SPOILERS
We’ll have a full accounting of tonight’s The Walking Dead season finale coming up, including more on that heartbreaking death from the episode, but there was one little moment at the end of the episode that left some viewers confused.
Who left that little soldier thing? #thewalkingdead
— Melissa S. (@omgitsmeli) April 3, 2017
#TheWalkingDead What did the soldier mean "didn't know?"
— Amber Joan (@tired_cna61) April 3, 2017
https://twitter.com/HeyItzBloo/status/848725185695973377
https://twitter.com/KnMsee/status/848723612475568128
https://twitter.com/MrSchurevich/status/848723013491204096
For those of you who have forgotten, it’s Dwight who carves little wooden men. As some may recall, back in the sixth episode of last season, Dwight gave a wooden soldier he had carved to Daryl for Tina’s insulin in the episode that ultimately ended with Dwight and Sherry going back to the Sanctuary with Daryl’s motorcycle and crossbow.
In other words, Daryl knew that Dwight carved wooden soldiers, so when he saw it, he would immediately know to associate it with Dwight. Knowing who it was from, the message scrawled on the soldier should be apparent: Dwight didn’t know that the Garbage People/Junkyard Gang had secretly stabbed Rick and Co. in the back by taking a better deal from Negan. Dwight was as oblivious as the rest of us on that point.
The message, in other words, was to let Daryl know that despite what happened in the season finale — and despite the fact that Dwight had gone back with Negan — Dwight is still on Rick’s side, which means that next season, Dwight figures to be Rick’s inside man.
It was a nice little callback to last season.
Meanwhile, in the season finale, Daryl also told Rick that — no matter what happens — he is going to kill Dwight at the end of the war. If Dwight continues to work with Rick — and gain their trust — Daryl may ultimately eat those words.
