Max (Video Game)

"Please, don't kill me! I-I'll help tell everyone at Richmond about this! I'll help you get back inside! Expose her to the others..."

- Max pleading to Javier.

Max is a main character and an antagonist who appears in Telltale Games' The Walking Dead: Season Three. He is a high-ranking member of The New Frontier serving as a lieutenant. Despite being violent at times, he is more rational than other members of his group, as he tries to avoid unnecessary killing and is open to compromise as opposed to seeking vengeance. If alive, he will be kicked out of The New Frontier.

Location Unknown
Nothing is known about Max's life before the outbreak.

Post-Apocalypse
At some point during the outbreak, Max came in contact with The New Frontier and decided to join them, and later became a lieutenant.

"Ties That Bind - Part 1"
Max first appears with Lonnie and Badger in a junkyard off of the interstate to hold up Javier García at gunpoint. Max demands to know what Javier was doing with their gasoline, immediately growing suspicious of him having a group in the area. Javier can deny that he was with a group or try to reason with Max, but he ignores any attempt to bargain. He orders Badger and one other man to search for anyone else while he and Lonnie take Javier over to a nearby trailer home, believing his people to be inside. He shouts for anyone inside to come out or watch Javier die before having Javier to open the door for him, not caring if Javier's own people attacked him. Inside the trailer, Max discovers a set of empty pudding cups, conjecturing that the intruders had eaten "a feast" and tells Javier that he could not just take what he wanted without paying back what he owed. Max briefly offers some empathy for Javier's plight of starvation before punching him in the gut and telling Lonnie to guard him before leaving to join Badger in the search. He soon returns when he hears Lonnie's screams, discovering Javier with a gun standing over his unconscious friend. Javier quickly drops his gun as Badger takes aim on him, Max quickly checking on Lonnie. Max ominously informs Javier that he would have to pay for what he had done before knocking him out. He then orders Rufus to drive the man back to Richmond while the rest continue their search for other people.

"Ties That Bind - Part 2"
Max appears again alongside a much larger group at the town of Prescott, revealed to be a part of the New Frontier. He confronts Tripp, Clementine, Conrad and Javier about the incident at the junkyard.

While he tries to keep the debate in line with his personal plan, his subordinate Badger takes matters in to his own hands, having their hostage Francine's finger chopped off. Max tries to persuade him to stick to the plan only for the man to disobey and start a firefight between the two groups, Max powerless to stop the others from blasting the gate open and attacking the town.

He later appears once more guarding the town of Richmond. He notice Javier and others coming towards the gate, aiming his gun at them, questioning their reason for coming. He eventually calls their leader, David, to decide what should be done as other members exit and prepare to capture Javier's group.

"Above The Law"
Max is first seen at the gate where the previous episode left off. Objecting to the idea of immediately allowing Kate to be brought into Richmond without being brought to quarantine in order to check if she had been infected, but changes his mind after David's word of her being his wife.

Max is seen overlooking Javier and David as they are conversing about the loss of Mariana.

Max is brought into the church meeting by Clint's orders to bring up his experience with Javier with the leaders to inform them of what he has Seen Javier doing outside of Richmond. Max is hesitant with his words, knowing that David is Javier's brother and trying to show no disrespect to David. Max reveals that he caught Javier "stealing" gas from them, despite Javier's claims, Max stands his ground trying to sound justified. Max then reveals more information about Javier's situation with Rufus:

Rufus was killed: Max reveals that Javier shot Rufus as he found Rufus' dead body next to the wreck of his truck with a bullet wound in his back. Javier can object that he had plenty of reason to kill Rufus due to Max's attacks, but Max defends his claim by saying that it doesn't make it right, and Rufus was only going to bring him to Richmond, they weren't going to harm him and only did harm to him as it was necessary.

Rufus was spared: Max reveals that Rufus' truck was ran off the road by Clementine, and immediately after hearing that Javier has Clementine's company around him, it is enough reason to not trust Javi due to Clementine's known behaviour to the New Frontier.

After hearing Max's claim, Clint objects to the idea of letting Javi stay in Richmond, but Javi can respond with the following options:

I got nothing to say: Javier goes by his brother's wishes to keep what happened to Mariana a secret so no harm can come to his position and he can handle what happened himself, by telling Clint and Joan that he has nothing to defend himself with Max's claim.

