Staff (Weapon)

Staff
Status	In Active Use (TV Series/World Beyond/Dead City) In Active Use; One combined with Emile's Battle Axe (Fear) Inactive (Daryl Series)
Users	Eastman Morgan Jones Benjamin Jared Henry Sutton Lydia Margo Carol Peletier Alicia Clark Athena Mukherjee (Dream) Morgan Jones-Mukherjee Odessa Sanderson Madison Clark PADRE Prefects Grace Mukherjee Hope Bennett Iris Bennett Lane Maggie Rhee Losang Union of Hope
The Walking Dead
First Appearance	"No Sanctuary"
Last Appearance	"Rest in Peace"
Fear the Walking Dead
First Appearance	"What's Your Story?"
Last Appearance	"All I See Is Red"
The Walking Dead: World Beyond
First Appearance	"Exit Wounds"
Last Appearance	"The Last Light"
The Walking Dead: Dead City
First Appearance	"Who's There?"
The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon
First Appearance	"La Gentillesse Des Étrangers"
Last Appearance	"Vouloir, C'est Pouvoir"

A staff is used in unarmed combat, particularly by users of Aikido. It is the preferred weapon of Eastman, Morgan Jones, Henry Sutton and Lydia.

Post-Apocalypse

Original TV Series

After rescuing Morgan Jones, Eastman crafts him a staff similar to his own from one of Morgan's spears. As he helps Morgan recover his mental state and teaches him Akido, Eastman also helps Morgan learn how to properly utilize it as his weapon.

During his time in Alexandria, Morgan shows a preference for using his staff to non-lethally defeat enemies unless they are walkers at which point a blow from the staff to the walker's head tends to be enough to dispatch it. The staff is later stolen by Jared during a trade between the Kingdom and the Saviors, but Gavin forces Jared to return it following his murder of Benjamin who Morgan had been training to fight with a staff. As the war with the Saviors begins, the vengeful Morgan sharpens one end of his staff so it becomes an effective stabbing weapon to use against his enemies.

Having been trained in combat utilizing a staff by Morgan, Henry adopts a sharpened staff as his own preferred fighting weapon and kills Gavin with it during the retaking of the Kingdom. Henry later loses his staff while chasing Jared, leaving it impaled through a walker he couldn't kill. Carol recovers the staff and rescues Henry, returning it to him.

Before the final battle with the Saviors, Jesus urges Morgan to a less violent stance. As a result, he suggests that Morgan use the staff's blunt end for the living and the sharpened end for the dead. Though Morgan originally ignores this advice, he ultimately chooses to use the blunt end to knock a Savior unconscious rather than killing him.

Six years after the apparent death of Rick Grimes, Henry continues to utilize a staff as his weapon, but has over the years fashioned a more ornate black version rather than a simple wooden pole. While helping Daryl rescue Dog, Henry uses his staff to impale a walker and save Daryl's life. During a later fight with the Whisperers, Henry kills one by smashing him in the head with his staff after Dog brings the man to the ground. Due to his leg injury from the fight, Henry subsequently begins using his staff as a walking stick.

Following Henry's death, Lydia is shown to have taken Henry's staff for herself and added a nunchuck to one end. The new addition is, when not in use, the end of the staff. When it is in use, the end is yanked outwards, revealing the nunchuck chain. After being kicked out of the meeting house when a Whisperer mask is discovered, Lydia practices with the staff before talking to Negan Smith. When ambushed by Margo, Alfred and Gage, Lydia attempts to use the staff to defend herself, but is disarmed by Margo who hits her with it. At the end of the fight, Margo prepares to kill Lydia with her own staff, but Negan rescues Lydia, disarming Margo and throwing her into a wall, accidentally killing Margo in the process. While fleeing Carol into the woods, Lydia uses the staff to incapacitate Carol so that she can get away.

During the Whisperer attack on the Hilltop, Lydia uses the staff to kill a number of walkers, refusing to flee despite knowing that Alpha wants her. Injured in the attack, Lydia uses her staff as a walking stick, much like Henry did. However, when Negan captures her, Lydia is disarmed of the staff.

Carol later finds the staff and is holding it when Negan brings her the severed zombified head of Alpha, her son Henry's killer. Carol subsequently carries the staff with her as she takes off on her own, using it as a walking stick and to kill a walker that ambushes her. After returning to Alexandria, Carol returns the staff to Lydia. However, she doesn't carry or use it for the rest of the war with the Whisperers.

Lydia later brings her staff with her on a supply mission to Fort Connors. When the walkers in the building become active and attack, Lydia uses her staff to put several down before escaping.

