Carl Grimes (TV Series)

"I shot my Mom. She was out; hadn't turned yet. I ended it. It was real."

- Carl to Daryl regarding his mother's death.

Carl Grimes is a main protagonist in The Walking Dead (TV Series). He is the son of Rick and Lori Grimes. Being told that his father was dead, he followed his mother and Shane to Atlanta, Georgia in search of refuge.

Appearance
Carl is an adolescent Caucasian male with dark brown hair and a slightly freckled face. He shares the same eye color as his father, blue. As the show progresses, he matures physically.

Personality
Carl is shy and reserved, commonly only striking conversation with his parents and members of the group he feels comfortable with. Like many kids his age, he is sometimes disobedient, but he does show shame and guilt when his actions negatively impact the group. After getting shot, Carl becomes stricken with negative thoughts, largely wanting to fend for himself and to prove his independence and maturity. He also takes to becoming rather pessimistic and rude, such as when he insults Carol. He is naturally curious, a trait that gets him into frequent trouble. However, by the third season, Carl has become battle hardened from months on the road. His firearm skills and tactician abilities have greatly increased, and he has seemingly become numb to much of the emotions he feels, a result no doubt of becoming accustom to loss, even when he is forced to shoot his own dying mother. Despite his new found maturity, he retains some childlike qualities, such as still being shy around members of the group he is not comfortable with, and not speaking regularly in front of the group, and a childlike crush on Beth Greene, Hershel's daughter.

King County, Georgia
Carl was a normal 12 year old who lived with his parents in King County, Georgia where he attended school during the day. One morning, Carl witnesses his parents fighting and having an argument about whether or not Rick cared about the family or not. Later that day after he finishes school, Lori comes to Carl and informs him that his father, Rick, was shot and is in a coma.

The Walking Dead Social Game
The Social Game is canon to Carl's TV character's life. For more info, please see Carl Grimes (Social Game).

"Days Gone Bye"
When the Apocalypse started Carl and Lori were at home. Shane Walsh (Rick's best friend and another survivor) comes and takes Carl and Lori to Atlanta which is thought to be free of walkers. Shane then tells Carl and Lori that Rick is dead. They notice Atlanta is overrun and take cover at a campsite not far from Atlanta where a few more survivors are staying. Carl develops a friendship with a girl of the same age named Sophia and plays with her a lot during his time at camp. When his mom gets angry that Shane isn't allowing her to go out and post warning signs, she marches away. Later, he almost walks in on Lori and Shane kissing. He is seen in the picture in Rick's police cruiser at the end of the episode.

"Guts"
Carl is not seen much in this episode; however, he is seen hanging around the camp with his mother. He is still sad over his dad being supposedly dead and spends a lot of time with Shane, his mother, and Sophia.

"Tell It to the Frogs"
His father Rick makes it to the camp and reunites with his family. During the night, his father kisses him and says goodnight. The next day Carl is playing in the woods with Sophia when the pair find a walker and alert the rest of the camp. The men surround and kill the walker. Towards the end, when he is trying to catch frogs with Shane, Lori appears and tells Carl to head back to camp, as Lori does not want him around Shane.

"Vatos"
Carl is seen around the survivors' camp talking, and later joins the group to see what Jim is digging holes for. Lori tells Jim he is scaring Carl and Sophia. At the end of that same day, he joins the group for dinner around the campfire, and then the walkers attack the camp and kill many of the survivors. Carl survived the attack and then Rick returns to camp with the bag of guns, and Carl embraces his father, crying.

"Wildfire"
Just after the walker attack, Carl can be seen resting. He then later joins the group on their plan to leave the camp and head for CDC. He says goodbye to the Morales Family and everybody leaves the camp.

"TS-19"
Carl makes it to the CDC along with the group. He is seen playing checkers in the rec room with Sophia and then heads to bed. Towards the end Carl is seen crying as he does not want to die. When Dr. Jenner lets the group free he flees with the others to Dale's RV and watches as the CDC burns in flames. They then head towards Fort Benning.

