Themes: Betrayal

Betrayal is a recurring theme in The Walking Dead. It occurs when a character or group turns on another person or party.

Occurrences

Comic Series

• Shane turns on Rick Grimes and attempts to kill him after being called out by him and attacked by Lori Grimes. _{(Issue 6)}
• Lori cheats on her husband Rick with Shane, believing Rick to be dead. _{(Issue 7)}
• Hershel Greene turns on Rick's group after losing several members of his family. _{(Issue 12)}
• Dexter and Andrew, accompanied by Patricia, turn on the group after Dexter is unjustly locked up due to two murders. The group assumes that he is guilty due to his past. _{(Issue 18)}
• Otis snaps at Patricia and gets on to her for betraying the group and joining the prisoners. _{(Issue 19)}
• Tyreese cheats on Carol with Michonne. _{(Issue 22)}
• After helping Rick, Michonne, and Glenn escape, Caesar Martinez tries to get back to Woodbury to tell the Governor the location of the prison. _{(Issue 36)}
• Lilly Caul shoots the Governor in the back of the head after he has her kill Judith and Lori Grimes. _{(Issue 48)}
• Ben kills his brother, Billy. _{(Issue 61)}
• Derek pushes one of his fellow scavengers into a horde of walkers to save him and four other scavengers. _{(Issue 75)}
• Amber cheats on Negan by having sex with Mark. _{(Issue 105)}
• Dwight offers to help Rick, Jesus, and Ezekiel defeat Negan. _{(Issue 108)}
• Kal briefly betrays Jesus and attempts to warn Negan of the impending attack by the Alexandria Safe-Zone, Hilltop Colony, and Kingdom. _{(Issue 110)}
• Spencer Monroe goes behind Rick's back and asks Negan to kill him so he can take over the Alexandria Safe-Zone. _{(Issue 111)}
• Gregory betrays the Alexandria Safe-Zone fighters and pledges Hilltop's allegiance with the Saviors. _{(Issue 115)}
• Negan offers Holly up to Alexandria as a peace-offering but actually mounts an attack. _{(Issue 119)}
• Dwight kills several Saviors during the assault on Alexandria _{(Issue 120)}
• Brandon Rose, alongside Negan attempts to warn the Whisperers about Rick's declaration of war towards them, so that both sides can be killed, in vengeance for his mother's and father's deaths. This propostion is cut short though when Negan kills Brandon by stabbing him in the chest. _{(Issue 153)}
• Negan betrays Alpha's trust and kills her. _{(Issue 156)}
• The Saviors, led by Sherry, betray Rick by separating from the communities using violence. _{(Issue 166)}

TV Series

• Edwin Jenner traps the group in the CDC and tells them that the building is set to blow, believing that it would be the least painful way to leave this new world. _(TS-19)
• Shane Walsh shoots Otis in the leg and steals all his supplies. He then leaves him to be eaten by zombies. _{(Save the Last One)}
• Shane snaps Randall's neck after he asks him to bring him to his group. _{(Better Angels)}
• Shane attempts to kill Rick Grimes, believing that he can protect Rick's wife and son Lori and Carl better. _{(Better Angels)}
• Tomas quickly betrays Rick, Daryl, and T-Dog, attempting to kill Rick twice in hopes of taking over the prison. _(Sick)
• The Governor betrays Lieutenant Welles, having him killed after knowing the location of his men. _{(Walk With Me)}
• The Governor betrays Brady and his men, slaughtering them after waving a white flag. _{(Walk With Me)}
• Oscar betrays his fellow inmate, Andrew, by killing him, rather than Rick. _{(Killer Within)}
• Merle shoots Gargulio in the head after a brief argument. _(Hounded)
• The Governor uses Merle Dixon as a scapegoat for the attack at Woodbury and proclaims him a tyrant. _{(Made To Suffer)}
• In a fit of rage, the Governor massacres his army after they refuse to attack the prison in fear of dying. _{(Welcome to the Tombs)}
• Lizzie Samuels feeds the prison gate walkers rats. _(Infected)
• Lilly Chambler shoots the Governor in the aftermath of the prison assault. _{(Too Far Gone)}
• Lizzie kills her sister Mika. _{(The Grove)}
• Father Gabriel Stokes betrays Rick's group by warning Deanna Monroe that she made a mistake letting them into Alexandria and that they will put their own lives first and destroy everything the Alexandria residents have created. _(Spend)
• A group lead by Carter attempts to betray and overthrow Rick. _{(First Time Again)}
• Dwight betrays Daryl and steals his motorbike. _{(Always Accountable)}
• Eugene Porter seemingly betrays Rick and Alexandria by working as Negan's Chief Engineer. _{(Hostiles and Calamities, The Other Side)}
• Tara Chambler betrays the trust of Cyndie and the Oceanside community by exposing their existence to Rick Grimes in order to take their weapons. _{(Something They Need)}
• Dwight betrays Negan and the Saviors by siding with Alexandria. _{(Something They Need)}
• Jadis and the Scavengers betray the Alexandria Safe-Zone by striking a deal with Negan and the Saviors. _{(The First Day of the Rest of Your Life)}

