Leadership in The Walking Dead: Comparing the Governor, Negan and Rick

The Governor, Negan, Rick: are they similar or fundamentally different?

The Governor and Negan, quite interestingly, are almost polar opposites. They do share a few characteristics: a taste for violence and their hunger for power. However, they operate in completely different ways. Negan uses outsiders for his own benefit, while the Governor often chooses to destroy them. Negan embraces his love of violence and makes it public, even theatrical, while the Governor struggles to keep his violent tendencies under control and keeps most of it hidden – except for the cathartic entertainment of the fighting pits.

Rick and Negan have often been compared, but it is difficult to see many similarities between them, apart from their readiness to sometimes use violence to get what they want. Rick does not have Negan’s sadistic tendencies, nor does he deliberately use violence as a means to control people through fear.

If anything, Rick is probably much closer to the Governor. Sure, he does not have the same ability, nor the same desire, to manipulate people as the Governor. However, they share several common points: they are both naturally attracted to positions of power, have the charisma necessary to make people follow them, and have a “beast” in them that sometimes drives them to savagery. In a way, the Governor could be a more psychopathic version of Rick, an image of what Rick might be if he lost his ability to rein in “crazy Rick” – maybe what Rick could have become if he had lost Carl and Judith as well as Lori?

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What really sets Rick apart from the Governor may be, among other things, the support of his friends. Apart from Milton, the Governor is rather isolated and his many secrets create a distance with those around him. Rick, by contrast, always has a trusted friend who can advise him, question his decisions or reassure him – Hershel, Daryl, Michonne and even Carl have all occasionally played a part in keeping him sane.

What do you think? Do you see other similarities or differences between these three characters?