The Whisperers
- Debut: Issue 130
A group of survivors introduced after the time-skip, unknown to the other Washington communities.
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In General
- Arc Villain: Set up as the new ones after the two-year Time Skip, beginning with the end of Volume 22 and extending into 23 and beyond.
- Child Soldiers: They have no problem putting young people on the front line during combat and the first Whisperer to be introduced was a teenaged girl named Lydia who was captured alive by Jesus.
- Combat Pragmatist: Prefer to sneak after their victims and stab them when their guard is down, preferably using walkers as backup.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: The first time a Whisperer shouts is when her friend Joshua is killed by Jesus.
- Even Evil Has Standards: They may roam among the walkers and even eat from the animals they take down, but they do not engage in cannibalism.
- Evil Gloating: When facing enemies who know what they are, the Whisperers can't seem to avoid telling their foes that they'll die.
- Fluffy Tamer: They have managed to come closest to domesticating a fucking zombie horde. It's only partial, but them keeping an entire herd sated enough to be used as attack dogs while leaving their handlers alone enough to pretty much occupy the same space is nothing short of admirable.
- Genuine Human Hide: They skin walkers and then stitch the hides to make walker-suits.
- He Who Fights Monsters: According to Lydia they became what they are as a result of the horrors they faced.
- Humans Are the Real Monsters: An unusually literal example, even for this series. They're survivors pretending to be walkers, and are obviously much more dangerous. They kill troops from Alexandria and the Hilltop with little to no provocation.
- No Name Given: Aside from Lydia and Joshua, they don't use their names because they think they're unnecessary.
- Pretend We're Dead: They like to dress themselves up in Walker skins, as a disguise from both the living and the Walkers.
- Stage Whisper: The source of their name. The reader can normally hear what they're saying, although not in issue 129.
- Terse Talker: They talk in whispered shorthand, as they've realised that walkers don't notice this. The fact that the Whisperer with the shotgun still does this when interrogating Dante implies this may have even become force of habit.
- Unknown Rival: Until Issue 143, Rick and company have no idea they even exist. Though the residents of the Hilltop do know of their existence.
- Villain Decay: The thing that makes them a threat to the very existence of Rick's allied communities is their massive herd of Walkers. After they use up most or all of their army of the dead in an attempt to finish the communities off, all that's left of them is a small group of unhinged guys wearing freaky masks in the woods who are armed mainly with knives. Meanwhile the various communities have hundreds of people and at least some of those people are armed with guns. Although their de facto leader Beta gives Jesus and Aaron a tough fight when he catches them by surprise, the rest of the group that was left after their defeat in The Whisperer War is wiped out easily. Never Bring A Knife To A Gunfight, after all.
Alpha
Alpha
Click here to see Alpha unmasked
- Debut: Issue 132
The leader of the Whisperers, and mother of Lydia.
- Abusive Parents: She allowed her daughter, Lydia, to be raped by her men, and refuses to even let her daughter call her "mom". She also hits her right in front of Rick and Carl without a second thought.
- Bad Boss: She kills one of her own men simply for witnessing her sobbing over her daughter.
- Bald Head of Toughness: She is bald and is depicted as an Emotionless Girl, Jerk with a Heart of Jerk who advocates the shedding of things like emotion and empathy and the adoption of a more feral, animalistic lifestyle.
- Bald of Authority: She is the bald, female leader of the Whisperers. She is portrayed in part as a Reasonable Authority Figure in comparison to her followers who are much more bloodthirsty and willing to kill on sight.
- Bald of Evil: She is completely bald and the leader of the villainous Whisperers group.
- Beneath the Mask: According to Lydia, the Decapitation Presentation is likely an indication that, in spite of her bravado, Alpha is afraid of the Oceanside-Alexandria-Saviors-Kingdom alliance, as she's never had to face a group this large before.
- Big Bad: As the leader of the Whisperers, she serves as the first major antagonist following the Time Skip. This is ultimately subverted when Negan kills her just before the start of the Whisperer War.
- Did Not Think This Through: If she had just put up stakes to mark the Whisperer territory instead of Decapitating several very well loved in the community characters, Including Ezekiel and Rosita and putting their heads on spikes, The communities would have gladly left them alone, instead it leads to the complete destruction of the Whisperers.
- Disc-One Final Boss: Ends up getting killed by Negan before the end of the Whisperer arc.
- Emotionless Girl: Making her a marked contrast of previous big bads The Governer and Negan. She does have rare moments when she shows emotion, and in her last moments she completely breaks down in front of Negan and admits that she is full of guilt for her actions.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Despite her absolutely disgusting treatment of her, she does genuinely care for her daughter Lydia and is even shown crying because she misses her in issue 148.
