Hershel Greene (Comic Series)


 * For the TV series character, see Hershel Greene (TV Series).
 * For the video game character, see Hershel Greene (Video Game).

"It's all about faith, honey. My faith ain't never been stronger."

- Hershel Greene

Hershel Greene, was the father of Maggie, Billy, Shawn, Lacey, Arnold, and the twins Rachel and Susie. He was a relatively fit man for his age, and was of Jewish heritage.

Pre-Apocalypse
While giving off an outwardly stern and cold appearance, he was a gentle at heart individual, as he loved nature; he only ever wanted the best for everyone close to him. He was a deeply religious man, and it's shown that his main and only reason for life since his wife's passing was the protection and survival of his children.

Hershel grew up at the farm, and because of his love of the animals around him, aspired to be a veterinarian, which he later went to college for out in the city. He ended up staying in the city where he met the girl of his dreams, whom he later married and had seven children with. The two of them started up a business together within the time they were having their children, with his wife handling the financial end while he would be handling the physical end (caring for the animals and performing on them).

After his wife had passed, he had desperately tried to hold onto life by forcing himself to become increasingly more religious, and yet even despite this, he remained an emotional wreck, being convinced that his life now was empty even with his sons and daughters by his side. The business that they had operated soon fell apart despite his best efforts to keep it alive. Soon after, he began to take into consideration his father's last wishes, which were to look after the farm and tend to what needed to be done on a daily basis. With nothing else left in his life, he had decided to follow this wish, and a year after his wife's passing, moved back to this childhood home along with his children (who would help him with the various daily tasks) to start his lifestyle anew. He and the children continued to run the farm, with the youngest continuing to attend school until they graduated, and some of the older ones attending college at one point or another - all of which he gladly payed for. They still couldn't shy away from their required tasks however, as their father didn't feel like he needed to do all of it alone. As in the past, he continued to raise all of his children under a religious household.

Once the apocalypse broke out and zombies began to infest the area surrounding them, his son Shawn unfortunately fell victim to them before the farm had been barricaded. Loving him too much and not being able to take killing him, Hershel decided the best idea and solution to the problem was to contain him inside of the barn, which he then did with all of the other zombies that he and the others managed to capture and lock up. He strongly held to his belief that, for all anyone knew, this was only a disease and thus, there must be some kind of a cure which would turn them back to the living humans they previously were.

During this time, his neighbor Otis came along with his girlfriend Patricia and stayed with them, helping to put away the zombies and assist the Greenes' with their daily farm-work.

After-Apocalypse
He confronts Rick and the others for the first time when Otis, while during a hunt in the woods, mistakenly shoots Carl and the boy is in need of immediate medical attention. Due to his veterinary experience, he is able to fix Carl up (and this experience comes in handy plenty of other times). He has Carl rest inside of the master bedroom of the farmhouse (with Rick and Lori of course in the same room), and provides everyone else with shelter inside, most going inside various bedrooms both upstairs and downstairs.

He shared many conversations with various survivors, most noticeably Rick, who he gradually began to have a deep connection with, as they discussed with each other their hardships and having the responsibility of looking after people even though they themselves had enough to deal with already. He was generally very friendly around the group for the first couple of days of their stay, if not a little grumpiness here and there due to the stress he was facing. He allowed everyone to do things such as gun target practice, using the extra guns that he had lying around.

Things took a turn for the worse however one day. After Rick had discovered that he had been keeping the zombies inside of the barn, he had lambasted Hershel about the danger of doing such a thing. Hershel discovered that Rick had been killing them all, and argued using his belief about the disease and the possibility of a cure out of there somewhere that they didn't know about. All of this commotion distracted them from seeing an approaching zombie as it got closer to the property, and seconds following, lead to the barn being opened and a major attack occurring. Half of his children were bit and Hershel forced himself to use a gun to kill each of them before they reached the re-animation process. The situation grew even more hostile when he caught his daughter Maggie having sex with one of the survivors she met, Glenn. Being overly protective, he threw a fit, infuriated that she was defying both his own rules and the will of God. What she was doing was immoral, especially considering this person she engaged in sex with was a complete stranger. His attitude was rotten from this point on.

