The Walking Dead Theory: Who’s The Rat?

As revealed on this Sunday’s The Walking Dead, Negan KNOWS that Rick is planning something…but how? Who ratted out The Group to him?

“A little birdie told me Rick’s up to no good…” With those words, Negan revealed Rick’s top secret plan to wage war on The Saviors…wasn’t as secret as he thought. Negan knows. He knows Rick is up to something, and he knows it’s not a surprise party. The real question is: How does he know?

The short answer is, well, “A little birdie” told him, but, who was it? Yesterday, I conducted a poll to see who people on Twitter thought was the rat, and, the results have been kind of surprising.

First things first, I fully admit that I limited the options to Eugene and “somebody else”. Why? Well, I figured Eugene was the obvious choice, and I didn’t want to influence any participants into thinking it was any other specific character.

That, in turn, revealed an interesting, and somewhat eclectic, collection of candidates respondents considered, which I’ll discuss briefly. But, first…

Eugene

Okay, let’s address the elephant in the room. With Negan apparently knowing the existence (But not necessarily the extent) of Rick’s plan, the most obvious choice as to the identity of The Rat…is Eugene.

Eugene, since being kidnapped by The Saviors in “Hearts Still Beating” was quick to accept Negan’s terms and, apparently, adopt them as his group.

Furthermore, Eugene has admitted to his own cowardice in the face of Negan and The Saviors; It’s easy to see how he could spill the beans and let Negan in on the fact that Rick is planning something, and did. That’s certainly how it looked in “Something They Want”, anyway.

…But, appearances can be deceiving.

Let’s think about this for a moment: How could Eugene know that Rick was planning anything?!

He couldn’t.

For starters, Rick wasn’t planning anything when Negan took Eugene; Secondly, all the plans that we’ve seen Rick, Maggie, Carol, etc. come up with since, have been while Eugene has been at The Sanctuary; And, finally, no one from The Group has made contact with Eugene since he got grabbed besides Rosita and Sasha, and neither one of them told him anything!

We were just being made to think Eugene ratted out Rick. No, the culprit must be someone else…

Sasha

Sasha is the next most obvious choice for who told Negan that Rick was planning something.

Now, you might be thinking “How?! She didn’t tell him anything!!“, and, in that sense, you’d be correct. She didn’t tell him anything, however, Sasha did not have her game face on, and that told the whole story.

When Negan said to Sasha “A little birdie told me…”, her face flashed, she didn’t even try to act surprised at the idea Rick planned anything, and, immediately, told Negan all he needed: The Rick was, indeed, planning something.

It’s trick you can see on a million cop shows: Pretend you know everything and gauge your subject’s reaction. In this case, it worked, and with the horrified “He knows!” look on her face, if Negan didn’t know Rick had a plan beforehand, he certainly knew afterwards.

However, this goes under the assumption that Negan didn’t know that Rick had a plan and…I’m not quite convinced of that. I think Negan does know, and the source of that information could be…

Negan

Another odd one, I know, but, one I saw more than once during my poll. The theory I saw was that Negan is simply too clever to not be at least somewhat suspicious of Rick.

To be quite honest, this is perfectly logical. Negan knows and has made clear several times that he knows Rick hates his guts. Would it really be a surprise to him, after killing five members of Rick’s group, that Rick might want revenge? I doubt it.

So, this is pretty straightforward: Negan simply assumed Rick was just biding his time, and chose to err on the side of caution and go with it. This could also go along with the Sasha theory, but, in this case, it would merely be Negan using her to confirm his suspicions, as opposed to just fishing.

But, there are stranger theories…

Jadis

This one kind of caught me off guard, if I can be honest. I expected the first three, but, Jadis sort came out of left field for me, yet, I saw her name pop up rather frequently.

Why? Well, I haven’t seen any theories, but, I can certainly see the suspicion. Jadis, and in fact, all of The Scavengers, are weird, not only that, of all the groups we’ve seen since last season, they (And, by extension, Jadis) are the one we know the least about; Of all the groups we’ve met since last season, they’re the only ones who’ve had no dealings with The Saviors whatsoever; And, finally, I think their demand for guns, combined with their numbers, makes some concerned that, with no need to be especially loyal to Rick, that they could become just as much of a threat as The Saviors once Negan is dealt with!

All this together makes the frequency of Jadis’ name popping up not nearly as strange as I initially thought.

Of course, I have a theory of my own…

Theory: Gregory is The Rat

If there’s anyone who would fall under the classification of a rat this season, it’s easily Gregory.

Now, I’ll be fair and give Gregory a pass for the whole “Thinking about stabbing Maggie” thing (If you need to know why, check out my Survival Rule Of The Week).

However, everything else he done is just plain underhanded scumbaggery: He tried to sell out Maggie and Sasha to Simon in “Go Getters”; He’s done nothing to lead The Hilltop or even aid Maggie, Sasha, and Jesus in preparing them for war; And, like a good sleazy politician, he said without saying to Simon that he wanted his help in dealing with a potential mutiny, that’s not really happening.

Yet, he went a step further in “Something They Want”: After his harrowing encounter with a walker (And requiring Maggie save his life), Gregory busted a out a map before calling in Kal to drive him to an undisclosed location.

Of course, if you recall, after expressing his concerns about a mutiny to Simon, ever the helpful guy, Simon told him to come to him any time if he had trouble. Sadly, I think Gregory took him up on that offer…and tipped him off about Rick’s plan.

I mean, do we actually know that The Hilltop and Savior events we saw from Sunday’s episode were from the same day? I don’t remember anyone saying so! For all we know, the events with Gregory took place a day or more before Negan makes his offer to Sasha at The Sanctuary.

I won’t be surprised if either this upcoming Sunday, or early in season eight, we learn that Gregory sold Rick, Maggie, Jesus, Ezekiel, everybody, up the river. The evidence points to him: He had the means, the motive, and the opportunity. In the end, he’s the best choice.

I’ve heard of rats fleeing sinking ships, but, never rats sinking ships, just so they can flee them.

Next: The Walking Dead, Survival Rule Of The Week: Have A Code

So, that is my latest The Walking Dead Theory. What do you think? Who do you believe Eugene is The Rat? Do you think Gregory betrayed The Group? Jadis? Or someone else I didn’t even think of? 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!