The Walking Dead Villains: Who’s The Worst, Part 7

Jared

My God. There are so many Saviors I could have put on this list — Arat, Simon, Laura, Roy, Gavin — yet, I think I’ve got the right choice here.

In a group like The Saviors, who are, essentially, a mafia, it’s tough to stand out for one’s scumbaggery, yet, much like David, Jared manages to succeed.

We first met him as part of Jared’s contingent collecting from The Kingdom in the very second episode of the season, “The Well”. In pretty short order, we got to see just how much a jerk Jared was.

The simplest way to describe Jared is a bully. Now, he’s not the same kind of bully as David, who simply beats people up because he knows he can get away with; Don’t get me wrong, he does, but, it’s not as simple as that.

While David was a thug, he didn’t revel in being so, not like he did with his more vulgar proclivities; Jared, on the other hand, thoroughly enjoyed being a bully.

As evidenced from our first meeting with him in “The Well”, he made a spectacle of attacking people, particularly Richard, rubbing it in their faces that The Saviors could wipe them out if they so chose. He made a point of provoking people to react, before reminding them that if they did, they could wind up dead. He didn’t simply abuse people, he laughed in their faces while he did it.

Yet, his crowning achievement showed us all just how depraved and cruel he could truly be.

In “Bury Me Here”, after The Kingdom was short on a delivery, it was determined that someone had to suffer. As Richard prepared himself to get shot (Which he expected), Jared, with a smug smirk on his face, shot Benjamin instead.

Now, while Jared didn’t intend to kill Benjamin, the fact Jared shot him is especially telling. He chose Benjamin, because he wanted to make The Kingdom (And Richard, specifically), watch an innocent suffer.

It’s a thoroughly cruel thing to do, which is compounded by the frivolous way in which he did it. He didn’t particularly care who he hit, he just wanted to see the look on Richard’s face when he did it.

Jared is the worst kind of bully. A punk with a chip on his shoulder, gleefully picking fights with people he knows can’t fight back. A cruel jerk who starts trouble because he knows that a squad of heavily armed thugs can back him up.

As I said in the beginning, in a group like The Saviors, already brutal thugs, it takes something to stand out. With his thoroughly grating and cowardly personality, combined with his cruel streak, Jared succeeds in doing just that.

Next: Embracing The Bad