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This article is about the Comic Series location. You may be looking for its TV Series counterpart. For other pages with the same name, see: Hilltop Colony

Hilltop Colony, or just The Hilltop, located in Virginia, is a town and settlement that first appears in Issue 94 of The Walking Dead. It is a farming community of 200 residents, originally led by a man named Gregory until Maggie Greene took over the leadership. The town is twenty miles from the Alexandria Safe-Zone. Before the war against the Saviors, the town had no active firearms.

Pre-Apocalypse[]

Before the outbreak, the only known buildings in the area that would become the Hilltop Colony were the Barrington House and a barn, with water tower nearby as well. Jesus mentions that every school within a 50 mile radius took a field trip to the Barrington House at least once a year.

Post-Apocalypse[]

Shortly after the outbreak, survivors started flocking to the area for safety. Under Gregory's leadership, the survivors built a wall encompassing the Barrington and the area around it using the materials they got from dismantling the barn and other buildings in the area. More than a dozen trailers were also added to shelter Hilltop's ever expanding population, while many rooms in the Barrington house were converted into living quarters. Eventually, the group came in contact with the Saviors, who began extorting the Hilltop, demanding half of their supplies in exchange for protection. If the Saviors' demands weren't met, they would respond with violence.

Encounter With Alexandria Safe-Zone[]

Paul Monroe brings Rick Grimes and a group of survivors to the community for help. He and Gregory explain that they are under the control of the Saviors and their leader Negan. He goes on to say that they are forced to pay tribute to the Saviors, or they will be wiped out. Before Paul can finish, Ethan, a resident of Hilltop, comes back and informs the people that Negan has killed his group because they did not bring enough supplies. He then says that the Saviors asked him to deliver a message, which was to stab Gregory in order to kill him. After he stabs Gregory, Rick tackles Ethan and begins brawling with him. Rick uses Ethan's knife and slits his throat, killing him.

This stuns the residents and they begin to yell at Rick for his actions. Paul steps in and says that what Rick did was right and that Ethan was a coward. After escorting Rick and his group back inside Hilltop's mansion, he returns to explaining why he needs Rick's help against the Saviors and that if Rick does rid them of the group, Hilltop will give Alexandria half their supplies. Rick accepts this deal and leaves, eager to deal with the Saviors.

After Negan executes Glenn, a furious Rick returns to Hilltop and punches Gregory in the face, accusing him of not telling him and his group more about the Saviors. Gregory states that Hilltop knew virtually nothing about the Saviors and that they did not even know Negan was a real person. 

Sick of living with Rick, Maggie and Sophia move to Hilltop for a chance at a better life. Maggie quickly bonds with Brianna. They have many conversations about their life in and before the apocalypse, and they both agree that Gregory is a creep and make very crude comments about him.

Paul and Rick, with the help of Ezekiel, devise a plan to use people from all three communities to fight the Saviors. Gregory objects to the idea, but Paul goes through with it.

The War Against The Saviors[]

Sometime after the hold up of the Alexandria Safe-Zone, the Saviors pay a visit to the Hilltop Colony and capture Gregory for use as a bargaining chip against the allied forces of Alexandria, Hilltop and the Kingdom. Gregory cowardly sides with the Saviors, threatening to banish everyone who believes otherwise. When he and the Hilltop soldiers arrive back, they are met by Maggie Greene, who angrily punches him in the face after hearing that "Negan is quite reasonable". She then makes a speech about the war, and how Rick wants to make everything better for them, and begs them to join the cause.

Later, it is revealed the majority of the survivors agreed to fight, most of them leaving the colony for Alexandria, where they repel a Savior attack. As of now, Maggie Greene is the de facto leader of Hilltop. In Issue 121, Rick decides to move all the Alexandrians to Hilltop, with Ezekiel doing the same with all the Kingdom residents.