"What Lies Ahead"
Carl is seen gathering supplies with his fellow survivors. When a herd of walkers approach they hide under cars. Sophia is then chased by a duo of walkers and later gets lost. Later, after the herd passes by, Carl finds a Gerber bag of tools, which he is ordered by Shane to give to Dale. Carl and the others then go out to look for Sophia; when they reach a church, they decide to split. Daryl leads the group back to the the Interstate, and Rick and Shane keep on looking for Sophia. Carl asks his father to let him help with the search, so Rick says yes. Later, Carl, Shane and Rick see a buck in the woods. Shane is about to shoot it, but Rick stops him and the two watch Carl approach it slowly. However, the peaceful and happy moment is interrupted by loud gunshot. Both Carl and the buck fall to the ground, as the bullet passed through the buck into Carl. When Rick goes running to his son, it can be seen that a bullet had passed through the buck and shot almost right through Carl's back.

"Bloodletting"
During a flashback at the beginning, Carl is seen going to school like any other regular kid. As he is leaving the school and heading towards his mother, he is told by his mother that his father has been shot and is in critical condition at the hospital. He begins to cry and hugs his mom as Shane watches on. Back in the present, he is carried by Rick who runs towards Hershel's Farm after being told by Otis that Hershel can help fix him. Carl is mainly unconscious due to trauma and blood loss. However, he does wake up while Hershel is performing surgery, because he can feel the bullet fragments and Hershel preying his tools inside. He screams in agony and Rick tells Hershel to stop since he's killing him, but eventually Carl passes out from the pain. Later, Shane and Otis head towards a former FEMA evacuation center which used to be a high school for medical supplies to operate on Carl.

"Save The Last One"
Carl is still unconscious and is losing too much blood due to internal bleeding. Rick is unable to donate anymore blood to him since his blood levels are critically low as well. Hershel informs Rick and Lori that if Shane and Otis do not arrive in time with the needed medical supplies, they have to make a choice on whether to allow Hershel to perform the surgery  knowing the risks of what  could  happen to Carl. Rick and Lori tell him to go ahead with the surgery. Before Hershel makes an incision, however, Shane makes it back to the farm with the supplies, but sadly without Otis.

"Cherokee Rose"
The surgery was successful and Carl begins to slowly recover. He wakes up for some periods of time asking if Rick has found Sophia yet. Rick tells Carl that she's fine. Carl  is told the truth later by Lori since at the time, they didn't want Carl to worry and wanted him to recover. Later, he and Rick talk for a bit and rick takes his badge off his hat, and gives Carl the hat to wear.

"Chupacabra"
Carl is seen at the beginning of the episode on the highway with Sophia asking for food. Lori and Shane are off watching the military bomb Atlanta. Sophia tells Carl that she likes his dad (she thinks Shane was his father), but Carl responds with "Shane's not my dad...my dad is dead." Carl is seen later in the episode still lying in bed sleeping and  recovering from being shot by Otis.

"Secrets"
Carl is finally seen walking  after recovering from being shot. He is feeding the chickens with his mother at the beginning of the episode. He states that the mother of the chicks was probably eaten, stating "Everything's food for something else." Shane later catches Carl with a gun and informs his parents about it immediately. His mother is furious, but his father says that he does need to know how to handle a gun, for his own protection. Carl then apologizes to his mother. He goes to shooting practice, along with Rick, Shane, Andrea, and T-Dog. He continues to care about and wants to help with the search for Sophia.

"Pretty Much Dead Already"
Carl tells Shane that he doesn't want to give up on the search despite Shane's arguments and wanting to move on. Shane decides to support Carl for now until the end of episode where the group of survivors shoots all of the walkers that were in the barn. Carl is saddened to see that Sophia was in fact a walker and clutches to Lori for comfort, weeping uncontrollably, as Rick shoots Sophia.

"Nebraska"
Carl talks to Lori, his mother, about Sophia, stating that he wanted to be the one to find her alive, but thinks that Rick did the right thing in shooting Sophia. He states that he would have done the same thing had he been in his father's place. Carl attends Sophia s funeral Annette and Shawn with Lori and Rick.

"Triggerfinger"
After Lori is  brought back to Hershel's farm by Shane, Shane reveals to everyone, including Carl, that Lori is pregnant. Carl is furious that his mother didn't tell him she was pregnant. He later asks questions about the baby and his mother informs everyone that they never had "the talk." He turns to Dale, expecting him to fill him in, but Dale says that that job is for his father.

"18 Miles Out"
Carl did not appear in this episode.

