The Saviors (TV Series)

"Your property...now belongs to Negan"

- Bud to Sasha, Daryl, and Abraham The Saviors are a brutal group of survivors introduced in Season 6 of AMC's The Walking Dead. They are led by a man named Negan.

Overview
The Saviors are extortionists: they resort to murder and brutality to coerce other communities of survivors (such as Hilltop) to provide a steady stream of food and other goods. They do not employ the scorched earth technique used by The Wolves, and there is no evidence that they are cannibals like the inhabitants of Terminus. The Saviors are even opposed to rape, according to one of their members Wade. However, their violence is still extreme: on roughly a dozen occasions, the Saviors have clubbed people to death, and taken polaroid-style photos of these victims' gruesome head wounds. One such victim was a young man named Rory, who was beaten to death to force the servitude of the Hilltop community. Additionally, according to one of Negan's lieutenants Bud, it is common practice for Saviors to shoot one person when they encounter a group of strangers on the road, before stealing from the rest.

Individual members of the group have a habit of identifying themselves as Negan, or claiming that they collectively are "all Negan".

Pre-Apocalypse
Like most survivors of the undead apocalypse, their lives before the outbreak are largely unknown nor if any members knew each other.

Post-Apocalypse
The Saviors are based somewhere in Virginia/Maryland and are led by a man named Negan. They have a reputation of being ruthless and uncompromising. One of the survivor groups they extorted was Hilltop Colony, where they clubbed a man named Rory to death to make an example of him. In exchange for half of Hilltop's supplies, crops and livestock, they stated they would do no further damage. Some time passed after the Saviors established dominance over Hilltop, but, when Negan deemed one of their "drops" to be too light, the Saviors killed two members of Hilltop's drop-off group, and took one hostage named Craig. They then gave an ultimatum to Craig's brother, Ethan, to kill Hilltop's leader Gregory in exchange for Craig's safe release.

"Always Accountable"
The first time the Saviors appear, a group of them are waiting in ambush to capture three escaped members: Dwight, Honey, and Tina. Instead, they see Daryl on his motorcycle and a truck containing Sasha and Abraham, and ambush them instead. At least three of them open up with assault rifles; they then pursue in vehicles. Two of them inside a green sedan are shot to death by Sasha and Abraham. Elsewhere, Daryl is separated from his friends, crashes and injures his arm, but gets back up to speed away. Two Saviors in a red sedan inadvertently wreck their car near some zombies in their pursuit, and other Saviors in a grey Jeep completely lose track of Daryl.

Daryl who soon meets Dwight, Honey, and Tina, who mistake Daryl for a Savior and capture him for a time. Daryl is present with them when they are confronted by Saviors Wade, Cam, and at least two others in the charred forest. From hiding, Daryl lures Cam near a zombie, which bites the man's arm. Wade hacks off Cam's arm to save his life, then calls off the search for Dwight and the women, stating that their leader "only wanted to take this so far, and he only wants ass that's willing".

"Start to Finish"
Daryl, Sasha, and Abraham are stopped on the road by eight heavily-armed Saviors on motorcycles. Their leader commands them to get out and give them their weapons. When they ask he why, he states, "Your property now belongs to Negan."

"No Way Out"
Daryl, Sasha, and Abraham are forced out of their truck and disarmed by Bud and seven other Saviors on motorcycles. Bud verbally antagonizes them, announcing everything they own now belongs to Negan, and sends one of his lackeys named T. with Daryl to the back of the truck. Bud continues his tense exchange with Sasha and Abraham, but when he finally motions to shoot them, he and the other Saviors are blasted to pieces in a sudden, fiery explosion. As Sasha and Abraham collect their faculties, they discover it was Daryl, who had quietly killed T. behind the truck and then opened fire with an RPG. One of these men was the boyfriend of another Savior named Michelle.

