[April7739]

Top 5/Rankings Thread
#1

Where you can rank anything and everything.

Origin:

The 100 Top Five Favourite Characters #1: One man's trash is another man's treasure.

Top 5 List Ideas:

Most Memorable Episodes (not necessarily the same as favorites)
Lines of Dialogue/Quotes
Cast Friendships
Most Underrated Scenes
Friendship moments
Relationships
Scenes that made you laugh
Scenes for a character (i.e. Bellamy scenes, could be more specific, i.e. Bellamy sad scenes)
Favorite Threads
Enemies/Rivals
Music moments
Music vids
Arts/Fan arts
Romantic Moments
Jaw-Drop/OMG moments
Most heartwarming moments
Scenes you can re-watch over and over again
Characters you love to hate
Most underrated characters
Most polarizing characters
Most underrated moments
Characters you would like to portray

Topic Choice Roster:

1. April
2. Lisa
3. Alexa
4. Becks
5. Paula
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

Please inform the thread starter if you want to be added to the roster.
In the event that the person at the top of the list is unavailable, we will go to the next person.
The bolded name is where we are currently at on the roster.

Current Topic:

Characters You Can Relate To/See Yourself In

Previously Ranked Topics:

Favorite Characters
Favorite Supporting Characters
Most Complex Characters
Tear-jerking/Sad Moments
Best Hair

[April7739]

Alright, I decided to make this Thread #1 since it was inspired by the Favorite Characters thread but not exactly the same.

So here you go. I chose Most Complex Characters for the first ranking topic, because I feel like it's not necessarily the same as Favorite Characters. And I love complex characters.

It's up to you if you want to just make a simple list, or if you want to make a list and also explain why you placed them in the position you did. Totally your choice!

[kiss the wind]

Oooh, I like this.

Complex Characters:

1. Murphy
2. Lexa
3. Bellamy
4. Clarke
5. Kane (?)

[Leelith]

• Murphy
• Bellamy
• Clarke
• Raven
• Kane

No specific order, I could not really order them. They are complex in completely different ways.

[April7739]

April's Top 5 Most Complex Characters


Disclaimer: I spent waaaaay too long writing this all up.



1. Bellamy Blake



Have you ever just thought about the fact that, in Season 1, Bellamy is a power-hungry Pike-in-the-making,
desperate for control in an uncontrollable world? Have you ever thought about the fact that his desire to control everyone and everything around him
probably stems from him having no control growing up? He was at the mercy of the unfair rules of the Ark,
as well as the overwhelming responsibility for Octavia (placed on him by none other than this mother. The poor guy was basically robbed of his childhood.)
Have you ever thought about the fact that Bellamy Blake, who wanted all this power, now wants none of it and would probably do anything
to not be in a situation where he constantly has to make hard decisions and get blood on his hands?

Or how about the fact that it seems likely he wants to become a man like Kane, yet allows himself to be manipulated into following Pike?
Have you ever thought about that? Have you ever thought that maybe part of the reason why he did this
is because that's how he seems himself as a shadow of Pike? (Callback to 3x05's "You're wrong. This is who I've always been.")

Have we ever thought about the fact that Bellamy Blake himself is the original Bellamy Blake anti?
The ironic thing is, I don't think many (if any) of the other characters really hate him.
Octavia is disappointed in him but still loves him. Clarke trusts and believes in him no matter what.
Jasper, Raven, Miller, etc. would probably trust him with their lives. Yet here's Bellamy . . . still hating himself.

Basically to summarize this very long (and almost rant-like) explanation:
I feel like emotions are at the root of a person's layered personality and complexity.
And Bellamy Blake is the ever-turbulent emotional epicenter of this entire show.

Oh, and I'll fight anyone who claims that Bob Morley doesn't just nail it. Every. ****ing. Time.


2. John Murphy



He very easily could have ended up at number one, and he was really the only other person I even considered putting up there.

Let's talk about the fact that John Murphy is the cockroach of the delinquents, the one who will probably outlast all the others.
("I'll survive" in 3x13, remember?) This is a guy who will do anything in order to keep on surviving, yet somewhere along the way . . .
something has changed. Suddenly, life isn't just about surviving for him. He's starting to care about people.
Most notably, of course, is Emori right now, but we're seeing more and more humanity in him all the time.
The conversation he had with Raven in season 1 (???) I believe, despite the circumstances, really showed us
that there is so much more to this guy. He went from hanging Bellamy to saving his life on multiple occasions.
He even showed compassion to Clarke after Lexa's death. Would the old John Murphy have done that?