"Judge, Jury, Executioner"
Carl speaks with Shane about Randall, but Shane tells him that Randall's fate is the adult's business. He later sneaks into the barn where Randall is being held prisoner, but Shane discovers him and tells him to stay away from Randall. Carl then insults Carol for believing that Sophia is in a better place, stating that Heaven does not exist and that she is an idiot for believing in it. Rick later tells him that he must keep his act together and to consider the fact that Carol just lost her daughter. He states that if she wants to believe that she's in a better place for comfort, he should not insult her for thinking that. Carl then steals a gun from Daryl's motorcycle and goes to the woods. He finds a walker trapped in the mud and decides to taunt it. He stares at it for a while and then begins to throw rocks at the walker, intimidating it. Carl then steps onto the mud and holds up the gun, ready to shoot it. He takes too long, however, and one of the walker's legs breaks free. Carl falls back, terrified, and loses the gun in the mud. Carl runs back to the house, where he is forbidden to  speak of Randall's fate. Later, he sneaks to Randall's execution and tells his father to kill him while he is watching. Shane takes him away and Rick spares Randall. Later, Dale is attacked by a walker that mortally wounds him. Carl arrives to the scene and sees that the walker that attacked Dale is the same one that he taunted in the swamp. Horrified and feeling guilty, he goes to cry in  Lori's lap as Daryl kills Dale out of mercy.

"Better Angels"
At the  beginning of the episode, Carl is  seen crying at  Dales funeral. He then goes to Shane, telling him that he stole Daryl's gun, and the walker that killed Dale was the same one he found in the swamp and that Dale's death was his fault. He asks Shane not to say anything to his parents. Shane, however, tells Rick what happened to Carl. Rick finds Carl in the barn. They have a father and son talk and Rick says he needs him and that he should keep the gun. When Shane informs everyone that Randall has escaped, Carl is instructed by his mom to stay in the house  while Rick, Shane, Glenn, and Daryl go looking for him. Eventually, Carl sneaks out of the house and walks  onto the field where Rick is standing over Shane's dead body. Carl is frightened and points his gun in the direction of Rick as an undead Shane rises, unbeknownst to Rick. Rick asks Carl to calm down, thinking he's going to shoot him. Carl instead shoots an undead Shane in the head. Carl goes towards the body of Shane, but Rick warns him to stay back. At the end of the episode, a horde of walkers are seen reacting to the sound of the shot and begin approaching the farm.

"Beside the Dying Fire"
After shooting a reanimated Shane, the gunshot rings through the woods, and a herd of walkers is seen advancing towards the farm. These zombies followed a helicopter that was flying  away from Atlanta and have  walked in the same direction since. They heard the gunshot noise that Carl made and they walked towards it. As Carl and Rick walk back to the farm, they see the herd of walkers. Rick ushers Carl ahead and they start running towards the farm. Back at the farm, Lori realizes that Carl is missing. As chaos ensues he goes into the barn with Rick and kills more than a dozen  walkers with fire. As the pair run, they find Hershel making a final stand in front of his house, shooting walkers. Rick convinces him to leave. After being saved, they go on the road just as the sun rises. Carl asks where his mom is. Rick says that they have to keep moving and Carl begs him  not to give up. Rick continues to try  and persuade Carl to move on. Carl is next seen getting very angry. Just then, cars arrive with the rest of the surviving group members, including Lori. Later that night, he is seen crying into Lori's shoulder as Rick talks to the group,  relieving how Shane was killed

"Seed"
Carl is seen to have a lot more responsibility and an overall more vital role within the group by this time. His parents are no longer overly protective of him, as he is part of the first team of the group (along with Rick, Daryl, and T-Dog) to clear any walkers out of an abandoned house. Rick entrusts Carl to check over the kitchen and other parts of the house on his own, and gives him other important jobs such as guarding the vehicles, killing walkers from a watch tower in the prison, and leaving him to protect the women while he and the others inspect the rest of the prison. He also no longer has any problems with shooting walkers, as hes seen shooting one in the house and shooting others in the prison. Throughout the episode it appears he has also developed a crush on Hershel's 16 year old daughter Beth, but has not told her because of his apparent shyness.

"Sick"
Carl is mostly seen by Hershel's side during this episode. When Rick and the others came back from the search, Rick called to his son to open the door quickly because Hershel is bitten. Lori ordered Carl to get a towel to hold off Hershel's bleeding. After T-Dog and Rick got provisions from the prisoners, Carl is assigned to organize the food, but also locates the prison's infirmary on his own and salvages a small amount of medical supplies, and killing two walkers in the process. Lori chastises him for going out by himself, although she appreciates Carl helping out Hershel. Carl got angry and told his mother to "Get off his back". Beth scolded him not to talk to his mother with disrespect, then Carl runs off in embarrassment. When Hershel woke up, Carl is waiting outside Hershel's cell with Beth. Carl points his gun at Hershel after he is mistakenly thought to have become a walker. Near the end of the episode, Hershel woke up again, and Carl smiled at him.

