| This article is about the Novel Series character. You may be looking for her appearance in the Comic Series or her TV Series or Road to Survival counterpart. |
| “ | It’s never-ever going to be okay, never ever-ever-ever-ever.
―Penny Blake repeating this sentence to her uncle, Brian Blake.[src]
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” |
Penny Blake is a main character first encountered in Rise of the Governor as well as a minor character in the Comic Series. She is the daughter of Philip and Sarah, the niece of Brian and Nina and the grandchild of Ed and Rose Blake.
Pre-Apocalypse
Rural, Georgia
Penny lived with her mother and father before the outbreak, where she presumably attended school. A few years prior to the outbreak, her mother Sarah Blake was killed in a car accident leaving Penny and Philip in a temporary state of shock.
Post-Apocalypse
Rise of the Governor
Soon after the outbreak occurred, Penny was taken care of by her father, Philip, as well as her uncle Brian and Philip's friends, Bobby and Nick. Her mother was already dead at this point. She accompanies the group from Waynesboro to the Wiltshire Estates. During this time she starts becoming more and more withdrawn due to the things she has seen and the pressures endured by those who are watching over her. For a short time during their brief period of perceived security in the gated community, she comes out of her shell and is able to act as a normal kid. This is shattered when they are eventually forced to leave after Bobby dies and they flee from the zombies.
From the Wiltshire Estates, the group travels to Atlanta where they eventually meet up with April Chalmers, her father, David, and her sister, Tara. While staying with them in their apartment, Penny becomes very attached to April and seemingly begins to look to her as a mother figure. This also helps her to be able to reemerge from her shell. This again is shattered when they are eventually kicked out of the apartment and forced to once again flee. However she is slightly cheered when they take refuge in Tom Thumb's Tiny Toy Shoppe and she is able to choose her pick of any of the toys that were there.
After breaking away from Atlanta, the group happens upon a remote villa about 50 miles outside of Woodbury. The group decides to stay there and try to make a life for themselves. Penny seems to be doing well at this point. She has food, safety, her father and uncles, and her toys (which she is determined to fix). But, once again, this is taken from her when the house is attacked by marauders and Brian is forced to flee with her while the other men stabilise the situation. Unfortunately, Penny takes a shotgun blast during the attack and does not survive. Afterwards, she rises from the dead. Her father, despite the protests of Brian and Nick, is unable to destroy her. Instead he puts her on a leash, spends time with her, and eventually takes her with them when they decide to leave.
When the group reaches Woodbury, Philip ties her to a tree outside of town, but, eventually smuggles her into their apartment and keeps her locked up in the laundry room. As Philip's sanity continues to erode, he finds human remains that he feeds to her, much to the horror of Brian and Nick. After the death of Philip, Brian takes responsibility for her and for months continues to feed her the severed limbs of his victims, eventually he becomes Philip Blake "The Governor".
The Road to Woodbury
TBA
The Governor spends new years eve with Penny.
The Fall of the Governor
- Main article: Penny Blake (Comic Series)
TBA
The Governor returns home to his apartment and apologises to Penny for being late home. She lunges at him whilst attached to a leash on the wall and he slaps her around the face. He realises that her food bucket has rolled away and brings it back to her, however she spits the now spoiled food out. Gabe delivers a box to the Governor, inside are two human heads and Rick's right hand, which he feeds to Penny.
The Governor tries feeding her another human foot which she won't eat, however the owner was walking around not two hours ago. Michonne bursts into the Governor's apartment and the two begin to fight. When the Governor is knocked out she takes Penny and uses her as a trap in case anyone tries to enter. When Bruce and Gabe come knocking on the Governor's door and burst in, she unleashes Penny on the two and escapes.
Penny is restrained and kept 'alive' by the Governor's men. Later once the Governor is healed, he returns to his apartment and plucks out Penny's teeth with some pliers. Once all of her teeth are removed, he deeply kisses her on the mouth and throws up from the taste. Before going to attack the prison, the Governor asks Bob to look after Penny whilst he's gone. Bob obliges and decides to keep her tied up on the wall, despite her not being able to bite anymore.
When the six surviving members of the Woodbury army return without the Governor, Bob continues feeding and looking after Penny. Eventually Lilly Caul spots him heading over there and insists that he takes her to see the Governor's apartment. Bob introduces Lilly to Penny and she feels immense sorrow for the poor girl. They both know what needs to be done. While Penny is feeding, Lilly puts a blanket over her head and Bob holds her still. Bob sings an old Church hymn as she goes incredibly still. Lilly then stabs her in the head with an ice pick, finally putting her to rest. Later that day, all the remaining residents of Woodbury gather outside the walls next to a large oak tree to have a funeral for the girl none of them, besides Bob, ever met or knew existed.
Death
- Killed By
- Tommy (Caused)
As Philip, Brian, Nick and Penny are leaving the Orchard Villa, Tommy double-crosses them and orders his group to hunt them down.
- Unnamed Tattooed Bandit (Alive)
While Penny and Brian are hiding in the forest behind a tree, a bandit shoots through the tree with a shotgun and hits Penny in the stomach, killing her.
- Lilly Caul (Zombified)
After returning from the prison, Lilly puts down the zombified victims of the Governor, among them Penny.
Relationships
Philip Blake
Penny loved her father very much, but, at least since the outbreak, she had been mostly dependent on her uncle. Regardless, she still yearned for the love of her father, and was deeply concerned that he was mad at her, because he didn't talk to her very much. After her death, Philip completely lost his sanity as he proceeded to keep her on a leash and spend long hours in her company; eventually feeding human remains to her that he happens across.
Brian Blake
| “ | ...away...
―Penny's last words to Brian.[src]
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” |
Prior to her infection, Penny is very dependent on her uncle Brian. While the other men are the ones who take care of the physical labor and any trouble with zombies, Brian is usually the one who takes care of Penny by keeping her safe and babysitting her. They even come up with a secret code, the word "Away" to let her know when she needs to cover her ears and eyes. After her infection and Brian's takeover of Woodbury, she is kept on a leash in his apartments where he feeds her the bodies of his victims. Brian takes great care of Penny, showing her affection as if she is alive and reprimands her when she gets angry, although he feels bad when doing so. It also seems that during this time he developed a disturbing sexual attraction to her as evidenced when he pulled her teeth out with pliers and deeply kissed her. There was no evidence shown of any abuse prior to her death.
Nick Parsons
Nick and Penny had an uncle-niece relationship. Penny referred to Nick as 'uncle Nick' at several occasions. The two of them played together several times. After the death of Penny, Nick felt sad, both for himself, but, mostly for Philip. He wanted to put down the reanimated girl, but, this thought was scrapped by Philip.
Sarah Blake
Penny and Sarah's relationship was mostly unexplored, however it can be assumed they had a regular mother and daughter relationship. Penny was closed up and quiet after her mother's death.
April Chalmers
TBA
Tara Chalmers
TBA
Appearances
Novel Series
- "Rise of the Governor"
- "The Road to Woodbury" (Zombified)
- "The Fall of the Governor" (Zombified)