When a herd breaches Alexandria during a bad storm, Lydia uses her staff to help defend the people taking refuge in Aaron's house, standing on a stair landing and stabbing numerous walkers at the bottom of the stairs alongside Rosita and Dianne. The three women successfully hold off the walkers until Rosita and Dianne send Lydia out of a window to go help Aaron while they continue to deal with the invading walkers by themselves.

Months later, Lydia takes her staff with her as she prepares to leave the Hilltop to go to the Commonwealth. On the road to Riverbend, Lydia uses her staff to put down a zombified Commonwealth soldier as Maggie and Elijah put down two others.

During a fight between Lydia and a variant walker, the walker grabs Lydia's staff as she swings it at it and they grapple for the staff briefly. Lydia eventually manages to yank her staff free and escape.

Fear The Walking Dead

After leaving Alexandria, Morgan continues to use his staff as his primary weapon. However, as he refuses to kill the living anymore, Morgan prefers to use the blunt end while fighting human enemies and the sharpened end to impale walkers through the head and put them down rather than bashing their heads in. Despite his leg injury, Morgan proves able to easily defeat Nick Clark and trip him up using the staff. After Jim Brauer's reanimation, Morgan mercifully puts his friend down by impaling him through the head and similarly puts down Martha.

During a fight with two walkers, Morgan gets caught in Grace's bola and accidentally impales the second through the abdomen rather than the head. After putting down the walker, Grace reveals that he had been radioactive and as such, Morgan needs to discard his staff permanently. Though Morgan repeatedly asks when he will get it back, Grace tells him that he never can as the wood is porous and thus would soak up the radiation beyond any ability to clean it. The extent of Morgan's desire to get it back causes Grace to realize that the staff means more to him than just a sharp stick to use against the dead. She takes it with her alongside the remains of the radioactive walkers in order to prevent anyone else from getting sick due to the remains.

Following the loss of his staff, Morgan begins using an old pipe as a replacement. Morgan subsequently fashions a new staff out of a mop handle. While helping Grace, Morgan spots his old plastic wrapped staff in the back of her truck and picks it up. Morgan briefly discusses his history with the staff and Eastman with Grace before putting it back in the truck as the staff is still dangerous. After killing at least five of the radioactive walkers with his new staff, Morgan abandons it in a field in the radioactive zone.

While chased by a herd, Morgan retrieves his plastic-wrapped staff from the back of Grace's truck and asks her if he can use it against the walkers chasing them. With radioactive dust from a second meltdown approaching, Grace states that in the grand scheme of things, he has bigger things to worry about and can use the staff. Morgan uses it to kill a walker that is hanging onto the plane so that he and John can remove a cargo netting. As they fly away from the area, Grace breaks the staff in half and tosses the radioactive half overboard. Handing the other half to Morgan, Grace states that she fixed his staff for him and Morgan holds onto the clean portion for further use.

After forming the Caravan, Morgan teaches Alicia Clark how to fight using a staff and some of their training is included in the videotape left behind by the Caravan. Following the group helping Tess and her son, Alicia rejects Morgan's offer of more practice in favor of finding out who has been painting inspiring messages onto trees. She subsequently abandons all use of a staff as a weapon.

After his staff is broken, Morgan continues to use the remaining half as a weapon. However, he occasionally struggles as a result, including at JLS National Bank where Morgan forgetting that he's missing half of his staff causes him to spin all of the way around and fall when he tries to attack a walker with it. Al suggests that Morgan get a new staff as a result, but Morgan tells her that he's good. It is later repaired with a new second half by Terrence, a woodworker amongst the Pioneers. Virginia assures Morgan that Terrence stated that the joint holding the two halves together would hold up to anything Morgan could throw at it. Morgan tests out his newly-repaired staff by immediately killing a walker with it. Virginia later includes footage of Terrence repairing Morgan's staff in her documentary to draw people in to join her group.

When Virginia prepares to kill him, Morgan strikes her in the face with his staff, but Virginia shoots Morgan at the same time, leaving him badly wounded. Seeing Morgan reaching for the staff, Virginia grabs it and tosses it away, leaving Morgan unarmed as a small herd approaches him.

