The 15 Most Shocking Deaths on 'The Walking Dead'
by Jesse Schedeen
It's a good thing"The Walking Dead" features such a large cast of characters. The show has a habit of killing them off almost as fast as it adds new ones. As its Rick Grimes rides off into the sunset (for now), here are the series' 15 most shocking and disturbing kills.
Amy
As seen in: Season 1 Families rarely have the chance to stick together in the world of "The Walking Dead" so we probably should have known that either Amy or her sister Andrea were doomed in Season 1. It was Amy who fell victim to a surprise walker attack, and Andrea who was forced to put her sister down when she rose again.
Sophia
As seen in: Season 2 Few deaths on this show have carried as much weight as Sophia's, both because of her young age and because Season 2 spent so long setting it up. The mystery of Sophia's whereabouts played out over the course of several episodes before Rick and the gang finally discovered her among the zombies boarded up in Hershel's barn.
Dale
As seen in: Season 2 Dale was one of the last truly decent guys left in a world overrun by the undead, which made his death at the hands of a ravenous Walker all the more difficult to bear. To add insult to injury, Dale only died because he wandered away from the group in a huff after Rick disappointed him.
Shane
As seen in: Season 2 Shane survived much longer in the TV series than he did the comic, but there was only ever one way his friendship with Rick could end. Rick being forced to stab his old buddy in the heart wasn't half as shocking as what came next, as Carl showed up just in time to shoot the reanimated Shane.
T-Dog
As seen in: Season 3 Theodore "T-Dog" Douglas was a good, upstanding guy, and we all know that good, upstanding guys don't last long in this hellish universe. T-Dog met his end at Woodbury Prison, sacrificing his own life to save Carol's.
Lori
As seen in: Season 3 Lori didn't necessarily have many fans left by the time she died in Season 3, but that didn't make her death any less shocking. She died in childbirth, choosing to save her newborn daughter and forcing Carl to shoot her just as he did Shane. It was a powerful reminder that no character is truly safe in this world.
Merle
As seen in: Season 3 Daryl's brother had quite a wild ride, ultimately becoming one of several major characters violently dispatched by the Governor. The Governor's sadistic beat-down was brutal even by the show's usual standard, but the real kicker came when Daryl was forced to stab the shambling corpse that used to be his brother.
Andrea
As seen in: Season 3 You'd think Andrea might be off-limits considering what she had to go through with her sister's death in Season 1, but that only bought her two more seasons before she, too, felt the bite of the undead. A soldier to the end, Andrea committed suicide rather than let herself turn.
Hershel
As seen in: Season 4 Hershel managed to outlive a good number of his family by the time he finally met the stabby end of the Governor's sword. Apparently he had a thing for swords, as Michonne was later called upon to dispatch the zombified Hershel with her katana.
The Governor
As seen in: Season 4 The Governor certainly deserved to die by the time his death finally rolled around in year four. He got the death he deserved, too -- first, Michonne stabbed him and left him for dead, and then Lilly shot him.
Lizzie & Mika
As seen in: Season 4 You can't really blame Lizzie for being unable to cope with a world where civilization has crumbled and the dead roam free. But we never realized just how unhinged she had become until she killed her sister, Mika, in an ill-advised attempt to prove that zombies still have humanity. That, in turn, forced the motherly Carol to make her most difficult kill ever.
Noah
As seen in: Season 5 The likable, funny Noah is another character too good to live in the world of this show. He met his end trapped in a revolving door, with the treacherous Nicholas sacrificing his friends in order to escape.
Beth
As seen in: Season 5 This horror series is all too happy to remind viewers that humans, not zombies, are the most dangerous and unpredictable. Beth's unexpected death was just one more example, triggering a bloodbath at this hospital and leaving the dwindling Greene family short another family member.
Nicholas
As seen in: Season 6 Nicholas had this coming after what he did to Noah in Season 5, but his death was still hard to watch. He repaid Glenn's faith in him by turning himself into zombie food, allowing Glenn to scoot away to safety.
Glenn & Abraham
As seen in: Season 7 The show reached an all-too familiar moment for comic readers at the end of Season 6, when Negan made his debut and chose a victim to bludgeon to death with his trusty baseball bat. At first, it seemed like the show would defy expectations by having Abraham be Negan's chosen target instead of Glenn. But that's what we get for thinking we can have nice things on this show, because then the sadistic villain decided to kill Glenn, too, just to hammer home his message.
