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| “ | You try, and you try, and you try, and you hope, and you hope, and you hope. Just wantin' things to finally just settle. Achieve some goddamn, hard-fought equilibrium. But, no. It always comes down to this. It always has to get dark and ugly and inhuman.
―Gavin to Ezekiel.[src]
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Gavin is an antagonist and a survivor of the outbreak in AMC's The Walking Dead. He is a high ranking member of the Saviors and one of Negan's three outpost leaders alongside Simon and Regina.
Personality
Although an antagonist, Gavin is extremely collected and level-headed for a Savior. He can be ruthless when necessary, but is more inclined to be diplomatic than his peers. He specifically chose the Kingdom's tribute route because it causes him little stress, and prefers to avoid any inconveniences if he can help it. He shows respect and courtesy to Ezekiel and acknowledges that he takes their meetings seriously and is always punctual, and treating their group with decency.
Despite his civil relationship with the Kingdom, he has no time with Ezekiel's royalty act, dismissing it as "shit", (ironic, considering most Saviors see Negan as a God-like figure.) He seems to be reluctant when ordering ultimatums, preferring to give chances. Unlike most other Saviors, he is also upfront with his retribution, preferring to make it clear who will be punished, rather than selecting someone at random.
Due to his demeanor and tendency to avoid unnecessary stress, it is likely that Gavin became a Savior for an easier life, lacking the thuggish and sadistic traits of his peers. Although Gavin mostly allows Jared to get away with abusing Ezekiel's guards, he has a low opinion of him and his obnoxious behavior.
Although a ruthless Savior by trade, Gavin has shown he has not completely abandoned his humanity. He reacts angrily when he realizes that Benjamin, a teenager, had been shot by Jared as a lesson to the Kingdom instead of Richard. The next day, instead of taunting them as many Saviors would do, Gavin shows legitimate concern by inquiring on Benjamin's health. Upon realizing that Benjamin has died, Gavin appears genuinely upset and he furiously orders Jared to walk back to base, threatening to kill him where he stood if he gave him any cheek. He later had Jared transfered to the Satellite Outpost for his disobedience.
He is quite intelligent because he realized that it was not a coincidence that the Militia attacked the same day the heads of the Saviors were gathered for a meeting and that there must be a traitor that let the information pass. He was also able to deduce that the Militia is going after the outposts, because a scheduled delivery from his outpost had not yet made it to the Sanctuary and he knew that his deliveries are never late.
While invading the Kingdom, Gavin expresses remorse and conflicted over taking complete control saying "God knows I didn't want to be the one to bring it" referring to the chaos he told the people they brought upon themselves. While threatening to turn the situation "into something traumatic" if Ezekiel doesn't turn himself over, Gavin admits that he doesn't want that to happen and is clearly telling the truth. He even implored them to when confronting Ezekiel, he again expresses regret and horror of Benjamin's death. He also tells Ezekiel that he swallows things like Benjamin's death as it keeps others from dying and Ezekiel should have done the same.
Pre-Apocalypse
Location Unknown
Nothing is known about Gavin's life prior to or as the outbreak began. He may have lived in or around the Washington D.C. area and worked as a construction foreman before the outbreak.
Post-Apocalypse
At some point after the outbreak, Gavin joined the Saviors. Likely due to loyalty or leadership capability, Negan appointed him as one of his lieutenants. At some point, Gavin was put in charge of overseeing the collection of weekly tributes from a community known as The Kingdom. Gavin ensures that the Saviors and the Kingdom conduct these supply exchanges secretly, as per a deal where the Kingdom is not directly subjugated, leaving the majority of its inhabitants oblivious to the Saviors' hegemonic influence.
Season 7
"The Well"
Gavin is the leader of a small group of Saviors in charge of collecting weekly offerings from the Kingdom. He and his men meet in an abandoned parking lot and was pleased to receive eight pig corpses to bring back to the Sanctuary. Unlike most Saviors, he seems to be a more courteous and reasonable man than most. He appears to have some sort of respect for Ezekiel as he orders another Savior to stop attacking Richard, reminding him how good Ezekiel has been to them, but remains firm as he states Richard will be the first one killed next week if there is not enough produce for that week's offering.
"New Best Friends"
Gavin, Jared and his group of Saviors arrives at their pickup location for the Saviors’ collections. Gavin comments that the drop looks light, but Ezekiel tells him they have met their obligations and Gavin agrees. Jared says that he wants Richard's gun and the two men face off. Ezekiel tells Richard to hand over his gun, which he reluctantly does. When Jared lunges at Richard, Morgan strikes him with his staff. Jared seizes the staff and hits Morgan with it, so Benjamin strikes Jared and sends him to the floor. Ezekiel bans Richard from attending future exchanges, but Gavin stops him and tells him to keep bringing Richard, and he will keep his word to kill him if he doesn't control his temper and as the Saviors prepare to leave, Morgan asks for his staff back but Jared leaves with it.
