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Not everything that's miraculous is a miracle.
— Josephine to Russell [src]

Josephine Ada Lightbourne was a recurring character in the sixth and seventh seasons. She was portrayed by actresses Sara Thompson, Skylar Radzion, Gwynyth Walsh and Eliza Taylor and debuted in "Red Sun Rising". She served as one of the two main antagonists of Season Six, alongside Russell Lightbourne.

Josephine was one of Sanctum's Primes. She was one of the original Alpha colonists. Using a Mind Drive and Royal Blood hosts, Josephine was reborn seven times. Her last host was Clarke Griffin. After a struggle with Clarke for control of her body, Josephine's mind was destroyed by Clarke for good.

Early Life[]

Josephine was born on Earth to Simone and Russell Lightbourne.

In December 2043, she and her friend Olivia were in a diner in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, when her stalker Dave came in and shot himself in the head because she ignored him. This left Josephine horrified. She originally was not going to go with her parents on the Mission, but this event caused her to go.

Josephine and her parents went aboard Eligius III to travel to the moon Alpha. They arrived there in 2045 and were original members of Mission Team Alpha. Josephine was one of the biologists for the team. She was in charge of classifying lifeforms on their new world. It was Josephine who suggested naming the place "Sanctum" - the Latin-root for sanctuary.

On day 21 of the mission, the team endured an eclipse of the two suns. Unknown to them, the eclipse triggers the release of a psychosis-inducing toxin from the plants. Josephine was killed by her father, who was suffering from the psychosis.

The pain of losing Josephine pushed her father and her boyfriend, Gabriel Santiago, to start exploring ways to bring her back. In 2070, after 25 years of failed experiments, Gabriel was able to figure out how to use the Mind Drives to bring their loved ones back by uploading their entire consciousness into a host with black blood. Josephine was the first person to be brought back using this technology. Gabriel, who had terminal cancer by the time Josephine was resurrected, died soon afterwards and Josephine brought him back as she couldn't bear to lose Gabriel.

Her family became three of the Primes and used various hosts for the next two centuries to be reborn after each death.

For many years, Josephine and her family became corrupted with power. According to Gabriel, she and Simone started leaving human test subjects outside to study the visions of those who survived being caught out in the eclipse, despite Gabriel's efforts to stop them. Because of this, believers in the divinity of the Primes invariably reported seeing them as gods, and started killing non-believers.

Josephine was on her seventh host, making her Josephine VIII.[1]

Due to Oblation, which was started by Josephine, Isaac, a Null working for the Children of Gabriel, tries to save an infant from being fed to the plants and trees, but Josephine killed him, which led to Isaac's lover, Kaylee Lee, to murder Josephine by pushing and dragging her out the window, causing her to fall to her death.

Throughout the Series[]

In Red Sun Rising, 236 years ago, Josephine and her family were among the original families (the Primes) to settle on Sanctum as part of Mission Team Alpha. As a biologist trained in taxonomy, Josie's primary task was studying and classifying plants and animals on the moon. She found the place to be peaceful and safe and therefore suggested naming it "Sanctum" - the Latin root for "sanctuary." While making out with Gabriel Santiago during their first encounter with the red sun eclipse, Josephine was the first to notice that something wasn't right when all insects stopped moving. She ran back towards their camp just as a large sonic noise causes a big sound. Unfortunately, she found her father suffering from the eclipse-induced psychosis which caused him to turn against his own family. Russell started killing people including his own daughter, Josephine.

Over the years, Josephine and other Primes have been brought back several times using the Mind Drive technology that transfers the memories and personalities of the Primes into the host bodies of people with Royal Blood.

In The Children of Gabriel, Russell Lightbourne reveals to Clarke Griffin that his daughter Josephine was killed in a tragic fall six years prior to Clarke's arrival.

In The Face Behind the Glass, Josephine's parents, Russell and Simone Lightbourne in "royal blood" (Nightblood) hosts' bodies, are desperate to bring her back. They had been waiting for Rose to become of age so that they can use her as Josie's host, but Rose is kidnapped and killed by the Children of Gabriel. After discovering that Clarke has royal blood, the Lightbourne's take advantage of her when she's paralyzed to bring Josephine back. They insert Josie's mind into Clarke, replacing her memories and personality with Josephine's. Josephine wakes up in Clarke's body, scared at first, thinking she was falling. She starts playing with her hair just like the original Josie used to.

In The Gospel of Josephine, Josie reveals to her parents that it was Kaylee who killed her last host. This is why Kaylee's family stole the Gagarin, to escape Sanctum before they're caught. Russell and Simone summon Kaylee to question her about it. Josie kills Kaylee to get even with her. After that, Josie's parents ask her to keep a low profile and pretend to be Clarke in order to spy on Wonkru and figure out how many others have royal blood. She is assigned Jade as her personal guard as she mingles with Clarke's friends. Clarke's friends start to become suspicious when Josephine, pretending to be Clarke, allows Madi to go to school despite Clarke and Gaia having agreed that it was too risky. When she goes to see Clarke's mother Abby, she almost blows her cover by taking notes with her right-hand, since Clarke is left-handed. Josephine quickly covers for her mistake by using her knowledge as a biologist to suggest a solution for Marcus Kane's dialysis problem using a Sanctum insect.

When Josie notices Clarke's friends headed to the room where the Naming Ceremony ritual takes place, she follows them to keep them in check. She tries to urge them to leave, but Jordan, Bellamy and Gaia remain persistent. She watches them uncover the room filled with skeletons for all the past Primes. They find a secret door to a lab in which they find a computer with video logs. One of them is an experiment video log in which Josie's ex-boyfriend Gabriel Santiago finally figured out how to bring Josie back using her Mind Drive.