"Walk With Me"
Carl does not appear in this episode.

"Killer Within"
Carl is first seen sitting on a stair while waiting for the others to go outside the prison cell. He smiled at Beth while helping Hershel walk into the prison yard. As Carl was looking at his father, he noticed that the walkers are invading their yard. He ran with Lori and Maggie back into the prison and they got separated from the others. He and Maggie protected Lori along their way until she suddenly went into labor. They escorted Lori into an empty room and Carl watched as Maggie gave Lori a C-section for the baby, killing her. Before she died, she said to Carl; "You are going to beat this world, I know you will. You are smart, and you are strong, and you are so brave, and I love you. You gotta do what's right. It's so easy to do the wrong thing in this world. So, so, if it feels wrong don't do it, alright? If it feels easy don't do it, don't let this world spoil you. You're so good, my sweet boy. Best thing I ever did, and I love you, I love you. My sweet, sweet, boy I love you", just as Maggie and Carl were leaving, Carl thought about his mother reanimating and couldn't bare it so he just hugged her dead body and shot Lori in the head, killing her once and for all. After Carl and Maggie walked outside the prison yard with the baby, the group automaticly guessed that Lori is dead. Carl just stands there, holding back tears, as Rick cried.

"Say the Word"
In this episode, Carl is seen in the courtyard of Cell Block C, watching sadly as his father storms into the prison to reach  Lori's dead body. He is later comforted by Beth at Daryl's request.

"Hounded"
Carl is seen eating cereal with the rest of the group at the beginning of the episode. Later, he, Daryl, and Oscar go out to clear the remaning walkers from the cell block. Daryl reveals to Carl that he also lost his mother at a young age. Daryl discovers Carol's knife in a walker's neck. He and Oscar return to the group. Later, Rick returns and holds the baby for the first time. He, Rick, Hershel, and Beth walk outside. Rick hands the baby to Carl when he notices something strange at the fence.

"When the Dead Come Knocking"
Carl assists with Rick in killing the walkers that are hovering above Michonne when she passes out. When Oscar, Daryl, Rick, and Michonne set off to rescue Glenn and Maggie, Carl is left in charge of watching over the prison. Carl and Rick agree to name the baby Judith, after Carl's third grade teacher.

"Made to Suffer"
Carl is first seen at Beth and Axel's side as Beth cradles Judith in the cell. After hearing screams coming from the tombs Carl goes to investigate, stopping when he notices faint sounds emanating from the boiler room where his mother died. After killing a walker that almost jumped him he investigates the noise, only to discover Tyreese's group surrounded by walkers. Carl assists in shooting and killing several of the surrounding walkers, before escorting the group safely back to the cell block's common room. Carl attempts to shoot the infected Donna, but Tyreese intervenes, stating that their group takes care of their own. Carl locks Tyreese's group out of their cell block, but announces that the common room is secure and that they have access to food and water.

"The Suicide King"
Carl will appear in this episode.

Killed Victims
This list shows the victims Carl has killed:
 * Dale Horvath (Indirectly Caused)
 * Shane Walsh (Zombified)
 * Lori Grimes (Before Reanimation)
 * Numerous counts of zombies.

Rick Grimes
"No more kid stuff."

- Rick to Carl before handing him back Daryl's gun.

As his son, Rick whole-heartedly and genuinly loves Carl and does whatever is necessary to protect him. He shows a desire to shield Carl from the difficulties of the world as made evident by how he discouraged Shane and Lori  from arguing in front of him, and by how he lied to Carl about Sophia being lost in the woods. However, this changes when he realizes that Carl needs to be able to protect himself and that sheltering him from the reality of the world would only hurt his chanced of survivall. He trains Carl in the use of firearms, and he tries to ready Carl for the inevitable death of both his parents. Carl's trust in his father is momentarily put nto question following Shanes death by Rick's hand. Carl briefly fixes his gun on his father before switching his sights to an undead Shane. Following their escape from the farm, Carl is visibly upset upon the reveltion that his father had killed Shane.

