Negan (Comic Series)

"I'm sorry you had to see that. I really want you to understand... We're not monsters."

- Negan, after preventing Holly's rape, reassuring her that The Saviors aren't monsters.

Negan is a character first introduced in Issue 100 of Image Comics' The Walking Dead and is the leader of The Saviors and the current primary antagonist for the Comic Series. Negan is something of the polar opposite to Rick. While Rick has killed to survive, Negan kills to assert his group's stance as the dominant power in the post-apocalypse, which he refers to as "The New World Order". He uses his authority and resources to subjugate other communities, such as The Hilltop Colony, The Kingdom, and now the Alexandria Safe-Zone, into paying tribute to The Saviors, in exchange for protection against walkers.

Location Unknown
Nothing is known about Negan's life before or as the outbreak began.

The Saviors
At some point after the outbreak, Negan established "The Saviors" and fiercely ruled over his men. Negan, along with his team (which includes at least 50 or more other men), had made a deal with the Hilltop Colony; they would use the weaponry that the other group was lacking to kill all zombies wandering near their premises. In return, they would obtain half of Hilltop's supplies; such as livestock and crops. To get his point across, if a potential problem would arise, Negan and his men would resort to cruel and manic measures. If they sense they are being tracked or if they feel they aren't getting a sufficient enough amount of supplies, they beat or kill the people from Hilltop. The group also sends "messages" to the community, which are usually very deadly, such as Gregory being stabbed by Ethan.

Later, Negan, along with fifty other Saviors, snuck up on Rick's group and subdued Rick by surprise. They lined up all of the survivors from the van (Rick, Carl, Glenn, Maggie, Sophia, Michonne, and Heath), telling them that he wanted revenge for the Saviors that were killed. Without an agreement from Rick, Negan made a deal; everything that belonged to the Alexandria Safe-Zone, now belonged to the Saviors. He introduced his weapon of choice; Lucille, a baseball bat covered in barbed wire. After a long talk about the new world order and whom he should beat to death using Lucille. He finally chose his victim at random: Glenn. Maggie panicked, as Glenn attempted talking Negan out of it. Negan ignored him and began crushing Glenn's skull, using Lucille. Negan laughed and when Glenn attempted to get to his feet, he said, "He's taking it like a champ", before smashing his head open once again. Negan told the mourning and crying group that the Saviors would be back in one week to collect half of everything that the Alexandria Safe-Zone owned, or there would be more killings. Rick vowed that he would avenge Glenn and kill Negan. Negan laughed at this, beat Rick with his bare hands and turned around, leaving the survivors with Glenn's corpse.

The Saviors' Reign
Negan and The Saviors later arrived at the Alexandria Safe-Zone for their first offering. Spencer Monroe arrived at the gate, questioning Negan's identity, to which Negan laughs, referencing the events of Issue 100. He said, "I know how I had to make a pretty fucking strong first impression". When Spencer left to get Rick, Negan and the Saviors began killing zombies surrounding the area. While the Saviors scavenged each of the houses for supplies, Negan made several rude comments about his beating of Glenn, about Olivia being overweight, and toward Carl when he threatened him. Negan also forced Rick to hold "Lucille" while he scavenged the Safe-Zone. When Denise threatened a Savior for taking important medical supplies and Rick attempted to reason with Negan, Negan told the group that their big walls are the only medicine they need. Before Negan departed, he retrieved "Lucille" from Rick and told him, "In case you haven't caught on, I just slid my dick down your throat and you thanked me for it".

He and his men depart from the Safe-Zone with supplies, but unknown to him, Carl was hiding in the truck with an assault rifle. Once he and his men get back to their base, he is shocked to see that Dwight was still alive. "There is always next time, I suppose" he says, much to Dwight's disgust. A Savior finds Carl and Carl uses the rifle and kills six Saviors. They surround Carl and he demands to speak with Negan. When Negan arrives, Carl fires at them until he loses control of his gun. Dwight is about to kill him when Negan stops him and says "Is that any way to treat our new guest?"

Instead of taking immediate action against young Carl, Negan shows an impressive amount of interest in getting to know the child. He goes as far as to lead him through the Saviors facilities, revealing that he is the leader of a cult-like domain of selfless followers who bow to his every word and command. Many followers of his ranks are living on a point system in order to sustain their lives, though many give into his graces for a better living, most notably the women he considers his "wives". It is brought to his attention that one of his many wives, Amber, has committed adultery against him with her former lover. As he goes to handle the situation, he brings Carl along to see his wives and how he handles his affairs before degrading the terrified Amber in front of them all.

