The Battle at the Tower is a major battle that took place during the tenth season of AMC's The Walking Dead.
Battle[]
The survivors at the Tower scramble to their posts as the Whisperer horde descends upon them. As Gabriel observes the enemy from a window, Gracie and R.J. admit that they're scared. Gabriel tries to reassure them by likening the communities (Alexandria, Oceanside, Hilltop, and the Kingdom) to fingers of a hand which, while weak on their own, together form a mighty fist. When asked about the fifth finger, Gabriel claims that it represents those that aren't here and might come to help, or otherwise find help. As Gabriel delivers his speech, Daryl, Judith, Carol, and Kelly just barely make it back to the Tower. Eugene, Yumiko, Ezekiel, and Princess continue their quest on bicycles. Virgil arrives to Oceanside, only to find it deserted. Aaron and Alden fight their way out of the Whisperer ambush and come face-to-face with a mysterious masked survivor. Finally, Maggie receives the distress letter sent by the survivors. Meanwhile Beta, still hallucinating, orders the walkers to begin their assault.
At the hospital stairway, Daryl and Carol are setting traps. Daryl tells Carol about Michonne leaving and how he keeps thinking he's never going to see her again, just like everyone else. Carol reassures him that she is still there. Upstairs, they join the others as Gabriel goes over the plan with the rest of the group. He tells them that the plan remains to lead the herd away. Luke explains that he needs to get the sound system he's been making to the wagon, which is on the other side of the herd. Gabriel divides them into four two-man groups, with one carrying the cargo and one protecting. Lydia offers to help lead them through, but Beatrice and Rachel decline, as they don't trust her. Gabriel agrees to keep Lydia in the hospital. Daryl acknowledges that they're not all going to make it, but claims that it's the only way. Kelly volunteers to go with Daryl.
Carol is about to grab a knife before, but runs into Dianne and Bertie. Bertie gives Carol a look while walking away. Dianne confronts Carol about the fact that Negan helped the Whisperers attack Hilltop and that they can't forgive him for that. Carol tells her she's sorry, but Dianne has to forget about it. Lydia comes into the room and asks if Carol needs her help. Carol says she doesn't need her help. Lydia tells that's she doesn't want Carol to avoid her, and reveals that she is kind of relieved Alpha is dead. She also tells her that's she doesn't see Carol as new mom, but more as a really good friend. Later on, the group prepares for their mission by rubbing guts on themselves. Daryl notices Negan is clean and questions him about this. Negan says that, with him being Alpha's killer, he'd be a priority target for the Whisperers and especially Beta, so he'd rather stay behind in order to not draw any attention to the others. Daryl doesn't accept this explanation, and thinks Negan just isn't willing to risk his own skin. He then joins the others and prepares to head out. At the exit, Daryl says goodbye to Judith through the separating door. Jerry then opens the door to the outside, allowing the horde of walkers to spill past the survivors into the room. They then squeeze past the walkers outside. Among the ginormous herd, Magna almost has a panic attack, but Jerry snaps her out of it. The group soon catches the Whisperers' attention. One of them attacks the survivors, but is shot in the chest by one of the archers in the Tower, and devoured after he screams in pain. As the archers continue to pick the Whisperers off, Beta orders his group to tighten the herd, which makes it virtually impossible for the archers to identify their targets. The hospital soon comes under attack, with a Whisperer tripping one of the explosives in the stairwell.
The hospital survivors barricade the door, while Gabriel instructs Dianne on an evacuation plan. Negan approaches Lydia and tries to convince her to leave, reasoning that she won't be able to change the outcome of the battle and the survivors will never trust her, no more than they trust him. She could, however, navigate through the dead and escape. Lydia points out that Negan could do the same, but he says that "he ain't no hero". When Lydia says that he could be, he supposes that "that's what he's doing now", and hands Lydia her mother's mask. He then repels down the elevator shaft. Outside, the survivors find it increasingly difficult to move through the herd but, eventually, most reach the relative safety of the forest, leaving only Carol and Beatrice to find their way out of the herd. The pair slowly navigate through, but are spotted by a Whisperer. She attacks them, but is stabbed by Carol on the gut, and attacked by walkers as she screams. With her last breath, however, the Whisperer grabs Beatrice and stabs her in the leg, causing her to scream and be quickly swarmed by walkers. Beatrice tries to give Carol the backpack she was carrying, but is ignored and torn apart. Luckily, Lydia, wearing her mother's mask, is able to retrieve the bag and hands it to Carol. Back at the hospital, the Whisperers reach the barricade and begin to smash it down.
