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. 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.

Before-Apocalypse
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.

After-Apocalypse
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 "nigger," 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. 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.

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.

Merle used the hacksaw to saw off his hand, then proceeded to cauterize it with a bunson 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.

As of the "Next Week on" for Season 2, Episode 5, he finds at least one of the characters in the woods.

After Merle's disappearance, Daryl took his motorcycle and "stash" of drugs, which included painkillers and antibiotics that were instrumental in saving T-Dog's and Carl's lives.

Trivia

 * Merle is one of the characters who does not appear in the comic series.
 * Merle's clothing suggests he was a biker before the zombie apocalypse. His bike was taken by his brother when the group made a stop at the brothers' surprisingly unransacked house to get supplies.
 * Merle has a number of ethnic slurs that he uses against characters of different minorities, showing that he is racist.
 * Based on Merle's conversation with himself while he is still chained on the roof (among his mumbles he can be heard telling a story of himself mouthing off to a non-commissioned officer and then punching five of his teeth out. He was then sent to prison for 16 months and presumably court-martialed), it is possible he served in the military at one point.
 * According to his brother, he got the Clap on occasion and had to take some serious antibiotics and drugs.