Top 10 Most Badass Octavia Moments on The 100

Long before she became the fiercest of all warriors, and before they fell in love, Octavia was captured by Lincoln and held as his hostage after being injured in the forest. Though she makes an escape attempt, the Grounder ends up saving her life during her run for it. This time though, when he brings her back to the dark cave, he chains her up. Octavia grew up as the girl under the floor, so while everyone else is experiencing Earth for the first time, Octavia is experiencing literally everything for the first time. And yet, with no skills or life experience yet, Octavia finds a way to free herself from these chains and fight Lincoln off until her search party gets there. This is one of the first moments foreshadowing the epic badass she would grow to be.

Over the seasons, Octavia has had a long winding journey full of pain, death, and impossible choices. One of the major themes of season 6 of The 100 was everyone confronting their past choices and learning to be better. Octavia can’t seem to let go of who she became as the Red Queen to ensure survival. But after taking a hallucination inducing mixture to try and remember what happened to her in the Anomaly, she has a series of visions forcing her to deal with her past. Octavia confronts her regrets, and literally, comes face to face with herself. It took a lot of strength to do what she needed to do to save her people, but it took even more to finally forgive herself for it.

When things are getting out of hand in Arkadia under Pike's tyrannical rule, Octavia returns to help the resistance escape. Pike has interned the Grounders and sentenced three of them to death for insubordination. But Octavia isn’t having it. She hides Kane and the others under the floor, and even hits Kane with a sick burn about her sixteen year stint in the same position back on the Ark. Some might question Octavia’s actions sometimes, but she has always done what she believes is right for her people. She even turns against her own brother to defend what she knows is right and to help those who are sentenced to death to escape.

Growing up the way she did, no one can blame Octavia for not feeling too at home with the rest of the Arkadians when all the adults come to the ground and try to reestablish their government. After all, that’s the same government that forced her into a life under the floor. Which is why she fought so hard to become Indra’s second. But more on that later. Despite her long journey to find herself among the Grounders when they all leave Mount Weather leaving Skaikru behind, Octavia defies Indra and stays. With no backup, she breaks into Mount Weather and single handedly takes out the heavily armed guards allowing safe passage for the others.

There has always been bad blood between Octavia and Echo. And understandably so. Echo has a history of betraying the Blakes and Octavia is not nearly as forgiving as Bellamy. But when Bellamy is presumed dead, and Echo is completely losing herself, Octavia finally lets go of all that bad blood and embraces Echo. Echo tries to fight her off, but Octavia won't let her. She takes her in her arms and she tells her that they are family. As badass as Octavia is when she’s kicking ass, this moment where she empathizes with Echo is equally badass.

As we previously mentioned, Octavia didn’t exactly feel like she had a place at Camp Jaha, so when the initial alliance with the Grounders was made, Octavia decided to align herself with them. She joins in on a Grounder training session and demands a fight. Indra tries to shoo her away but Octavia won't take no for an answer. Before they go off to hunt, Indra sends a Grounder to fight her, and no matter how many times she gets beat, Octavia just asks for more. We already knew Octavia was a fighter, but here, she becomes a warrior. She refuses to stay down, no matter what they throw at her, and she earns Indra's respect.

Though the clans united after the Conclave, a lot of bad blood still existed between all of them. When their feuding got out of hand and basically turned into a Purge kind of situation, Octavia finally decides the type of leader she is going to be. She announces that there are no more separate clans, there are no Grounders or Skaikru: they are all one clan. Anybody not on board will face death. She takes on hoards of Grounders by herself in order to unite them. She emerges as the Red Queen and implements her fighting pit tactic for keeping peace. We understand the irony here of using violence to achieve peace, but truthfully, all of the feuding clans just wanted to kill each other, so she obliged.

Long before they were all one big happy family, Echo was Ice Nation's firecest assassin. During the fight between Skaikru and Azgeda over the bunker, Echo is sent to bring Octavia in to the King and things immediately turn deadly. Naturally, Octavia will not go without a fight. The fight itself is epic, but even more so is the fact that Octavia somehow survives it. Echo even had back up, which Octavia made short work of, but she gets stabbed straight through by Echo and goes tumbling over a cliff into the river below. Amazingly, she drags herself out and makes her way back to Arkadia with some help from Helios. She is the ultimate survivor.

Octavia, arguably, got out of control in the war over Eden, but while pinned down against the prisoners with Bellamy, Gaia, and Indra, she has a moment of clarity and chooses to sacrifice herself so the others can get away. She takes responsibility for her actions, and is ready to take the bullet for everyone. As such, she walks into the fire providing cover for their escape and shouts her Wonkru mantra into the void, prepared to die. We all teared up as she threw her arms out, awaiting her warrior’s death, and sighed in relief when Madi rescued her instead. Xref Equally as badass is when she bows to Madi, legitimizing her as the true Commander, and fights alongside her, uniting Wonkru once again.

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.

Hiding in a Bodybag
“Echoes”

Saving Finn
“Contents Under Pressure”

Confronting the Grounders
“Inclement Weather”

Saving Tondc
“Resurrection”

Octavia Saves a Grounder Child
“Bitter Harvest”

This isn’t just the most badass Octavia moment, but quite possibly the most badass moment in the whole show. In the fight over the bunker, Octavia goes into the arena for the Final Conclave to fight for Skaikru's right to survive. She uses all of the training she's learned from Indra, her history as the girl under the floor, and inspiration from Indra and Bellamy to dominate in the arena. But it’s not just all the fighting that makes this moment so unforgettable. It is Octavia’s vulnerability, and her compassion that make her a true badass. She teams up with Roan to beat Luna, and tricks Luna as well. But in victory, she decides that all clans will either die together or survive together.