Amidst the pandemonium of another Walking Dead war it can be difficult to judge the winners and losers. Does new Whisperer leader Beta hold all the power? How threatening is Negan without Lucille? We rank the major players below:
1. Rick
Don’t let this cup of coffee fool you – Rick is still the biggest power player in The Walking Dead and shows no signs of decline. Sure, he may not be fighting alongside Maggie and Carl at The Hilltop but he IS preparing his next moves for future battles and The Saviors. If there’s anyone who can emerge on top after The Whisperer War, it’s Rick.
2. Maggie
Unfortunately, Beta’s fire-arrow barrage looks to be the end of Maggie’s Hilltop. Despite the devastation, Maggie stood strong and guided her people to victory. But what will she do now? Does she remain the leader? Next month’s final Whisperer War issue might give us answers.
3. Beta
Beta’s been catapulted atop the power rankings since he took over as leader of The Whisperers. But after getting defeated in (the unofficially named) battle for The Hilltop we had to take him down a notch. He may not be as effective as Alpha, but Beta still has THOUSANDS of skin-wearing soldiers at his disposal. He lost the battle, but will he lose the war?
4. Sherry
The Whisperer War may be coming to a close but the Alexandria’s troubles are far from over. New Savior leader Sherry revealed in this issue her plans to overtake Alexandria after the Whisperers are dealt with. And based on the cover reveals of future issues, it looks like she gets close.
5. Dwight
Dwight’s never been more powerful than he is right now. He disguised himself and his fighters in skin suits, decimated dozens of Whisperers, and had time to call a groveling Negan “pathetic.” Feels good, doesn’t it Dwight?
6. William
As the relatively new leader of The Kingdom we have to rank William higher than others. So far he’s sent his men to fight alongside Rick while also handling Zachary’s opposition to his leadership. We haven’t seen a TON of him to it’d be great to get an appearance before this whole thing is through.
7. Carl
Carl’s becoming a more capable and selfless leader each issue. During the fire he put his life on the line to save as many Hilltopians as he could. Despite being momentarily incapacitated Carl’s showed a lot of poise, which is why he’s higher up in these rankings. You raised him well, Rick.
8. Andrea
Even though Andrea’s been quieter in this war compared to the one against Negan, she still remains as Rick’s second-in-command. Involved in all Whisperer War plans, Andrea’s paramount to their success.
9. Michonne
Michonne’s been pivotal in the fight against The Whisperers. (Conjuring up images of the woman riding the horse in the Westworld intro,) Michonne’s led her team alongside Dwight and Jesus to wipe out the Whisperers one by one. Wearing skin suits is bad enough, but getting sliced through the throat with her katana? Yikes!
10. Eugene
After spending countless days corresponding with a community who claims to live in Ohio, Eugene has decided to join the fight against The Whisperers in a real way. In this issue we saw him take the enormous risk of transporting ammunition to Alexandria during the night. Faced with unprecedented danger, Eugene insisted this was the right move to help his group.
11. Jesus
Similar to Michonne, Jesus has also served as a valuable asset to Rick’s front lines. There’s nothing quite like seeing an armored man who resembles Christ riding mowing down Whisperers on a horse.
12. Lydia
After putting a bullet in the head of one the Whisperers it’s been increasingly more difficult to doubt Lydia’s loyalty to the Survivors. We would love to rank her higher but until she discovers the fate of her mother, we’re going to keep her towards the bottom.
13. Negan
The loss of Negan’s beloved bat Lucille has brought out a side of Negan we have never seen. (As explained in the “Here’s Negan” backstory, Lucille was also the name of Negan’s dead wife). Although Negan single-handedly killed Alpha and took a direct shot at Beta, he still holds no power in any community at the moment.
On the Bubble: Aaron, Magna, Saddiq
What do YOU think of the rankings?? Tell us in our comments below!
God. Just. Just look at that panel they chose for Carl. I loved that moment with the barrage of fire arrows. He looks so utterly terrified.
“You raised him well, Rick.” Yes, he did. People should stop doubting that.
One thing, though… ” but until she discovers the fate of her mother”
The Whisperer Lydia shot prefaced what it said with “your mother has fallen” or something to that effect. So I think Lydia already knows Alpha is dead. I guess you could interpret “fallen” as seriously injured or subdued but given the rough totally-okay-with-rape lifestyles the Whisperers have, I think Lydia would assume “fallen” means exactly what it meant in that context. Granted, she doesn’t know HOW she died. Finding out she was brutally decapitated could affect her (which, I now realize, is poetic justice given the events of #144.)
Just had a terrible thought after reading the Eugene part. He is definitely being played, the voice ain’t from Ohio and her name ain’t Stephanie. It has to be Sherry from the Saviors
Uhh… That would be a brutal twist!
Anyway, can’t wait to see Beta’s final trump. He was quite creepy, when they were watching Dwight’s army.
Just what I was thinking since Sherry seemed to pop up out of nowhere i the last issue.
DUUUUUDE. I could totally get behind power rankings for the comics like this, especially with awesome color illustrations on the thumbnail. Looking forward to Negan’s eventual climb back to the top 😀
Where’s William? He has at least half of the force of The Kingdom, the other half probably backing Zachary. But still, he is pretty dominant and really deserves a spot above Michonne imo.
Also Sherry, with the Saviours should be here.
Negan doesn’t deserve a spot obviously, and Lydia doesn’t have that much power since so many people in Alexandria probably still distrust her.
