Rick Grimes shouldn’t kill Negan on The Walking Dead

Negan deserves to die for what he has done so far, but it might be in Rick’s best interest not to kill the leader of The Saviors on The Walking Dead.

Negan’s list of crimes is long on The Walking Dead. He’s killed a lot of people, including Glenn and Abe. He gets a pass for killing Spencer because Spencer deserved it. But he’s also a brutal dictator who punishes his own people by burning them with a hot iron. There’s certainly many reasons that justify killing him.

But step back from the emotional edge and look at the situation that Rick is in. There are some valid reasons to keep Negan alive too. Assuming that Negan doesn’t die in the heat of battle in the upcoming war Rick might be better off not killing him.

There would definitely be an emotional payoff for killing him. Maggie certainly deserves a shot at him. Sasha does too. But that’s a short-term gain. Surviving in The Walking Dead is a long game. And Negan could be useful in helping the Survivors stay alive for a longer period of time.

Rick’s made a series of bad and impulsive decisions. Killing Negan would be another bad decision motivated by emotion. Sometimes if you want to survive you need to leave emotion out of the equation. Look at the reasons to keep him alive and then decide if Rick should kill Negan or keep him alive.

Negan Is a Strategist

Negan isn’t stupid. He’s actually a very good strategist. His methods are brutal but they are effective and he’s managed to make the Saviors a hard-core fighting force. Rick could learn some strategy from Negan.

His massive failure of strategy at the outpost led to Glenn and Abe’s deaths and caused ripples that are still affecting the Survivors and the surrounding communities. There may come a time when Rick needs the skills of someone with a great grasp of strategy because his own are clearly lacking.

He Can Lead A Large Group

Rick’s always been the leader of the Survivors. But, there’s never been more than a handful of Survivors at any given point in time. When the Woodbury survivors joined the prison the group governed by committee. There was no leader.

Negan’s taken the Saviors from a small aimless group of survivors to a large city sized group with a huge fighting force and a secure town. His punishments are tough but they keep people in line. He knows h ow to effectively lead a large group and keep it growing. Rick could learn a lot about community management from Negan.

Killing Him Makes Him A Martyr

The Saviors aren’t just a community, they’re a cult. Killing their leader turns him into a martyr. That may inspire a Savior uprising or cause other problems down the line. Keeping Negan prisoner instead of killing him will avoid making him into a larger than life figure and keep the Saviors under control. The threat of killing him may be enough to force them not to attack the Survivors in retaliation for All Out War.

Locking Him Away Is A Better Punishment

Negan is someone who lives for attention. Everything he does is gauged to get the biggest reaction.

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The elaborate lengths he went to in order to stage the clash in the forest where he killed Abe and Glenn proves that. He lives for drama. And an audience. Taking that audience away and forcing him to live in isolation is a better punishment than killing him.

The worst thing that you can do to a narcissist like Negan is ignore him. So while killing him may be satisfying if Rick really wants him to suffer he should lock Negan in that cell in the basement and leave him to rot. Days, months even years of isolation where no one is paying attention to him will break him.

Killing Him Won’t Take Away The Pain

Rick and the other survivors may never get over Abe and Glenn’s deaths. But the best way that they can honor them is to survive. As Glenn said to Enid, “You honor the dead by going on. You live, because they don’t get to.”

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Keeping Negan alive is their best chance at surviving. It keeps the Saviors in check. It gives Rick a resource that he can use to lead more effectively. And Negan’s strategies may just keep them alive when future villains come knocking. Because as everyone in The Walking Dead world knows there is always another danger or another villain coming.