Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Negan in The Walking Dead
Credit: AMC
It was the dead of night. A group of survivors had set up an outpost to keep watch over their territory, serving as both a safe house and a resupply base. There were several of these dotted around the region, and they were instrumental in keeping the group safe from both human threats and zombies.
But that night, as most of the outpost’s residents lay sleeping, killers arrived, shrouded in the cover of darkness. The assassins, hired by another community to do their dirty work, acted swiftly and without mercy. They dispatched the lookouts positioned around the satellite outpost and snuck into the facility. Soon, the murderous invaders were inside the outpost barracks, knives drawn. Quietly, they set about their bloody business, killing their quarry one-by-one as the slept.
They were caught in the act and a massive gunfight ensued with losses on both sides, but the attackers walked away the clear victors, with over two dozen of their foes left dead and rotting.
It was a massacre led by Rick Grimes. Complicit in the slaughter: Glenn, Daryl, Morgan, Jesus and many others. In another episode, not long after, Maggie and Carol kill another eight Saviors, five of whom are burned to death. There were other victims—including over half a dozen killed by Daryl with a rocket launcher—before Negan finally rallied his Saviors and corralled Rick’s people into what is known as The Lineup.
The dead included men and women, many of whom were likely siblings, parents, friends. They had families and people counting on them, people who loved them. As much as I have had trouble shaking the image of Glenn’s eyeball hanging out of his bashed in skull, an even more disturbing image still haunts me: Glenn taking his knife and thrusting it into the heart of a perfect stranger, snuffing out a life over a feud that hadn’t even truly started yet.
Glenn
Credit: AMC
I have often argued this point, but I wish to dredge it up again in light of The Walking Dead: Dead City. Imagine if the tables had been turned, and a group of invaders had snuck into Alexandria and killed two dozen of the Survivors there, many of them in their sleep, all because Gregory at Hilltop had asked them to (or, really, for any reason at all).
Fans of the show would have cheered on whatever revenge Rick and his group could dream up. My guess is that, unlike Negan—who only planned on killing one person in retribution—Rick and Carol and the rest would not have stopped in their bloody pursuit of vengeance until every last one of their attackers was dead.
In the end, virtually every single Savior was killed or driven away, and those that survived the Savior Wars were eventually hunted down and killed as well. Dwight survived, though he and Sherry were both effectively killed by Fear The Walking Dead, which ruins every character it touches.
Negan survived and was eventually even welcomed into the group, but he was always brandished a monster. Unique among all the other survivors, despite blood on everyone’s hands.
In Dead City, we get a glimpse at Negan’s true motivations. When he and Maggie are discussing his old acquaintance, The Croat, who Negan took under his wing until he discovered what a psychopath he was, Maggie says: “It takes a monster to make a monster, I guess.”
“No,” Negan replies. “No. You see, I was only a monster when I absolutely had to be. When I had to put on a show to protect my people.”
Later in the episode, Negan turns that monster back on in one of the most gruesome ways we’ve seen in a long time. And he did it to protect Maggie and their new allies. I won’t spoil it here (you can read my review of the episode for more details) but I would like to point out how much depends on perspective. From the perspective of the people Negan was intimidating, he looks like a monstrous killer. To the people he’s trying to protect, he looks like an avenging angel.
Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Negan – The Walking Dead: Dead City _ Season 1, Episode 2 – Photo Credit: … [+] Peter Kramer/AMC
© 2022 AMC Film Holdings LLC. All Rights Reserved.
And that’s probably how he looked to his people when he killed Abraham in The Walking Dead. At this point, our heroes had killed over 30 Saviors. Negan was responsible for their safety, for their families and friends. His retaliation was downright restrained given the circumstances. Instead of killing all of them—one of his biggest regrets later on—he killed just one (and then one more thanks to Daryl’s outburst). He does it in a gruesome, showy way, but when you really think about it, only killing two people as retribution for the loss of over 30 is pretty mild. Probably too mild given how badly Rick’s group struck back.
This headline is hyperbolic, I know. Negan certainly did do bad things even outside of Glenn and Abraham’s deaths. The harem of wives (though the more I’ve gotten to know Sherry, the more I think she was actually just fine being with Negan instead of Dwight). The melting of Dwight’s face. Throwing the doctor into the fire. He was a monster when he needed to be, but also when he felt like it, and his rationalization to Maggie rings hollow—even if he told himself it was all for the greater good. Not everyone can be so cruel and violent and laugh about it. At least Glenn showed genuine remorse and grief after killing the slumbering Savior.
But really, what would Rick have done if the tables were turned? What would you have done?
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