The Walking Dead: Let Me Take That Death For You

People die in The Walking Dead. But, how many of our beloved characters took deaths…for somebody else?

What do I mean? Well, with there being so many differences between how The Walking Dead comic and the show play out, including (But not limited to) differences in who’s part of The Group, it’s inevitable that a character that didn’t exist in the comics, wasn’t part of The Group in the comics, or one who joined The Group earlier or later than they did in the comics, would end up dying in a fashion largely parallel to somebody else.

A great example of this, which I’m sure we’re all aware of by now, is T-Dog dying in season three instead of Carol. So, in honor of this death (Which will be showcased during the season three marathon, by the way) and the fact that we’re all wondering who Negan killed, assuming it isn’t Glenn, we will look back at every time a member of The Group died in place of another…

P.S.: MAJOR SPOILER ALERT for anyone who hasn’t read the comics yet and wants to. You have been warned.

Hershel

One of The Walking Dead’s most heart-wrenching deaths, Hershel’s, was, in fact, a death for someone else entirely: Tyreese.

In the comics, after attempting to ambush The Governor alongside Michonne, Tyreese got captured. After this, the circumstances parallel pretty closely, with The Governor threatening to kill Tyreese if The Group didn’t let him in. When they refuse to give in to his demands, he decapitates Tyreese without a second thought.

Now, while the circumstances of Hershel’s capture and The Governor’s demands are different…come on: The Governor, with Michonne’s katana, cut off Hershel’s head, just like his comic counterpart did to poor Tyreese.

Do I need to go any further?

Mika

Following pretty hot on the heels of Hershel, we had Mika.

Lizzie and Mika, who didn’t exist in the comics, were meant to replace Ben and Billy, Allen and Donna’s twin sons.

With Ben already having been killed by Merle in “This Sorrowful Life”, his brother not even existing in the show (So far as we know), and neither he nor his father staying with The Group beyond their initial meeting, someone had to fill in for this extremely chilling scene. Enter: Lizzie and Mika.

In both the show and the comic, Lizzie and Ben, respectively, seem to exhibit certain sociopathic tendencies and a general lack of understanding of the nature of the walkers (Yet the show devotes more attention to Lizzie’s disturbance, showing us just how poorly she understands what the walkers are; Ben, meanwhile plays with an already dead animal, instead of killing one).

Ultimately, this results in them stabbing their sibling to death, intent on showing that it will be okay, because they will “come back”.

Bob

Poor Bob, who might be one of the most tragic characters in The Walking Dead, had one of the worst sets of circumstances to befall a character before their death in the entire show.

While exploring the food bank, Bob got ambushed by a walker, a walker which would ultimately bite him.

This, in turn, would lead him to attempt to get away from The Group so they wouldn’t have to deal with him turning, only to get snatched by the Termites, who were kind enough to relieve him of his…so they could eat it.

While they do release him, nothing could be done for Bob, and he ultimately died of his bite.

What does have to do with our topic? Well, this is Dale’s sad fate in The Walking Dead comics. Outside of the environment The Group was in when he got jumped by the walker, everything that happened to Bob, happened to Dale (Who already had his other leg amputated just as Hershel did in the show).

While Dale’s fate in the show wasn’t anything to celebrate, at least he didn’t have all of this happen to him first…

Tyreese

This one’s gonna get me right in the feels…

Tyreese, while having only been with The Group formally for half a season when The Governor rolled into town, dodged the bullet of having his head cut off, but, that doesn’t mean he avoided taking someone else’s death, nor was that death any less tragic.

In fact, it might have been a little more tragic.

Now, while the details are a little different (In the comics, the death occurred when the wall first fell in Alexandria), Tyreese’s cause of death almost perfectly mirrors that of Morgan: Being bitten on the arm by a walker, getting said arm cut off, and dying of the ensuing blood loss (Though, in the comics, Morgan doesn’t have hallucinations/heavenly visions of other members of The Group he watched die).

Whether it’s Tyreese or Morgan in that situation, or any situation in which they die, sadness ensues.

Sam

With Deanna already being dead, and, therefore, being unable to fulfill her comic counterpart’s fate and accidentally shoot Carl, that fell to Ron.

Of course, with Ron slated to shoot Carl’s eye out, someone need to be there to die a horrifying death at the hands of the herd, and ultimately leave Jessie so in shock as to be unable to save herself from them.

That someone, was Sam.

In the comics, with Carl not being nearly as old, neither is Ron, leaving him the same age (With most of the same behaviors) as Sam; In everything but name only, Sam is Comic Ron’s counterpart.

And, with almost no divergence, the two share the same fate: Accidentally drawing the attention of the herd as they desperately attempt to make their way through, and getting thoroughly swarmed. Jessie, so distraught and still holding Ron/Sam’s hand, doesn’t even try to flee, and gets consumed, as well.

It still might be one the most horrifying deaths on the show.

Denise

While I generally hate seeing any member of The Group die (Seriously, while rewatching season one for my Things To Note, I was reminded of just how sad it was watching The Group lose Amy and Jim), there are certain members of The Group I really don’t want to see die (Tyreese was the top of that list), amongst them is Abraham.

So, suffice it to say, I was relieved (Not delighted, by any means) and certainly surprised, but still relieved when Denise received an arrow through her eye.

Why, you might ask? Because in the comics, this is Abraham’s fate: Traveling all the way to Virginia, only to get a arrow through the back of his head, courtesy of Dwight.

While I fear Abraham’s death is inevitable (I think the main picture I chose for this article reinforces that fear), I was simply not quite ready to see him go just then. He’s just too awesome and funny.

I mean, imagine not being able to hear him say “There is a vast ocean of shit you people don’t know shit about. Rick knows every fine grain of said shit.” how sad would that be?

“Extremely.”  Is the correct answer to that question.

T-Dog

What if I told you that T-Dog took Carol’s death twice over? Would you believe me?

Now, with all of the others I’ve mentioned before being circumstances of a show character taking the comic death of another character, you might think me mistaken, as the nature of T-Dog “taking” Carol’s death had nothing to do with the comics.

But, you would be incorrect.

While the circumstances aren’t that similar, it’s difficult to deny that T-Dog, to a certain degree, did, in fact, take comic Carol’s death. Don’t believe me? Look at the pictures:

Now, can you look at these two pictures and honestly tell me that T-Dog isn’t taking Carol’s death. I don’t think the last image we see of T-Dog (Above) was a coincidence.

With it being decided that T-Dog would be the additional casualty in “Killer Within” alongside Lori, I think it was also decided that he would die in a similar manner as Carol did (And, if all other things were equal, would have), and become the first of many characters in The Walking Dead to take a death from the comics meant for somebody else.

It’s funny to think of how the show would have changed had things gone the other way around…

Next: Does The Walking Dead Need Another Shane?

And with that, we’ve covered all the instances of members of The Group in The Walking Dead show taking deaths that belonged to another group member in the comics. Was there any I might have missed? Let me know in the comments! And, if you like this and want to read more of my writings, specifically about how to survive a zombie apocalypse, why not pick up a copy of my book, The Rules: A Guide To Surviving The Zombie Apocalypse! You can get it on Kindle here and on iTunes here!