The Walking Dead, Survival Rule Of The Week: The Zombie World

The Walking Dead – Commonwealth hierarchy

Whether people want to believe it or not, human beings have always had some semblance of hierarchy, even going back to our ape ancestors, and it’s very likely that we as a species always will have one, in some form or another.

For much of history, hierarchy manifested as class or caste systems, whereby people of various socioeconomic classes or castes were kept largely separate from one another. When civilization crumbles in the zombie outbreak, much of these systems will crumble with them, likely being replaced by a hierarchy dependent on experience or skills within certain fields necessary for survival or on the trust between certain individuals and the group’s leader. However, there will almost certainly be people for whom, despite the zombie apocalypse, will not only cling to archaic notions of class superiority but also do so vehemently.

Some of this could be because they live within a community that holds on to pre-apocalypse norms. Thus, have no particular reason not to (assuming they’re not encouraged to do so), but others will do it because they’re just jerks.

People like this can actually be somewhat dangerous in an apocalypse, even if they might not seem so at first glance. They may hold these notions so strongly that they will try to destroy or undermine anyone who challenges them.

Think about Sebastian in The Walking Dead: He is an arrogant, entitled, petulant snob who clearly believes that because his mother (And maybe grandfather) ruled the Commonwealth, that gives him the right to treat everyone else like dirt. Imagine, if you will, what someone like him would do if, for example, his mother, recognizing Rick’s experience in leading communities in the apocalypse, put Rick in a command position within the Commonwealth, allowing him to give orders to Sebastian.

How do you think Sebastian would react? Do you think he would accept answering to Rick? Or, do you think he would resent some “hick cop” telling him what to do and try to sabotage him? Just going off of the relatively little we’ve seen of him so far, I’m inclined to go with the second option because he orders Mercer around and treats him and even Hornsby, like an idiot, despite the fact those two are the glue that holds the Commonwealth together, so I can’t imagine him doing anything less when it came to Rick.

That mentality is very That Guy in nature: People who cling to it are so concerned with feeling or appearing superior to others that they’ll risk harm to themselves or others just to maintain it.

Even if snobs you encounter in the zombie apocalypse can’t fight their way out of a paper bag, they can still be dangerous because they’re the kind of people who might screw you over just so they can feel superior, even if they have to risk their safety to do it.