Gabriel Stokes (Comic Series)

"I turned them all away."

- Gabriel revealing his regrets.

Father Gabriel Stokes is a preacher who came across Rick and his group after leaving his church, where he had been hiding from the undead.

Pre-Apocalypse
Gabriel Stokes was the reverend of a regional community church. Not much of his personality or life before the apocalypse has been revealed. The only detail given by the reverend was when he admitted to Rick and the rest of the group that during the initial zombie outbreak, he locked the doors to his church and allowed whole families of survivors to be killed by roamers.

Gabriel claimed he had been living in the church's safety since the beginning of the epidemic, but the validity of his story, especially considering that it had been a full year since the apocalypse began when the group encountered him, is questionable.

On the Road
Forced from the church due to dwindling supplies, Gabriel set out into the surrounding countryside and eventually ran into Rick and his group while they were on the road.

The group encountered Gabriel on the road at a chaotic time, in the aftermath of losing The Prison to The Governor and during the heartbreaking dilemma involving the twins. Thus, the survivors were initially very suspicious of his presence and story, and did not trust him due to their weariness of other human survivors and in-fighting amongst themselves. Gabriel tried to comfort them with his obvious appearance as a religious man, but most of them visibly expressed open distrust or disbelief of his presence and mannerisms.

The moral dilemma involving Ben and Billy, and Dale's eventual fatal bite allowed Gabriel to blend into the group without too much difficulty as Rick and the other leaders were focused on the more pressing matters at hand. When it was discovered that Ben had killed Billy, Gabriel conducted prayers for the burial of both of the children.

Eventually, Gabriel led the survivors to his church for shelter while searching for the missing Dale, who had disappeared the night before. Rick eventually confronted Gabriel in the church, accusing him of being somehow involved in the disappearance of Dale and threatened him with violence. Gabriel then revealed his true story before meeting the group in tears. He expressed extreme remorse and guilt when he explained that he only survived several months alone in the church by turning away his followers and any other local civilians when the zombie attacks started. His main focus, he tried to emphasize to Rick, was to try and keep some spiritual faith for himself and the survivors, a sentiment which unfortunately was largely not shared.

It did not take long for the group to soon discover a group of human Hunters were stalking them. The conflict escalated when Glenn was shot in the leg from afar when he and the others tried to rescue Dale, who was discovered partially mutilated in the front of the church entrance.

Gabriel was soon forced by Rick, Andrea, Michonne, and Abraham to accompany them in finding the whereabouts of the Hunters, as he was the only member of their group who was familiar with the local area. When the group found the Hunters, Gabriel watched in horror as the group, led by Rick, brutally mutilated and murdered them in violent retaliation for their stalking and near fatal attacks on Dale and Glenn. Gabriel vocally expressed shock and outrage at their murder but Rick told him he was no better than them for turning people away from the church, silencing the reverend into submission.

Alexandria Safe-Zone
With no other choice, Gabriel followed Rick and the group on their journey to Washington D.C., despite admitting extreme disagreement with the group's violent actions against the Hunters.

He traveled successfully to the Alexandria Safe-Zone and was soon identified by Douglas Monroe during the introduction interview as the man to run the local Church, which had survived intact. When the walls expanded and the church became accessible, he began to run daily masses. He seemed to be doing well in adjusting to living within the Community, aside from the crowdedness of living with the group in Rick's house.

Gabriel became convinced that God led him to the Community so he could eventually preach at the new church. He eventually believed and tried to get the rest of the survivors exiled from the Safe-Zone because of what they did to the Hunters, but Douglas Monroe did not agree with Gabriel's belief that the groups actions were evil and decided to ignore his request.

Alexandria Safe-Zone Chaos
In Issue 82, when the zombies breach the Safe-Zone, he's seen in his church crying. He lets Eugene and Nicholas in before the zombies reach them.

In Issue 84, after watching Rick and Michonne fighting endlessly against the zombie horde, it may have inspired the men. Eugene and Nicholas get over their fears and go out to help Rick and Michonne. They also eventually convince Gabriel to stop hiding and help. While he's shown clearly afraid, he still joins the group and helps the fight. He, along with the others, survive and win the zombie attack. Although he's left stunned, most likely by his actions or that he survived the fight.

Killed Victims
This list shows the victims Gabriel has killed:
 * Numerous counts of zombies.
 * Indirectly caused many people's deaths.

Trivia

 * Gabriel is one of many religious characters within The Walking Dead.
 * Currently, Gabriel is the only priest encountered in The Walking Dead.