Rick Grimes

Rick is typically calm, smart, and a good friend and father, but he will often stubbornly cling to his strong personal moral code, which has resulted in numerous bad calls and extra stress within the group. Rick's greatest fault, perhaps, is his uncanny ability to place responsibility on himself and set for himself goals that are impossible to reach. This has, on various occasions, put Rick at odds with both Lori and Shane, and often weighs heavily on his mind. Despite his faults, his combat skill and general care for all members of the group have led him to be looked up to, and allowed him to take the leadership role within the group. Rick is strongly non-religious, admitting to never have been much of a believer and instead puts his faith in his family and the group members around him. He also appears to view religion and belief in God as an interference and waste of time.

He is shown to be incredibly protective of his group and their well-being, having engaged numerous threats, even other living people, to keep them safe. His moral compass is challenged in many ways and he, in an attempt to prevent more death and loss, begins to shut everybody else out when he is forced to kill Shane.

By Season 3, Rick had become battle hardened after months on the road and is still distant from members of the group, mostly Lori. Despite this, Rick is able to use his leadership skills and combat abilities to keep the group alive for many months and leads the group in taking the abandoned and overrun West Georgia Correctional Facility, using desperate survival tactics they had come to learn on the road all winter. Rick at this point also has no hesitation in killing human threats as seen when he mercilessly killed the prisoner's leader, Tomas, for attempting to kill him twice and also locking Andrew in a courtyard of Walkers to die. Rick has also shown that he no longer trusts outside members of his group and refuses to allow Oscar and Axel, two prisoners to join his group following an assassination attempt on him by Tomas, showing he's crueler. He eventually accepts them once they prove their loyalty to him by killing Andrew, who survived being left to die and launched an attack on the prison in order to exterminate Rick's group and nearly killed Rick himself, though Oscar saves him.

After Lori's death, Rick becomes very emotionally unstable, and it is not until just before the group learns of the Woodbury threat that Rick comes back to his senses. By this point, Rick has become a ruthless, uncompromising leader of survivors, in contrast to his high moral code and values in previous seasons. After the Governor causes Andrea's death, Rick seems to regain much of his old self and finally begins to trust other survivors and accept them into the prison. In the six-month jump between the third and fourth seasons, Rick relinquishes his leadership position in order to focus more on raising Carl and making the prison self-sustaining. During the fourth season, many of the other group members ask Rick to step back into a leadership role, most notably Daryl Dixon. After the Governor returns and attacks the prison, Rick becomes distraught and remorseful over the loss of the prison, the death of Hershel, and the assumed death of his daughter Judith. He becomes more protective of Carl and gets into a few arguments with him. After Rick reunites with Michonne, he loosens his grip on Carl a bit and allows himself some time to rest, albeit only temporarily.

After he, Carl, and Michonne are forced to evacuate a house they were residing in to evade the Claimers, he comes across a poster pointing to Terminus. He decides to take a chance and see the supposed sanctuary. On the way, they encounter the Claimers, who tracked them down in order to exact revenge on Rick for killing one of their group members, Lou. Rick comes to terms with his brutality, which he thought he had put away for good, after he rips out Joe's jugular vein with his teeth and stabs Dan, who attempted to rape Carl, to death. The next morning, he tells Daryl he knows of his two different personality traits and how he has settled his mind knowing that his brutality has kept his son and the rest of the group alive.

After arriving at Terminus, Rick accepts his leadership position, for which the group respects him. He holds no conflict in his mind anymore and does not doubt his decisions. The wisdom he took from Hershel, who he came to view as a mentor (as well a father figure towards him), Rick now understands that he can retain his humanity by protecting his friends and has stated that he views his group as his family. His darker side is shown through his brutality, and he does not hesitate to kill someone who he views as a threat, fearing he or she will come back and harm his family (based on what happened to Lori when Rick failed to kill Andrew, a prisoner who Rick locked in a courtyard of walkers and presumed was killed).

During Season 5, following the group's near-death experience at Terminus, Rick grows in confidence but develops massive trust issues towards any strangers that he and his group come across, even if they seem timid and harmless. He has a hard time trusting Gabriel Stokes and Aaron, even threatening to kill them once or twice if they did anything that would harm his family and friends. His trust issues are so strong that he even suspects the applesauce Aaron offers to Judith to be poisoned. Aaron points out that he is tied up and that killing Rick's daughter in front of him would only lead to Aaron getting killed by Rick. Aaron tries telling Rick that his trust issues are exaggerated, but Rick remains stubborn and makes it clear that he is a man who doesn't take chances anymore, and forces Aaron to eat the applesauce to prove that it's safe and still threatens to kill him. In the end, Aaron and Gabriel (for the most part) prove that they are not threats.

After arriving in the Alexandria Safe-Zone, Rick allows himself to relax in the comfort of the community, although it is evident that he still does not trust the inhabitants. He becomes actively involved in the community after Deanna Monroe, the safe-zone's leader appoints him and Michonne as constables. While he appreciates the job, Rick and his group view the Alexandrians as being weak and unfit to survive and he declares that they will take the community for themselves, showing how his mentality has become one of survival for himself and his group.