- Get Out!: In issue 144 to Rick and Carl as well as her own daughter. Hoo boy, does she get her point across.
- Hero Killer: Her "separation wall" shown in Issue 144 cemented her as this for the Savior-Alexandria-Hilltop-Oceanside alliance. The fact that she has a somewhat-controlled army of what appears to be thousands of Walkers helps.
- Jerkass: Even to her own daughter, she is not a pleasant person.
- Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Issue 144 seemingly reveals a more vulnerable side to her, and she even allows Lydia to join Rick's group (although she goes about it in a cruel manner). Then it's revealed that she beheaded numerous members of Rick's group (including a child and pregnant woman) to mark the boundaries between her territory and Rick's.
- Karmic Death: Negan beheads her after killing her, which is the same thing she did to many people from Rick's group.
- Machete Mayhem: She is seen returning to her camp in issue 143 with a bloody machete that she implied she used to kill someone from Rick's group with. Turns out she used it to behead twelve people.
- Mama Bear: Played with. While she goes to the trouble of a hostage exchange to get Lydia back, she allows her men to constantly rape her.
- A twisted version of this trope happens in issue 144, where Alpha knows that she can't give her daughter the life she wants to so she hands her over to Rick's people... and then tells her to never come back.
- Off with His Head!: After slashing her throat, Negan cuts her head off.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: She makes everyone, including her own daughter, refer to her as "Alpha".
- Reasonable Authority Figure: In a sharp contrast to her underlings, who were willing to kill on sight, she returned Dante and Ken to the Hilltop in exchange for the release of her daughter. Afterwards she departs without any bloodshed and promises to leave Maggie's group alone if they stay out of her territory. Becomes a lot less reasonable when she kills a dozen of Rick's people just to send a message.
- Redemption Equals Death: Just when she reveals a kinder side of her personality and admits to feeling guilt over her horrible actions, Negan kills her.
- Samus Is a Girl: In issue 138 she finally reveals herself as the leader of the Whisperers, as well as being Lydia's mother.
- Slashed Throat: How Negan suddenly kills her.
- Surprisingly Sudden Death: Just as she begins to warm up to Negan and decides that he does belong with the Whisperers after all he slashes her neck out of nowhere and then decapitates her.
- Virtue Is Weakness: Alpha talks a lot about disowning things like emotion and empathy, adopting a ferral, animalistic lifestyle. This is how she justifies allowing Lydia to be raped by other Whisperers.
- Would Hurt a Child: She abuses her daughter both physically and emotionally and decapitates Josh.
Lydia
Lydia
Click here for her appearance in "The Farm House"''
- Debut: Issue 133
A sixteen-year-old girl, and the daughter of Alpha. She's taken prisoner by Jesus and imprisoned at Hilltop, where she develops a connection with Carl.
- Amicable Exes: The outcome of her relationship with Carl. During the Time Skip between issues 192 and 193, she and Carl break up, and he marries Sophia. However, the two still make supply runs throughout the colonies together, and still clearly care deeply about each other, despite no longer being a couple.
- Anti-Villain: In issue 136 it is revealed she's not as psycho as initially seen.
- Cute and Psycho: She's really cute. But she's clearly been affected by the horrors she has witnessed and the Whisperers' ethos.
- Dissonant Serenity: When captured.
- Heel–Face Turn: Although it starts off ambiguous as to whether she truly is a good person or not, she does ultimately become a loyal member of Hilltop.
- High-Heel–Face Turn: Considering the other Whisperers in her party were men.
- Nice Gal: Surprisingly, she's really not that bad at all once Carl and the others get to know her.
- Nightmare Fetishist: In issue 137, she says that Carl's eye-hole is "sexy" and even licks it.
- Rape as Drama: According to herself, she is frequently raped by the other Whisperers.
- Sole Survivor: Of the group of Whisperers who attacked Jesus.
- Teens Are Monsters: She attacks humans with knives to protect the zombies and sounds like a member of some kind of cult despite only being sixteen years old.
- Villains Want Mercy: She begged Jesus to spare her life, even though her group was about to kill him and his group just for trespassing on their land. Justified in that she's just a brainwashed kid in over her head.
- Villainous Breakdown: As a result of being alone, the death of Joshua and Carl being kind to her.
Beta
Beta
Click here to see Beta unmasked
- Debut: Issue 154
Alpha's physically imposing second-in-command.
- Anti-Climactic Unmasking: Played with. After all that time with him looking so menacing beneath his skin mask, when it's removed he looks almost shockingly ordinary and non-threatening. However, taking off his mask also shows him to be a Celebrity Survivor.
