Characters / The Walking Dead (2010): Atlanta Survivor Camp

The Walking Dead Main Character Index
Rick's Group | The Grimes Family (Rick Grimes) | Georgia (Morgan Jones, Gabriel Stokes) | Atlanta | Atlanta Survivor Camp (Daryl Dixon, Carol Peletier) | Greene Family & Friends (Maggie Greene) | Prison Newcomers (Michonne Hawthorne) | Woodbury (The Governor) | Tyreese's Group | The Chambler Family | Abraham's Group | Terminus | The Coalition & Other Allies | Alexandria Safe-Zone | The Hilltop Colony (Gregory) | The Kingdom | Oceanside | The Saviors (Negan Smith, Savior Outposts, Former Saviors) | Magna's Group | The Whisperers (Alpha) | The Commonwealth | The Reapers | Other Antagonists | Other Survivors

Due to the Anyone Can Die nature of the show and quickly moving plots, only spoilers from the current/most recent season will be spoiled out to prevent entire pages of whited out text. These spoiler tags will be removed upon the debut of the following season, and the character bios will be updated then as well. Additionally, character portraits will be updated each half-season with the release of an official, complete set from AMC. If you have not seen the first ten seasons read at your own risk!

Atlanta Survivor Camp

In General

A survivor camp just outside of Atlanta populated by stranded refugees and people who managed to escape the city. They fell in under Shane Walsh's leadership, and held out hope that the military or government would eventually come to their rescue. However, upon the arrival of Rick Grimes, it became clear that this rescue would never come, and the camp unofficially declared Rick as their new leader.

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• Adaptation Expansion: There are a number of Canon Foreigners present in the group, which is much larger than in the comics.
• Devoured by the Horde: The ultimate fate of all the redshirts.
• Dwindling Party: The running tally, by season:
  • Season 1: Many of them are killed during the fish fry attack, including Ed, Amy, and Jim, who though he survives the walker assault dies afterwards of an infection when one of them decides to take a bite out of him. The Morales family leaves. Jacqui commits suicide at the CDC.
  • Season 2: Sophia is killed by a walker when she flees to the forest. Dale is mercy-killed by Daryl after being disemboweled by a walker. Shane is stabbed in the heart by Rick once he becomes a traitor.
  • Season 3: T-Dog is devoured by walkers while saving Carol. Lori dies in childbirth, since the crew didn't have access to a hospital. Merle is shot in the chest by the Governor. Andrea shoots herself in the head after being bitten by a walker.
  • Season 7: Glenn's head is bashed by Negan with Lucille, a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire.
  • Season 8: Morales is shot in the head with an arrow by none other than Daryl shortly after his return. He also reveals his family did not survive. Carl is bitten by a walker and shoots himself before reanimation.
  • Season 9: Rick is spirited away to parts unknown in a helicopter by Anne. This leaves Daryl and Carol as the only remaining founding members of the group.
• Non-Action Guy: Almost none of the background survivors were remotely combat-capable.
• Red Shirt: There are a number of background survivors who get killed (mostly offscreen) by walkers in "Vatos."
• The Remnant: The Atlanta group we know (most prominently the main cast of Season 2) is a small remnant of a much larger group, most of whom got wiped out by walkers during the fish fry attack.
• We Have Become Complacent: Or rather, we remain complacent. The group seemed to mostly treat their situation as an extended camping trip, and had very few combat-capable members. Thus, when a group of walkers surprises them, they are completely taken off guard and are almost completely wiped out.

Grimes Family

Grimes Family

See Grimes Family

Dixon Brothers

In General

Two redneck brothers who joined the group with the original intention of robbing them, but go on to become vital members of the group and in the series.

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• Abusive Parents: Their father was a drunk who used to beat them.
• Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: The two are very open on how they love one another despite being seemingly hostile to each other.
• Badass Biker: While we only see Daryl ride a bike, the bike he rides in the first four seasons originally belonged to Merle.
• Badass Family: It's heavily implied that they were this even before the Zombie Apocalypse.
• Bash Brothers: They're a very effective Sibling Team.
• The Big Guy: They're mainly the group's muscles.
• Canon Foreigner: Fans of the show may be surprised to find that the brothers are nowhere to be seen in the comics.
• Covered in Scars: Because of the aforementioned father, both brothers are badly scarred; Daryl's are seen whilst Merle's are implied.
• Dysfunctional Family: They were raised by their abusive father.
• Freudian Excuse: The stories they mention about their childhood make it fairly clear where both brothers' emotional issues (a source of a lot of their harsher moments) come from.
• Grey-and-Grey Morality: The brothers can be really abrasive and rough, though Daryl is clearly the lesser grey.
• Heel–Face Turn: The brothers joined the Atlanta camp in order to rob them, but ultimately Merle's disappearance led to Daryl becoming a loyal member of the group and eventually to Merle's Redemption Equals Death as well.
• Hero of Another Story: The brothers are the protagonists of Survival Instinct, which details some of their misadventures before they joined the Atlanta camp.
• Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: The brothers are really good at grilling people up.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: More obvious in Daryl's case, though Merle had his moments.
• Missing Mom: Their mother died in a fire when Daryl was little and Merle was a teenager.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Merle is the Hot-Blooded Blood Knight, while Daryl is the relatively rational loner who loves to keep to himself.
• Sibling Team: They've had each other's backs since they were young.
• Sir Swears-a-Lot: Both brothers are very foul-mouthed.
• Smarter Than You Look: Both of them are a lot smarter than the redneck stereotypes they look. Especially Daryl who is actually very clever, even more so than his erratic brother. Merle is secretly a bookworm.
• Thicker Than Water: They love each other even despite all the shit they, or more accurately, Merle puts them through.
• Tough Love: Their relationship can be very physically and emotionally violent, but they ultimately care about each other.

Daryl

See Daryl Dixon

Merle

Merle Dixon

"You’ve got to play the hand you’re dealt. I only got one."

Portrayed By: Michael Rooker

Dubbed By: Patrick Floersheim (European French)

Appearances: The Walking Dead (Seasons 1, 2 ^note Hallucination, 3)

Debut: "Guts"

"Now, how's about a big hug for your ol' pal Merle?"

Merle is Daryl's much more racist and jerkass older brother. He put the scavenging group sent to Atlanta at risk, and attacks other members of the group. This forces the others to leave him behind, and he ends up forced to cut his own hand off to escape, disappearing into Atlanta. He was rescued by the Governor and became his right hand man in Woodbury. When Woodbury came into conflict with the group, Merle quickly deserted the Governor to join his brother Daryl, although he was stunned by how much he had changed and was disliked by the rest of the group. Eventually coming to regret his misdeeds and wanting to give his baby brother a fighting chance, he attempts to assassinate the Governor on his own, killing several of Woodbury's top soldiers before being killed by the Governor himself.

Merle and Daryl are also the protagonists of The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct, a First-Person Shooter by Activision that tells some of their story before they arrived at the Atlanta camp.

