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In the shadow of the Shepherd. For all mankind, he saved us from the fire that consumed the Earth. In the light of Shepherd for all mankind, he will save us from the war to end all wars.
Doucette reciting the Disciples' prayer [src]

The Disciples, also known as the Disciples of a Greater Truth, were a religious military group of very technologically advanced humans, founded by people fleeing the aftermath of Earth's destruction through the Temporal Anomaly who then formed a colony on Bardo. They are very well trained, disciplined and loyal to their leader, and the mysterious figure, known as "the Shepherd" who is in fact Bill Cadogan, the leader of the Second Dawn doomsday cult whom the Disciples are descended from. They have mastered the control over the Temporal Anomaly and use it to travel between planets connected in the network.

In "The Last War", the Disciples transcended with the rest of the human race, successfully achieving their goal.

Early History[]

The Disciples began as a guard unit within the Second Dawn cult after the first nuclear apocalypse, who had remained loyal to Bill Cadogan. At some point, they encountered Becca Franko, who had come down from space. When Bill showed Becca the Anomaly Stone, she was able to activate it due to her bonding with the Flame. After entering the Anomaly Stone's orb and coming back from it, Becca warns Bill not to enter the code, but he is more interested in why she could instantly interact with the Stone. When Becca tries to shut down the Stone, they lock her up. The group plan to kill Becca, as they know from her journal that the Flame will leave her once she dies. Becca tells Callie Cadogan to retrieve the Flame once she dies, and asks her to protect it. Led by Reese Cadogan, the group kill Becca by burning her at the stake. Callie and her group of Second Dawn members demand that Reese surrenders the A.I., but Reese and his group, who already refer to themselves as Disciples, refuse to surrender the Flame. Reese and Callie challenges to a fight to gain control of the Flame, but Callie shoots Reese, takes the A.I. and she and her group escape the bunker. Bill and his cult, including the Disciples, activate the Anomaly Stone and enter through to arrive on the planet Bardo.

On Bardo, the Disciples discovered that a now-extinct alien species, known as the Bardoans, had previously inhabited the planet. The Disciples went on to further develop the advanced technology left behind by the native Bardoans, including energy weapons, cloaking devices and body suits that allowed them to retain their memory while traveling through the Temporal Anomaly. Fanatically religious, the Disciples came to believe that the Shepherd saved them from the fire that destroyed the Earth. They also came to believe in some kind of great war which they called "the war to end all wars". The Disciples eventually learned to control the Anomaly and use it for transport between planets. At some point, a Disciple landed on Skyring, died under unknown circumstances and was buried in front of Doctor Colin Benson's cabin there. They eventually came under the leadership of a man named Anders. At some point, they also started using Nakara as a burial ground for their dead.

Six years after being stranded on Skyring, Octavia Blake tossed a message in a bottle through the Anomaly in the hope of reaching her brother Bellamy. However, the message instead traveled through the Anomaly to Bardo where it was found by the Disciples who learned of Octavia, Bellamy and Charmaine Diyoza. Traveling to Skyring four years after the message was sent from Octavia and Diyoza's perspective, the Disciples captured the two women, though Octavia was able to hide Diyoza's young daughter Hope from detection. The Disciples brought Octavia and Diyoza back to Bardo through the Anomaly, leaving Hope behind on Skyring.

Subsequently, the Disciples turned Skyring into a prison planet they called Penance for their unbelievers and lawbreakers, stranding them there for ten years before coming back if they survived until their time was up. Due to the time dilation from a black hole, five years on Skyring was likely far less time for the Disciples on Bardo. One such prisoner, a Level 7 named Dev, arrived a few months after the capture of Octavia and Diyoza and trained Hope to survive. The two plotted together to ambush the Disciples coming back for Dev on his Absolution Day, steal their suits and travel to Bardo to rescue Diyoza and Octavia. However, though they succeeded in killing the Disciples, Dev was killed in the process, leaving Hope to continue their mission alone.