- Arch-Enemy: He quickly develops an antagonistic relationship with Negan and asks for Alpha's permission to kill him multiple times. It gets even worse after Alpha is killed by Negan.
- Berserk Button: He murders another Whisperer for trying to remove his 'face' after he is injured in his fight with Negan.
- Big Bad: For "The Whisperer War" arc.
- Bodyguard Crush: He is clearly in love with Alpha. Her death spurns him to wreak havoc on Rick's group.
- Celebrity Survivor: After being unmasked, Beta is identified by Jesus and Aaron as a famous basketball player turned actor, starring in movies and car commercials.
- The Comically Serious: To an extent. His annoyance with Negan's constant wisecracks leads to some funny moments.
- Comic-Book Fantasy Casting: Much in the way previous Big Bad Negan was inspired by a young Henry Rollins, Beta is drawn to resemble Tyler Mane
(right down to his massive height). - Deathly Unmasking: The mask never comes off until he's defeated for good and on the edge of death, revealing him to be a Celebrity Survivor.
- The Dragon: As his title would suggest he's this to Alpha.
- Dragon Ascendant: After Alpha is murdered, Beta becomes the de-facto leader of the Whisperers, though he insists that he is not to be called "Alpha".
- Dual Wielding: Wields two knives that he puts to good use.
- Large and in Charge: The second-in-command of the Whisperers and utterly massive. He towers over Negan (who was himself Large and in Charge) and is by far the tallest character in the series. He is easily over seven feet in height.
- The Leader: Though he insists that he is not the new Alpha, he still becomes the closest thing the Whisperers have to a leader.
- Lightning Bruiser: Don't let his size fool you, he has the speed to match his strength. Negan even commented that he shouldn't be able to move so fast during their fight and yells at him to slow down. Later even Jesus is surprised by Beta's quickness and agility. Justified, as it's revealed that he was formerly a famous professional athlete before the plague.
- Made of Iron: The man can take a LOT of punishment. During his fight with Negan he not only survives being struck several times by Lucille, but actually manages to splinter it when Negan hits him too hard. Keep in mind that this particular bat is covered in barbed wire and was infamous among the fandom for turning a man's skull into mush.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: After Alpha is killed, Beta vows to kill every single one of Rick's people.
- That Man Is Dead: This seems to be how he feels about his past when Jesus and Aaron unmask him and realize that Beta was once a famous professional basketball player turned actor. Beta pops up from appearing dead just to say he has no name, then finally give in to death.
- Villainous Breakdown: In his final moments Beta freaks out when Jesus and Aaron recognize him as a famous celebrity, and screaming that he has no name and is no one before dropping dead.
- Worf Had the Flu: While he's still a dangerous foe, he was a lot more easily managed when Aaron and Jesus fought him than in his prior appearances, where he seemed to be a threat to all the communities and able to stand up to anyone in a fight. Justified in that Negan beat him with Lucille so badly the barbed-wire bat broke, which required Beta being helped off of the battlefield in a previous skirmish. Despite surviving the attack, Beta was likely still injured when he encountered Jesus and Aaron.
Joshua
Joshua
- Debut: Issue 133
A Whisperer who is killed during the confrontation with Jesus.
- Hidden Depths: Lydia mentions that he was much kinder to her than the other Whisperers, hence why she was so distraught over his death.
- The Faceless: He never takes off his mask before dying, so we don't know what he really looked like.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Jesus slices the top of his head off in his first real appearance.
Mike's Family
Mike
Mike
- Debut: Issue 173
The leader of a small family that was recently recruited to the whisperers near the end of the whisperer war. His wife and son have trouble adjusting to the lifestyle which leads to a confrontation with the other whisperers. After being saved by Jesus and Aaron he decides to move his family to the Hilltop.
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: When his family rejects the whisperer lifestyle and it looks like it's about to get them all exiled or killed he immediately begins begging for the whisperers to give them more time to adjust.
Joshua
Joshua
- Debut: Issue 173
Mike's son who hates the whisperer lifestyle and refuses to wear a skin mask. He accompanies his father and mother to the Hilltop where he befriends Carl.
- Everyone Has Standards: He joins the whisperers along with his parents in order to survive, but refuses to wear a zombie skin mask.
Joshua's Mother
Joshua's Mother
- Debut: 173
Mike's wife who has similar views on the whisperer lifestyle as her son. She accompanies Mike to the Hilltop.
- Everyone Has Standards: Like her son, she was willing to join the whisperers for survival, but draws the line at wearing a mask made of human skin.
