Philip Blake (Novel Series)

Philip Blake is the husband of Sarah Blake, the father of Penny Blake, and the brother of Brian Blake. In the comic series, The Governor is referred to as Philip. However, the novel "The Walking Dead: Rise of the Governor" explains that Philip Blake dies and his brother, Brian, adopts his name and becomes the new Governor.

Rural Georgia
As a teenager Philip went to highschool at Burke County, Georgia with his two friends Bobby Marsh and Nick Parsons. He married a woman named Sarah, with whom he had his child Penny. After she passed away Philip became a single parent and started grow apart from his friends with whom he drank alcohol with often since their freshman year in high school. It is known after his wife's death he worked in a muffler shop, and drove a freight-liner, all while being a single parent. When the zombies reached his town Waynesboro, Georgia he took his daughter and picked up his two friends to find a safer place.

The Walking Dead: Rise of the Governor
When the dead began to rise, Philip, his two friends Nick Parsons and Bobby Marsh, his daughter Penny, and his brother Brian Blake leave Waynesboro and find shelter at the Wiltshire Estates, an upper class gated golfing community. Rick and his group also pass through Wiltshire Estates a few months after Philip and his crew leave. After Bobby dies of blood loss due to a zombie bite, Philip, Nick, Penny, and Brian leave with weapons and supplies loaded up into Philip's Chevy Suburban. On their way out, Brian leaves a sign at the entrance of Wiltshire Estates that reads: "ALL DEAD DO NOT ENTER." Ironically, the sign that the future Governor creates alerts Rick to the dangers of Wiltshire Estates.

Philip and his family make their way to Atlanta through wrecks and walkers. They find a temporary safe haven with the Chalmers family in an apartment in Atlanta. David, Tara, and April Chalmers are travelling musicians who are seeking out a living in the first floor of an apartment building. Philip and his group help them expand into the upper levels of the apartment and get food and supplies from nearby stores. The living arrangement is perfect until Philip takes his blossoming romance with April too far. As they begin to have sex, April tells Philip to stop and that it is too soon. Philip, in the heat of the moment, is unable to stop himself. He realizes what he's done immediately after but thinks he might still be able to salvage the relationship.

The next morning all of his group's weapons are gone. Tara tells them, at gunpoint, to get out now. They leave and make their way via motorcycle to an abandoned old plantation house. The house is secure and free of walkers, for the most part. They have food to last them through winter and the house itself is on an orchard. Brian suspects that they were followed to the house and are now being staked out. His suspicions are confirmed when a drug-addled and heavily armed gang come to take the house away from them. Philip makes a deal with the group's leader to let them walk away but Philip realizes that the gang plans to kill them as soon as they're out of the house. They sprint down the orchard where Philip tells Brian to hide with Penny and keep her safe at all costs. Philip and Nick stealthily take out several of the gang members. However, one slips past them and shoots Penny. Just as the shooter is about to execute Brian, Philip arrives and kills the gang member. Enraged at his daughter's death, Philip begins mercilessly kicking Brian and severely injuring him. Philip cannot bring himself to put Penny down so he keeps her tied to a tree.

They leave the plantation house and come across Woodbury: a beat up old town with a fairly large group of survivors. Philip and his crew take residence in an apartment there. Philip sneaks Penny into the apartment and begins feeding her appendages from bodies that he claims he didn't kill. One night Nick spots Philip dragging a girl out to the woods against her will. He sets out to stop Philip with a shotgun while Brian tries to convince him that whatever it is going on with Philip can be fixed. Nick kills Philip and accidentally kills the girl Philip abducted. Brian, almost instinctively, kills Nick on the spot. Philip dies in Brian's arms. The next day there is a town meeting about the rising number of deaths. A group of National Guard soldiers are terrorizing the citizens of Woodbury into obeying their every command. When one older man tries to leave, their leader, Gavin, shoots him in the back of the head. Brian, who always relied on Philip for protection since childhood, begins wondering what Philip would do in this situation. While Gavin's followers are outside Brian has an out of body experience in which he carries out his vision of what his brother would do, and kills Gavin. Brian encourages the people of Woodbury to help him take out the remaining National Guard soldiers. Martinez, the man who eventually helps Rick, Michonne, and Glenn escape from Woodbury, asks Brian his name. Brian tells Martinez that his name is Philip Blake.

Killed By
While Philip was at Woodbury, he took a girl into the nearby trees and attempted to either have sexual intercourse with her, or kill her as food for Penny. Nick however found out his plan and followed him, Philip wouldn't give up so Nick shot Philip in the head.
 * Nick Parsons

Killed Victims
This list shows the people Philip has killed:
 * Several members of the gang that killed Penny Blake
 * Bobby Marsh (Before Reanimation)
 * David Chalmers (Zombiefied)
 * Numerous amounts of zombies

Penny Blake
Penny is Philip's daughter that dies and reanimates after a gunshot wound. Philip can't bring himself to destroy Penny and eventually he begins feeding her. After Philip dies, his brother Brian continues to take care of the zombified Penny. After assuming his brother's name, Brian takes on the role of Penny's father. After removing all of Penny's teeth in issue 43, he says "give daddy a kiss." before taking the relationship to another level.

Brian Blake
Brian is Philip's brother. Philip was always more capable of being a leader than Brian while growing up, with Philip always being the one to be grounded to reality while Brian was seemingly in his own world. When the apocalypse started, Philip accidently ran into Brian and brought him along with his own two friends Bobby and Nick. Brian always looked up to Philip despite being older than him and tried to be as strong as his brother often. After Philip passed away it seemingly pushed Brian the extra mile into becoming The Governor, taking on several of Philip's personality traits along with his name. It is safe to assume he also adopted his brothers insanity during his role as the Governor.

Sarah Blake
Sarah was Philip's wife. She died in an car accident before the apocalypse leaving Philip to raise Penny all by himself.

April Chalmers
Philip and his group find a temporary safe haven with the Chalmers family in an apartment in Atlanta. Philip and his group help the Chalmers expand into the upper levels of the apartment and get food and supplies from nearby stores. The living arrangement is perfect until Philip takes his blossoming romance with April too far. As they begin to have sex, April tells Philip to stop and that it is too soon. Philip, in the heat of the moment, is unable to stop himself. He realizes what he's done immediately after but thinks he might still be able to salvage the relationship however, Tara tells them the following morning at gunpoint to get out.

Nick Parsons
Though both went lived in the same area and went to school together, the ensuing traumas of the apocalypse drove Nick into closer commradery with Brian, the last "sane one" he saw within their group. As Philip's actions lead to their "eviction" from the Chalmer's apartment, Nick began slowly losing his edge and tried convincing Brian that his brother was going insane. After the death and reanimation of Penny, Philip brutally beats Brian for losing sight of her. Nick is the one to help the latter heal and rehabilitate, informing him of his brothers derranged activities with Penny's surviving attackers. Brian shares Nick's concerns when Philip brings along the reanimated Penny until they arrive at Woodbury when things come to a serious head. Nick and Brian discover Philip killing survivors to feed to a zombified Penny, going as far as to come across his latest victim. Nick tries to stop him but winds up killing the victim and mortally injuring Philip before losing his mind himself, prompting the tired and hardened Brian to shoot Nick in the head.

Trivia

 * After Philip's death, Brian Blake assumes Philip's identity and seems to even take on aspects of Philip's personality and becoming the new Governor.