Afterwards, Negan and Carl share a private moment in his quarters where he reveals that he'd like to get know to Carl a little better, but he gets distracted by Carl's bandaged face. He orders Carl to remove the bandages, showing interest in seeing the injury to his eye. Carl allows him to see it only after being threatened; removing the bandages to reveal the disturbing effects that being shot had left him with. Negan, in a state of disbelief and awe, jokingly mocks the deformity and goes as far as to ask Carl if he can touch the part of his skull showing through his exposed eye-socket, which causes Carl to finally break and cry. This appears to have an odd effect on Negan who takes back the gesture and apologizes, seeing that he has finally found a weakness in the child he finds so dangerous. They are interrupted by one of his followers who returns "Lucille" to him and leaves them alone once again. Negan reverts to coldness as he orders Carl to sing a song for him while he swings the bat dangerously close by. After this intense encounter between the two, they are interrupted once again and Negan is told that the iron is ready. Negan has Carl hold "Lucille" while he follows him to witness the event.

In a ritualistic fashion, complete with chanting from the followers answering to Negan's words, shows that whoever falls onto his bad graces are dealt with by having their faces burned by a searing iron. Tied to the end of a pole, the tool once used to straighten clothes is held over a fire before being handed to Negan who presses it against the victims face as punishment for their betrayal. In this case, it was the face of Amber's former lover Mark, who is left deformed in the same manner as Dwight with a portion of his face permanently scarred and leaving an exposed eyeball. After the ritual, Negan dismisses his congregation before turning to Carl who hands back "Lucille" and leads him away, contemplating what to do with him. Negan runs into Rick while the latter was on his way to find Carl. Negan then tells Rick how eager he is to show him "what he has done to his son". He is then attacked by Rick in a fit of rage before revealing that Carl is fine and he meant that he is eager to show Rick "that he has done nothing to his son".

The Breaking Point
Several days later, Negan arrives at the Alexandria Safe-Zone a few days ahead of schedule; he's informed that the community is "practically" out of supplies and that Rick went out looking for more. Negan decides that he will stay in Alexandria until Rick returns from the supply run. He makes an offhand comment about Olivia's weight, who overhears it and starts to cry. He tries to apologize but she merely slaps him. Despite several Saviors offering to kill her, Negan dismisses them. Negan is later approached by Spencer Monroe and asks for a little background on the Safe-Zone. After awhile, Negan gets impatient with Spencer and wants to know why he came to him. Spencer then tells Negan that Rick is not a suitable leader for the community and asks that once Negan kills him, Spencer be given control over the Safe-Zone. Negan feels insulted that Spencer would wait until Rick is gone to tell him this. He responds by telling Spencer that Rick may hate him, but he has guts unlike Spencer who acted like a coward. Negan then slashes Spencer's stomach killing him almost instantly, remarking that he had guts after all. He then orders one of his men to clean the mess up "before a kid sees it."

Negan asks Denise, who witnessed the attack, where Spencer lived so he could go and shoot some pool. Rick later returns and confronts Negan, who casually blows him off. Rick demands to know what happened or he won't leave Alexandria alive. After picking up Lucille and praying to give him strength, Negan drops the excessive profanity he normally uses and tells Rick that he feels like he's "bent over backwards to show how reasonable I can be" in regards how he brought Carl back to the Safe-Zone safely and hints about how Spencer wanted to have him kill Rick.

After seeing the supplies gathered by Rick, Negan initially demands all of it, but then decides to take nothing as payment for killing Spencer. Rick insists that they take their share and Negan has no objections. As they are driving back to the foundry, Negan notices Rick and a few others were following them. An instant later, the driver is shot and killed. Confused and angry, Negan takes Lucille and sees Rick pointing a gun at his head. Suddenly, a gunshot is heard and Rick's gun is destroyed as well as the other's who came out with him. Negan remarks on how stupid Rick and the others are by using bullets on the walkers instead of saving them for 'the much more dangerous thinkers'  (aka the living.) Negan reveals that before every pickup, he has a back-up team armed with guns surround the Safe-Zone and guard the area while himself and the others go in and salvage for supplies. With a crazed smile on his face, Negan leans in to Rick and says that him and the Safe-Zone residents are 'fucking fucked.'

