“ | What the hell. Let's be good guys. | „ |
John Murphy is a major character in the CW show, The 100. Occasionally an antagonist, Murphy slowly transforms into first an anti-hero and then later a hero in his own right.
He was portrayed by Richard Harmon.
Description[]
Throughout the series, Murphy acts as both an antagonist and a protagonist. He's one of the delinquents sent to Earth by the Ark. He is selfish, violent, wise-cracking, but also knows how to be compassionate, selfless and helpful when the situation requires it. He is shown to care greatly for children, at one point flying into a rage at the idea of fanatics sacrificing a child's life for their beliefs. On the Ark in the past, his father was floated for stealing drugs and his mother accused him of his death, which led to his aggressive and cruel nature.
A notable trait of Murphy is his tendency to survive no matter what the situation, leading many to compare him to a cockroach. Murphy himself states that he is above all else a survivor.
After meeting Emori, Murphy gradually changes from an antagonist to more of a self-serving anti-hero. Due to his villainous past, Murphy's friends often have trouble trusting him in dangerous situations. However, after spending six years on the Ark Ring with Bellamy, Raven, Echo, Monty, Harper and Emori, Murphy becomes more involved with his talents for manipulation at one point allowing him to single-handedly provoke a mini civil war between two enemy factions, something that even Echo believed was impossible to accomplish.
After dying briefly on Sanctum, Murphy becomes obsessed with immortality for himself and Emori and reverts back into some of his old self-serving mentality. However, despite his alliance with Josephine Lightbourne, Murphy retains his loyalty to his friends, still helping them as much as he can. Following the death of Abby Griffin and the apparent death of Clarke, Murphy chooses to abandon his pursuit for immortality to instead save his friends, ultimately, if reluctantly, risking his own life to help Gabriel Santiago save innocent people that he doesn't know.
In the seventh season, Murphy transforms fully into a heroic protagonist, taking up more and more of a leadership role on Sanctum against the threat of Sheidheda. Several people, including Indra and Emori, note that Murphy is becoming someone worth believing in with Murphy selflessly risking himself to protect others on several occasions. However, Raven notes that "Hero Murphy" is kind of freaking her out.
History[]
As he arrives on Earth, John attacks Wells, Chancellor Jaha's son on the Ark and lashes out at him because his father was floated. He follows Bellamy directly and becomes his right hand in the dropship camp. He also helps him get the bracelets removed from the teens that allow the Ark to watch them. When Wells is mysteriously killed, everyone blames Murphy because he hated him from the start and hangs him.
Charlotte, a young girl, reveals that she was the one who killed Wells, causing Murphy to want to kill her and chases her near a cliff with Clarke and Bellamy. Charlotte commits suicide then not wanting more injured because of her and Bellamy, angry, banishes Murphy. After which, Murphy is captured and tortured by Grounders who inject him with a serum making all the teenagers sick when he is brought back to the dropship. There, he takes revenge by killing two teenagers who participated in his attempted hanging as well as Bellamy. Murphy then flees but is again captured by the Grounders.
In season two, he returns to Camp and accompanies Finn to find Clarke and other delinquents, kidnapped at Mount Weather. He also witnesses the massacre Finn caused as he tried to stop him. Then he accompanies Jaha on a long journey to the so-called City of Lights. Only the two of them survive and they meet Emori. Arrived on dry land, Murphy is locked in a bunker for 86 days and discovers the secret about A.L.I.E., an artificial intelligence that caused a nuclear war.
In season three, he is then freed and finds Jaha in a mansion, owned by A.L.I.E. but leaves immediately to be captured and tortured in Polis, because of his knowledge of the City of Lights. He later helps Clarke defeat A.L.I.E. by keeping her alive as she swallowed the Flame.
In season four, he wants to leave with Emori but then participates in an expedition to Becca's Island. There, he finds a spaceship and decides, with Emori, to go back in space with Monty, Bellamy, Echo and Raven.
Murphy spent six years in space during Praimfaya while Clarke lived with Madi on Earth and Octavia ruled the Second Dawn bunker. The small group comes back down to Earth and discovers that another population has come there. He later helps deserters from Eligius IV to escape during a fight and goes to the Gagarin spaceship before being put into cryo sleep for 125 years.
During this time, Monty spent years finding a new livable planet and made the discovery of Sanctum, a moon. With his friends, Murphy goes to this planet and he bathes in a lake. The group is, however, trapped when they discover that a wave of radiation drives the exposed people crazy, killing each other. They chain up in a village, and Murphy runs away, ending up being the only one in the group to be conscious. He tries to control Bellamy who has lost his mind with the help of Clarke and the latter activates a gas which kills Murphy. He is however revived by snake venom and is terrified of coming back to life, saying he thinks he went to Hell. As a result, Murphy becomes obsessed with gaining immortality, forming an alliance with Josephine Lightbourne and betraying his friends once again. Following the death of Abby Griffin and the apparent death of Clarke, Murphy chooses to stay behind with Emori to rescue their friends posing as Daniel and Kaylee Lee. Murphy realizes that Clarke is posing as Josephine after she expresses her pride in Murphy's actions, calling him "Murphy" rather than "John" as Josephine would do. In his guise as Daniel, Murphy reluctantly risks his own life to help Gabriel Santiago save innocent people from being sacrificed.
