In the show...

In the show, Negan sees himself as a benevolent ruler and someone who, in his own way, is helping people. (His loyal band of extortionists are called "the Saviors," after all, despite their predilection for forcibly removing neighboring communities of their much-needed supplies and murdering people to keep their "subjects" in line.)

Negan has an infatuation with Lucille, his go-to weapon of destruction that he's previously treated — and talked to — like it was a person, suggesting some kind of intimate and emotional history either with the bat or its name. Despite the murder, torture and terror he inflicts on others, Negan has been shown to extend mercy when he's deemed it necessary, and has even exhibited a soft spot for kids — even Rick Grimes' children, Carl and Judith. And though Negan coerces women into sexual relationships as his "wives" in his one-sided monogamy, he's anti-rape, even killing one of his own men who attempted the barbaric act on one of Rick's people.

Audiences know Negan only through his actions and not his actual past — a past we've not yet been made privy to. Negan is currently holed up in a trailer with Father Gabriel following the alliance's attack on the Sanctuary, trapped by a flood of the undead.

In the comics...

Spoiler warning.

In Robert Kirkman's comic books, Negan is a mountain of a man and a foul-mouthed brute, whose vocabulary is unrestricted by archaic television regulations: there, Negan is best known for murdering Glenn in issue #100 and for his liberal and creative uses of the "F-dash-dash-dash word."

Negan is also revealed to have been a former used-car salesman and high school gym coach who was reamed out for his disrespectful and belittling attitude towards his students. Negan had a wife who was hospitalized just before the outbreak, with Negan learning she had cancer — a prognosis Negan was visibly upset over when he shared this fact with his mistress.

Negan was visiting his wife at the hospital when the outbreak began, refusing to leave his wife's side even as the area was being evacuated. Negan's wife succumbed to her illness, died, and reanimated, causing a horrified Negan to yell out, "Lucille!"

With Lucille dead, Negan eventually ventured out into a chaotic world where he would relieve a man named Paul of his Louisville Slugger and first join up with the crossbow-wielding Dwight, who would later serve Negan as one of his followers. Having assumed control of a fresh group of survivors, Negan's Saviors were born.

Negan makes his return in the extended sneak peek for episode 8x05, "The Big Scary U," airing tonight at 9/8c on AMC.

The Walking DeadSunday at 9PM EST on AMC

The Walking DeadSunday at 9PM EST on AMC

ComicBook Composite

87.04

All-Time Comic TV Shows #5

Average rating

All-Time Rated #4

4.16/5 from 2,107 users