The Walking Dead: Who is Eric?

Tonight's episode of AMC's The Walking Dead included the first on-screen appearance of Eric, a member of the Alexandria community and, along with Aaron (who debuted last week), one of the two scouts who met up with Rick Grimes' group of survivors and, at least in the comics, changed their lives forever.

First appearing in The Walking Dead #68 in 2009, Eric is a recruiter for the Alexandria Safe-Zone. His job was to watch groups and decide if they were dangerous or not; after that, Eric would watch Aaron approach them. If anything went down between Aaron and the group, Eric would kill them.

In the comics, Aaron describes Eric as his "insurance policy...because he is supposed to kill you and save me if you turn out to be bad people." They're also a couple when they get back home after these dangerous missions.

In spite of that, he was once the victim of a violent crime, having been stabbed and robbed of a horse by a woman prior to his first appearance in the comics but after the zombie outbreak began. That woman was never identified; most fans assume she was either a member of the Scavengers or one of Magna's group, a new batch of survivors who joined the book very recently.

Eventually, he has a less happy ending than that picture above might suggest -- but that story is way down the road -- at least if the show follows the comics at all.