Following these events, Murphy is consumed by guilt over Abby's death, compounded by Eric Jackson blaming him as well. With the various factions at each others throats, Murphy and Emori continue their charade as Daniel and Kaylee in order to help keep the peace. With the fanatics growing more desperate, Murphy is called upon more and more often as Daniel to intercede, becoming something of a reluctant hero in his own right. At one point, with only Indra for backup, Murphy goes to talk the Faithful down from burning themselves alive in order to secure the release of Russell Lightbourne. After seeing that the Faithful intend to sacrifice a child, an enraged Murphy instantly puts himself at risk to get the children released, but breaks his cover in the process. Only the last minute intervention of Emori, Indra and Sheidheda keeps Murphy from being killed and reinforces his cover. Murphy then befriends Jeremiah, the father of the boy who he had saved who is thankful to "Daniel Prime" for saving his son's life.
At the same time, Sanctum's nuclear reactor begins to melt down. As a Nightblood, Murphy is called upon by Raven to help fix the reactor, Murphy and Emori's new Nightblood making it so that they can survive the lethal radiation levels in the reactor core. With the Eligius Prisoners helping them succumbing to the radiation, Raven locks Murphy in with them, counting upon Murphy's self-preservation instinct to have him fix the reactor in time. Murphy bonds with Hatch who reveals that like Murphy, he has someone that he loves, Hatch's wife Nikki, that he is willing to die to save. Hatch and Murphy manage to repair the reactor just in time, but Hatch and his men die from the radiation. Although Murphy and Emori both get sick, their Nightblood allows them to survive and recover.
Indra eventually reveals to Murphy and Emori that Russell is actually dead and Sheidheda has taken his place. The two encourage Indra to unite Wonkru under her own leadership to face the Dark Commander and the growing tensions between the factions. Shortly thereafter, Sheidheda warns Murphy of a threat to everyone's safety, leading to a chess game between the two men that is actually the Dark Commander's way of distracting Murphy. With a vengeful Nikki taking hostages, including Emori, Murphy turns himself over and is forced to admit their true identities along with Emori and Sheidheda. After taking down Nikki, Nelson and their forces, Indra leaves the Dark Commander to be killed by the enraged Faithful, only to have him slaughter them and take control of Wonkru.
In the aftermath of the massacre, Murphy becomes the leader of the survivors, working together with Emori to protect them from danger. Due to the Dark Commander's genuine respect for and liking to Murphy, he and Emori are able to station themselves in the machine shop while keeping the survivors hidden in the reactor. Murphy's actions earn him the pride of both Emori and Indra with Emori stating that Murphy is becoming someone truly worth believing in.
After Clarke returns with a brainwashed Bellamy, Sheidheda is defeated by the Disciples and Murphy joins a mission to rescue their missing friends which takes them back to Earth which has finally regenerated from Praimfaya. Although Clarke insists upon abandoning everyone else after being forced to kill Bellamy in order to protect her adopted daughter Madi, Murphy pushes Raven to fix the Disciple helmet that is their ticket back to Sanctum, wanting to bring the people back to Earth which is much safer than Sanctum. Raven is freaked out by "Hero Murphy," but he insists that he is not a hero but rather he simply believes that the people deserve to live somewhere that doesn't frequently threaten their lives.
After an incursion by Sheidheda that leaves Gabriel dead and Madi on Bardo, Bill Cadogan sends a bomb to the Second Dawn Bunker that collapses a corridor upon Emori, leaving her severely wounded. Working with Jackson and Raven, Murphy helps to locate and uncover Earth's hidden Anomaly Stone and return to Sanctum where Emori ultimately dies of her injuries. Unwilling to lose the woman that he loves, Murphy has Jackson implant Emori's Mind Drive into his head, transferring Emori's consciousness into his own body despite the fact that it will eventually be fatal to Murphy. While sharing a Mindspace inside of Murphy's head, Murphy and Emori achieve Transcendence alongside the rest of the human race.
Alongside Emori, Raven, Miller, Jackson, Octavia, Levitt, Echo, Niylah, Indra and Gaia, Murphy chooses to return to human form and live out the rest of his life on Earth. When Clarke arrives at their camp on the beach, Murphy is the first to notice her and draws the others' attention to the arrival of their friend.
Trivia[]
- Richard Harmon, who plays Murphy, is the brother of Jessica Harmon who portrays Niylah on The 100.
Gallery[]
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