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• Abusive Parents: He ran away from home to escape his father's physical abuse, stating that he would have killed him had he stayed any longer.
• Affably Evil: Seems to have become this by Season 3, at least to some people. To others (like Glenn and Maggie while taking them hostage), he's Faux Affably Evil.
• Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Played straight in Season 1, subverted in Season 3.
• Alas, Poor Villain: Of a sort, considering he'd had a definitive Heel–Face Turn over the course of the episode, but the finale of "This Sorrowful Life", with Daryl's Broken Tears, can make many people feel sorry for Merle, who previously was reviled by many for his racism and sexism.
• Aloof Big Brother: While he's a Big Brother Bully to Daryl, he does have his Big Brother Instinct moments, such as when the Governor orders him to kill Daryl or be killed and Merle chooses to escape with him instead. In "The Suicide King", he is seen to be horrified when he notices scars on Daryl's back from beatings that he received as a child from their father. Their brotherhood relationship is pretty much a Tough Love at its worst, where Merle has no qualms in beating Daryl when he has to, but he still cares about Daryl nonetheless.
• An Arm and a Leg:
  • He loses his right hand after having to use a hacksaw to cut it off so he can get out of handcuffs that were keeping him from escaping the horde of walkers looking to invite him for dinner.
  • He has two of his fingers bitten off by The Governor just before being killed by him.
• And Then John Was a Zombie: After being shot by the Governor in "This Sorrowful Life". Daryl reluctantly puts him down by the end of the episode.
• Artificial Limbs: Merle ended up with a "replacement" after creating it. He replaced his missing hand with a contraption of things he found together inside a medical warehouse.
• Ascended Extra: He's a recurring character in Season 1 and makes a cameo as a hallucination in Season 2. In Season 3, he makes an official return, now as a member of the main cast.
• Asshole Victim: When he's left handcuffed to a rooftop in Season 1. Averted when he actually dies in Season 3, as by that point he had redeemed himself and was in the process of helping out the group.
• Asskicking Leads to Leadership: He apparently believes in this, attempting to take over the scavenging group in Atlanta after beating up T-Dog. Luckily, Rick has something to say about that.
• The Atoner: When he lets Michonne go free and decides to take down as much of Woodbury that he can.
• Back-to-Back Badasses: With Daryl in "The Suicide King".
• Badass Bookworm: The only thing he misses about Woodbury is the library, since he's gotten to become rather literate in at least The Bible by Season 3.
• Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work: By "This Sorrowful Life", he takes this approach as a Token Evil Teammate, and even very nearly says the trope name verbatim.
  Merle: Maybe these people need someone like me around. To do their dirty work. The bad guy.
• Bald of Evil: Though less evil (and bald, coincidentally) by Season 3.
• Bash Brothers: With Daryl. Although not much is shown, they've already played these tropes since the apocalypse started.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: He tells the Governor that he's eager to find his baby brother Daryl when he finds out the group is nearby. In the mid-season finale, the Governor uses the connection between Merle and Daryl to publicly accuse Merle of treason, and he and Daryl finally meet again at last — in Woodbury's gladiator ring.
• Big Brother Bully: Both physically and emotionally. While he does genuinely care for Daryl underneath it all, he has no qualms beating him up, for show or for real. Daryl's hallucinations of Merle in Season 2 reveal a major inferiority complex, and Merle's no nicer to his brother in person in Season 3.
• Big Brother Instinct: Once Merle finds out Daryl is alive, he'll do anything he has to to find him again. And when Daryl threatens to leave him behind, he follows him back to the prison. And when he's at the prison, he says he's only there for his brother.
• Blade Below the Shoulder: His "replacement" version ends up becoming something akin to Ash Williams when Merle creates a blade attachment. His knife once attached works like a bayonet, making it very effective in walker killings and hostage taking, as Glenn and Maggie figure out.
• Blood Knight: While not as crazy as Shane, Merle does love combat, especially the staged walker fights in Woodbury.
• Boisterous Bruiser: He really loves to fight.
• Bring It: He always tries to provoke people into fights with him using taunts. He even practices his taunts while he is alone!
• The Bus Came Back: After being unseen since the third episode of Season 1 (save for appearing to his brother via hallucination in Season 2's "Chupacabra"), he finally turns up again in Season 3.
• Catchphrase: Probably the closest to one the series will get: "I ain't begging/I ain't gonna beg you."
• Childish Older Sibling: He's much more reckless and obnoxious than Daryl at his worst, even before Character Development sets in.
• Composite Character: He's The Dragon to the Governor like Bruce but his lying about killing Michonne is taken from Gabe in the comics.
• Deadpan Snarker: Especially in Season 3.
  Merle: You ain't told any of the others?
  Rick: Just Hershel, Daryl and you.
  Merle: Huh. The inner circle. I'm honored.
• A Death in the Limelight: "This Sorrowful Life", which packs in a lot of Character Development and ends with his death, twice.
• Death Seeker: His alcohol-fueled assault on the Woodbury militia has shades of this, and does in fact result in his death. As Daryl once stated, nobody can kill Merle but Merle.
• Defector from Decadence: After the Governor pits him and his brother Daryl against one another in a death match, he breaks away from Woodbury.
• Defiant to the End: "I ain't beggin' you... I ain't beggin'...."
• Determinator: He sliced through his own hand, slowed the blood loss, climbed down the staircase of a skyscraper, killed several walkers, cauterized the stump and then escaped with the heroes' truck. He did all of this bleeding heavily and quietly to avoid attracting more walkers. If Merle has one defining characteristic, it's his absolute refusal to die.
• Didn't See That Coming: He's surprised, to say the least, when being accused as a traitor by the Governor in the aftermath of the Woodbury attack.
• Dirty Business:
  "Maybe these people need somebody like me around, someone to do their dirty work; a bad guy."
• The Dragon: To the Governor in Season 3. Until he defects. Martinez picks up the slack instead.
• Dying Moment of Awesome: His assault on the Woodbury militia in "This Sorrowful Life", which takes out some of the Governor's best soldiers.
• Establishing Character Moment: Recklessly shooting walkers which draws attention to the survivors (since walkers are attracted to gunshots, not frightened by them), beating up T-Dog and calling him a nigger, and attempting to take control of the scavenger group through violence. Plus, he was hyped up on drugs at the time.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Don't mess with his brother. Ever.
• Even Evil Has Standards: His usual demeanor is completely absent when the Governor smugly fondles a half-naked Maggie in front of Glenn. When Glenn angrily tries to retaliate, Merle quietly tells him to back off.
• Fingore: Has his ring and middle fingers bitten off by the Governor before being killed by him.
• Flat Character: In Season 1, he is the most stereotypical, over the top, one dimensional bigot in the show, being on the scene for all of fifteen seconds before throwing out racial slurs and trying to kill T-Dog at the drop of a hat while making sexist and homophobic comments to anyone in the vicinity. It makes you wonder why they even let this guy come with them for this long. Averted in Season 3; while still somewhat of a racist, his bigotry is toned down to a much more believable level. Not once does he call Michonne the N word, even when he has much more reason to hate her than he would with T-Dog. It helps that practically the first thing he asks Andrea about in Season 3 is Daryl, and reuniting with his brother is the character's motivation for the rest of the season.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: In "Guts" and in Season 3 when he rejoins the group. He's a bigoted, confrontational asshole who loves to rub people the wrong way. Rick and the gang are forced to accept him into the group in Season 3, and while he's mellowed out a bit since Season 1 (notably he doesn't jump at the chance to shout racist slurs at the people of color in the group), he's still not liked and even treated as a weapon by Rick. It reaches a point that even Daryl starts to get fed up with him. However, the group comes to respect him posthumously when they learn that he gave his life taking down many of the Woodbury militia in an attempt to kill The Governor and save Daryl and the prison.
• From Camouflage to Criminal: He served in the military in his youth. The Merle of the present era is an outlaw who spent some time in prison before the apocalypse.
• Glass Cannon: Merle mostly focuses on attacking, and is one of the best on the offensive in the series. However, his lack of defensive skills leads him to trouble several times such as when Rick neutralizes him resulting in him being handcuffed then losing his hand, and not noticing a walker beside him during his solo attack on Woodbury that leads to his death. It should be noted, however, that during the first fight, he was hopped up on drugs, and for the second he had drunk half a bottle of liquor, so he had one hand tied behind his back for both of those encounters.
• Handicapped Badass: Even losing his hand doesn't stop him from kicking ass.
• Hate Sink: In Season 1, he is the most intensely unlikable character on the show aside from Ed. Averted when he comes back for Season 3, where he becomes much more sympathetic.
• Heel–Face Revolving Door: Mostly a heel but is still capable of doing good if it is in his best interest.
• Heel Realization: Michonne exposes Merle's guilt about all the people he's killed and all the horrible things he's done for the sake of Woodbury. This results in him sparing Michonne's life and becoming a Death Seeker.
• Heroic Sacrifice: He decides to take down as much of Woodbury as he can to protect Daryl and the prison.
• Hidden Depths: Merle is very knowledgeable about the Bible, and he admits to Hershel that Woodbury's library is the only thing he misses about the town. He's kept count on how many people he's killed and doesn't seem proud of it.
• Hot-Blooded: Whether it's a racist rant or beating the crap out of someone, he does everything with gusto and a big grin on his face.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: A victim of this, often with disastrous results.
  • In Season 1, shooting walkers at random leads Rick to handcuff him to stop attracting attention, and his screaming at T-Dog to release him probably contributes a bit to T-Dog's falling and dropping the key.
  • In Season 3, he lies to the Governor about successfully killing Michonne, thinking she has no reason to come back to Woodbury anyway. Not knowing that Michonne is still nearby, he kidnaps and takes Glenn and Maggie back to Woodbury. Michonne seeks out Rick's group to inform them of Woodbury's location and they provide her with enough distraction for her to sneak into the Governor's office and kill the walker-daughter of the Governor. This leads the Governor to publicly brand him a traitor in front of all of Woodbury.
• I Did What I Had to Do: Fairly often to survive or for whoever he is affiliated with. Deconstructed in "This Sorrowful Life". It's discussed that he's always making bad choices and what results those actions will have, and most importantly the weight of it all, for his conscience.
• Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: He employs this on Glenn in "When the Dead Come Knocking".
• Jerkass: Merle is racist, misogynistic, violent, and short-tempered. He seems to have become somewhat less of a Jerkass in Season 3... but is utterly sadistic toward anyone who isn't from Woodbury or named Daryl Dixon. Which isn't to say he isn't a jerk to Daryl, too. When he leaves Woodbury with Daryl, Rick, Glenn, Maggie, and Michonne, he wastes absolutely no time in taunting and insulting all of them until Rick gets fed up and just knocks him out.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Although it was his own damn fault he ended up chained up to a pipe on a rooftop in Atlanta, being high on drugs and antagonizing and outright assaulting his group-mates, it's hard to argue with him when he calls them out on leaving him to either be eaten alive by the walkers or starve to death just because they refuse to spare the ten seconds it would take to uncuff him during their escape.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: His final characterization. His last act of courage before being killed gives his brother and the rest of the prison group a fighting chance.
• Kick the Dog: He kills Gargulio for questioning his orders (even after he saved Merle's life) and takes Maggie and Glenn hostage in "Hounded".
• Knight Templar Big Brother: He takes Glenn and Maggie hostage in order to get back together with his brother Daryl.
• Large Ham: He loves hamming it up. Likely why he was such a huge hit with the fans despite being a racist asshole.
• Laughably Evil: He is a massive Jerkass, but also very entertaining due to his boisterous demeanor and snarky lines.
• Lean and Mean: In Season 3. Michael Rooker states that he lost 20 pounds to play Merle again to invoke this.
• Life-or-Limb Decision: When he is left on a rooftop in Season 1. He chooses life.
• Love Redeems: It's his love for his brother that ultimately leads to his Redemption Equals Death that helps give the group more of a fighting chance against Woodbury.
• Necessarily Evil: He chooses to be the Token Evil Teammate because he believes that only Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work and there are times that it is the best, or worse, only option.
• The Nicknamer: He has a number of nicknames that he uses to refer to other characters:
  • Daryl: Little Baby Brother, Darlina
  • Rick: The Sheriff, Officer Friendly
  • Andrea: Blondie, Sugar Tits, Rug-Muncher, Whore
  • Maggie: Bo-Peep
  • Michonne: Mute, Nubian Queen
  • T-Dog: Spear-Chucker, Mr. Yo
  • Morales: Taco Vendor
  • Caesar: Brownie
  • Gargulio: Neil, although this is due to him not being able to pronounce Garguilo's name.
  • Milton: Miltie
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Zig-Zagged. His ambush on the Woodbury militia is used as justification by the Governor to wage war on the prison. However, with most of the strongest Woodbury soldiers dead, the operation fails. This ultimately leads to a total collapse of the Governor's forces when the majority of his soldiers abandon the cause. So ultimately, Merle's actions exacerbated the situation, but also turned things in Rick's favor.
• Odd Friendship: With Hershel in Season 3. They share two mutual things: they are amputees and they like quoting The Bible. Also, in an unfortunate turn of events, they both end up being killed by the Governor.
• One-Man Army: He manages to take out eight of Woodbury's troops all by himself before his Heroic Sacrifice.
• Pet the Dog:
  • When Andrea tells Merle that Amy is dead, he is genuinely saddened and comments that she was a "good kid."
  • Daryl Dixon reveals that he and Daryl used to watch Mork & Mindy together when they were kids.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: Merle is racist, sexist, and homophobic. In Season 3, however, he appears to have toned it down a great deal. It's possible having your hand cut off while in the midst of a methed-up racist beat-down changes your perspective.
• Promotion to Opening Titles: In Season 3.
• Promotion to Parent: Never stated outright, but it's implied that Merle had more of a hand raising Daryl than their Abusive Parents did.
• Psycho Party Member: When he is with the scouting group in Atlanta, shooting walkers without need and attacking other group members. In Woodbury, he kills Gargulio in order to make sure his lies about killing Michonne stay intact.
• Redemption Equals Death: Dies while trying to protect his brother and the prison group, and very narrowly misses killing the Governor in the process.
• Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: Following an accusation of treason by the Governor.
• Second Episode Introduction: Like with most of the Atlanta survivors, he's introduced in the second episode of the show.
• Shoot the Dog: When he kills Gargulio.
• Sixth Ranger: His situation kinda enforces him to be this for Rick's group in the back half of Season 3.
• Stupid Evil: It's repeatedly pointed out in the back half of the third season that Merle is quite reckless. At one point, Rick asks him straight out "Do you even know why you do what you do?" Merle eventually confesses that no, he doesn't know. This, and his long conversation with Michonne, leads to his eventual Heel Realization.
• Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Mostly a cold, cantankerous asshole to everyone, but he has his kinder moments as well. When Michonne guilts him about killing people for the Governor it leads to his Heroic Sacrifice and when he discovers Daryl's childhood scars (caused by their father) on his back he expresses remorse for leaving his little brother behind to fend for himself.
• Sword and Gun: His artificial hand has a Blade Below the Shoulder attachment for melee combat, while he uses guns in his remaining hand.
• Token Evil Teammate: When he's with his brother's group. He even brings it up in "This Sorrowful Life".
• Took a Level in Kindness: Not too much kindness, of course, but he's grown more even-tempered in Season 3. He seems to be working on this after reuniting with Daryl and the Atlanta group.
• Walking Spoiler: Talking about him spoils his return in Season 3 as The Governor's right-hand man.
• Weapon-Based Characterization: Merle’s bayonet hand symbolizes the fact that he himself has become little more than a tool for the Governor. Notably, he loses the bayonet at the same time he is betrayed by the Governor and reunited with his Morality Pet Daryl.
• Worf Had the Flu: Had he not been blindsided by Martinez and Allen's attack, he might have put up a better final fight against the Governor.

Peletier Family

In General

A family who met Shane and Lori outside of Atlanta.

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• Adaptational Angst Upgrade: Their angst is highly utilized in the show.
• Adaptation Expansion: Their background is explored unlike in the comics.
• Dysfunctional Family: Ed alone causes this.
• Named by the Adaptation: Ed is a No Name Given character in the comics, while both Carol and Sophia have Only One Name.
• The One Guy: Ed was the only male of the family.

Carol

See Carol Peletier

Ed

Ed Peletier

Portrayed By: Adam Minarovich

Appearances: The Walking Dead (Season 1, 2 ^note Flashback)

Debut: "Tell it to the Frogs"

Ed is the abusive husband of Carol and the father of Sophia. He dies during the walker attack on the camp outside of Atlanta.

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• Abusive Parents: Not only is he a Domestic Abuser to Carol, he's also implied to have a history of abuse with his daughter, as Sophia seemed to be in fear of him, maintaining her distance from his side.
• Actually Pretty Funny: In Season 4, Carol tells Tyreese a joke that Ed told her which she admits to still finding funny.
• Adaptational Villainy: While it was stated in the comics that the Zombie Apocalypse strained his relationship with his wife and daughter, they were still able to remember him fondly and sympathetically. That can't be the case here.
• The Alcoholic: Par for the course in his Domestic Abuser background.
• Asshole Victim: Nobody gives a crap that walkers eat him, including his family, especially since he spent the majority of his screentime abusing his wife and was implied to lust after his daughter.
• Break the Haughty: His last day on Earth is spent getting his ass completely beaten to a pulp by Shane for beating Carol, and then his own family refuses to eat dinner with him, leading to him Dying Alone.
• Crazy Survivalist: Showed a few signs of this in a flashback, hoarding a bunch of military rations he refuses to share.
• Death by Pragmatism: A rare example of the pragmatic qualities being revealed after death, when he is shown hoarding military rations during the early stages of the Zombie Apocalypse and refuses to socialize with other people. His refusal to socialize with others ultimately results in him getting eaten by a walker with no one around to help him.
• Dirty Coward: He'll beat on weaker women, yet can't pick on someone his own size. Despite towering over Shane, he attempts to flee while he's getting his ass handed to him by the man. When a walker gets into his tent, he doesn't even try to fight back.
• Domestic Abuser: Ed hits his wife Carol in the third episode. Comments between the characters indicate that he has a history of doing this. That and "looking" at his daughter.
• Dying Alone: His own fault, since he refuses to join the others for dinner after getting the crap kicked out of him by Shane for abusing Carol.
• Eaten Alive: Gets eaten when walkers wander into the camp and several enter his tent.
• Fat Bastard: Overweight and a complete asshole.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: Being a Jerkass Domestic Abuser and a Pervert Dad, it's not hard to see why the Atlanta group never liked him and didn't care that he died.
• Hate Sink: Much like Pete later on, he is presented as an abusive father and husband with no redeeming qualities.
• He-Man Woman Hater: He is extremely misogynistic.
• Jerkass: He's shown to be an abusive asshole to a lot of people, particularly Carol.
• Karmic Death: Ed gets eaten by a walker just one episode after he slaps his wife. Notably, he gets killed because he's alone in his tent — he refuses to eat with the others since Shane beat him for hitting his wife, and his wife and daughter don't want to spend time around him. Furthermore, he is incredibly misogynistic and the walker that kills him is female.
• Lazy Bum: Does absolutely nothing to contribute.
• The Load: He doesn't help at camp, apparently. It's implied Shane has to repeatedly order him to even do one little thing.
• Mauve Shirt: Along with Amy and Jim.
• Named by the Adaptation: The name of Carol's husband wasn't mentioned in the comics.
• Oh, Crap!: Has one moment of clarity when he realizes he's about to die when a walker arrives at his tent.
• Once a Season: Ed will be mentioned (usually by Carol), despite dying in Season 1.
• Pervert Dad: According to Carol, he "looked at Sophia in ways a father should never look at his daughter".
• Politically Incorrect Villain: Most of his dialogue consists of sexist remarks.
• Posthumous Character: We learn a bit more about him after his death — namely his Crazy Survivalist tendencies and hints that at one brief point in their marriage, there was a time that he and Carol may have been happy together (evidenced by his gifting her a watch and telling Carol cheesy jokes that she still finds funny).
• Pragmatic Villainy: He hoards military rations at the onset of the apocalypse, and is wary of other survivors. While he’s a selfish asshole and was denying food to someone trustworthy, the rest of the show dealing with hostile human survivors will prove that he had something of a right idea.
• Sacrificial Lamb: His death kicks off the Character Development of Carol, whose arcs of overcoming past trauma inflicted by Ed form her into a powerful survivor who becomes the show’s deuteragonist.
• Spared by the Adaptation: Ed's comic counterpart is already dead before the events in the comics take place, although he doesn't last very long.
• Stay in the Kitchen: He has decidedly conservative views about what the women of camp should be doing, not that he's willing to engage in “men's work” either.
• Token Evil Teammate: Aside from Merle (who in the end turns out to be a Jerk with a Heart of Gold), he is the only member of the camp that doesn't have some positive traits and is a complete asshole.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Notable for being the very first (postapocalyptic) human casualty of the series, not that anyone cares about his passing.
• Would Hit a Girl: Partly because he hates women, and partly because he's too much of a coward to pick on somebody his own size.

Sophia

Sophia Peletier

"No, no, don't leave me!"

Portrayed By: Madison Lintz

Appearances: The Walking Dead (Seasons 1-2)

Debut: "Tell it to the Frogs"

Sophia is the daughter of Carol and Ed, and is a friend of Carl. She went missing in a forest after running away from walkers, and was eventually found in the barn of Hershel's farm, having become a walker. She was put down by Rick.

