Celebrate Norman Reedus’ Birthday With Daryl’s Top 5 The Walking Dead Moments

Norman Reedus is celebrating his 48th birthday today!

Reedus is best known for his role a The Walking Dead‘s Daryl Dixon — a role he has been playing for 7 years now. The southern fried baby brother had a tough time fitting in with his new family when the show first began but, since, has molded into a key member.

Over the years, we’ve loved Daryl, we’ve cried with Daryl, and we’ve cheered for Daryl. Back in the beginning, we might have said, “That guy’s kind of a jerk,” but the little Dixon boy has turned just about everyone into a fan by now.

In honor of Reedus’ birthday, we have decided to celebrate by taking a look at his iconic The Walking Dead character Daryl Dixon’s five best moments.

Cherokee Rose

When you think of sweet moments with Daryl Dixon, one instantly comes to mind.

During the search for Sophia in Season 2, Daryl developed a soft spot for Carol — the seemingly useless for survival character whose daughter was M.I.A.. In addition to leading the search party, Daryl found a way to comfort the distraught mother.

He found a Cherokee Rose and gave it to Carol, telling her that he believes to be a symbol of hope.

Bye Merle

Daryl and Merle certainly had their differences. In fact, Merle is likely the reason for much of Daryl’s psychological damage prior to the apocalypse.

Still, it was heartbreaking to watch Daryl discover his reanimated brother after the Governor had killed him. It didn’t even end there. Daryl let out every bit of frustration as he pounded Merle’s undead skull as to both tell him how angry he was and say goodbye.

Only in the Dixon family can something so twisted by considered one of the most unforgettable moments. Reedus’ performance may be what solidifies the moment onto his list of bests.

Brothers

Though Daryl and Merle were brothers by blood, their bond was never anything close to that of Rick and Daryl’s.

Rick and Daryl have gone to hell and back together. After meeting at their camp outside of Atlanta, the two relied heavily on one another to survive and to keep their group alive. Hershel’s farm. The prison. Terminus. They were always by each other’s sides.

It took a moment of absolute desperation for Rick to open up to Daryl, though.

After biting out Joe’s throat, the leader of a group which had been forcing Daryl to stick with them, Rick and Daryl sat beside a car covered in blood. “You are my brother,” Rick said, in one of The Walking Dead‘s most touching moments. 

Rocket Launcher

Few things are more bad-ass than the team of Daryl Dixon and rocket launcher. Twice in a matter of hours the character unleashed the explosive to save the day.

First, Abraha, Sasha, and Daryl ran into a batch of Saviors who wanted to bring all of their things to Negan. Daryl came to the rescue by blowing up “Little Timmy and the D— Brigade” (as Negan calls them) in one shot from the rocket launcher.

Upon arriving at Alexandria, he and his two road trip buddies found the Safe-Zone overrun by walkers. Saving the day again, Daryl poured gas into the Alexandria pond and proceeded to shoot the rocket launcher into it to ignite a fire which would burn all of the remaining walkers.

The Bro-Hug

Going back two slides, Rick and Daryl are brothers. Moments between the two characters have an escalated sense of emotion.

When Rick and Daryl finally reunited in the midseason 7 finale, the most recent episode of The Walking Dead, every fan was punched straight in the feels. Finally, the band was back together and they could attempt to take on Negan and the Saviors. But, really, we were just excited to see how happy Rick and Daryl were for the first time in a really long time.

Inevitably, there will be more epic Daryl Dixon moments ahead by the time we get to Reedus’ next birthday. Which is your all time favorite?