Okay, so everyone doesn't mind a nice little predictions blog, do they? Well tough, you're getting one anyway!
So at the end of Issue 125, Rick did something we never thought would happen. Well, at least not as unexpectedly as it did. Rick made Negan see the error of his very brutal ways, and just before they could make the world a better place, Rick slashes Negan's throat with a knife that may or may not be infected. Although, in fairness, it doesn't really matter if it was mucked in walker goop or not, either way Negan is a dead man.
So the question remains...
What the hell is gonna happen next? Well I'm glad you asked!!!
So obviously, from the preview panels we've seen, the saviours are left dumbfounded at the shock of watching Rick cut open their leader's throat. Maggie calls for more backup, meaning shit is going to go down, and there is a single panel of Rick brandishing the now bloody knife.
So the obvious point to all of this, is that there will be massive fallout from Rick's actions. You can't just cut your enemy's neck open and expect to walk away like a badass. There will be consequences for killing the leader of a community (unless it's Lily Caul, then you just sort of take over despite having never appeared in the comics for very long).
So the Saviours, having just seen their leader basically executed, have two options.
- They can surrender to the Hilltop Colony, in order to not suffer a similar fate as Negan.
- They can not surrender to Hilltop, and can open fire on the place and the people, attempt to kill everyone inside, execute Rick in revenge, and then take all of their stuff and any survivors.
Personally, I think, worse case, and most likely scenario, is number 2. The Saviours will attack Hlltop and Rick. And because Rick is stupid enough to have been stuck outside when he did what he did, it looks to me like he'll be shot down in the resulting chaos of the Saviour's retalliation. Robert Kirkman has said that there is only so much he can put our favourite sheriff through before he has to actually kill him, so with this being the conclusion of All Out War, and with Rick having gone through so much since he woke from his coma 125 issues ago, the conclusion to the latest volume may just see Rick meet his fate.
Of course, with the Saviours (presumably) attacking, there will be casualties. With Jesus and Michonne stuck outside of Hilltop's walls with Eugene, Carson and a few others, it is unlikely they will be among the first wave of casualties. However, they have to return at some point, or get overrun by roamers. Quite a few people within the safezone will die, as a result of the fighting. For some reason, I see Carl and either Maggie or Andrea being some of the very few to survive.
The Saviours will catch on that Dwight, and possibly a few others, have betrayed them. They will see that Dwight becomes one of the departed for being a traitor. Dwight is gonna die for his double/triple agent antics.
I'm not really being very specific about predictions, but personally I think that there will be very very VERY few survivors coming out of the end of this issue, and because it looks like there is going to be a new group that we'll be following, it could be that whoever survives the battle will either join them, or they'll die and the new group will come across their reanimated corpses, at which point they'll put them down...