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• Age Lift: Similar to Carl's.
• And Then John Was a Zombie: The Reveal at the end of "Pretty Much Dead Already" shows that she ultimately became a walker.
• Boom, Headshot!: Ultimately put out of her misery this way, by Rick.
• Bus Crash: She disappears after the first episode of Season 2, then returns in the mid-season finale (un)dead.
• Creepy Child: After becoming a walker.
• Damsel in Distress: Gradually deconstructed as initially the entire group was together in looking for her but the longer she was missing the more members of the group differed on whether they should bother still searching.
• Dead All Along: For the first half of Season 2 the group searches for her without effect. It's eventually discovered that she's one of the walkers captured by Otis and kept in Hershel's barn.
• Death by Adaptation: Sophia survived the entirety of the comic’s run, since the writer didn’t have to worry about her actress growing up like the characters on the TV show.
• Distaff Counterpart: To Carl.
• Dying Alone: After getting lost in the woods and bitten by a walker.
• Graceful Ladies Like Purple: Her shirt has an overlapping blue and violet scheme.
• Kill the Cutie: Twice, if you count her getting bitten, and then her walker self getting shot by Rick.
• The Load: While she was never much of a hindrance in the first season, the entire set up for the second season's arc was because she went missing.
• Morality Pet: To Daryl in the second season. Interestingly, the two never actually share a scene together, but her disappearance serves to integrate Daryl into the group by revealing his Jerk with a Heart of Gold qualities.
• Named by the Adaptation: Like her mom, her comic counterpart has Only One Name.
• Real Life Writes the Plot: One of the reasons she got killed off was because Madison Lintz was growing too fast for the timeframe the show is supposed to take place in. Just look at the zombified Sophia and compare her to her earlier appearances.
• Sacrificial Lamb: Her death proves that not even children or characters who are still alive in the comics are safe from death on this show.
• Shoot the Shaggy Dog: Gets lost in the woods, and a long search for her ends at the farm's barn where Otis had put her walker form but died before telling anyone.
• Tagalong Kid: From Season 1 to the first episode of Season 2.
• Tragic Monster: After becoming a walker.
• Trauma Conga Line: The poor kid has to grow up with Ed for a father, barely survives multiple attacks by walkers while also watching people die around her, and then get lost in the woods and becomes a walker herself.
• Undead Child: Her tragic fate.
• Youthful Freckles: Madison Lintz's own freckles.

Harrison Family

In General

Sisters from Atlanta who were just coming off from a vacation/trip when the Zombie Apocalypse began.

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• Alliterative Family: Andrea and Amy.
• Hereditary Hairstyle: The sisters are both blonde.
• Named by the Adaptation: Subverted. Their last names are never stated in the show, but supplementary material reveals their surname to be Harrison.
• Outdoorsy Gals: Again, they were just coming off from a vacation/trip when the Zombie Apocalypse began.
• Practically Different Generations: The sisters' 12 years age difference is also separated by the different generations they belonged in (Andrea was from Generation X, while Amy was a Millennial), though they still have a healthy relationship.
• Redemption Quest: The aforementioned vacation/trip they were having was actually a chance for the sisters to reconnect as Andrea, being 12 years older, was not present in much of Amy's childhood due to being in college.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Andrea is assertive while Amy is usually reserved and passive.
• Tomboy with a Girly Streak: They are established as Outdoorsy Gals, but Andrea is seen looking for a feminine-looking necklace to give to Amy in her introduction episode. Likewise, Andrea herself appears to be in-touch with her own femininity.
• True Companions: With most of the Atlanta Camp Survivors. Dale, in particular, was the one who rescued them when the Zombie Apocalypse began and became a father figure of sorts to them.

Andrea

Andrea Harrison

"The pain doesn't go away. You just make room for it."

Portrayed By: Laurie Holden

Appearances: The Walking Dead (Seasons 1-3, 10 ^note Hallucination (archive footage))

Debut: "Guts"

"What part of "everything is gone" do you not understand?"

Andrea was a civil rights lawyer before the outbreak, but was on a road trip with her sister Amy when the apocalypse began. She and her sister were doing fine at the camp until her sister got bitten. Andrea had to put her own sister down rather than let her continue as a walker. This experience led her to having a death wish. Dale guilt tripped her into not going through with it; she holds something of a grudge against him for that, but is beginning to shake the death wish off. She does, and by the end of the second season has become one of the group's protectors before she gets separated from the rest in the finale and forced to fend for herself.

Andrea is found and rescued in the forest by Michonne, and the two of them spend several months surviving on their own before encountering Woodbury. Andrea stays there and enters into a relationship with the Governor, but is caught in the middle of the conflict between Woodbury and her old group at the prison. She eventually tries to return to the prison but is caught by the Governor and locked her in a room with a dying Milton, who turns into a walker and bites Andrea before she can free herself. She is later discovered by Rick, Daryl, and Michonne, who stays with Andrea as she commits suicide to avoid becoming a walker.

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• Action Girl: The first seen in the show and was the most competent and action-oriented women of the original group during two seasons. Andrea is the female survivor who carries a gun the most. Once she gets some training she's mowing down walkers with the best of them. Best shown in "By The Dying Fire", as she is on the run through the forest for hours while being hounded by walkers and carrying an entire bag of weapons. She takes down a ton of them, but running out of ammo and exhaustion allowed one to finally jump her. Thankfully, Michonne chose that moment to make her debut.
• Adaptational Angst Upgrade: Her depression was highly increased over the comic version.
• Adaptational Villainy: Downplayed. While she didn't work with The Governor in the comics, but here she followed him because he's pretty much a Villain with Good Publicity.
• Adaptational Wimp: Downplayed. While she's a credible Action Girl here, she's nowhere near the competence of her comic counterpart.
• Age Lift: In order to further increase the differences between her and Amy. Whereas Comics!Andrea was fresh out of college, TV!Andrea is in her mid-thirties
• All Girls Want Bad Boys: Has a fling with Shane and falls for the Governor. There's also a moment when she takes to Merle's flirting in early season 3.
• Badass Bookworm: She was a lawyer before the apocalypse, and can fight alongside people like Rick, Daryl, T-Dog, and Shane without breaking a sweat.
• Blood Knight: After getting gun training, she seems to enjoy cutting down walkers a little too much.
• Bound and Gagged: Towards the end of the third season she's captured by the Governor and is secured to an old dentist's chair.
• Broken Bird: While Amy's death initially sends her into a depressed suicidal state, she eventually bounces back and resolves to survive by becoming as badass as possible.
• The Cameo: She briefly reappears in "What We Become" as part of Michonne's drug-induced hallucination wherein she imagines how her life might have turned out if she hadn't saved Andrea at the end of Season 2.
• Captain Obvious: A lot of the things she says, especially in her introduction, are self-explanatory.
• Chickification: She seems to undergo a bit of this during her time at Woodbury, though she tries to keep from being forced away from battle.
• Chilly Reception: Due to being separated from Rick's group for several months, she's unaware of their Character Development or the fact they Took a Level in Badass since she last saw them, especially with Glenn, Carol, Carl, and Maggie. She's completely shocked to find them hardened up from a harsh winter and an attack from the Governor, as well as their hostile reception of her, particularly for trying to claim the Governor's a good man.
• Composite Character: Her character arc in Season 3 is more in-line with Alice from the comicbook.
• Conflicting Loyalty: In Season 3, big time, between the Governor and Rick's group at the prison.
• Cradling Their Kill: Her sister Amy, after she turned into a walker.
• Damsel in Distress: Near the end of Season 3, she gets kidnapped and brutally tortured by the Governor.
• Death Seeker: She becomes one at the end of the first season, following Amy's death. She really, really doesn't appreciate having her gun taken away, either.
• Death by Adaptation: She dies nearly in the same way in the comics, but much later in the timeline than she did here on the show.
• Decomposite Character: Since she dies early, all her roles in the comics were distributed to several characters; Her role as the most badass female from the original Atlanta group, as well as being the one in charge of Lizzie and Mika (just like her comic counterpart adopts Ben and Billy) were given to Carol. Her (and Dale's) tragic love story in the show's Fear the Hunters arc, role as the group's resident sniper and interactions with Spencer Monroe were all given to Sasha (and Bob). Her role as Rick's female Lancer, Confidant and Second Love was given to Michonne.
• Despair Event Horizon: First her sister Amy gets killed by a walker, then Andrea has to put her down.
• Died in Your Arms Tonight: See Cradling Their Kill above. In Season 3, she dies in Michonne's, shooting herself in the head after being bitten.
• Dies Differently in Adaptation: Subverted. While her comic counterpart is also bitten by a walker, the circumstances are completely different, being bitten saving Eugene from a herd.
• Everyone Loves Blondes: The woman with the most active sex life in the early seasons of the show. She draws the attention of Shane, Merle, the Governor, and eventually (had they stuck with the original plan for her character) Rick.
• Face Death with Dignity: Solemnly asks for Rick's Colt Python in order to shoot herself so she won't reanimate.
• For Want Of A Nail: Michonne's hallucinations in "What We Become" emphasize that in choosing to save Andrea, Michonne ultimately recovered from her catatonic state and became a good person again. She joined the Atlanta group, found the love of her life and a new family, and helped build the foundation of what may be a true shot at restoring civilization to the world - all because she decided to save a stranger at the last second.
• The Gunslinger: Andrea has a natural aptitude for firearms despite having little experience prior to the apocalypse, her proficiency far outstripping that of the other civilians in the group when Shane gives them gun training in Season 2.
• Hello, Attorney!: She's attractive and was a lawyer prior to the Zombie Apocalypse. The judgment one would expect of a lawyer, however, doesn't seem to be in evidence given her on-screen record.
• Heroic Suicide: To prevent herself from becoming a walker.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Michonne at the beginning of the third season. Michonne tenderly cares for Andrea when she's ill at the start of the season, and Andrea begs her to just go on without her.
• Horrible Judge of Character:
  • She was one of Shane's greatest supporters, so she has a track record of taking a liking to the series' villains.
  • She still listens to the Governor after seeing his collection of severed heads and the staged fights.
  • Trusts Milton, who she knows is completely loyal to the Governor, to aid her escape from Woodbury. He predictably tells the Governor of all Andrea's plans. However, Andrea is later proven right about him when he realizes how far off the deep end the Governor is and starts helping her.
• Hypocrite: While it's strongly implied that Dale only threatened to stay in the CDC with her as a means of making Andrea leave, her position about him forcing her to go is a bit undercut by the fact that for all her talk of the importance of "choices" (which comes up again when it becomes a problem with Beth), staying with her was Dale's choice, and she left because she didn't want him making it.
• Idiot Ball:
  • Trying to prove she's a badass made her do some idiotic things in Season 2, including shooting a gun despite knowing the shot could attract other walkers and nearly shooting Daryl's head off as a result.
  • Choosing to side with the Governor over Michonne, who kept her alive for seven months! Even after learning about the Governor's severed head collection, and after he threatens her.
  • The group flat out tells her that the Governor fired first during his assault on the prison, tried to kill them all, and managed to kill Axel. She responds by more or less ignoring it and claiming the Governor wants peace. Naturally, the group doesn't buy it.
  • Her firm grip on the Idiot Ball leads to her death at the end of Season 3. She stops working to get off her handcuffs several times to talk with a dying Milton. It gets even worse when you consider the fact that even he tells her that she needs to hurry. She easily talks to him for a few minutes in a situation where a mere ten seconds may have been enough to keep her from getting bitten.
• I Just Want to Be Badass: She wanted gun training in order to defend the camp, but her desire to prove herself led to her accidentally shooting and wounding Daryl.
• Ironic Echo: "I know how the safety works."^note The first time she says it she is pointing her gun at Rick, the second time she is asking Rick to let her point the gun at herself.
• Jack of All Stats: She's a well-balanced Action Girl, effective in handguns and melee weapons.
• Living Emotional Crutch: For Dale, who has come to see her as a daughter. When she attempts suicide at the CDC base, Dale tries to join her, claiming he has nothing else to live for.
• The Load: Her Season 2 character arc involves wanting to grow out of this.
• Martial Pacifist: Tries so hard to be this in Season 3.
• Ms. Fanservice: After Maggie, she's the second closest thing to one on the show. She dons thong underwear in "When the Dead Come Knocking" and gets completely nude in "I Ain't a Judas".
• My God, What Have I Done?: Once she realizes what the Governor is really like, including what he did to Maggie and Glenn.
• Only Sane Woman: In Woodbury as of the second half of Season 3.
• Plucky Girl: As of "Beside the Dying Fire". On her own against a horde of walkers, she runs and fights her way through the forest for the better part of eighteen hours. She only gets overwhelmed when she loses her knife, and luckily Michonne shows up to save her.
• Promoted to Love Interest: The show made her a one night stand partner to Shane and put into a full-blown relationship with the Governor. Ironically, she didn't ended-up with any of her two canonical love interest due to Death by Adaptation; Dale, who died early, and Rick, whom are supposed to be each other's Second Love, thus leaving this very trope open to be filled by a different character (Michonne in Season 6.)
• Redemption Quest: Andrea decides to go after the Governor herself to make up for not realizing he was a sociopath before.
• Replacement Goldfish: She bears a remarkable resemblance to the Governor's late wife, seen only in a photograph.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: In "Prey", she finally realized her mistake of siding with The Governor and flees Woodbury to warn Rick and the others only to be recaptured.
• Second Episode Introduction: Although she was still credited in the first.
• Survivor Guilt: In Season 1, from having to put down her sister. It doesn't help that before the apocalypse she had a tendency to blow off most of her chances of bonding with said sister, and was only just starting to get to know her properly.
• Too Dumb to Live: In the Season 3 finale. The Governor ties her in a chair and locks her in room with a dying Milton. There are pliers nearby she can use to free herself if she can grab them with her feet. Milton himself repeatedly tells her to hurry, but she wastes precious seconds talking to him and even pauses to stare reflectively at him when he stops moving. Predictably, Milton reanimates and bites her, dooming her, half a second after she had freed herself. Had she not wasted time trying to talk to him, she would have been able to free herself in time.
• Took a Level in Badass: After Shane trained her on how to shoot, to the point that she can run all night carrying a bag of guns (but no ammo) killing walkers with a knife.
• Will Not Be a Victim: Once she gets over her suicidal tendencies in Season 2, she resolves to survive by becoming as badass as possible. Even once she eventually gets bitten, she insists on ending her own life while she still can rather than succumbing to the infection or allowing one of the others to put her down.
• Zombie Infectee: She is bitten in the Season 3 finale and kills herself with a headshot to avoid becoming a walker.

