The Saviors (Comic Series)

"We survive, we provide security for others, we bring civilization back to this world--we're the Saviors."

- Negan to a crowd of fellow Saviors.



The Saviors are a large group of survivors who were mentioned in Volume 16: A Larger World and first appeared in Volume 17: Something To Fear. The Saviors use a large factory surrounded by a wall of impaled and tied zombies as their base.

Overview
The Saviors were, at the beginning, individual survivors. Each member presumably met at the Hilltop Colony. Sometime after the Colony was established, a separate group had formed within the colony, led by a man named Negan, to kill nearby zombies in the area. Judging by their members, the group consisted of the more physically strong and violent members of the Colony.

Soon, Negan's crew had become one of the largest organized survivor groups in the apocalyptic world. They became more and more violent with their ways as they grew in numbers and confidence, and they eventually degraded into committing crimes against other living survivors, which included murder, blackmail, theft, rape, and other various transgressions.

At some point, Negan dubbed his group the Saviors, demanding half of all the rations and supplies from the Hilltop Colony. If the Saviors did not get what they wanted, they gave out deadly messages or severe beatings. In return, the Saviors would kill all zombies surrounding the Hilltop Colony. It is unknown if the Colony had initially resisted the demands, but it is known that they submitted to the Saviors' wishes and followed through with the process for sometime before Rick's group had encountered the Hilltop residents.

The Saviors' main base of operations has shown to be in a heavily fortified factory with a secure fence surrounding it. The only entrance has shown to be surrounded by a horde of chained and impaled undead, supposedly to discourage intruders from attacking, and which forces entries and exits into a small path only big enough for a single vehicle or a few people on-foot without the risk of being eaten by the surrounding undead. Dwight referred to the base as the "Sanctuary".

The approximate number of members in the Saviors is currently unknown. It has been shown that there are at least over 100 living members, with more mentioned having taken position around various parts of the wasteland watching each survivor community, including several surrounding the Alexandria Safe-Zone. One particular outpost is located within a few miles walking distance from the Alexandria Safe-Zone, with a female member present, revealing the Saviors have women within their ranks.

Post-Apocalypse
As Rick's group returned to the Alexandria Safe-Zone from the Hilltop Colony, they were confronted by a four-man squad of Saviors, who demanded that they turn over their goods in the name of Negan. As Rick had never dealt with the Saviors before, he made the decision to oppose their demands and signaled to Andrea to attack. Andrea shot two of the Saviors to their deaths while Michonne leaped out of the van and decapitated another. Rick informed the surviving Savior, who appeared to be the four-man squad's ringleader, to return to Negan with a message: the Saviors no longer need to protect the Hilltop Colony and that, as they demanded the colony, they owed Ricks' group half of their supplies now.

The remaining Savior fled while Rick and the others returned to the Alexandria Safe-Zone. Later, Rick held a meeting and told the residents of the agreement he made with Paul Monroe and Gregory about protecting the colony from the Saviors, referring to them as hot air and a lesser threat, and promised that they would not be much trouble. Rick then asked if anyone disagreed to protect the Hilltop Colony in exchange for food; no one objected and the decision was made. The next day, early in the morning, Abraham and Eugene Porter left for several stores to collect spent bullet casings and tools to make new ammo. Eugene pressed Abraham to make the journey.

However, Eugene was unaware of the Saviors' planned retaliation attack for the deaths of three of their group by the hands of Michonne and Andrea, as Rick had wished to wait until morning to tell them of the new threat. While the two conversed, the topic led to Rosita. Abraham told Eugene that he regretted the way he had treated Rosita and left her, and expressed that even though he no longer loved her, that he genuinely hoped Eugene could bring Rosita happiness the way Holly had brought him happiness.

However, Abraham was then abruptly struck with a crossbow arrow through the back of his head and out his eye, effectively killing him. Dwight, a member of the Saviors who fired the arrow, then took a stunned Eugene hostage.

The Saviors used Eugene to lead them to the Alexandria Safe-Zone and demanded that Rick let them in. Rick refused, and a firefight ensued which led to almost a dozen Saviors deaths. Eugene used the commotion to bite Dwight in the crotch and escape death as Dwight and the remaining members retreated. Rick and Andrea chased the Saviors to kill them, but instead of finding any of them, they found Abraham's corpse being gnawed on by a zombie.

After they disposed of the zombie, they brought back Abraham's body for burial in Issue 98. Late in Issue 99, a small group of Saviors spied on the colony with one Savior telling the others to inform Negan that they will attack at dawn.

Rick lead a group of Community survivors which included Michonne, Carl, Glenn, Maggie, Sophia, and Heath to the Hilltop Colony following the death of Abraham. Along the way, they realized they had underestimated the length of time it would take to reach Hilltop, and decided to stop on the roadside for the night. At some point during the night, a group of four Saviors snuck up on their vehicle and captured Rick. His captor ended up being the Savior who Rick had let live earlier in order to deliver a message to Negan. The group of four alerted Negan, along with a bulky group of Saviors in the area, that they had captured Rick.

Negan arrived with his fellow Saviors and proceeded to taunt the group while attempting to mentally break Rick before the others. He proceeded to inform them that they and the Alexandria Safe-Zone were now property of the Saviors. In retribution of the violence towards his men, he told them that one of them would die from his favorite weapon, "Lucille", a baseball bat wrapped with barbed wire.

