Dale Horvath (TV Series)

"But keeping our humanity? That's a choice."

- Dale talking about humanity.

Dale Horvath is the oldest member of the Atlanta survivor group. During his time in the group, he was critically concerned over Andrea's well-being, and often found himself at odds with the group's second-in-command, Shane Walsh.

Overview
Dale's age, calm experience, and RV provide the nucleus around which the small community of survivors has formed. He is wise, sometimes profound, and is the respected elder of the group, though is also rather feisty, not afraid to speak his mind and call others out for mistakes in judgment.

Over time he, Andrea, and Amy form their own little family unit and he finds spending time with them has helped bring him back to life in a way he never anticipated. Dale is a fairly self-sufficient man, and ever watchful of the changing dynamics among the survivor community. He is known to occasionally deceive and withhold information from the group if he feels it is in the group's best interest.

Pre-Apocalypse
Dale was married to a woman named Irma for years. Early in their marriage, they had attempted to have a baby, but it ultimately miscarried, which led them to not try again. At some point later, she had developed cancer. Despite Dale bringing her to several doctors, she had already accepted the disease and her eventual death, much to his dismay. Once he retired from his job, he planned to take his wife traveling with him across the country in a new RV he bought, but she died before that could happen.

Her death brought him into a great depression and he found himself not caring about anyone around him. He decided to take his RV and do the trip alone. When the outbreak began, he first encountered Andrea and Amy in distress, and the three of them soon joined up with Shane's group and settled in a quarry on the outskirts of Atlanta. He cared increasingly for Andrea and Amy during their stay at the campsite, and used his RV as a type of "command post" for the group.

"Days Gone Bye"
Dale is first seen as Amy tries to respond to Rick Grimes' calls over the radio as he drives to Atlanta. He initially doubts that anyone could hear them but is then surprised (as well as relieved and excited) to hear a voice on the other line.

"Guts"
As Lori Grimes goes to pick berries and mushrooms in the forest, she has Dale watch over her son. Dale tells Lori to stay close within shouting distance as he is on lookout duty atop his RV. Later, he is repairing his RV with another survivor and tells Amy to relax when she worries about the others. He later receives T-Dog's radio call from Atlanta, learning of their troubled situation.

"Tell It to the Frogs"
When the other survivors return, he greets all of them back. He also introduces himself to Rick. Later that night, Rick sits around the fire and tells his story to the group and decides what to do about telling Daryl Dixon about his brother Merle Dixon. The next day, Dale strips Glenn's stolen car until he, along with others, find a walker eating a dead deer that wandered nearby the campsite. When Rick decides to go back to Atlanta for the Bag of guns and Merle, he asks Dale for some tools, mainly a pair of bolt cutters to cut the chain and handcuffs to save Merle. Dale then continues to watch over the campsite on top of his RV.

"Vatos"
The next day he's on lookout duty and observes Andrea and Amy fishing on the lake. He then notices Jim strangely digging holes on the hillside. He decides to check up on Jim and offers him water, but Jim acts strange and refuses water, leaving Dale worried and confused. He returns to camp and alerts the other survivors about Jim's delirious behavior. Dale approaches Jim once again, with Shane Walsh, Lori, and several others. Lori explains that his actions are scaring people and Shane tries to reason with Jim, in which he responds with hostility so Shane detains him. Later that evening, Dale finds Andrea in the RV looking for wrapping paper for Amy's birthday gift, in which he responds that he doesn't have any, but will try to look for something as a substitute. That night, during the fish feast, he enjoys the food and company of his friends. When asked about his watch and how he is always rewinding it, he speaks of time and recites a passage from the writer Faulkner. Moments later, the camp is attacked by zombies and he helps defend the remaining survivors.

"Wildfire"
The morning after the attack, he helps some of the other men burn, chop up, or bury the dead. While walking through the forest he is shocked to discover Shane pointing his rifle at Rick from afar. Shane explains his behavior by saying that he thought Rick was a Walker, and suggests the survivors start wearing high-vis jackets. Dale, however, remains suspicious. He and everyone else is at a crossroads when they learn that Jim has been bitten, and struggle to decide what has to be done with him. When they argue about granting the man's wish to be left to die, he notes specifically that this is what Jim wants and that his say is the only one that matters. He and the rest give their goodbyes to him and leave for the CDC.

