Hilltop Colony (Comic Series)

This article is about the Hilltop Colony in the Comic Series. You may be looking for the Hilltop Colony in the TV Series.

First appearance.
Hilltop after the war with the Whisperers.
The official logo of the Hilltop
Hilltop Colony
Type	Rural Town
State	Virginia
Status	Unknown; Merged with The Commonwealth
Seen in Series	Comic Series
Issue/Episode	Issue 94 to Issue 188

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. 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 mentiones 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.

Inhabitants

• Dante
• Aaron
• Harlan Carson (Community doctor)
• Eduardo (Guard)
• Brianna
• Alex
• Johnny
• Joshua
• Mike
• Joshua's Mother
• Wesley
• Mandy
• Crystal
• Rolland (Blacksmith apprentice)
• Brian
• Louie (Vintner)
• Mr. Harlan
• Mrs. Harlan
• Harlan's Son
• Samuel
• Brandon Rose
• Morton Rose (Former guard)
• Oscar
• Larry (Former vintner)
• Amber
• Ken (Former scout)
• Tammy Rose
• Carson
• Gregory (Former Leader of the community)
• Doug (Former patrol guard)
• Richard
• Arnold
• Kal (Former guard)
• Ethan
• David
• Andy

Former Residents

• Maggie Greene (Former leader of the community) - Relocated to the Commonwealth
• Hershel Greene - Relocated to the Commonwealth
• Sophia
• Paul Monroe
• Carl Grimes (Former blacksmith apprentice)
• Earl Sutton (Former blacksmith)
• Lydia Relocated to the Commonwealth
• Marco (Former scout) - Relocated to the Alexandria Safe-Zone

Deaths

• Ethan - Throat slit by Rick after he attempted to assassinate Gregory.
• Kal - Shot in the head by an unnamed Savior.
• Mike - Shot in the chest by Rick while attacking the Hilltop.
• Nicholas - Injured by a tainted machete by an unnamed Savior and died of infection. 
• Richard - Injured by a tainted weapon used by a Savior and died of infection.
• Arnold - Injured by a tainted weapon used by a Savior and died of infection.
• Marcus - Stabbed by a tainted knife used by a Savior and died of an infection.
• Gregory - Hanged after an attempted murder of Maggie.
• Numerous Hilltop survivors - Killed by the Saviors.
• Numerous Kingdom survivors - Killed by the Saviors. 
• Numerous Saviors - Shot by Hilltop, Alexandria, and Kingdom survivors.
• Numerous Whisperers - Killed by Hilltop survivors.

Appearances

Comic Series Volume 16: A Larger World Issue 94 Issue 95 Issue 96 Volume 17: Something To Fear Issue 101 Volume 19: March To War Issue 109 Issue 110 Issue 111 Volume 20: All Out War - Part One Issue 118 Volume 21: All Out War - Part Two Issue 122 Issue 123 Issue 124 Issue 125 Issue 126 Volume 22: A New Beginning Issue 130 Issue 131 Issue 132 Volume 23: Whispers Into Screams Issue 133 Issue 134 Issue 135 Issue 136 Issue 137 Issue 138 Volume 24: Life And Death Issue 139 Issue 140 Issue 141 Volume 25: No Turning Back Issue 149 Issue 150 Volume 26: Call To Arms Issue 154 Issue 155 Volume 27: The Whisperer War Issue 157 Issue 158 Issue 159 Issue 160 Issue 161 Issue 162 Volume 29: Lines We Cross Issue 172 Issue 173 Volume 30: New World Order Issue 177 Issue 178 Volume 31: The Rotten Core Issue 181 Issue 182 Issue 185 Issue 186 Volume 32: Rest In Peace Issue 187 Issue 188

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 The Walking Dead Monopoly.