The Walking Dead: 10 Times Rick Was Really The Villain

Over the course of nine seasons, Rick Grimes has taken out a lot of non-zombified people but the killing of his best friend Shane Walsh stands out as one of the most shocking additions to his living body count.

Realistically, the breaking point in Rick and Shane’s relationship was bound to come. Not only was Shane throwing his weight around and becoming increasingly morally unstable, he’d also been diddling Rick’s wife and lured Rick away with the intention of killing him.

But on the other hand, this was Rick’s best friend since childhood – a man who was practically a brother to him who, for all his sins, had helped keep Rick’s wife and child alive. You could argue that a better leader – a more heroic leader – would’ve come up with a better way of handling the situation than offing his bestie.

Moreover, it appeared as though Rick was more assured of his killing Shane than Shane was of his plan to murder Rick. As Rick talked Shane down and told him there was still a way back from their standoff, it looked as though Shane was having second thoughts and started lowering his gun but Rick took this opportunity to stab him in the heart.

If Shane had really, really wanted to kill Rick – if he was 100% sure about it – he had ample opportunity to do it instead of dilly-dallying about like he did. Rick, however, coaxed Shane into thinking they could repair their relationship then killed him the minute he lowered his guard. That’s pretty villainous by any standard.