"TS-19"
At the CDC, he's quick to ask questions, point out things, and argue with Dr. Jenner. He along with everyone else enjoys the various luxuries the building has to offer. He gets drunk with the other adults the first night they arrive, and later comforts Andrea as she throws up in her bathroom. He tries to convince her that they all can start to rebuild their lives here, but she responds by berating him about his naivety and obliviousness to the situation they're in, telling him that there's no hope left. This leaves him shocked, and at a loss for words.

As the building is about to explode, he tries to convince Andrea not to commit suicide along with Jacqui and Dr. Jenner, explaining that she gave him a reason to live after his wife died and that without her, he would be lost. She refuses to leave, so he sits down by her side, ready and willing to die with her. Not wanting Dale's blood on her hands, Andrea finally gives in and the two of them escape before the building blows up.

"What Lies Ahead"
Dale and Andrea's friendship is put into question when Dale refuses to give Andrea the gun her father gave her in fear of her possibly repeating her suicidal intentions she attempted at the CDC building at the end of Season 1. Dale implies he saved her life, and after a snappy remark from Andrea he claims he would just like some gratitude from her. This stirs up angry feelings in Andrea and causes her to reveal to Dale that after Amy died, all she wanted to do was to stop living in the current apocalypse, and the only reason she decided to leave the building was because she did not want Dale's blood on her hands. She claims he "stole" her one escape from the supposed nightmare they are living, and that she was not his problem to worry about or take care of. This drives a wedge between the two.

"Bloodletting"
There is a small confrontation with Dale and T-Dog where they watch over the RV while the group is looking for Sophia. During this time, T-Dog starts to get a fever and is delirious from the cut he suffered on his arm prompting him to feel as if him and Dale are the "odd men out" in the group because Dale is old and 'weak' while T-Dog is the "only black man". He explains to Dale how he feels and implies they should take the RV and leave together, Dale, being the rational man he is, suspects something is wrong with T-Dog and feels his forehead, realizing T-Dog has a severe fever, possibly due to infection, and attempts to take care of him.

"Save the Last One"
Dale finally hands Andrea her gun and tells her he acknowledges the decisions he made were not his to make. Still fearing her suicidal tendencies, he tells her not to make him regret giving her gun back. Dale then asks if she forgives him, Andrea responds by telling him she's trying to.

"Cherokee Rose"
Dale is obviously wary of Shane when Shane retells Otis's death by his facial reactions. He also helps with the well walker, saving T-Dog's life before he could drink the contaminated water.

"Chupacabra"
Dale brings the bag of guns to the group and distributes them among the group to help continue the search for Sophia. Jimmy attempts to grab one but Rick stops him due to his lack of training and using weapons. Later, Dale and Glenn have a talk about the women in the group about their behaviors lately and about Glenn's relationship with Maggie. Dale questions Glenn and asks "Did it ever occur to you how her father might feel about this?" but Glenn answered he just thought about the whole situation and the world being overrun by walkers. When Daryl comes back to the farm looking like a walker, Andrea prepares to shoot him but Dale tells her not to. Not listening to Dale, Andrea shoots Daryl and injures him. Dale comforts her and tells her that everyone wanted to shoot Daryl at one point. Later he joins both groups of survivors for the well prepared dinner by the women.

"Secrets"
Dale and Glenn talk about things that have happened in the camp and Glenn reveals of Lori's pregnant state and Hershel's barn full of walkers. Dale confronts Hershel about the barn full of walkers but Hershel saying that the walkers are still people. Dale tries to make Hershel see what the walkers truly are but Hershel replies saying that his wife and step-son are in the barn and that Dale should keep quiet about it. Back at the camp, Dale talks with Lori about how his wife had miscarried and assures her that the baby can have good memories, but he sits in silence when Lori asks if he thinks her child could live a long life. Dale confronts Shane about the night Otis died and brings up Shane’s attempted murder of Rick. Dale tells him its time for him to leave because he knows who he really is, leading Shane to challenge Dale and threaten him.

