Dale (Comic Series)


 * For the TV series character, see Dale Horvath (TV Series).

"It's not the dead I'm afraid of anymore."

- Dale

Dale was a middle aged salesman and a survivor in the original Atlanta group. Dale was the owner of Camp RV.

After-Apocalypse
Dale lost his wife, Erma, early in the zombie uprising. After he picks up two sisters, Andrea and Amy, in Atlanta, and eventually forms a romantic relationship with Andrea. When Rick arrives at the camp, Dale reveals his suspicions that Shane and Lori are having an affair, which Rick in turn ignores. Later Dale discovers that beheading a zombie does not fully kill them when he saves Donna from being bitten by a roamer.

Later one night during dinner, Rick asks the group about their lives before, Dale reveals that he was a retired car salesman on a road trip with his wife across America two years prior to the Zombie outbreak. During the zombie outbreak, after his wife is killed, he picked up the sisters Andrea and Amy during his trip to Atlanta.

After Shane’s death, Dale tells Rick he knew all along something was up, and that he was one of the few survivors that, prior to Rick coming to the camp, wanting to relocate the group only to have Shane refuse.

After burying Shane, the survivors set off in Dale’s RV away from Atlanta in an attempt to find somewhere safe. Lori reveals to the camp that she is pregnant, which alarms Dale, who suspects the child is Shane’s, only to be quietened by Rick who suspects the same.

Wiltshire Estates
The survivors end up at an estate that appears to be secure and safe. That same night Donna stumbles upon Dale and Andrea having sex, although she originally disapproved of the thought of them together, she takes comfort knowing that both have lost someone and together they are happy.

That morning Donna is killed, when the estate is overrun by Zombies, defrosted by the change in seasons. Dale immediately heads to his RV and begins rescuing the survivors including Tyreese, his daughter Julie and her boyfriend Chris who are trapped on one of the rooftops.

Hershel's Farm
The survivors remain on the move until Rick's son Carl Grimes is accidentally shot by Otis, ending up on Hershel's farm. During their stay, Dale is not often pictured until one scene where he is complaining to Andrea about the stench the other survivors leave in his RV, accidentally mentioning his dead wife, which upsets Andrea slightly. Dale manages to reassure her, that all the love he has for his dead wife is in the form of memories and that he truly loves Andrea.

The Prison
Having been kicked out by Hershel, the survivors hit the road again once more, however when the RV unexpectedly runs out of fuel, the survivors must split up to look for more. Dale and Andrea discover a prison. After rallying the rest of the group, they decide that the prison is the perfect location to call home.

Once the survivors reach the prison, Dale, Lori, and Carol are assigned the task of patrolling the mid area between fences to make sure no Zombies are located there. During this period Rick and the rest destroy the majority of the prison Zombie populace. Dale later accompanies Rick and Dexter as they inspect the prison and begins work on repairing the fences in order to secure the prison from more zombies.

Dale begins to think that Andrea will not love him due to his age; however Andrea reassures him that she will always want to be with him. When Rick returns to the prison, Dale informs him of the events that took place in his absence and even accompanies Rick to the gym to discover what happened to Tyreese, only to find him lying next to a wall with dead Zombies lying on the ground all around him. The next day Dale explains that he discovered a new method of weakening the Zombie offense on the perimeter fences, using knives. After Thomas attacks Rick, Dale brings out a first aid kit and patches up both Andrea and Rick. Later Dale begins to fear that someone else might discover the prison and try to take it from them and begins to contemplate whether to stay, or leave, with Andrea stating that she would go where ever he goes.

After the Dexter mutiny takes place, Dale begins to swap his old camper outfit for prison overalls like the other survivors and assists Rick in searching A Block, discovering the prison generator. Dale later begins to watch over everybody, including Allen’s children Ben and Billy while their father is in a coma. After a fight takes place between Rick and Tyreese, over Tyreese’s affair with Michonne, Dale informs Rick that he is no longer the group's leader, and that he will share authority with himself, Tyreese and Hershel.

Dale and Andrea become adoptive parents of Donna and Allen’s orphaned children. While Rick, Glenn, Michonne and others go off to rescue a downed helicopter crew, Andrea and Dale assist in looking out for the group for when they return while targeting zombies to improve their skills. It is during this time that the topic of other people attacking the prison comes back up again but this discussion ends with the return of Tyreese who has failed to locate the searching party. When Rick eventually does return, he discovers the Prison has been overrun by zombies, with Dale and Andrea hiding in his RV. Once the prison is again secured from zombies, Rick addresses the group and informs them of Woodbury and the threat of being attacked by them, therefore Andrea and Dale’s fears have come true.

