Unveiling the Enigmatic Backstory of Walking Dead's Villain Unravels Intriguing Carl Grimes Plot Twists
The Walking Dead: Dead City's Villain Backstory Uncovers Carl Grimes Plot Holes, questioning Negan's No Kids Rule and revealing a significant retcon that ties into a larger change involving Negan
Warning: Spoilers for The Walking Dead: The Dead City season 1, episode 4
The Walking Dead: Dead City continues to explore Negan's past, shedding light on his complex backstory. However, this introduction creates a plot hole involving Carl Grimes. Jeffrey Dean Morgan's portrayal of Negan brought both shock and fascination to the series. Despite his initial brutality, Negan has evolved into a captivating anti-hero, captivating many fans who have stuck with the show.
In this episode, titled "Everybody Wins a Prize," The Walking Dead: Dead City follows Negan's journey towards redemption. He is reluctantly forced to team up with his former enemy, Maggie, as they strive to rescue her son Hershel. The one responsible for the kidnapping is The Croat, a former protégé of Negan, who shares many similarities with his former self. Brought to Manhattan, The Croat serves as a reminder of the person Negan could have become had he remained in power as the leader of The Saviors. The episode also offers flashbacks to Negan's past, revealing his decision to turn against The Croat during their time with The Saviors.
The Problem With Negan's "No Kids" Rule In The Walking Dead
In a previous episode of The Walking Dead: Dead City, Negan explained to Maggie the tragic backstory of The Croat, who had suffered great losses before joining The Saviors as their torturer. While Negan admitted to being a monster when necessary, he realized that The Croat took pleasure in inflicting pain. This was demonstrated when The Croat captured and tortured a young girl who turned out to be a scout from the Kingdom, despite Negan's orders to release her.
Episode 4 of Dead City, titled "Everybody Wins a Prize," takes us back to this moment. Negan's former henchman Simon leads him to The Croat's torture room, allowing Negan to witness the girl's ordeal firsthand. Angered by The Croat's actions, Simon confronts him, stating that hurting children goes against The Saviors' principles. However, viewers of The Walking Dead are well aware that Negan himself did not always abide by this rule, as evidenced by his treatment of the teenage Carl Grimes in previous seasons. In fact, there were instances where Negan came dangerously close to harming or even killing Carl.
Explaining Negan Almost Killing Carl In The Walking Dead
Carl was part of the infamous lineup in The Walking Dead's season 6 finale and season 7 premiere. This was when The Saviors captured Rick Grimes' group, and Negan made his brutal entrance. Negan went on to brutally kill Abraham and Glenn, a moment that caused controversy throughout the series. Carl witnessed these gruesome deaths, and it seemed like he could have been the next target.
In that same episode, Negan almost forced Rick to amputate Carl's hand as an additional punishment, but at the last moment, he showed mercy. Perhaps this was all a ploy on Negan's part to demonstrate his power and make it clear that he had no intentions of actually hurting Carl. However, considering the rule established in The Walking Dead: Dead City about The Saviors not harming children, it becomes even more difficult to explain the second time Negan almost killed Carl.
The climactic season 7 finale of The Walking Dead, titled "The First Day of the Rest of Your Life," reached the boiling point in the tense conflict between Alexandria and The Saviors. In a gripping moment near the end of the episode, Negan once again seizes control of Rick and Carl, aiming to execute Carl before his father's eyes. With Lucille in hand and just a split second away from dealing a lethal blow, their lives are unexpectedly spared by a surprise assault from The Kingdom and Hilltop. It appears, at that crucial moment, that Negan's prohibition on harming children has been temporarily cast aside.
Walking Dead: Dead City's Retcon Is Part Of A Bigger Negan Change
The Walking Dead: Dead City is putting in a great deal of effort to rehabilitate Negan's character. Previous episodes have reinterpreted his abhorrent actions as those of a man who despised carrying them out but believed they were necessary to safeguard his community. In the show's second episode, Negan briefly reminisces about his glory days as he executes one of The Croat's henchmen in a horrifyingly dramatic fashion, intending to intimidate them. However, he immediately feels regret when he realizes that Maggie witnessed the entire spectacle.
The rule set by The Saviors regarding the protection of children serves as an attempt to present Negan in a more favorable light and emphasize that he wasn't entirely evil. However, this is contradicted by his actions in previous seasons, which demonstrate that he was willing to cross that line if necessary. By choosing this path, The Walking Dead: Dead City actually undermines Negan's journey of redemption. What made the character so captivating was witnessing his transformation from a monstrous figure to someone genuinely striving to be good. The Walking Dead: Dead City does not need to gloss over his troubled past in order to make his redemption more acceptable.