After watching how Gabriel forced unwilling Nightbloods to become hosts for the Primes, Josephine doesn't seem concerned, which worries Clarke's friends. She learns that Madi is a Nightblood but sticks around to figure out how many more they have. When Murphy mentions that Clarke was turned into a Nightblood in a lab, Josephine figures out they can use that to make more hosts for the Primes. When she gets up to tell her parents, Bellamy becomes suspicious and confronts her. Bellamy's suspicions are confirmed when she struggles to understand Trigedasleng. Bellamy pins her against the wall and asks her who she is. Josephine knocks him out with a paralytic dart and reveals that she is Josephine Lightbourne. Heading to visit Abby, Josephine overhears her talking about her desperation save Kane and sees an opportunity since Abby is the key to making new Nightbloods. However, Josephine realizes that she needs to figure out how to blend in better first. She gets Murphy drunk before helping him figure out she's Josephine, confessing that her parents killed Clarke to bring her back. To get Murphy on her side, she asks him if he wants immortality.

In Memento Mori, Murphy fills Josephine in on Clarke's history, catching her up with how Clarke defeated A.L.I.E. However, Murphy is exhausted and notes Josephine's own sleeplessness, causing her to explain that its common the first few nights in a new host. Reminding Murphy of her promise of immortality through a Mind Drive, he quizzes her on what cards she will play against Abby, ending with the death of Jake Griffin. When Madi starts screaming, Murphy reminds Josephine she has to take care of "her" daughter and Josephine departs with the Mind Drives she promised for Murphy and Emori, stating that he has to get her past Abby before she will wipe her friends from them for him. Josephine finds Madi speaking Trig and Gaia explains that Sheidheda the Dark Commander is getting too strong and the must do the Seperation Ritual. Josephine snaps Madi out of it and tries to convince her that it wasn't real, worrying both Gaia and Madi as they know it was a memory. Gaia chastises Josephine for her actions which could've caused permanent damage to Madi and becomes concerned by Josephine's nonchalant attitude towards the episode. Josephine returns to Murphy, observed by Gaia, who silently shakes his head at her. Josephine then returns to work with Murphy.

The next morning, Josephine reviews the pictures of Clarke's friends as Murphy sleeps before Echo, Emori and Raven Reyes enter. Having learned the truth about the Primes from Jordan Green and concerned about Bellamy's disappearance, Clarke's friends declare the Primes murderers and body snatchers and attempt to leave. Josephine claims that Bellamy is scouting for a location for a new compound for Wonkru and they need to continue to cooperate with the people of Sanctum. Clarke's friends, particularly Raven and Echo reluctantly agree with Josephine noting that Echo will be a problem. Murphy realizes that Josephine is lying about Bellamy which she admits to, stating that she hasn't killed him but will if she has to. Murphy warns that if Bellamy knows Clarke is dead, then it is all for nothing and she might as well just kill them now. Josephine suggests instead waiting until the foraging party returns so that Murphy can have time to get Bellamy on their side. Josephine orders Jade to follow Echo and sends Murphy, pretending to be a prisoner, to convince Bellamy to side with them.

Later, Josephine approaches a despondent Abby and asks if she has had any luck solving "the Kane problem." Though confused by her wording, Abby states that she hasn't and Josephine reveals that the Primes have a way to save Kane, but Abby will have to turn him into a Nightblood first. Josephine invites Abby inside to see what she means. Josephine shows Abby a Mind Drive and states that in exchange for showing the Primes how to make Nightblood, she can use the Mind Drive to save Kane by making him a Nightblood and downloading his mind into the Mind Drive. Abby is conflicted since Kane's mind would go into another person's body and Josephine reminds them of the worse things they've done such as the Culling on the Ark, Mount Weather and the events in Becca's lab. When Abby insists that they did that to survive, Josephine states that they did survive and now have the chance to get their humanity back. Josephine tells Abby that people would volunteer to be hosts and they can bring all of the Primes back at once. However, her behavior causes Abby to finally realize that "Clarke" is acting strangely and Josephine covers by claiming that they need Kane for his goodness to save them as he did by negotiating peace in Polis. Josephine uses Abby's guilt over Jake's death and her addiction causing Kane's injuries to get Abby to finally agree to help the Primes.

Having succeeded in getting Abby's help, Josephine approaches Simone to erase the Lee family from their Mind Drives in order to keep her promises to Murphy and Abby. Josephine justifies her choice of Simone rather than Russell as Russell thinking with his heart while they have to be practical: with no hosts, they either die in their current bodies or they wipe the Lee's and live forever. Once Abby shows Simone how to make Nightblood, they never have to wait for new hosts again and the best part is there will be no more Nulls, no Oblation and anyone can be a host, giving them the genetic pick of the litter. Reluctantly, Simone erases the Lee family from their Mind Drives using an Eligius computer to Josephine's pleasure.

After Abby leaves for Eligius IV, Josephine approaches Bellamy herself in an attempt to convince him to accept the deal of the Primes help in building a compound for the people of Earth if they don't retaliate for Clarke's death. Josephine claims that they are both struggling with the situation and she is hoping they can help each other through it. As she approaches Bellamy with a knife to kill him, Murphy interrupts with Russell. Russell angrily confronts his daughter over her callousness towards Bellamy's grief over Clarke while Josephine mocks Russell's remorse over Clarke's death. As Russell attempts to convince Bellamy, Josephine cuts Bellamy free who attacks Russell so that she can make the point that Clarke and her friends only know violence. Josephine suggests that Bellamy kill Russell if he needs, but let the violence end there, "an eye for an eye." After a moment, Bellamy releases Russell and a pleased Josephine hands Murphy the two Mind Drives she promised him.