Morgan is rescued by an unknown person and continues to use the staff as he struggles to survive with his injury as his savior also brought the staff with Morgan when he was saved. Morgan primarily uses the staff as a walking stick due to his weakened state, but still proves capable of taking out most of a herd of walkers with it single-handedly even though he can only use one hand to fight with. When attacked by Emile LaRoux, Morgan is able to somewhat match him using the staff, but is eventually overpowered. As Emile swings his battle axe to decapitate Morgan, Morgan manages to catch the axe under the blade with the staff and force the axe to the ground beside him. Knocking Emile's feet out from under him, Morgan impales Emile in the chest with his staff before decapitating the bounty hunter with the man's own axe.

After killing Emile, Morgan abandons his staff at Valley Town and instead takes possession of Emile's battle axe as his new weapon. After returning to the dam, Morgan recovers his staff and repurposes it into the new handle of the battle axe, effectively combining his two weapons with the sharpened end of the staff acting as the end of the handle. Combining the staff and the battle axe gives Morgan a two-ended weapon that is deadly against both walkers and living people with Morgan killing one man with the axe end and moments later killing another with the sharpened end of his staff. While fighting a herd on the Route 185 Bridge, the combined weapon is extremely effective with Morgan slicing walkers heads with the axe end and impaling others with the staff end. Later, Morgan plants the axe staff-first into the ground outside of the dam, stating that it will remain there until the day that the weapon is needed again which Morgan hopes will never come.

In Grace's dream, her daughter Athena uses a staff as her weapon. Athena explains that her father Morgan taught her how to fight with it. In the dream, Morgan utilizes a more ornate staff as his weapon rather than his battle axe.

With the threat of the Doomsday Cult growing, Morgan appears to craft a new, darker colored staff rather than retrieving his axe. Morgan subsequently uses it to kill three cultists and wound Riley.

As he abandons Valley Town, Morgan removes his axe from the ground and uses it against the zombified crew of the USS Pennsylvania. Wanting to be the hero, Victor Strand abandons Morgan and attempts to take his axe, breaking off the head in the process and leaving Morgan with just his old staff again. Despite being outnumbered, Morgan manages to put down the attacking zombies and saves Strand from Dakota, hitting her into the wall and knocking her unconscious. Although Morgan recovers his axe head, he chooses to give it to Strand and use just his staff instead. After failing to stop the cult's plans, Morgan puts his staff down on a table and Strand lays the axe head next to it.

Subsequently, Morgan temporarily abandons use of the axe, only taking his staff with him when Morgan exits the sub to investigate a crying baby. Seeing that it's baby Mo and a zombified Rachel, Morgan sorrowfully uses his staff to put down his friend.

Months later, Morgan apparently carries neither his staff nor his axe with him when he and Grace leave the sub on a supply mission. Instead, Morgan uses a gun rather his usual choice of a melee weapon.

By the time that he goes searching for John Sr. and June, Morgan has repaired his axe, He uses his staff to put down a zombified Stalker outside of Teddy's Secret Bunker. Since repairing his axe, he appears to have added a metal ring close to the point of his staff for an unknown reason.

When Morgan is captured by PADRE guards, they confiscate his battle axe and staff, although they take the weapon with him when they take Morgan and Madison Clark to PADRE's ship. Following Morgan's rescue mission for Mo, he loses his original staff and battle axe. After what Morgan did with it while escaping with Mo, PADRE keeps it in storage for seven years with Shrike noting that his actions with the weapon on that day were particularly memorable. As a result, Morgan begins using a cruder version of his old staff instead, even while working as a Collector for PADRE.

On PADRE, children train to fight with staffs similar to Morgan's.

Seven years after Morgan's rescue of his daughter, Wren uses a staff to fight a training walker who has its teeth knocked out, but freezes due to flashbacks, causing her friend Dove to use the staff to put the walker down and save Mo. Later, the two girls spar with staffs, only for Wren to take down Dove with moves similar to Morgan's, something that she can't explain. It's subsequently revealed that Wren is actually Morgan's eight-year old daughter Mo who has apparently inherited her adopted father's skill with a staff. Mo subsequently abandons the staff in favor of a sledgehammer, apparently inspired by Madison's use of one to take out dozens of walkers while helping Morgan to rescue her as a baby.

Following Madison and Mo's escape from PADRE, they encounter Morgan who now wields a cruder version of his old staff which Madison briefly uses as a crutch while crossing through a swamp. Morgan eventually takes it back from her and uses his new staff to put down a number of walkers surrounding his houseboat while Mo struggles to free her trapped foot before Grace shows up to rescue them. Morgan's new staff is taken away from him by Shrike and her forces and he later escapes from them unarmed.

