Morgan refusing to fight could cost him friends on The Walking Dead
By Sonya Iryna
The Walking Dead season 7 midseason premiere had Rick and Morgan reunite. But Morgan still refuses to fight the Saviors. Will that end their friendship?
Morgan’s refusal to give up his belief that all life Is precious is starting to cause some serious tension between him and Rick Grimes. Rick and the survivors need King Ezekiel’s help. But King Ezekiel trusts Morgan. And his decision to not get involved in the fight was influenced by Morgan. Rick’s loyalty to Morgan is strong but Morgan is quickly becoming a liability Rick can’t afford to have going forward on The Walking Dead.
In the world that the survivors live in the idea that all life is precious is a great ideal. But it’s not very practical. No one’s hands are clean in this world. Killing is necessary for survival. Because Morgan refuses to accept the reality that he lives in people have already died. In the coming war that belief could cost even more lives.
It’s really selfish for Morgan to stubbornly cling to that philosophy. It’s easy for Morgan to proclaim that all life has value when he’s not the one responsible for saving lives. If Morgan really believes that then he should go off on his own, like Carol, and not endanger others with his refusal to fight.
He did kill to save Carol. But he won’t kill to save Alexandria and the other communities. And he won’t tell King Ezekiel that the Kingdom should fight. That just increases the chances that the people of the Kingdom will eventually suffer under the reign of the Saviors.
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Rick and Morgan At A Crossroads
In the first half of The Walking Dead season 7 Rick was so broken down that he wasn’t able to see that fighting Negan was the only way to survive. Now he sees that. Morgan still doesn’t see it. Maybe it would have been different if Morgan had been in that clearing and had seen Glenn and Abe die like the others did.
But now Rick and Morgan are at a crossroads. Rick is fully committed to ending Negan’s rule and wiping out the Saviors. He and Michonne and the other survivors have come to terms with any moral qualms they had about killing.
Morgan’s refusal to kill has already put a wedge between him and Rick. Now that Morgan has advised King Ezekiel not to fight he’s deepened the divide between him and Rick even more. Rick will always be loyal to Morgan for saving his life when this all started. But it seems that Rick is starting to realize that Morgan is no longer someone who Rick can depend on.
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In the coming war Morgan will have to pick a side. His selfish clinging to an outdated ideal cannot last. He will need to either choose to fight and live or choose to not fight and die. In The Walking Dead world there aren’t any other options.