Owen (Wolf)

"So... I know I'm probably going to die, but if I don't, I am going to have to kill you, Morgan. I'm going to have to kill every person here. Every one of them. The children, too. Just like your friend Eastman's children. Those are the rules. That’s my code. I'd say I'm sorry, but you said it, right? Don't ever be sorry."

- Owen to Morgan Jones after showing his infected cut wound.

Owen is an antagonist and a survivor of the outbreak in AMC's The Walking Dead. He is the leader of a group of survivors known as "The Wolves" and serves as an antagonist for the second half of Season 5 and the primary antagonist for the first half of Season 6.

Personality
Owen is shown to be a cunning, greedy, violent and dangerous person. He appears to care about nothing other than survival for himself by any means necessary and is more than willing to rob and murder other survivors of everything they have. He is shown to be a remorseless, cold-blooded murderer as shown when he slits a man's throat with no emotion or hesitation and makes it clear the he is not above killing children either as shown when he threatens Morgan while imprisoned in Alexandria. He is also a sly and calm talker and is shown to possess a very manipulative personality.

He seems to view mercy as a weakness as he appears to find it amusing that Morgan refuses to kill other people during their second encounter and openly tells him that he should have killed him when he had the chance to do so in the woods. He appears to be highly intelligent as well, as shown by his ability to devise Walker traps in order to kill other survivors for their supplies and his trivial knowledge of the history of wolves. He also seems to take pleasure in what he and his group do and claims they are doing people a favor by "freeing" them. Owen is somewhat shown to have little or no fear of death as shown during his imprisonment when he appears completely unworried that a potential infection might claim his life.

Owen also appears to be fearless and brave as while imprisoned in Alexandria and at the mercy of Morgan, he shows no fear whatsoever despite having a deep gash in his torso and makes a subtle threat that he still intends to slaughter every survivor in the safe-zone if he survives his wound. His fearlessness is also evident during the confrontation between Carol and Morgan where he encourages Morgan to kill him and shows no fear over Carol's strong intent to kill him. Ultimately he uses the confrontation over his life to knock Morgan unconscious while he is distracted, take Denise hostage and escape from his cell.

Despite his dark and sadistic nature, it is shown that Owen was not a complete monster and was shown to be capable of caring for others as he saved Denise's life instead of fleeing from Alexandria (when he had a clear opportunity to do so) and before meeting his demise, he urged and helped Denise to escape.

Pre-Apocalypse
Almost nothing is known about his life before the outbreak began. He briefly mentions to Morgan that he enjoyed going to the movies. He may have lived in or near Washington, D.C.

Post-Apocalypse
Owen survived the outbreak of the zombie apocalypse, becoming a hardened killer in the process. He was able to assemble a group of about 30 people, which would later become the Wolves, with himself as the leader. At some point, he carved a "W" into his forehead, in accordance with his philosophy that humanity descended from wolves. He and his group resorted to extreme violence to survive by raiding camps and settlements and brutally slaughtering survivors in order to steal their supplies. It is unknown what drove Owen and his people to commit such atrocities though it is possible desperation for supplies was a key factor as Owen's right hand man, revealed "we didn't choose", possibly signifying that Owen and his people resorted to violence just to survive, though the fact that Owen and his people enjoyed killing suggests otherwise.

Owen stationed his group's base at Del Arno's Foods, where he and his group scavenged the surrounding area for supplies and other survivors. His group also survived by setting up traps for unsuspecting survivors, and then using their reanimated corpses as traps for other survivors.

At some point before encountering Morgan, his group attacked Shirewilt Estates, and slaughtered every survivor in order to steal their supplies. His group also attacked a small camp of survivors in the woods near Alexandria in which they brutally slaughtered and disemboweled the camp's residents. This was discovered by Daryl Dixon and Aaron.

"Conquer"
Owen makes his first appearance when Morgan Jones is cooking breakfast for himself. He comes out from the woods with a gun pointed at Morgan. The two engage in conversation, wherein Owen tells Morgan that he used to enjoy going to the movies and talking to people. He then insists that he will take everything Morgan has, including his life. When Morgan refuses, he gives a signal to his gang member to attack. However, both of them are knocked out by Morgan and left in a nearby car.

It is not shown how he and his partner escape the car, but the two eventually find a man with a red poncho, and bring him to the Del Arno Foods cannery, where Owen slashes his throat.

