Similarities between Shane and Simon on AMC’s The Walking Dead

Friends until the end?

Rick and Shane were best friends before the end of the world. When the end began Shane risked his life trying to retrieve Rick from the hospital to no avail and rescued Lori and Carl.

Perhaps Shane took his duties too seriously as he and Lori began a secret relationship just in time for Rick to return.

The secret, Lori’s unwillingness to choose Shane over Rick and Rick’s rise as leader created a crack that no amount of caulk could fix. Top it off with endless tragedies like Carl getting shot and Sophia’s disappearance, Shane felt Rick was unfit to lead and at the point of desperation to kill him.

Simon and Negan were ideally just as tight. The show gave audiences a little exposition on how they worked together to seize the future site of The Sanctuary.

Their respect for each other was what got Simon his powerful position as Negan’s right-hand man. Even though Simon slipped up and murdered all the men from Oceanside, Negan forgave him.

Negan even bestowed Simon several locations and men to lead including the task of dealing with The Hilltop. We saw times where Simon flexed this power abrasively, which might have suggested that maybe he’s not obeying Negan’s orders one hundred percent of the time.

But the more Simon disagreed with what Negan was doing the more dangerous he became. Simon’s plan of taking The Sanctuary for himself started with leaving Negan for dead hoping either walkers would feast upon him or that he’d die from his wounds.

By looking to others Negan wronged, like Dwight, Simon hoped to gain momentum after attacking The Hilltop. When Negan returned Simon’s only option was to kill the man himself.