Throughout its run,The Walking Dead was ripe with surprising and emotional losses of core characters that were thought to be in it for the long haul. Negan’s barbaric execution of Glenn Rhee in season seven is arguably the most gruesome, even softening the memory of the Governor’s similar killing of Hershel Greene in season four, which comes to seem humane in comparison. Daryl and Maggie grieved Beth’s accidental death in season five, and in season three, Carl shot his own mother in the head after getting bitten by a walker while giving birth to his half sister. Yet perhaps no death in the series was as unexpected as the passing of Carl himself.

The Walking Dead is full of characters, perspectives, and choices, but its constant function over its 11 season run was tracking the moral compass of its leading man, Rick Grimes. Rick faced countless struggles, and new encounters at every turn shaped the leader he grew to be. His belief and value systems fluctuated with his experiences. His son, Carl, observing Rick’s character and trying to make his father proud at a very formative age, had his own extreme ups and downs as he formed his identity and his certainty of right and wrong. So how did the man Carl grew to be- under Rick’s influence- impact his choices and eventual demise?

Who is Carl?

Carl Grimes is the son of Rick and Lori Grimes. Before the outbreak, Rick was already an authoritative figure through his role as Sheriff’s deputy. In the show’s pilot episode, Carl is twelve years old and still holds his childhood innocence. He’s both quiet and playful, not coming into his independence until much later. At first, Carl is an only child, but he takes the birth of his half sister, Judith, very seriously. While he could have blamed Lori’s death on Judith’s existence, he is unwaveringly protective and loving of his baby sister.

As Rick’s survivor group grows, Carl becomes an increasingly central and active member. While Rick faces ethical dilemmas about the lengths to go to for the group’s more auxiliary members, Rick would stop at nothing to protect Carl. In fact, Carl’s growing responsibility as he ages and gains more skills proves to be a struggle for Rick as he doesn’t want to risk Carl’s life by accepting his help. Rick’s overbearing presence forces Carl to be assertive, and sometimes disobedient, on his turbulent journey to find himself.

First Appearance
Season one, episode one, “Pilot”

Final Appearance (alive)
Season eight, episode nine, “Honor”

Played by
Chandler Riggs

Age at First Appearance
12

Age at Final Appearance
16

Becoming a Man

The overwhelming death and danger that run rampant in Carl’s post-outbreak world quickly strip him of his innocence. His first real introduction to his brutal environment comes in season two when he’s accidentally shot in the stomach by Otis, the farmhand on the Greene family estate. He’s rushed from the woods to the house, where Rick gives huge amounts of his own blood to keep Carl alive for what would be an extremely touch and go recovery. The incident causes Lori to reflect on the kind of future a child has in this world.

Why do we want Carl to live in this world? To have this life? So he can see more people torn apart in front of him? So he can be hungry and scared for however long he has before he… So he can run and run and run and then even if he survives he ends up… he ends up just another animal who doesn’t know anything except survival? If he dies tonight, it ends for him. Tell me why it would be better another way.

But Carl does survive the night, and over time he comes to represent both the need and the possibility for a society that transcends mere survival. Carl toughens after his recovery, even going so far as hardening. He learns to shoot a gun, and when his missing friend Sophia is discovered as a walker, he validates Rick’s decision to shoot her in the head. Carl even goes so far as to state that if he had been there, he would’ve done that himself.

Like his father, Carl oscillates throughout the series between an earnest desire for mature society, and a base, animal-like need to protect his people. Carl grows to have the toughness to kill first Shane and later Lori after they are bitten, though strength soon gives way to darkness. He’s deeply impacted by his mother’s death, growing quiet and reclusive despite his love for his new sister. The loss, combined with the constant threat posed by the Governor, leads Carl to kill a young member of the Governor’s group as the boy was laying down his weapon in surrender. No longer clear-headed, grief and survival instincts have clouded his romantic hopes of civilization.

Carl hits another low in season seven. Hardened further after witnessing Negan’s brutal murder of Abraham and Glenn, and physically toughened by the loss of an eye, Carl is now willing to kill not for survival, but for revenge. In season 7, episode 7, “Sing Me a Song”, Carl embarks on what he knows is likely a suicide mission to the Savior’s camp to kill Negan. In fact, Carl’s coldness surprises even the likes of Negan, and this trait is what leads the villain to spare his life.

Damn, no wonder you’re a little serial killer in the making!

How Does Carl Die?

But Carl’s darker moments are born out of his overarching goodness and hope for his world. His coldest days are preceded by calls for peace- in fact, it is often casualties resulting from this very mindset that catalyze Carl’s deep guilt and regression to his heartless instincts to “do what must be done”. It was Carl who urged Rick to save Father Gabriel when he was still a stranger, and was one of the few who continued to help him redeem himself after he betrayed the group.

Despite continuing conflict with Alexandria’s fellow teen boy Ron Anderson in season six, Carl regularly extended a hand to Ron, enlisted his help, offered hope for the future, and absorbed Ron’s violence towards him without retaliation. In season eight, Carl went against Rick’s judgment by offering help to a stranger in need. What Carl and Rick decide to do with the stranger, Siddiq, comes to represent their expectations for morality in the future.

Carl is adamant that hoping for the best while taking violent actions is not enough; the group must take steps towards building the civilization they want to live in, and this means working together and helping one another. Rick is less convinced, and when Negan sets Alexandria ablaze, it is Carl who doubles back to ensure Siddiq’s safety. Carl is able to get Siddiq to safety, but in doing so is bit in the side.

Carl had grown since his self-sacrificing visit to Negan- he no longer wanted to die. But he now also has a presence of mind to write letters to everyone in his life, to describe his vision of a society that he hopes will be built without him. With his strength fading, he says goodbye to Judith, then Rick and Michonne, Finally, he’s left alone in a church with a gun to do something that has come to be very familiar to him; waiting outside, Rick and Michonne hear the shot ring out that indicates his death.

I thought growing up was about getting a job and maybe a family, being an adult, but growing up is making yourself and the people you love safe… As safe as you can, because things happen… There are workers in there, Dad. They’re just regular people… old people, young people, families. You don’t want them to die, Dad. We’re so close to starting everything over, and we have friends now… There’s got to be more places, more people out there, a chance for everything to change and keep changing, everyone giving everyone the opportunity to have a life. A real life. So if they won’t end it, you have to. You have to give them a way out. You have to find peace with Negan, find a way forward somehow. We don’t have to forget what happened, but you can make it so that it won’t happen again, that nobody has to live this way, that every life is worth something.