Eventually, Octavia was apparently able to escape from the Disciples and return to Sanctum through the Anomaly, but lost her memory of her time away from Sanctum upon her return to the moon, preventing her from warning anyone of the threat. Anders made a deal with Hope to spare Diyoza's life in exchange for Hope tagging Octavia to send her back through the Anomaly. Anders apparently issued orders that Bellamy, Gabriel Santiago and Echo were to be captured and taken to Bardo to his followers, but Hope was to be killed on sight. Clarke Griffin, who is considered to be the key to winning the war the Disciples believe in, is also to be renditioned to Bardo, but is to also be considered armed and extremely dangerous. Despite this, the Disciples still see Clarke as a chosen one, known as "the Key", which is later revealed to be the Flame.

It is later revealed that the Disciples believe in Transcendence, which grants immortality for those who took the test, which is an evaluation to determine if a species is worthy of transcendence or not. Despite the fact that Transcendence is real, the Disciples mistranslated the information in the Bardoan texts and instead of preparing for a test, they believe that they are preparing for a Last War that will determine humanity's fate. However, the Disciples realizes they were later proven wrong that it is not the Last War, but a test to determine humanity's fate.

At the end, the Disciples later transcended with the rest of the human race, thus achieving their goal.

Throughout the Series[]

In The Blood of Sanctum, after Octavia Blake activates the Anomaly Stone, Hope emerges from the Temporal Anomaly and tells Octavia that "he" has her mother before apparently stabbing Octavia. As the Anomaly vanishes with Octavia, Hope collapses in Gabriel Santiago's arms.

In From the Ashes, its discovered that several of the Disciples were able to follow Hope through the Anomaly to Sanctum and they abduct Bellamy Blake, chased by Gabriel Santiago, Echo and an amnesic Hope who had lost her memory once the Anomaly receded. Echo quickly realizes that the Disciples, while shooting at them, are not actually trying to kill the three. As they get closer to the Anomaly, Gabriel realizes that the Disciples' cloak is imperfect and that they can see them using the disturbance of particulates in the air.

Luring three of the Disciples into a trap, Echo shoots them after briefly hesitating due to hallucinations of Roan and the real Echo caused by the Red Sun toxin while the same toxin causes Hope to experience a hallucination of the night the Disciples captured her mother and Octavia. Examining the bodies, the three are surprised to learn that the Disciples are just humans with advanced technology and tattoos similar to Hope's. One Disciple, wounded but still alive, is ordered by his HUD to kill Hope on sight while Gabriel and Echo are to be renditioned to Bardo. Noticing the man take aim at Hope, Echo quickly finishes him off.

Noticing that the sound of the Anomaly is getting fainter, Gabriel realizes that the Disciples are shutting it down, likely to prevent pursuit. Unwilling to lose Bellamy, Echo, Hope and Gabriel jump through the Anomaly after the Disciples moments before it closes.

In The Garden, Gabriel, Echo and Hope arrive on Skyring centuries after Hope left it in pursuit of the Disciples who have already moved on to Bardo. Hope, having regained her memory after traveling through the Anomaly, explains about the Disciples and has the code for the Anomaly Stone from "a friend on the inside." However, the code has been washed away, preventing their ability to continue. Discovering one of the Disciples' prisoners, Orlando, Hope decides that they must protect the man for five years until the Disciples return to bring him back to Bardo.

While chasing Orlando, Hope reveals that she didn't stab Octavia but injected her with a locator tag to send Octavia through the Anomaly as per Hope's deal with Anders, the "he" she had previously mentioned before injecting Octavia. Discovering the skeletal corpse of Doctor Colin Benson from the Eligius III Mission Team Beta, Gabriel realizes that Skyring is Planet Beta from the Eligius III mission and suspects that Bardo is another of the worlds Eligius III was sent to colonize, making the Disciples most likely the descendants of the mission team sent to colonize Bardo.

