The Walking Dead' has had fans on an emotional roller coaster since the very start. Even the most diehard fans have probably questioned whether or not they should continue watching once or twice. (I definitely have.) But for those of us who have made it this far, it seems that we have an obligation to see it through to the end, no matter who dies or how wild the plot gets. With season seven just getting started and already beginning with a definitive bang, I feel that I owe it to myself and to 'The Walking Dead's' fan community to sort through the deaths we have seen and recognize those we have lost throughout the last 6+ seasons. In addition, this will be a time for me to reflect on the deaths I can't ever get over.
1. Amy
She was arguably the first major death of the first season, even though the scene included an abundance of screaming, a lot of walkers, and many infected characters. The most heart-wrenching part of Amy's death was her sister, Andrea's, reaction. Andrea strokes Amy's face and says, "I don't know what to do," her hands covered with her sister's blood. We held our breath as we watched Andrea try to talk to Amy after she reanimated. Amy reaches out to touch Andrea's face as the rest of the group watches on anxiously. Andrea pulls the trigger, killing Amy for good.
2. Sophia
After long searches and continued hope that the crew might find Sophia, fans finally discover that she has been kept in Hershel's barn for quite some time. After all the walkers have been killed as they pour from the barn, one remains—Sophia. Her mother, Carol, runs to her, but Daryl grabs her before she can get too close. Rick shoots Sophia as Carol sobs. Although we love the new, hardened Carol, it's sad to think of everything she has been through to make her this way.
3. Otis
Otis accidentally shoots Carl. To make things right, he agrees to go on a raid for medical supplies with Shane in order to save Carl's life. Shane and Otis are overrun by walkers. With both of them down to their last bullet, Shane shoots Otis, steals the bag of medical supplies, and leaves him for the walkers. Otis dies as a diversion in order for Shane to escape.
4. Dale
It may have been a long time ago, but surely we can't forget Dale, the lovable old guy. In the beginning, he was a central part of the group. He acted as a father figure, especially to Andrea and Amy. He was sassy and unafraid to speak his mind. While on patrol, he is attacked from behind by a walker. Although he evades the walker's deadly teeth, his stomach is ripped open in the process. Hershel says he won't be able to save him. Daryl shoots him as a mercy killing.
5. T-Dog
In the prison, a horde of walkers finds its way into the prison. T-Dog's shoulder is bitten while he is securing the gate. When he and Carol run out of ammunition, he sacrifices his life so that she can escape.
6. Lori
After Lori gets pregnant, she counts on having Hershel to deliver her baby. As Lori, Carl, and Maggie run from the horde of walkers that also ended T-Dog's life, she goes into stress-induced labor. When she starts bleeding, Lori insists that Maggie perform an emergency C-Section. She dies from blood loss, and Carl shoots his own mother in the head to prevent reanimation.
7. Andrea
The Governor locks Andrea in a room with the infected Milton. Milton tells Andrea that there is a pair of pliers she can use to get her handcuffs off. She finally clips the handcuffs, but Milton has already turned. He bites her in the neck. She later shoots herself before she can die and come back.
8.Hershel
He was the father figure of Rick's group. Hershel is killed by The Governor in front of his daughters and the rest of the crew. The Governor uses Michonne's sword to cut into Hershel's neck. Hershel falls sideways and starts shimmying across the ground, away from the flying bullets that follow The Governor's act of violence. The Governor later finds Hershel behind a car and finishes the job, decapitating him. For a moment, fans had hope that Hershel might dodge another metaphorical bullet. Then we all remembered what show we were watching.
9. Mika and Lizzie:
Lizzie is disturbed and pessimistic, and she can't seem to grasp how the post-apocalyptic world works. She does not see the walkers as a danger to humans; instead, she seems them as just "different." She has a tendency to name and befriend walkers. To prove that the walkers are still people, she kills her sister, Mika. Carol, afraid that Lizzie might harm baby Judith or someone else, shoots her in the back of the head as Lizzie looks at the flowers that often calm her down.
10. Bob
During a supply run, he is pulled down below the water of a flooded building. He pretends to be fine, but he suffered a bite to the shoulder. Later, he is kidnapped. He wakes up to realize that his captors are eating the meat from his leg. He laughs, knowing that his body is infected. The crew finds him and places him on a sofa. Tyreese stabs him in the head to prevent reanimation.
11. Beth
After spending time locked up in a hospital, her people finally come to negotiate a trade. The woman in charge, Dawn, agrees to the trade but demands the return of Noah. Beth stabs Dawn with a pair of scissors she had tucked away, and Dawn reflexively shoots her in the head. Her sister, Maggie, who had just received word that Beth was alive, gets to the hospital just in time to see Beth's body being carried out.
