Caesar Martinez (TV Series)

"There are just some things you can't come back from. They become a part of who you are... either you live with them or you don't."

- Martinez to Philip Blake while they golf together

Caesar Martinez (always addressed by his last name) is a former antagonist and survivor of the outbreak in AMC's The Walking Dead. He is a member of the Woodbury army and is one of the Governor's most trusted allies. He served as an antagonist of Season 3. After Woodbury's downfall, he abandons The Governor and becomes the leader of another group of survivors.

Personality
Martinez has been shown to have a particular hatred of walkers, frequently spearheading missions related to hunting and trapping them. This is revealed to be a grudge for personal losses suffered at the hands of the dead. Up until the end of Season 3, he was fiercely loyal to the Governor and followed his orders without hesitation. As of Season 4, he has gone from pawn to player, first by abandoning his former leader and then by taking leadership of his own survivor camp. As of welcoming the Governor back into his group months later, Martinez has taken on a more dominant personality, making his authority clear to his erstwhile commander and stating he will not tolerate dead weight.

Despite his seeming brutality he also shows very human and sympathetic characteristics, showing remorse for having killed the National Guard soldiers and framing Merle Dixon, conversing with Merle's brother Daryl, and being personable with all he considered comrades. In the end, he attempted to reconnect with The Governor, only to be betrayed for his lack of confidence at surviving the apocalypse and the issue of leadership.

Location Unknown
Little is known about Martinez's life before or as the outbreak began except for the fact that his father was a Catholic priest. Martinez was a family man, with a wife and kids who all perished at some point during the outbreak due to walkers. Martinez was a man who was formerly coach.

"Walk With Me"
Martinez is first seen at the helicopter crash scene with the Governor, Merle Dixon, Tim, Shumpert, and Crowley. They pulled up in trucks and Martinez exited the vehicle with a baseball bat in his hands. While searching around the wreck, Caesar kills a few walkers. Eventually, when Merle discovers Andrea and Michonne, they return to Woodbury. Martinez is not seen again until Lieutenant Welles mentions where his military allies are. The Governor, Merle, Tim, Shumpert, and Crowley head to that location and kill the surviving guardsmen. Following this, Tim, Shumpert, and Crowley are seen standing behind the Governor. They then return to Woodbury with the military vehicles, extra weapons, and supplies.

"Say the Word"
Martinez is first seen in a truck with the Governor's adviser Milton Mamet, Tim, and Merle. They are searching for zombies to take back to Woodbury as part of the arena fighting event. After returning to Woodbury, Michonne requests to leave and Merle allows her. Martinez is seen standing on top of the wall, holding a gun. Once night falls, Martinez and Merle battle in the arena, surrounded by zombies, as Andrea watches in disgust and The Governor, in happiness. Merle pins him to the ground and wins the arena fight, although The Governor admitted it was all staged.

"When the Dead Come Knocking"
Martinez is seen debating with the Governor and Merle about what to do with Glenn Rhee and Maggie Greene. He later threatens Glenn while Glenn, Maggie, and the Governor are talking.

"Made to Suffer"
Martinez is present at the meeting in Milton's laboratory before the firefight between the Woodbury guards and Rick Grimes's group. He participates in the firefight between the Woodbury army and Rick's group. He is more intricate in the recapture of Glenn and Maggie, along with Merle and others. Their attempt is interrupted, however, when Rick bombards the group with smoke grenades and rescues their comrades right under their noses. From here, Martinez follows Merle and the others into the streets for the assault. When Merle is branded a traitor by the Governor, Martinez holds a gun to Merle's back but lowers his head in shame, showing that he knows Merle isn't a traitor, but he remains quiet about it.

"The Suicide King"
Martinez is seen restraining Andrea from the Governor whilst the Woodbury residents demand Daryl and Merle Dixon's death. Shortly after the surprise ambush and escape of the Dixons, he hurriedly races towards a frightened young girl, shooting a walker about to bite her arm and bringing her to safety. Later, he is seen trying to control the despair of Woodbury citizens as they demand to open the gates so they can take a chance outside. In the middle of all the screaming and car horns, Martinez points his gun at one driver and forces him out of the car, as Andrea orders him to stop being rude, which he answers by affirming he doesn't take orders from her. As walkers breach the town, he and Andrea manage to kill them and then attempt to calm the townspeople.

"Home"
When the Governor attacks the prison, Rick's base, Martinez is armed with an FN FAL assault rifle and is hiding in the foliage. He fires towards Rick's location keeping him pinned down, but manages to miss every shot. After his gunfight with Rick, he retreats into the bushes.