That night, pleased with the events of the day, Josephine finally goes to sleep. After she falls asleep, Clarke, still alive inside of her body, awakens in a projection of her cell on the Ark.

In Nevermind, Clarke, who survived due to her experiences with A.L.I.E., works to wrest control of her body back from Josephine while she is sleeping by traveling through Josephine's memories with a manifestation of Monty Green. Clarke finds the one traumatic memory Josephine couldn't face, where her stalker Dave committed suicide when Josephine wouldn't talk to him. Clarke is confronted by Josephine, who shoves Clarke back into her mind palace and wakes up with a nosebleed. Josephine attends a meeting with her father, Bellamy and Nathan Miller, but fails to realize that Clarke has managed to retake control of one finger and make Josephine tap out a Morse code message on her arm that Clarke is still alive. Bellamy sees the message and quickly grasps the significance, while Josephine warns Russell that Clarke is still alive. However, she now knows how to get rid of Clarke for good.

In The Old Man and the Anomaly, Russell determines that they have 36 hours before Clarke's body burns out from the strain. Josephine decides to stay awake until they can get rid of Clarke for good, but Russell instead sees it as an opportunity to restore the wrong they did by resurrecting Josephine through Clarke. Russell suggests removing Josephine's Mind Drive and restoring Clarke to her own body while they find a new willing host for Josephine, since Abby has replicated the Nightblood serum. Josephine, however, is unwilling to give up her host and unsuccessfully tries to talk Russell out of it.

Unwilling to give up Clarke's body, Josephine enlists Murphy, Emori and Ryker to help her in secret, blackmailing Ryker with the knowledge that he helped Gabriel escape to force his compliance. Though Emori originally agrees to help, she eventually betrays Josephine and lures her and Murphy into a field; there they are joined by Bellamy and Echo, who plan to use an EMP to disable Josephine and have Eric Jackson remove the Mind Drive. Josephine takes Murphy hostage to force them to back down, but Murphy directs them instead to take Josephine to the Children of Gabriel to get rid of her. With Sanctum guards approaching, Josephine slices open Murphy's leg and tries to use the distraction to escape but is caught by Bellamy and restrained. As the others remain behind, Bellamy uses the EMP to temporarily disable the radiation fence. He drags a resisting Josephine through to take her to the Children of Gabriel.

At the same time, on his approach to the Temporal Anomaly, Gabriel has various hallucinations of Josephine in her original body. Gabriel implies that Josephine is both his darkest fear and deepest desire.

In What You Take With You, Bellamy seeks out the Children of Gabriel to remove Josephine from Clarke. However, Josephine's condition continues to deteriorate, causing a seizure. The two are captured shortly thereafter by the Children of Gabriel, who leave to send a message to Gabriel. Bellamy notes Josephine's reaction to that name and Josephine admits to being in love with Gabriel for 236 years, despite the fact that Gabriel has been trying to kill her for the last 70 of those years. Due to wall in their mind being almost gone, Clarke is able to hear their conversation and uses Morse code to tap out "boohoo" to Josephine, which she now understands. However, Josephine refuses to relinquish control so that Bellamy can talk with Clarke. With their minds beginning the merge, Josephine gains some of Clarke's knowledge in regards to Bellamy and their relationship. Bellamy explains that he intends to trade Josephine's Mind Drive to Russell for peace with the Sanctum citizens, something Josephine sees as impossible.

With Sanctum guards approaching, the Children return and realize that Josephine is a Nightblood and a Prime. After Bellamy identifies her, the Children prepare to execute Josephine. At the last moment, Josephine relinquishes control to Clarke who is able to break free. Clarke explains to Bellamy that Josephine recognized that her choices were give Clarke control or get her head chopped off. After Clarke knocks Jade unconscious, a manifestation of Josephine in her original body appears to her. Josephine explains that due to how far their minds are merging, Clarke can now see her in the waking world. Josephine urges Clarke to relinquish control so Josephine can return to Sanctum, but she refuses. Instead, Clarke sends a message to Gabriel, who receives it alongside Octavia Blake. Tapping into Josephine's knowledge of motorcycles, Clarke drives off to find Gabriel taunting Josephine, "sucks doesn't it?" in Mandarin.

In Matryoshka, Josephine continues communicating with Clarke as she tries to find Gabriel before collapsing. As Sanctum guards approach, Clarke convinces Josephine to help her hide in an old blind once used by Gabriel and Josephine to observe Sanctum's wildlife. However, Clarke experiences another seizure, rendering her unconscious as Josephine desperately tries to soothe her.

After the seizure ends, Clarke awakens in her Mindspace to find that it has merged with Josephine's completely. With their condition worsening, Clarke threatens to shoot Josephine, who warns Clarke that if she dies this time with their minds combined, Josephine could be gone for good. Instead, Clarke comes up with the idea of floating some of Josephine's memories to help separate their minds and buy them some time. With the Mind Drive approaching critical systems failure, Josephine agrees and loses the memories that Clarke floats. She is unable to remember what she lost, just that she did lose them. Exploring Josephine's memories to find ones to float, they come across one of Josephine and Gabriel dancing after their first resurrection. Seeing how emotional it makes Josephine, Clarke allows her to keep the memory; Josephine admits that she wasn't always the evil person she became, causing Clarke to sympathize with her. As Josephine opens another book, she relives the memory of her first death, resulting in Russell's axe manifesting in the Mindspace. Seeing how badly the Mindspace has deteriorated, Clarke floats everything, causing Josephine to disappear.