This led Hershel into a downward spiral, the worst he had been since his wife's passing. His personality turned grim and his mindset was narrowly focused on getting the survivors out of the area so as not to lose any more of his children, or even his own life. A fight ensued between everyone, as he refused to let them stay with him and his family after Carl was fully healed. This led to him calling them freeloaders, and then Lori, in a furious state, insulting him about kicking them out when they had no other place to go. All of this ultimately led the man to put a gun to Rick's head in order to show the rest of the group how serious he was and how much damage he could do.

They did end up leaving, with him keeping his children by his side. The event that had transpired earlier turned Hershel into even more of an emotional wreck, as he convinced himself that, because he was about to kill an innocent man, he must therefore be evil; not to mention a bad role model for the youngsters. He believed himself to be a corrupt individual, and he was going to kill an innocent man.

The Prison
One or two days after the survivors leave, Hershel decided to burn the corpses outside (both of his deceased children and of other zombies that were destroyed during the attack) in an open fire on his lawn. He continued to be severely depressed and wore a monotone expression on his face to hide his true feelings/vulnerability. After Rick came back to the farm, he told him and everyone else about the newly discovered semi-abandoned prison that his group had taken refuge in nearby.

Even despite his resentment towards Rick for what he and the others caused to happen, he took into consideration the well-being of his own group and realized that his property was no longer secure. There was an increasing amount of zombies coming in to the area, and the barricade was getting increasingly weaker, which meant the farm would be more prone to attacks sooner than ever. Thus, he accepted Rick's proposal and had his group pack up their belongings and follow him to the Prison. He knew fully well that he wouldn't have the same control over people that he did earlier, but all that mattered at the moment was survival - for his remaining children, for himself, and for their neighbors.

On his arrival at the prison, he settled in fairly quickly and attempted to make the best out of the situation he was in. He realized with much thought and observing his surroundings how much more secure everyone was here than at the farm. This resulted in him having a small yet impactful revelation - it made him look at himself and his past irrational behavior; his refusal to alter this mindset he had.

During his first night he had a conversation with Rick on the prison stairway rails, where he sincerely thanked Rick for bringing him and his group here where they would be safe away from the horrors of the outside world. This, as he knew, would be the perfect opportunity to rebuild his life; better than how he tried to rebuild it at the farm where there was even more pain than he had counted on. He acknowledged in front of Rick the overbearing stress he had and the inner demons that led to him pointing that gun. All of this however would be past him now and wouldn't matter with the new life he'd be starting - a life without any violence, blood or fear of the undead. Instead, what he would finally have now would be peace and assurance, which was what he was looking for all along.

A day afterward, he had gone to check in on the two twins Rachel and Suzie, who Maggie had left to play inside of one of the many halls inside of the prison. He meandered around trying to find them until he reached the correct hall. While searching the hall, he came upon a miniature barber shop set inside of the prison, where he found the mangled and decapitated corpses of his daughters. Maggie discovered their bodies as well, and they both broke down into tears together. It was an even greater shock once Hershel saw their heads reanimating. Not being able to move from where he was, Glenn was the one who shot them in the head, much to his displeasure of hearing the guns go off.

After everyone had discovered the murder scene, Hershel and his last two remaining children were sent into a deep depression. For a long time they stayed with Hershel in his jail cell, embracing him. Hershel himself at that point came to an ultimate realization - that they weren't safe no matter where they went. The increased loss of his children over the past few days and weeks made him gradually lose his grasp on the value of life and resulted in him deciding that his only true purpose from then on was to protect Maggie and Billy from the dangers of the outside world.

As days passed following the murder of the twins, he gradually began to accept Maggie and Glenn's relationship. He saw that his daughter was genuinely in love with a man who reciprocated the same feelings. At one point, he granted Maggie's request for the two of them to be husband and wife and married them with Bible in hand at the prison altar.

Throughout the next few days, he started to grow fresh crops in the prison fields (using his farm-work knowledge) with a handful of the other survivors aiding him in the work. His medical experience also comes in handy when he's faced with operating on some of the survivors, such as cauterizing Allen's stump of a leg, bandaging up Carol's cut wrist, helping to deliver Lori's baby, and amputating/cauterizing Dale's leg.

As the Prison assault neared, Hershel and some of the other survivors began training with their guns so as to heighten the chance of a victory on their side. He openly stated that he hadn't used a gun in several years so his aim was a little off. He quickly got back the hang of it however, much to Andrea's surprise when she took them out to shoot zombies.