"I Ain't a Judas"
Martinez is put in charge of recruiting the townspeople of Woodbury to an army by the Governor, who wants to arm each and every person in the town to avoid any more invasions. He argues with Karen regarding Noah, an asthmatic teen, when Andrea eventually steps in and diffuses the situation. Near the end, he is seen armed with a gun at the gate and seems to be surprised to see Andrea stepping out of the car they have stopped.

"Arrow on the Doorpost"
Martinez is brought along to the meeting between Rick and The Governor, together with Milton and Andrea. While waiting, walkers approach, and he and Daryl then move in to kill them, both having a competition of-sorts while slaying the walkers. Later on, they have a conversation about past events, where Martinez states that he hates the walkers, after what they did to his wife and kids, revealing that he lost his family to the apocalypse. When the meeting ends, Martinez leaves along with The Governor, Milton and a reluctant Andrea.

"Prey"
Martinez is packing the truck full of guns. Andrea asks why, to which Milton replies, "It's a show of force.". Martinez spots Andrea on her way out to escape, and asks her for her piece and ammo because the Governor wants them all collected up. Martinez collects Shumpert, Tyreese Williams, Tyreese's sister Sasha, Allen, and Ben to go to the biter pits. Tyreese and Sasha are shocked when they first see the biter pits, and question Martinez as to why they would feed living people to them. Martinez asks why Tyreese should care, to which he replies "This is sick." Martinez threatens Tyreese when he decides to not help with the pits. Martinez and Shumpert watch as Tyreese and Allen get into a physical alteration. Martinez orders Shumpert to take Tyreese and his group back to Woodbury.

Martinez greets the Governor on his way back from chasing Andrea. He informs him that the biter pits have been torched. The Governor asks Martinez to go out and collect some more biters.

"This Sorrowful Life"
When Merle drives a car to the Governor's meeting place with loud music, Martinez is one of the first to hear it. He orders the other soldiers to check it out and they do. When Merle is inside a shack and a zombie attacks him, he falls through a door and is brutally kicked by Martinez and a few others. Merle is killed shortly after and Martinez survived the ambush, returning to Woodbury with the Governor, Shumpert, Allen, and a few others.

"Welcome to the Tombs"
Martinez is one of the soldiers involved with the assault on the prison. As the Woodbury convoy approaches the prison, he destroys two of the prison guard towers with a grenade launcher. He is forced to flee the prison with the rest of the soldiers after they are overwhelmed by walkers, smoke grenades, and the prison alarm being activated. He is one of the last people to escape the prison, along with the Governor and Shumpert.

Their truck speeds up to the front of the convoy and cuts off the leading car, to stop the Woodbury soldiers from fleeing any further. He and the Governor yell at the soldiers, but he is horrified as the Governor opens fire on the crowd, killing everyone. He backs away in terror as his friends are gunned down, but willingly gets back in the truck when the Governor orders him to. He, the Governor, and Shumpert drive off into the unknown.

"Live Bait"
Martinez, Shumpert, and the Governor return to the abandoned National Guard camp after the Governor's assault on his people. When a walker is about to kill the Governor, he doesn't do anything to save himself. The walker almost bites him, until Martinez steps up and shoots the walker in the head. He then looks at the Governor angrily, and walks away. The next morning, he and Shumpert take the truck and abandon the Governor without warning.

Months later, Martinez finds the Governor and Meghan Chambler in the screamer pits, after they fall in.

"Dead Weight"
After saving the Governor and Meghan from the pit, he takes them all to his camp and says they can stay, provided the Governor does not try anything. Later, Martinez starts to hang out with Meghan's mother Lilly Chambler, her sister Tara, Philip, and Meghan - sharing stories over lunch and beer. He later takes the Governor golfing on top of the RV to prove there are no hard feelings between the two of them. Martinez gets drunk and mentions that maybe they can "share the crown" and run the camp together. In response, the Governor exclaims "I don't want it!" and hits Martinez in the head with a club. He then drags him over to the walker pit and lowers him in where he is slowly devoured by walkers. The group later discovers Martinez's remains in the pit and assumes that he got drunk while playing golf and accidentally fell in.

Killed By
When golfing on top of the trailer to hit walkers in the heads, Martinez offers the Governor a partner-based leadership position. The Governor, enraged by this, mercilessly hits Martinez in the head with a golf club, kicks him off the trailer and drags him to the pit of walkers, screaming, "I don't want it, dammit!". He then holds Martinez over the pit low enough for the walkers to bite into his head and then drag him in to devour him. It is unknown if there is anything left of him to turn.
 * The Governor (Caused)
 * Zombies

Killed Victims
This list shows the victims Caesar has killed:
 * Five U.S. Military soldiers (Alongside his fellow survivors)
 * Wilson (Alongside his fellow survivors)
 * Merle Dixon (Caused)
 * Shumpert (Out of Mercy)
 * Numerous counts of zombies and possibly unnamed people

