The Walking Dead: Negan's Torture of Rick Goes Beyond the Kills

The Walking Dead finally returned for season 7, letting fans finally in on the secret of whom Negan (Jeffrey Dead Morgan) bashed to bits with his bat Lucille.

Needless to say, if you haven't watched Walking Dead yet, STOP READING THIS - MAJOR SPOILERS FOLLOW!

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Negan took the lives of Abraham (Michael Cudlitz) and Glenn (Seven Yeun) in quite brutal fashion, bashing their respective skulls in. However, Negan wasn't done there: He filled the rest of the premiere's runtime with some serious mind-f*ck tortures in order to break Rick's will.

"Get My Ax"

The first thing Negan did was to take Rick out in an RV for a little game of fetch. First he teased Rick, allowing to take up a hatchet and make a move - a move that Negan met with an automatic rifle pointed in Rick's face.

The game of "hatchet fetch" continued with Negan tossing his hatchet out into thick fog, smack dab in the middle of a herd of walkers. Rick had a hell of time surviving, going so far as jumping from the roof of the RV (which Negan shot up) and swinging on a walker that was hung by its neck.

After some nerve-wracking minutes watching Rick thrown into an impromptu survival fight, he was able to successfully fetch the hatchet (with Negan's help) and bring it back to his new master.

"On the Line"

The most mind-f*cking moment of the premiere came after Rick and Negan's little hatchet fetch excursion. Rejoined with the rest of the group (at least the ones who hadn't been pulped), Negan felt that Rick still had too much fight left inside him - but boy did he have a way to break down that wall.

Negan used the one thing most precious to Rick: his kid, Carl. In a sick twist on the comic books, Negan put a tourniquet around Carl's arm, sketched a line on his arm, just below the elbow, and then gave Rick an order: Cut off Carl's arm, or the rest of survivors would be executed. Then Carl would be executed. Then eventually (after a year of suffering or so...) Rick would be executed.

It was a pretty powerful scene, well played by the actors. However, after teasing fans with the possibility of a big switch from the comics (Carl losing an arm instead of Rick), Negan pulled a moment from the biblical story of Abraham (pun), and stayed Rick's hand at the last moment. The sickest thing about it? Watching Carl looks his father in the face and tell him to do it. Every parent watching felt that one.

MORE on The Walking Dead season 7 premiere:

Kingdom Preview Released / Negan's Kill Reveal / Season 7 Premiere Recap (SPOILERS) / Who Is King Ezekiel / Where's Daryl Now? / Negan's Comic Book History / Twitter Reactions to Negan's Kill / Was the Premiere Too Violent?

The Walking Ded airs Sunday night's @9/8c on AMC.