Revenge
Negan smiles and says that in a stand-off situation, snipers tend to give away their position after several shots. He clarifies that Rick's 'sniper bitch is as good as dead', causing Rick to try and strike him. As Negan holds him off, Carl shoots off a portion of Lucille, causing the Saviors to open fire at the Safe-Zone walls. Negan orders them to stop and is shocked and angry about the damage to Lucille. Rick tackles him from behind, but Negan subdues him once more. He calls Carl a one-eyed asshole and shouts for Carl to be thrown over the wall, saying "I want him to pay for what he's done!" Rick tries to object, but Negan beats him and issues an ultimatum: "Give me the boy or I'll bash in all four skulls of the people out here!" Negan admits that he liked Carl at first and that he never had a kid of his own; if he did, he wanted them to be like Carl. Rick says that if Carl dies, their agreement is over but Negan states that it already IS over. He orders his men to line up Rick, Heath, Nicholas and Holly, then begins to decide which one to kill first. He notices a figure falling from the bell tower and smugly repeats that he knew Rick's sniper was good as dead, not realizing that it's not Andrea but Connor.

Negan taunts Rick about Andrea's supposed demise and Nicholas interrupts him, pleading for his life. Negan berates Nicholas for doing this and accuses him of being a coward, he asks Rick, Heath or Holly to ask him to kill Nicholas and that if they do so, he will spare them. However Heath tells him no and he begins to pick which one of them he will kill, however he is interrupted when Paul Monroe grabs a Savior by the foot and uses him as a shield from the Saviors bullets. Negan tells his men to stand down and when he does this Paul leaps out of a trench and kicks the nearest Savior in the face. Paul orders Rick and the others into a trench and proceeds to fight his way towards Negan. When Paul reaches Negan he manages to disarm him and hold him hostage. Paul stalls the Saviors until Ezekiel and his men arrive, Negan breaks free from Paul and runs to a truck, where he retreats back to The Sanctuary with his men.

Negan is later seen back at The Sanctuary where he gives the Saviors a speech about them being the dominant force in the world and that they need to remind people of that and then states that they are going to war.

The War Begins
Several days later, Rick's army arrives to the Saviors base and demands that Negan come out. Initially, Negan is amused by this and begins to taunt him. Rick reveals that they know there are women, children and others inside who aren't part of this fight, he offers a chance to surrender and let them live; for the rest, he reaffirms his old saying: "You kill and you die." Negan plays along with it and asks what'll happen if he refuses. After hearing that "whatever happens, happens" Negan thinks for a split second and blatantly refuses Rick's offer. He muses that if he thinks the army he's assembled "can actually accomplish something... that's fucking rich." He briefly entertains the idea of letting Rick's plan go through only to reveal a wildcard; after the ambush at Alexandria, Negan ordered Gregory kidnapped and brought to him. Afraid of what Negan might do, Gregory quickly pledged his allegiance (and that of the Hilltop) to Negan and the Saviors.

After Gregory informed his loyalty towards Negan, he told Negan that the majority of Rick's army comprised of people from the Hilltop colony. Negan is pleased with this but when Rick's army arrived, he is furious that only eight people accept the ultimatum and leave. Negan berates Gregory for this misinformation and kicks him off the balcony. He refuses Rick's offer once more and his snipers begin to fire at the militia. Negan asks Lucille if she "believes this shit" and retreats from the bullets and falling glass. He calls Dwight, ordering him to bring the men from the outposts back to help drive off Rick's army. Dwight agrees but due to the commotion, Negan doesn't notice the former's hesitation to immediately act. As more men rush outside, Negan orders them to start shooting the army before all their snipers are killed. He suddenly notices that all their snipers are taking cover and is initially confused as to why Rick's militia are shooting not the snipers, but the windows. He then notices the large herd of walkers that are rapidly approaching the Sanctuary walls. He looks outside the fence and tells Dwight that "I hope you're wearing your shitting pants." Suddenly Holly drives through the fence, destroying a portion of it and letting the herd inside. Negan frantically orders his men back inside the foundry, but notices that Holly is still alive from the crash. He sees a walker about to kill her and dispatches it. As she looks up, Negan smiles and says that she wasn't "going to get off THAT fucking easy".

