Negan

Negan is one of the main antagonists of The Walking Life. He is the first leader of the Saviors, who used his authority and resources to subjugate communities and other victims tribute to his vast gang.

Personality
Negan is a charismatic, cocky, manipulative, brutal and ferocious man with a sarcastic, inappropriate sense of humor. Negan is a brilliant strategist and a strong, effective leader, having kept hundreds of people and criminals loyal to him and is worshipped by many and feared by others. When he was the leader of the Saviors, he was shown to have had complete control over his vast criminal empire and was questioned by no one, acting as a complete dictator. Negan also acted like a cult leader, as the Saviors all knelt in his presence and when asked who they are, they all responded in unison "Negan". Negan appeared to care about the well-being of his followers and believes that he alone can save the people around him and is willing to do whatever it takes to ensure he maintains "stability" and "peace" in his new world order. Negan was also an extremely ruthless leader, willing to do whatever it takes to obtain money and other supplies and resources for his empire by extorting from multiple communtiies and victims, threatening them with death if they did not obey his demands or did not just supply the necessary amount. Negan is a cold-blooded killer who kills to send a message and as punishment for disobedience. He also has no respect to those he views as being weak and he claims he wants to help people through their weaknesses and by being strong he makes the world strong: this is why he uses fear as an instrument to keep people in line. By being hard on people he makes them stronger and more inclined to survive. In addition, Negan has great respect for those he views as strong, both physically and emotionally, and those who show bravery and defiance against him. He is also capable of severe torture and will mutilate whoever does not follow his rules, such as burning his victims' faces with a hot clothing iron. Negan has however stated he hates performing this form of punishment, but also sees it as necessary as rules matter. Negan will also employ psychological forms of torture and is highly prone to psychological warfare and is extremely good at manipulating and breaking most people into submitting to him. Furthermore, Negan enjoys killing people, especially men, while he does not enjoy killing women, but he will kill a woman if he feels that he has to. Negan doesn't kill unless he feels that it's necessary and he likes killing people, but under the right circumstances. Negan is not above harming children and adolescents, however he is disgusted at massacres and shows reluctance in killing children and teenagers himself. Despite his jolly, childlike behavior, Negan is highly intelligent and is incredibly good at reading people and exploiting their weaknesses. He is occasionally capable of knowing when people are lying. Negan has an unhealthy and unusual obsession with his primary weapon Lucille, a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire and often speaks to it, referring to it as if it was a woman and asking it to give him strength. Negan is greatly upset if anyone dares damage Lucille. Negan enjoys using Lucille to kill his victims, often using it to excessively install revulsion and terror into others. He named the bat after his late wife, who got him through the hard times in his life. The bat is a symbolic reminder of Lucille, which helps him cope. Despite his brutal nature, Negan is not completely heartless, demonstrating care and love for babies and is against killing children under 10 years old. He also has a genuine disgust towards sexual violence and has made a strict no rape policy within his gang and will execute anyone breaking this rule. He occasionally shows kindness and treats some people with decency, respect and care. He is also generous when it comes to giving second chances and can be very lenient. Negan is also always open and is true to who he is and never hides it. Negan believes that killing a few to save a hundred is justified and he refuses to harm the innocent. He views himself as both strong and weak and appears to genuinely care about children, having helped them before becoming a criminal. When it comes to his first wife, Negan shows real emotion. After his defeat which led to him being arrested and imprisoned, Negan slowly became a changed man that many others find hard to see or believe. While he is still ruthless and struggles to express emotions, he has begun to show a desire to make up for the things that he did in the past. He feels genuine remorse for the people he's murdered or ordered their deaths, explaining that he thought it had to be done at the time. Negan also deeply continues to mourn his wife's death.

Killed Victims

 * Numerous Victims

Dwight
Negan and Dwight have a poor relationship. When they met, the two were friendly towards each other and Negan promised Dwight that if he joined the Saviors, then he, Sherry and Tina would be taken care of by him. However, Negan made them work for points and fend for themselves in the Sanctuary walls, however claimed he would reward Dwight with extra points if he participates in subjugating Hilltop. Dwight though becomes fearful of the cruel and tyrannical Negan, fleeing from the Sanctuary with Sherry and Tina, infuriating Negan and he sent his men to recapture them and wanted to severely punish Dwight for stealing from him and fleeing with his wife and sister-in-law, thinking about killing him even. When Dwight and Sherry returned, Negan was going to kill Dwight as punishment as he blames him for Tina's death but Sherry saved him and married Negan, so Negan decided to spare Dwight's life but burned his face and forbade him from seeing Sherry.

Since that incident, Dwight has been unfavorably loyal to Negan and worked his way up the Saviors' ranks, becoming one of Negan's top men. Dwight is willing to carry out Negan's wishes without question and is protective of his leader when he is under attack or threatened. Hence, Negan puts intense trust in Dwight and occasionally jokes with him, much to Dwight's expense and dismay.

However, Dwight actually deeply despises Negan for taking Sherry away from him, burning his face and his overall cruelty toward others, with protecting Sherry from harm being the only reason Dwight is loyal to Negan. When Sherry disappears, Dwight has no other reason to be loyal to Negan and the Saviors, Dwight offers his services to the Militia, claiming that he wants Negan dead, proving that he indeed hates him.