"Knots Untie"
A plan that the Saviors had set in motion unfolds at the Hilltop Colony. A resident named Ethan attempts to kill Hilltop's leader Gregory in exchange for the safe release of his brother Craig. During the ensuing scuffle, Rick kills Ethan, rescuing Gregory. Rick, Maggie, and the other visitors from Alexandria learn about the horrible crimes committed by the Saviors, including the bludgeoning of a man named Rory. Hearing the name "Negan" they now realize that the dangerous men Daryl was forced to kill on the road with an RPG were Saviors. It is only a matter of time before they discover and target Alexandria, so Rick proposes a pre-emptive strike. Soon Maggie negotiates a deal with Gregory whereby the fighters from Alexandria agree to completely wipe out the Saviors in exchange for supplies.

"Not Tomorrow Yet"
Using intelligence from Andy, a Hilltop resident who has been inside the Saviors' base for a drop-off, Rick orchestrates a raid. The element of surprise is the key; their goal is to seize the Saviors' armory. Most of Rick's fighters, Jesus and Andy from Hilltop, and several "native" Alexandria residents participate. Before dawn, Andy is given decapitated head of a zombie which somewhat resembles Gregory to distract the guards.

Andy parks outside the compound: showing them the head, he claims he is there to fulfill their deal to secure the safe release of Craig. The guards believe him, and one goes inside to bring out Craig. Daryl sneaks up from behind and slashes the throat of the first guard. A moment later, the second guard appears (with Craig) but is impaled by Michonne. The group then swarms the compound quietly.

Rick finds a sleeping Savior, and according to plan, kills him in his sleep (by stabbing him through the head). Glenn and Heath similarly find themselves together in a room with two sleeping Saviors. With great reluctance and obvious emotional turmoil, Glenn stabs one to death; this is the first time he has killed a living person. Heath is immobilized by the task in front of him, but Glenn intervenes and kills the other sleeping man too. They see a series of polaroid-style photographs on the wall showing individuals whom the Saviors have killed. All of them have their faces and heads bashed gruesomely into completely unrecognizable pulps.

Still in silence, Sasha and Abraham find a locked door and believe it could be the armory. As they attempt to open it, a Savior sneaks up on them to stab them. Sasha stabs the man repeatedly, but he manages to pull the fire alarm. Now a furious shootout begins. With his assault rifle, Rick shoots down three men who charge to join the fray. Aaron shuts himself behind a door, but is attacked by a Savior whom he stabs to death. Aaron then opens the door and surprises a second, larger Savior, who turns to open fire on Aaron but is himself shot through the head by Rosita. Outside the compound, two men attempt to flee but Tara kills one and wounds the other with her pistol. Back inside, the melee escalates: Sasha shoots one man, Daryl bludgeons another with the butt of his shotgun, and Glenn and Heath charge for their lives into the armory with Saviors in immediate pursuit. Glenn and Heath shut the door to the armory as it is being perforated with bullets, then, they return fire blindly. When they open the door, there are at least six bodies splayed right outside the threshold. Suddenly, one of them unexpectedly stirs and takes aim with a pistol, but before he can shoot, he is killed by Jesus. Outside, the grey-haired Savior injured by Tara is confronted and eventually shot by Fr. Gabriel.

At sunrise, at least 21 Saviors are dead. While their attackers have suffered psychological damage, they have no fatalities or serious injuries of their own. Suddenly, a lone survivor named Primo attempts to flee. Rosita shoots him from the motorcycle, which Daryl recognizes to be his own. As they interrogate the captured Savior, they get a threatening message over his radio from an unseen woman who has captured Carol and Maggie.

"The Same Boat"
During the night raid on the compound, Carol and Maggie stood guard outside. A Savior named Donnie spotted them and charged, but Carol shot first and hit him in the arm. However they were immediately captured by three Saviors: Molly, Michelle, and their leader Paula. The four remaining Saviors watch in disappointment as their friend Primo is captured near the compound. After a tense conversation with Rick via a radio, Paula determines they are outgunned and flees with her two captives. She radios a scout group of more Saviors for backup, and travels to a safe house she identifies as "the break point".