As the walkers converge inside the courtyard area, the Saviors retreat back inside the foundry to develop a new strategy. Negan delivers an analogy to a group of Saviors about how you can destroy a man "by fucking his vagina", meaning that the best way to destroy a man's heart by destroying the woman he loves; Negan clearly believes this to be Holly since Rick "was going to drive a car at us... you wouldn't let him sacrifice himself to tear our gate down." She corrects him by saying he's got the wrong woman; Rick loves Andrea and she herself was in love with Abraham, the man Dwight killed. Negan refuses to listen, insisting that she is the one who killed Connor "and a terrible liar." He then orders her taken away and goes off to clear his head. Later, Negan is seen outside with more Saviors trying to clear the courtyard of all the walkers, swearing that if any of them die he will "fuck them up." Eventually, too many walkers pour in the fence and Negan's group retreat back inside once more. Negan realizes that if the herd keeps them stuck inside for more than one day, they will all be dead and he orders squads outside every two hours to clean up the infestation by any means necessary. He goes to interrogate Holly some more, but catches David in the middle of trying to rape her. Negan demands that he get away from her and grabs him by the collar. He angrily reminds David one of the Savior's main rules: "We don't rape", thus proving Negan does hate sexual violence. As punishment for him breaking this rule, Negan proceeds to stab David in the neck and apologizes to Holly, telling her that "they [The Saviors] aren't monsters".

Killed Victims
This list shows the victims Negan has killed:
 * Andy (Caused or Direct)
 * David (Caused or Direct)
 * Crystal (Assumed)
 * Glenn
 * Spencer Monroe
 * David
 * Numerous counts of zombies and unnamed people.

Carl Grimes
"Number one, don't shatter my image of you. You're a fucking badass. You're not scared of shit. Don't be scared of me. It's a disappointment. Number two, do you really expect me to ruin the surprise? Fuck you, kid."

- Negan to Carl.

Negan is hated by Carl, and this is demonstrated when Carl risks his life to get revenge, by sneaking into Negan's truck in order to kill him. It appears though, that Negan likes and admires Carl because of how hardened he is. It is shown that he may even have some higher opinion of the child, such as respect, as he is shown to be sincerely concerned and apologetic after making fun of his exposed gunshot injury. Carl returns Negan's admiration for him by accompanying him throughout the Savior's base without even trying to run or take action, also questioning the leader of his wives actually being his. Negan may very well be catering Carl to become a protege of some sort, as he is shown to be more impressed by the boy rather than angered by his violence against his men. However after Carl shot Lucille (Negan's baseball bat covered in barbed wire), Negan demanded Carl's head or he'd kill everyone else in the safe zone.

Dwight
"I'll tell you his secrets, his weaknesses...I'll bring you that asshole's head on a silver platter...And then it won't matter if you trust me...Because that motherfucker will be dead. And this nightmare will, at long last, be over."

- Dwight to Rick and Jesus about helping them and Ezekiel kill Negan.

Dwight and Negan seem to have a tense relationship, as both seem to dislike the other to a point. However, Dwight's fear of Negan keeps him in line, as it is implied that Negan himself caused the deformity on his face. This is seen when Negan comments on Dwight's return and how he can always try next time to attack the Alexandria Safe-Zone, which resulted in heavy casualties and Dwight's capture. Dwight shows a look of disgust towards Negan after this. Dwight also seems to be intimidated by Negan, as he decides not to tell him about Paul's escape, in fear of Negan's wrath. Dwight's frustration grew when Negan, after playing ping pong, provoked Dwight by saying him that he would "ping pong his dick" with Sherry, causing Dwight's bearing to break.

Rick Grimes
"In case you haven't caught on...I just slid my dick down your throat...And you thanked me for it."

- Negan to Rick.

Rick has shown nothing but anger and rage at Negan. Although he acts like a laid-back bully, rather than a psychotic murderer around Rick, Glenn's gruesome death was proof to Rick of the violence and brutality that Negan and his Saviors are capable of. This leads Rick to realize that striking back immediately will most likely result in the destruction of the Safe-Zone, leading him to choose a passive course of action until he can stand a chance to avenge Glenn's death. His first step was to allow their prisoner, Dwight, to be set free so that Paul could follow him to their base. After returning Carl unhurt (after implying to Rick that he had done something to the boy), Negan tried to assure Rick that it was a gesture of good faith and shows that he could be reasonable as long as Rick was compliant. Although Rick was grateful, he made it clear that things hadn't changed between the two of them, to which Negan didn't seemed surprised. In Issue 111, it is shown that Negan harbors some respect for Rick and his willingness to carry out the Saviors' will and keep the Alexandria Safe -Zone safe despite clearly hating Negan.

Ezekiel
Ezekiel deeply hates Negan and wants him dead, as he stated that Jesus knew how much hate he had for the Saviors. It is also mentioned that he never accepted Negan's supply truce.

Amber
Amber is one of Negan's wives, though she does not love Negan, she has to pretend, for her and her boyfriend's protection. When Amber slept with her boyfriend, Mark, behind Negan's back, Negan punished Mark and burnt his face, similar to Dwight and his relationship with Sherry, another wife of Negan.