Your people killed my niece: Javier defends himself demanding justice as to what Max unfairly didn't reveal, Javier revealed that Badger killed his Niece Mariana who is also David's daughter, Max is shocked to hear this. David is upset that Javier revealed something that he was going to handle himself, but Javi defends himself saying that Max is unfairly accusing him so he has a right to say his piece to make things justified. Javier then reveals that Badger and Max destroyed Prescott, and can reveal that they flooded with Walkers and Tear Gas, he can also mention that before doing so they unnecessarily harmed Francine. Max tries to defend himself by saying that he tried to solve the situation peacefully and the violence was all Badger's fault as he did not have any part in it and was even shocked when he found out that Badger was keeping a hostage.

After Javier gets kicked out of Richmond, it can be assumed that David spoke with him and Badger about his encounters with Javier.

Max is then seen at the warehouse with Badger and Lonnie stocking supplies, making remarks that they wouldn't be in the situation they were in now if Badger hadn't shot David's daughter, Badger replies saying he enjoyed killing David's daughter and that he would do it again if he had the chance, Max replies saying Badger is pathetic. He then discusses that Joan is going to far with taking supplies from other settlements and that it is going to lead to a war and so they should hide all of the supplies they've taken before any of the New Frontier members who don't know about the situation find them.

Whilst discussing the items they got, David, Javier, Tripp, Jesus, Clementine and Conrad (Determinant) appear behind them armed, David knocks Badger to the ground and Max is shocked to see him, David tells Max that he thought better of him, Max tries to reassure David but then pulls out his gun and starts shooting. Everybody splits up.

After Javier finishes off Badger, guns go firing as they find David and Max fighting, David overpowers Max and forces the truth out of him. Max reveals that all of the mass raids and violence was ordered by Joan, he wanted to include David in it as he knew he would have a better way around it, but Joan wouldn't allow it. Max admits that he regrets what he did and tried to figure out a simpler way of fixing it and has come to the conclusion that he does not want a war to start and that he knows Joan is going too far. He pleads with David to spare his life, and that he will redeem himself by helping David expose Joan to the council. His fate is then left to decide by Javier:

In-Game Decision
Execute Him (Dead): Max continues to plead for his life, but Javier ruthlessly shoots Max in the head claiming that they do not need his help.

Do Nothing (Dead): David shoots Max point blank in the head after the conclusion that Max does not deserve to live.

After getting back into Richmond, David and Javi's defense is broken as Lonnie is now the only witness to the whole thing, framing David to believed to be behind the raids in order to protect Joan. Lonnie's defense begins to sound more credible by blaming David for Badger and Max's deaths, despite if David really killed them or not (Determinant). This causes David to snap, attack Lonnie and incite a shootout, killing Lonnie.

Spare Him (Unknown): Max thanks Javier for sparing him. David hits Max in the head and thanks Javi for making a decision, saying that he "needed that".

Max goes with the group into Richmond and stands with them as they discuss their plan. As the group splits apart, Max goes with David.

Max fulfils his promise and exposes Joan to the council that she was behind the raids, Lonnie is upset that Max revealed the scheme but Max admits that he is coming clean and no longer wants part of the raids. Unfortunately Joan manages to convince the council that her reason for ordering the raids is justified, because of this, the council decides to side with her and has Javier and David locked away.

"Thicker Than Water"
Max's corpse appears in this episode if he was killed in the previous one, shown on the display at the town meeting alongside Lonnie (Determinant), Badger and Lingard (Determinant). If his life was spared, however, he does not make an appearance in this episode.

"From The Gallows"
If Max was killed in "Above The Law", a photo of Max will appear on the memorial wall, the image depicting him in a pickup truck. If Max was spared, his photo does not appear on the memorial wall, implying that he may still be alive or like Clint/Joan he could be missing.

For the rest of Season 3 Max's whereabouts remain unknown, however it has been confirmed by Telltale's staff that Max and Lonnie were put in a holding cell awaiting for the herd to clear, so they will be kicked out of the New Frontier and be exiled from Richmond and were given a fair shot to survive the outside world.

Death (Determinant)
​Killed By
 * Javier García (Determinant)
 * David García (Determinant)

In a scuffle in which David successfully overpowers Max and kicks his gun to Javier, Max kneels on the ground and begs to be spared by Javier. If the player chooses to execute Max, Javier will shoot him in the head, adamant he is of no use to the group. If the player hesitates and remains silent or takes too long to make a decision, David will shoot him in the head instead.

Killed Victims
This list shows the victims Max has killed:
 * Francine (Caused)
 * Numerous counts of Prescott residents. (Indirectly Caused)
 * Numerous counts of zombies and possibly unnamed people.