The Battle of Hilltop[]

Barely a day after, the Saviors launch their attack. Negan stands by the entrance, demanding Rick, and after being denied he orders his men to bring the gates down. The Saviors invade the colony and a heavy gunfight ensues, killing many with deadly walker-smeared weapons. The battle drags on through the night and the Saviors reach the house, where they demand to be let in. Just before the attack, they are outflanked by a large group in cars, who, with the aid of headlights, slaughter many Saviors. Negan and the few remaining men retreat.

The destroyed gates are blocked with buses brought by the Kingdom. They count their dead and tend the injured. Rick then orders a group to leave through the secret back entrance of Hilltop to outflank Negan and his men when they return.

Hours later Negan returns and demands a surrender, exclaiming he knows Rick is dead. Rick himself shows up, much to the Saviors' shock.

Negan and Rick have an intense standoff, with Rick proclaiming they're fighting against a madman who wants to take their stuff, and starts to convince Negan that he's trying to rebuild civilization the wrong way. Negan slowly realizes that Rick is right, and says he's now seeing things Rick's way, and in reaction, the latter approaches and slashes his throat, muttering "Good".

After a brief confrontation, Negan is taken captive and the groups cease all hostilities.

Aftermath[]

Hilltop is rebuilt and continues to thrive under the leadership of Maggie Greene.

Conflict with the Whisperers[]

2 years after the war against the Saviors, Carl was taken to the Hilltop to work as an apprentice for Earl Sutton. He was later taken into a prison cell after he almost beat 2 bullies to death with a shovel, where he meets Lydia, who got captured on the road by Jesus.

After she and Carl started to bond with each other, Carl convinced Maggie to let her out of the cell, with him watching over her.

After finding out the location of the Hilltop, the Whisperers, led by Alpha who is also Lydia's mother, came to the main gate to offer her a trade: Lydia for Ken and Dante. After the deal was successfully done, Carl got enraged and left the Hilltop, in search of Lydia. Attempts of Jesus to find Carl were unsuccessful.

Except for a few guards, every inhabitant has left to Alexandria to take part of the fair. During the fair, Andrea took Carl and Lydia there to safety, after the Whisperers killed 12 people, amongst them 4 members of the Hilltop. After the fair was shut down, Maggie returned her people back at the Hilltop. After a conversation with Maggie and Andrea, Carl convinced them that he is mature and old enough to stay back at the Hilltop and take care of both himself and Lydia.

During the war, all men, who were able to fight left the group to join the Militia, and fought against the Whisperers. During the war, the Whisperers attacked the Hilltop with a large herd and by shooting flaming arrows, burning the Barrington house and almost all other buildings inside the colony. After winning the battle against the herd the people of the Hilltop, under the lead of Maggie, leave with William and several Kingdommers to Alexandria in hope of finding shelter until the war with the Whisperers is over.

Whisperer War Aftermath[]

After the Whisperers have been defeated, the Hilltop residents stay and help clean up Alexandria from the wreck of the mega herd. After the clean up and the mourning of those that died in the war, they return to Hilltop and along with the help from William and members of the Kingdom they begin to rebuild Hilltop. Since the death of Rick Grimes, the community has expanded at least three times.

Inhabitants[]

Former Residents[]

Deaths[]

Appearances[]

Comic Series

Volume 16: A Larger World

Volume 17: Something To Fear

Volume 19: March To War

Volume 20: All Out War - Part One

Volume 21: All Out War - Part Two

Volume 22: A New Beginning

Volume 23: Whispers Into Screams

Volume 24: Life And Death

Volume 25: No Turning Back

Volume 26: Call To Arms

Volume 27: The Whisperer War

Volume 29: Lines We Cross

Volume 30: New World Order

Volume 31: The Rotten Core

Volume 32: Rest In Peace


Trivia[]

  • The Hilltop is the second biggest known survivor community of The Walking Dead universe, containing over 200 survivors, behind the Commonwealth that contains over 50,000 survivors.
    • This number increased significantly during the latter part of the conflict against the Saviors, when both Alexandria and the Kingdom temporarily move to Hilltop.
  • Hilltop has had the fewest shown casualties in the "All Out War" story arc.
  • The Hilltop Colony is a buyable property in Monopoly: The Walking Dead Survival Edition.
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