Dante (Comic Series)

"I don't know what happens tomorrow. I mean, I never do. We never do. Before all this happened, we never knew if we'd be safe the next day...but we always assumed we were. And so we put off important things. I was always good at that. Lately...these last couple of years... I've kinda fallen back into that. Getting comfortable...letting things slide, letting too much time pass. But with everything happening with the whisperers...(...). I really like you. I know I flirt a lot...so much that it's easy not to take me seriously but...I want to be with you."

- Dante explaining himself before confessing his feelings to Maggie Greene

Dante is a main character first encountered in Issue 131 of Image Comics' The Walking Dead. He is described as crude, but hard-working. Since he joined up with the Hilltop Colony, Dante is seen to show outstanding loyalty to his fellow community although he is overconfident at times. Dante has also taken an interest in Maggie Greene. Dante is also one of Maggie's right-hand men, along with Paul Monroe.

Overview
Dante is a crude, sarcastic, and mentally quick young man whose verbal wit and humorous nature are a force to be reckoned with. Due to his witty and relaxed nature, he sometimes tells jokes at inappropriate times and situations. Despite his demeanor, he is an incredibly resourceful and seemingly loyal young man who never lets his emotions get the best of him, keeping a cool and rational head.

Dante is also shown to have some leadership qualities as he serves as one of Maggie's closest advisors at the Hilltop Colony alongside Paul Monroe. He is also seen leading the Hilltop group back to the Hilltop and during the Whisperer war, he is seen commanding everyone and getting them into position with him taking the lead on the defense of the whisperer herd.

Pre-Apocalypse
Not much is known about Dante's life before the apocalypse. He mentioned that he never married or had kids. Dante did, however, have an extended family.

A New Beginning
Dante is first shown tasting a new drink from Louie and Larry. Later he is asked by Maggie Greene to lead a small searching party to find Ken. During said search, he reveals that he harbors feelings for Maggie, but acknowledges that he has little chance of succeeding because of her love for Glenn, her late husband. After reaching the barn Marco said he had left Ken in, all three set off inside where they discover Marco's beanie, but not Ken. They are soon ambushed by the undead as they begin to make their way into the barn.

Trapped and surrounded by a massive number of roamers, Dante and his crew begin to fight back, carefully using a five step process to slowly dispose of the attacking roamers. After managing to almost kill the attacking roamer horde, two knife-wielding and seemingly talking roamers attack Dante and his crew. One of the crew, Doug, is quickly cut down by the talking roamers and not long after the other member of the crew too.

Outnumbered, but still determined to fight, Dante engages his attackers in brutal sword combat. He manages to decapitate one with ease and after a short sword duel manages to put down the second talking roamer as well. In a relative shock from encountering roamers that talk, Dante observes its corpse.

However, through careful inspection, Dante discovers that the talking roamer was wearing a mask and after removing it finds a normal human being inside. Wanting to confirm his discovery, Dante checks the body of the talking roamer he decapitated earlier, also discovering it was a normal human. Not mere moments after, Dante is jumped by another survivor with a roamer mask, who orders him not to move while holding him at gunpoint.

Whispers Into Screams
Dante asks the survivor not to shoot him and that their actions were self defense, and he responds by ordering him to answer their questions. He tells Dante that because his people attacked his group, they'll be observing their communities and they should be afraid.

Dante is later brought in with Ken when the Whisperers appear at the Hilltop gate, both unharmed. Their leader, Alpha, promises no war and offers a trade: her daughter Lydia for the two hostages. Maggie accepts and Dante is returned. While he's cleaning up, he informs Maggie that they were treated very well, but also advises not to cross the Whisperers: while they don't want war, there may be over a thousand of their people.

Life and Death
Dante is present at the group meeting when Maggie expresses concern over Carl Grimes fleeing after Lydia. He understands Carl's intentions, stating "first piece of ass you get it'll make you do crazy shit to keep it." Maggie looks over at him in anger, and Dante asks if he lost all chances he had with her. Dante is later seen with Maggie who says that Dante is going with Carl's father Rick to find Carl as he is familiar with the area. Dante states that he's scared and that he wants Maggie to know he's only doing this for her. Maggie who's smiling notes this and says Dante isn't so bad after all. Dante leaves with Rick's group saying to Maggie he will carry her smile on his journey. Dante is seen riding horseback with Rick, Michonne, and Andrea. Rick thanks Dante for helping them look for Carl and apologizes to him for him being short with him earlier. Dante expresses his fears about the whisperers to Rick stating that the way they communicate to one another is unnatural and disturbing. Rick expresses hope that Carl is alive and well and Dante states they have every reason to believe that Carl is safe. Shortly after, Rick's group is surrounded by whisperers with one of them offering to take Rick to Carl but only Rick. Dante, Andrea and Michonne are later kept under watch by the whisperers. Dante is seen sorrowful alongside Andrea and Michonne when Rick, Carl and Lydia discover the mounted heads of people that Alpha had killed.