Javier García
"Thank-you! Thank-you."

- Max to Javier about sparing his life. (Determinant)

Max heavily disliked Javier upon meeting him, holding him hostage when they first met because Javier had been siphoning gas from their vehicle and he distrusted Javier's claims that he was alone. (Determinant) Upon finding empty pudding cups, his dislike for him only grew greater, assaulting the man as revenge. He also knocked him out when he discovered Javier had harmed Lonnie, becoming enraged enough to send him away.

He was also wary of him when he came to Richmond, mocking him for coming back to die though Max expressed sympathy to the suffering Javier experienced at the thought of his family.

Badger
"Oh, what the fuck?! We don't have the go ahead!"

- Max to Badger about attacking Prescott.

Max seems to trust Badger, both being part of the New Frontier. However, he is wary of the man's hostile nature, trying to anchor him in their conflict at Prescott, understanding his tendency to go too far. Despite such, he is unable to stop Badger from launching a full scale attack, going against orders.

After Badger is killed, when Clementine questions as to what happened to him, Max does not show any concern and simply just looks at Javier with a cold stare knowing that he was responsible for his death, implying that Max was not concerned about Badger's fate knowing that the man was a psychopath.

Lonnie
"I'm washin' my hands of this man!"

- Max to Lonnie. (Determinant)

Though they only interacted briefly, Max was trustful of Lonnie, believing he was capable of guarding Javier while he checked on others. However, when Lonnie was knocked out by Javier, Max displayed anger for how his companion was treated, beating Javier as punishment for such.

Rufus
"He shot Rufus, in the back"

- Max revealing Javier killed Rufus. (Determinant) Max is leader of small group of men, Rufus being one of then that head out on supplies run. Max trusts Rufus taking Javier back to New Richmond. If Rufus is killed, Max is angered at Javier for killing Rufus, saying he was just following orders and bringing him in and wasn't gonna hurt him.

David García
"I wanted to let you in, but she told me you'd never got for it. I'm... I'm sorry."

- Max to David.

Max and David's relationship has yet to be fully explored, but it is clear that Max respects David. He is first outraged by Badger's attack of Prescott without the permission of David, causing him to argue with him in the middle of a gunfight. It is unknown how David responded to this upon Max's return to Richmond. Max also decided to involve David in the matter of a group of desperate survivors coming to their gates, believing he would want to see them. He is later seen to betray him, as he went over David and took orders from Joan, which he later greatly expressed remorse for, saying he wanted to include him on it.

Joan
"Joan was in on it. We did it on her orders! She-she said we needed it to survive."

- Max about Joan. Joan seems to trust Max enough to let him lead the raiding operations on other settlements. She seems very dissapointed in Max when he outs her to the rest of the council. If Max was spared, he confesses that he and Badger and Lonnie had performed raids on Joan's orders. (Determinant) Clint and Lingard demand to know why she had covertly attacked other settlements, (Determinant) but she counters by saying that the raids were necessary to both keep Clint loaded with enough fertilizer to support crops and Lingard stocked with enough pills to treat the community. (Determinant)

If Max is killed, Joan has no qualms about using Max's dead body to accuse David for murders. (Determinant)

Season 3

 * "Ties That Bind - Part 1"
 * "Ties That Bind - Part 2"
 * "Above The Law"
 * "Thicker Than Water" (Corpse, Determinant)
 * "From The Gallows" (Photograph, Determinant)

Trivia

 * Max is the second character to be voiced by Sean Lynch, the other character being Rufus.
 * Back when the slaughterhouse was planned for the first episode of Season 3, Max would die after being dragged down by a walker after getting trapped in a stuck turnstile. An unused texture, sound and animation files as well as an AMA on The Walking Dead Subreddit by Alyssa Finlay confirm that Javier would've been given the choice of either mercy killing Max, or leaving him to be eaten alive.
 * Max was also going to die at the Prescott raid in episode 2, sound files show that Max was going to get stabbed and devoured by walkers.
 * Max can be shot in the side of his head in "Above the Law", but in "Thicker than Water" his corpse is shown to be shot in the forehead.
 * Telltale Staff member, Alyssa Finlay, revealed that after Max confesses that he, Badger and Lonnie were conspiring with Joan looting other settlements, they were put in a holding cell awaiting the herd to clear, so they will be kicked out of the group and be exiled from Richmond (but given a fair shot to survive).