In Hesperides, in a flashback, two Disciples bring Dev to Skyring to serve out a ten year sentence for being an unbeliever. Arriving shortly after the kidnapping of Octavia and Diyoza, Dev befriends Hope and the two plot together to ambush the Disciples returning to take Dev on his Absolution Day. When the day comes, Dev and Hope kill the three Disciples, but Dev is killed in the process. Hope dons one of their suits and travels through the Anomaly to rescue her family.

On Skyring after Orlando destroyed Gabriel's computer, Echo, Hope and Gabriel prepare to spend the next five years waiting for the Disciples to return for Orlando. The group eventually learns that Orlando, who still believes in the Disciples' ideology, is a Level 12 Disciple and thus the key to their mission succeeding. After months of trying, the three are able to convince Orlando to train them for the Disciples' return. Over the course of 4 years and 8 months, Orlando is able to train the three into Level 12 warriors. When the Disciples return for Orlando, they send a group of five in response to the ambush by Dev and Hope when they had come for Dev. Using Orlando as bait, Gabriel, Hope and Echo ambush the Disciples and knock them out, but Echo decides to kill them all and leave Orlando behind, believing that he can't be trusted as the Disciples are still his people. Donning the armor of three Disciples, Gabriel, Hope and Echo travel through the Anomaly before it closes. Echo leaves Orlando a knife to cut himself free, but he commits suicide instead of living on Skyring alone and leaves a suicide note.

On Sanctum, Wonkru is able to recover the body of one of the Disciples Echo killed, but more arrive and demand that Clarke turn herself over to them and to return the body of the dead Disciple. The leader of the group reveals his knowledge of Clarke and claims that she is the key to winning "the war to end all wars." Clarke agrees to go with them in exchange for her people while Raven studies the armor of the dead Disciple. Raven figures out how to use the suit's HUD, learning of the true nature of the Anomaly as a wormhole from it. However, she also learns from Clarke's file that she is in danger from the Disciples.

Outside of the Verge, Clarke meets with the Disciple leader who reveals that her friends had been on Penance, but escaped. He offers Clarke Orlando's suicide note as proof, but has his men threaten Clarke's friends if she refuses to surrender. The group is distracted by Jordan Green, allowing Raven to use the dead Disciple's armor and cloak to sneak up on the group and kill them. Raven, Clarke, Niylah, Jordan and Nathan Miller travel through the Anomaly using the armor's files in an attempt to rescue their friends, but travel to Nakara instead of Bardo. A previously-unnoticed Disciple ambushes Gaia and shuts down the Anomaly Stone before dragging Gaia with him through the closing portal.

In Welcome to Bardo, Gabriel learns from Anders' speech that the Disciples are not from Eligius III, but instead came through the Anomaly from Earth, which had its own Anomaly Stone.

In Nakara, in a flashback, captured Diyoza is being brought to her cell. Disciples move her through the different levels of protection which includes key-locked doors and eye-verification. Diyoza spends several days fighting and trying to escape each time she gets an opportunity to do so.

Diyoza finally manages the trick her guard. She kills him, wears his clothes and leaves her prison. On the way of her escape she meets her daughter with Echo, Octavia and Gabriel. Together they try to get to the stone room, but meet Levitt who tells them not to do it and suggests to escape through the surface. However when they reach the exit door, Gabriel gets suspicious about the fact the surface is unbreathable. He doesn't trust Levitt and decides to surrender instead, stunning everyone and letting Disciples take them.

In The Last War, Clarke kills several Disciples guarding the Stone room, but discovers that Cadogan has already entered the final code into the Anomaly Stone. On a pier in the middle of a star scape, Cadogan meets with the Judge in the form of his daughter who reveals that Jordan was right and achieving Transcendence requires passing a test, not winning a Last War. The native Bardoans had failed the test and were annihilated as a result like many other species before them. As Cadogan begins the test, Clarke kills him from behind, but is forced to continue the test herself. Clarke ultimately fails the test and the Judge, in the form of Lexa, decides that humanity with be destroyed like the Bardoans.