In the real world, Clarke's body is surrounded by vines, and she is nearly choked to death before being rescued by Gabriel and Octavia. Josephine reveals that she has regained control over Clarke's body and is reunited with Gabriel for the first time in 70 years. They are soon after captured by Sanctum guards led by Jade, causing Josephine to order Gabriel's capture and the death of Octavia. However, Bellamy reveals himself amongst the guards, kills the others and sends Jade back to Sanctum with a threat. With Clarke's body experiencing another seizure, Gabriel takes them back to the Verge, where he prepares to temporarily stop Clarke's heart so that Josephine's mind will download into her Mind Drive to be removed. Josephine tries to convince Gabriel not to go through with it so they can finally be together, while Bellamy still wants to return Josephine to Sanctum. However, Josephine knows that Gabriel doesn't want her to resurrect again as he knows that another innocent life could be taken if she was to be resurrected. Gabriel tearfully stops Clarke's heart and removes the Mind Drive, but he can't revive Clarke.

In her mind, Clarke is confronted by Josephine, who reveals that she managed to latch on to the neural mesh in Clarke's mind to prevent the download. Josephine slits Clarke's throat with Russell's axe, declares that Sanctum is hers and explains that she knew that if Clarke came back, she would kill everyone inside Sanctum. Unwilling to let Clarke go, Bellamy desperately tries to revive her, urging Clarke to fight. Hearing Bellamy's cries, Clarke grabs the axe and swings it through Josephine, destroying her. In the real world, Clarke regains consciousness while the brain wave pattern representing Josephine flatlines on Gabriel's EEG.

In Ashes to Ashes, Clarke, Bellamy, Octavia and Gabriel try to come up with a plan to defeat the remaining Primes. As they prepare a Red Sun toxin bomb, Clarke realizes that Josephine was right about what they would do to Sanctum. She comments that it was just like Mount Weather all over again and is inspired to come up with a new, less lethal plan. Clarke comes up with the idea to pose as Josephine to sneak into Sanctum and take down the shield, while the others simulate a Red Sun eclipse to cause an evacuation. When Jade and Murphy arrive, Clarke is able to perfectly imitate Josephine and fool them and Russell to get into Sanctum. Clarke's story for her lack of a Mind Drive is just what Josephine actually did: she used Clarke's neural mesh to hang on inside of her head when the Mind Drive was removed. Clarke, posing as Josephine, claims that she won the fight and killed Clarke in the Mindspace. Clarke is also forced to lie to Madi, making Madi even more enraged at the thought that her mother truly is dead.

In Adjustment Protocol, Clarke continues her masquerade as Josephine, which forces her to lie to her family and friends about her continued survival. Clarke's act as Josephine proves to be so good that even Abby falls for it and bursts into tears at the idea that her child is truly dead. However, when they are alone, Clarke reveals the truth to Abby, Raven and Eric Jackson. Clarke successfully continues her masquerade as Josephine, even fooling Simone when she is resurrected in the host of Abigail Griffin. Clarke is able to pass off her tears as Josephine being enraged at the betrayal of Gabriel, who has been captured. Before departing with the other Primes for Eligius IV, Clarke inadvertently reveals the truth to Murphy and Emori when she slips up and calls Murphy by his last name instead of John, as Josephine would do. Relieved by Clarke's survival, Murphy informs Clarke that Josephine called him John.

In The Blood of Sanctum, Clarke continues her masquerade as Josephine until Russell and Simone plot to mind wipe all of the sleeping Wonkru members. When Clarke refuses and pulls a gun on them, Josephine's parents realize the truth and Russell bursts into tears. Walking away with the mind wipe solution, Clarke tells them that "believe it or not, I am sorry for your loss." Josephine's death, along with the later deaths of Simone, Miranda, Caleb and Jasmine at Clarke's hands, drive Russell to seek revenge for the loss of his entire family.

In From the Ashes, Russell has become depressed and suicidal following the loss of his entire family. In addition, while talking with Emori, a guilt-ridden Murphy lists his helping Josephine convince Abby that she was Clarke as one of the reasons he is responsible for Abby's death. Russell later looks through a biology book that contains a picture of Josephine in her original body.

In The Garden, Gabriel reveals that he had kept Josephine's Mind Drive which he removes from a computer tablet to check on Colin Benson's Memory Drive. Gabriel explains that he had needed to be sure that Josephine was truly gone.

In Blood Giant, a hallucination of Josephine appears to Gabriel as he treats Sheidheda's wound. Gabriel is shocked to see Josephine who states that he doesn't look happy to see her again. Gabriel immediately becomes worried and Josephine orders him not to tell the Disciples and lie that they need bandages for her father's last body so that they can be alone. Instead, Gabriel warns the Disciples that they need the anti-toxin as Josephine's appearance means that a Red Sun Eclipse is starting. Looking at Josephine, Gabriel tells the Dark Commander and Indra that he knows because Gabriel is already feeling the effects.

Traveling to the lab, Josephine comments on the bones of the Primes' previous hosts and Gabriel gives Eric Jackson the only dose of anti-toxin. Josephine urges him to allow everyone else to tear each other to pieces while they retrieve the Flame. Josephine reminds Gabriel that he is a Nightblood and so can put the Flame in his head and save humanity. She points out that she wouldn't be thinking it if he wasn't and that both the Flame and the Mind Drives were created by Becca Franko and as a result, they can repair the code. Josephine reminds Gabriel of all that he has accomplished with the Mind Drives and is sure that he can rig Eligius technology to fix the Flame and solve the mystery of the Anomaly Stone. Although Gabriel is reluctant to do it for Bill Cadogan, Josephine suggests that he do it for himself instead and that its the best way to make up for all of the things that he did to save her. Josephine reminds Gabriel that they came across the stars to save the human race and states that now is his chance.

