Themes: Secrecy

“

That's the thing with secrets. They almost never wanna stay secret. ―Asha to Elton Ortiz

”

Secrecy is a recurring theme in The Walking Dead. It usually concerns a character or group that doesn't reveal certain information to other people.

Occurrences

Comic Series

• Lori Grimes hid her relationship with Shane Walsh from her husband Rick, though he figured it out eventually. _{(Comic Series)}
• Rick asks Glenn Rhee to not tell Lori that Rick was almost bitten. _{(Issue 4)}
• Rick asks Dale to keep the fact that it's Christmas a secret. _{(Issue 7)}
• Dexter fails to mention the armory in A-Block during his tour of the prison. _{(Issue 14)}
• Rick initially kept the circumstances of Chris' death a secret. _{(Issue 15)}
• Rick initially keeps the fact that he deliberately killed Dexter a secret. _{(Issue 19)}
• The Governor never revealed his true nature to the residents of Woodbury. (Comic Series)
• Carl Grimes hid the fact that he killed Ben from the group. _{(Issue 61)}
• Eugene Porter refuses to disclose details about the outbreak. _{(Issue 54)}
• Eugene revealed that he was not working with the government, after a long time of keeping it secret. _{(Issue 67)}
• After stealing some guns from the armory, Rick tells Glenn to distribute the guns to some of the survivors while keeping them a secret from the rest. _{(Issue 73)}
• Nicholas, along with Spencer and Olivia, secretly starts plotting to overthrow Rick. _{(Issue 88)}
• Dwight and another savior decided not to reveal to Negan that Jesus had escaped from the back of their jeep. _{(Issue 104)}
• Dwight starts working for Rick and the Militia as a double agent. _{(Issue 108)}
• Paul, Rick, and Ezekiel conspire to attack the Saviors and kill Negan. _{(Issue 108)}
• Rick's plan to attack the Sanctuary is a mystery to the most survivors. The only people to know about it are Paul, Ezekiel, Andrea, and Carl. _{(March to War)}
• Eugene not revealing to anyone he had contacted Stephanie on his radio. _{(Issue 152)}
• Dwight has Rick, Pamela and their entourage secretly followed by the Alexandria Military. _{(Issue 181)}

