Daryl Dixon (TV Series)

Daryl Dixon, the younger brother of Merle Dixon, is one of the Atlanta survivors. After failing in saving his brother Merle in Atlanta, he remains with the other Atlanta survivors. He is not as tough as his brother, but is just as violent, has a hair triggered temper, and will quickly resort to violence in a threatening situation. He also is slightly more level-headed and rational than his brother. He is an expert hunter, having deadly accuracy with his crossbow.

Season 1
Daryl is encountered in the woods with some fresh meat after his hunting trip and is disappointed that a zombie found his deer, that he had been stalking it for miles waiting for a perfect kill. After Dale decapitates the zombie, the head continues to growl only to be permanently silenced by a bolt from Daryl's crossbow.

At the camp, Rick Grimes and the others break the news that Merle was insane and a threat back in the city, so he was left behind, prompting Daryl to snap. Rick and Shane restrains him as T-Dog reassures Daryl that Merle is okay, having locked the roof door for Merle's safety. Daryl heads to the department store to rescue Merle with Rick, T-Dog, and Glenn. When they reach the rooftop of the department store they find that the only thing remaining is the handcuffs, a hacksaw, and Merle's hand.

Daryl points his crossbow at T-Dog, blaming him for it but gives in after Rick holds a gun to his head. Daryl wraps Merle's hand in a cloth and puts it into Glenn's backpack, then they begin to follow the blood trail left by Merle. The trail leads them into a room with two dead zombies where all but Daryl are astonished that Merle was able to kill both with just one hand. In the same room they find a an iron steak weight covered in skin. Later they find window with a hole in it, possibly meaning Merle has escaped.

When Daryl decides to go search for Merle on the streets, T-Dog reminds him that they need to get the guns first. Glenn makes a plan to get the guns: Daryl must look after Glenn from the store's alley while Rick and T-Dog wait in an alley two blocks away. While Glenn retrieves the guns, another survivor, Miguel, runs into Daryl from the back of the same alley, to which Daryl rationally asks him about his brother and begins to beat him with his crossbow. Miguel screams, alerting Rick, T-Dog, and two other survivors: Jorge and Felipe. Jorge and Felipe arrive first and beat up Daryl until they spot Glenn with the bag of guns. They tackle Glenn who drops the guns and Rick's hat, which gives Daryl enough time to aim his crossbow and fire an arrow into Felipe's butt. A car arrives at the scene, and Jorge and Felipe grab Glenn and get into the car, leaving Miguel behind. When Rick and T-Dog get there they see Daryl closing the gate to the alley to stop the zombies from entering. After which he aims his crossbow at Miguel, to which Rick convinces him to stop. Later Daryl threatens Miguel and shows him Merle's hand, bluffing and threatening that it was an enemy of his. Daryl, T-Dog and Rick then enter the gang's hideout and since the negotiations failed, threats of bloodshed are issued, before an elderly woman enters the room and they find out the truth behind the gang.

Daryl and his crew return to the camp just as zombies attack. Despite the high number of casualties, Daryl and the rest of the survivors are able to kill all of the invading zombies.

The next morning Daryl helps in the clean up of the zombie carcasses and the bodies of the fallen campers. He and T-Dog drag the body of a man towards the bonfire but Glenn stops him, demanding that the dead be buried properly. Daryl hesitates but eventually agrees. As Daryl impales each corpse with a pickaxe to prevent zombification, Carol stops him as he is about to hit Ed, saying that she should impale her husband's head. When the survivors find out that Jim has been bitten, he wants to take him out now, but is stopped by Rick. After the funeral and parting ways with Morales' family, Daryl and the group head to the Center for Disease Control. Along the way, the RV breaks down, so Shane and T-Dog scout out the gas station ahead for parts, while a dying Jim is perched against a tree as everyone says their goodbye to him. Daryl looks at Jim, and after a moment gives him a nod, before turning back to his car. Daryl and the survivors reach the C.D.C. complex to find it locked, but the doors open at the last minute.

Daryl and the rest of his group are admitted into the C.D.C. by Dr. Jenner after going through a blood test to ensure none of them are infected. He is introduced to the luxuries the facility has to offer, including hot water and real beds. He enjoys dinner and wine with everyone and learns about TS-19 and Dr. Jenner's work, and the fall of the C.D.C.'s infrastructure. After Dr. Jenner reveals the purpose of the countdown timer and shuts the control room's door, he is enraged and tries break through the glass door that traps everyone. He is about to swing an axe at the scientist's head but is stopped as the others try to convince the doctor to open the door. As the survivors finally get Edwin to open the door for their escape, they all reach the lobby to find the doors permanently locked and the windows bulletproof. However, Daryl and the others are able to escape to their caravan after Rick's grenade explodes a window pane. He drives off in his pick up truck, away from the complex as the ruins burn.