12: Tyreese
While looking at pictures in Noah's house, Noah's reanimated brother comes up behind him and bites his arm. Tyreese begins hallucinating, Another walker attacks him, and Tyreese shoves his wounded arm into its mouth while he grabs a large rock with his other hand. Although Michonne amputates Tyreese's arm and gives us hope that he'll live, he ends up dying.
13. Noah
While on a run for supplies, Noah, Nicholas, and Glenn get trapped in a revolving door, surrounded by walkers. Nicholas is separated from Noah and Glenn, and he panics, forcing his way out of the door, creating enough space for walkers to grab Noah. Noah says, "Don't let go," to Glenn, but he is wrenched away by the walkers. He is pressed up against the glass, where Glenn has a front row seat to Noah's painful death.
14. Nicholas
Nicholas, infamous for selfish acts, ends his own life in yet another display of selfishness. He and Glenn get cornered next to a fence on top of a dumpster. With the situation looking extremely bleak and not at all promising, he chooses to put a gun to his head and pulls the trigger. As he falls from the dumpster into the mass of walkers, Glenn is brought down with him. We are led to believe that Glenn was eaten alive as a result of Nicholas's suicide. Glenn, however, is able to escape from beneath Nicholas's body and finds shelter beneath the dumpster.
15. Tabitha
Yes, the goat. Eastman went to great lengths to protect Tabitha, even bringing her inside to protect her from the walkers. Tabitha, unfortunately, eventually meet her demise and becomes a walker's dinner.
16. Jessie, Ron, and Sam:
We all knew it was a bad idea to let Sam stay with the group, walking through masses of the dead in guts-covered sheets. Sure enough, Sam begins to panic, drawing the walkers to him. Jessie, as a result, starts sobbing, drawing them to her as well. Ron blames Rick for the death of his brother and mother, and he points his gun at Rick. Michonne stabs him through the chest, and as he dies, he shoots his gun, causing Carl to lose his eye.
17. Deanna
We saw Deanna go from being entirely lost after the gruesome death of her husband to beginning to take control of her establishment once again. When she sees Rick (filled with emotion from the loss of the woman he likes and the injury Carl received from Ron's gunshot) walk outside and start killing the mob of walkers, she joins him. While saving Rick from a walker, she injures her thigh. She later discovers that she was bitten in the process. Walkers break into the house, and Rick and his crew leave to get more weapons. As a final act of defiance, as the herd reaches the upper level where she is, she walks out into the hallway and opens fire on the approaching walkers. Her son, Spencer, searches for his mother in the forest, believing that he saw her during the battle. Carl finds Deanna in the woods and leads her towards Spencer and Michonne, who are out in the forest, and Spencer kills the reanimated version of his mother. Her grave is marked by a "D" that Michonne carved into a tree.
18. Denise
Denise became increasingly braver and more sure of herself as her character progressed on the show. She began a relationship with Tara. After hearing Tara talking about soda in her sleep, she asked Daryl to look for some on his next raid. While with Rosita and Daryl on a run for supplies, they pass a car with a walker inside and a cooler. Denise wants to see if anything is in the cooler, but Rosita and Daryl agree that it's too big of a risk. Denise opens the door while the other two aren't looking. She struggles with the walker but comes out on top. Denise finds a can of orange soda in the cooler and goes on a passionate rant. In the midst of her spiel, a crossbow bolt pierces the back of her head and protrudes from her eye. The worst part might be that she continues to talk as she falls, not even realizing that she has been fatally wounded.
19. Abraham
Season six ended with a huge cliffhanger: Who did Negan kill? Negan's first victim was mouthy, spunky Abraham. Abraham took a blow to the head with Negan's barbed-wire-wrapped bat "like a champ." But, if Abraham had to die, we're all glad that he got three final words: "Suck. My. Nuts." Of course, that was before his head got smashed into a bloody mess of brain matter.
20. Glenn
And, lastly, the one death I will never forgive AMC for—Glenn. After "resuscitating" him earlier in season six when we all thought he was dead during the Nicholas suicide scene, it seems cruel to take him away from us for good so soon after we got him back. Glenn was Negan's other major victim during the season seven premiere. As punishment for Daryl's out-of-line actions, Negan uses Glenn as a demonstration. He smashes Glenn over the head so hard that his one eye bulges from its socket. Glenn slurs his own last words to Maggie: "I will find you." Negan then proceeds to kill him in the same manner as Abraham.
