| “ | The things I do to survive. | „ |
| ~ One of John Murphy's infamous catchphrases. |
John Murphy, more commonly called by his surname of Murphy, is an antagonist in post-apocalyptic TV Series The 100. He serves as a secondary antagonist in the first season, something of an anti-hero from Seasons 2-5 and a minor antagonist in the sixth season. In the seventh season, Murphy becomes a hero in his own right while protecting innocent people and opposing Sheidheda, as noted by several characters.
He was portrayed by Richard Harmon, who also played Alex Wright in Grave Encounters 2 and Owen Mercer in The Flash.
Biography[]
Background[]
As a child, Murphy grew on the Ark space station. However, he eventually became ill and his father stole medicine in an attempt to save Murphy's life. His father was caught and executed by floating, being blown out of an airlock into space and the medicine was ineffective anyway. Murphy's mother blamed him for his father's loss before eventually drinking herself to death. Murphy was ultimately imprisoned for a crime like all of the other juvenile delinquents under 18.
Initial antagonism and revenge mission[]
After first landing on Earth, Murphy became one of the lieutenants in Bellamy Blake's militia and developed an antagonistic relationship with Wells Jaha and occasionally used his position of power to bully the other kids. After Wells was murdered, Murphy was suspected of the crime due to both his antagonism towards Wells and the fact that Murphy's knife was the murder weapon. The other members of the 100 attempted to hang Murphy before a young girl, Charlotte, confessed to the crime. In a blind rage, Murphy led a mob to kill Charlotte in revenge, going so far as to take protagonist Clarke Griffin hostage in an attempt to get Charlotte surrendered to him. Guilt-stricken and unwilling to let anyone else get hurt because of her, Charlotte committed suicide. In their first act as joint leaders of the 100, Clarke and Bellamy banished Murphy for his crimes with Bellamy threatening to kill Murphy should he ever return.
Murphy did eventually return after having been captured and tortured by the Grounders. However, unknown to Murphy or anyone else, he was allowed to escape after being infected with a deadly virus as an act of biological warfare. Only a few of the 100 succumbed to the virus, but the escalating threat caused Clarke to allow Murphy to return. Unwilling to let his near-hanging go, Murphy began covertly murdering the people who had tried to kill him in revenge.
After Murphy's actions were discovered, Murphy kidnapped Raven Reyes and used her as a hostage in order to get Bellamy to surrender himself. During this time, Murphy accidentally shot Raven, hitting her in the spine and putting her life in mortal jeopardy. After Bellamy surrendered, Murphy attempted to hang him as Bellamy had been the one to kick the object he was standing on out from under him. The others were able to rescue Bellamy, but Murphy escaped. Murphy was captured again by the Grounders and used as a source of intelligence for the final battle of the first season which ended with the Grounder army being wiped out.
The intervening years[]
Murphy was freed when the Grounder left behind to hold him captive investigated the aftermath of the battle and was killed by Raven Reyes who had been overlooked by the Mountain Men that had kidnapped most of the other 100. Though Raven initially tried to kill Murphy too, her gun was out of bullets. Instead, Murphy tended to Raven's injuries, expressing remorse for shooting her and explaining his backstory. When the other survivors from the Ark arrived, Raven chose to lie about how she was injured and covered for Murphy. Though Abby was able to save Raven's life, Murphy shooting her left Raven with permanent nerve damage and pain and a brace for her leg for the rest of Raven's life.
From the second to fifth seasons, Murphy turned into something of an antihero, at first helping when it was to his benefit. However, many continued to hold his murderous rampage and antagonism against Murphy even after he had reformed. After spending six years in space between seasons four and five, Murphy became more an active participant with his friends, his talents at manipulation proving at one point to be useful at single-handedly provoking a mini-civil war between two factions of bad guys.
Alliance with Josephine Lightbourne[]
In the sixth season, Murphy suffered a near-death experience and became convinced that he was going to Hell when he died. Josephine Lightbourne, one of the rulers of Sanctum who had been resurrected in Clarke Griffin's body, apparently at the cost of Clarke herself, enlisted Murphy's help with manipulating his friends for the Primes' benefit. In return, Josephine promised Murphy immortality as one of the Primes for himself and his girlfriend Emori. Murphy accepted the deal and filled Josephine in on Clarke's life and what she would need to get Abby Griffin to help her make Nightblood. Murphy also helped manipulate Bellamy into accepting the situation despite the murder of Clarke, causing Josephine to give Murphy the Mind Drives she'd promised him in exchange for his help which Murphy then used to propose to Emori.
Even after it was revealed that Clarke had survived, Murphy continued to side with the Primes and Josephine in particular against his friends, aiding her in stopping Clarke's friends effort to abduct Josephine to remove her from Clarke's head even though Josephine was plotting to destroy Clarke's mind for good. However, after Josephine used Murphy as a hostage, he directed Bellamy to take her to the Children of Gabriel as an alternative means of getting rid of Josephine.
Nearly burned at the stake, Murphy was able to convince Josephine's father Russell to spare them in exchange for Abby using bone marrow transplants to recreate Nightblood for the Primes. Russell promised to uphold the deal Josephine made with Murphy for immortality in exchange for Murphy helping to retrieve his daughter. However, Murphy alerted Echo in another language that their friends would be coming for her soon and to hang on for as long as she could. Murphy aided the Sanctum guards in attacking the Children of Gabriel camp while he and Jade infiltrated the tent. Clarke, who had killed Josephine, pretended to be the deceased Prime and joined them in returning to Sanctum, lying to Murphy when he asked that Clarke really was dead.
Upon their return, Russell completed his deal with Murphy by turning Murphy and Emori into Nightbloods and implanting them with the Mind Drives of deceased Primes Daniel and Kaylee Lee who's identities the two assumed. However, Russell mind-wiped Abby Griffin and detonated a bomb of a hallucinogenic toxin that put the people of Sanctum and their friends into danger. The loss of Abby on top of Clarke proved to be too much for Murphy and Emori who turned their backs on the Primes to rescue their friends. Murphy angrily confronted "Josephine" only to realize that it was actually Clarke when Clarke referred to him as Murphy instead of John as Josephine always did. Clarke covered for Murphy and Emori's departure and convinced Russell to let them go. Murphy and Emori were able to rescue their friends in their guise as Daniel and Kaylee Lee and Murphy later reluctantly risked his own life to save the lives of other innocent people as the fanatics would only believe their ruse if it was "Daniel" instead of "Kaylee."
Becoming a hero[]
In the seventh season, Murphy expressed remorse for his aid of Josephine, particularly as he blamed himself for the death of Abby Griffin whom Murphy cared greatly for. Though Eric Jackson also blamed Murphy, Clarke insisted that her mother's death wasn't Murphy's fault and forgave him for his actions.
Throughout the seventh season, Murphy evolved from a former villain into a hero in his own right. Continuing his role as Daniel Lee, Murphy helped to defuse several situations with the remaining fanatics, on one particular occasion putting his own life at risk to rescue a young boy from being immolated by the fanatics. After the conflict with Sheidheda began, Murphy emerged as a leader and protector of the survivors of the Dark Commander's massacres. Several characters noted that Murphy appeared to enjoy being a hero with Murphy himself insisting that he wasn't one though Raven Reyes commented at one point that Hero Murphy as Raven called him was kind of freaking her out. As stated by Emori, Murphy ultimately became someone worth believing in, a far cry from his more antagonistic beginnings.
External Links[]
- John Murphy on the Heroes Wiki
- John Murphy on the The 100 Wiki
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 Villains
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