TV Series

• Shane Walsh never told Rick Grimes about his affair with his wife Lori. _{(TV Series)}
• Jim tries to conceal his bite from the group. _(Wildfire)
• Dr. Edwin Jenner pretends to not know to unlock the doors. _(TS-19)
• Lori kept her pregnancy a secret from Rick and the group. _(Secrets)
• Maggie Greene and Glenn Rhee secretly begin a relationship.
• Shane never told anyone how Otis really died. However, Daryl Dixon figures it out and tells Dale Horvath but Dale does not tell anyone.
• Carl Grimes takes a gun from the RV.
• Carl takes a gun from Daryl's motorcycle.
• Carl tells only Rick, Daryl, Shane, and Hershel Greene how Dale really died.
• Rick does not tell the Atlanta group the truth about the zombie virus until after Hershel's farm is overrun. _{(Beside the Dying Fire)}
• Merle Dixon does not admit to killing Gargulio and lies about having killed Michonne Hawthorne. _(Hounded)
• The Governor keeps his undead daughter in a secret room along with tanks containing severed zombified heads, without informing anyone. _{(Season 3)}
• The Governor holds Glenn and Maggie hostage and hidden from Andrea Harrison. _{(Made to Suffer)}
• The Governor does not show his true nature to the residents of Woodbury. _{(Season 3)}
• The Governor says that he is going on a supply run when he is truly attacking the prison. _(Home)
• The Governor tells Andrea he would not retaliate against the prison when he had every intention of doing so. _(Home)
• The Governor lies about most of the things he has done while speaking to Rick. _{(Arrow on the Doorpost)}
• Rick does not tell Andrea that Merle is dead. _{(Welcome to the Tombs)}
• Patrick does not tell anyone how bad his fever was. _{(30 Days Without An Accident)}
• Carol never tells anybody that she killed Karen and David until Rick confronts her. _(Isolation)
• Some members of Rick's group do not know that Bob Stookey took liquor instead of medicine at the veterinary college. _{(Indifference)}
• Daryl and Bob are the only two who truly know how the walkers killed Zach. _{(Indifference)}
• Some people at the prison still do not know what happened to Carol. _{(Season 4)}
• Philip hides his past from the Chambler family, going so far as to change his name to Brian Heriot. _{(Live Bait)}
• Philip hides the murder of Caesar Martinez and Pete Dolgen from his camp. _{(Dead Weight)}
• Philip hides the reality when he is telling about the prison group. _{(Too Far Gone)}
• Rick and the few others that knew did not tell Tyreese Williams that Carol killed Karen (Tyreese's girlfriend) and David. _{(Too Far Gone)}
• Carl promises to keep Michonne's past a secret. _(Claimed)
• Carol does not tell Tyreese, Lizzie Samuels, or Mika Samuels she was kicked out of the prison by Rick for killing Karen and David. _(Inmates)
• The Terminus residents have a positive public face but are in actuality cannibalistic and kill any group that refuses to join them. _{(Season 5)}
• Carol hides her role in killing Lizzie from the group. _(Strangers)
• Rick believes Father Gabriel Stokes is hiding a secret from the group. _(Strangers)
• Bob holds it a secret from the group and his girlfriend Sasha Williams that he was bitten by a walker at the food bank. _{(Four Walls and a Roof)}
• Dr. Steven Edwards purposely instructs Beth Greene to give Gavin Trevitt the wrong medicine in order to kill Trevitt as his recovery could harm Edwards' position at the hospital, holding it a secret from Beth and everyone at Grady Memorial. _(Slabtown)
• Eugene Porter reveals to Abraham Ford, Rosita Espinosa, Maggie, Glenn, and Tara Chambler that he is not a scientist and doesn't know a cure for the outbreak, after keeping it a secret for some time. _{(Self Help)}
• Morgan keeps the captive Wolf in his basement secret. _{(Start to Finish)}
• Ezekiel keeps the harsh reality of the outside world secret from the Kingdom residents. _{(The Well)}
• Rick and Gabriel fake Maggie's death to protect her from Negan, as he was going to ask Maggie to leave with him to be his "wife". _(Service)
• Tara swears that she will not reveal the existence of Oceanside. _(Swear)
• Rick and his group keep their planned revolt against the Saviors a secret from them. _{(Rock in the Road)}
• Dwight protects his ex-wife, Sherry, claiming that she had been murdered by zombies when he discovers she helped Daryl Dixon escape from the Sanctuary. _{(Hostiles and Calamities)}
• The Hilltop Colony helps to keep Maggie, Sasha and Daryl's refuge there a secret from the Saviors. _{(Season 7)}
• Rosita and Sasha keep their stint to assassinate Negan a secret from Maggie and numerous others. _{(The Other Side)}
• Eugene keeps many secrets from Negan, such as Dwight's status as a double agent, how Sasha died via suicide pills and his own involvement in Gabriel's foiled escape from the Sanctuary with Harlan Carson. _{(Season 7, Season 8)}
• Carl Grimes revealed his bite only during the bombing of Alexandria, having kept it a secret for days beforehand. _{(How It's Gotta Be)}
• Simon lies to Negan about killing only one of the Scavengers, having in actuality massacred everyone but Anne. _{(The Lost and the Plunderers)}
• Anne doesn't tell anyone about her connection with the CRM. _{(Warning Signs)}
• Carol doesn't tell anyone about her deal with Negan. _{(Look at the Flowers)}
• Rosita keeps her walker bite a secret from all but Eugene until she is close to death, knowing that there is nothing that anyone can do about it. _{(Rest in Peace)}