Amy

Amy Harrison

Portrayed By: Emma Bell

Appearances: The Walking Dead (Seasons 1, 3 ^note Voice)

Debut: "Days Gone Bye"

Amy is Andrea's younger sister and was killed in a walker attack early in the series.

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• And Then John Was a Zombie: For a few seconds, before being put down by Andrea herself.
• The Cutie: A kind-hearted young woman.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: She's one of the "nice" characters.
• Hallucinations: In "Hounded", she is one of the people who calls Rick during his hallucinations.
• The Heart: Of the group.
• Ironic Birthday: She passes away a day before her birthday and reanimates on it.
• Kill the Cutie: After turning into a walker, her sister has to kill her off herself.
• Living Emotional Crutch: She and Andrea were each other's entire world. After she dies, Andrea slips into a suicidal depression.
• Mauve Shirt: Gets established as a Nice Girl before becoming zombie chow.
• Never Trust a Trailer: Promotional artwork for the first season depicts her with the other survivors wielding a bat, seemingly painting her as a combat-ready survivor. The actual series makes it clear she's not a fighter and she's among the first casualties of the show.
• Nice Girl: She is one of the more cheerful and upbeat survivors.
• Tragic Monster: When she comes back as a walker. Andrea quickly ends her suffering.
• Too Good for This Sinful Earth: One of the youngest, sweetest, and most cheerful survivors, and one of the first to die. Two seasons later, Merle is genuinely saddened to hear of her death, telling Andrea she was a good kid.
• White Shirt of Death: She is wearing a white shirt when she dies.
• Zombie Infectee: For a very brief time before bleeding out from the bites.

Morales Family

Morales

Morales

"It's over, Rick. I called the Saviors back. And they're coming."

Portrayed By: Juan Gabriel Pareja

Appearances: The Walking Dead (Seasons 1, 8)

Debut: "Guts"

"Hey, Helicopter Boy! Come say hello!"

A member of the original survivor group, Morales was one of the group's main supply runners and leaders. He met Rick when he first arrived in Atlanta, and despite Rick causing trouble for them, Morales accepted him when he orchestrated a plan to get them safely out of the city. After the fish fry attack, however, Morales decided that he and his family would go to look for family in Birmingham, Alabama, and left the group.

However, the worst came to pass, as long before they ever made it to Birmingham, his wife and children all perished. Morales, distraught, pushed on until he finally decided to give up and let himself starve to death. He made it to the Saviors' territory on the East Coast, where the Saviors found and rescued him. Feeling loyal to the people who saved him, Morales joined the Saviors. When war erupted between the Saviors and their rebelling slave states, Morales was surprised that the "Rick from Alexandria" was in fact Rick Grimes. However, Morales felt no loyalty to Rick and prepared to deliver him to Negan for execution. Despite Rick's pleas to stand down, Morales refused, his heart set, and this cost him his life as Daryl snuck up on him and killed him. Though Daryl showed no regrets, both men were saddened that a former ally lost his soul to Negan.

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• Action Survivor: He has no martial training, but he manages to take down quite a few walkers with his baseball bat.
• Back for the Dead: He returns to the narrative after a years-long absence, only to die after seven minutes of screentime.
• Batter Up!: His main melee weapon in Season 1.
• Beneath the Mask: We see a glimmer of the man he used to be when Rick informs him that the "Widow" the Saviors are hunting is actually the wife of the late Glenn, who managed to find true love even in spite of the apocalypse. Clearly distraught at losing the love of his own life, Morales briefly lets down his guard, his cynical worldview challenged by this bit of news.
• The Bus Came Back: He returns in Season 8, a whopping two-and-a-half years In-Universe and six years out-of-universe later.
• Canon Foreigner: Never appeared in the comics, though some fans speculated that he was a replacement for Allen and his family (who don't debut until Season 3 and are basically In Name Only characters).
• Character Death: He is killed by Daryl in Season 8's "Monsters".
• Characterization Marches On: Surviving the past two years of the apocalypse has hardened and acclimated him to conflict just as it did the other members of the group. When he returns in Season 8, he's basically a new character.
• Death Seeker: After making it to the Saviors' territory on the east coast, Morales gave up and was simply allowing himself to starve to death before the Saviors found and rescued him.
• Despair Event Horizon: He never recovered from the deaths of his family.
• Dropped a Bridge on Him: After a seven-season absence, he's come a long way since Atlanta, just like Rick, but the second he lets his guard down, Daryl puts an arrow through his skull in the following episode without so much as a second thought.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Even as a Savior, he clearly mourns for his family.
• Even Evil Has Standards: During the standoff with Rick, the one time he lowers his guard at all is when he learns that Glenn left behind a wife and an unborn child, and he's noticeably moved by the idea that Glenn managed to find love in the middle of the apocalypse.
• Evil Counterpart: His Season 8 self is basically what Rick could have become had he lost his entire family and fallen in with the Saviors. He's also not far off from what happened to Morgan, who similarly lost his mind after losing his family, only he never had the positive influence of either Rick or Eastman to help him recover, let alone stop him from joining the Saviors.
• Evil Former Friend: Despite being a founding member of the original Atlanta group, Morales has joined the Saviors since leaving them, and isn't pleased to see Rick again.
• Face–Heel Turn: In Season 8. He has joined up with the Saviors during his absence and shows Rick very little mercy.
• Fatal Family Photo: He still holds onto a photo of his family, long after their deaths.
• Happily Married: To his wife, Miranda.
• Intergenerational Friendship: With Dale, who is old enough to be his father, and with Glenn, young enough to be his adult son. For a few precious moments, Morales pauses when he learns that his leader Negan killed Glenn and in front of his pregnant wife, who is now a high-priority target.
• Irony: He is the very first person on the show to mention Daryl and how Rick will likely be facing his wrath once he learns that Rick left his brother handcuffed to a roof. Come Morales' reappearance in Season 8, and Rick and Daryl have long since become honorary Bash Brothers, while Daryl kills Morales with absolutely zero hesitation after finding him holding Rick at gunpoint.
• Last-Name Basis: His wife and kids get first names, but his is never revealed. Even when he returns in Season 8, Rick still refers to him as simply "Morales".
• Mauve Shirt: Although he is only Put on a Bus instead of being killed off. Until Season 8, that is.
• Nice Guy: In Season 1. He treats Rick well despite his actions having endangered Morales and the rest of the scouting group and gives him advanced warning that Daryl will likely be out for Rick's blood once learning about how Merle got left behind.
• Outliving One's Offspring: Both his children were killed.
• Papa Wolf: Rips the walkers a new one while protecting his family during the attack on the camp.
• Perma-Stubble: Bordering on Manly Facial Hair, which it ends up becoming by Season 8.
• Put on a Bus: He and his family leave the group to look for relatives in Birmingham, Alabama.
• Redemption Rejection: He steadfastly refuses to help Rick and turn his back on the Saviors. This costs him his life.
• Sanity Slippage: He tells Rick that he lost his mind after losing his family.
• Sole Survivor: Of his family for quite some time.
• Sudden Sequel Heel Syndrome: When he returns in Season 8 he has become a villainous member of the Saviors.
• Surprisingly Sudden Death: Daryl nonchalantly kills him by shooting an arrow into his head, which is enough to leave even Rick rattled.
• That Man Is Dead: Claims that the man Rick knew died along with his family and that he has wholeheartedly embraced being a Savior.
• Took a Level in Badass: Downplayed as we never see Morales fight on-screen after Season 1, but he must've developed some real fighting chops if he's survived as long as Rick has.
• Took a Level in Cynic: Losing his family left with him a pretty sour outlook on life. He's taken aback that Glenn managed to find love at all in the apocalypse, clearly deeming it to be impossible.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: When he returns in Season 8, he is far from the Nice Guy he used to be, showing very little sympathy for his fallen Atlanta comrades.
• Undying Loyalty: To the Saviors. Morales is so grateful for them having rescued him that he opts to turn Rick over to Negan despite knowing full well what's in store for him when he does.
• Villain Has a Point: He points out that he and Rick only knew each other for a few days at the start of the apocalypse, thus Morales doesn’t feel like his Face–Heel Turn is a major betrayal of Rick in any way. The group members he did become close to (Glenn, Dale, T-Dog, etc.) are all dead by this point.
• Walking Spoiler: It's impossible to talk about him without revealing his return in Season 8 as a loyal Savior.
• We Used to Be Friends: A former ally of the group turned a loyal Savior.

Miranda, Eliza, and Louis

Miranda, Eliza, and Louis Morales

Portrayed By: Viviana Chavez-Vega (Miranda), Maddie Lomax (Eliza), Noah Lomax (Louis)

Appearances: The Walking Dead (Season 1)

Debut: "Tell it to the Frogs"

The wife, daughter, and son of Morales who leave with him to look for family in Birmingham. However, they never made it to Birmingham, and they all perished, leaving Morales alone.

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• Bus Crash: According to Morales, they all perished before they even made it to Birmingham.
• Flat Character: None of them receive characterization beyond being Morales' family.
• Happily Married: Miranda is to her husband.
• Living Emotional Crutch: For Morales. Without them he ends up losing his mind and joining the Saviors.
• Nice Guy: They all seem to be pleasant people.
• Non-Action Guy: Miranda is never seen fighting, and Eliza and Louis are too young to fight assailants.
• Put on a Bus: Along with Morales.
• Satellite Character: They exist only in relation to Morales.
• Tragic Keepsake: Eliza's doll becomes this in hindsight, since she gave it to Sophia before she left with her family and suffered a Bus Crash.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Their fates are left ambiguous until Season 8, when Morales reveals they all died.

Other Atlanta Camp Survivors

Glenn

Glenn Rhee

"You honor the dead by going on. Even when you're scared. You live because they don't get to."

Portrayed By: Steven Yeun

Appearances: The Walking Dead (Seasons 1-7, 10 ^note Hallucination (archive footage))

Debut: "Days Gone Bye" (voice), "Guts" (in person)

"We can make it together. But we can only make it together."

Glenn is more than he seems. He's quick, clever, and brave, and these traits helped him save Rick when they met in zombie-overrun Atlanta. He is kind of laid back personality-wise, though, and has a tendency to let youthful exuberance override common sense. This causes the group to underestimate him and sometimes take advantage of him, while also causing him to sometimes not think out all his plans clearly. While staying on Hershel's farm, he began a relationship with Maggie, who he became engaged to in Season 3, and by Season 6 they are expecting their first child.

After arriving at Alexandria, Glenn is assigned as a supply runner and works hard with Maggie to make sure the group integrates into the community. He comes into conflict with fellow runner Nicholas, who nearly kills him, but Glenn defeats him and spares his life, still being unwilling to take a human life when he does not need to. He is forced to abandon this rule when the threat of the Saviors raises its' head.

During some of the toughest times for the group, Glenn has more than risen to the occasion. He eventually matures to become a highly competent warrior and a leader in his own right, and Rick even entrusts him with a lofty place in his command staff. Despite becoming a hardened, seasoned leader, Glenn nevertheless is one of the most consistently optimistic and hopeful survivors, but tragically, he proves too good to last when Negan arrives. After Daryl tries to retaliate at Negan for the death of Abraham, Negan chooses to kill Glenn instead, to the rest of the group's horror. Glenn suffers a horrific, brutal and slow death, but before expiring, manages to get out his last words to the woman he loves - "Maggie, I'll find you."