Good call on Eugene though. With power over the manufacturing of bullets he really has a power position. Same goes for Dwight as the leader of The Militia
Think Lydia is totally misplaced!
First, love that coloured picture of Beta! That must’ve been coloured by Stephano Gaudiano! And I’m betting these power rankings are going to change drastically when issue 162 comes out!
Colours are absolutely beautiful.
Once the series is finished, I would LOVE if it the whole series were coloured by Gaudiano.
I would definitely purchase a whole new set of TPBs.
I agree with OhWest below that the soldiers (eg Michonne and Jesus) should be omitted from the power rankings. Yes they are the equivalent of 50+ normal people on the battlefield but The real power is beholding to those who are calling the shots. I think Ricks seat of power is a facade as no general can ever call the plays hidden away from the action. How is he communicating to Dwight and how is Dwight sending reports back?
I think Dwight and Beta are the two most powerful.
In my opinion the list should be something like this:
1. Rick Grimes:
The leader of Alexandria, en the most dominant character in the alliance between The Hilltop, The Kingdom, Oceanside and The Saviours. Even though The Saviours can’t be trusted anymore, Oceanside is choosing not to be of any aid to the alliance and a group within The Kingdom don’t like Rick and Michonne, Rick still has the most people answering to him. Even the inhabitants of Alexandria who were angry at Rick now believe in him because of the ”Silence the Whisperers” propaganda.
2. Maggie Greene:
Maggie has a big community full of people who respect or fear her (because of what she did to Gregory). There is little doubt in the loyalty of The Hilltop to Maggie. She’s also a part of the strong alliance, but I still have a feeling she’s kind of inferior to Rick and therefore Maggie is in second position
3. Beta:
He has control over The Whisperers, which (probably) is the largest community. He has a lot of force, but no friends. He doesn’t have an alliance, and therefore in my opinion his chance of failure in this war is (in the end) inevitable, but he is able to do a lot of damage (as we’ve seen at The Hilltop). Therefore he is in the 3rd spot.
4. William
The new ”King” of The Kingdom has not only a lot of manpower, he also holds the benefit of an alliance with (at least) The Hilltop and Alexandria. But since there’s some resistance against him from Ezekiel-loving, Michonne-hating people his position is not entirely safe. But as William earns his respect by not only his stern way of going but also making the right choices for keeping the alliance intact he deserves the 4th spot.
5. Sherry
First of all Sherry is (probably) the new leader of The Saviours. The Saviours have survived by oppressing other communities. The succes of that tactic mostly came because of Negan, but I think the other Saviours are also really strong and hard people and therefore this group is not to be underestimated. The only thing they need is a witty leader. Sherry might just be that. Her just-revealed plan can work out excellent. But only if The Whisperers do a lot of damage. In case Alexandria, The Hilltop and the Kingdom come out strong enough to be able to face The Saviours, Sherry and her group will be screwed since they made an enemy of the other communities with what they did to Vincent. Therefore Sherry and The Saviours deserve a doubtful 5th place. Let’s just wait how The Whisperers will do…
6. Dwight
As the leader of The Militia Dwight has a lot of power. He controls the most powerful force there is. Dwight has the power to turn this war, if he fails Alexandria is doomed, and all the food, people and safe places Rick has to offer (which give him so much power) will be lost.. This makes Rick some kind of dependent, but since The Militia is in good hands with Dwight that shouldn’t be a big problem if you ask me.
7. Eugene Porter
Since Eugene is in charge of the bullet manufactory he has a really important position in this war. He, together with Dwight, holds the key to victory for the alliance. But not only this is of importance in Eugenes power-position. He also is capable of (re-)inventing stuff which makes life in this world much easier. In my opinion the future of the communities is somewhat in Eugenes hands. This world isn’t all about survival anymore, it’s about how to feed more and more people, and how to win wars, and how to make trading easier, so that civilization can keep growing.
8. Pete
Pete’s the leader of Oceanside and has the supply of fish. Oceanside is (probably) the smallest settlement, with (probably) no remarkable fighters or anything like that. But they do have fish, which is an inexhaustable source of food. Also, ships might come in handy if trading over distance becomes a thing…
9. Zachary
Zachary has a quite logical way of thinking. When King Ezekiel lived The Kingdom was strong, so King Ezekiel is good. Michonne broke his heart, so she is bad. Rick tries to put Michonne in charge of The Kingdom, so he assumes he has the right to determine those kind of things for The Kingdom, which is not likeable nor democratic. William is kind of okay with all of this, so he is bad too. Zachary speaks those thoughts and it’s not unthinkable that some people relate to this. There might be a chance, if Zachary plays his cards right, that he could overthrow William and take the Kingdom from whithin…
10. Carl Grimes
Carl is showing a lot of courage, which makes him very likeable for a lot of people. As he’s getting older he’s becoming more and more of his fathers son. He’s showing capacity to lead, and I think if something happens, and there is need for new leadership, Carl will take such a place without question.
In the bubble:
Magna (has some friends who would follow her in almost every path she would decide to take). Paul Monroe (everybody respects him so a lot of people would listen to him). Andrea (will probably lead Alexandria, might something befall Rick)
Let me know what you think!
I would probably swap Zachary for Pete, but the rest is on point.
Mmm so no Sherry… Ok
I hope that nobody goes back to the background she’s trying to crawl out of.
What if Kirkman is messing with us and Carl is the net issue? DAMN.
is the next to die*
Sorry, keyboard went off.
I will actually riot.