The Walking Dead: Why Jocelyn’s plan to build an army worked
Jocelyn’s plan to raise an army of feral children to help her survive is actually a very feasible concept in the world of The Walking Dead.
The Walking Dead has certainly featured its fair share of terrifying moments courtesy of some horrible human beings. “Scars” showed fans a new kind of terror with a group of feral children trained to hunt and kill both animals and people with equal precision and without remorse. While it might have seemed a bit extreme, it’s actually more plausible than you might think.
Life in a zombie apocalypse would be much different that any other kind of natural disaster. In order to survive a natural disaster, such as a hurricane or earthquake, people are forced to make tough decisions. Families, especially parents with young children, work together to make it through the disaster so that they emerge together as a family unit on the other side.
Think of the safety spiel on an airplane. Adults are told to secure their own oxygen masks first before taking care of their children. It makes sense. The child needs your help to survive a plane disaster, which means you have to survive.
However, if a herd of the undead is barreling toward your family, most parents will tell their kids to run and not look back.
In thinking about it, this is how The Walking Dead ended up with Enid and Henry and how Fear the Walking Dead ended up with Charlie. Their parents told them to run and hide and they bought time for their kids to escape by sacrificing their own lives.
There’s every reason to believe that this has happened in the world of The Walking Dead over and over again as shelters are compromised and families find themselves stranded.
Enter Jocelyn.
As an archetype, Jocelyn is a survivor first and foremost. Her primary concern is saving herself. She is not interested in protecting the kids because kids in the apocalypse are expendable. There are always more kids that can be found, recruited or, as in Judith’s case, tricked and kidnapped.
The younger the kids, the better off they are for Jocelyn’s plans. Young kids are particularly malleable. Consider child soldiers in present-day wars. They can be molded and shaped into just about anything if given the proper motivation and encouragement. Children can be made to follow a certain set of ethics, which is why Jocelyn forced them to pass the branding test.
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Jocelyn was able to brainwash the children in her care to become the ultimate weapons that utilize their angelic and guileless eyes to sneak past the most steadfast defenses. Once they infiltrate a community, they can wreak havoc before anyone is the wiser.
Though she was only on The Walking Dead for one episodes, Jocelyn definitely left her mark on the show. While Michonne took care of the threat in that moment, it’s not impossible to think there are other armies of children out there somewhere, waiting to make a move.