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The Walking Dead: It’s not Aaron’s fault

By Susie Graham

Aaron and Daryl. The Walking Dead - AMC
Aaron and Daryl. The Walking Dead - AMC /
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Season 6 of The Walking Dead continued with The Wolves infiltrating Alexandria and attacking while most of the warrior members of the group were out drawing away the walker herd.

Recently, I wrote about the idea of assigning blame for bad events in life and why we seem to feel guilty for actions or inaction that seem to be dominoes in the series of events leading to the bad main event. I contend that the only truly responsible parties are the ones that perpetrate the actual misdeeds.

It’s natural to feel guilty or responsible for what seem like inciting events, but I don’t think we can’t be held responsible for unforseen consequences of our actions unless they are the direct cause of harm. If we hit the car in front of us because we don’t stop fast enough, we are responsible. If another car hits someone because we left 5 minutes earlier than we usually leave for work and weren’t at that corner that day, etc. You see where I’m going,

Aaron. The Walking Dead - AMC
Aaron. The Walking Dead – AMC /

Aaron dropped his backpack after being attacked by a huge walker herd that was, ironically, part of a booby trap left by the Wolves. Aaron and Daryl were always out recruiting other people for Alexandria. They were lucky to make it out alive. Even if Aaron knew he dropped the backpack, they couldn’t go back for it.

If he had reported to the group that he lost his pack with the pictures of Alexandria, would they have made a special trip out to retrieve it during all the chaos of Reg and Pete and the herd mission?

Most likely the Wolves would have found them anyway. There were walkers with Ws near the walls. Morgan told Rick about the 2 Wolves he encountered.

So, as I explored in the other blame article, why do we have guilt and blame as a coping mechanism, I wonder? Perhaps, as I thought before, it’s part of the grief process. It allows us to have a place to focus our anger as we work toward acceptance. Perhaps it’s even part of the bargaining phase, only in reverse.

Aaron. The Walking Dead - AMC
Aaron. The Walking Dead – AMC /

It allows us to feel like we can go back in time and make the event not real. If only I wouldn’t have done this then the whole mess wouldn’t have happened. So by feeling the guilt or assigning the blame we can focus on the event not being real.

We create fantasy scenarios in our heads. A few simple new dominoes. If this never happened then this wouldn’t have happened and the bad event would be reversed. It doesn’t work that way. Those new dominoes are not a guarantee.Twenty other new dominoes would have changed the trajectory of every other thing. (Watch Back to the Future!)

In any case, I don’t believe Aaron is responsible for the Wolves being who they are or for the Wolves attacking. The accident of him dropping his backpack made it easier for them to find Alexandria. Just like if you lose your wallet, it makes it easier for criminals to steal your money or your identity or find your house and rob you, but its not your fault that they rob you or steal from you. We need to blame the offender, not the victim.

The Wolves attacked because they are wolves.

Next: Top 15 Reader-Chosen Dramatic Moments from Season 5

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