No Turning Back
Dante is seen watching Michonne's breakdown after seeing Ezekiel's zombified head. Andrea puts Ezekiel down and asks Dante, Carl and Lydia to help her put down the remaining heads. Dante acknowledges this and hands Lydia a knife and he proceeds to stab Amber and the other heads. As Lydia is putting down a head Michonne tackles Lydia to the ground and asks if she knew Alpha would do this and Dante says to Michonne to stop which she does. After Dante see's Andrea and Rick and Carl and Lydia embracing each other, he sighs and walks off to find Michonne. He asks if Michonne if she's okay which she harshly asks him if she looks okay. Dante quickly apologizes and says that he didn't mean to upset her. Michonne shrugs it off and says to Dante that he can help her start digging the graves to which he does. Dante is back at the fair in Alexandria when Rick informs the citizens that he has terrible news regarding the missing 12 people. Dante is later seen with Maggie and Jesus when Rick confronts Maggie over something Marco told him. When Rick begins to show outrage over the fact that Maggie executed Gregory Dante steps in to calm down Rick but is thrown to the ground. He see's Rick and Maggie embracing each other and states, "and we're all friends again. Cool." Dante is later seen in the crowd of people chanting Rick grimes following his speech where he plans to form a militia to protect everyone and to take out the whisperers.

Call To Arms
Dante is seen alongside Dwight and the militia as they follow Rick's orders on taking out walker herds, he also witnesses Vincent nearly being killed before being saved by the others. Dante is later seen as the head member of the group of survivors heading back to the hilltop, where he exclaims to everyone to keep the pace up if they want to reach the hilltop before nightfall. Dante later opens the Hilltop gates to let Michonne and a severely injured Aaron in, who demands Dante to find Harlan.

The Whisperer War
Dante is first seen on guard at the hilltop where he chooses to stay behind to protect Maggie and the others while Paul takes a large portion of their army to go and fight the Whisperers. Dante puts his arm over Maggie and reassures her that he will keep her safe before Maggie tells him to watch his hands to which he obliges and apologizes. He is seen on guard atop the gate keeping watch with the others. Sometime later on, Dante is being watched by Maggie and Brianna as he's sleeping on duty while Maggie notes to Brianna how safe she feels around him. Dante approaches Brianna and asks if he she has seen Maggie recently. Brianna tells Dante that she's aware of Dante's feelings for Maggie and that he needs to tell her how he feels quickly before he regrets. Late at night, Dante meets Maggie at her room and asks if Sophia is around to watch Hershel, when Maggie questions him he informs her to meet her in the Library in 10 minutes. When Maggie walks in and wonders why he wants to talk with her so late at night, Dante states to her how his mindset was at the start of the apocalypse, how at the start everyone was just focusing on staying alive and nothing mattered besides survival. Dante then states that in the past few years after living for so long, he began to think about other things besides living from day to day. Dante then confesses his feelings to Maggie saying he really likes her and wants to be with her, but Maggie simply says no. She then goes on to explain to him that the only person she will ever truly love is her deceased husband, Glenn, and that there is no other room for anyone but him. Maggie then leaves Dante, who is confused by her decision to not move on from her deceased husband, before saying that she does indeed like him and that she wanted to be honest with him. Dante then draws his sword and heads outside when he hears Carl's plea that the whisperers are finally attacking. He then orders everyone to get into position as the Hilltop wall is coming down. He commands everyone to form a chain-shoulder to shoulder position and to hold their ground and slowly take out the ones in the front of the herd. Dante is seen fighting the walker herd ordering everyone to hold their ground and that the herd is closing in on them. Dante and the other hilltop members continue fighting throughout the night against the whisperer herd and are eventually successful. Later the following morning Dante is standing with the remaining Hilltop members when he spots Kingdom Soldiers arriving at the now destroyed Hilltop Colony. He listens with Maggie as she declares to everyone that they will head over to Alexandria and stay there with hopes that they will repair the destroyed Hilltop one day.

A Certain Doom
Dante arrives on a hillside nearby Alexandria and witnesses in horror the massive ocean herd of zombies inside the community with the front gate completely leveled. Michonne and Jesus arrive and informs them of their plan in leading the herd away. Dante hears the plan and notes how smart it is to lead the walkers into the ocean to drown them. Dante heads off with Maggie, Jesus and Michonne to help begin leading the walker herd away.

