Some Simple Stats To Chart The Evolution Of The Core Characters Of ‘The Walking Dead’

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The zombie apocalypse changed everyone’s lives in major ways — those that survived longest most of all. Through five seasons and counting we’ve watched as The Walking Dead’s Atlanta posse has boiled down to Rick, Daryl, Carol, Glenn and Carl. Each character has gone through a major evolution and we thought it might be fun to trace their ‘maturation’ into the walker-killing badasses they are at the start of season six.

We rank each character according to four characteristics. Badassitude: their ability to whip some ass in a fight. Sanity: self explanatory, we think. Empathy: how much faith in humanity a character has left (note this is the only stat that’s bad to have too high). And survival smarts: a character’s general ability to avoid making stupid decisions that will get everyone killed. Here’s how they all ranked at the start of the show, halfway through, and after last night’s season six premiere:


Season One

Rick

Badassitude: 6/10
Sanity: 9/10
Empathy: 9/10
Survival Smarts: 4/10

Rick obviously starts the show at a disadvantage due to missing the end of the world as we know it. So while he maintains high badass stats due to knowing how to gunsling with walkers, his Survival Skills suck due to his constant old-world thinking. His sanity is high, which is good. But his empathy is out of whack for the zombie apocalypse, which is bad.

Daryl

Badassitude: 9/10
Sanity: 7/10
Empathy: 5/10
Survival Smarts: 8/10

Daryl is one of the tanks of the group, taking out endless numbers of walkers with his crossbow. No one has a higher badass or survival score than him coming into this — growing up rough-and-tumble like he did provided perfect training for the end of the world. He’s aloof and distant, which lowers his empathy scores, but that unwillingness to connect allows him to keep his head better when they lose his brother.

Carol

Badassitude: 1/10
Sanity: 5/10
Empathy: 9/10
Survival Smarts: 1/10

Carol begins the series as a useless person in the new zombie universe. Her badassitude is at rock-bottom levels, thanks in part to years spent with an abusive husband. No one makes a bigger transformation on the show than her, which is good because she definitely needed to up her survival game.

Glenn

Badassitude: 6/10
Sanity: 9/10
Empathy: 9/10
Survival Smarts: 9/10

Glenn starts out on the show as a quiet, competent, voice of reason. Want a fun drinking game? Drink every time Glenn points out how stupid a plan is and how it’s gonna get everyone killed. He’s not all that useful with weapons yet, which nerfs his badass score. But when everyone else seems to be a liability, Glenn is constantly pulling things out of the fire and saving members of the group from certain death.

Carl

Badassitude: 2/10
Sanity: 9/10
Empathy: 9/10
Survival Smarts: 5/10

Carl is useless at this point, but what do you expect? He’s a stupid kid. On the plus side, he doesn’t wander off on his own, he doesn’t scream like a wuss and bring walkers down on the group, and he never trips over his own feet during crunch time and slows an escape. As far as post-apocalyptic children go, Carl is pretty solid.


Season Three

Rick

Badassitude: 8/10
Sanity: 5/10
Empathy: 7/10
Survival Smarts: 5/10

Coming into season three, Rick’s role as a leader has started to weigh heavily on him, yet he still hasn’t wrapped his head around the new realities of zombie life enough to stop being a moralizing dummy. All the life lessons from the farm haven’t been fully digested and half the decisions he makes for the team seem pretty iffy. His ability to pop a zombie in the skull at any distance keep his badass score high, but his sanity is slipping quick with no end in sight.

Daryl

Badassitude: 9/10
Sanity: 7/10
Empathy: 7/10
Survival Smarts: 9/10

Daryl pads his empathy stats by making human connections within the group and particularly by consoling Carol after the disappearance of her daughter. He becomes the gruff heart of the group and the deciding vote in many scenarios where they have to choose between the easy-but-evil route and the hard-but-righteous path.

Carol

Badassitude: 6/10
Sanity: 5/10
Empathy: 6/10
Survival Smarts: 5/10

Many people were expecting Carol to spiral into depression and give up on life after losing her daughter in season two, but as season three opens, Carol has really pulled things together and turned herself into one of the most important members of the group. Her relationship with Daryl keeps him tied into to the group and emotionally alive — and without Daryl’s efficient use of the crossbow, they’d all be dead.

Glenn

Badassitude: 8/10
Sanity: 8/10
Empathy: 8/10
Survival Smarts: 9/10

Glenn continues to put the group above all, risking his relationship with Maggie to tell them about the barn full of zombies in season two. In season three he begins to take on leadership roles, especially after Rick cracks and freaks out.

Carl

Badassitude: 5/10
Sanity: 7/10
Empathy: 6/10
Survival Smarts: 6/10

For a kid who’s seen some s**t, Carl has been keeping things together pretty well. Keep in mind he had to shoot temp-daddy Shane in the head after catching his dad killing him. Little does he know things are going to get worse before they get better — season three is where his mother dies and he’s left with the task of finishing her off before she re-animates. Also, Carl has begun to question why the group always has to do the right thing if it might end up getting them killed. Good question, Carl. Good question.


Season 6 Premiere

Rick

Badassitude: 6.5/10
Sanity: 7/10
Empathy: 8/10
Survival Smarts: 9/10

By this point, Rick has actually toned it down, somewhat. Yes, in the Season 5 finale he capped someone in the face, no questions asked, but he seems to have gained some sanity and more of a grasp on reality, and what is needed for everyone to survive. He will forever have survival smarts, but now they seem to be more articulate and not misguided with raw emotion.

Daryl

Badassitude: 9.5/10
Sanity: 8/10
Empathy: 8/10
Survival Smarts: 9.5/10

Daryl is forever a badass, no question about it. But now Daryl exercises more patience and premeditation. Remember how he was in the first couple seasons? He acted, then thought. Now, and mainly because he’s juxtaposed with Rick and notices it more, he puts serious value on the relationships he’s made and thinks twice when it comes to game-time decisions.

Carol

Badassitude: 8.5/10
Sanity: 4/10
Empathy: 3/10
Survival Smarts: 10/10

Carol might be the most interesting character in all of The Walking Dead. Although she’s smart, her sanity sometimes appears to be slipping. She’s becoming a manipulative, scary character who’s always keeping an eye on the situation (as Morgan observes) and is ready to pounce whenever sh*t might go down. But isn’t that what we want? Carol, we love you.

Glenn

Badassitude: 7/10
Sanity: 8.5/10
Empathy: 9.5/10
Survival Smarts: 8/10

Glenn has become an indispensable character. Not only has he grown as a badass zombie killer, but as a selfless person. Last night’s premiere solidified him as the kind of person needed to rebuild the world. When things go down, he doesn’t hesitate and uses brains to get through sticky situations. But he also understands what’s needed to restore humanity. If there was an “I Want You” poster for rebuilding the world, Glenn would be on it.

Carl

Badassitude: 3/10
Sanity: 8/10
Empathy: 6.5/10
Survival Smarts: 6/10

Carl is slowly becoming an annoyance on this show. But hey, he’s a teenage kid who developed during the apocalypse. It’s hard to not be annoying. Carl is too young and hesitates too much, at least for now. Right now, he’s in the middle of the road. He could go either way and be developed into a badass die because he can’t cut it. If the writers do decide to build him up as a badass, he might need to go through even more loss. Say, with someone like his new girlfriend.


Final Say

The Atlanta Five have been through the ringer, and some. They have dealt with a huge amount of loss (who hasn’t on this show?) which has forced them to change, for good and bad. The question now are who will be strong enough to survive this season and who will crumble?

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