10 Walking Dead Fates Worse Than Death

When The Walking Dead began, many presumed that Michael Rooker was going to be a major player in this world. Instead, Rooker's Merle Dixon only appeared in two episodes of the show's first season, before then disappearing out of sight for a good while.

As we're introduced to Merle in the Guts offering, it soon becomes apparent that he's a racist scumbag who is only out for himself. This asshat behaviour soon results in Rick handcuffing the elder Dixon sibling to a rooftop pipe, and Merle ends up stuck trapped to this pipe after the handcuff key is accidentally dropped down a drain; leaving Merle helpless as he's left to countdown the minutes until walkers inevitably find and devour him.

Of course, while being left to be devoured by a horde of the undead is a horrendous fate, the ever-resourceful Merle would manage to overcome this particular pickle in the following episode, Tell It to the Frogs.

There, in that third ever Walking Dead episode, The Rook's character would manage to hack off his own hand in order to make his escape - with him later resurfacing in Season 3 as one of the goons working for the Governor.