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The Walking Dead Villains: Who ISN’T the worst? Part 3

By Liam O'Leary

Norman Reedus as Daryl Dixon, Michael Rooker as Merle Dixon, The Walking Dead -- AMC
Norman Reedus as Daryl Dixon, Michael Rooker as Merle Dixon, The Walking Dead -- AMC /
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Danai Gurira as Michonne, Michael Rooker as Merle Dixon, The Walking Dead -- AMC
Danai Gurira as Michonne, Michael Rooker as Merle Dixon, The Walking Dead — AMC /

Merle Dixon

This, I imagine, is the one everyone’s been waiting for. Hopefully, I will do it justice…

When I first started this a few weeks ago, I made a point of excluding Merle’s behavior from season 3, and only included his antics in season 1, the intent (Though I’m afraid it was somewhat lost in translation) being that I didn’t want his change of heart from season 3 to color people’s opinions of how he was in season 1. Now, that won’t be a problem.

The Merle we met in season 3, on the surface, wasn’t much different than the one we saw in season 1: He was still violent, he was still mildly racist (Or…was he?), only now, he wasn’t high while doing so. He was The Governor’s right man, his head of security, and was perfectly willing to kill Michonne, though he failed, and killed Garguilio (Neil) to ensure that last part didn’t get back to The Governor. Like I said, not much different than how he was before, really.

But, once reunited with The Group and specifically Daryl, we are introduced to a side of Merle we never saw in season 1. While one might attribute this change in attitude to the influence of Daryl, that wouldn’t be giving Merle his due credit.

Danai Gurira as Michonne, Michael Rooker as Merle Dixon, The Walking Dead -- AMC
Danai Gurira as Michonne, Michael Rooker as Merle Dixon, The Walking Dead — AMC /

This “new” Merle isn’t new at all: It is Merle. Watching and listening to Merle talk to Daryl, Carol, Hershel, Michonne, even Glenn and Rick, you see a man who has finally awoken to all the awful things he’s done in his life, all the crimes he’s committed and all the people he’s killed…and he doesn’t want to be that person anymore, even his racism is cast aside: Would a real racist share with Michonne something he only shared with his brother?

The Merle we see at this point is a man racked with guilt, even if it takes the equivalent of pulling teeth to get him to admit it, and he desperately wants to earn forgiveness, even if he must sacrifice himself to do it. A sacrifice he ultimately does make.

Evil people don’t sacrifice themselves for others.

Next: More season 3 redeemable villains

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