The Walking Dead Villains: Who ISN’T The Worst, Part 7

Gavin

Yeah…I’m not defending Jared, either. I honestly don’t think I can.

Let me put it this way: When Gavin yelled at Jared, the look on Jared’s face was of a teenager saying “Jeez! What are you getting so bent about?!”

In summary: He’s a cruel little punk. I’m sad that Richard won’t get a chance to kill him to death. The end.

Now, onto a much better representative for The Saviors, Gavin.

Gavin is the commander of a detachment of Saviors, who’s primary job appears to be collecting from The Kingdom.

Unlike Negan, or Simon, or Paula, Gavin largely seems to avoid resorting to violence if he can. Under normal circumstances, this wouldn’t be anything of note. But, remember, ever since we met Bud in season six, it appears to be standard operating procedure for The Saviors to kill at least one member of a group as a show of resolve.

The history of The Saviors, or at least, the pieces we’ve heard, have helped back this up. In Jesus’s account of The Hilltop’s first meeting with The Saviors, he said they murdered a sixteen year old boy to show how serious they were. Similarly, Beatrice told Tara how The Saviors murdered every male over the age of ten in an attempt to get the women to comply with their demands.

With this being the reputation of The Saviors, to find someone so high up within their ranks be so unwilling to follow that example is remarkable.

But, what may be even more remarkable is Gavin’s apparent desire to have much more diplomatic relationships with the communities he collects from. Gavin willingly complied with Ezekiel’s request that all exchanges be carried out away from The Kingdom. If what we’ve learned this season is any indication, this is a rare concession, indeed.

Gavin seems to want a kinder, gentler relationship with those he collects from. He appears to want this so much, that he seemed pained by having to take a harsher stance with Ezekiel in “Bury Me here”.

So strong is Gavin’s apparent desire for peace that he was visibly upset to discover his attempt to lay down the law resulted in Benjamin’s death.

While other Saviors (Like Jared) might not have cared, Gavin did. He knew he couldn’t fix the problem, but he was intent on trying to make amends, even forcing Jared to walk back to headquarters, threatening to kill him if he protested.

While The Saviors are akin to a mafia, Gavin stands out as a lieutenant who breaks the mold. Whereas guys like Jared and David are thugs, and Paula was callous, Gavin stands in stark contrast to them. He serves, I think, as the embodiment of the idealized version of The Saviors Negan preaches. He comes with the mission of restoring cooperation, rather than extortion.

In a world so full of bullies, creeps, and thugs, it’s nice to see halfways decent people can still be voices of reason. Let’s hope Gavin doesn’t get killed in the war, the world will need men like him afterwards.

Next: There Is Still Good In Him