Lines We Cross
After Negan is allowed to leave Alexandria, Maggie asks Dante to follow him, Dante agrees and tracks Negan. Dante watches Negan, killing walkers and burying Lucille. When Dante returns to the Hilltop Maggie asks Dante to take her to Negan. Once tracking him down Dante waits outside as Maggie confronts Negan alone. When Maggie returns she kisses Dante.

New World Order
After Dante and Maggie return to the Hilltop they hide away in weapons closet. Where Eduardo found them having sex. Maggie leaves Dante behind ashamed for what she did. Later Dante tries to be intimate again with Maggie, but refuses saying it is nice that someone (him) rally likes her. Sophia then walks in the room and becomes very sad and angry that they are together.

Volume 31
Dante welcomes Rick and Pamela Milton to the Hilltop alongside Maggie. He is later present during the meeting between Maggie and Pamela.

Killed Victims
This list shows the victims Dante has killed:
 * Amber (Zombified)
 * Olivia (Zombified, alongside Rick Grimes, Carl Grimes, Lydia, Michonne and Andrea)
 * Carson (Zombified, alongside Rick Grimes, Carl Grimes, Lydia, Michonne and Andrea)
 * Ken (Zombified, alongside Rick Grimes, Carl Grimes, Lydia, Michonne and Andrea)
 * Luke (Zombified, alongside Rick Grimes, Carl Grimes, Lydia, Michonne and Andrea)
 * Tammy Rose (Zombified, alongside Rick Grimes, Carl Grimes, Lydia, Michonne and Andrea)
 * At least four unnamed Whisperers (2 Confirmed, 2 Alongside Andrea and Michonne)
 * Numerous counts of zombies

Maggie Greene
"Are you ashamed of me?"

- Dante to Maggie

Dante is shown to have feelings for Maggie. Though they aren't reciprocated, he is nonetheless loyal to Maggie and respects her leadership. However after time has passed, Maggie has grown to admire him for his huge amount of loyalty to her, with him being one of her top right hand men at the Hilltop Colony. He frequently states to her that he will keep her safe no matter, which Maggie has noted as she says how safe she feels in his presence which is showing how close she feels about Dante. Dante will confess his feeling to her privately, but Maggie tells him she can't love again after Glenn saying she will always truly love him over anyone else. In Issue 174, after a ruthless conversation with Negan, Maggie kisses Dante leaving him completely stunned. The two are later discovered having sex by Eduardo, causing Maggie to hurriedly get dressed and leave Dante behind ashamed about herself.

Doug
"Remind me not to get lost and count on you two to find me."

- Dante to Doug

Dante and Doug had a stable relationship. Both are guards for the Hilltop Colony, and appear to be friends, however Doug's comments and his need to oppose Dante create tension between the two. Dante, however, was shocked and saddened after Doug's death, and avenged Doug by killing his murderer.

Rick Grimes
Dante and Rick both have a solid relationship. Dante is one of the few people that Rick brings to follow him to find Carl from the whisperers. Later on after the Maggie reveals to Rick that she hung Gregory for an ill assassination attempt, Dante comes to Maggie's defense but Rick knocks him down immediately but the two soon make up. Dante is later seen chanting Ricks name in support alongside the others which shows Dante's immense respect for Rick as a leader.

Brianna
Dante and Brianna have a positive relationship. They often jest with each other and are seen together often due to their proximity to Maggie. Brianna encouraged Dante to reveal his true romantic feelings to Maggie.

Eduardo
While they do not interact much Dante and Eduardo seems to have a good relationship. Eduardo is very surprised and shocked to find Dante and Maggie together.

Appearances
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Volume 22: A New Beginning

 * Issue 131
 * Issue 132

Volume 23: Whispers Into Screams

 * Issue 133
 * Issue 138

Volume 24: Life and Death

 * Issue 139
 * Issue 140
 * Issue 141 (No Lines)
 * Issue 142
 * Issue 143
 * Issue 144 (No Lines)

Volume 25: No Turning Back

 * Issue 145
 * Issue 146
 * Issue 148 (No Lines)
 * Issue 150

Volume 26: Call To Arms

 * Issue 151 (No Lines)
 * Issue 152 (No Lines)
 * Issue 153
 * Issue 155 (No Lines)

Volume 27: The Whisperer War

 * Issue 157
 * Issue 158 (No Lines)
 * Issue 159
 * Issue 160
 * Issue 161
 * Issue 162

Volume 28: A Certain Doom

 * Issue 164
 * Issue 165
 * Issue 168 (No Lines)

Volume 29: Lines We Cross

 * Issue 169 (No Lines)
 * Issue 170 (No Lines)
 * Issue 172
 * Issue 173
 * Issue 174

Volume 30: New World Order

 * Issue 177
 * Issue 178

Volume 31

 * Issue 182 (No Lines)}}