Lori goes into labor and to keep the generator going Dale and Billy Greene search cars in the parking lot to refuel the generator. Dale is bitten by a Zombie, and is only narrowly rescued by the arrival of the raid party who quickly take Dale back into the prison in order to have his leg amputated. The right leg is amputated successfully and Dale is saved.

Dale begins to suspect that Andrea is falling for Tyreese. One morning Dale wakes to find a wooden peg attached to his leg, thanks to Andrea and Tyreese. After asking Tyreese to leave them be, he informs Andrea she doesn’t need to be with him anymore and that she may be with Tyreese, to which she replies that she will always love him. Later that day the Governor and the townsmen of Woodbury attack.

During the attack Dale nurses a wounded Andrea and makes the decision to temporarily move out of the prison in order to protect Billy and Ben, while being accompanied by Glenn and Maggie, although Andrea returns in Dale’s RV to help give the prison a fighting chance.

Hershel's Farm & Washington DC
Dale hides out along with Maggie, Glenn, Andrea, Sophia and the twins at Hershel’s farm, which Dale feels would be more preferable to stay at, however the arrival of three strangers, Abraham, Rosita and Eugene, prompt him to follow them in hopes of reaching Washington DC.

Tragedy strikes them once again. Ben kills his brother Billy and Carl kills Ben. Dale was in so much anguish that he let his guard down during a zombie attack and was bitten. He hid his wound to avoid giving Andrea further pain. When the night came, he left the van and disappeared into the forest, being abducted by the mysterious Hunters. When Dale woke up, Chris introduced himself and told the old man that they were eating him piece by piece. However, Dale would have the last laugh. He was already infected and was hoping to spread the disease to the Hunters. Furious, they beat him up. They leave his unconscious body in front of Gabriel's church to use him as bait.

Killed By
Dale ran into a lurker that appeared to be dead but when Dale let his guard down the walker bit him in the leg which had to be amputated.
 * Zombie

Dale survives this attack. However, he later dies from another bite to his shoulder. At first he hid his wound and tried to leave, sparing Andrea the pain of seeing him like this. Before he could die he was captured by the hunters and wakes up to find half of his other leg has been eaten by them. Rick, Michonne, Abraham and Andrea rescue him, murdering the entire group of hunters. After Dale makes his dying statement to Rick, he spends his last minutes with Andrea. Knowing that Dale was going to die and would return as a walker, a sad Andrea shoots Dale before he can return as a zombie.
 * Andrea (Before Reanimation)

Killed Victims
This list shows the victims Dale has killed:
 * Numerous counts of zombies.

Rick Grimes
Dale acted as a "father" for some of the group. Despite his usual good attitude towards Rick, during the group's stay in the prison Dale becomes increasingly concerned for Rick's mental stability and often yearned to take Andrea and leave the group, which he eventually did. He was always grateful to Rick and thanked him for being their leader while he lay dying.

Andrea
Andrea was Dale's girlfriend and one of the people who kept him going. He and Andrea adopted Ben and Billy after the boys' parents died. Despite their relationship, Dale never really believed that a young and beautiful woman like Andrea could truly love a broken down old fart like him. He even went so far as to give his blessing for her to enter relationships with other men, thinking that she was staying with him out of guilt and pity. Despite Andrea's insistence to the contrary, Dale had problems believing her. On Dale's deathbed, Andrea poured her heart out to him and promised him that she loved him.

Ben & Billy
Dale and Andrea adopted these twin boys. Dale loved them like they were his own children. After Billy was killed by Ben, Dale seemed to ignore the signs that Ben was a sociopath and was determined to keep him safe. Dale was overcome with grief when Ben was killed, angrily demanding to know who the killer was.

Glenn
Not much of information has been given about their relationship, but Glenn sometimes helped Dale to keep his balance and escaped with him from the Prison. Dale was like a father figure to him, similar to Rick.

Billy Greene
Dale and Billy had a close moment, when they went to pick up some gas for the generator. Dale noticed Billy was nervous and was unable to kill the zombie who grabbed him first. Later, he was successfully able to kill it, and apologized to Dale. Billy wasn't able to cover him and Dale got bitten. Although Billy felt regret, Dale didn't seem to 'hate' him.

Trivia

 * Dale is currently the only person in the comic who has survived a zombie bite.
 * Dale was the oldest survivor of the original Atlanta group.
 * Dale is one of the few survivors who lasted the longest after being bitten. Others being Allen and Jim.
 * Dale is one of the many amputees in The Walking Dead. For other victims, see Amputated Victims.
 * Dale managed to have both of his legs amputated; the first time was by Rick Grimes and the second time was by a member of The Hunters.
 * Dale's character is very different in the tv series. In the comics, he is portrayed as a early/mid fourties man that is in a relationship with Andrea. In the show, he is a 63 year old elder that is taking care of Andrea instead of in a relationship with her.