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• Action Survivor: Originally, though he becomes more capable in Season 3. By Season 5, he has become a full-fledged badass on par with Rick and Daryl.
• Adaptational Badass:
  • He is more combat-proficient from the get-go than his comic counterpart.
  • He's also got more Nerves of Steel when it comes to Woodbury and not breaking under Merle's torture. For comparison in the comics he's never questioned but says he would have cracked immediately and is remembered by Bruce as a "sniveling coward".
• Almighty Janitor: He knows his way around Atlanta better than anyone else in the group because of his former job delivering pizza.
• Always with You: After being struck with Lucille twice, he's suffered immense brain trauma and has the clarity to realize that he is dying and that his time is up. He turns to Maggie, despite being unlikely to even be able to see her, and tells her "Maggie, I'll find you."
• Arch-Enemy: Nicholas becomes his in Season 5. However, after Glenn spares his life when he could have easily killed him, their animosity fades, and Nicholas begins trying to redeem himself.
• Asian and Nerdy: References playing Portal and other video games.
• Bad Liar: His utter inability to lie ultimately results in revealing Hershel's barn is full of walkers in the second season. Seemingly gets better at lying by Season 3, as he was able to tell Merle that most of the initial camp group would come to rescue him and Maggie without a problem. Too bad Merle already knew the truth of what happened to the group beforehand (namely that several of the group members Glenn threatens will come for him were already confirmed to him to have died by Andrea).
• Bad with the Bone: When being held by Governor and Merle, he and Maggie used a walker's bone as weapon to attack Merle and one other Mook. Said other Mook is killed by stabbing the bone into his neck, anyway.
• Battle Couple: With Maggie, being two of the group's fiercest and most dedicated fighters.
• Beware the Nice Ones: He starts to snap a bit in Season 3. Near the end of Season 5, he no longer holds back at beating the fuck out of people if they piss him off.
• Bludgeoned to Death: How he dies. His skull is bashed repeatedly with a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire.
• Book Ends: The first time Glenn speaks to Rick is over the radio calling him a "dumbass". The last time Glenn speaks to Rick on-camera is in Season 6's "Thank You", which ends with him affectionately referring to Rick as a dumbass, and they never speak on-camera for the rest of the season before Glenn dies at the start of Season 7.
• Butt-Monkey: A frequent victim of this.
  • Glenn is able to come up with a decent plan to get to the guns in Season 1, only to be kidnapped.
  • Being The Heart, he is the natural choice to go find and comfort Rick in the prison after Lori's death. Rick, not finished grieving, snaps and shoves Glenn up against the wall, giving him the most jarring Death Glare in the series so far.
  • He's tortured at Woodbury by Merle, who takes out his collective rage at Rick's group on Glenn by beating him. Glenn doesn't divulge the group's location even after the heavy beating, but Maggie, unable to take the sight of Glenn dying, does.
  • He's almost killed by Nicholas in "Conquer" despite saving his life.
  • He ultimately is cruelly picked to die by Negan, who had already killed Abraham and only decided to take a second victim after Daryl lashed out in anger.
• Can't Hold His Liquor: He's the most hungover after the group indulges in Jenner's alcohol at the CDC.
• Character Death: He is Negan's second victim in the seventh season premiere.
• Character Development: Glenn begins the series as a clever smart-aleck with little confidence to lead. He eventually becomes a focused leader in his own right, as well as a courageous warrior and loving husband.
• Characterization Marches On: Glenn's introduction is him casually calling Rick a dumbass. Later episodes would establish Glenn as extremely mild-mannered who only uses profanity during danger and/or tragedy.
• Cheated Death, Died Anyway:
  • Several times, but he infamously manages to survive falling into a herd of walkers by shielding himself with Nicholas' body and crawling under a dumpster, only to meet an even more cruel and bloody fate about two months later at the hands of new Big Bad Negan.
  • The decision to kill him at all was this as well. Abraham had just been chosen as the victim of Negan's game, lulling viewers into thinking Glenn would get Spared by the Adaptation, particularly after his infamous near-death experience at the dumpster. Then Negan kills him anyway just to make sure the story follows the comics and so the audience gets a surprise courtesy of the showrunner.
• Chronic Hero Syndrome: He's introduced rescuing Rick, who he doesn't even know, and agrees to go back into Atlanta to rescue Merle even though he hates him.
• Combat, Diplomacy, Stealth: Handles Stealth, with Daryl specializing in Combat, and Rick handling Diplomacy.
• Come with Me If You Want to Live: His introduction to Rick, saving him from the walker herd.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: Beaten to death with Lucille, a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire, while his wife and surrogate family are forced to watch. Worse, after two strikes to the head, Negan allows him to writhe in agony for a few moments while he taunts him and the others.
• Deadpan Snarker: His first line is snark, though as the seasons go on, this begins to be tempered out as he becomes a more mature man as opposed to the smart-aleck kid in Seasons 1 and 2.
• Dead Star Walking: He is the second one to be killed off midway through the Season 7 premiere, after only a single scene.
• Death by Disfigurement: There's almost nothing left of his head by the time Negan is done bludgeoning him with Lucille.
• The Determinator: Becomes this in his search to reunite with Maggie.
• Devoured by the Horde: His apparent fate at the end of "Thank You", when he is knocked off of a dumpster into a herd of walkers, though it's later revealed that he survived by crawling under the dumpster while the horde ate Nicholas.
• Dies Differently in Adaptation: Subverted. While his comic counterpart also has his head smashed to pieces by Negan, the circumstances are different. Rather, he is Negan's chosen (and only) victim, while in the show Abraham is the one initially selected to die and Glenn is only killed after Daryl punches Negan for taunting Rosita.
• Disappeared Dad: He does not live to witness the birth of his and Maggie's son, Hershel.
• Dropped a Bridge on Him: Dies very unceremoniously by having his skull beaten and cracked open by Lucille. Negan even beats him until nothing resembling his head remains.
• Due to the Dead: He is a great believer in this.
  Glenn: You honor the dead by going on. Even when you're scared. You live because they don't get to.
• Endearingly Dorky: He's initially very shy and awkward in social situations, but he's also the nicest group member, which endears him to everyone else.
• Eye Scream: After the first two strikes with Lucille, his left eye is about to pop right out of his skull.
• Face Death with Dignity: A possible interpretation of his last words, "Maggie... I'll find you...". Glenn is content with the fact that he's about to die and he uses what little life juice he has left to tell his wife that he'll see her again someday in the afterlife.
• Facial Horror: His eye protruding from his skull after being hit with Lucille. It is not pleasant to look at.
• Forced to Watch: Watches Noah's Cruel and Unusual Death by Devoured by the Horde while trapped on the other side of a revolving door. He later has to watch Negan mull over killing the ailing Maggie, and then with the rest of the group witnesses Abraham's brutal death.
• Gaining the Will to Kill: After surviving the first six and a half seasons without having to take a life, he is extremely distressed when Rick orders a total annihilation of all the Saviors at the satellite outpost. He is clearly torn up when he is forced to jam a knife into the skull of a sleeping, totally defenseless man, and almost breaks down crying.
• Happily Married: Has a stable and long-lasting relationship with Maggie. Even as he is dying from sudden brain trauma, his last words are to call out to his wife.
• The Heart: Easily the most "pure" and nicest member of the group, he's one of the few people that gets along with everyone else without many issues. Maggie outlines why he is The Heart of the entire series, long after his death.
  Maggie: The decision was made a long time ago. Before any of us knew each other. When we were all strangers who would just pass each other on the street before the world ended. And now we mean everything to each other. You were in trouble, you were trapped. Glenn didn't know you, but he helped you. He put himself in danger for you. And that started it all. From Atlanta, to my daddy's farm, to the prison, to here, to this moment now. Not as strangers, as family. Because Glenn chose to be there for you that day a long time ago - that was the decision that changed everything. It started with both of you and it just grew, all of us. To sacrifice for each other, to suffer, to stand, to grieve, to give, to love, to live, to fight for each other. Glenn made the decision, Rick. I was just following his lead.
• Heroic BSoD: Suffers a brief one after witnessing Noah being Devoured by the Horde while trapped inside a revolving door.
• Hidden Depths: Who would expect a pizza delivery guy to be so good at strategy? Maggie even lampshades that Glenn is more useful than the others give him credit for and shouldn't always be sent out on supply runs or be used as bait for the walkers.
• Hope Spot: Meta-example. After all of his close calls, most notably the dumpster incident, Glenn seems safe especially when Negan picks Abraham to die instead of him. Unfortunately, Daryl had to lash out...
• Horrible Judge of Character: Somewhat justified as the group hadn't encountered too many hostile humans at this point, but in "Nebraska", Glenn completely fails at picking up on the bad vibes that Dave and Tony are giving off, and comes close to inviting them back to Hershel's farm. He gets better at judging character as the series progresses.
• If You Kill Him, You Will Be Just Like Him!: Feels this way when he has Nicholas at his mercy.
• Improvised Weapon: At one point he saves Maggie's life by hitting a walker with a shelf.
• Incorruptible Pure Pureness: He's the only Atlanta survivor not to have any human kills until "Not Tomorrow Yet", where he kills two Saviors in their sleep and guns down at least five more alongside Heath.
• In-Series Nickname: Maggie semi-affectionately refers to him as "walker bait" for a brief time before they get together.
• It Began with a Twist of Fate: Though nobody knew it at the time, he made the most important decision in the show's history when he chose to save Rick, a complete stranger at the time, when they first met in Atlanta. That one decision influences many members of Rick's group to save each other and other survivors through the different locations they have been to. Maggie highlights the importance of this decision in the Season 7 finale, saying she chose to lead Hilltop to Alexandria and support Rick because she followed Glenn's lead, and now because of it they have three different communities united as a single family, ready to fight against the Saviors in war together. Glenn's one selfless act to save a stranger was what changed everything, and gave everyone hope to survive together.
  Rick: Back at the tank, why did you stick your neck out for me?
  Glenn: Call it foolish, naive hope, that if I'm ever that far upshit creek, somebody might do the same for me. I guess I'm a bigger dumbass than you.
• I Work Alone: Glenn as much as said this to Maggie, since he implicitly blames his love for her for causing him to freeze up during the shootout with Dave's group. This changes when Glenn and Maggie become the Official Couple of the group and comes back to bite him in the ass when he and Maggie are interrogated at Woodbury, and the Governor manipulates their concern for each other into telling him the group's current location at the prison.
• Jerkass Ball: Briefly when he's forced to step into a leadership role at the prison in Season 3, fueled mostly by his anger at The Governor and Woodbury.
• Kick The Son Of A Bitch: Finally does the kicking against Dirty Coward Nicholas after he gets Noah killed and left him for dead to save his own ass. He does it again in "Conquer," when Nicholas tries to kill him.
• Kill the Cutie: Glenn is one of the most kind-hearted characters in the show, but is harshly and brutally killed by Negan to send a message to the group.
• The Lancer: Briefly acts as this for Rick in Season 3 after Daryl leaves with Merle.
• The Lost Lenore: For Maggie. In the series finale, Maggie tells a remorseful Negan she'll never love anyone the way she loved Glenn ever again.
• Machete Mayhem: In Season 3, alongside Maggie.
• Made of Iron: He is shot in the shoulder by Nicholas, yet still manages to fight off three walkers and beat his attempted murderer into submission. When Negan bashes him on the head twice with Lucille, he still has enough strength to sit up and say some final words to Maggie.
• The Mentor: Becomes one to Nicholas as he teaches him to fend for himself. While Nicholas does become a more capable survivor, it ends up being all for naught as he commits suicide two episodes later and nearly gets Glenn killed as well.
• Named by the Adaptation: Although Glenn's surname wasn't mentioned in the comics, Season 3 showrunner Glen Mazarra said on Twitter that his last name is "Rhee." A bit of a subversion in that it's not actually spoken on the show until after his death, when Maggie declares herself to be "Maggie Rhee" in honor of her late husband.
• Near-Death Experience: Experiences them so often it's practically a Running Gag. To recap:
  • In Season 3, he's beaten to a pulp, locked in a room with a walker while being taped to a chair and is nearly executed upon his escape.
  • In Season 4, he's caught whatever flu has been killing the rest of the inmates and nearly chokes to death on his own blood. While trapped in a tunnel with Tara, he's surrounded by a horde and is out of ammo.
  • In Season 5, he's the first of Rick's group to be drained but it was delayed when Gareth came in to check up on them. He then gets trapped in a revolving door with Noah. He then gets shot by Nicholas and rolls down a cliff.
  • Most notable was his narrow escape from a horde of walkers by crawling under a dumpster in Season 6, after he fell into the horde thanks to Nicholas' suicide. He returns after the walls fall in Alexandria to try and draw the walkers away from Maggie and gets swarmed, saved only by the timely arrival of Sasha and Abraham.
  • His luck finally runs out in the Season 7 premiere when he is murdered by Negan for Daryl's outburst.
• Nerves of Steel: He's very brave and doesn't break under pressure easily. Lampshaded by Merle before he tortures Glenn for information on the prison; he never once looks willing to crack and betray his friends.
• Nice Guy: Glenn is the nice guy of the series. This is why Maggie falls in love with him after witnessing how smart, brave, and sweet he is.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Choosing to spare Nicholas at the end of Season 5 comes back to bite him when the two of them are surrounded by walkers and Nicholas shoots himself in the head; his corpse knocks Glenn into the herd and nearly gets him ripped apart.
• Not Quite Dead: He is seemingly eaten by a herd of walkers in "Thank You", but a couple episodes later it's revealed that he survived by using Nicholas' body as a shield and crawling under a dumpster.
• Official Couple: With Maggie, and they get married in "This Sorrowful Life". It meets a tragic end with Glenn's death at the hands of Negan.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: He somehow manages to survive having three walkers pile onto him in the Season 5 finale.
• One-Man Army: Grows into this over time. In "No Way Out", he tears through the herd to create a distraction in order to save Maggie, and manages to hold his own pretty well until Sasha and Abraham appear in the nick of time to save him.
• One True Love: Years after his death, Maggie outlines that he was this for her, stating she will never love anyone like she loved him again because of how he loved her.
• Ordinary High-School Student: In the first two seasons. He's certainly not a Naïve Newcomer, but he's only the Guile Hero when he's dealing with walkers. Get him around normal people and he's the Endearingly Dorky nerd. His naivete in dealing with Dave and Tony serves to counterpoint Rick's and Dave's escalating tension.
• Out of Focus: In the first half of Season 5, he's mostly just there without a character arc or development. This changes in the second half that deals with his growing rivalry with Nicholas. He also doesn't get a terribly large amount of focus in the second half of Season 6, despite some prominent scenes in "No Way Out" and "Not Tomorrow Yet", and barely appears in the last two episodes of the season, just before his out-of-nowhere death at the start of Season 7.
• Plucky Comic Relief: As much as someone in a zombie apocalypse can be, anyway. He's become pretty much dead serious by Season 3, however.
• Politically Incorrect Hero: Downplayed, seeing as how this is the only time he expresses any sentiment of this particular kind, and he said it when he was younger and more immature before his Character Development, but in Season 2, when several survivors who all happen to be female are acting strangely, he automatically assumes that they're on their periods. Dale wisely tells him to shut up.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Gives a great one to Nicholas in "Try".
• Sacrificial Lion: The second victim of Negan in the Season 7 premiere, and his death helps redefine the entire show.
• Save the Villain: Despite his repeated attempts to kill him, Glenn spares Nicholas and carries him back to Alexandria.
• The Scrounger: He's often sent out on supply runs for the group. Maggie shows frustration with how the group regards him as little more than an errand boy when he has great potential.
• Second Episode Introduction: While the viewers heard his voice at the end of the pilot, Glenn made his proper introduction in the second episode.
• Secret-Keeper: Forced into this role during Season 2, though he admits that he is a terrible one and spills the beans the first time anyone even vaguely questions him.
• The Smart Guy: Glenn can make effective and safe strategies for dealing with walkers, and is the best in the group at maneuvering around Atlanta.
• The Sneaky Guy: Even after being away from the group for so long, Merle states that he remembers Glenn as this.
• Spared by the Adaptation: Perhaps the shortest-lived example in all of fiction. Abraham takes his comic role as Negan's initial victim. However, Negan chooses to kill Glenn after Daryl punches him, so he only outlived his comic counterpart by a few minutes.
• The Stoic: Puts up this front when things get serious in Season 3, especially while being tortured by Merle.
• The Strategist: He's excellent at crafting plans when there's a specific goal in mind. He's quick thinking and considers all possibilities when strategizing.
• Surprisingly Sudden Death: Negan looks set to murder Daryl after the latter punches him for killing Abraham... before he suddenly turns around and bashes Glenn's head in instead. The sheer casualness and brutality of the moment is nothing short of horrific, and also averts A Death in the Limelight, as Glenn had been Out of Focus in the second half of Season 6.
• There's No Kill like Overkill: To the point that his hand is still twitching well after his head has been reduced to mush.
• Token Minority: Most of the original Atlanta crew are Caucasian, whereas he's Korean. In Season 3, another Asian character appears, though he is not a part of Rick's group and is killed shortly after his debut. After T-Dog's death in the same season, Glenn is the only non-white survivor in the group until Michonne joins. Gets better in Season 4, when a lot more non-white characters join the group. He is still the only prominent Asian character in the entire show, up until the first episode of Season 7.
• Too Good for This Sinful Earth: One of the kindest characters among the team who gets brutally executed. In the finale, Maggie almost gushes remembering how good he was and how wonderful he made her feel.
• Too Happy to Live: Glenn finally has a safe haven to raise a family with his wife Maggie, only to die a cruel death before his child is even born.
• Took a Level in Badass: Several actually, during the eight month time jump between Seasons 2 and 3. He even kills a Walker while tied to a chair and then scavenges its bones to use as weapons in his and Maggie's breakout from Woodbury. By Season 4 he's a One-Man Army.
  Merle: Being out there all winter must have put some hair on his balls!
• Tragic Keepsake: Hershel's watch. He still has it in his pocket when he dies.
• Uncertain Doom: He is seemingly devoured by walkers in "Thank You", though the camera angle makes it slightly ambiguous. He's finally revealed to have survived four episodes later.
• Undignified Death: Unlike Abraham who "[takes] it like a champ," Glenn gets beaten desperately calling out for his wife while twitching in severe pain on the ground like a dying animal. In the finale, Maggie cites this as the reason she can't forgive Negan, since every time she looks at him she can only remember Glenn's mangled face and how he died calling her name while Negan mocked him.
• The Voice: In the pilot episode, where he's only heard over the tank radio at the very end.
• What You Are in the Dark: Pretty literally so in "Conquer". The scene is very dimly lit, and Glenn is ripping Nicholas a new one for letting Noah die and trying to kill him. As Nicholas pathetically weeps for his life and tries to brace himself for the end, Glenn heavily contemplates killing him right there, but ultimately can't bring himself to do it and helps him back to Alexandria.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Maggie outlines to him that he is a smart, loyal and dedicated leader and is worth more than just being bait for a walker or a supply runner.
• Your Head A-Splode: His head gushes out a geyser of blood as Negan strikes him again and again with Lucille.