At the same time, Wonkru and the Eligius Prisoners arrive in the oxygen farm where Jordan Green is able to disable the Disciples' weapons and cloaks. Wonkru and the prisoners enter into a standoff with the Disciples in order to buy time for Echo and Raven to help Clarke. Raven decides to continue the test, but the Judge, in the form of Abby Griffin, uses the increasingly tense standoff between the Disciples, Wonkru and the prisoners as proof that humanity doesn't deserve transcendence. Sheidheda opens fire on the Disciples, provoking a battle between the two sides before Indra finally kills the Dark Commander. Stepping between them, Octavia talks them down and convinces both the Disciples and her own people that if they fight and destroy each other, they aren't worthy of transcendence. Both sides stand down and Raven is able to change the Judge's mind. As a result, the Judge transcends every remaining human who is still alive, aside from Clarke.

Society[]

709 the Disciples' words

"For all Mankind! In the Light of the Shepherd... As He Shall Save Us, so Shall I Fight on His Behalf."

Everyone born on Bardo becomes a Disciple. They are raised and trained to be the strongest warriors. They have a very strong belief in serving their master, to be his "sword" and his "shield". They have a very strong goal about protecting mankind. The Disciples are shown to have levels that their members are ranked by going up to at least Level 12. Level 12 appears to be a Master rank as Orlando was referred to as "Master Orlando" by other Disciples and is known to have trained many of them. Hope Diyoza states that Level 12's are "badasses" and having one on their side would hold the key to infiltrating Bardo. The number of symbols that the Disciples have on their faces denotes their level ranking.

If they are not devout or strong enough they are sent to the prison on Skyring. Breaking a commandment such as not taking a day of rest is enough to trigger this. Absolution Day is when the Disciple prisoners are returned to Bardo to atone for breaking the law.

Murder and killing of a Disciple is punishable by death or 20 years imprisonment on Skyring, possibly because those who kill are considered a threat to humanity and their Transcendence. It can also be a life sentence.

The Disciples' beliefs surround the Shepherd that saved them from the fire that destroyed the Earth. The Shepherd appears both from the myth surrounding it and Orlando ordering Gabriel Santiago not to speak the Shepherd's name when he asked about it. To the Disciples, the Shepherd seems to be a powerful figure that they worship. They also believe in winning the last war humanity will ever fight, "the war to end all wars." According to Anders, Clarke Griffin is key to winning this war somehow, but the "Key" is revealed to be the Flame which can help them figure out the Anomaly Stone code they need. Cadogan later shows Gabriel, Jordan Green and Niylah logs left behind by the Bardoans describing entering the code and the effects it has. After examining the logs closer, Jordan believes that the logs were actually mistranslated by the Disciples to refer to a war. Based on his own translation of the logs, Jordan thinks that it actually refers to a test rather than a war, a single individual using the code and representing their species in a test to determine that species' fate. When Madi Griffin reveals the truth to Bill Cadogan, he feels that the Last War and the test could be the same thing since a war could be considered a test. However, Cadogan also admits to welcoming a solution that does not sacrifice many of his "children".

In their religion, the Shepherd, who is actually Bill Cadogan, teaches the Disciples that winning the Last War brings upon the final evolution of a species. The Disciples believe in Transcendence, which is through the Anomaly Stone. As they harness its power, the Disciples wanted to unlock the Anomaly Stone's true power.

Unlike most humans, they are not born to regular parents but instead are grown from embryos in gestation chambers. The Disciples are capable of fixing various health afflictions in the growing infants and state that having a mother and father is as foreign to them as their practice is to everybody else. It is implied that the embryos on Bardo, are the descendants of the Second Dawn cultists, who are the ancestors of the Disciples. They also use M-Cap to treat mental ailments such as PTSD. According to Bill Cadogan, their medicine is incredible on Bardo.

In "The Last War," it is proven that Jordan was correct and it is not a Last War, but a test to determine the species' fate. After Raven Reyes passes the Judge's test, humanity begins to transcend.