"Bury Me Here"
Gavin is present for the exchange with Jared and their fellow Saviors, waiting for the Kingdommers to show up. He is unimpressed that Ezekiel is late and dismisses his excuses. After two tense meetings, Gavin clearly has no taste for any shenanigans, making it clear that he dislikes stress. Upon seeing there wasn’t enough food, he requests the Kingdom’s guns. At first, they all point weapons at each other but, realizing that this could end up being a bloodbath, the Kingdommers pull back. They give Gavin and his men all the guns. When Gavin confirms that there is not enough produce there, eleven instead of twelve cantaloupe, he orders for someone to be shot. Jared feigns to kill Richard, but shoots Benjamin in the leg instead; upon seeing who was shot, Gavin angrily reprimands Jared and orders Morgan's stick returned. As Benjamin begins bleeding out, the Saviors offer one more chance, allowing The Kingdom another day to supply drop in the final cantaloupe. They leave the Kingdommers to tend to Benjamin.
The next day, Gavin and the other Saviors return for the twelfth cantaloupe that was missing from the previous exchange. After Gavin learns that Benjamin has died, he becomes upset and furiously orders Jared to start walking back to their outpost without saying a word or doing anything to spark another issue, threatening to kill him if he did so. Jared complies and walks away from the exchange, appearing to be embarrassed at his superiors commands. After his men receive the missing cantaloupe, Gavin witnesses Morgan attacking and stangling Richard, but Gavin allows him to as he wanted Richard to die, so he responds with "Let em be!" as the Saviors aim guns at Ezekiel and his men, likely to shoot if they attempted to stop Morgan.
Morgan then exposes Richard's plan about how made them late for their exchange that got Benjamin killed, and how he wanted war with the Saviors. He then stands up from the lifeless corpse of Richard. He assures Gavin that they “get it” and the Kingdom will honor their relationship going forward. Gavin is pleased to hear this, and he and his men leave without any further trouble.
Season 8
"Mercy"
Gavin was seen among the rest of the Savior Lieutenants at the Sanctuary as Rick and the Militia attempted to convince them to surrender. He tried to tell Rick to calm himself, but Rick refused. After Rick took the first shot at Negan, Gavin quickly dove for cover and retreated inside. The fence is blown apart and a herd of walkers is led inside, surrounding the Sanctuary.
"The Big Scary U"
Gavin is present at a crisis meeting with Negan, Simon, Regina, Dwight and Eugene concerning the rebellion at Alexandria. The meeting is interrupted by gunfire coming from outside. They step out and Gavin is disturbed upon seeing the militia. The events of Mercy then take place.
The lieutenants have a debate about what to do about their current predicament. Gavin claims it's useless to get someone past the herd and sugests that they deal with the problem inside. He says there must be a traitor among them, because it can't be a coincidence that the Militia attacked when they as the outpost heads were gathered, so someone must have snitched.
Later he deduces that the outposts are being hit, because a delivery from his place had not yet arrived and he insists that deliveries from his outpost are not late. The meeting is interrupted by Laura who comes in and says the workers are coming up the stairs. The lieutenants exit the room and find the corridor full of workers who start making a bunch of demands. One worker pulls out a gun to shoot Simon, Gavin immediately yells 'gun' to warn them and watches Regina shoot the worker. They then hear whistling and everyone kneels as they know that it is Negan. Gavin is later present as Laura, Arat and Gary inform them that a Savior took weapons from the armory and armed the workers.
"How It's Gotta Be"
Gavin and his men arrive at the Kingdom, setting off explosions and sending everyone into a panic. After everyone is rounded up, he demands that they bring forth King Ezekiel, who he knows is alive as he was not among the dead Kingdommers at his outpost.
Seeing that no one will turn their King in, he unwillingly begins to blurt out numerous threats to scare the people into handing over Ezekiel, though that fails as well. As Gavin stands atop the back of a truck, ranting on about how he's going to turn the situation into something "traumatic" if Ezekiel isn't brought before him, Ezekiel sets off explosions as a distraction and rams a school bus into the truck Gavin was standing on top of, knocking him off.
Ezekiel then hops off and allows his people to get away while Gavin pursues him. After Ezekiel willingly locked himself inside the Kingdom, Gavin tells him that he didn't want this to happen and that he actually liked him, nearly apologizing and feeling great remorse for Benjamin's death. He then orders his men to take Ezekiel hostage and break his arms if he tries anything, unaware that Morgan was listening on the other side of the wall.
"Honor"
Gavin is seen guarding Ezekiel in the aftermath of the Kingdom assault. Gavin tells Ezekiel that Negan is going to kill him. "I ferried my people to freedom," Ezekiel says. "What befalls me now matters not." Gavin insists it matters and he liked Ezekiel. Ezekiel understood the world and the terms but now that's all gone thanks to Rick. Ezekiel urges Gavin to join Rick’s side before it’s too late for him. Gavin barks out orders to his men, but Ezekiel challenges his authority.
A man loads Gavin's truck and Gavin insists they leave some room for Ezekiel. Gavin tries to explain himself to Ezekiel. He wasn't hoping for this and doesn't like it. Ezekiel promises it is not to late to change something already decided, but Gavin says Ezekiel did just that and it got him here. He radios for other men but gets no response. Gavin tries to contact three of his men via walkie but gets no response. He hears gunfire in the distance and retreats to the auditorium with Ezekiel and his remaining men.