Returning to the Great Hall, Gabriel and Jackson find the aftermath of Indra's slaughter of the Disciples and Josephine comments that they missed all of the fun. When Cadogan arrives, Josephine urges Gabriel to tell him that he can use the Eligius technology to repair the Flame to get the code. As Gabriel hesitates over fixing the Flame, Josephine encourages him and tells Gabriel to volunteer since Cadogan will need a Nightblood host. Gabriel changes his mind and shoots the Flame, destroying it for good. Gabriel has Jackson give him the anti-toxin, causing Josephine's hallucination to disappear as she pleads with him not to do it as Gabriel needs her.

In The Last War, after a devastated Murphy decides to place Emori's Mind Drive into his own head, Jackson warns against it as they know from Josephine and Clarke's time sharing a body that it's inevitably going to be fatal to Murphy. However, he is undaunted as Murphy would rather spend his last hours with Emori than live without her.

After meeting Emori inside of his head, Murphy comments that Josephine had called their location the Mindspace, causing Emori to realize that she's dead and that Murphy put her Mind Drive into his head.

Personality[]

Josephine is a biologist. She is multilingual, speaking at least three foreign languages: German, Portuguese, and Mandarin.[2] In her first appearance, she seemed pretty optimistic and generally happy to be where she was. She was also very smart. As seen while hosting Clarke's body she seems to really enjoy music and painting.

In reality however, she is cold, greedy, manipulative and a corrupt, supremacist. She believed in Nightblood and Prime supremacy, going as far as to sacrifice babies who don't have Nightblood. She is also very vengeful and is willing to kill people who meant a lot to her, such as Kaylee thus revealing that she cares only for herself. Despite the fact that she is just a human, she as well as the rest of the Primes, presents herself to the people of Sanctum as a savior and goddess. She is also power-hungry as well.

As one of the Primes, Josephine has a dim view of those beneath her. She is willing to do whatever it takes to survive, unwilling to give Clarke Griffin up as a host even though she could potentially gain a willing host and give Clarke her life back. Josephine is willing to go so far as blackmail to get what she wants. However, she doesn't appear to be a good fighter as she relies on blackmail and threats when confronted by Clarke's friends and had to relinquish control to Clarke to escape decapitation even though she was unchained. Unlike Josephine, Clarke was able to easily break free and told Bellamy that Josephine chose to give her control so that she could save them. Josephine admitted to being impressed with Clarke's skill at fighting afterwards. When she tried to kill Clarke for the last time, Josephine chose to slit her throat and gloat rather than going for an immediate killing blow as Clarke did, giving Clarke the chance to kill her. Josephine, satisfied that she had won, also made the mistake of tossing her weapon next to Clarke who was then able to use it against Josephine.

As she goes through her old memories with Clarke, Josephine shows a softer side to herself, particularly in her interactions with her memories of Gabriel. In one such moment, Josephine admits that she wasn't always the person she has become, apparently remorseful for some of things she has done. Clarke recognizes and sympathizes with this and suggests that they can define who they are instead of letting the bad things define who they are. Earlier, when Clarke viewed the memory of Josephine's previous death, Kaylee Lee stated that Josephine didn't used to be so cruel as to sacrifice Null children to the Offering Grove and seemed shocked by Josephine's change in personality for the worse.

However Josephine didn't believe her people and Clarke's people would peacefully coexist despite apparently taking somewhat of a liking to Clarke. Choosing to be the 'savior' of Sanctum lead to her final death.

Physical Appearance[]

In her original body she had semi-long blonde hair, brown eyes, and fair skin, with a slim figure.

Relationships[]

Gabriel Santiago[]

In "Red Sun Rising", Josephine is shown to be in a relationship with Gabriel Santiago, but their relationship ended when he disagreed with the Primes' own ways and, possibly due to Josephine's true nature.

In "What You Take With You," Josephine tells Bellamy Blake that she's been in love with Gabriel for 236 years even though he's been trying to kill her for the last 70 years of that time.

In "Matryoshka," Clarke and Josephine watch a memory of Josephine and Gabriel together after both of their first resurrections. In the memory, Josephine promises to love Gabriel forever while the current Josephine becomes emotional at seeing it, showing that she truly does still love Gabriel. When she is finally reunited with Gabriel in the present, Josephine attempts to talk him into removing their Mind Drives and growing old together and dying in their current bodies which he refuses to do. However, Josephine is happy when she learns that Gabriel doesn't hate her as she had thought and instead loves her right up until the end.

In "The Garden," Gabriel reveals that he had kept Josephine's Mind Drive after her death in order to be sure that she was truly gone.

In "Blood Giant," the Red Sun eclipse causes Gabriel to hallucinate Josephine again who acts like a projection of his subconscious, pointing out things that Gabriel instinctively knows such as using Eligius tech to repair the Flame and pushing him to become the hero of the Disciples. After Gabriel comes to his senses, he takes the anti-toxin so as to not have Josephine tempt him any more despite her pleas that Gabriel needs her.

Mr. and Mrs. Lightbourne[]

Her parents are Russell and Simone Lightbourne.

Kaylee Lee[]

Kaylee was Josephine's friend. Josie was mad that Kaylee abandoned the group at Ryker's Keep that she stabbed her recent host, but it's heavily implied it was payback for ending the last life of her host. 