When their opponents finally descended onto the Prison grounds, he (being the first to notice) and everyone else scrambled to take cover and gather their weapons for the battle. After Rick gets shot, he and others carry him to the operating room and remain with the wounded during the commotion outside.

As Maggie and Glenn plan to move out to a safer area while the battle is still going on, she tearfully hugs Hershel and is reassured by him about what they were about to do. He wants her to be safe and secure and reminds her to come back when all of it is over and done with. After they move out and Hershel closes the gate, he openly feels that he had seen her for the last time.

While the survivors prepare to face the Woodsbury invaders, he initially is hesitant about going after the army, but soon changes his perspective. He joined everyone else in fighting against the ruthless Governor and his army from Woodbury. He and Billy began to use the riot gear after some of the survivors left the prison, with Billy usually defending from the tower and Hershel defending the grounds of the area. He managed to take out several of the soldiers.

Killed By
After his last son, Billy Greene, is killed while fleeing the prison, he finally gave up on life, seeing that his only other child Maggie was well taken care of now and wouldn't need him to protect her. He remained hovering over Billy's body, crying, and brushed off Rick's call to hurry and join the other survivors, as they had a chance to make it to the truck. He was approached by The Governor seconds afterward, with his last words being, "Dear God, just kill me", before The Governor shot him in the head.
 * The Governor

Killed Victims
This list shows the people Hershel has killed:


 * Shawn Greene (Zombified)
 * Arnold Greene (Before Reanimation)
 * Lacey Greene (Before Reanimation)
 * Numerous counts of zombies.
 * Several Woodbury soldiers.

Characteristics and Role
Despite his grumpy and cold demeanor, for a significant amount of time, he ultimately served as the moral center of the survivors, being quick to help people whenever they were in need, spreading his influence of hope/reassurance and wanting nothing but the best for most of the people around him.

Rick Grimes
Hershel initially gets along well with Rick, providing him and his family with their own personal bedroom on the top floor of his farm house. They bond during occasional conversations, and he seems to understand Rick on a deep level. He grows hostility towards him, however, once some of his children die during a zombie attack and the survivors refuse to leave (going to the point where he holds Rick at gunpoint to get him and the others to leave). Their friendship slowly rebuilds during their relocation to the prison.

Maggie Greene
It's clearly shown that he loves Maggie with all of his heart and doesn't want any harm (whether it be emotional or physical) to come to her. It's implied that she's the closest child to him. He's enraged when she sleeps with Glenn and brushes off her attempts at an excuse.

Billy Greene
His youngest son, and the one he sought to look after the most after the zombie attack that kills half of his children.

Glenn
He despises Glenn almost immeditely once he catches him having sex with his daughter, showing little to no respect. As time goes by, however, he gets to know Glenn better and realizes how irrational his behavior in the past had been.

Lacey Greene
Not much about their relationship is revealed because of the short time Lacey was alive, but they had a normal farther and daughter relationship. Lacey is seen helping him around the farm.

Arnold Greene
Not much about their relationship is revealed because of the short time Arnold was alive, but they had a normal father and son relationship. Arnold died saving Hershel's life which again shows that Arnold cared very deeply for his father.

Otis
Hershel and Otis became close while Otis was staying on the Greene farm. Otis would often help around the farm and go hunting to help provide food needed for himself, Patricia and the Greene Family. After Hershel pointed a gun at Rick and told him to leave, Otis went to talk to Hershel which shows he cared about him and made sure he was okay and told him he should say sorry to Rick before he leaves. While Patricia, Hershel and the Greene family went to the prison, Otis stayed behind at the farm to look after Hershel's livestock. Hershel and Otis's friendship could not grow because of Otis' death.

The Walking Dead (Video Game)
Hershel has been confirmed to appear in the video game adaption of the comic.

Trivia

 * Hershel appears in the second season of The Walking Dead, along with Maggie, Otis, and Patricia. He is played by veteran actor Scott Wilson.
 * Hershel was originally the one who was about to lose a leg after going to the Prison generator room. Robert Kirkman, comic's writer, thought Hershel had lost most of his children and that was tragic enough for him, so Kirkman decided Allen would be the one to lose the leg.