T-Dog

Theodore "T-Dog" Douglas

"I'm the one black guy. You realize how precarious that makes my situation?"

Portrayed By: IronE Singleton

Appearances: The Walking Dead (Seasons 1-3)

Debut: "Guts"

"C'mon, man, don't give me that gangsta shit."

T-Dog is a member of the original survivor group and former football player. He feels that that he doesn't really have a place in the group, and seeks to find a way to prove himself to the others. By the third season, he has become one of the group's main fighters, working alongside Rick and Daryl. He is killed early in Season 3, when he gets bitten and then Devoured by the Horde holding two walkers back so Carol can escape.

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• Action Survivor: T-Dog's not an ex-cop like Rick or a badass survivalist like Daryl, but he'll still step up to the plate and do his part if necessary. He ups his credentials in Season 3.
• Adaptation Name Change: The group's original main Token Minority in the comics is Tyreese. It is then revealed that they're a Decomposite Character in the show.
• Batter Up!: Wields a baseball bat several times in the first season.
• The Big Guy: He really steps into this role during the third season.
• Big Guy Fatality Syndrome: Has a Heroic Sacrifice holding off a horde of walkers to save Carol in Season 3.
• Black Dude Dies First: Lampshades this early in Season 2, after he becomes delirious due to a fever. He comments to Dale that both of them would be the first ones to go if their situation ever got bad enough, and thinks that he'll be "lynched". Averted in that he'd outlived several members of the group by that point. He sadly falls victim to this in Season 3's "Killer Within" where he is the first of the group to die in the season, although he is quickly followed by Lori in the same episode.
• Bludgeoned to Death: He dispatches a few walkers this way.
• Car Fu: How he takes out a walker in "Beside the Dying Fire".
• Closer to Earth: T-Dog consistently proves to be an empathetic and reasonable man. He hears out the prison inmates when the rest of the group wants them dead or gone.
• Costume Evolution: He starts wearing fingerless gloves at the end of the second season.
• The Cynic: There are several instances where T-Dog is revealed to have a rather bleak outlook on life, but often catches himself and tries to hide it. Word of God is that he doesn't really trust Shane or even Rick until Season 3.
• Deadpan Snarker: Quite a few times, but most notably after the disastrous attempt to remove the well walker on Hershel's farm results in it splitting in half and dumping its guts into the well.
  T-Dog: (bashes the walkers brains in) "Good thing we didn't do something stupid like shoot it."
• Death by Adaptation: Technically, since he's a Decomposite Character of Tyreese, who's the first casualty at the finale of the prison arc in the comics. Tyreese's main and actual counterpart in the TV show is Spared by the Adaptation until mid-Season 5.
• A Death in the Limelight: Season 3 shows that T-Dog has stepped up his game to become one of Rick's right-hand men and a much more competent survivor. We also see his more compassionate side when dealing with the prisoners. He is killed four episodes into the season.
• Decomposite Character: Since Tyreese debuted much later than in the comics, T-Dog filled his role as The Big Guy in the first two seasons. He even received Tyreese's former football player backstory from the comics.
• Devoured by the Horde: Knowing he's going to die soon, T-Dog sacrifices himself to a pair of walkers to allow Carol to escape.
• Distressed Dude: In "What Lies Ahead", he cuts his arm and begins bleeding profusely while there is a herd of walkers headed their way. One begins advancing on him and T-Dog is helpless to fight back, forcing Daryl to step in and rescue him.
• Dying Moment of Awesome: After being bitten and bleeding heavily, he still has the strength to hold off two walkers to allow Carol to escape from them.
• Full-Name Basis: Played with. His nickname is a shortened version of his full name.
• Genre Savvy: He is well aware about how dangerous it is to be the only black guy in a group.
• Heroic Sacrifice: He holds some walkers off (knowing he'll die in the process) to allow Carol the chance to escape.
• The Klutz: Deconstructed and Played for Drama. His dropping of the keys to Merle's handcuffs is frequently referenced, and he slices up his arm when there is a herd of walkers nearby.
• Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: He gets a riot shield at the beginning of Season 3.
• Mauve Shirt: He lasts longer than most of the other Atlanta survivors, but is still killed off early in Season 3 before he can get any major character development.
• Must Make Amends: He feels terrible about dropping the key to Merle's handcuffs, even if the guy was a racist asshole, figuring that no one deserved his fate. He decides to go with Rick, Daryl, and Glenn to help rescue him, but by the time they get to the roof, Merle has cut his hand off and disappeared.
• Nice Guy: His most defining characteristic is how willing he is to help others and give people second chances, as shown when he volunteers to go back for Merle and advocates giving Axel and Oscar a chance to join the group.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: When things started to get bad, he drove his van to the home of every senior he knew in case they needed a ride to a refugee center.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Heck, he only mentions his real name while ranting under the effects of drugs and a fever!
• Out of Focus: During Season 2. He gets a subplot in which he receives treatment for a nasty wound on his arm, but then does little for the rest of the season, going several episodes with barely any lines.
• Real Men Love Jesus: A manly man who's loyal to his faith, even during the apocalypse.
• Sacrificial Lion: Alongside Lori for Season 3. He's one of the group's most loyal founding members who dies a hero's death to save Carol.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After the farm falls to the walkers, T-Dog escapes with Lori and Beth. He wants to head to the east coast, and is only convinced not to when Lori and Beth both threaten to leave unless he tries to find the others.
• Second Episode Introduction: Along with the rest of the Atlanta scouting group.
• Token Minority: In Season 2, he is the only black member of the group.
• Took a Level in Badass: He's earned his place as one of Rick's toughest fighters come Season 3.
• Two First Names: Theodore and Douglas are commonly used as first names.
• Zombie Infectee: Receives an untreatable bite on his shoulder, close to his neck, when Andrew attacks the prison.

Shane

Shane Walsh

"You can't just be the good guy and expect to live. Not anymore."

Portrayed By: Jon Bernthal

Appearances: The Walking Dead (Seasons 1-2, 3&9 ^note Hallucination)

Debut: "Days Gone Bye"

"Hell, man, if you think about it in the cold light of day, you are pretty much dead already."

Rick's best friend and fellow police officer. He saw Rick in the hospital, then went back in to serve and protect. Before the hospital was given up for lost, Shane checked one last time on Rick. He heard no heartbeat but tried to leave things in a way that his friend would be safe if he did wake up. Believing Rick dead, he broke the news to Lori, which led to a full romance, which was broken off abruptly when Rick returned.

Shane has not coped well since losing both his position as leader and his position in the hearts of Lori and Carl. He has a increasing ruthless streak which we get to see more and more of as the show progresses. He was killed by Rick in the penultimate episode of Season 2 after attempting to murder him to regain leadership of the group and Lori.