In the theater, Ezekiel is beaten by Gavin, who insists it is too late. Ezekiel insists he was once saving Gavin's life, but he is no longer doing that. An explosion rings out from a side door. The Saviors shoot at it. Gavin orders them to stop. Carol and Morgan kick down scenery on the stage and kill the remaining Saviors. Gavin is shot in the leg and manages to escapes, but Morgan chases after him. He finds Gavin hiding in a shed and Morgan shoves Gavin to the ground. Gavin begs Morgan to spare his life and insists Rick's group can’t beat Negan. Gavin tells Morgan that killing him won’t bring Benjamin back. Morgan hauls Gavin up to his feet. Ezekiel and Carol urge Morgan to spare Gavin’s life. Morgan is overwhelmed and tears up. As he is about to kill him, a fighting stick pierces Gavin's throat and Henry is revealed to be the killer.
Killed Victims
This list shows the victims Gavin has killed:
- Benjamin (Indirectly Caused)
- 1 unnamed Sanctuary worker (Caused)
- Numerous counts of zombies and possibly unnamed people.
Death
Killed By
- Morgan Jones (Indirectly Caused)
- Henry (Alive)
- Carol Peletier (Before Reanimation)
While Ezekiel tried to convince Morgan not to kill Gavin, who is currently driven by rage seeing Gavin's little to no care for Benjamin's death, Henry comes up from behind and stabs Gavin through the nape, killing him instantly. Carol later stabs him through the head to prevent reanimation.
Relationships
Negan
Although they have not interacted much, Gavin and Negan seem to have a steady relationship. It is clear that Gavin is loyal to Negan by his attempt to deduce that there is a traitor in the Savior ranks. Gavin also kneels without hesitation when Negan returns to the Sanctuary. Despite this, it is implied that Gavin's loyalty is mostly out of fear, as he mentions the "penalty of the bat", referring to Lucille, and truly believes that there is no sense in going against Negan, due to the sheer number of his forces and resources. In the face of death, Gavin affirmed his loyalty to Negan by defiantly telling Morgan that they can't beat him, and they should try to return to how things were. Negan's reaction to Gavin's death is yet to seen.
Jared
Gavin and Jared have a very poor relationship. Gavin is displeased with Jared's bullying of King Ezekiel's men, calling him an idiot and on multiple occasions asking him to stop. Gavin is furious when Jared kills Benjamin and banishes him to the Outpost, threatening to kill him if he answers back. Jared's reaction to Gavin's death is yet to be seen.
Ezekiel
Gavin and Ezekiel seem to have a steady relationship despite the Saviors subjugation of The Kingdom. Gavin comments that Ezekiel has been "good to us". Gavin also keeps his Saviors from attacking Ezekiel's people because of their deal unlike other Savior Lieutenants. Their relationship may have been strained when Ezekiel arrived late to their exchange and when Ezekiel was light on the drop demanding the weapons from the Kingdom. Gavin seems unimpressed by Ezekiel's title of King which he claims is "shit". Of course, due to All out War, their relationship has been deteriorated, but, Gavin still says that he liked Ezekiel and that he was sorry for Benjamin's death. Ezekiel was shocked when Henry stabbed and killed Gavin.
Richard
Gavin and Richard although not having interacted seem to have a poor relationship as a result of Richard's disdain for the deal with the Saviors and his hostility towards the Saviors. Gavin remarks that Richard will be the first to die if the Kingdom is light on a drop. Gavin also doesn't intervene when Morgan kills Richard and has his men aim their guns at Ezekiel and the Kingdom soldiers so they wouldn't intervene, showing that he had little care for him.
Morgan Jones
Gavin and Morgan have a poor relationship made worse when Jared killed Benjamin. Gavin also appears scared of Morgan after he kills Richard and recoils when Morgan approaches him. Though later, once Gavin captures Ezekiel, Morgan overheard him apologizing to Ezekiel for Benjamin's death, saying that he liked the kid and did not want him to happen, which may have made their relationship a bit better. After Gavin takes Ezekiel hostage, Morgan and Carol Peletier set out to save him, which they do by killing all of Gavin's men, Gavin is shot in the leg and was horrified upon witnessing Morgan kill one of his men by pulling his intestines out of his bullet wound, he tries to escape and hide but Morgan eventually finds him. As Morgan prepares to kill Gavin, he is stabbed through the nape by Henry, Morgan is shocked by this.
Appearances
TV Series
Season 7
Season 8
- "Mercy"
- "The Big Scary U"
- "How It's Gotta Be"
- "Honor"
Trivia
- Gavin is the first high ranked Savior to be killed during the war, as well as the first outpost leader to die and the first member of Negan's council to die.
- Gavin's death holds similarities to Jody's in "Welcome to the Tombs." Both deaths were of a surrendering enemy character, both were killed by a child character and the death signified a darker turn for their killer. The only difference is that while Jody had done nothing to Carl, Gavin was responsible of the death of Henry's brother.
- In BMNY interview, Gavin's actor, Jayson Warner Smith confirmed that Gavin's job before the apocalypse was a construction foreman.