History Characters / TheWalkingDeadTVShowNegan

!!!'''Appearances:''' ''Series/{{The Walking Dead|2010}}'' (Seasons 6-11) | ''Isle of the Dead''

* FateWorseThanDeath: For a guy like [[MotorMouth Negan]], spending almost eight years alone in a cell ''cannot'' have been an easy task.

** He is also this to Ezekiel. Both men are shrewd, intelligent leaders with command over large numbers and a flair for the dramatic. They also cultivated a persona that they feel is necessary to keep people alive, while also using it as a way to hide from their real feelings. However, the key difference between the two is that while Negan rules through fear, Ezekiel rules through genuine, earned respect.

** A straighter example would be with Carol, who did not actually witness most of his cruelty firsthand and, aside from Glenn's death, mainly hates him on principle. While mostly apathetic towards Negan, she does come to respect him for killing her son's murderer and even does him a favor by getting him out of Alexandria when Maggie comes home and tensions start brewing between the two of them.
** Season 11, Part 1 revolves heavily around whether or not he can form this kind of bond with Maggie. By the end of the arc she accepts he has valuable advice as a military commander and even asks for his input as the group weighs the remaining Reapers’ fate. However, he decides to leave the group upon seeing she will likely turn on him anyway.
** Season 11, Part 2 takes this a step further when circumstances force them to work together again. [[spoiler:Negan admits he has respect for Maggie and she tells him that, regardless of what happened in the past, she trusts him with Hershel.]]

* AmbiguousDisorder: Negan is brutally violent and sadistic, refuses to take responsibility for his actions, and is a MoodSwinger who can flip between angry and comical at the drop of a hat. While he shows far too much empathy to fit the criteria for sociopathy, it's clear there's ''something'' not right in the head with him.

** He is also this to Ezekiel. Both men are shrewd, intelligent leaders with command over large numbers and a flair for the dramatic. However, the key difference between the two is that while Negan rules through fear, Ezekiel rules through genuine, earned respect.

* {{Irony}}: Rick and Michonne imprison him so that he can hear about how the Coalition thrived with the help of his former soldiers who made a HeelFaceTurn. [[spoiler:Negan manages to outlive all the ex-Saviors -- the named ones, at least -- and doesn't have to spend the rest of his life behind bars on account of his own change of heart.]]

* TheMourningAfter: It's implied on a few occasions that Negan still mourns the death of his wife, Lucille. In Season 9, he begs Maggie to put him out of his misery so the two of them can be TogetherInDeath. Alpha also surmises that even though Negan is grateful his wife didn't live to see how awful the world would become, he has spent every day since her death wishing he could have died alongside her; Negan doesn't deny it. He finally comes to terms with Lucille's passing in "Here's Negan".

* SubmissiveBadass: Despite being a natural leader with years of experience, and living among people who don't know of his past deeds, he doesn't seem to mind falling under Ian's leadership when he joins the Riverbend apartment community.

** He didn’t want to kill a kid’s father in front of him, hence why he didn’t choose Rick to die from the get-go and settled on the larger, more defiant Abraham.

* FriendToAllChildren: Due to working as a gym teacher before the apocalypse. He respects Carl as a hardened survivor, forges friendships with (and goes out of his way to save) Judith and Lydia, and has a conversation with a boy named Milo that almost leads to Negan escorting him and his mother to Alexandria. Granted, it still doesn't stop him from almost killing Carl in the Season 7 finale, but he only does so because he thinks it will finally make Rick submit to him and takes no pleasure in the act. He also swears to protect [[spoiler:Hershel Rhee]] after rescuing him from the Commonwealth, assuring Maggie that he would risk his life to keep her child safe.

* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: Prior to the apocalypse, Negan was a flawed man. He nearly viciously beat a man to death in a bar fight when he was a {{Jerkass}} to him and his wife and kept talking over the song they were trying to listen to. His twisted sense of humor and justice were already on full display as well, as after Negan nearly killed said man he took his money and re-played the song he kept interrupting, twice. After this felony cost Negan his job (the man had children who went to the school Negan taught gym at), Negan became a lazy slacker who spent most of his days playing video games and making little effort at finding a job. During this period he also started an affair with Lucille's best friend and didn't show much remorse for it until Lucille revealed she had been diagnosed with cancer. Afterwards he did attempt to shape up and be a better husband, a task that was put to the ultimate test with the collapse of civilization by way of the ZombieApocalypse. Negan genuinely became loyal and devoted, his only mission in life to restore his wife's health. Despite this, Negan still had morals -- he was reluctant to actually harm Franklin and Laura for medical supplies, right down to charging into their camp with an empty gun, and admitted that he was hesitant about killing walkers because he was afraid of getting too comfortable with it. Ultimately, he was forced to divulge the location of Franklin and Laura's camp to a biker gang if it meant getting home to Lucille safely, though even then, he clearly felt guilty about doing so. Then he arrived home and found that Lucille, in an effort to end what to her was fighting a losing battle, had committed suicide, making his entire trip for nothing. From that day, something inside Negan was permanently ''broken''. He returned to the bikers' hideout with vengeance on his mind and savagely murdered them all. Several months later, Negan happened upon the Sanctuary and quickly rose his way to the top of the hierarchy to become the brutal and feared leader of the Saviors, a ruthless exortionist group that ran the Virginia area and all its communities like a protection racket. He became far worse than the bikers who he blamed for Lucille's death, going from struggling to kill one walker to bashing in the heads of two men who had a hand in wiping out one of his outposts, all while laughing and mocking the survivors who watched terrified and helpless. He also formed a {{Harem}} of women who were forced to marry him in exchange for supplies and a lofty living position. If they cheated on him, it meant the woman's partner would be punished via a hot iron to the face -- again, a far cry from the Negan who was once deeply ashamed and remorseful of his own infidelity. Negan buried his past self in the facade of a grinning, sadistic cult figure deadset on rebuilding the world in his own image, determined to tune out the eternal shame he felt for failing Lucille by refusing to allow himself to feel ''anything'' ever again.

* HonestAdvisor: An unwanted one to Michonne in Season 9 and Gabriel in Season 10. While they're both annoyed by his BrutalHonesty they are also forced to acknowledge that the JerkassHasAPoint. He also dispenses some brutally honest advice to Maggie in Season 11.

* AdaptationalWimp: Downplayed, as he's surely no slouch in a fight. However, his comic counterpart succeeded in maiming Rick and shattering his leg during their final brawl, forcing Rick to walk with the assistance of a cane for the rest of his life. TV!Negan inflicts no such lasting damage, and is more quickly taken down by Rick courtesy of a shard of broken glass.

* ConfusionFu: This is how he defeats the Reaper Carver, using misdirection and trickery to get his guard down before blinding him with some hidden sand, and then knocking the daylights out of him with the bell he had openly displayed.

* CooldownHug: He gives a much-neeeded one to Lydia when she breaks down ranting about how much she hated her mother.

* CooldownHug: He gives one to Lydia when she breaks down while ranting about how much she hated her mother.

** The Governor's immediate response to hearing about other settlements is to wipe them out because he perceives them as a threat to his power. Negan believes that all the communities must work together if they are ever to restore order to the world.

* CharacterCheck: After most of Season 10 is spent giving him a HeelFaceTurn and "Here's Negan" makes him into a rather tragic and sympathetic figure, he gets two massive KickTheDog moments in the following episode, "Acheron, Part I": [[spoiler:throwing Glenn's death in Maggie's face and leaving Maggie to her fate above a herd of walkers.]] This is probably to show that while Negan may have turned over a new leaf, he's still very much a pragmatic {{Jerkass}} who isn't willing to suffer fools, sad backstory or not.

* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: Prior to the apocalypse, Negan was a flawed man. He nearly viciously beat a man to death in a bar fight when he was a {{Jerkass}} to him and his wife and kept talking over the song they were trying to listen to. His twisted sense of humor and justice were already on full display as well, as after Negan nearly killed said man he took his money and re-played the song he kept interrupting, twice. After this felony cost Negan his job (the man had children who went to the school Negan taught gym at), Negan became a lazy slacker who spent most of his days playing video games and making little effort at finding a job. He also started an affair with Lucille's best friend and didn't show much remorse for it until Lucille revealed she had been diagnosed with cancer. Afterwards he did attempt to shape up and be a better husband, a task that was put to the ultimate test with the collapse of civilization by way of the ZombieApocalypse. Negan genuinely became loyal and devoted, his only mission in life to restore his wife's health. Despite this, Negan still had morals -- he was reluctant to actually harm Franklin and Laura for medical supplies, right down to charging into their camp with an empty gun, and admitted that he was hesitant about killing walkers because he was afraid of getting too comfortable with it. Ultimately, he was forced to divulge the location of Franklin and Laura's camp to a biker gang if it meant getting home to Lucille safely, though even then, he clearly felt guilty about doing so. Then he arrived home and found that Lucille, in an effort to end what to her was fighting a losing battle, had committed suicide, making his entire trip for nothing. From that day, something inside Negan was permanently ''broken''. He returned to the bikers' hideout with vengeance on his mind and savagely murdered them all. Several months later, Negan happened upon the Sanctuary and quickly rose his way to the top of the hierarchy to become the brutal and feared leader of the Saviors, a ruthless exortionist group that ran the Virginia area and all its communities like a protection racket. He became far worse than the bikers who he blamed for Lucille's death, going from struggling to kill one walker to bashing in the heads of two men who had a hand in wiping out one of his outposts, all while laughing and mocking the survivors who watched terrified and helpless. He also formed a {{Harem}} of women who were forced to marry him in exchange for supplies and a lofty living position. If they cheated on him, it meant the woman's partner would be punished via a hot iron to the face -- again, a far cry from the Negan who was once deeply ashamed and remorseful of his own infidelity. Negan buried his past self in the facade of a grinning, sadistic cult figure deadset on rebuilding the world in his own image, determined to tune out the eternal shame he felt for failing Lucille by refusing to allow himself to feel ''anything'' ever again.

* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: Prior to the apocalypse, Negan was a flawed man. He nearly viciously beat a man to death in a bar fight when he was a {{Jerkass}} to him and his wife and kept talking over the song they were trying to listen to. He already had a twisted sense of humor and justice as well, as after he nearly killed said man he took his money off him and played the song he kept interrupting, twice. After this felony cost Negan his job (the man had children who went to the school Negan taught gym at), Negan became a lazy slacker who spent most of his days playing video games and making little effort at finding a job. He also started an affair with Lucille's best friend and didn't show much remorse for it until Lucille revealed she had been diagnosed with cancer. Afterwards he did attempt to shape up and be a better husband, a task that was put to the ultimate test with the collapse of civilization by way of the ZombieApocalypse. Negan genuinely became loyal and devoted, his only mission in life to restore his wife's health. Despite this, Negan still had morals -- he was reluctant to actually harm Franklin and Laura for medical supplies, right down to charging into their camp with an empty gun, and admitted that he was hesitant about killing walkers because he was afraid of getting too comfortable with it. Ultimately, he was forced to divulge the location of Franklin and Laura's camp to a biker gang if it meant getting home to Lucille safely, though even then, he clearly felt guilty about doing so. Then he arrived home and found that Lucille, in an effort to end what to her was fighting a losing battle, had committed suicide, making his entire trip for nothing. From that day, something inside Negan was permanently ''broken''. He returned to the biker's hideout and savagely murdered them all. Several months later, he happened upon the Sanctuary and quickly rose his way to the top of the hierarchy to become the brutal and feared leader of the Saviors, a ruthless exortionist group that ran the Virginia area and all its communities like a protection racket. He became far worse than even the bikers who took something from him all those days ago, and went from struggling to kill one walker to bashing in the heads of two men who had a hand in wiping out one of his outposts, all while laughing and mocking the survivors who watched terrified and helpless. He also formed a {{Harem}} of women who he forced to marry him in exchange for supplies and a lofty living position. If they cheated on him, it meant the woman's partner would get a hot iron to the face -- again, a far cry from the Negan who was once deeply remorseful and ashamed of his own infidelity. Negan buried his former self in the facade of a grinning, sadistic cult figure determined to rebuild the world in his own image, and was content to live that way until Rick Grimes entered the picture.

** He didn’t want to kill a kid’s father in front of him, hence why he didn’t kill Rick from the get-go and settled on the larger, more defiant Abraham.

* EmptyShell: Describes himself as such when he tells Alpha about how he coped with his wife's death. He didn't feel much of anything anymore, and used his lack of emotion as his strength when building the Saviors' empire.

* CrazyPrepared: After the Whisperers' defeat, he held onto his skin mask should the need to use it ever arise.

* CrazyPrepared: Even after the Whisperers' defeat, he kept his skin mask should the need to use it ever arise.

** He's clearly uncomfortable with having to whip Alpha as part of her SelfHarm to make herself "stronger", and as such isn't too thrilled when she tells him that it's now ''his'' turn to be flogged. Alpha even points out that he's joking to hide his fear, which Negan doesn't deny.
** He's utterly appalled when Alpha insists that she must kill her own daughter because it's her "destiny".

* HeelRealization: Finally seems to have kicked in come "The Rotten Core", where Negan has a new wife and [[spoiler:baby on the way.]] He admits to [[spoiler:Hershel]] that he used to be a bad man and probably deserves to die for what he took from him and his mother.
* HellBentForLeather: Barring his stint in prison for most of Season 9, it's rare to see Negan without his trademark leather jacket.

* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: His speech is littered with casual sexism and misogyny and he believes that MenAreTheExpendableGender. Ultimately downplayed, since he doesn't seem to have a problem with women in a position of power, and is not afraid to express his admiration of [[ActionGirl Action Girls]] Sasha and Rosita.