"Pretty Much Dead Already"
At breakfast, Dale signals Glenn to reveal about Hershel's barn full of walkers. At the barn, Dale tells Rick that Hershel sees the walkers as just sick, and that his wife and step-son are in the barn. Back at the RV, Andrea and Dale talk about Shane with Dale telling Andrea not to trust him and that she doesn't really know him. Andrea asks him to stop worrying about her. As she leaves, Dale asks Glenn for water. With Glenn gone, he takes the survivors' weapons and sneaks away from the camp. While in the swamps, Dale is tracked down by Shane. Dale is in the process of hiding the guns from Shane when he is spotted. Shane confronts Dale and Dale asks if he’ll kill him like he did Otis. Shane says he wouldn't waste his time as he’s already dead. Demanding the guns again, Shane tells Dale the only way he’ll stop him from taking the guns is if Dale shoots him with his rifle. Dale holds the gun on him, but can’t pull the trigger. In the end, he returns the guns, but says that the new world deserves men like Shane and that he’d rather be who he was than a monster like Shane. Dale returns while the barn shooting is happening and stands there watching in horror of what Shane has done.

"Nebraska"
Dale is watching Shane from afar. Shane asks Dale what he has done to keep the camp safe, but Dale sits in silence and then Shane says when he needs a radiator hose, he will go to Dale. After the funeral, Andrea and T-Dog pile corpses into Otis's truck, saying that Shane did what needed to be done. Dale protests, suggesting that a new problem with Hershel was created in the wake of resolving the safety concern of the barn walkers. Dale reveals to Lori that he believes Shane shot Otis and left him as bait to cover his escape, and that it's only a matter of time before he kills again.

"Triggerfinger"
Dale tells Andrea that Shane is dangerous and that Shane doesn't want Rick or Hershel to come back so he can be leader but Andrea doesn't believe him and walks off.

"18 Miles Out"
Dale is not seen in this episode.

"Judge, Jury, Executioner"
After Daryl finds out Randall's group is dangerous, Rick decides to kill him. Dale tells him that they can't just kill him. Rick tells him they will put it to the vote. Dale goes around asking people about it, but no one agrees with him. At the meeting, Dale makes an impassioned plea to the group to spare Randall, however he only gets Andrea to side with him. Although he apparently failed, Rick decides not to kill Randall when he sees Carl watching. Later, Dale is wandering around the farm at night before he is attacked by a walker that Carl had seen earlier in the day and failed to tell anyone about. He is disemboweled by the walker's bony fingers and is in great pain when the others come to his aid. As Rick is unable to kill Dale, it was up to Daryl, who shoots him as an act of mercy.

"Walk With Me"
Dale is mentioned by Andrea when she was listing all of the people from the Atlanta Group that had died to Merle.

"When the Dead Come Knocking"
Dale is mentioned by Glenn when being interrogated by Merle saying he is still alive to make Rick's group sound stronger, but he didn't know that Andrea was alive, and that she had told Merle that Dale, along with Jim, Jacqui and Sophia and others from the Atlanta Survivor Camp were dead in "Walk With Me" episode, Merle instantly knew Glenn was lying.

Killed By

 * Carl Grimes (Indirectly Caused)
 * Swamp Walker (Caused)
 * Daryl Dixon (Out of Mercy)

A walker Carl had previously been examining in the marshy lands near Hershel's farm freed itself after Carl provoked it while its legs were trapped, and wandered onto the property. Dale later patrolled the grounds and stumbled upon a cow that had been attacked by something unknown to him at the time. After hearing something behind him, Dale turned around to see the same walker Carl had seen earlier. It attacked him and, while he prevented it from biting him, the walker ripped open Dale's stomach. Daryl came to his rescue and killed the walker. The rest of the group reached the dying Dale, bleeding out from his wounds. Rick demanded that they move Dale to the house to operate on him, but Hershel informed him that he would be unable to save Dale in his critical condition. Carl, upon seeing the walker, realized he was partly responsible for what happened and cries.

Rick lifted his gun and pointed it at Dale's head in an attempt to put him out of his misery, but could not bring himself to do so. Instead, Daryl took Rick's gun, pointed it at Dale and said, "Sorry, brother," before shooting him.

Killed Victims
This list shows the victims Dale has killed:
 * Numerous counts of zombies.

Relationships
Dale's Wife is Deceased. She passed away from Cancer.

