The Walking Dead: 7 Ways Negan Psychologically Broke Rick
There's a new sheriff in town.
The latest episode of TWD blew fans away. Heads belonging to beloved characters were repeatedly beaten by a baseball bat called Lucille and characters we would trust with our own lives during a zombie apocalypse were broken down psychologically and left shaking in the dirt.
A lot happened in the season premiere and even though some characters were (brutally) killed off, the biggest casualty and main focus of the episode was actually Rick, or more so Rick's awesome leadership and never-give-up attitude. Whoever managed to watch the episode until the end may still be sitting in front of the screen wondering what the hell just happened, even though the episode ended days ago.
In short, through demonstrations, psychological games, and a whole lot of violence, Negan has shown Rick who the real boss is in the New World. It took a lot to break him, and even though Rick's submission was fully presented in the premiere of season 7, Negan has been irresistibly bending Rick to his will since the previous season.
Negan is a smart, strong, natural leader with a collected insanity that would terrify everyone. In the past, Rick lost his wife, was beaten up, imprisoned, and even cheated on, but his fighting spirit and leadership has never been so completely destroyed like it has now. Here's how Negan did it.
Obviously there are spoilers within relating to the season premiere...
7. The Army
As season 6 drew to a close, we all remember seeing the hopelessness Rick and his group were facing. They were sweating, stressing, shouting, and completely out of ideas on how to escape.
At every turn and on every road, the group continuously came face-to-face with Negan's army A.K.A their impending doom. Each time the groups' caravan came to face a group of well-armed, scary-looking men, they doubled back and took another route, only to find a different group of equally scary-looking men waiting at the end of this road, too.
The sheer number of followers Negan showcased would scare any survivor of the new world, who probably had no idea so many non-flesh eaters were still alive. But the calm nature of these followers, simply standing and waiting, guns in hand, was what really made the situation terrifying. The groups never attacked.
They just stood there and let the message sink in. There was no escape, no chance of winning, and no point in running. Negan, through the strategic placing of his army, made sure to make those facts clear to Rick and his people.