By the time that Morgan reaches King County, he has fashioned a new makeshift staff out of what appears to be a large wooden stake. Although the stake would normally work better as a spear, Morgan is able to effortlessly wield it against a herd of walkers as he would his regular staff. Grace later uses Morgan's staff while Morgan uses a rifle that Rick Grimes had once given to him instead. When Morgan gets distracted by a hallucination of a walker as his dead wife, Grace uses his staff to put down a walker that comes up on Morgan from behind, saving his life. Morgan briefly has the staff taken away from him when he surrenders to PADRE's forces, but Mo retrieves it for him from the cab of Kingfisher and Magpie's truck. Morgan uses the staff to clear out the walkers surrounding the train car and to put down a zombified Grace.

When Shrike arrives, she's carrying Morgan's old battle axe and staff which she had pulled out of storage, presumably for him to use in clearing the PADRE Shipyard for her. In an attempt to reach Mo, Morgan uses his staff to take down two PADRE Prefects. Although one is armed with a staff of his own, Morgan proves to be far more skilled with it, and he easily defeats the Prefect. However, Shrike takes him down by using the staff end of Morgan's own battle axe to trip him. After trapping Morgan in the train car, Shrike leaves both Morgan's staff and his battle axe on the railroad tracks outside. Morgan is eventually able to somehow escape, retrieve his battle axe and use it to eliminate the herd before Madison finds him. After this, Morgan abandons all use of his new staff in favor of his old one and his battle axe.

While trying to clear the thousands of walkers from the PADRE Shipyard, Dove, Hawk and several of the other Prefects use staffs against the herd, although Mo continues to use a sledgehammer.

While trying to save Mo from the herd from the PADRE Shipyard, Morgan uses his battle axe and staff to put down in a number of walkers. However, as Morgan keeps slipping in and out of deranged states, he attacks Madison and Daniel's Resistance who take it from him twice with Morgan even giving up the weapon at one point for everyone's safety. After getting stuck in some mud, Morgan is able to free himself by planting his battle axe in the ground and using it to pull himself out.

Following PADRE's defeat, Morgan buries Grace in Eastman's Cemetery and he finds Mo a new staff which she practices with. Speaking to his old friend's grave, Morgan presents his greatly changed staff to Eastman, the man who had created it for Morgan in the first place, commenting that Eastman likely wouldn't even recognize it or Morgan himself now given how much they've both changed. Morgan takes his staff and battle axe with him as he leaves to return to Alexandria with Mo and to find Rick Grimes.

World Beyond

While staying at the Civic Republic Research Facility, Hope Bennett briefly trains using a staff.

During the Endlings' journey to Portland, Iris Bennett adopts a staff as her weapon, having previously dismantled Shiloh before infiltrating the research facility. Unlike the staffs used by Eastman, Morgan, Henry and Lydia, this staff appears to be thicker and it features a small curved blade on the end rather than a regular wooden tip.

Dead City

The Bricks utilizes staffs as a weapon taught by Lane. However, Hershel skips out on his training with them, much to the annoyance of his mother. Hershel ultimately shows a preference for a throwing knife as his weapon of choice.

During her assessment to join the New Babylon Army, Maggie briefly uses a staff against a coral full of walkers, but she quickly tosses it aside in favor of her knife.

The Ones Who Live

As a part of her cover story to the CRM, Michonne, presumably taking inspiration from her friends Morgan, Henry and Lydia, lies that her weapon of choice was a bo staff that Michonne had lost months before.

Daryl Series

Losang is practicing Aikido with a staff along with two other Union of Hope members. Losang shows Daryl his staff which they use as a training for Aikido. Losang isn't using it as a weapon, he's using it to prepare in case he might need a weapon when he wants to punch back. Losang agrees to let Daryl go, telling him to bring their people back safely. Losang offers to go a round with Daryl, but Daryl is uninterested in fighting him with "that toothpick."

During the Battle of the Nest, Losang uses his staff to fight off the attacking Guerriers, overpowering one. However, Genet interrupts him before Losang can kill the man, forcing Losang to surrender. Losang's staff is later returned to him following Genet's death and he is holding it while welcoming the Power of the Living into the Union of Hope.

Losang subsequently carries his staff with him during his search for Laurent. When Daryl confronts him in the Catacombs of Paris, Losang fights Daryl with his staff while Daryl uses his knife and morning star. Losang manages to disarm Daryl and prepares to kill him with a blade hidden in one end of his staff. However, Daryl smashes Losang in the face with a fallen skull and then uses another skull to bash Losang's head in, killing him. The staff is left lying on the floor of the catacombs next to its owner.