After resetting the walker traps, he is seen rummaging through Aaron's backpack and observing photos of Alexandria, Rick Grimes, and his son Carl.

"JSS"
Owen and his group attack Alexandria. As Morgan is searching a home in the safe-zone, Owen ambushes him and tries to kill him with a sickle but Morgan is able to evade his attack. He recognizes Morgan and the two begin to fight. After struggling with Morgan, he questions his ability kill people, telling him that he should have killed him in the woods. He leaps at Morgan, but he is able to fend him off and beats him with his staff. Owen tries desperately to stab Morgan with his knife but is disarmed. Morgan then apologizes to him and knocks him unconscious with his staff.

"Here's Not Here"
Owen eventually regains consciousness, and Morgan elaborates as to why he is unable to kill people by telling him of his past and eventual relationship with Eastman. After Morgan suggests that he could redeem himself as well, Owen reveals that he has a deep gash in his torso. He notes that he will likely not survive his injury, but if he did that he would make it his goal to kill Morgan and everyone else in Alexandria, including the children. To this, Morgan simply leaves and locks the gate behind himself.

"Start to Finish"
Owen first appears in this episode in his cell with Denise sitting opposite him. The two share conversation over the atrocities he has committed and he reveals that he cut himself while inspecting a damaged vehicle. After initial hesitation, Denise asks him to lift up his shirt, which he does, revealing a horribly infected wound. Denise tells him that he can change and than treats his wound.

Later, after tricking Morgan, Carol runs downstairs and tells Denise to get away from Owen and prepares to slaughter him. Morgan runs downstairs, staff in hand and tries to dissuade Carol from killing Owen. Carol threatens to kill Morgan if he gets in the way. During the confrontation, Owen shows no fear and admits that he will eventually escape and that Morgan should kill him, and points out that they are all going to die anyway.

Morgan knocks the knife out of Carol's hand and after a struggle, slams her to the ground, knocking her unconscious. While he's distracted, Owen grabs Morgan's staff and strikes him unconscious, then takes a knife and points it at Denise. After cutting his bonds, Denise begs him not kill Morgan and Carol, instead he walks up to her and holds the knife to her throat, claiming that she represents what he likes about people. Suddenly, Tara ,Eugene and Rosita enter the cell and the girls point their guns at Owen who orders them to drop them and slide them over. They comply and Owen takes one of the guns and proceeds to walk to the door holding Denise at gunpoint. Tara says he doesn't need Denise and he agrees with her. He then unlocks the door to the building and exits with Denise as his hostage.

"No Way Out"
Owen is first seen with Denise, holding her at gunpoint while hiding from the walkers.

From their hiding spot, Owen and Denise watch walkers stream down the street. Owen tells Denise they'll make a run for a lookout tower as soon as a gap opens up in the herd.

Owen spots a gap in the herd and sprints to the tower with Denise. He defends Denise when walkers attack her but his arm gets bitten in the process. Denise urges him to come with her to the infirmary so she can save his life, presumably by amputating the limb.

He is later seen with Denise, taking shelter inside of a house, where she ties a belt around his arm to amputate it. Denise says that Owen saved her life, signifying his redemption. Both of them run outside, heading to the infirmary. Carol witnesses them running from the townhouse balcony and shoots Owen in the chest, wounding him. He urges Denise to keeping going to the infirmary as he gets eaten by walkers. Owen is later found as a walker by Morgan, who apologizes to him one last time before impaling him in the head with his staff.

Killed By
Owen goes with Denise to the infirmary to treat his wound, but on the way, Denise is grabbed by a walker. Owen saves her, but he gets bitten on the arm in the process.
 * Denise Cloyd (Indirectly Caused, Alive)

As they continue toward the infirmary, Owen gets shot repeatedly in the chest by Carol (unaware that he is helping Denise escape), and is then devoured by walkers after sacrificing himself to save Denise.
 * Carol Peletier (Caused, Alive)
 * Zombies (Alive)

While everyone in Alexandria is fighting off walkers, Morgan sees a zombified Owen, apologizes to him and then immediately stabs him with his staff, putting him down.
 * Morgan Jones (Zombified)

Killed Victims
This list shows the victims Owen has killed:
 * Red Poncho Man (Alive)
 * Numerous Shirewilt Estates survivors (Caused and Direct)
 * Numerous Alexandria Safe-Zone survivors (Caused or Direct)
 * Numerous counts of zombies and unnamed people.

Morgan Jones
"I'm sorry..."

