How Did That Death Go In The Walking Dead Comics?

Warning! Major spoilers for the fourteenth episode of The Walking Dead‘s sixth season (Twice As Far) follow! And if you’re here to claim that the thumbnail contained the spoiler, it didn’t, so stop here!

In Sunday night’s episode of The Walking Dead, we lost a semi-main character. We said goodbye to Denise just as we were beginning to fall in love with her.

Seriously, when she said, “I threw up on my glasses,” you had to just want to give her a gigantic hug.

In any case, she’s dead now. The grim reaper made filled his quota for the weekend but it isn’t how he originally planned. Denise’s “arrow through the head and eye” death originally belonged to another character: Abraham.

In The Walking Dead comics, Abraham was on a supply run with his pal Eugene outside of the Alexandria walls when death came for him. He had just broken up with Rosita and he was spilling some of his feelings to Eugene just as an arrow pierced through his skull and killed him. The arrow came from Dwight. Knowing that Abraham and Rosita had recently broken up, Dwight had Daryl’s crossbow, and Eugene and Abe were out scouting, the powers that be at The Walking Dead decided to play with our expectations a bit.

Unfortunately for Denise, that play on our expectations spelt the end for her. It was genuinely shocking.

Of course, many folks are probably wondering if this means Abraham is now safe. Absolutely not. In the words os Michael Cudlitz, “If they’re gonna kill Hershel, they’re gonna kill anyone.”

Does this mean that Negan’s introduction can be altered? Absolutely. The Walking Dead has never been afraid to stray from the comics with certain moments while maintaining the overarching story. Yes, Glenn is still a front running candidate to be Negan’s first victim, but the chances of a different character meeting their demise can’t be ruled out.

The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9 PM ET on AMC.