!!!'''Appearances:''' ''Series/TheWalkingDead'' (Seasons 6-11) | ''Isle of the Dead''

!!!'''Appearances:''' ''Series/TheWalkingDead'' (Seasons 6-8, 10)

For tropes related to Lucille Smith, see [[Characters/TheWalkingDeadTVShowVirginia here]].

* SparedByTheAdaptation: In the comics, Lucille ends up getting destroyed when Negan repeatedly smashes her on Beta's back during the Whisperer War. This does not happen in the show, and the original Lucille remains unaccounted for until the Season 10 finale, when she is finally destroyed for good.

[[Characters/TheWalkingDeadTVShowRicksGroup Rick's Group]] | [[Characters/TheWalkingDeadTVShowGrimesFamily The Grimes Family]] ([[Characters/TheWalkingDeadTVShowRickGrimes Rick Grimes]]) | [[Characters/TheWalkingDeadTVShowGeorgia Georgia]] ([[Characters/TheWalkingDeadTVShowMorganJones Morgan Jones]], [[Characters/TheWalkingDeadTVShowGabrielStokes Gabriel Stokes]]) | [[Characters/TheWalkingDeadTVShowAtlanta Atlanta]] | [[Characters/TheWalkingDeadTVShowAtlantaSurvivorCamp Atlanta Survivor Camp]] ([[Characters/TheWalkingDeadTVShowDarylDixon Daryl Dixon]], [[Characters/TheWalkingDeadTVShowCarolPeletier Carol Peletier]]) | [[Characters/TheWalkingDeadTVShowGreeneFamilyFarm Greene Family Farm]] | [[Characters/TheWalkingDeadTVShowPrisonNewcomers Prison Newcomers]] ([[Characters/TheWalkingDeadTVShowMichonne Michonne Hawthorne]]) | [[Characters/TheWalkingDeadTVShowWoodbury Woodbury]] ([[Characters/TheWalkingDeadTVShowTheGovernor The Governor]]) | [[Characters/TheWalkingDeadTVShowTyreesesGroup Tyreese's Group]] | [[Characters/TheWalkingDeadTVShowTheChamblerFamily The Chambler Family]] | [[Characters/TheWalkingDeadTVShowAbrahamsGroup Abraham's Group]] | [[Characters/TheWalkingDeadTVShowTerminus Terminus]] | [[Characters/TheWalkingDeadTVShowVirginia Virginia]] | [[Characters/TheWalkingDeadTVShowTheCoalitionAndOtherAllies The Coalition and Other Allies]] ([[Characters/TheWalkingDeadTVShowAlexandriaSafeZone Alexandria Safe-Zone]], [[Characters/TheWalkingDeadTVShowTheHilltop The Hilltop Colony]], [[Characters/TheWalkingDeadTVShowTheKingdom The Kingdom]], [[Characters/TheWalkingDeadTVShowOceanside Oceanside]]) | [[Characters/TheWalkingDeadTVShowTheSaviors The Saviors]] ('''Negan Smith''', [[Characters/TheWalkingDeadTVShowSaviorOutposts Savior Outposts]], [[Characters/TheWalkingDeadTVShowFormerSaviors Former Saviors]]) | [[Characters/TheWalkingDeadTVShowMagnasGroup Magna's Group]] | [[Characters/TheWalkingDeadTVShowTheWhisperers The Whisperers]] | [[Characters/TheWalkingDeadTVShowTheCommonwealth The Commonwealth]] | [[Characters/TheWalkingDeadTVShowTheReapers The Reapers]] | [[Characters/TheWalkingDeadTVShowOtherSurvivors Other Survivors]]]]]]-]

[[WMG:[[center: [- ''Series/TheWalkingDead'' '''[[Characters/TheWalkingDead2010 Main Character Index]]'''\\

* BreakoutVillain: He gets far more to do than his comic counterpart, eventually becoming one of the show's main characters by Season 10. His popularity led to him being announced to be headlining his own show with Maggie starting in 2023.

* BreakoutVillain: He gets far more to do than his comic counterpart, eventually becoming one of the show's main characters by Season 10. He's also set to headline his own spin-off with Maggie starting in 2023.

* AmbiguouslyChristian: Downplayed. Negan doesn't appear to be practicing any religion, but he makes enough passive comments about God and the afterlife that it seems as if he at least believes in the possibility of them. Then again, when Gabriel says he became a priest because he wanted to bring people closer to God, Negan chuckles and responds, "You gotta be kidding me." He later joins the religious Riverbend group, though it’s unknown if he actually had a HeelFaithTurn or was only there because he fell in love with Annie and wanted a new community to join and was willing to acquiesce to their beliefs if it meant he could stay.