Rick Grimes
"Dale could... could get under your skin. He sure got under mine, because he wasn't afraid to say what he thought, how he felt. That kind of honesty is rare and brave. Whenever I'd make a decision, I'd look at Dale. He'd be looking back at me with that look he had. We've all seen it one time or another. I couldn't always read him, but he could read us. He saw people for who they were. He knew things about us... the truth who we really are. In the end, he was talking about losing our humanity. He said this group was broken. The best way to honor him is to unbreak it. Set aside our differences and pull together, stop feeling sorry for ourselves and take control of our lives... our safety... our future. We're not broken. We're gonna prove him wrong. From now on... we're gonna do it his way. That is how we honor Dale."

- Rick talking about Dale at his funeral.

Rick and Dale didn't interact much until late into Season 2 when Rick, along with Hershel and Glenn, brought Randall after Dave and Tony's group attacked Rick, Glenn and Hershel in "Triggerfinger". Rick along with Shane decided it was best that Randall needed to be killing calming that Randall could be a threat. Dale disagreed with Rick about wanting to kill Randall and that it was sending Carl a wrong message on how to deal with problems in "Judge, Jury, Executioner". Later on inside Hershel's house Rick and Dale argued along with the group of what to do with Randall. It was then decided that Randall needed to die. Later on in the night, Rick was ready to kill Randall but Carl was watching and telling Rick to kill him. Rick changed his mind but shortly after Dale was attacked by the swamp walker that Carl saw earlier in the day and ran away from it and opened up Dale's guts. Rick wanted to kill Dale so he wouldn't suffer, but Daryl decided to put Dale out of his misery.

Appearances
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Trivia

 * Dale is referred to as, "Old Man", by Daryl Dixon.
 * In his Comic Series counterpart, Dale and Andrea had already been sharing an exclusively intimate relationship. In the TV Series, Andrea is, in fact, resentful of Dale to the point she says she saved his life by leaving the CDC with him, rather than her own.
 * Dale and Shane have a particularly severe antagonism. This is worth noting, as Shane is seen as a torn leader like Rick by others and Dale can see through this (save possibly for Lori, definitely Rick who chooses not to admit it and Daryl Dixon to some degree). Several times has Dale been given reason not to trust or have ever liked him in the first place. These include:
 * The knowledge Dale has of Shane holding Rick in his shotgun's sight during the episode "Wildfire", having witnessed the event first hand. This particularly proves to Dale that Shane is indeed capable of murder.
 * Shane clearly bullying others throughout his leadership to get results.
 * His clear jealousy for Andrea's desire to stick with Shane.
 * The fact Shane was going to kill Jenner in TS-19 when the man was the only one who could save the group from the building imploding.
 * Upon being threatened by Shane, Dale surmises Otis' fate with incredible accuracy down to rationalizing Shane sacrificing Otis in order to get away, though Daryl was also revealed to have known this as well possibly due to the two being the most keen and perceptive members of the group.
 * Dale's death was ironic in the sense that after Rick spared the prisoner Randall's life as he had wished, but he was killed before he found out.
 * It should be noted that Carl is indirectly responsible for Dale's death, as he had seen the walker who killed him earlier in the day and did not risk telling anyone in fear of getting into trouble.
 * Dale's death is another one of the dramatic changes occurring at the comic comparison, as he died later in the Comic Series than in the TV Show.
 * In Season 2, out of the three original survivors, Dale is the only one who did not reanimate after death. Shane reanimated after Rick stabbed him in the chest, and then Carl shot the zombified Shane. Sophia got lost in the woods and bitten in the neck by a walker and then was found in the barn, shot by Rick.
 * According to the TVLine Blog of Michael Ausiello, Season 2 will see the death of not only a primary recurring character, but also one of the lead actors. The actor/actress in question is not specified in the blog, but is explained as being a regular in productions of Frank Darabont and requested their contract be cancelled following his dismissal. (This actor turned out to be Jeffrey DeMunn, who had a change of heart and asked after filming his death if they could change the episode so he could live and keep playing the character, but they had already filmed the scene and didn't want to waste the money).
 * Dale is one of the oldest characters in the TV Series, others including Hershel.
 * Dale was the first (along with Andrea) to see the Prison in the Comic Series, but yet in the TV Series, he never lived to see it and Andrea is the only living member of the group not to see The Prison.
 * The Comic Series counterpart of Dale is 68 years old, whereas the TV Series one is 4 years younger, being 64.