---

• Action Dad: He is a surrogate sort to Lori and Carl when they all think Rick is dead. If Rick hadn't returned before Lori gave birth, he'd likely been one to Judith as well.
• Adaptational Angst Upgrade: Due to being Spared by the Adaptation, the show was able to emphasize his Deuteragonist Journey to Villain via Love Makes You Crazy and Evil.
• Age Lift: Shane is 25 at the start of the comics. He's in his mid-thirties in this one.
• And Then John Was a Zombie: For about ten seconds, after dying from a knife wound in the gut.
• Anti-Hero: He goes from being an Unscrupulous Hero to a Nominal one over the course of two seasons.
• Apologetic Attacker: He tells Otis he is sorry before shooting him in the leg and leaving him as bait for the walkers.
• Asskicking Leads to Leadership: He's the most combat-proficient and authoritative member of the Atlanta group and their undisputed leader before Rick arrives.
• Ax-Crazy: Shane seems to think that Murder Is the Best Solution and is very unstable as he shows to have a killer instinct in this world of survival of the fittest.
• Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work: Subverted. For all his Cowboy Cop, "do what must be done" and "take over the farm" crap, Rick's the one that has to shoot Sophia after Shane doesn't have the nerve to do it. He also doesn't have the nerve to step in and deliver a Mercy Kill to the fatally wounded Dale, which is especially ironic considering their mutual antipathy.
• Bald of Evil: After his Important Haircut.
• Big Bad Slippage: He starts out as a genuine friend and helpful teammate to the group but as the struggles of the apocalyptic world continue, the more his ruthlessness and hostility grow which ultimately ends up with him becoming the Big Bad.
• Blood Knight: He's far too eager to settle things with violence. His kill streak is nothing shy of him absolutely taking bloodshed up to eleven.
• Blood from the Mouth: After Rick fatally stabs him in the chest.
• Boom, Headshot!: Carl kills him this way after he reanimates into a walker.
• The Cameo: Makes a brief appearance in Season 3 when the by that point very unstable Rick hallucinates that a Woodbury guard is him. He makes another one in Season 9's "What Comes After", once again to an unstable Rick, who is on the verge of death.
• The Casanova: Shane in his younger days had a really impressive streak of women he slept with, including a 30 year old married woman.
• Catchphrase: "Let me ask/tell you something..."
• Character Tic: He has a tendency to rub his head when stressed.
• Chick Magnet: He was a known womanizer ever since his youth and had a string of ex-girlfriends and flings prior to the outbreak. In the show proper, he manages to attract Lori and Andrea.
• Comforting the Widow: When he and Lori believe Rick is dead. It unfortunately leads him down the road to how he ends up. When he tries to kill Rick so he can do this again, he's killed for it.
• Composite Character: Since his comic counterpart dies very early and Tyreese debuted in a later timeline than in the source material, Shane filled, if not took, pivotal elements of the former's Character Development (specifically being The Lancer and the Love Triangle gone bad storyline) and fused it with his own.
• Cowboy Cop: More so than Rick, though the cop part gets increasingly consumed by Crazy Survivalist
• Crazy Jealous Guy: Begins developing into this after Rick finds the survivors and Lori & Carl go back to him.
• Crazy Survivalist: Increasingly throughout the second season.
• Dead Person Conversation: Rick sees a hallucination of him in Season 9 when he's at death's door.
• Death by Irony: His reanimated self is shot and killed by Carl, the boy he taught to shoot.
• A Death in the Limelight: "Better Angels" depicts Shane's full descent into villainy, and ends with his death at the hands of Rick.
• Death of the Hypotenuse: Subverted. Shane's death leaves Rick and Lori free to reconcile and raise Lori's child without his interference. For Rick, however, the damage has already been done, and he remains aloof and distant from Lori until shortly before her death in the fourth episode of Season 3.
• Death Seeker: Has shades of this in his last scene as he gives Rick a chance to kill him and mocks Lori and Carl, as well as Rick's parenting and leadership choices, to his face. It works.
• Deuteragonist: He's the second most prominent character of the first two seasons after Rick.
• Dies Differently in Adaptation: His comic counterpart is shot through the throat by Carl and put down by Rick after reanimation, the inverse of the show in which Rick kills him and Carl offs his zombified form.
• Disc-One Final Boss: He's the Big Bad and Villain Protagonist of Season 2, but is killed by Rick just one episode before the finale, where the remaining threat becomes the massive horde of walkers heading towards Hershel's farm.
• Do Unto Others Before They Do Unto Us: His overall mindset, especially in Season 2.
• Drill Sergeant Nasty: When training Andrea to shoot. He realizes that he's gone straight into Jerkass territory when he brings up "the walker that bit Amy".
• Entitled to Have You: Has this mindset towards Lori, partly due to the way she left him without turning back when Rick turned up alive, and all the unresolved drama remaining. He spends an entire scene rubbing how he saved Lori during the outbreak in her face, clearly believing that she owes him. He also believes that when he's killed Rick, Lori will come running back into his arms, showing a severe case of self-delusion.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He does genuinely love Lori and Carl dearly. Unfortunately, it's this that sends him spiraling down his path to villainy.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • He disapproves of Carl cussing, and tells him to never talk like that again.
  • Despite his firm belief that Sophia is dead, he still can’t bring himself to take her down when she is revealed to be one of the walkers in Hershel's barn.
  • Like everyone else, he despises Ed Peletier and almost kills him after he hits Carol.
• Evil Former Friend: To Rick, and also notably to Dale. The two have an affable, working relationship until Shane nearly shoots Rick in the woods, and they are at each other's throats all the way to Dale's death.
• Evil Makeover: Gives himself an Important Haircut when he starts his Protagonist Journey to Villain.
• Fallen Hero: He starts out as genuine friend to Rick and fine leader of the group. But when Rick returns from his coma, reunites with Lori and takes over as the group's leader, Shane gradually changes and things ultimately go From Bad to Worse from there.
• Extreme Mêlée Revenge: When he literally goes Unstoppable Rage on Ed for abusing Carol in front of the other survivors and says if he touches them again he won't stop beating him.
• Fair Cop: He was a police officer prior to the outbreak and is a handsome, well-built man.
• Fatal Flaw: Several.
  • His undying obsessive love for Lori. Also the need to keep everyone safe.
  • His bad temper is another one because Shane really can't control his anger and emotions.
  • Also his survival instinct as he feels the need to make the hard choices and do what's necessary for him and his group. This leads him into conflict with everyone as he may sound heartless but is really trying to do the right thing.
• Foil:
  • He is naturally Rick's, being his second-in-command with a radically different approach to problems.
  • To Otis. While Otis is not willing to leave him at the mercy of a walker horde, Shane has no intention of doing the same for Otis.
• Foreshadowing: Shane's fate is foreshadowed at least twice by showing him looking and acting in walker-like ways. In "18 Miles Out", after fighting with Rick, Shane's reflection in a broken window is easily mistaken for a walker. And in "Better Angels", when Shane kidnaps Randall, Jon Bernthal adds subtly terrifying walker body language to his portrayal.
• Forgotten Fallen Friend: Averted. When Carl brings him up in the middle of Season 4, Rick admits he remembers Shane every day. It's revealed in Season 7 that Rick deliberately chooses not to talk about Shane, especially not to people who joined the group after his death. When Rick is suffering from severe blood loss, Shane is the first dead friend he sees.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: He starts out as The Leader, but during Season 2 most people in the group (except maybe Lori, Carl, and Andrea) start turning on him and losing respect for him.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: He develops this in Season 2, thanks in large part to his Sanity Slippage. He has trouble keeping his anger under control and will go off on just about anybody.
• Heel–Face Door-Slam: In "Better Angels", when he tries to murder Rick for the last time. Rick manages to talk him down, and for a moment Shane seems like he's listening. He lowers his gun, lets Rick close... and Rick stabs him in the heart. Justified in that Rick realizes Shane is past redemption, and letting him live will only lead to him trying to kill Rick again down the line.
• He Who Fights Monsters: Especially poignant if you consider the title of the show.
• His Story Repeats Itself: Subverted. "Bloodletting" seems to imply that he's going to break the bad news about Carl getting shot to Lori the same way he told her that Rick got shot. Maggie ends up telling her instead.
• Hot-Blooded: He has a lot of trouble reigning in his emotions and is on the verge of yelling a lot of the time.
• I Am a Monster: Shane relishes what he has to live with and what he's done but knows what he did was for the good of the group.
• I Can Live With That:
  Rick: You gonna kill me in cold blood? Screw my wife, have my children, my children call you daddy?! Is that what you want? That life won't be worth a damn. I know you; you won't be able to live with this.
  Shane: What you know what I can live with? You've got no idea what I can live with. With what I live with!!
• Implied Death Threat: When Dale calls him out for considering shooting Rick, Shane insists he would never do such a thing to his best friend... but then asks aloud what he would do to an old man who can't keep his mouth shut.
• Important Haircut: After killing Otis he shaves his head. It also helps conceal the fact that he murdered Otis to escape rather than escaping because of a Heroic Sacrifice on Otis' part, as Otis tore out a patch of his hair.
• Insane Troll Logic: Refusing to take responsibility for the fish fry attack and blaming it on Rick. This holds no water whatsoever since Shane spent the last two months running the camp like a camping trip, making no effort to train anyone in combat, and allowed everyone to let their guard down. This resulted in well over half of the camp being killed and eaten by the horde.
• It Gets Easier: Deconstructed.
  Shane: There is nothing easy about taking a man’s life no matter how little value it may have. But when you get it done, you have to forget it. I guess I haven’t quite got that last part down.
• It's All About Me: The ultimate reason why Shane ends up a villain is that he believes that only he is strong enough to lead the group, and that he is the only one worthy of Lori’s love.
• I Will Only Slow You Down: Shane pleas for Otis to leave him behind and take the medical supplies to the farm Otis' refusal to do this has unfortunate ramifications.
• Jerkass: He grows into one after his Important Haircut. He casually threatens other group members' lives when they inconvenience him and handles most situations in the most aggressive way possible without giving much thought to how other people may think or feel about them.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Lampshaded by Andrea. He may be brutal, but most of his suggestions for the safety of the group are correct. He's just too ruthless, stubborn, and quick in trying to implement them. At least one suggestion from Shane that Rick does indeed heed is the very critical, pragmatic decision to train Carl to use a gun. In later seasons, Rick ultimately adopts much of his mentality to great effect. In Season 9, Rick's vision of Shane even expresses pride at Rick for taking a page out of his book, and making it work.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: In the first season. He tries to keep this up in the second season but fails due to all of the crap being laid upon him.
• Karmic Death: Killed by his former best friend, after repeated attempts to murder him. Rick also stabs him in the heart, just to show how stung he was by the betrayal.
• Kick the Dog: Oh yes.
  • He shoots Otis and leaves him for the walkers to get time to run away. Although this was partly done to get medical supplies for Carl, he was saving his own skin, too.
  • Threatening to kill Dale if he causes too much trouble.
  • Ruthlessly massacring the walkers in the barn in front of Hershel, who, bear in mind, believed said walkers were his potentially curable friends and family.
• Kick the Morality Pet: He calls Lori "broken" and Carl "weak" in an effort to make Rick draw his gun.
• Kick The Son Of A Bitch:
  • Shane beating the crap out of Ed probably had a little more to do with his own frustrations than with doing the right thing, but damned if he didn't pick a deserving target.
  • His murder of Randall might count, if you believe that Randall wasn't so innocent after all.
• The Lancer: Shane is Rick's right-hand man, and often offers completely contrasting advice, normally of a harsher nature.
• Lawman Gone Bad: Was once a heroic officer, but the stress of the apocalypse led to selfish choices.
• The Leader: When he was in charge of the group, Shane was a combination of Type III and IV.
• Like a Son to Me: He grows to truly love Carl in the time Rick is gone and his first truly ruthless course of action (sacrificing Otis) is partly to save the boy's life. However, in his final scene with Rick he calls Carl weak, despite being willing to kill his father to have Carl back as a surrogate son.
• Love Makes You Crazy: His love for Lori partially fuels his Sanity Slippage.
• Manipulative Bastard: He staged Randall's escape in order to lure Rick far out so he could murder him.
• Mr. Fanservice: The writers seem determined to have him show as much skin as possible in Season 2.
• Murder Is the Best Solution: Multiple times. If someone presents themselves as a threat, Shane's first instinct is to kill them. He ultimately follows through on it with Randall.
• Murder the Hypotenuse: Shane nearly goes through with it. Twice. In "Better Angels", after trying it a third time and losing his nerve, Rick kills him.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Or rather "My God, What Have I Almost Done?", if his expression of horror after considering to shoot Rick is anything to go by.
• Named by the Adaptation: His surname was added by the show.
• Narcissist: This is what he becomes after his Sanity Slippage as he believes that he's the only one good enough to run the group and for Lori's love as he attempts to kill Rick multiple times and doesn't seem to care about him anymore.
• The Needs of the Many: A strict believer of this philosophy.
• Never My Fault: Rarely takes true responsibility for his actions. He blames Rick for the fish fry attack when it was his own fault for not having the group properly prepared for a possible attack and instead treating it like a long camping trip. He tries to pass off sexually assaulting Lori at the CDC due to the fact that he was drunk. Later, he starts rambling about his own problems when he initially tries to comfort Carol about the loss of her daughter.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: He goes into Unstoppable Rage mode when he sees Ed smack Carol hard enough to draw blood.
• Papa Wolf: He is extremely overprotective of Carl and will go through extreme lengths to protect him from any threat. He also beats Ed to a pulp and warns him not to harm Sophia or Carol. In his Dead Person Conversation with Rick in Season 9, Shane voices his approval of Rick biting out Joe's throat (after Joe was about to allow Dan to rape Carl), and for his brutal slaughter of Gareth (after he threatened to eat Judith).
• Parental Substitute: He takes on the role of a father-figure to Carl after Rick's presumed death at the start of the outbreak. After Rick returns, he's forced to step down by Lori but he still takes on the role every time Carl approaches him or needs his help or advice.
• Perma-Stubble: Grows a Beard of Evil in at least in one of Rick's visual hallucinations, as the Woodbury soldier who kills Oscar.
• Pet the Dog: Even as he slowly develops into an antagonist, Shane is capable of a few softer moments.
  • He shows genuine concern for Rick after Carl is shot and is insistent that Rick remain behind while leaving the hard parts to him.
  • He apologizes to Andrea when he tries to get her riled up to kill a walker and tastelessly brings up Amy's death.
  • His scene with Carol after Sophia is found to be a walker and then shot. Even though he does briefly begin to talk about his own problems, he continues to show empathy and remorse for her afterwards.
  • When Dale beseeches him one last time to join his argument to spare Randall, Shane decides that he will remain silent during the group discussion (everyone knows his position anyway), and claims that if Dale can successfully convince the group to spare Randall, he will not oppose them. While it's entirely possible he would've broken his word on the latter term, he does indeed remain largely silent during the group discussion. He later takes no visual pleasure from Dale's death and does seem slightly sympathetic when he sees his nemesis writhing in agony.
• Protagonist Journey to Villain: Over the course of Season 2. He goes from being The Lancer to Rick to the Big Bad who causes many of the season's problems.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: He is the Red to Rick's Blue. Shane has a bad temper and is prone to violence, while Rick is reasonable, even-tempered and always tries to find a peaceful solution. Even during their fight, they both have contrasting colors as Shane wears a red shirt and Rick has a dark blue shirt.
• Really Gets Around: An entire scene in "Chupacabra" is devoted to him and Rick talking about his... escapades back in high school, including mention of the married 30-year-old PE teacher. He also gets with two of the three remaining original female group members as of Season 2 — Andrea and Lori.
• The Resenter: Of Rick.
  Shane: You come back here and you just destroy everything!
• Sanity Slippage: Mostly generated by guilt and rage.
  • When Rick comes back from his coma, Shane loses his relationship with Lori and Carl. He takes it badly enough to contemplate shooting Rick to have his spot back as group leader and loved-by-Lori.
  • When walkers close in on them, Shane shoots Otis, presumably so he can get away to bring the medical equipment to Carl, but also to save himself.
  • Dale calls him out on pointing his gun at Rick. Shane asks Dale what he thinks Shane would do if he's the kind of man who'd shoot his own best friend.
• The Sheriff: Again, just a deputy, and junior to Rick. Also, no hat.
• Shotguns Are Just Better: His main weapon of choice is a Mossberg 590.
• Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids!: Repeatedly calls Rick out on thinking they can live like they used to, arguing that the rules of the old world don't apply anymore.
• Sociopathic Hero: He shows a distinct Lack of Empathy towards most of the other group members and to all human threats, and routinely advocates the most ruthless or violent solution to every problem. Deconstructed in that such actions endanger the group by encouraging Hershel to kick them off the farm, and his behavior encourages Rick to kill him.
• So Proud of You: In Season 9, Rick's hallucination of Shane tells Rick that he is proud of how he hardened to protect his family.
• Spared by the Adaptation: An excellent example until "Better Angels". For comparison, his comic counterpart died in Issue 6 which is covered in Season 1. This was actually one of the reasons Robert Kirkman wanted to do the show in the first place, so that he could more fully explore the character of Shane. And boy howdy did it have ramifications.
• Start of Darkness: His murder of Otis is the first step into villainy.
• The Starscream: Although Rick is not a Big Bad, on at least one occasion Shane considers killing him and taking back leadership of the group. He also seems rather receptive towards Andrea's sarcastic suggestion that he kill Hershel to take over his farm.
• Tall, Dark, and Snarky: Shane is literally half-an-inch short on fitting the trope to a T. ^note Jon Bernthal stands 5'10 1/2
• Teacher/Student Romance: In one episode, he brags to Rick about sleeping with their 30-year-old female PE teacher when he was in high school.
• Team Killer: Kills Otis and threatens to kill Dale. Attempts to kill Rick three times.
• Token Evil Teammate: He almost shoots Rick in cold blood and is very prone to Kick the Dog moments.
• Tragic Bromance: With Rick. Before the whole thing, the two of them are practically brothers. But once Rick comes back, Shane's perfect life is over, which drives a major wedge between the two of them.
• The Unfettered: He gradually loses his moral restrictions, including repeatedly considering killing Rick before ultimately being killed by him in the penultimate episode of Season 2.
• Unstoppable Rage: Beats the ever-living shit out of Ed for abusing Carol (and also to take out his anger about Lori telling him to stay away from Carl). He also goes into one when fighting Rick.
• Villainous Legacy: Shane dies before the second season finale, but Rick is ultimately forced to adopt much of his mentality and pragmatism to become a proper post-apocalyptic leader, greatly informing his mindset for the remainder of the series.
• We Just Need to Wait for Rescue: Shane is proactive about finding the military, wanting to head to Fort Benning instead of waiting for the military to come to them. This is even after he has seen the military executing possibly infected civilians at the Harrison Memorial Hospital.
• What You Are in the Dark:
  • He considers shooting Rick in "Wildfire" when they are alone, but ultimately can't go through with it.
  • He ultimately fails this test in "Save the Last One" when he knee-caps Otis to save himself as well as bring the medical supplies a wounded Carl needs back to the camp, leaving him to be torn apart by walkers.
• Wife-Basher Basher: He beats resident wife-basher Ed to a pulp, although it's also a way for him to take out his frustrations.
• With Friends Like These...: He and Rick used to be really good friends, but the pressure of the Zombie Apocalypse and the Love Triangle with Lori drives a massive wedge between them, resulting in them arguing all the time and eventually trying to kill each other.
• Yandere: Of the obsessive flavor.
• You Wouldn't Shoot Me: To Dale when he catches him trying to hide the group's guns. He's right.