Throughout the war, Dwight is dedicated to bringing Negan down and Negan viewing Dwight in high regard completely blinds him to the fact that Dwight is the Militia's spy. Eventually however Dwight exposes himself to Laura and she in turn exposes him to Negan. Negan is visibly disgusted at Dwight's betrayal however he chooses to keep him alive in order to have him tortured throughout the night and to force him to watch the Militia get destroyed as a result of him passing down false information and that he may one day be of use to him again.

When Negan's forces are defeated, Dwight furiously attacks Negan though is subdued. Dwight is visibly pleased that Negan is defeated and even visits him in prison to taunt him over his defeat and imprisonment, claiming that he always hated Negan for his cruel actions. Negan tries to justify his actions to Dwight but Dwight becomes angry at him, resulting in Dwight calling him a monster and that he deserves to die in prison. After Negan puts down Simon's coup, Negan spares Dwight's life when he is at his mercy and expresses remorse for his actions toward him even, requesting Dwight lead him and his forces to Rick Grimes so they can surrender peacefully. Dwight agrees and takes him to Rick, hoping Rick would execute Negan but Rick instead arrests him again and sends him back to prison. While Dwight wanted Negan to die, he respects Rick's decision in imprisoning Negan.

Simon
Simon is Negan's right-hand man, and the two had a strong relationship. Simon was the one who recruited Negan into John's original Saviors gang and felt sympathy for him for his wife's death, to the point he became Negan's close friend and defended him from John and other Saviors. While Negan was disgusted in Simon's actions in the Oceanside massacre, considering him a demented psychopath, he was still grateful of Simon and enlisted him to help kill John and take over the Saviors, with Negan making Simon his number two to keep a close eye on him, being wary of promoting him to his right-hand man, and to put his cruelty into productive means.

Simon is extremely loyal to Negan and obeys his orders without question. Negan views Simon very highly and claims that if he wasn't around, there would be a lot more work to do. During gunfights together, Negan and Simon stay close to each other, working well together and trusting each other completely. Negan had great respect for Simon's loyalty, intelligence, organization and ruthlessness, so long as each of those traits were kept in check. Due to this, Negan kept Simon as one of his top men and, over time, Simon's effectiveness following of orders cemented his loyalty to Negan as his second-in-command, earning his complete trust as an equal.

During a meeting, Negan becomes enraged at Simon's suggestion that the Saviors wipe out Hilltop, straining their relationship, and Negan also has little belief in Simon as a leader. Negan is further angered when he found out about the Scavengers massacre and he promised Jadis to take care of him. Upon Negan's return, Negan proceeds to humiliate Simon in front of the entire empire and Negan seemingly forgives him. After this Simon begins plotting against Negan, showing that their relationship is completely and utterly severed.

In prison, Simon and Negan continue to have each other's backs, though Negan is less friendly toward Simon and Simon blames him angrily for losing the war, planning to kill him to take over the Saviors and escape prison. Simon tries to kill Negan with a knife, but Negan fights back, with Negan realizing that Simon is now his enemy and wants to kill him for his betrayal and actions. After their groups fight and Negan personally fights and kills Simon, he feels bad for having to eliminate his former right-hand man and close friend though he knew it had to be done.

Mark
Negan and Mark associate with another as business associates in the Sanctuary. However, their relationship detoriated when Negan married Mark's wife, Amber, separating her from Mark and Mark doesn't respect Negan enough to avoid seeing Amber behind his back. Negan found out and he punished Mark by scarring half of his face with a hot iron. As a result, Mark resented Negan for both interfering with their relationship between he and Amber, and now for the disfigurement of his face. He attempts to flee the Sanctuary with Eugene Porter and bring Amber with them to get away from Negan. Negan views Mark as a completely pitiful and pathetic figure. After the punishment, Negan acts very cruel towads Mark and even mocks him.

Arat
Arat is completely loyal to Negan and is one of his closest associates. He trusts her to carry out his orders without question and she is willing to protect her leader from danger. When Negan disappears, Arat was willing to help look for him and was saddened when Simon infers that Negan is most likely dead. Arat's loyalties are further demonstrated when she plans to break Negan out of prison, believing Simon is also involved and is helping them, but when she discovers Simon betrayed Negan, Arat went to warn Negan and joined his cause willingly to take out Simon and his followers.

Laura
Laura proved to be loyal to Negan and thus, she became one of his most trusted lieutenants. Laura proves her loyalty to Negan by revealing Dwight betrayed the Saviors and Negan rewards her by allowing her to take Dwight's former place in his inner circle. After the Militia have clearly won the battle, Laura was the one to lead the Saviors to surrender and betrays Negan as a result, showing remorse in serving him.

Gary
Negan has always had respect for Gary, seing him as one of his loyal and trusted men. When Simon infers that Negan is most likely dead, Gary is saddened. However, Gary's loyalties are actually to Simon and not Negan, he was killed by Negan for his betrayal. Negan shows no remorse for his demise and lost all respect for him.

David
Negan and David's relationship was neutral. Negan knew that David was the threatening type. However, their relationship becomes hostile when David attempts to rape Negan's prisoner, Sasha Williams, resulting in Negan showing anger and disgust towards David for breaking one of his most important rules. Negan rejects David's apology mercilessly and executes him brutally, showing no remorse or hesitation.

Gavin
Negan and Gavin have a steady relationship. Negan trusts and respects Gavin as one of his top men, as well as placing him in charge of the Kingdom's weekly tribute. Negan shows disappointment in Gavin's death, regarding him as one of his best men.