Webisodes

• Before meeting Chase, B.J. killed an unknown amount of his fellow co-workers, including Lenny. _{(Cold Storage)}
• B.J. shoots Chase as he looks at the bodies of the walkers they had killed. _{(The Chosen Ones)}

Video Game

• Regardless of whether or not the player sides with him, Larry tries to leave Lee Everett to die in order to "protect the group" because of Lee's past as a murderer. _{(A New Day)}
• The St. John family tries to kill Lee and his group, turning to cannibalism for food. _{(Starved For Help)}
• Ben Paul fearfully betrays the motor inn survivors by giving the bandits supplies, firstly, in order to save his friend, a supposed hostage of the bandits, and later in fear of Lilly's reaction. _{(Long Road Ahead)}
• Out of rage and lack of sleep, Lilly shoots Carley for calling her out and defending Ben or will accidentally shoot Doug whilst trying to kill Ben for stealing the supplies. _{(Long Road Ahead)}
• Even if the player always sides with Lilly and trusts her with Lee's secret and lets her back into the RV after she shoots Carley/Doug, she will still selfishly reveal Lee's secret after killing Carley/Doug. _{(Long Road Ahead)}
• If the player doesn't abandon Lilly, she will steal the RV when she is alone inside of it, even if the player agrees to go with her. _{(Long Road Ahead)}
• Vernon betrays Lee's group by stealing their boat in Savannah, and, depending on the player's decisions, he could lock someone in the group in the shed with a shovel. _{(No Time Left)}
• Vince is forced to shoot one of his fellow prisoner's legs off in order to escape with the other. _{(Vince's Story)}
• Nate will deliberately stop his car just to get Russell to be attacked by a walker in response to Russell not answering one of Nate's petty questions. _{(Russell's Story)}
• Russell has the option to draw the pistol on Nate when the latter gives him his pistol to cover him. _{(Russell's Story)}
• Stephanie tries to make off with most of the Pitstop survivors' medicine and ammo. _{(Shel's Story)}
• Shel can decide to steal the camper and betray Roman and the rest of the group. _{(Shel's Story)}
• Bonnie, Mike, and Jane all betray William Carver by helping Clementine's group escape and later joining it. _{(In Harm's Way)}
• Jane betrays Troy by lying to him, telling him he can come with the escaping group of survivors, then shooting him in the crotch, and leaving him to be devoured by walkers. _{(In Harm's Way)}
• Clementine, Luke, and Jane can leave Sarah to be killed by walkers. _{(Amid The Ruins)}
• Mike, Bonnie (Determinant), and Arvo attempt to steal the groups truck and all of their supplies before shooting Clementine. _{(No Going Back)}
• Jane falsely claims that Alvin Jr. is dead in order to provoke Kenny. _{(No Going Back)}
• Conrad either attempts to or succeeds in capturing Clementine. _{(Ties That Bind - Part 2)}
• Javier can betray Clementine by giving her up to Conrad. _{(Ties That Bind - Part 2)}

Dead Reckoning

• Shane Walsh can betray Leon Basset by attacking him instead of the zombified Patty Taylor. _{(Dead Reckoning)}
• Shane can betray Gary Taylor by letting the zombified Robb Spanner eat him. _{(Dead Reckoning)}

Social Game

• The player can betray his or her teammate by letting him or her get devoured to escape the herd on the highway camp. _{(Social Game)}
• The hero and the group betray Harlan and his gang after putting up with unfair rations, missions for their benefits and after they learn that Harlan plans on attacking Mauricio's family. _{(Social Game)}
• Harlan, after being wounded and persuading many members of the group that he killed Nathan to survive and to no ill reason and that his group is the new way of life, attempts to kill the hero and Sky after finding out the map they were given to The Living's camp led to an ambush of walkers, released by Harlan. _{(Social Game)}

Novel Series

• Philip Blake turns against his brother and Nick and begins killing survivors to feed Penny. _{(Rise of the Governor)}
• Brian kills Nick after he fatally wounds Phillip and kills a teenage girl, whom Philip was about to rape or feed to Penny. _{(Rise of the Governor)}
• Joshua Lee Hamilton brutally murders Chad Bingham. _{(The Road to Woodbury)}