Merle Dixon (TV Series)

Merle Dixon is a survivor first encountered in "Guts", the second episode of The Walking Dead (TV Series). He has a younger brother named Daryl Dixon and the Dixon brothers appear only in the TV series and do not exist in the continuity of the comic series. He is more than likely a neo-Nazi with his views of non-white races and Waffen SS markings found on his motorcycle. Merle is likely a military combat veteran with his comments refering to the others as "non-com" pussies, which is a military term used to refer to either new recruits or members of the military with no combat experience.

Location Unknown
It is known that during the time Daryl, Merle's brother was forced to make his way home from the mountains, Merle was in juvie and apparently did not notice that Daryl had been gone. Merle had major influences on his brother's upbringing and practically raised him to share his beliefs.

Guts
Merle is one of the Atlanta survivors who left the refugee camp to gather supplies in Atlanta with Glenn, Andrea, Jacqui, T-Dog and Morales.

When the department store is besieged by walkers, Dixon fires his rifle at several of them. T-Dog demands that he stops firing as it will draw more walkers. After Merle insults him by calling him a "nig**r," T-Dog punches him and the two begin to brawl. Though Rick, Morales and Glenn attempt to intervene, Merle single-handedly knocks them down and viciously beats T-Dog, establishing his dominance by spitting on the man. After declaring himself leader he is blind-sided by Rick who punches him out and handcuffs him to a pipe, before Dixon can cause further harm. Rick then confinscates Merle's cocaine and tosses it off the side of the side of the building, infuriating him. He is then put under the watch of T-Dog while the other survivors attempt to find a way out of the city. When the survivors do find a way out, T-Dog attempts to save Dixon but accidentally drops the handcuff keys into a vent, forcing him to abandon Dixon on the rooftop, as he flees after locking the rooftop door shut with chains. He is left behind as the survivors escape Atlanta.

Tell It to the Frogs
Left alone, he begins the stages of accepting his fate (praying, bargaining, etc.), until he begins to fight again, this time with the pipe he is cuffed to. As zombies invade the building and reach the chained door to the rooftop, Merle struggles harder until he notices the spilled tools that the others had left behind. He uses his belt to attempt reaching a hack-saw and succeeded in cutting off his hand to escape.

Vatos
Merle used the hacksaw to sever off his hand, then proceeded to cauterize it with a bunsen burner and killed two walkers as he left the building. It is believed that Merle stole the van Rick, Glenn, T-Dog and Daryl used to return to Atlanta, and fled the city in it.

Chupacabra
Merle reappears in an injured Daryl's dream, he taunts Daryl for giving up, telling him to be tougher. He also tells Daryl to stand up to Rick, even suggesting that Daryl shoot him, and mentioning that Rick handcuffed him and left him to die on the roof of the department store. As a result of this vision, Daryl is able to pull himself up from the gorge he'd fallen into.

Trivia

 * Merle is one of the characters who does not appear in the comic series.
 * Merle is first victim of an amputation in the TV series.
 * Merle has a number of ethnic slurs that he uses against people of different minorities, showing that he is racist.
 * It is likely that Merle has a military background based on his skills with firearms, fighting (taking on Rick, Morales and T-Dog by himself) and his military style haircut. While chained to the pipe on the roof he can be heard mumbling a story about when he mouthed off to a non-commissioned officer and then punched five of his teeth out. He was then sent to prison for 16 months and presumably court-martialed.
 * According to his brother, he got the Clap on occasion and had to take some serious antibiotics and drugs.
 * In Daryl's hallucination, Merle had both of his hands.