During the time lapse between seasons 2 and 3, Carl's faith and trust in his father is shown t have been restored. He is also shown to have become an incredibly adept fighter to the point where Rick allows him to participate in combat against walkers and to guard the group. Rick's desire to provide and safeguard Carl is shown to be have remained strong as shown in the beginning of the Season 3 premiere when Rick stops Carl from consuming and is both frustrated and angered that Carl would consider degrading himself in such a manner. Along wit caring for Carl's physical well-being, Rick also seems concerned about Carl's emotional and psychological health. After Lori's death and upon realizing that Carl had been forced to put her down, he immediately looks to Carl to see how his reaction to the loss of his mother. Afterwards, Rick consoles Carl about what he was forced to do and comforts him.

Lori Grimes
"You are going to beat this world, I know you will. You are smart, and you are strong, and you are so brave, and I love you. You gotta do what's right. It's so easy to do the wrong thing in this world. So, so, if it feels wrong don't do it, alright? If it feels easy don't do it, don't let this world spoil you. You're so good, my sweet boy. Best thing I ever did, and I love you, I love you. My sweet, sweet, boy I love you."

- Lori's last words to Carl before dying.

Lori's firstborn child and only son, she was fiercely protective of him. In addition to her own efforts to keep her child safe, Lori often relied on Dale and other members of the group to watch him. In Rick's absence, she was relieved that Shane dutifully stepped into the father role. While Rick remained the group's reluctant leader, Lori's main focus was invested into preserving Carl's innocence in a world that grew colder and more bleak as days went by. However, she realized, just as Rick had, that efforts to shelter Carl from the blatant horrors were futile. When she was about to die, she told Carl not to be afraid, and that she thought he was brave, strong, clever, and told him to always make choices based on what he thought was right and to never doubt his decisions. Fearing that he could become the biggest monster of all.

Judith Grimes
Carl appears to be very protective of his baby sister. He was present during her birth and even suggested some names. Rick later pulls Carl aside to give him advice as to what he should do if anything goes wrong while he's absent. Carl asks him what they should name the baby, and suggests naming the baby after his 3rd grade teacher, Judith Mueller, which Rick agrees to.

Beth Greene
It has been hinted that Carl has a crush on Beth, despite the fact that she is 4 years older than him. This is seen is the episode "Seed", when Carl tries to sleep on the top bunk bed in Beth's cell. Hershel tells him to find his own cell, to which he stutters and lies that he was just making sure Beth was alright. Afterwards, Hershel gives Beth a questioning look and she rolls her eyes.

Appearances
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Season 3

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Trivia

 * In the comic series, Carl is 8 years old; in the TV Series, he is 12, recently turning 13 between Seasons 2 and 3.
 * In the comic series, Carl killed Shane while he was alive to defend his father, and Rick killed his reanimated-self. But in the TV series, Rick kills Shane during a forced confrontation with him, and Carl shoots Shane as a walker to defend Rick.
 * Carl is indirectly responsible for Dale's death, as he provoked the walker who killed him. He also aided in the deaths of both Shane and Lori, shooting both of them in the head (Shane after reanimation and Lori to prevent it.)
 * Carl is sometimes seen wearing a Science Dog T-shirt, a character from Robert Kirkman's other comic series, Invincible.
 * Carl is the first person to have received medical care from Hershel Greene, the second being Daryl Dixon after he was grazed by a shot to the head by Andrea, the third being Randall after his leg was impaled on a railing spike, the fourth being his daughter Beth after she tried to commit suicide, and the fifth being Michonne after being shot in the hip by Merle.
 * Carl is the first of three people among the survivors to fall victim to friendly fire. Otis who was second and Daryl Dixon was the third.
 * Rick and Carl share the same blood type, which is A+.
 * It is very clear that, unlike many others in the group, Carl no longer believes in God or an afterlife, as he stated that believing in Heaven is stupid.
 * It is revealed by Carol in, "Seed", that Lori had a C-Section in order to give birth to Carl.
 * This is similar to the comic series, when Rick mentions that Lori had to get a cesarean when giving birth to Carl.
 * Carl and Beth have both lost their mothers and both have an object that once belonged to their parents (Carl's hat and Beth's necklace.)
 * Like his father, Carl has developed a darker and colder personality since the outbreak began.
 * Carl uses a Beretta 92FS with a suppressor as his main sidearm. The gun that he took from Daryl's motorcycle was the Browning BDA which he used during the farm invasion and to shoot Lori before reanimation and Shane after, is his secondary. Like his father, who uses the Colt Python as his signature weapon, Carl seems to use the Beretta as his.