Clarke Griffin[]

Main article: Clarke and Josephine
Josephine's relationship with Clarke is complicated. Their relationship begins with Josephine's parents sacrificing Clarke to be Josephine's host, forcing Josephine to pose as Clarke amongst her friends and family. After learning Clarke's history from Murphy, Josephine shows a respect for Clarke's actions, calling Clarke "fairly awesome." After Clarke is revealed to have survived, the two women are put at odds with each other as they fight for control of their shared body though Josephine admits that under other circumstances she thinks they could be friends. However, as circumstances force them to work together, it becomes clear to the two of them that they aren't so different from each other and they begin cooperating more with Josephine opening up to Clarke who shows sympathy for Josephine and expresses hope that they can both be saved by removing Josephine's Mind Drive rather than planning to destroy it and get rid of Josephine for good. Josephine subsequently calls Clarke her friend to Bellamy. However, Josephine tries to kill Clarke as she feels that Clarke will kill everyone in Sanctum if she doesn't and half-heartedly apologizes. In response, Clarke destroys Josephine for good instead of trying to spare her again. Clarke subsequently realizes that Josephine was right about how her plan would cause a lot of innocent people to die and altered the plan to try to avoid that. Clarke later tells Josephine's parents that she truly is sorry about having to kill Josephine. Josephine's death at Clarke's hands along with that of Simone later drives Russell to seek revenge against Clarke for the loss of his entire family.

Appearances[]

Season Six
Episode Appearance Status
SanctumMentioned
Red Sun RisingFlashback
The Children of GabrielMentioned
The Face Behind the GlassAppears
The Gospel of JosephineAppears
Memento MoriAppears
NevermindAppears
The Old Man and the AnomalyAppears
What You Take With YouAppears
MatryoshkaAppears
Ashes to AshesMentioned
Adjustment ProtocolMentioned
The Blood of SanctumMentioned
Season Seven
Episode Appearance Status
From the AshesMentioned
The GardenMentioned
False GodsMentioned
HesperidesAbsent
Welcome to BardoAbsent
NakaraMentioned
The Queen's GambitMentioned
AnacondaAbsent
The FlockAbsent
A Little SacrificeAbsent
EthereaAbsent
The StrangerMentioned
Blood GiantAppears
A Sort of HomecomingAbsent
The Dying of the LightMentioned
The Last WarMentioned

Quotes[]

