| “ | We were on a mission. Leading walkers away. Duncan, Agatha, and Frost took the last shift at the front of the herd. Going miles out. I circle back with Elijah and Cole. On the way back home, things kept going sideways and we got stuck out on the road. Looking back now, I don't think that was an accident. All of a sudden, we heard these screams in the distance. We raced back home. But it was too late. Most of our people had been slaughtered. And the rest of us barely got away with our lives.
―Maggie describing the Reapers' takeover and attack on Meridian.[src]
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The Meridian Massacre is a mentioned event that took place during the later parts of the tenth season of AMC's The Walking Dead.
History[]
The Massacre[]
Maggie, Elijah, Cole, Duncan, Agatha and Frost lead a herd away from Meridian before Maggie, Elijah and Cole circle back while the others continue to lead it miles out. However, they encounter trouble that keeps delaying their return, presumably caused by the Reapers to keep them from helping out the rest of their people.
While Meridian's best fighters are gone, the Reapers assault the town and mercilessly slaughter its inhabitants, leaving many of them to reanimate and wander the woods in the nearby area. By the time that Maggie returns with Elijah and Cole, having heard screams in the distance, most of the people have already been slaughtered by the Reapers and Elijah apparently witnesses his sister Josephine's murder at the hands of Brandon Carver, something that leaves him deeply traumatized. The few survivors barely escape Meridian with their lives and the Reapers take control of the town for themselves.
Aftermath[]
Not satisfied with the escape of the survivors, Pope, the Reapers' leader, marks them and sends a Reaper to hunt down and kill the Wardens.
Finding a number of letters about the Whisperer War with the Coalition, Maggie leads her remaining people back to her old home, hoping to help win the war and settle at the Hilltop. However, while Maggie and Elijah arrive just in time to help, they discover that the Hilltop has been destroyed and Alexandria badly damaged in the war. Shortly thereafter, the Reaper attacks, killing several of the surviving Wardens before being stopped. Before committing suicide, the Reaper warns Maggie that she has been marked by Pope.
With Alexandria in dire straits and the arrival of the rest of her people, Maggie proposes an attack on Meridian to reclaim the town and its food supply, the Reaper's solo attack having revealed that there's not many Reapers. Along with giving the Wardens a chance at revenge, they can reclaim Meridian's food supply to help Alexandria. A combined team of Coalition soldiers and Wardens sets out for Meridian, although many of the team are quickly killed in an ambush by the Reapers. Using Whisperer tactics and Daryl's infiltration of the Reapers, the group successfully defeats their enemy, killing most of them. After the remaining Reapers accept a deal to leave Meridian and its food supply to the group, Maggie chooses to kill them all in cold blood in revenge for the massacre of her people with only Leah Shaw surviving. In the aftermath, Meridian is abandoned for good by all of its former inhabitants and its food supply is taken back to Alexandria.
Participants[]
The Reapers[] |
The Wardens[] |
Casualties[]
The Wardens[]
Results[]
- Nearly all residents of Meridian are massacred.
- Surviving residents flee to the Alexandria Safe Zone.
- The Reapers take full control of Meridian.