All the kudos in the world go to Richard Harmon for transforming this character from a loathsome villain to someone root-able,
someone we can appreciate, and look forward to seeing on our screens because we never know what he'll say or do.
I'm not saying that everyone is a Murphy fan, but so many people are these days. Fascinating considering where/how he started out.


3. Octavia Blake



Yeah, how about the girl who started out as the "We're back, bitches!" chick who liked glowing butterflies
and who went ahead and just stripped down in front of strangers to go swimming? Where is she now?
Oh, that's right. She's a badass warrior who's lost the love of her life and just murdered said lover's executioner as vengeance.
Well. That's what you call character development. You can argue whether or not Octavia's character has developed in a positive direction or not.
I myself certainly don't agree with all her choices, but I think it's been riveting to watch her transformation.

It's no wonder to me that Octavia doesn't feel like she fits in, doesn't know where she belongs. She has never belonged, ever.
She's the girl under the floor. She spent the first 16 years of her life interacting with only two people in the entire world,
so it's amazing she's as well-socialized as she is after such a traumatic start to her life.

I feel that Marie is the strongest female actress on this entire show
and does not get enough credit for how layered she has made Octavia Blake.


4. Clarke Griffin



I worried about Clarke when the show first started. I thought the writers might craft a Mary Sue character
whose decisions were never called into question, whose actions were never deemed as wrong. But much to my delight, that has not been the case.
Clarke has become increasingly more complex to me as the series has gone on. She has gone to some very dark places,
and in many respects, she has gone to places that most female heroines do not venture into.
Take Buffy, for example, to whom she is sometimes compared. I love Buffy and feel that she's one of the most amazing characters to ever appear on TV,
but she never took a human life. Clarke has taken hundreds of human lives. Innocent lives, even.
And yet we still root for her. We still support her. This doesn't mean that we overlook her wrongdoings,
(in fact, I often find myself cheering when the other characters hit her with some truth bombs).
But despite her wrongdoings, we can still empathize with her.

Clarke Griffin is now no longer just Clarke Griffin. She is and will forever be Wanheda, whether she wants to be or not.
She's had to internalize that and make it a part of herself. It makes her darker than she ever wanted to be, and more cutthroat.

Eliza's acting, to me, is among the most improved since the start of the series.
She has portrayed and incredibly complex character so very well and deserves all the recognition for that.


5. Marcus Kane



Remember when Kane was the bad guy who only cared about himself and no one else? Yeah, neither do I.

No, in all honesty, I do. But I find it so interesting that he is now the adult character who has become the symbol of hope
for peace and diplomacy in this cruel, violent world. Whereas other characters have faltered greatly on the ground (looking at you here, Jaha),
Kane has flourished. Earth has offered him a chance to be the kind of man he never was on the Ark,
and this new and improved Kane is a true leader. (Again, something he never was on the Ark.)

Henry Ian Cusick is one of the strongest actors on this show and always has been.
He (like many of the other males, on the show, I believe) does not get enough credit.



CONCLUSIONS:
Complexity is important to me in a character.
4 out of the 5 characters on this list are also on my favorite characters list (Bellamy, Murphy, Clarke, and Octavia.)
And for the record, Kane is right outside my Top 5 Favorite characters these days.
I don't think they're complicated because they're my favorites.
They're my favorites because they are complicated.

[Leelith]

That's way to many words for my tired eyes.

[April7739]

I knew you were going to say something like that.

[Alexa]

wow april look at your post!

how long do we have to do this? i want to make mine pretty but i gotta think about this first.

[Leelith]

Well, you can't teach a old dog, new tricks April.

[April7739]

Originally Posted by Alexa (View Post) wow april look at your post! how long do we have to do this? i want to make mine pretty but i gotta think about this first.

Did we say maybe a week per topic? To allow people time to discuss. Or is that too long? Or not long enough. I don't know, thoughts?

[Alexa]

i like it. gives me some time. lol.

though you started n a thursday?

so maybe we go til like tuesday and then the next round can end on sunday and after that a new topic every monday?

[April7739]

Yeah, it just so happened that it was time for a new thread on a Thursday.

[Damocles]

April yours is so pretty

When people are done giving theirs, do we compile them for the OP or something?

[Alexa]

i think we could link the page that the topic is on, if that makes sense.

[Alexa]

i think we could link the page that the topic is on, if that makes sense.