Josephine Lightbourne: "No insect sounds. 10:1 it's the eclipse. Think about it. Animal behavior on Earth is affected by them, too. Crickets go silent when they feel threatened, right before they swarm."
-- in Red Sun Rising
Delilah: "We call it-"
Blythe Ann: "Delilah..."
Delilah: "Oh Relax mother, I don't think they'll steal your recipe. We call it 'Jo Juice' after Josephine Prime. Hallowed be her Name."
Blythe Ann, Guards and Jae: "Hallowed be her Name."
-- in The Children of Gabriel
Russell Lightbourne: "Josephine!"
Simone Lightbourne: "No!"
Josephine Lightbourne: "Yours was the last face I saw before I fell. Now we're even. I know we have a lot to discuss, but right now, I want to have a shower, get out of this hideous dress."
-- in The Gospel of Josephine
Josephine Lightbourne: "My father was a fool for letting you people stay. All that time spent building a sanctuary for the human race, and he destroys it because of the most human thing of all... love."
-- in What You Take With You
Josephine Lightbourne: "Take you and Clarke for instance. Now that's a weird relationship, isn't it? First you want to kill her to save your own ass, even though it means the genocide of your own people on the Ark and then you become besties, bonding over the actual genocide at Mount Weather. Together. You lock her up, she locks you up, you leave her on Earth, she leaves you to die in the fighting pits. I mean, it's exhausting frankly."
Bellamy Blake: "Tell me about it."
-- in What You Take With You
Bellamy Blake: "Don't do this, please. The drive in her head, its Josephine."
Josephine Lightbourne: "Not helping!"
Bellamy Blake: "Think! As long as she's alive, you have leverage over Russell."
Children of Gabriel member: "This is not a negotiation, it's a war. And it ends with death to Primes."
Clarke Griffin (suddenly taking control): "Wait! Gabriel loves her. Is this what he would want?"
Children of Gabriel member: "Don't you use his name!"
-- in What You Take With You
Clarke Griffin: "Gabriel, my name is Clarke Griffin. Josephine Lightbourne is in my head. If you can hear this, we're coming to you."
-- in What You Take With You
Josephine Lightbourne: "Geeze. Fine. I'll drive. But for that you do have to give me back control. Clarke you don't know how to... (Clarke starts the motorcycle) What else of mine have you stolen?"
Clarke Griffin (in Mandarin): "Sucks, doesn't it? (可怜,对吗)"
-- in What You Take With You
Josephine Lightbourne: "Told you I should drive. Now will you give me back control, or do I have to wait until you fall asleep?"
Clarke Griffin: "Shut up. I have to call Gabriel"
Josephine Lightbourne: "Yeah. You broke that, too."
-- in Matryoshka
Clarke Griffin: "What is this place?"
Josephine Lightbourne: "Observation Blind. We built them all over. I use them to study species in their natural habitat."
Clarke Griffin: "Studying, huh?"
Josephine Lightbourne: "Research can get boring. Gabriel helped with that."
Clarke Griffin: "You guys seem to have a lot of history. Why does he want to kill you now?"
Josephine Lightbourne: "He doesn't."
Clarke Griffin: "Really? Death to Primes? Could have fooled me."
Josephine Lightbourne: "It's not literal. The Children of Gabriel consider themselves enlightened, freeing minds one at a time. In the 70 years since he left, they've killed exactly no Primes."
Clarke Griffin: "Why did he leave?"
Josephine Lightbourne: "He wanted to be able to die. I didn't. Simple as that. Why? What are you thinking?"
Clarke Griffin: "I'm thinking it's not as simple as that. I'm thinking that he lost his taste for body snatching, and I'm hoping for all our sakes that he doesn't destroy your mind drive as soon as he takes it out."
Josephine Lightbourne: "Hmm. Bellamy's plan-- Save you, trade my drive for your people."
Clarke Griffin: "It would mean letting you resurrect again. Would he do it? Does he still love you?"
Josephine Lightbourne: "Clarke? Are you all right? Clarke? No, no. No, no, no. Not now. We'll be stuck here. The vines will come. This not what I meant by falling asleep. Fight through it, Clarke, or I'll be locked inside a drive inside your head inside this box forever. We're so screwed."
-- in Matryoshka
Josephine Lightbourne: "There are no more sides."
Josephine Lightbourne II: "No, no! Get away from me! Get away from me! Just get away! Get a-- Get away from me!"
Josephine Lightbourne: "My second body... The barrier between our minds is breaking down."
Clarke Griffin: "You don't say."
Josephine Lightbourne: "Look. If we don't think of something fast, you die, and my mind drive is lost forever, so how about we cut the sarcasm and--"
Clarke Griffin: "Or I could just kill you again."
Josephine Lightbourne: "Don't. Without the door to my side, I don't know where I'd go or if I'd come back. It could be permanent."
Clarke Griffin: "And that's a bad thing why?"
Josephine Lightbourne: "Fine. Pull the trigger. What is it you say? Go float yourself."
-- in Matryoshka
Josephine Lightbourne: "What are you doing?"
Clarke Griffin: "If you're right, then in order to regain consciousness, we need to separate our minds."
Josephine Lightbourne: "Clarke, those are my memories. Clarke!"
Clarke Griffin: "It's this or a bullet."
Computer: "Warning. Catastrophic systems failure in 15..."
Josephine Lightbourne: "Do it."
Computer: "13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5..."
Clarke Griffin: "It worked. Come on. Help me. We have to do more. They'll keep bleeding through. Josephine."
Josephine Lightbourne: "I don't-- I don't remember what you took. I just... I know that it's gone."
Computer: "Warning. Systems critical."
Clarke Griffin: "Look. We have to do this, or our brain dies."
Josephine Lightbourne: "Fine, but I choose the memories."
-- in Matryoshka
Clarke Griffin: "Josephine."
Josephine Lightbourne: "Just let me watch a little more."
-- in Matryoshka
Clarke Griffin: "Ok. You can keep this one, but if you ever want to see him again, we have to move now. He'll find a way to save both of us."
Josephine Lightbourne: "I wasn't always like this."
Clarke Griffin: "Trust me, I know the feeling. I mean, look around you. We can let the bad things that happened to us define who we are, or we can define who we are. We have to float more."
Josephine Lightbourne: "... (Josephine picks up a book of her memory)-"
Russell Lightbourne: "Sanctum is mine!"
Josephine Lightbourne: "... (Josephine drops the book and the book changes into the axe)"
-- in Matryoshka
Clarke Griffin: "It just keeps getting worse..."
Josephine II: "No, no! Get away from me! Ahh!"
Josephine VII: "His spirit shall live eternal."
Computer: "Warning. Catastrophic systems failure. Brain death."
Clarke Griffin: "We have to vent it all. Come on!"
Computer: "Warning. Inner door is open."
Clarke Griffin: "If I leave the inner door open, everything in here will get sucked out at once, including us. We have to get back to my cell. Come on! This is how we can save us both!"
-- in Matryoshka
Octavia Blake: "Gabriel, come on. Help me."
Josephine Lightbourne: "Gabriel?"
Gabriel Santiago: "Josephine? Oh! Hey. Hey."
Josephine Lightbourne: "You still want to live happily ever after?"
Octavia Blake: "Hold on. What happened to Clarke?"
Josephine Lightbourne: "Blodreina. Hi. How do you two-- You know what? There's no time. Just help me up."
Gabriel Santiago: "I got you."
-- in Matryoshka
Gabriel Santiago: "I could never hate you."
Josephine Lightbourne: "I know it. We can still be together, my love. We can take out the drives just like you wanted. We can grow old together."
Gabriel Santiago: "I... I've loved you for centuries."
Josephine Lightbourne: "Heh."
Gabriel Santiago: "We had our time. I have to let you go now."
Gabriel Santiago: (in Spanish): "Death is life."
-- in Matryoshka
Clarke Griffin: "Wait. Why am I still here?"
Josephine Lightbourne: "Because I'm still here. (Josephine axes Clarke's neck)- Unh."
Clarke Griffin: "(Clarke gasps and holds her neck with her hands)"
Josephine Lightbourne: "Sanctum is mine. I used the surgical mesh. I'm sorry about the whole working together thing, but I know you, Clarke. If you came back, you'd kill everyone inside Sanctum. It's what you do."
-- in Matryoshka

Killed Victims[]

Notes and Trivia[]

