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

Who is the most redeemable?

Let me begin this conclusion by saying that, if you’re expecting a defense for Jadis, don’t get your hopes up. What little we saw of Jadis wasn’t terribly redeeming.

Even before her betrayal, her interactions with The Group weren’t terribly benevolent. The Scavengers were the very model of neutrality: They didn’t care about The Group’s conflict with The Saviors one way or the other; The only reason they decided to help was because they were, essentially, mercenaries.

When you combine this with Jadis’s more nefarious behavior, it makes defending her extremely difficult. As such, I’ve chosen to devote my energies to determining who amongst our candidates is the most redeemable, instead.

After looking over our all of our candidates, I think that the most redeemable amongst them is Richard.

I know, I know, he was willing to sacrifice Carol, and his stupid plan got Benjamin killed. I won’t deny these things, but, think back to why he was doing it.

For Richard, he lost his family because of his failure to act. To him, sloth was the downfall of everyone he loved. If only he had acted when he had the opportunity to, his family might have survived.

With that lesson firmly entrenched in Richard’s mind, he desperately wanted to prevent a similar fate from befalling his new friends at The Kingdom. Richard was not going to sit idly by a second time and watch more good people die an untimely death.

So, when The Saviors came around, Richard knew things would not end well. He assumed, correctly, that sooner or later, The Saviors’ demands would get worse and they would eventually escalate to violence. He believed that the only way to avoid disaster was to do something.

He wanted to have Morgan and Carol help him make King Ezekiel realize that The Kingdom’s deal with The Saviors was not going to last, and that they needed to attack while The Saviors weren’t expecting it.

Sadly, what Richard was asking was impossible, and Morgan and Carol shot down his idea.

Yet, Richard knew that, simply because no one would go along with his ideas didn’t mean the threat that made him think of them was gone.

Everything he conceived of following this was based on his realization that the only way Ezekiel would take the risk necessary to defend The Kingdom was by seeing just how violent The Saviors could be.

Yes, he was willing to sacrifice Carol, but, he was also willing to sacrifice himself. Richard cared so much for The Kingdom, its people, and what it represented, that he believed no price was too high in the attempt to protect it.

The only way to do that was by spurring The Kingdom into action. Richard believed that if he needed to die in order for The Kingdom to be ready to defend itself, it was a sacrifice worth making.

And, that, in the end, is why I chose Richard. His actions weren’t ones of selfishness, but selflessness. Richard cared enough about his friends that he was willing to die to save them. I won’t deny he was reckless, but, considering his past, I can forgive it. After losing so much through sloth, I can forgive Richard having an excess of vigilance.

But, what do you think? Do you agree? Do you disagree? Am I crazy? Was there someone you think should have been on this list? Who do you think was the most redeemable villain of season seven of The Walking Dead? Let me know in the comments!!

Next: The Walking Dead Villains: Who ISN'T 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!