Fear The Walking Dead Theory: Why Virginia Killed Her Parents

Things have changed very quickly over the last two episodes of Fear The Walking Dead: First, Dakota murdered John, and just this week, June turned around and murdered Virginia.

Dakota killed John because she was afraid that, as soon as he realized that she had murdered Cameron, he would rat her out to Morgan, who would force her to go back to Virginia, her older sister, whom she vehemently hated.

We know that Virginia murdered her own parents, but why? I might know why in this week’s Fear The Walking Dead Theory.

On the other side of the coin, June killed Virginia because, after realizing that Virginia was Dakota’s mother (Not her sister) and learning that Virginia knew that Dakota had murdered Cameron (Which, ultimately, led to John’s death), she determined that Virginia needed to pay for failing to reign her daughter in and getting John killed.

But why? Why was the relationship between Dakota and Virginia so bad that Dakota would rather murder innocent people than being forced to stay with her “sister” more than she had to?

Because Virginia had murdered (As far as Dakota was concerned) their parents.

Ooookay, but I ask again: Why?

Virginia was pretty vague about all of that; in fact, she never actually admitted to doing it — For a moment, I honestly thought Dakota lied about that — all she said was, “They did not protect me. They did not protect you.“

…Huh. That doesn’t give us very much to go on.

Alright, let’s take a step back: What do we know about Virginia and Dakota’s family? We know that Virginia’s was a corporate efficiency expert before the outbreak, we know that Dakota’s in her mid-to-late teens, Virginia’s somewhere in her thirties(?), we know that, according to Virginia, her parents didn’t protect her or Dakota, we know that Virginia is Dakota’s mother. We have no mention of who Dakota’s father was. That is all we know. Like I said: Not much to go on.

Though, I do have one idea that’s been swirling around in my head. It’s a long shot, but I can see how it might fit…

Fear The Walking Dead Theory: Virginia’s family was part of a cult.

I know, I know: It’s crazy.

You’re probably right! I have nothing to say that makes this definitive, but certain elements of Virginia’s story just fit.

Firstly, we know that there’s a weirdo cult in the general area, the people going around writing “The End Is The Beginning” all over Texas (Whom I’ve dubbed “The Beginners”). We also have reason to believe that this cult has been around for a long time, going back at least to the 1970s, meaning there would be plenty of time for Virginia’s parents to fall in with such a group.

Secondly, some cult leaders have been known (Or at least suspected) to engage in sexual relations with members of their cult, even members who are teenagers. Assuming this is the case, it would be a good reason for the relatively small age gap between Virginia and Dakota.

Thirdly, in instances where cult leaders have had relations with younger members of the cult, this is often done either with the ignorance of the parents, or more frighteningly, with the parents’ consent. This could very well be what Virginia meant when she told Dakota that her parents didn’t protect her.

Now, I know that Virginia tells Dakota that her parents were ashamed, but…we never find out what they were ashamed of. Maybe Virginia was impregnated by another teen within the cult. For all we know, maybe that is why they were ashamed: Because she had sex with another cult member other than the leader; If they were the kind of cult where the leader did such things, Virginia getting pregnant from someone else would probably be quite embarrassing for her parents.

If Virginia’s parents were Beginners (Or the precursor to them), I imagine that, probably after Dakota was born, Virginia broke away to go to school and start her career, but, once the outbreak started, she tried to retrieve her family, only to discover her parents either getting way too into the implications of the outbreak — The whole “The End Is The Beginning” stuff —  or worse (Unbeknownst to Dakota, of course), were grooming Dakota to fill the role with the cult leader originally intended for Virginia (That might have been what Virginia was talking about when she mentioned “…What happened to me…”). If either of those were the case, it suddenly makes sense why Virginia might murder her own parents.

Is this why Virginia murdered her parents? Sadly, we may never find out. Hell, with Virginia dead, we never even got to see her and Morgan discuss The Beginners, who, by this point, both have had run-ins with and are due to become a serious mutual enemy, so, if even that important info is never shared, we can’t expect anything else. But, when you consider all the breadcrumbs the showrunners have given about The Beginners since the season started, it wouldn’t surprise me if they turned out to be involved this deep in Virginia and Dakota’s story, too.

But, what do you think? Do you think the reason Virginia killed her parents was that they were part of a cult? Do you think that they might have been part of what would become The Beginners? Do you think any of this will play a role with Dakota or Morgan’s group later in the show? Let me know in the comments! And, if you want to hear my theories on how to survive a zombie apocalypse in the real world, why not pick up a copy of my book, The Rules: A Guide To Surviving The Zombie Apocalypse! You can also find it at Amazon here, and on iTunes here!