How did Ofelia die in Fear the Walking Dead?

Fear the Walking Dead’s most recent episode was titled “Ofelia,” which is the name of Daniel Salazar’s (Rubén Blades) daughter in the series. Mercedes Mason portrayed this character until her death in season 3, but how did she die?

Ofelia is first introduced in season 1, episode 2, “So Close, Yet So Far.” Her father allows Travis Manawa (Cliff Curtis), his son Chris (Lorenzo Henrie), and Chris’ mother, Liza (Elizabeth Rodriguez), to seek shelter in his barbershop. This is during the very beginning of the outbreak, and Travis explains that the victims of the virus “Come back.”

Fear the Walking Dead did an outstanding job portraying what the beginning of a zombie outbreak could look like. It was very chaotic while people tried to figure out what was happening. Ofelia was very protective of her parents and believed them to be naive about things in the world. She sadly lost her mother in these early days.

Fear the Walking Dead Ofelia (Ophelia)

In season 2, Ofelia believes she loses her father in a fire at the Abigail Vineyard. This leads her to eventually leave Madison’s (Kim Dickens) group, and she ends up alone, wandering in the desert. She is saved by a man named Qaletaqa Walker (Michael Greyeyes), and she joins him where he is chief of the Black Hat Reservation.

Her whereabouts are unknown until season 3, episode 7, “Unveiling,” where she is reunited with Alicia, who has come to the reservation. During this time, Alicia and her family live on the Broke Jaw Ranch, enemies of Walker’s Black Hat Reservation. They try to work to bring peace between these two groups, but it never happens.

Madison discovers that Daniel is alive and tells Ofelia. As they are traveling to meet him, it is discovered that Ofelia was bitten on the shoulder. She begs Madison to take her to her father. They do everything they can to get her to Daniel, but Ofelia dies as Daniel arrives. He holds a gun on Madison, demanding to know what happened. She informs him that Ofelia saved them but was bit in the process. As she tries to comfort him, he tells her to get away or he will kill her. She leaves knowing they are done. He shoots Ofelia in the head to ensure she doesn’t reanimate.

The story of Daniel and Ofelia was such a sad one as they never understood one another when they were in each other presence. Daniel kept his past a secret from his daughter to protect her, and after the death of his wife was forced to deal with the trauma of his past alone. When the outbreak occurred, Daniel was required to use the skills he acquired in the  Salvadoran Junta and CIA to protect his daughter and the others. Ofelia felt she didn’t even know the man she called father, but in the end, Ofelia was looking forward to getting to know him.

Follow Undead Walking on Twitter and sign up for the once-daily Undead Walking newsletter to avoid missing out on all things in The Walking Dead universe.