Before the decision was made of who to kill, Negan threatened to have Carl raped if Rick continued to resist his rule. He also personally threatens to rape Rick before the group as well as point out his discomfort with being considered racist, so he decided to use the "eenie-meenie" method to select his victim, who was eventually revealed to be Glenn.

After Glenn was brutally beaten to death before the others, Rick promised to kill Negan one day. Before leaving, however, Negan beat Rick with his bare hands, telling the group that they were to now answer to the Saviors and that they would be in Alexandria in one week to pick up their "offering". Rick begrudgingly accepted their new rule over the group, only in hopes that it would let them kill Negan and drive off the Saviors in the future, though this was met with anger by the others. To this end, he released their only captive of the attack on the safe-zone, Dwight. However, he prompted Paul to follow behind in hopes that he could find out where it is the Saviors are located.

As Paul carefully followed Dwight back towards the Saviors base, Negan made well on his promise to return to Alexandria for their offering. His Saviors proceeded to interact with the safe-zone while Negan talked with Rick about the lay-out and emasculate him before the group, forcing Rick to give up the majority of Denise's narcotics. As Negan lead his group out of Alexandria, neither he or Rick noticed that Carl had climbed aboard one of his cargo trucks.

Upon Dwight's return to the Saviors base, others had found that he was being followed and captured Paul as a result of this. Having deduced Rick's true intentions, Dwight had Paul brought back to the base only to find he had escaped, thus causing him to "forget" it had ever happened.

The base, once a type of mill or factory, is revealed to be surrounded by a wall of piked zombies, still alive but stuck on poles and spears dug into the ground. Once inside the base, Negan returns as well and the Saviors are shocked to discover that Carl Grimes had in fact stowed away with them. Carl proceeds to kill six saviors using Abraham's automatic rifle, before losing control to it's rapid-burst and running out of ammo. Dwight violently attacks the child, only to be stopped by Negan who has shown further interest in the young child and gives him a small tour of the location.

It is revealed that the Saviors are in fact a cult of sorts, the followers of Negan bowing and chanting to his every word as if he were a Pharaoh in ancient Egypt. The people are divided amongst those closest to Negan, such as guards, henchman and his multiple "wives", as opposed to the common followers who live on a point-system that is intended to replace monetary value in bartering. Carl witnesses to this end, the brutality of Negan's rule as he subjects one of his newer wives' former lover to a ritual punishment, as the wife and lover had reunited in Negan's absence. The man has his face mutilated by a scalding cloth-iron, which Negan presses against his face before pulling away, peeling back the flesh and melted skin which leaves the victim permanently deformed or, "marked with shame".

Sometime after the failed attacks on Alexandria, Negan began personally visiting the Safe-Zone himself along with some of his trusted men. Prior to his arrival though, Negan set up several outposts around the community and positioned scouts outside of their walls before arriving to pick up his demanded supplies.

The members of The Saviors seem to possess great accuracy in their weapon use as they easily were able to shoot the pistols out of the hands of Rick, Holly, Heath, and Nicholas from a distance while taking cover. This is also apparent as a sniper on top of The Sanctuary managed to score two headshot kills, as Rick confronted Negan with his militia, before being killed himself.

Killed Victims

 * Andy
 * David (Hilltop)
 * Crystal (Assumed)
 * Abraham Ford
 * Glenn
 * Spencer Monroe
 * David (Savior)
 * Eric
 * Richard (Kingdom)
 * Holly
 * Charles
 * Betsy
 * Orson Family
 * Kal
 * Nicholas
 * Richard (Hilltop)
 * Arnold
 * Marcus
 * Numerous Hilltop Colony/The Kingdom survivors.
 * Numerous amounts of zombies and unnamed people.

Deaths

 * Seth
 * Connor
 * David
 * Gary
 * Davis
 * Mike
 * Donnie
 * Many unnamed members.

Trivia

 * Though not a cult by traditional means, the Saviors can be considered a union of members dedicated directly to their leader, Negan, to the point that they'll use his name as their own. This alone shows the disturbing loyalty these men and women have to Negan as if he were indeed a higher power.
 * The term cult is further supported in Issue 105, as Negan is shown to rule his followers as a God-like symbol to the extent of them bowing to his presence, chanting to his words, women giving themselves to Negan as "wives" to ensure a better life for themselves, as well as conducting rituals of punishment. His rule is not unlike that of the Pharaohs in ancient Egypt, going as far as to create their own barter-trade system made up of points rather than goods or monetary value.
 * Negan assumes the Saviors role as the re-builders of the world.
 * The Saviors are different than the citizens of Woodbury, who were mostly left in the dark surrounding their corrupt leader's actions, while The Saviors are fully aware of Negan's brutality.
 * It has yet to be revealed the true number of Saviors, although it is known to be greater than 100.
 * Negan alludes in Issue 100 that a few of The Saviors are pedophiles, although in Issue 112 Negan confesses that he "hates sexual violence".
 * It is possible that many members of The Saviors used to be part of a biker gang as many of The Saviors are covered in tattoos and piercings and dress much like a biker gang. They have also been seen driving motorcycles.