- Morgan Jones to Owen's reanimated body.

Owen and Morgan were shown to be the polar opposite of each other: Morgan was a peaceful survivor who refused to kill human beings while Owen is a remorseless murderer who seems to find killing amusing. Owen and Morgan first interact while Morgan is camped out in the woods. Even though he holds Morgan at gunpoint, the two start off making some friendly conversation, though Owen's true nature is shown when he makes it clear that he intends to rob Morgan of everything he has and then slaughter him. Morgan is able to survive the attack by Owen and his partner and leaves them unconscious in a car instead of killing them.

Following the brutal attack on Alexandria, Owen attacks Morgan while waiting in a home. He recognizes Morgan from their previous encounter and seems to find it amusing that Morgan refuses to kill people and tells him he should have killed him the woods. Morgan eventually gains the upper hand in the fight, apologizes to Owen and knocks him unconscious again, still refusing to kill him.

It is shown that Morgan imprisoned Owen in Alexandria and told him his story of his redemption due to his friend Eastman and that redemption is possible for him, too. Owen just smirked and gave a clear threat that if his wound did not kill him, he would kill Morgan and all the remaining survivors in the safe-zone, children included.

Despite his threat, Morgan is shown in "Heads Up" enlisting the help of Denise to treat Owen's wound and refusing to allow Carol to enter the cell, showing that Morgan cares for Owen somewhat. This is shown in "Start to Finish" where Morgan refuses to allow Carol to kill Owen and gets into a physical confrontation with her, which results in her being knocked unconscious and Owen knocking out Morgan and escaping with Denise as a hostage. Following this, while fighting against the walkers, Morgan comes across Owen who is now a walker. Morgan appears displeased that Owen is dead, apologizes to him again and finally puts him down.

Morgan seemed to be pleased that Owen saved Denise's life and later used him as an example during a conversation with Rick to prove his point that murderers are capable of changing into better people.

Denise Cloyd
"You turned back for me, maybe it was because you needed a doctor, or maybe you changed."

- Denise to Owen after being bitten. Owen had a strange relationship with Denise. The two first interact when Morgan secretly enlists her help to treat his infected wound. After a massive herd of walkers invade Alexandria, Denise and Owen share conversations over the atrocities that he has committed and appears disgusted, however after some thought she ends up treating his wound and tells him that he is capable of changing. Later on, following the confrontation between Carol and Morgan in which the two are knocked unconscious and Owen frees himself, Denise begs him not to kill them but he walks up to her and holds a knife to her throat, claiming that she represents what he likes about people. After gaining a gun from Tara, Owen holds Denise at gunpoint and exits the building with her as a hostage.

In No Way Out, as Owen and Denise watch as the herd passes by, Denise goes into a state of shock, and starts to have a panic attack. Owen calms her down, and implies that he needs her, and says that he enjoys her company. Denise tells him to go to hell and insults him over the deaths of his entire group, although he just smirks at her comments.

As night falls, Owen plans to escape Alexandria with Denise by his side, and says we find a gap, we go up that guard tower, and go. They then run for the ladder of the tower, but Denise is grabbed by a walker and tries to wrestle it off of her. Owen, instead of escaping, runs over and stabs it, getting bitten on the arm by another walker in the process. Denise insists that if he gets her to the infirmary, she can save his life. Once inside a building, Denise grabs Owen's belt and ties it around his arm, meaning that she intends to remove it. She seems very concerned that he is bit, and says she needs to get him to the infirmary immediately, showing that Denise wants him to live, and believes he is a better person than before. Denise finishes tying his arm up and they prepare to run to the infirmary.

The two push and shove through walkers, but Denise gets grabbed again. He pulls the walker off of her and reaches out for her and yells at her to come on!. Carol then unexpectedly shoots Owen through the chest twice and shouts at Denise to GO!, Denise is very shocked that he got shot and stops. Owen tackles the walkers that were approaching her and tells her to go!. He is then devoured as Denise runs to the infirmary. It is unknown if Denise felt remorse for Owen's death.

Season 5

 * "Conquer"

Season 6

 * "JSS"
 * "Here's Not Here"
 * "Start to Finish"
 * "No Way Out"

Trivia

 * In the credits for "Conquer", this character is credited as W Man. In the credits for "JSS", this character is credited as Wolves Leader.
 * With the death of Owen, all known members of the Wolves are deceased.
 * Owen is one of two named Wolves, the other being Aphid.