[In truth, it feels more idealized than anything that her people have applied to her. Lexa helps because that is her life. She could be selfish, like the girl that the Ice Queen had raised to take her place, but she believes too strongly that her people need her. That is all she lives for, and it's what she intends to die for. That's why she can't die here.
Simply put: there's a disconnect.
She doesn't acknowledge it further, but there's a sense between them that Lexa is puzzled by Angel's assessment. She still feels (knows) that she's putting her people first. She still feels (knows) that her rank and standing has no place here. But she will never stop being the Commander of her people, even as her spirit passes on.
It's her spirit that Angel asks after, and Lexa frowns, briefly, considering the question.]
My people believe in reincarnation. [Once, she thought that all people did. They had no way of knowing that the Mountain Men believed in anything else, too isolated for any of them to know where they stood on that matter. Lexa had first learned that there were other approaches to power from Clarke.]
When I die, the spirit of the Commander will be taken from me, and it will be passed on. The Flamekeeper of my people—his name is Titus. He taught me, and he will teach and advise the next Commander after my spirit chooses them. It happens in a fight to the death, with the different initiates fighting until one comes out on top. [What sounds spiritual is not, however.
After all, what Lexa doesn't know is that she has an AI inserted into the back of her neck. Previous Commanders, long ago, may have known. But since the chip has degraded, what knowledge she gains from it is diluted, without her ever knowing the true source of it. She also doesn't know that her consciousness will be copied and uploaded onto the chip. Instead, she believes that when she communes with the other Commanders, that their spirits come to her, and that they speak—but, again, there is little chance for her to know the truth.
And so, like her people, she speaks of spirits and rituals. She can think of no other way of approaching it.]
no subject
Simply put: there's a disconnect.
She doesn't acknowledge it further, but there's a sense between them that Lexa is puzzled by Angel's assessment. She still feels (knows) that she's putting her people first. She still feels (knows) that her rank and standing has no place here. But she will never stop being the Commander of her people, even as her spirit passes on.
It's her spirit that Angel asks after, and Lexa frowns, briefly, considering the question.]
My people believe in reincarnation. [Once, she thought that all people did. They had no way of knowing that the Mountain Men believed in anything else, too isolated for any of them to know where they stood on that matter. Lexa had first learned that there were other approaches to power from Clarke.]
When I die, the spirit of the Commander will be taken from me, and it will be passed on. The Flamekeeper of my people—his name is Titus. He taught me, and he will teach and advise the next Commander after my spirit chooses them. It happens in a fight to the death, with the different initiates fighting until one comes out on top. [What sounds spiritual is not, however.
After all, what Lexa doesn't know is that she has an AI inserted into the back of her neck. Previous Commanders, long ago, may have known. But since the chip has degraded, what knowledge she gains from it is diluted, without her ever knowing the true source of it. She also doesn't know that her consciousness will be copied and uploaded onto the chip. Instead, she believes that when she communes with the other Commanders, that their spirits come to her, and that they speak—but, again, there is little chance for her to know the truth.
And so, like her people, she speaks of spirits and rituals. She can think of no other way of approaching it.]