The Walking Dead: How Daryl’s Story Connects To The Comics

Daryl has been a fan-favorite character on The Walking Dead since the series began back in 2010. His high-octane attitude and gritty demeanor have captured audiences around the globe, and Norman Reedus has become a pop culture icon.

One of the unique things about Daryl is that he was completely absent from the comic books. Rick, Michonne, Glenn, Negan, and all of the other beloved characters had another iteration in the comics before the show began. Daryl, however, is unique to the show alone.

Since he doesn’t have any source material to draw from, Daryl’s character has been a fun experiment for the writers of the show. All of his storylines are brand new, and his interactions with other characters are still surprises to comic book fans.

This season, Daryl is going off on another journey, this time as a prisoner. As we saw in the most recent episode, he is being tortured by Negan and Dwight.

While this story provides a very interesting narrative for Daryl’s character, it is one of the few that has been derived from the comics. Daryl’s story in the show is a patched-together version of two different characters in the books.

Carl and Eugene are both lending Daryl a piece of their comic story.

In the books, Carl snuck a ride into The Sanctuary when his dad wasn’t paying attention. Upon arriving at the complex, he shot multiple Saviors. Dwight grabbed Carl and told Negan he would kill him, but Negan appreciated Carl’s attitude, and he wanted to mold it.

This is very similar to Daryl’s story in season seven. As Negan was taunting the group in the season premiere, Daryl jumped up and punched Negan in the face. Dwight tried to kill Daryl after this action, but Negan chose to spare him. He wants to mold Daryl into a Savior.

The second half of Daryl’s story looks like it will be lining up more closely with Eugene’s in the comics. After Dwight killed Abraham, Eugene was taken prisoner by The Saviors. He was lightly tortured, and began planning an escape for the other prisoners. He was told it was a bad idea, and that the attempt would make things worse, but Eugene pressed on.

He ended up not having to revolt, as Dwight turned on Negan and let the prisoners loose.

Daryl has seen other prisoners in The Sanctuary, and it’s reasonable to think he could begin a bond with them. It’s also looking like Dwight will turn on Negan in the show, so this further aligns these stories.

Daryl is a character all his own, but these nods to the comics are great parallels for readers and audiences alike.