The Walking Dead: Martin, The Worst of The Worst
By Liam O'Leary
The Walking Dead has had A LOT of despicable villains in it, but the worst, the most irredeemable, might be one most overlook: MARTIN.
In The Walking Dead, there have been a fairly large number of villains that The Group has encountered: Dave and Tony, Shane, Tomas, Andrew, The Governor, The Claimers, “Deserved It” Dan (He gets his own spot), Gareth, The Termites, Gorman, Dawn, Pete, The Wolves, Negan, but, honestly, I believe the most despicable, most irredeemable excuse for a human being The Group has encountered is someone I think many casual fans ignore: Martin.
That guy.
Having read ahead in the comics (I think I might be as far as the mid-season finale, essentially), I know even Negan has some redeemable qualities, but, in all honesty, thinking back on Martin, I honestly can’t find any. What I can find, however, is a lot of really despicable characteristics that, in my opinion, put him head and shoulders above everyone else.
Let’s explore them, shall we?
He’s Violent
While violence is, sadly, something of a necessity in the zombie apocalypse, Martin, somewhat subtly, seems to be a little more gung-ho about it.
For example, in “Four Walls And A Roof”, when Gareth attempts to negotiate a surrender from Father Gabriel in exchange for The Group, Martin, standing at Gareth’s shoulder like The Devil himself, impatiently asks Gareth “Are we done?”, clearly tired of Gareth’s desperate attempt to handle the situation as peaceably as possible (As seen by how reluctantly Gareth concedes to Martin’s prompting).
In this way, Martin reminds me of some sort of twisted version of Shane, growing impatient with his version of Rick (Gareth) and his attempts to try maintaining some modicum of humanity, opting instead for a more blunt (And frankly, violent) approach. He wanted to kill The Group, and wasn’t having Gareth’s suing for negotiation.
What’s more, when Rick and company came to ambush the Termites, Martin, despite the fact that they were outgunned and outnumbered, and was being called off by Gareth, initially wanted to try to fight them, Gareth, meanwhile, tried to negotiate a truce, and be allowed to leave in peace.
Do I need more evidence?
Well, here’s some anyway…
He wanted to kill Judith
“Well, duh.” You might say. “The Termites ATE KIDS.”
Touche, but, think about this for a moment: When they were in the church, Gareth seemed like he was legitimately considering keeping Judith, and none of the rest of the Termites present seemed to argue the point, contrast that with Martin seeming to have no compunctions about snapping her neck.
While the other Termites did eat kids, none of them (Gareth especially) seemed overly enthused about doing so and they certainly weren’t enthused about the process of getting their “meat”; Why else do you think they had people whose job it was to specifically be butchers? Because they didn’t want to partake in the process. Martin, however, doesn’t even care, which, actually, brings me to my final point…
He doesn’t care. About ANYONE.
This, honestly, might be the worst attribute Martin possesses.
Now, this isn’t some kind of badass “I don’t give a shit!” attitude like Daryl had in the first season, when he just casually shot a walker in the head while everyone else freaked out, no, this is a “I couldn’t care less about what happens to the people around me.” attitude.
For example, when Carol and Tyreese first stumble upon him outside of his post, he’s ghoulishly calling dibs on Carl’s hat, why? Because he doesn’t care.
“Of course he doesn’t! He’s planning on EATING HIM!”
True, but, let’s think about it for a second, why does Gareth seem bothered by the cannibalism, but Martin doesn’t? Because Gareth, on some level, still sees the people they eat as human beings (As evidenced by his conversations with Bob). Martin does not.
In fact, Martin doesn’t even care about the rest of the Termites, he even told Tyreese that they’re not his friends “…They’re just…assholes I stay alive with.”
And this, really, is my point: While people like The Governor or Negan might be cruel or ruthless, somewhere, deep down inside them, is someone who has some concern for other people, Martin…doesn’t.
He doesn’t care about anybody. This isn’t even some sort of ultra selfish streak or cowardly streak like Nicholas or Pete, this is a person who is completely detached from everyone.
What’s worse still is, he isn’t disturbed in any discernible way. The Governor, for example, clearly had become a megalomaniac, obsessed with controlling everything around him; This seems to have stemmed from his guilt over failing to protect Penny, but Martin seems otherwise…normal.
I could almost forgive him being crazy, because I could try to reason that, if he weren’t cracked, he might be a decent person, but, Martin seems perfectly sane, which means all the cruel, violent, barbaric things that he does or tries to do…is just him. That’s how he is.
Martin is the sort of person who might have tried to sell out the Termites to Randall’s group if he thought he could get away with it.
He’s the sort of person who would have sold out whoever he was with when he arrived at Terminus to spare himself and get “free food”.
The sort of person who can do all manner of cruel, heartless, and depraved things, not because he’s crazy or warped, but, simply because he doesn’t care enough about other people to have it bother him.
If that isn’t evil…I don’t know what is.
Next: The Walking Dead Theory: Enter The Flu
So that is my case against Martin, the most despicable person in The Walking Dead. Do you agree? Disagree? Let me know! 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!