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The 100 ALIE Primer: Top Theories About the AI & Their Endgame

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On The 100, ALIE is one of the most fascinating but also most confusing entities on the show (both ALIE 1 and ALIE 2.) Here is everything we know so far about the two ALIEs, along with some tantalizing theories about what may be coming next. Spoilers up to tonight’s episode (we’ll update this post after the episode runs.) This could also include more spoilers if any of the theories are correct. We’d love to hear your theories too! Leave a comment and let us know what you think. (If you want to rewatch some ALIE episodes, they’re available on Amazon.)

Check out this primer about the ALIEs of #The100, plus top theories! Click To Tweet

ALIE Version 1 Runs the City of Lights

ALIE runs the City of Lights, a virtual reality world. If someone takes the ALIE pill, they immediately become connected with the City. The pill destroys/blocks all their memories of anything bad that happened to them, allowing them to be at peace. It also blocks pain receptors so they don’t feel pain or discomfort. When someone who has ingested an ALIE “chip” dies, their consciousness remains in the City of Lights.

ALIE Version 1 Set Off the Nukes

ALIE nukes

 

But despite how pleasing some of this ALIE information sounds, she’s very pragmatic and operates only by her programming, not really caring about people but about whatever her end goal is. She had a core command to find a problem and solve it. So she solved the overpopulation problem by setting off the nukes because there were “too many people,” according to her programming.

We’re not sure what ALIE’s endgame is. She wants ALIE 2 and she wants to get as many people as possible to take her chip and become integrated with the City of Lights. But her endgame is unclear.

ALIE 1 pulls people into COL. ALIE 2 makes THEM the COL. #The100 #Theories Click To Tweet

ALIE Version 2 Has a Biological Component

ALIE version 2 was created by Becca to defeat ALIE version 1. Becca essentially didn’t think humanity had a chance as long as ALIE 1 was around. She also believed that the people on the stations wouldn’t have a chance of survival without ALIE 2 around to check their work and help them survive. Despite everyone on her station wanting her to destroy everything connected to ALIE, she wouldn’t do it, even putting the lives of the people on her own station at risk.

ALIE 2 is different from ALIE 1 in that the 2nd version has a “biological” component. She exists within biology so that she needs the same things humans need and, thus, has a strong point of empathy with humans that ALIE 1 lacks.

Becca was injecting herself with ALIE 2’s biological material before she crash landed on Earth with an escape pod from Polaris. When she stepped out of the escape pod, the radiation levels around her were very high, but ALIE 2 must have given her some type of immunity.

However, this leaves two questions…

  1. How were the humans who greeted her escape pod still alive in such harsh conditions? Where did they get their immunity?
  2. We know how manipulative ALIE 1 can be. How do we know that by injecting herself with night’s blood, Becca wasn’t also compromised by ALIE 2? Maybe she was willing to put everyone’s lives at risk to get ALIE 2 to Earth because of ALIE 2’s control over her…

ALIE Version 2 Chooses the Grounder Commanders

ALIE 2 is all caught up in the Grounders’ religion. She chooses the Polis (aka Polaris) commanders. Potential commanders all have night’s blood within them. This night’s blood is the same dark black blood that Becca was injecting herself with before she landed on Earth. Somehow, this blood is passed down through generations. For some reason, only people who already have this blood can take the ALIE 2 chip. If someone without the night’s blood gets the ALIE 2 chip, that person will die.

A good theory on how this works is that the black blood consists of nanites. The nanites work within your body to make it an acceptable host that won’t rejection the ALIE 2 chip.

Becca was the very first Grounder commander, and when she arrived on Earth she already had the ALIE 2 chip embedded in the back of her neck. Somehow, she started out the “passing on” of night’s blood. And ALIE 2 gained some of her memories and consciousness, allowing her to pass that on to the next commander.

ALIE 1 Somehow Didn’t Know ALIE 2 Was on Earth

Somehow, ALIE had no idea that ALIE 2 had been on Earth this whole time. ALIE 1 was off in her own corner of the world, not able to escape because I guess she needed a “Jaha” before she could move forward. She thought ALIE 2 had been on the station all this time and was very surprised when she learned it wasn’t in Arkadia.

ALIE Version 1 Requires Free Will to Work

alie 2 vs alie 1
The ALIE 2 chip looks just like the ALIE 1 wafer. (The 100)

When you swallow the ALIE 1 pill, it releases some type of nanotech that attaches to the brainstem. For some reason, according to ALIE, this requires free will to work. You can’t forcefeed ALIE pills and create an army of ALIE acolytes.

The Two ALIEs Share the Same Symbol And Might Share a Virtual Connection

Compare the above to this: See? Same kind of meditation:

Both ALIE 1 and ALIE 2 have the same symbol on their chip. This is the symbol that the keeper of the flame calls “the sacred symbol of the commanders.” When the Grounders encounter ALIE 1, who has the same symbol, will they worship her as a god?

I also wonder if there is a “virtual connection” between these two ALIEs. We’ve seen how Jaha and the others must meditate in order to interact with the City of Lights. Well, when Lexa (rip) was interacting with past commanders, she had to meditate in the exact same way. This makes me wonder: Does ALIE 2 have her own “City of Lights”? Or does ALIE 2 share part of the same City of Lights as ALIE 1?

Both Jaha and Lexa meditated to interact with ALIE. Do both versions have a City of Lights? Click To Tweet

ALIE 1 seems to be “housed” within that backpack router thing, so it’s possible that people with the ALIE 1 chip can only interact with the City of Lights when they’re within range, but Commanders can interact from anywhere. Hmmm…

Perhaps ALIE 2 Was Meant to Infiltrate and Merge With ALIE 1

If ALIE 2 connects all the past commanders virtually, through something akin to the City of Lights, perhaps ALIE 2 was meant to infiltrate ALIE 1. Maybe Becca’s ultimate goal was not to destroy ALIE 1, but to merge the two AIs so she could fix her creation rather than kill it. The chip may be a final “patch” to ALIE 1. Maybe both are imperfect and need to be merged.

What Is ALIE 2’s Core Programming? 

Is 'blood must have blood' from ALIE 2's programming? #The100 Click To Tweet

I think we get hints of it, according to the Commander’s religion and beliefs. “Blood must have blood.” “Love is weakness.” These are mantras constantly repeated that likely stem from somewhere within the second AI’s core program. The “blood must have blood” is likely related to night’s blood and has been twisted over the years. “Love is weakness” might be a key to ALIE 1’s ultimate weakness.

 

    Stephanie Dwilson started Post Apocalyptic Media with her husband Derek. She's a licensed attorney and has a master's in science and technology journalism. You can reach her at [email protected].

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