging all we have done and all that we are. Only then will the Last War begin. Make it past and cease to be fallible. Transcend into greatness. Evolve into more." The Disciples are unaware that they have mistranslated the Bardoan language so that instead of talking about a test, the text talks about a Last War.
In "A Little Sacrifice," Cadogan shows the text to Niylah, Jordan Green and Gabriel Santiago. Cadogan explains that they need Clarke Griffin who they believe has the Flame AI because the Flame will contain the code to begin the Last War which the text doesn't contain. Cadogan invites them to study the text while he goes off to enjoy lunch with Gabriel joining them. Alone with just Niylah, Jordan comes to the conclusion that the Bardoan language is similar to Korean which he learned from his father and that the Disciples have mistranslated the text. Instead, Jordan correctly translates it to talk about judgment and a test. Discussing it with Niylah, Jordan comes to the conclusion that it actually means that one person has to stand as a representative of their race, but Niylah suggests that Jordan is just seeing what he wants to see. When Gabriel returns, alone, Jordan fills him in on his discovery. Gabriel decides to keep the discovery from Cadogan, knowing that if Jordan is right, then Cadogan is the wrong person to take such a test.
In "The Dying of the Light," as Cadogan and Levitt prepare to go through her memories for the code using M-Cap, Madi reveals to them that Gabriel had told everyone about Jordan's discovery in the texts that it was a test and not a war. Madi accuses Cadogan of thinking it to be a war because he wants a war. Cadogan expresses disbelief that a boy who studied the texts once knows better than people who have studied the texts for generations, but he acknowledges that "translation is much an art as science." Cadogan suggests that a war could be considered a test of might and will, but admits that if Jordan's translation is right about it being a test instead of war, Cadogan would welcome it.
At the same time, Jordan insists to Clarke, Indra, Gaia, Hope Diyoza and Nathan Miller that it's a test and not war. Hope reminds Jordan that the Disciples have been studying the texts for over a thousand years and questions if he really thinks he knows better than them. Jordan states that he's sure and not just because he read the texts. Jordan explains that while he was being Adjusted on Sanctum, he saw something that he couldn't figure out until he read the texts. Once he read them, Jordan understood that what he saw was the next step in human evolution and he's sure that they don't get to it by fighting another war.
In "The Last War," the Judge confirms that Jordan was right about it being a test and not a Last War, amazing Cadogan.
Medical texts[]
In Sanctum, there are a number of medical texts in the library.
In "The Gospel of Josephine," a desperate Abby Griffin attempts to use Sanctum's medical texts to figure out how to save the life of Marcus Kane. Testing Abby, Josephine Lightbourne, posing as Clarke Griffin, hands her a book on Nightblood by Josephine herself, but Abby calls it useless. She then hands Josephine another book by the same author on a eugenics project, calling the author a monster. Abby then has Josephine take notes for her as she goes over ideas. Josephine nearly exposes her deception by writing with her right hand while Clarke is left-handed, but quickly covers for herself by using her experience as a biologist to point out a Sanctum insect in one of the books that could help with Abby's dialysis problem. However, the procedure that Abby comes up with will take at least 15 hours and Kane has at most ten minutes to live once he's removed from cryo.
In "Memento Mori," Abby is still pouring over the medical texts when Josephine offers her a Mind Drive as a solution if Abby can create Nightblood for the Primes.