The Governor
With Merle's banishment from Woodbury, Martinez appears to have become the Governor's new right-hand man. While his comic counterpart is more crafty and manipulative (as shown by him tricking Rick's group into taking him to the prison) on the Governor's behalf, Martinez has helped him murder the group of soldiers in "Walk With Me" and help attack the prison in "Home", which resulted in Axel's death, showing that Martinez is willing to follow every last one of the Governor's orders, this shows that Caesar is devoted to the Governor. In "Home", the Governor tells Milton Mamet that Caesar would take a bullet for him, showing that Martinez is willing to die for the Governor, and Woodbury. After Merle's departure, Caesar has become the Governor's right hand man. However when the Governor guns most of the Woodbury army down and shoots Allen in the head, Caesar backs away in disbelief and fear. He then abandons the Governor by taking his truck, but they would reunite once again and appears to welcome him to his own group. However, tension grows as Martinez seems to rub his leadership into the Governor's face, and after he offers him a partner-based leadership, the Governor becomes enraged and kills Martinez by throwing him into a walker pit, showing that he doesn't allow anyone to take the leader role but him.

Shumpert
"Shump, take them back to town, let them do some knitting."

- Martinez to Shumpert about taking Tyreese Williams's group back to Woodbury

Usually, Caesar and Shumpert are seen together and seem to be friends due to his nickname, "Shump", given to him and said only by Martinez in "Prey". They are seen together numerous times throughout Season 3, working together to complete the Governor's tasks or guard the walls of Woodbury and keep its residents safe.

After the Governor massacred the rest of the Woodbury army, Martinez and Shumpert abandoned the Governor during the night. This shows that they trust each other, even without the Governor's support.

He appears to have had a good relationship with Shumpert, seeing as he was the one who put Shumpert down when he was bitten.

Merle Dixon
Merle and Martinez have presumably spent many months surviving the apocalypse together and have become close allies. Merle even gave him the nickname "Brownie" (because of his skin color). The two also poke jabs at each other like brothers, for example when Martinez called Merle as ugly as the walkers and Merle just laughed. When Merle was accused of being a traitor, Martinez followed through with orders and held a gun to his back but hung his head in shame. Martinez played a role in Merle's death, having been one of the people to beat him, which made him unable to put up a fight against the Governor. It can be assumed that by this time, he has come to harbor a hatred for Merle.

Daryl Dixon
"Pussy."

- Caesar insulting Daryl

Caesar and Daryl first meet in "Arrow on the Doorpost" where they are immediately hostile towards each other. When walkers arrive, they try showing off to see who is the better zombie killer. Afterwards, the two talk about the incoming battle and how there is no avoiding it. Martinez opens up to Daryl about losing his wife and kids in the apocalypse. The two share a smoke and have a slight bond.

Mitch Dolgen
Mitch was one of Martinez men when he started his own group. Martinez recruited Mitch along with his brother Pete during an unknown time. Martinez trusted Mitch because he is seen with him on supply run.

Pete Dolgen
Pete was one of Martinez men when he started his own group. Martinez recruited Pete along with his brother Mitch during an unknown time. Martinez trusted Pete because he is seen with him on supply run. Pete takes over the leadership after Martinez's death.

Lilly Chambler
Initially, Martinez was surprised to see Lilly and her family with "Brian," but he agreed to let them join the camp. He seemed to have a friendly, mutually respectful relationship with Lilly. As the group bonded over drinks, she praised him for the safe life he'd helped create for the people around him. Phillip's unnerved reaction to their conversation suggests this may have been one of the factors leading to his murder of Martinez later that day.

Tara Chambler
"Wait, your father was a Catholic priest? So the father became a daddy?"

- Tara chatting with Martinez

Initially, Martinez was surprised to see Tara and her family with "Brian," but he agreed to let them join the camp. Tara and Martinez formed a friendly, mutually respectful relationship during their time at the camp. As the group bonded over drinks, she praised him and his leadership. Tara was shocked when she learned of Martinez's death.

Appearances
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Season 3

 * "Walk With Me" (No Lines)
 * "Say the Word"
 * "When the Dead Come Knocking"
 * "Made to Suffer"
 * "The Suicide King"
 * "Home" (No Lines)
 * "I Ain't a Judas"
 * "Arrow on the Doorpost"
 * "Prey"
 * "This Sorrowful Life"
 * "Welcome to the Tombs"

Season 4
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 * "Live Bait"
 * "Dead Weight"

Trivia

 * In "Arrow On the Doorpost", Martinez mentions that he "prefers Menthols" when Daryl offers him a cigarette from a dead zombie's pocket.
 * He was the last person to die in the trio that witnessed and survived the Governor's murder of the Woodbury citizens after the prison attack, the others being Karen and Shumpert, who former of whom would die around the time of Martinez's death and the latter would die much before.