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

Jadis

Of all the villains we had in this season of The Walking Dead, Jadis was the most surprising. Jadis may not be a beloved member of Rick’s Group, but, her betrayal caught many of us off-guard.

I suppose it shouldn’t have surprised me. During my poll a few weeks ago, her name kept popping up as a candidate for Negan’s informant. I honestly believed it was Gregory. I still think he visited Simon, but, he clearly wasn’t the rat.

Regardless of whether you suspected her or not, Jadis was, in fact, Negan’s rat. She betrayed Rick even before he met her.

While I referenced it last week, I’d be remiss if I didn’t here: Jadis was a mercenary. From the get-go, Rick should have been more careful trusting her, as she had no real stake in what happened to Alexandria; For example, if walkers devoured Alexandria, The Scavengers couldn’t have cared less.

While it makes for effective mercenaries, it makes for terrible allies, especially when you’re trying to defeat a group like The Saviors.

In hindsight, one thing that is especially troubling: Rick’s fight with Winslow. If Jadis had already made a deal with Negan, then…why make Rick fight Winslow?

Was that just something they did to make Rick think they were testing him? Or, was it an attempt to kill Rick for Negan before the battle even began?

You see, this is where we really get into the meat of what makes Jadis a candidate for this crown. Once you realize that The Scavengers made a deal with Negan not long after “Hearts Still Beating”, it puts all their actions afterward into question.

If they made a deal with Negan, why steal Alexandria’s food? Was Jadis trying to double-dip? Was her plan to get what she wanted from The Saviors, while also extorting Alexandria? Once that thought crosses your mind, Jadis goes from being a simple mercenary to a greedy leech.

This brings me to the actual betrayal itself. Just as The Group was ready to take out The Saviors, Jadis revealed she and her army were in Negan’s pocket. Sasha turning was the only thing that saved people from Lucille.

Jadis’s betrayal caused the deaths of at least a few Alexandrians, and perhaps worse, squashed any hope of making Rick’s war with The Saviors quick.

This means that the war will become protracted, so many more people, good people, will die. God only knows what sort of atrocities The Saviors will inflict, but they will inflict some.

And for what? What do The Scavengers gain? Safety from The Saviors? For how long? If The Kingdom is any indication, whatever agreement they have with The Saviors won’t last for very long. There is a certain Martin-esque “So long as it’s not me, I don’t care” quality to this. Perhaps more than any other group, The Scavengers are out for themselves; Absolutely no one else matters to them.

So…who is the worst?

I have to admit, it’s tough. We had a lot of good candidates this season, several of them I can’t even think of a redeemable thing about!

But, after assessing each of them, I think I’m going to have to go with Jadis. Her aloofness, her apparent sense of superiority, when combined with her actions even before she made a deal with Rick, puts her on another level.

When you see the whole picture of Jadis, it’s of someone who looks at mere mortals like Rick as animals to be toyed with.

If she knew who Rick was from watching him take the boathouse stash, then, she had to have known who he was to Negan. Yet, even though she already had a deal in place, still ended up extorting Alexandria (A lot like The Saviors!).

Why did she do this? I think the simplest answer is: Because she could.

Worse still, I have to imagine that she isn’t naive: She must know how The Saviors operate, yet, despite this, chose to side with them.

This goes back to what I was saying earlier: It’s part of a “So long as it doesn’t happen to me” sort of attitude that reflects a thoroughly selfish and indifferent personality. If we’ve learned anything from Walking Dead, it’s that those types of people prove to be among the worst a zombie apocalypse can harbor.

With Jadis leading what looks like an army of people like that, the choice becomes clear: Jadis is the worst villain of season seven of The Walking Dead.

Do you agree? Do you disagree? Who do you think is the most irredeemable villain in season seven of The Walking Dead? Let me know in the comments!

Next: The Walking Dead Villains: Who's The Worst, Part 6

And, of course, if you enjoyed this, and want to hear my ideas on how to survive a zombie apocalypse, you can always pick up a copy of my book, The Rules: A Guide To Surviving The Zombie Apocalypse! You can also find it on Kindle here, and, on iTunes here!