Outside, a walker "tells" Beta that the end is almost here. He then hears music, which distracts the herd away from the hospital. The same walker clarifies that the end that is coming is their end. Up the road, the survivors that made it through lead the herd away with their wagon loaded with loudspeakers. Meanwhile, Gabriel tells Rachel at the barricade that the evacuation has started. Just then, the Whisperers throw a makeshift explosive through the hole in the barricade, killing two of the defenders. As night falls, the survivors on the road come under attack from the Whisperers, who use the trailing walkers as meat shields from their arrows. The Whisperers also attack from the woods, killing Oscar and forcing the rest to abandon their wagon. The Whisperers promptly smash the speakers. Daryl radios Gabriel to notify them that the wagon is destroyed, and that the herd is coming back. Daryl then tells lays out his plan to the others: go back and hunt down the Whisperers in the herd one by one. He acknowledges that this isn't a very good plan, but stresses that if they don't do it, all of their people are going to die. When Magna asks how they will deal with the herd, Lydia volunteers to lead them away, since her mother taught her how. Daryl rebuffs her, and Luke points out that she'd have to lead the herd over a cliff, which would be suicide. Lydia, however, is adamant. Daryl decides they will deal with it later, and tells the others to move.
Back at the Tower, Gabriel tells the other to go, as the Whisperers are smashing down the final barricade. Judith realizes Gabriel isn't coming, but he explains that someone needs to stay behind to keep the Whisperers from cutting the rope. When Judith asks if Rosita knows about this, he instructs her to tell her "Eres mi media naranja", claiming that she will know the meaning behind the phrase. With that, Judith and the others descend down the elevator shaft, leaving Gabriel to face the attacking Whisperers. When they finally break through, he puts up a brave fight, but is ultimately overpowered. Just as he is about to be killed, the Whisperers are attacked from behind and killed by the same masked survivor that met Aaron and Alden earlier. The last Whisperer is downed by none other than Maggie Rhee, who reveals that the survivor is with her.
Outside, Beta notices the Whisperers around him are being killed by the survivors. He then spots Lydia and prepares to attack her, but is interrupted by Negan, who gets his attention by calling him a "shithead". Blind with rage, Beta charges at Negan and tosses a walker at him. Negan is able to kill the walker but is quickly pinned by Beta, who prepares to kill him in revenge for Alpha's death. Before he can do so, however, he is slashed across the back by Daryl, then stabbed in the eyes as he turns around. Screaming in pain, Beta hallucinates himself pulling the knives out of his eyes as walkers surround and embrace him. His life flashes before his eyes, particularly his time with Alpha. Back in reality, Daryl pulls the knives out of Beta's eyes, as walkers quickly swarm the Whisperer leader. As they rip the mask off his face, Beta dies with a smile. Negan is shocked as he recognizes Beta from before the apocalypse, and asks Daryl if he knows who he is. Daryl coldly says that it was nobody.
Come daytime, Lydia has successfully led the herd to the cliff. Before she can go over, she is stopped by Carol, who volunteers to go instead of her, dubbing it her choice. Carol reaches the edge, but before she can step off, Lydia pulls her back. The pair take cover behind a rock, as the walkers around them march off the cliff into the waters below. As Carol thanks Lydia, the latter rips off her mother's mask and tosses it over the cliff.
Back at the woods around the Tower, everyone is reunited with Maggie, including Judith. Lydia and Carol arrive and inform the group that the herd is finished. Lydia notes that Negan is still here, to which he replies that he is, for now. Daryl and Carol also talk, as Daryl asks if Carol got what she wanted. She replies that she didn't, but didn't really want it anyway. Daryl tells her that she still has him, and they hug. Daryl reminds her that New Mexico is still out there. She says that they might go there some day, but still have things to do here.
Casualties[]
The Whisperers[]
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The Coalition[] |
Results[]
- The Whisperers are informally disbanded following the end of the battle and Beta's death.
- Alexandria is left in ruins.
Trivia[]
- This battle marked the conclusion to the Whisperer conflict.