The Worst Deaths In The Walking Dead

Carl

GRRRRRR!

Before I get into the meat of this, let’s just recap Carl’s death for anyone who might have forgotten…

In The Walking Dead Season Eight midseason finale, “How It’s Gotta Be”, we learned that Carl had been bitten in the ribs by a walker, dooming him. Though he didn’t formally die until the Season Eight midseason premiere, “Honor”, the fact remained that he was gone, and he wasn’t coming back.

On the one hand, it can’t be said it wasn’t dramatic, because, it was one of the most heart-breaking deaths in the entire series, so, no arguments there.

Also, it can’t be said that Carl’s death didn’t have impact, because, quite honestly, the entire direction of the show has, essentially, been altered by his absence.

…But, therein lies the problem. Honestly, I don’t think Carl should ever have been killed off.

Rick and Carl Grimes were the beating heart of The Walking Dead. Rick was our window into the zombie apocalypse, and, Carl was the future that Rick was striving to protect. Everything Rick did was to get back to his family, and, after Lori died, to ensure that Carl and Judith had a future, by killing Carl, the writers formally started a counter ticking down to the show’s end.

When you look at the familiar characters in the show, Rick is now gone, Glenn is gone, Maggie is gone, Abraham is gone, Sasha is gone, Jesus is gone, and soon, Michonne will be gone. With all these characters we’ve gotten attached to dropping off over the last three seasons, the show feels…rudderless without a direct connection to the character we all started this journey with.

Yeah, there’s Judith and R.J., but, they’re still just kids, and not at a point where they can lead the show. If Rick were still gone, but Carl were still there, things would be much different. We would now be following Carl’s story, where he, as a young adult, is trying to carry on the responsibilities and the legacy of Rick. We would watch as he struggles trying to do what he thought Rick would want, and trying to be a surrogate dad to his younger siblings, while possibly even trying to start a family of his own with Enid. We would see Negan attempt to fill a father-figure role for Carl in Rick’s absence, and see how he reacts to the Whisperers.

But, without that connection, while these days, it feels better than it had in a couple of seasons…it still doesn’t feel right.

What’s worse, just like with Morales, the whole thing feels completely pointless.

Think about it: Henry, who, last season, essentially filled Carl’s role from the comics, got killed off, and, just recently, Siddiq, the person whom Carl got bitten trying to help, was also killed off.

Why? What was the point?! What was the endgame?!? WAS THERE AN ENDGAME?!?!

Honestly…I’m not sure. I’m sitting here legitimately clueless as to what the point of killing Carl off was. Shock value? Because it was a midseason finale/premiere, and a major character “needed” to be killed off? That strategy got a little predictable after the third or fourth time — It’s part of the reason I liked Siddiq’s death so much…I didn’t see it coming — and, if that were the case, it’s a bad reason to kill off such a major character! Which brings me back to the question: WHY?

Without Rick and (More importantly for this discussion) Carl, The Walking Dead has almost completely lost it’s roots. If the show gets to a point where the longest tenured characters are Rosita and Eugene, it’s going to be in serious trouble. Yes, Daryl and Carol are still there, and yes, Negan is a fun character, but, if they go…then what? I don’t know, but, what I do know is that, if Carl were still on the show, we wouldn’t have to worry about it, because, I think, its future would be assured.

Look, death is going to happen in The Walking Dead, I mean…the show’s set in a friggin’ zombie apocalypse, but, just because it will happen, doesn’t mean it should make us want to pull our hair out in rage when it does. Yeah, a “good” character death is supposed to make you angry, but, it’s supposed to make you angry at the villain who kills them, not at the show for how stupid the decision was!

There are better ways and times to kill off characters. If nothing else, I hope others see this and learn that handling a character’s death, whether in The Walking Dead universe or not, should not be done in the ways I addressed here. You can’t set your audience up to invest in characters and storylines, and then pull the rug from under your characters, your storylines, and most importantly, your audience.

But, these are just my picks. What do you guys think? Do you agree? Disagree? Do you think there are characters who had worse deaths? I’m curious to hear! And, if you enjoyed this and want to learn how to avoid the “worst” death in a zombie apocalypse (I.E. Nearly any kind of death), then why not pick up a copy of my book, The Rules: A Guide To Surviving The Zombie Apocalypse! You can also get it at Amazon here, on iTunes here!