Is The Walking Dead’s new character Leah a Reaper?

When Daryl left Leah’s cabin in The Walking Dead’s 1018 episode “Find Me”, he was unsure where his future lied. Was it in the cabin with Leah, or out in the wild alone looking for Rick, or back at Alexandria or Hilltop with his family?

By the time he decided his future lay back with Leah,  he returned to the cabin but found the door open and Leah was gone. At the end of the episode, Carol speculated what had happened to Leah – was she taken? Died? Left of her own accord?

Daryl doesn’t know, and neither do we. However, there are a few clues. The main one being that Leah’s most treasured possession – a photo of herself and her son Matthew, is gone. That alone seems to indicate she knew she was leaving, as it seems unlikely kidnappers or walkers would allow her the moment to grab the photo from the frame.

So, if she went willingly where did she go? And will she be back?

Will Leah, the new Walking Dead character from Find Me, be returning as a Reaper?

Well, the second question can easily be answered as Lynn Collins, who portrays Leah, said that she has joined the cast for the final season so we know Leah’s story is not over.

Now, while there is a myriad of ways Leah could rejoin the story, there are a lot of clues pointing in one direction for how Leah returns, and that’s with the Reapers.

The new “big bad” of the show was introduced in “Home Sweet Home” when Maggie returned with the survivors of her village, only to discover that the group that had destroyed her village and friends had followed them to Alexandria.

Maggie didn’t reveal much about the Reapers, only that they seemed to come from nowhere to attack their home. However, the one Reaper we saw in “Home Sweet Home” told us a lot more about the group.

The assassin seems to be military trained, with sniper experience, knowledge of camouflage, military fighting techniques on display, and military weapons to hand.

So it’s interesting that when Leah reveals her backstory to Daryl in “Find Me” she mentions that she had a “squad” she thought of as her family. Some viewers may have missed the detail that she said she had been killing alongside her squad for years before the apocalypse, and when that came they swore to stick together and continuing to fight.

Unless she was part of a criminal gang of some kind, the fact she was “killing” in a squad before the world turned strongly suggests she was in the military, of some kind. And her survival skills alone certainly prove she’s someone who can handle herself and knows what she’s doing.

Alongside Leah’s own testimony to her time with a “squad” suggesting her military history, there are other major clues. In Talking Dead background info was given on Dog, with the emphasis being put on the fact that Dog is a Belgian Malinois, a breed commonly trained as police and military K-9s.

In her story about her son, Leah had said that Dog’s mother was with her squad and was pregnant when they were split up, with Dog being born the day her son died. Thus suggesting that Dog’s mother was a military K-9.

However, alongside all this is the most telling clue about Leah’s military past – Leah’s tattoo. Although it is present and on-screen throughout “Find Me” there is no prolonged focus on it so show us what its detail. But last night, when Lynn Collins was hosting AMC’s Walking Dead Instagram page, a photo was posted of a clear close-up of the tattoo.

The photo was an Instagram story and thus has since timed-out, though FOX TV UK also posted a picture where the tattoo can be more clearly seen (8th photo).

Leah’s tattoo, on her upper right arm, depicts a logo that is clearly meant to evoke the special forces. It looks like a military badge with the words “Fortitudo Saludis” (a possible mix of Latin and Spanish which may mean “a powerful greeting”. I’m sure someone who knows these languages will be able to correct my terrible Google translate skills) surrounding it. In its center, there is a skull wearing a beret, with 3 lightning streaks coming out of each side of it.

The beret-wearing skull very obviously emulates the Special Forces Green Berets, and the lightning bolts evoke the 3 bolts in the Special Forces Airborne badge. Clearly, we are meant to take from this that Leah wasn’t just in the military, she was in Special Forces of some kind.

When Carol and Daryl come across Leah’s cabin, one of the identifying features is 3 wrought iron nails protruding from the door of the cabin, something which Daryl sees at another point in the woods.

Could these iron nails be spikes, used by Leah and her squad to symbolize the 3 lightning bolts on their badge? Possibly a way to signal to other Special Forces members she is one of them?

It should also be noted that the Swiss Army knife that Leah uses to cut Daryl free from his bondage on their first meeting has the initials “F.S.” on it – Fortitudo Saludis. This knife appears to be a plot point that will have importance down the road, as 2 official photos for “Find Me” and “Diverged” show Daryl giving Carol this knife and then show Carol with the same knife at a solar panel at Alexandria.

If that knife stays with Carol, does that mean Carol is going to come across Leah or perhaps one of Leah’s “squad” who will recognize it?

Of course, while all of this shows Leah was in the military, that doesn’t necessarily she’s a Reaper. It’s entirely conceivable she shows up again as Daryl’s long-lost girlfriend, making an awkward but happy reunion.

However, if the quotes from Norman Reedus (Daryl) about the story are anything to go by, it doesn’t seem like it’s going to be all sunshine and roses. In a variety of different interviews he has said that things in the story which seem bad might be good, and vice versa, and that the story “may go someplace else”.

"“I woke up this morning to a lot of messages being like, ‘How could you be with her? What’s wrong with you?’ And I’m like, ‘Well, it’s not really what it seems to be.” – Norman Reedus, EW"

Whether Leah is a Reaper or not, like the Reapers she has certainly caused an explosion with her arrival, and it stands to reason if she returns again the impact may have a bigger shock wave than we originally imagined.

Next up on The Walking Dead, we will see an Aaron and Gabriel-centric episode, “One More.”  This episode will air on AMC March 14, and AMC+ viewers can stream it on March 11.