Dale

Dale Horvath

"If I had known the world was ending, I would have brought better books."

Portrayed By: Jeffrey DeMunn

Appearances: The Walking Dead (Seasons 1-2)

Debut: "Days Gone Bye"

"I may not have what it takes to last for long, but that’s okay. At least I can say that when the world goes to shit, I didn’t let it take me down with it."

Dale is an old man who is kind of the father-figure to the group. He is quiet and observant, and often something of a trickster as he'll let the others believe incorrect information if he believes it's in the best interests of the group. As the eldest of the group, he is also their moral center and voice of reason. However, this puts him at odds with the increasingly violent and dark Shane, and the group itself as they begin to harden to the world they live in. After making a desperate plea for the group's humanity, he is killed when he gets gutted by a walker on Hershel’s farm and Daryl is forced to Mercy Kill him.

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• Adaptational Nice Guy: Dale goes from an Anti Heroic Grumpy Old Man in the comics, to a Nice Guy Team Dad in the show.
• Archenemy: He has it out for Shane after witnessing him heavily consider shooting Rick, and always stubbornly stands in the way of what he wants. Shane considers him a Goldfish Poop Gang, though.
• Badass Bookworm: He has a ton of books in his RV that he lends out the other group members. He does regret not having a better selection, and states that he would have brought better ones if he had known the world was going to end.
• Beware the Nice Ones: He isn't afraid of standing up to Shane regarding the latter's controversial decisions.
• Big Ol' Eyebrows: Which the internet became fans of.
• Boom, Headshot!: Via Daryl, to prevent Dale from suffering after getting attacked and gutted by a walker.
• Chekhov's Skill: Him teaching Glenn how to fix the RV comes in handy when Glenn is able to bring it back to life after Dale's death. Several seasons later, Glenn has a bittersweet smile when Abraham asks how he knows where an extra RV battery was, obviously remembering his old friend.
• Cool Car: His RV.
• Cool Old Guy: He lends out books to the group, swings an axe with the best of them, stands up to Shane's aggressive tactics, and tries to steer the group along a moral path.
• The Conscience: Even more so than Rick. Partly deconstructed though in that he can come off at times as preachy, and his moral advice is not always useful in the harsh situations the group find themselves in. In a deleted scene, he is aware that he is not well-suited for this position, unable to serve as a convincing counter to Shane's corrosive influence. He implores Lori, who thinks he's right but won't admit it, to serve in this role instead.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: Poor guy gets his stomach ripped open by a walker. And then he's left writhing in agony on the ground for a good minute before Daryl finally gives him a Mercy Kill.
• Deadpan Snarker: A couple of times. Most prominent in a deleted scene where he hears a fundamentalist preaching through a radio that the apocalypse is backlash from God.
  Dale: (After turning the radio off) Douchebag. Pervert. God spoke to me too. He said, Dale, if you ever run into that shitface on the radio, shove that mic up his ass for me. His Will be done.
• Death by Adaptation: Dale dies toward the end of Season 2, during the farm arc. In the comics, Dale died in the Cannibals Arc, which the show covers in Season 5.
• A Death in the Limelight: "Judge, Jury, Executioner" revolves almost entirely around his efforts to convince the group to spare Randall. He dies at the very end of it.
• Decomposite Character: Since he dies early, all his Character Development in the comics is given to Hershel, specifically his role as the Team Dad and the Life-or-Limb Decision storyline. Later, his role in the "Fear the Hunters" adaptation as the victim of the Hunters' cannibalism despite having been bit is given to Bob.
• Dies Differently in Adaptation: His comic counterpart succumbs to a walker bite after having had his leg eaten by cannibals. Here he gets his stomach ripped open by a walker and is writhing for at least a minute before Daryl shoots him in the head.
• Dropped a Bridge on Him: His sudden death at the hands of a walker is somewhat anti-climactic. He wasn't originally planned to go this way; the writers had to throw it in after Jeffery DeMunn quit the show in response to Frank Darabont (the original showrunner) being fired.
• Excellent Judge of Character: He immediately didn't trust Shane when Rick first arrived with the group and warns the group many times about Shane's increasingly unstable behavior. He also accurately pegs Daryl as a decent man after witnessing how devoted he is to finding Sophia.
• Face Death with Dignity: When Daryl prepares to put him out of his misery, Dale realizes what's happening, and solemnly leans his head into the gun, knowing he cannot be saved and that his time is up.
• Feeling Their Age: He is an aversion as this 64-years-old can swing an axe like a much younger man, and is, in fact, one of the few capable combatants of the group (at least originally). He's seen effortlessly mowing down walkers with his rifle during the fish fry attack, and just as effortlessly with a pistol in a deleted Season 2 scene.
• Goldfish Poop Gang: Shane considers him this, as a harmless old man with a big mouth, despite Dale constantly being a thorn in his side.
• Good Is Old-Fashioned: The big concept that Dale's character adamantly fights against.
• Guile Hero: He's willing to deceive his companions if he thinks it will keep the group together and safe. The archetypal example comes at the start of Season 2, when he lies about his RV needing repairs so that the group will be less inclined to abandon the search for Sophia. He even jokes about Glenn not having any guile.
• Gutted Like a Fish: By a walker's hands.
• The Heart: The group's fatherly, compassionate moral compass.
• Honor Before Reason: He defends Randall from execution on the virtue that killing someone for potentially being a threat is inhumane. Shane argues that Dale's way of thinking is far too risky.
• The Lancer: To Shane back when he led the camp. Once Shane becomes The Lancer to Rick, he's still got a high position in the group's hierarchy and Rick mentions after Dale's death that he often looked to Dale for his input whenever he made a decision.
• Like a Son to Me: Dale considers much of the group to be his own children (or grandchildren in Carl and Sophia's cases). Especially Andrea and Glenn, who are the most devastated by his death.
• The Load: Shane fervently claims he is this. Dale admits that he probably won't be able to survive for long in the apocalypse. Though he does die relatively quickly into the show’s lifespan, he doesn’t quite qualify for this, as he shows competence in battle against walkers.
• Mentor Occupational Hazard: Serves as a mentor, in both practical skills such as maintenance and more abstract skills such as moralizing and group cohesion, to several members of the group.
• Mercy Kill: Daryl puts him out of his misery after he is mortally wounded.
• Named by the Adaptation: His surname, which appears on the side of his RV, was added by the show.
• Nice Guy: Aside from Glenn, he is the most openly caring person in the group and his main focus is keeping everyone from doing immoral things to survive.
• Older Sidekick: During Shane's tenure as leader of the group, Dale is his second-in-command and works with him to maintain the camp.
• Parting-Words Regret: The group is devastated that their last interactions with Dale were rejecting his plea to spare Randall, causing him to voice his disappointment in them and say that the group was "broken".
• The Philosopher: Unlike the others, believes that this is the time where philosophical reflection and rumination on what world one wants to shape is at its most relevant. The thought dies with him.
• Promoted to Love Interest: Inverted. He instead becomes a genuine father-figure to Andrea in this version instead of entering into a May–December Romance with her like in the comics.
• Sacrificial Lion: While he is far from the first character death on the show, he is the first main cast member to die. Though Hershel replaces him as the group's Team Dad and moral center, the loss of Dale reflects a loss of much of the humanity the cast had in the first two seasons.
• Screw Politeness, I'm a Senior!: Well, he's still polite, but he never hesitates to speak his mind, much to the ire of Shane.
• Team Dad: Dale is the member of the camp most dedicated to keeping it together, and who takes the most time to make sure its members are OK, whether they want him to or not.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: He grows to hate Shane with a passion after his first attempt to kill Rick, but the both of them are still willing to work together for the survival of the group.
• Tempting Fate: "I'm not going anywhere, and you're not going anywhere." By the end of the following episode, both he and Shane are dead.
• Too Good for This Sinful Earth: Dale is one of the gentlest members of the camp, and a constant supporting figure to everyone, especially Andrea. His death is huge gut punch to the group (and, by extension, the viewer), reinforcing the idea that nobody, no matter how good-natured, is safe.
• We ARE Struggling Together: He is repeatedly exasperated that this seems to be humanity's response to the apocalypse.
• Warrior Poet: A downplayed example. He is capable in combat, and earnestly believes that philosophy and culture provide the path to salvation.
• Weapon-Based Characterization: Dale always has a scoped Remington 700 VLS in his hands, fitting since he is both the lookout, and the one who spends his time watching the others.
• We Used to Be Friends: He had an affable working relationship with Shane, the camp's initial leader, but the moment he catches Shane pointing his rifle at Rick, any friendship between the two immediately evaporates.
• What You Are in the Dark: After taking the guns to prevent Shane from arming everyone to kill the walkers in the barn and take over Hershel's farm, he has the opportunity to kill Shane, who he knows is a threat to people in the group. However, he can't bring himself to actually pull the trigger and take a human life.

Jacqui

Jacqui

Portrayed By: Jeryl Prescott Sales

Appearances: The Walking Dead (Seasons 1, 3 ^note Voice)

Debut: "Guts"

Jacqui is a survivor who worked for the Atlanta city zoning department, and uses knowledge from her job to aid the survivors. She chose to commit suicide by staying in the CDC with Doctor Jenner when it exploded.

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• Better to Die than Be Killed: Chooses to die on her own terms, instead of eventually becoming a victim of the walkers.
• Canon Foreigner: Never appeared in the comics.
• Driven to Suicide: Dies by way of thermobaric munitions in the CDC by her own choice.
• Face Death with Dignity: Spends her last moments calmly holding hands with Dr. Jenner and giving him a graceful smile to give him some comfort as the clock winds down.
• Hallucinations: In "Hounded", she is one of the people who calls Rick during his hallucinations.
• Mauve Shirt: Survives and makes it all the way to the CDC base, only to succumb to her despair and commit suicide when the base self-destructs.
• Only One Name: Her surname is never mentioned.
• Sassy Black Woman: She gets plenty of smart jabs out.
• Second Episode Introduction: Introduced with the rest of the Atlanta scouting party in the second episode of Season 1.
• Spell My Name With An S: It's spelled Jacqui, not Jackie.
• Together in Death: Non-romantic example. She's the only one who decides to stay behind with Dr. Jenner.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Aside from cracking a joke about how she misses her vibrator while doing laundry with the other ladies, she doesn't really say or do much of anything to make her stand out during the first season. This kind of diminishes the impact of her dramatic declaration of suicide that comes out of nowhere, as we watch her die alongside a scientist whom we also just met.

Jim

Jim

"Do you hear that? That's the sound of God laughing while you make plans."

Portrayed By: Andrew Rothenberg

Appearances: The Walking Dead (Seasons 1, 3 ^note Voice)

Debut: "Guts"

"You know, the only reason I got away was 'cause the dead were too busy eating my family."

Jim is a survivor in the original group. He was infected during a zombie attack on the camp. He was left behind after asking to die from the infection, feeling he didn't deserve to live for failing his family.

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• And Then John Was a Zombie: His ultimate fate, as he chooses to reanimate in the hopes of reuniting with his family.
• Batter Up!: His primary weapon is a baseball bat.
• Despair Event Horizon: His family's death, although he manages to keep going until getting bitten.
• Dreaming of Things to Come: In "Vatos", he mentions that he thinks he did this, having dug numerous graves before the walker attack on the camp.
• Dying Alone: His own choice, as he wants to be left alone so that when he comes back as a walker, he might be able to find his family.
• Extreme Mêlée Revenge: When a group of walkers attack their camp, some of them find out the fatal way that he still remembers what happened to his family, and is still utterly pissed off about it.
• Face Death with Dignity: Knowing there is no hope for him, he decides to be left alone by a tree to die.
• Grease Monkey: He is the group's mechanic, having been an auto mechanic before the Zombie Apocalypse.
• Hallucinations: In "Hounded", he is one of the people who calls Rick during his hallucinations.
• Mauve Shirt: He's a secondary character who is killed off to show the direness of the zombie apocalypse, establishing the group as a Dwindling Party.
• Sanity Slippage: He may have dreamt the future, or just gone completely insane. Not even he is sure which.
• Survivor's Guilt: He only managed to escape from walkers because they were so busy eating his family.
• Unstoppable Rage: He goes berserk in the zombie attack on the camp, beating several of them to death while screaming in fury.
• Zombie Infectee: He tries to hide it and begs Jacqui not to give it away. However, she's smart enough to tell the rest of the group immediately. Jim is the first character to depict the suffering an infectee goes through all the way until he is just about killed by it.

Summer

Summer

Portrayed By: Addy Miller

Appearances: The Walking Dead (Season 1)

Debut: "Days Gone Bye"

The very first walker to appear on-screen in the series.

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• Ascended Extra: Was a one-shot unnamed character in the TV series. It is only in The Walking Dead Social Game that you learn that she was a survivor in the Atlanta camp. While at the camp, her mother, father, and uncle are all killed. After losing her family, she runs away, and is eventually bitten by a walker.
• Boom, Headshot!: Naturally, Rick kills her zombified form by shooting her in the head.
• Canon Foreigner: She never appeared in the comics.
• Death of a Child: The very first walker we see in the series (and by extension, The Walking Dead Television Universe) is this little girl.
• Empathy Doll Shot: Her Teddy Bear doll was laying on the ground until she picked it up, before Rick learned she's already a walker.
• Facial Horror: Part of her face was mauled by walkers.
• It Can Think: She seems to retain enough of herself post-reanimation to stop and pick up her discarded Teddy Bear before moving along.
• Named by the Adaptation: Summer's name wasn't revealed until The Walking Dead Social Game was released, as she was left unnamed in the TV series and was previously known as the "Little Girl Walker".
• Not a Zombie: In the intro for the pilot episode, while looking beneath a car Rick sees a little girl's feet shuffling along. However, once he sees her fully after standing up and she turns to his voice, he realizes she's a zombie, and promptly blows her head off.
• Undead Child: She's already zombified by the time we see her.

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