  • In "Red Sun Rising", she is called Josephine Ada Lightbourne by her father. This makes her the second person in the series with their middle name stated in the series, the first being Jordan Jasper Green. Her full name can also be seen on the books containing Josephine's memories in her Mindspace in "Nevermind."
  • Josephine suggested the name "Sanctum" for Alpha, the latin root for "sanctuary".
  • A drink that was named after her is called "Jo Juice". Blythe Ann is supposedly the recipe holder.
    • An edible fruit, called "Joberry", was named after her.
    • A pie was also named after her, called "Joberry Pie".
    • When she was drugged in her sixth host, Josephine was supposedly drinking "Jo Juice" before she realized the truth.
  • She wrote several books:
    • Red Sun Rising[3]
    • Sanctum and Mendel: Recessive Traits in Later Generation Studies[4]
    • Oblation By And For The Grace of the Primes[5]
  • She doesn't know Trigedasleng, which made her vulnerable to others finding out her parents killed Clarke, when she was inhabiting Clarke's body. Bellamy finds out when she asks him to repeat his last phase in Trig, and drugs him. She also didn't know Morse code or even recognize its use by Clarke to communicate with Bellamy, but she later gained the knowledge after her and Clarke's minds began to combine and they could access each others knowledge of various things for their own purposes.
  • She calls John Murphy "John" in front of several: Bellamy, Gaia, Jordan and Madi, they all look confused when she does this - though no-one says anything. When she later calls him John a second time, he figures out she is not Clarke. When Clarke calls him Murphy in "Adjustment Protocol," he realizes that it's Clarke and not Josephine for the same reason and informs Clarke that Josephine had only ever called him "John."
  • She thinks John Murphy is "kinda cute" and revealed her "true self" to him by revealing Clarke is dead and she now inhabits her body - before he can tell anyone, she offers him what he wants most: immortality. He accepts, showing she was right about him.
    • She is also the only person besides Jaha and Emori to call him John.
  • Her first unofficial host was a six month old girl and her second unofficial host was 15 year old girl, named Savannah.
  • Josephine speaks Portuguese with a Spanish accent in "Memento Mori". She is also multilingual as she speaks different foreign languages, including German, and Mandarin.[6] Clarke later steals Josephine's knowledge of Mandarin to taunt her in the language.
  • Josephine shows a preference for her original body, painting a picture of her old self shortly before Kaylee Lee killed her as seen in "Nevermind." Kaylee suggests that Josephine might have an obsession with her original form.
    • When Josephine appears to Clarke in both the Mindspace and the waking world, she takes on her original form rather than appearing as a duplicate of Clarke or one of her other hosts. Clarke only sees Josephine in her other hosts in the form of memories.
  • Josephine died three times in the Mindspace: the first time Clarke bashed her head in, the second time Josephine purposefully shocked herself to death using the Eligius shock collar Clarke put on her through a projection of Maya Vie and the last was her final death.
    • The first two times, Josephine was restored by her Mind Drive as she would've been if her host had died.
  • Ironically Josephine's first and last deaths occur in the exact same manner: axed to death by Russell Lightbourne and Clarke Griffin. Due to Josephine getting the axe from the memory of her first death, she was even killed with the same weapon both times.
    • In "Ashes to Ashes," it's confirmed that Josephine's Mind Drive is empty and that none of her consciousness survived in there.
  • In the beginning of Season Six, Josephine's Mind Drive was stored in Simone's necklace until Josephine's consciousness was placed inside of Clarke.
  • Josephine is the only character in the series to have been portrayed by four different actors.
  • She was the first Prime to be portrayed by a Starring cast member.

Gallery[]

To edit this gallery, go to Josephine Lightbourne/Gallery.
To review image policies, go to Media Guidelines. Note, the images go in episode order.


See Also[]

The 100 Characters
Main Characters
Abigail GriffinBellamy BlakeCallie CartwigClarke GriffinEchoFinn CollinsGabriel SantiagoHope DiyozaJasper JordanJohn MurphyJordan GreenLincolnMarcus KaneMonty GreenOctavia BlakeRaven ReyesRoanSheidhedaThelonious JahaWells Jaha
Recurring Characters
AdenA.L.I.E.AndersAnyaBecca FrankoBill CadoganBlythe Ann WorkmanBreeBrellBryanByrneCage WallaceCarl EmersonCassiusCharles PikeCharmaine DiyozaCillianCostaDante WallaceDavid MillerDiana SydneyDoucetteEmoriEric JacksonEthan HardyFoxGeoff HardyHannah GreenHarper McIntyreHayesIlian‎IndraJacapo SinclairJadeJae WorkmanJames CrockettJosephine LightbourneJake GriffinJeremiahJohn MbegeJonesKara CooperKaylee LeeKyle WickLeeLevittLexaLindoLorelei TsingLucaLunaMadi GriffinMaya VieMichael VinsonMiles ShawMiranda MasonNathan MillerNelsonNiaNiylahNykoOntariPaxton McCrearyPennPriya DesaiRileyRoseRussell LightbourneRyker DesaiSeikuShawn GillmerShumwaySierraSimone LightbourneSterlingTitusTreyTristanVera KaneVincent VieZoe Monroe
Minor Characters
AdriaAnkaraArtigasAtomAurora BlakeAtohlCarisCaspianCharlotteChaseChrisCillianCole McAdamsConnorCostiaCraigCuyler RidleyDaniel LeeDaxDelanoDelilah WorkmanDerekDerrickDiggsDrewFioGideonGina MartinGlen DicksonGuaraGustusJuelKeenan MykulakLaylaLeeLieutenant GracoMacallanMark and Peter ColtonMelMiss LucyMylesNygelOsiasOtanPascalPeri GordonQuintRedReese LemkinRichardsRivoRoma BraggRyderScottSemetSgt. LovejoyShaySiennaStevensTor LemkinToshTrinaTrisTybeWhitmanWillaZoran

References[]

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