Killed Victims

The following is a list of victims killed with a staff:

• 20's Man (Zombified)
• Jeffery (Zombified)
• Owen (Zombified)
• Richard (Caused)
• Gavin (Alive)
• Paulie
• Gomez
• Keno
• Savior 28
• Savior 25
• Savior POW 5 (Alongside Rick)
• Savior POW 6 (Zombified)
• Duke
• Bill (Caused)
• Hardy (Caused)
• Thin Survivor (Zombified)
• Lumber Yard Survivor (Zombified)
• Quinn (Zombified)
• Jim Brauer (Zombified)
• Martha (Zombified)
• Ada Johnson (Zombified)
• Emile LaRoux (Caused, Alive)
• Cigarette Man
• Thompson (Zombified)
• Stewart (Zombified)
• Green (Zombified)
• Rachel (Zombified)
• Wilt (Zombified)
• Grace Mukherjee (Zombified)
• Anderson (Zombified)
• 1 unnamed Wolf (Zombified)
• 8 unnamed Savior (1 Zombified, 7 Direct)
• 1 unnamed Scavenger
• 1 unnamed Hilltop resident (Zombified)
• 1 unnamed Whisperer
• Several unnamed U.S. Military soldiers (Zombified)
• 1 unnamed Commonwealth soldier (Zombified)
• At least 5 unnamed power plant workers (Zombified)
• 1 unnamed bank survivor (Zombified)
• 1 unnamed Pioneer (Zombified)
• 3 unnamed cultists
• Several unnamed USS Pennsylvania crewmembers (Zombified)
• 1 unnamed Stalker (Zombified)
• 1 unnamed patrolman of Alicia's followers (Zombified)
• 1 unnamed member of Wilt's Posse (Zombified)
• Many unnamed U.S. Army soldiers and PADRE adults (Zombified)
• Numerous counts of zombies

Trivia

• Since its introduction in the TV series, the staff has been utilized as a primary weapon by at least one major character a season. Originally seen as Morgan Jones' weapon, after his departure at the end of Season 8, Henry utilized a staff throughout Season 9, having learned from Morgan before his departure. Following Henry's murder in "The Calm Before", his girlfriend Lydia took up this role in Season 10.
• Morgan Jones' staff was originally a spear. During the war with the Saviors, Morgan sharpens the end so the staff can act like a spear against the living with Henry doing the same. Henry later did away with this feature in his more ornate black version of the staff while Morgan switched to using the sharpened end only for the undead. When Lydia took possession of Henry's staff, she added a nunchuck to one end, something that none of the other staff users ever did.
• Mo appears to have inherited her adoptive father's skill with the staff as she instinctively fights using similar moves to his in "Remember What They Took From You" and she can't explain why.
• While talking to Eastman's grave, Morgan mentions how many changes his staff has gone through since Eastman first made it for him. These changes include:
  • In "Here's Not Here", the staff was originally one of Morgan's spears before Eastman turned it into a staff.
  • In "Bury Me Here", Morgan sharpened the end after Benjamin's death.
  • In "The Hurt That Will Happen", Grace takes the staff away from Morgan after he uses it to put down a radioactive walker, making it too dangerous to use. Morgan is subsequently without his original staff until he retrieves it in "Is Anybody Out There?".
  • In "Is Anybody Out There?", Grace breaks it in half in order to get rid of the radioactive half of the staff, making it safe for him to use again.
  • From "Channel 4" to "Today and Tomorrow", Morgan uses the remaining half of his staff only. This rather humorously causes Morgan some issues in "You're Still Here".
  • In "Today and Tomorrow" and "Channel 5", the staff is repaired with a new second half by Terrence, a woodworker amongst the Pioneers. Virginia assures Morgan that Terrence stated that the joint holding the two halves together would hold up to anything Morgan could throw at it. The repair is seamless and can only be seen because the new part of the staff is of a lighter color than the old part.
  • In "The End Is the Beginning", Morgan abandons all use of the staff in favor of Emile's Battle Axe.
  • In "Alaska", Morgan adds the blade of Emile's Battle Axe to the blunt end of his staff, effectively turning the staff into the axe's new handle and creating a double-ended weapon that is highly effective against both the living and the dead.
  • In "USS Pennsylvania", the axe head is accidentally broken off by Victor Strand in a struggle. Subsequently, Morgan uses his staff only while Strand uses the axe head. Morgan uses just his staff in "The Beginning" as well.
  • Between "The Beginning" and "Cindy Hawkins", Morgan repairs his broken battle axe off-screen, adding a metal ring close to the point of his staff for an unknown reason.