Season 2
During their excursion to Fort Benning, the group are forced to hide from a herd of walkers, Daryl saves T-Dog from one of them, then covers himself and T-Dog up with corpses to fool the rest of the walkers. When Carol's daughter Sophia goes missing in the aftermath, Rick enlists Daryl's expert tracking abilities to help find her. During the search, they dissect a zombie to see if it had eaten Sophia. When the trail runs cold, they are forced to return to the others empty-handed.

Daryl wakes up at night hearing the sound of Carol sobbing over Sophia. Daryl grabs his crossbow and decides to go out and look for Sophia and is joined by Andrea who could not sleep either.

While in the woods, Daryl assures Andrea that Sophia is going to be fine. Andrea protests and tells him that Sophia is only twelve years old and is not yet capable to survive on her own with no food or weapons. To reassure Andrea he tells her a story about his childhood when he was lost in the mountains living off of berries and cleaning himself with poison ivy. No one ever knew he was gone, not even Merle because he was in juvie, and when he finally made it sped into the kitchen and made himself a sandwich. The story lightens the mood and Andrea laughs.

Daryl and Andrea continue on down a path and hear something that they suspect to be Sophia but are mistaken and arrive at a campsite where a man had hung himself and had turned into a walker. Daryl read the sign that the man wrote that said, "Got bit, fever hit, world gone to shit, might as well quit" that Daryl commented on saying that the guy was too stupid to shoot himself in the head. Daryl continues to describe the flesh that had been eaten off the man's legs by other walkers and Andrea pukes. Andrea then asks if he was planning on just leaving him hanging up there which Daryl replied that he wasn't doing any harm up there. Daryl asked Andrea if she still felt like dying and Andrea said she would answer for an arrow. After answering with a fairly confusing answer, Daryl shot the walker in the head and said it was a "waste of an arrow." They return home without Sophia.

In "Cherokee Rose", Daryl goes searching for Sophia again, alone this time, and finds a Cherokee Rose for Carol, saying that when the Native Americans were being relocated, their children died and went missing, and the tears of the mother's made a Cherokee Rose bloom. He also stated he doubted the flower had grown for his brother, Merle, but instead for Carol's daughter, Sophia.

Trivia

 * Daryl does not appear in the comics (yet), although in an interview with Robert Kirkman, he said he was going to put him in the comic series.
 * Daryl Dixon is played by Norman Reedus, who stars in the popular film series "The Boondock Saints".
 * Daryl drives his brother Merle's motorcycle and keeps Merle's stash of drugs (both legal and illegal) in case they are needed.
 * It is unknown whether or not Daryl is racist like Merle, but unlikely, as none of his insults to T-Dog were racist like Merle's. However, when the argument over who would tell him Merle was left behind came into question, Glenn said the news might sound better coming from a white guy, implying that Daryl may be a bit racist. If he is, he is apparently not as racist as Merle. He does tell Glenn that he has "got a lot of balls for a Chinaman" even though Glenn is Korean, but Daryl does seem upset when Glenn is captured. Furthermore, in Season 2 "What Lies Ahead," Daryl risks his own life during a zombie herd to save a severely bleeding T-Dog from pursuing zombies.
 * Daryl is an expert hunter, with knowledge in tracking as seen when they are searching for Sophia. He was able to track fading footprints and had amazing accuracy.
 * Daryl's attitude changed in a good way in Season 2. During his appearances in Season 1, he seemed racist, he kept shouting that it was everybody's fault that Merle got left behind, and he didn't seem to like anybody around him, (though thmlmlis might be because he's just lost his only known living family). He even tried killing Dr. Jenner with an axe. Starting in Season 2 Daryl seemed to start communicating with people in the group and acted normal. He never talked about how Merle got left in the dept. store, and he started having calm conversations and discussions. In Cherokee Rose, he went as far as to give Carol some touching words of encouragement after giving her the flower, further showing his growth as a decent guy.
 * According to a recent poll, Daryl is the most popular character of the TV series as well as the most popular character outside of the comic's canon.