Transcendence[]

711 Shepherd's Passage book 1

Shepherd's Passage

Transcendence is an evolutionary concept that the Disciples believe in.

In their religion, the Shepherd, who is actually Bill Cadogan, teaches the Disciples that winning the last war brings upon the final evolution of a species. The Disciples believe in Transcendence, which is through the Anomaly Stone. As they harness its power, the Disciples wanted to unlock the Anomaly Stones' true power.

Loving and caring about only just one person is not allowed, but loving and caring about all mankind is.

Cadogan himself, believes in Transcendence and peace by winning the Last War. He teaches his people that they're all tiny in comparison to the universe. Due to his experiences on Etherea, with his own life, he saw testament of those that ascended and knew his life was not in vain. Just as Cadogan foretold, his beings are with the civilization that ascended. He spoke of the beings on Etherea in the cave, of their ascension.

Cadogan believes in the bond that unites all mankind, that everyone's all connected.

In "The Last War," the Disciples' belief in Transcendence is proven to be correct when humanity is transcended after Raven Reyes passes the Judge's test, the Disciples having been wrong about it being a Last War.

Ranks/Titles[]

  • First Disciple - The stand-in leader of the Disciples, there is usually a new First Disciple chosen every 20 years and they meet the Shepherd once to check on the progress of the Last War.
  • Conductor - A title given to operators of the Anomaly Stone and is the second highest rank. Stone Conductors are set to replace First Disciples in the event of one's death. There are many Stone Conductors, among the Disciples.
  • Master - Usually a title given to Disciples who reach Level 12 in training. Orlando had this title, and was considered to be one of the highest ranked Disciples.
  • Captain - A title given to leaders of teams that go on missions through the Anomaly.
  • Disciple - A title given to the members of the Disciples.
  • Seeker - A title given to the Disciple trainees for the cause.

Members[]

Transcended[]

Unknown Status[]

Deceased[]

Former[]

* Kelly's condition is unknown since his face was not seen when he was with three other Disciples and later two of them died and the other two lived, but it is not certain if he was one of the dead or of the survivors

Equipment[]

  • The special helmet protects against memory loss caused by the effects of the Anomaly (also works without the suit).
  • The suits are thought controlled and contain files on Disciple targets and codes for controlling the Temporal Anomaly.
  • They use high powered energy weaponry.
  • Locator tags that when injected into a person can pull them through the Anomaly.
  • Retractable blades attached to their suits.
  • A flamethrower.

Notes and Trivia[]

  • After training Gabriel Santiago, Echo and Hope Diyoza for approximately 4 years, 8 months and 17 days, Orlando marked them as Level 12 Disciples due to how far they had progressed in their training.
  • They send their law-breaking members to the planet Skyring, which they call Penance, until their "Absolution Day" when they are taken back to Bardo.
  • They first came to Bardo through the Anomaly, as there was an Anomaly Stone present somewhere on Earth. It was previously thought that they had arrived as part of Eligius III, but it was proven wrong.
  • Orlando mentioned that Shepherd's Law Number Four, which decrees "the day of rest" is one where everyone abstains from work in order to be more efficient the rest of the week. It is just like the religious Sabbath in real-life.
  • Anders told Gabriel that he and the other Disciples had been studying the Anomaly Stone for 1000 years.
  • The Shepherd was revealed to be Bill Cadogan in "The Queen's Gambit."
  • Jason Rothenberg confirmed that the Disciples are descendants of the Second Dawn cult.
  • The Disciples were named after the Second Dawn's guard unit, which is also called the Disciples, a predecessor to the regime.
  • Because they're born as embryos without regular parents, it appears that the Disciples don't have any first or last names. So they use only one name instead, since they can't have any family surnames. However, they still use social honorific titles, "Mr." or "Miss", despite having one name only.
  • "For all mankind", is a religious phrase used by the Disciples.

Gallery[]

See Also[]

References[]

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