Gregory
Gregory is shown to be terrified of Negan and his group, to the point where he avoids as much confrontation as possible between the Saviors and the Hilltop.

Paul Monroe
Paul has a significant role in planning to overthrow The Saviors reign of tyranny and kill Negan. He has a strong dislike of Negan, yet has only seen him in person a few times.

Spencer Monroe
"You wanted to take over...Why not just kill Rick and take the fuck over? You know why? Because you got no guts."

- Negan to Spencer before killing him.

Negan is greeted by Spencer when he visits the Safe-Zone several times. During the most recent visit, Negan takes a bit of a liking to him after hearing how the Safe-Zone was formed and all the commodities the Safe-Zone offers. Spencer tells Negan that Rick is a bad leader and proposes that Negan put him in charge once Rick is killed. Negan is disgusted by Spencer for waiting until Rick was gone to tell him this. Negan taunts Spencer, saying that Rick is willing to put the good of others before his own feelings, and then brutally kills him.

Mark
"See? All done. Now was that so bad? Huh? Passed out?! Pussy."

- Negan to Mark.

Negan and Mark have a bad relationship, it is assumed that Mark and Amber were in a relationship before she became one of Negan's "wives" so after she did and Negan demanded that she could not continue her relationship with him, he began to carry on the relationship with Amber in secret. Once found out Negan punished Mark awfully by scaring half of his face with a hot iron. It is likely that, similarly to Dwight, Mark now hates him for the disfigurement of his face.

Appearances
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Trivia

 * Negan's main weapon of choice is a baseball bat wrapped in barbed-wire, which he calls, "Lucille".
 * Negan is one of three characters in The Walking Dead that has named their weapon, the others being Danny St. John with "Charlotte" and Molly with "Hilda", both from the Video Game.
 * Negan's attachment towards Lucille is shown to be deranged. Apart from claiming that it's saved him more times than he can remember, he also says that it's "the only bitch I've ever loved" and disturbingly admits that he occasionally has sexual thoughts towards Lucille, and even acting on these thoughts.
 * Negan is notable for using excessive profanity when he speaks, even to his own men.
 * At first, it was implied Negan was some kind of cult leader, as The Saviors believed that Negan spoke through all of them. Though the term cult may not apply to the Saviors, they are most definitely the followers of Negan to an almost religious level.
 * This is heavily supported in Issue 105, as it is revealed that he runs the Saviors as a cult would entail, complete with the followers bowing at his entrance and chanting to his words.
 * Negan was the second character to be named before he was actually seen, the first being Carl.
 * In Issue 105, a very rare glimpse of Negan's sympathy is shown after he makes light of the disturbing gunshot injury to Carl's eye, making the young boy cry. He apologizes for this with what appears to be sincere concern and admits how easy it is to forget that he is just a child.
 * This implies that Negan may not simply be a psychopath, but possibly someone suffering from what is known as bipolar disorder. Sufferers are known to bounce back and forth between emotions when provoked by certain reactions. Most cases, however, take little to no provoking at all.
 * Coupled with the continuing (and conflicting) remarks that Carl needs punishment, but also deserves respect, could merely imply that, being Negan is a "darker" Rick (both of them are the leaders of a large group of survivors, but while Rick acts in self-defence only).
 * It is obvious that Negan shows signs of having what is known as a God complex, living a life of total and uninhibited dominion over any form of life he sees, people who will follow his every command.
 * In Issue 107, Negan was caught off-guard by Rick, who punched and kicked him, however, he quickly subdued Rick, grappling him. This proves that he is fairly proficient with hand-to-hand combat. This is further backed up by Issue 112, when Negan states that the Saviors only use guns on the living, implying that all the Saviors are skilled at Melee and Hand to Hand combat.
 * In Issue 108, it is shown that Negan is a ping-pong player, beating several of his men soundly at the game. Whether this is due to his skill, or the opponent's fear of being punished if they beat Negan, is unknown.
 * In Issue 111, it is revealed that Negan also enjoys playing pool.
 * Negan reveals in Issue 112 that he is not a "fan" of sexual violence. This is also shown in Issue 117 when he kills David for attempting to rape Holly.
 * Negan is the second major recurring antagonist in the Comic Series, the first being The Governor.
 * Negan mentions in Issue 113 that he never had children.
 * He is one of the three named Saviors who interacted with Rick's group through dialogue, the other two being Dwight and Connor.
 * Negan is one of the five named characters of the Comic Series to be bitten by a human, the other three being Rick Grimes, Brian Blake, Dwight and Carl Grimes.
 * Negan and Dwight are the only named Saviors to have appeared on more than one issue cover.