The Walking Dead: We are more Eugene than Negan

The reality of Negan’s Sanctuary is that there are likely more Eugenes than there are Negans, and we’re all probably more like Eugene.

If you’re especially fond of bashing heads in with barbed-wire bedazzled baseball bats, then you might be a Negan. However, it’s more than likely that we’re all a little more Eugene than we’d care to admit.

Dwight said it best during his confrontation with Rick in the Alexandria jail cell. The workers at the Sanctuary are there under duress. They don’t want to be there, but they have two choices: Fall in line, or die. Given the choice, falling in line seems to be the key to self preservation, even if it means doing things we don’t want to do.

When Negan brought Eugene to the Sanctuary, he already knew that he was going to convert Eugene to Team Negan. In the Sanctuary, there are the workers, and then there are those fortunate ones who fall into the Team Negan category who get to live the high life.

Not all of the people in the Team Negan system want to be there. We know Dwight surreptitiously defected, and we also know that Gavin isn’t thrilled to be on Team Negan either. (Gavin does, however, get to get away from the Sanctuary as one of Negan’s lieutenants)

Eugene is getting a lot of flack for betraying his friends in Alexandria, but I’m still maintaining that Eugene is up to something. While he may not be the rocket scientist he claimed to be, he’s smarter than he lets on. At the core of his plan is to stay alive. Perhaps he’s holding out hope that Negan will be defeated and he’ll be free. Or perhaps he’s making sure there are ways that his Alexandria friends can crack into the Sanctuary through holes in the defenses of his making. (I’m calling this my Death Star theory)

Next: The Walking Dead: Is Eugene building a Death Star?

It’s not clear yet whether or not Eugene really betrayed everyone in Alexandria. He must still care about them, because Negan allows him to try to convince his friends to disarm. He tells Sasha that he doesn’t want her to die, even though he knows that she doesn’t want to be on Team Negan. That tells us that Eugene must still care on some level.

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When faced with the decision to live by falling in line, or dying, most of us will choose life. Like as not, that makes us all more Eugene.