The Saviors' safe house turns out to be a slaughterhouse infested with freely-roaming zombies. Donnie is suffering agonizing pain as his nerves die from Carol's gunshot, and his hysteria unsettles the group. Carol begins an extremely convincing ruse to look like a helpless, weak, religious person, and she reveals that Maggie is pregnant. Her scheme is so effective that Paula ridicules her 'beliefs'; another captor, Michelle, even asks Molly to smoke her cigarettes in another room (to avoid harming Maggie's fetus from secondhand smoke). Paula correctly surmises that Rick and his group have tracked them, but plans to fight to the death if they arrive. Maggie refuses to tell Michelle where their home is, to protect Alexandria. She learns that Michelle's boyfriend was one of the men killed by Daryl's RPG strike.

Carol and Maggie escape their bonds and find out that Donnie has died of his wound. They string up his corpse so that after he turns into a zombie, he will bite the first captor that walks through the door. This turns out to be Molly, whom Maggie finishes by brutally pistol-whipping. In a hallway, Maggie and Carol are stopped in their tracks by a booby-trap of immobilized zombies. Paula arrives and, having seen Donnie and Molly both dead, runs out of bullets trying to shoot them. Carol has the drop on her, but is distraught and begs Paula to simply turn and leave. Michelle arrives and tries to stab Maggie, forcing Carol to kill her. At wits end, Paula rushes Carol and they struggle near the zombies. Paula is finally impaled on a spear and a zombie bites away a sizable portion of her face as she screams in agony.

When the scout group of Saviors arrives to rendezvous with Paula, Carol mimics Paula's voice and lures them into the slaughterhouse's kill floor. There, Carol locks the group (consisting of at least 3 men and 1 woman) inside, and burns them all alive with one of Molly's cigarettes in a trap of gasoline. Exhausted and emotionally overcome, Carol and Maggie finally meet Glenn, Rick, and the others. Rick confirms to his captive, Primo, that all the other Saviors are dead. He asks one last time if Negan was among the men they killed. Primo, in a statement very similar to one made by Paula and Molly earlier, states that he is Negan, and tries to continue talking. Rick interrupts and immediately executes Primo.

"Twice as Far"
The Saviors first appear in this episode ambushing Daryl, Rosita and Denise. Denise is killed by Dwight and they have Eugene hostage. Dwight threatens to kill Eugene unless they go back to the Alexandria Safe-Zone. Eugene tells the Saviors that his companion is by the barrels over there, which serves as a distraction so Eugene can bite Dwight in the crotch, which lets Abraham kill a few Saviors. Daryl and Rosita take cover behind a car and fire at the Saviors. Eugene is shot in the gunfight, Dwight and the remaining Saviors retreat.

Current

 * Negan (Leader)
 * Wade
 * Cam
 * Neil
 * Dwight (Briefly deserted)
 * Honey (Assumed, briefly deserted)
 * Primo
 * Paula
 * Michelle
 * Molly
 * Donnie
 * Bud
 * T.
 * At least 30 unnamed people

Former

 * Tina

Killed Victims

 * Rory
 * Tim
 * Marsha
 * Ethan (Indirectly Caused)
 * Denise Cloyd
 * Numerous amounts of zombies and unnamed people

Deaths

 * Tina
 * T.
 * Bud
 * Donnie (Alive and Zombified)
 * Molly
 * Michelle
 * Paula (Alive and Zombified)
 * Primo
 * At least 40 Saviors (On-Screen)

Season 6

 * "Always Accountable"
 * "Start to Finish"
 * "No Way Out"
 * "Not Tomorrow Yet"
 * "The Same Boat"
 * "Twice as Far"
 * "East"
 * "Last Day on Earth"

Trivia

 * According to Robert Kirkman who gave his description on this group - 'I think the Saviors are dangerously organized. The Wolves were psychotic, The Hunters had a lot of weaknesses. When it comes to the Saviors, and Negan in particular, the way I've always thought about this in the comics is this is a group that's led by a guy who's had his morality dial a few clicks away from Rick toward the darker aspects of his personality, but is still an intellectual and capable leader who's kept his group alive against all odds just as long as Rick has. It's really the best encountering the best. When these two forces come head to head, things are going to get interesting. This is a much different group than they've ever encountered. The Saviors are a group they're not really prepared for'.