Damocles

I 100% believe Bellamy can forgive Echo.

a)he doesn't strike me as the type to hold grudges (even if death is involved) - he's one person who knows what war can do to you and make you do/persuade you to do/etc. etc.
b)if he can try to forgive himself for the season 3 massacre, I think he can try to forgive her for things she's done as well, which were again - for her people.

We saw Echo's face when Bellamy learned about Octavia's 'death', IMO there isn't a stone-cold killer in there. I kind of like what Fuzzy is alluding to - a backstory of something that happened to make her more this way.

Fuzzy Dunlop

I don't think she needs an explanation for why she's "this way." She grew up in Ice Nation, so that's an explanation enough. They're all stone-cold killers. But that doesn't mean that stone-cold killers are all they are, if that makes sense. Like she could be a killer who also mourns a younger sibling who died in war.

Like let me throw an imaginary backstory at you. What if Echo and her younger sister were both spies and they were sent on a mission to Mount Weather, but the Mountain Men killed the sister and captured Echo. Then Bellamy shows up and they save each others lives, so even though her mission is still to destroy Mount Weather and to fight against Skaikru for her people, she respects Bellamy and tries to spare him. And then she also doesn't want to kill Octavia because the Blakes remind her of her own family.

I guess what I'm getting at is that I see a lot of people in the fandom laughing at Bellamy and Echo's interactions as if Echo has a big crush on Bellamy while he hates her, but I think there's the potential that it's deeper than that. Their storyline is about mutual respect and having things in common with your enemy like loyalty and love of family, and how recognizing those things can help heal the emotional wounds of war.

a little chaos

I would LOVE LOVE LOVE! Then to do a sibling relationship parallel with them, I didn't even consider that and now I really really want it! I think it would make a fresh change to the "losing a lover" parallel and could really bring these two a lot closer.

I also believe Bellamy can forgive Echo, the guy is very forgiving, he forgave Clarke for letting a bomb drop on Octavia plus like you said there are other contributing factors and these are extreme circumstances. And maybe she can play a part in helping him forgive himself, maybe they can mirror it through Echo, it makes sense for someone on the opposite side of the war to help him with his redemption, I think that would make it more powerful.

Fuzzy Dunlop

New interview with Tasya Teles talking about Echo and how she feels about Bellamy (no spoilers): "The 100" Exclusive: Tasya Talks "Becho," the Fun Cast & More! - OMFGTV

Leelith

Welp, glad I had no choice in the matter.

Woah. Okay, I do not see these guys romantically. But I really want them to become friends. Try to rebuild what we were starting to see in season 2 (before the betrayal). And Bell has such a distrust with most grounders (which are kinda justified in some cases) So I would love to see one break that down some.

Fuzzy! OT Just wanted to inform you that there is a BTS thread on the request board if you ever feel like checking it out. Link in my signature.

Fuzzy Dunlop

I'm there! OMG that's 3 BTS avatars in a row. We are taking over the world!!!!!!!!!!

Leelith

Taking over the world one post at a time.

I liked Becho some before the whole betrayal thing in season 2.

a little chaos

I'm happy with them becoming friends too tbh, though I wouldn't object to them doing it

I ship Bellamy with most people, he's so shippable

Fuzzy Dunlop

I don't think Becho are going to become romantic (at least not this season) but I don't think betrayals or any other weirdness are good reasons to rule out a romance on this show. Almost all of the characters have complicated histories. People love Kabby, but he was about to have her executed in S1 and then he shocklashed her in S2. Clexa obviously had their issues. Emori held a knife to Murphy's throat and robbed him. And even Bellarke, which has a huge fanbase, started out as enemies and Bellamy was going to drop her into a spiky pit and let her die in the second episode. This whole show is fully of violent, damaged people who hurt each other all the time and then somehow find a way to move past it, so why would the writers handle Becho any different?

a little chaos

All of this even Linctavia had a bumpy start, it's the world they live in, it's extreme so the relationship are extreme. That's why I wish people would go easy on certain characters, yes I mean Bellamy and Lexa

Damocles

I agree - I just meant that the audience (the general audience) would sympathise with her more if they knew she had a tragic backstory (which we don't know, but I feel like she should too ). We know by now that grounders aren't these evil savages, so there's got to be more to her than meets the eye. I would like to find out.

And it's not like she's too good for Bellamy, I feel like some fans feel that way which is why they are like ewwwww noooooo.

Fuzzy Dunlop

My brain decided to read your comment as "evil sausages" and now I can't not see it that way.

I'm rooting for a lost sibling backstory. But I wouldn't want them to try to make us feel sorry for her or make too many excuses for her. She's a badass, vicious, fearless spy/warrior lady and she doesn't need any of that.

Who even is saying that?! I have only seen the Bellarkers out there yelling about how she killed his girlfriend (suddenly we all care about Gina?) and tried to murder his sister!!!!!!111!!!!11!! so obviously it is horribly offensive to suggest that Becho could ever happen, how dare you, etc. *cue nervous laughter*

destroyer of worlds

I'd like that backstory too TBH. Like you said, it'll be a fresh twist to the "losing a lover" parallel.

I think Bellamy being forgiving also depends on the person - he cares for Clarke and therefore his tolerance levels in terms of forgiving her actions is probably a lot higher. Even then, he did call out Clarke for those actions in 3X05. Just based on his interactions with Echo in episode 5, I do think he can eventually forgive Echo too - but I'm not sure if he can ever truly let go of it and neither do I think he should.

I also see it as a potential way for him to forgive himself through forgiving her, so I'm all for that if done properly.

Uh ... we weren't vocal about Gina since she was an obvious red herring and whether we liked her or not (I personally did, and so do a few people here too), her death still impacted Bellamy so I don't think it's far fetched for us to care about that OR the fact that she betrayed Bellamy's trust then. Echo's actions technically didn't lead to Gina's death though, she was already dead when the bomb went off but of course, neither of them knew that. I do agree that she clearly didn't want to kill Octavia.

Fuzzy Dunlop

What? Why? Echo tried to capture Octavia alive, Octavia basically ran into her sword, and Echo was clearly upset that it happened. So it was an accident and Octavia didn't even die. I mean, Echo has gone out of her way to apologize to Bellamy. Why shouldn't he be able to forgive her for that?

Damocles

Not on this board The Tumblr fandom is super extra when it comes to tearing down characters to elevate or protect their ship. NOT just Bellarkers, some other ships are even worse for that. That character looked at Clarke the wrong way! That's an abusive relationship! etc.

I don't think Bellamy should FORGET about Gina and Echo's involvement, but at the same time it's not like Echo personally murdered her. That loser assassin dude did. At the same time, Bellamy has done awful things to Grounders so neither of them are innocent in any way.

Again - Bellamy's always had bad experiences with Grounders, apart from Lincoln - it would take him alot longer to learn how to work with them/find a mutual respect of some sort than it would for others like Clarke.