World Beyond

• Huck keeps her status as a mole for the CRM a secret from the rest of the Endlings. _{(Season 1)}
• In order to protect Will and hide Iris' murder of a CRM soldier, Will, Iris and Felix make it look like Will and the soldier had killed each other, faking Will's death. _(Foothold) After learning the truth, Huck agrees to keep the secret. _{(Family Is a Four Letter Word)}
• Asha keeps secret that her mother is secretly receiving dialysis for kidney failure through a side deal with the CRM. To this end, she lies to Elton Ortiz that she is the one who's sick so that Elton will keep the secret. _{(Family Is a Four Letter Word)} Asha eventually reveals the truth to Elton, asking him to continue to keep the secret. Asha explains that Brody and some of the others have different ideas about how the Perimeter should be run and they would use Indira's illness and her secret deal against her. _(Quatervois)
• Iris keeps Percy's survival a secret from her sister due to Huck, who had tried to kill Percy, being within earshot. _{(Family Is a Four Letter Word)}
• Huck suggests that being undercover for so long had taken more out of her than she thought. "Secrets, lying to everybody all day every day." _(Quatervois)
• Silas Plaskett keeps the truth about the destruction of Omaha and the Campus Colony from Dennis Graham as he isn't sure whether or not Dennis can be trusted. _{(Quatervois, Blood and Lies, Returning Point)}
• Indira makes a secret deal with a sympathetic Elizabeth Kublek to get the dialysis equipment and medicine that she needs. After the death of her son Dev, Indira admits the truth to her people. _{(Returning Point)}
• After the CRM's scientists learn the truth about the genocide in Omaha and the Campus Colony, Huck insists that she isn't to blame for the secret getting out. _{(Death and the Dead)}

Webisodes

• B.J. didn't inform Chase about his captive, Kelly. _{(Cold Storage)}

Telltale Series

• Lee Everett is silent about his past. (Determinant) _{(Season One)}
• Larry told Lilly about Lee's past in secret. _{(Season One)}
• The St. John family kept their cannibalism a secret. _{(Starved For Help)}
• Ben Paul kept his part from indirectly causing Katjaa and Duck's deaths a secret, but he later tells Lee. _{(Long Road Ahead)}
• Clementine didn't tell anyone that her walkie-talkie was functioning or that she was talking to someone on it. _{(Long Road Ahead)}
• Anna Correa tries to keep her pregnancy a secret while living in Crawford. Dr. Walter Ashe's attempts to protect his secret side deals after being mortally wounded by Anna cause the fall of Crawford. _{(Around Every Corner)}
• Molly is from Crawford; she is silent about it and only Lee can know it. When she meets Lee and Kenny, she tells them that there are stories about the atrocities of Crawford when asked how she knows about it. Molly later points out that she never lied: there are stories about it, but Molly never said that it's how she knew. _{(Around Every Corner)}
• Lee can choose to conceal his bite to the group. (Determinant) If he was hones, Christa and Omid come to help him. _{(Around Every Corner)}
• Christa is keeping her pregnancy a secret from the group except for Omid. However, both Lee and Kenny deduce the truth with Kenny apparently sacrificing himself to save Christa as a result. (Determinant) _{(Long Road Ahead, Around Every Corner, No Time Left)}
• Lee conceals his weapons even though the Stranger tells him to put his things down. (Determinant) _{(No Time Left)}
• Dee hides the fact that she stole supplies from Roman's Group. _{(Bonnie's Story)}
• Rebecca hides the fact that Alvin may not be the father of her child from him and their group. _{(All That Remains)}
• Carlos hides the truth about the state of the world from his daughter as he knows that she can't handle it. _{(All That Remains)}
• Luke and Clementine attempt to hide Matthew's murder from Walter, in an effort to protect Nick. _{(A House Divided)}
• Clementine hides Luke's reappearance from Bonnie. (Determinant) _{(In Harm's Way)}
• Clementine attempts the hide the theft of a radio from William Carver. (Determinant) _{(In Harm's Way)}
• Mike, Arvo, and Bonnie (Determinant) secretly try to escape Kenny during the night. _{(No Going Back)}
• Salvador Garcia keeps his cancer a secret from the rest of his family. _{(From The Gallows)}
• Marlon and Brody kept Sophie and Minerva's fates a secret, telling the other children at the boarding school that they were killed by walkers when they were, in fact, given up to the Delta by Marlon. _{(Done Running)}
• Minerva keeps Sophie's fate a secret from Clementine and the other children, claiming that her sister died fighting for the Delta. It is later revealed that Sophie was, in fact, killed by Minerva. _{(Broken Toys)}

Dead Reckoning

• Patty Taylor lied about her wound, informing Shane Walsh that she had run into some bushes, whereas she had actually been attacked and bitten by a walker. _{(Dead Reckoning)}

Survival Instinct

• Jess Collins tries to conceal his bite from his half-nephew Daryl Dixon.

Social Game

TBA

Novel Series

• Philip Blake snuck off into the night frequently as he, Brian, and Nick Parsons were staying in Woodbury; killing people and feeding them to Penny. _{(Rise of the Governor)}