We explore the historical influences behind all of The Walking Dead’s greatest villains.
ThisWalking Deadarticle contains major spoilers for the show and the comics.
The Walking Deadis one of the most successful shows of all time for one reason: zombies.
Its also a sometimes decent, sometimes great show because it knows exactly how to use said creatures.
In any good zombie franchise, the zombies dont act as villains.
Theyre a force of naturejust lumbering, amoral scenery.
And at the very least, the viewer will be able to relate to their humanity.
Granted, it did take awhile to get to the human villains.
Still, the effect was immediately electrifying.
Since the beginning of season three, with the introduction of the Governor, it largely has.
In the post-apocalyptic world, no one can make it on their own.
Everyone needs a community.
And as those communities spring up, they all tend to have different values, mores, and rules.
Other groups…not so much.
Through seven seasons, Ricks crew has grappled with at least six other distinct enemy groups by our count.
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He can create families out of thin air.
Woodbury, with its white-picket fences and smiling neighbors, might not seem like a cult.
That doesnt exactly follow the rule of law that most societies ascribe to.
So its no surprise that the first antagonist group presented inThe Walking Deadresembles one.
Congressman who had come to investigate the cult.
As such, real life remains far more hardcore than fiction.
Their philosophy seems to be travel around and take and do whatever you want.
Their only rule is that as long as you claim a found item, it belongs to you.
And wouldnt you know it, highwaymen who menace the road are indeed a problem again.
Theyre basically pre-history scavengers with an added wrinkle of having one rule: something must be claimed.
In that way, they also resemble some parts of the Pirate Code.
Chief among them, however, was usually rules for the division of goods after a theft.
Terminus
Ok, the Terminans are really all over the place.
These cannibals occupy an abandoned train station that theyve dubbed Terminus.
The etymological implications of that phrase alone are incredibly interesting.
A terminus can be a railway or bus station that represents the end of that particular route.
So Terminus literally means end of the line for any of the poor souls who make it there.
So lets get the cannibal portion out of the way now.
Yes, cannibalism is a thing that occurs in the real world with alarming frequency.
Alarmingly frequent in the sense that it ever occurs at all.
Thats not necessarily an ideal fit for Terminus.
One is their location itself.
And as weird as it may sound, murder mazes are not unprecedented in the real world.
One of Americas first serial killers,H.H.
Then there is also the fact that the Terminans actually began as victims.
Terminus was revived under a new philosophy: Youre the butcher or youre the cattle.
In that way, theyre like many prolific serial killers throughout the years.
Terminus is equal parts cannibalism for survival, H.H.
Holmes, and Aileen Wuornos.
Thats how you create a fascinating group of antagonists.
(Which is actually a real hospital in Atlanta.
Surprisingly few of the Google reviews mention being attacked by the walking dead.)
Commander William Adama inBattlestar Galacticaonce said, Theres a reason you separate military and the police.
One fights the enemies of the state, the other serves and protects the people.
When the military becomes both, then the enemies of the state tend to become the people.
They actually have working electricity, some doctors, and some medical supplies.
Unfortunately, all patients and guests must submit completely to the police in charge to pay off their debts.
Therefore, more prisoners = more profit.
On the other hand, Grady Memorial Hospital is just a textbook example of a society under martial law.
And in this new early society, drafting a constitution and stuff must have seemed like a real pain.
So they just deferred to whoever had the guns.
Military juntas leading coup detats happen in the real world all the time.
Grady Memorial Hospital is an excellent example of howThe Walking Deadrelies on its antagonists to define its protagonists.
That sets them in sharp contrast against groups like Grady Memorial.
The Wolves
The Wolves seem like they would be the easiest of theWalking Deadantagonist groups to characterize.
All you gotta know about them is right there in their name.
But for a group of supposedly anarchic, bestial killing-machines, fuck are they chatty.
The new way of the world has made him wild and uncontrollable.
Instead, its more philosophical.
The Wolves appear to be through and through nihilists.
The term nihilism is staggeringly huge.
Its most basic definition is that life has no meaning.
If nothing matters, whats the point of that?
In that example, the Guilty Remnant are actually not nihilists.
Maybe the Wolves arent nihilists either, after all.
Maybe theyre the post-zombie apocalypse version of the Westboro Baptist Church.
That civilization is the Mongol Empire.
Negan and his group of so-called Saviors areWalking Deads version the Genghis Khan and the Mongols.
The Mongol Empire was a powerful society that originated in Mongolia in the early 1200s.
Cities and societies that encountered the roaming hordes and armies of Mongolia had one choice: submit or die.
Most ended up going with the latter.
The Saviors and Negan represent a terrifying threat because theyre just so good…at nearly everything.
Sometimes, a great villain has flaws to make them seem more relatable and human.
Negan and the Saviors belong in the latter category, much like Genghis Khan and the Mongols once did.
Negan is smart enough to understand that violence equals power in this new world.
Hes also strong and athletic enough to be beyond effective in executing violence.
Its like putting Stephen Hawkings brain in the Mountains body.
And we didnt even need a zombie apocalypse to get that way.
The Scavengers
The Scavengers or Heapsters or Garbage Pail Kids are hard to nail down historically.
Thats partly because they have no analog for the group withinThe Walking Deadcomic universe.
Gleaning is essentially a more pastoral term for garbage picking.
Surprisingly, gleaning is actually a recognized right for the poor in Deutoronomy and Leviticus.
The Scavengers arent just a group happily playing around in garbage.
Theyre a formiddable faction thanks to the useful junk-rich area they control.