Following a massive invasion of walkers into the safe-zone, which leads to the death of Deanna, Rick becomes the leader of the safe-zone, and his faith in the abilities of the safe-zone's residents improves dramatically as together they all boldly face the herd and kill every walker, effectively reclaiming the safe-zone. Rick reveals to his injured son Carl afterwards that he is ready to show him the new world. Following this he seems to have cooled down a bit in his desire to kill human threats as he spares the life of Paul Rovia after the latter attempts to steal a van of supplies claimed by Daryl and Rick which leads them to finding the Hilltop Colony. His relationship with Michonne has also caused him to show his lighter side more often, as he is seen relaxed and happier than he was before they started their relationship.

However, Rick has shown to become even more ruthless as shown by his desire to exact revenge on the Saviors for threatening Daryl, Abraham and Sasha and kill them all in order to obtain much-needed supplies from the Hilltop Colony and protect Alexandria even though the Saviors have technically caused no harm to Alexandria whatsoever. Rick has now been shown to show a desire to destroy any potential threats before they even happen, showing that he will do just about anything to protect his people from danger (very similar to The Governor in the first half of Season 3, but on a more heroic scale). Rick has demonstrated that he is now indeed a cold-blooded killer as shown during their attack on the Savior outpost and his killing of Primo and Jiro. He also nearly kills an innocent survivor from the Kingdom, believing him to be a Savior hunting Carol, though Morgan stops him to his visible anger and claims regardless of who he was, he no longer takes chances, showing that he is willing to kill completely innocent survivors.

However, his overconfidence and eagerness to destroy the Saviors brings about serious consequences; while on a frantic journey to get a sick Maggie to the Hilltop, he and his group are tricked and ambushed by the Saviors and for the first time in the series, Rick shows extreme fear as he is confronted with an impossible situation over which he has no control. At the sight of his new enemy, Negan, Rick visibly trembles and appears to be almost numb with terror and is helpless as Negan personally selects a member of the group at random and beats them to death with a baseball bat in revenge for Rick's actions.

It is revealed that Negan had selected Abraham and preceded to beat him viciously to death with his baseball bat; Rick watches on in horror. Glenn is later killed as punishment for Daryl assaulting Negan moments after Abraham's execution. Rick, with Abraham's blood on his face, quietly threatens to kill Negan. Negan inquires to as to what Rick said and Rick is petrified to look at him but gains the courage to repeat his threat while looking him in the eye. Negan then takes Rick on a "trip" where he continuously mocks Rick for thinking of a prosperous future with his group whilst physically assaulting him. Unsatisfied Rick hasn't submitted to him, Negan returns Rick to his group and threatens that if he doesn't severe Carl's left arm his remaining group members will be executed. This pushes Rick to his absolute breaking point as he wails, cries, has mucus run out of his nose and even suggest he suffer the amputation. Just as Rick is about to cut off his son's arm, Negan becomes satisfied claiming the terror on Rick's face was the "exact look" he desired. Having been the first man to devolve Rick into a complete loss of power and control, Negan has revealed the extremity of Rick's emotions/actions of absolute fear and subjugation as he becomes horrified for the safety of his remaining group should he provoke Negan again. This fear was later subsided after the deaths of Spencer and Olivia, and finally regains his courage to fight Negan and the Saviors. Rick's desire to kill other survivors, aside from the Saviors, has subsided as well: this is most likely due to the fallout that came from his attack at the Saviors outpost. Once again, Rick has also shown a reluctance to lead, only wishing to lead Alexandria, not wishing to lead the joint communities once they take out the Saviors. Rick has demonstrated that he is no longer afraid of Negan as while he is once again at his mercy, he tells him that no matter what he does to him, he will make it his mission to kill him and all the Saviors and that nothing will change that. This shows Rick will never be subservient to Negan again and will do whatever it takes to stop him, even at the cost of his own life to ensure a prosperous future for his family, group and allies.

Relying on his former police skills and survival tactics, Rick has evolved into a battle-hardened survivor who will protect his family and group without question. In many ways, Rick has become exactly like Shane; being ready to destroy a threat, living or dead, without a moment's hesitation, not trusting anyone except for his group, and knowing that with the world the way it is now, there are very few good people left and if you don't fight for your survival, then you will die. In addition to acting like Shane, Rick has displayed similarities to other primary antagonists that he has encountered and killed (or who other members of his group have killed) in the past, particularly the Governor, Joe, Gareth, and most recently Negan (who is currently alive). However, unlike Shane, the Governor, Joe, Gareth, and Negan, Rick retains some of his humanity and honor for the sake of his family and friends, and looks to his friends for guidance in making sure that he doesn't completely lose his sanity and devolve into an antagonist. This is in direct contrast to these other antagonists, who have almost completely sacrificed their humanity in favor of personal survival by any means necessary, and who exert unchallenged power and control over other survivors and give into their worst inclinations for their own benefit, rather than the benefit of others.

You were being held captive, Rick gets you out.