 | |
| Daryl Dixon | |
| Continuity: | The Walking Dead |
| Notability: | Main character |
| Gender: | Male |
| Race: | Human |
| Location: | Georgia Alexandria, Virginia |
| Relatives: | Merle Dixon [1] |
| Status: | Alive |
| First: | Walking Dead: Tell It to the Frogs |
| Actor: | Norman Reedus |
Daryl Dixon is a fictional zombie holocaust survivor featured on the AMC television series The Walking Dead. Played by actor Norman Reedus, he was introduced in the third episode of season one, "Tell It to the Frogs".
Biography[]
The Dixon Brothers[]
Daryl Dixon was a good ole boy from Georgia and the younger brother of Merle Dixon. When the zombie apocalypse broke out in the early 2010s, most people either ran in terror or died, but not the Dixon brothers. In a way, the world had finally evolved into something more suited for them. The two of them fought, kicked and shot at every zombie they could find with great relish. Merle and Daryl happened upon a camp of survivors at a rock quarry campsite and became part of the group. Merle's racist and combative attitude made him quite the unsettling figure, while Daryl primarily kept to himself, hunting for whatever viable game he could find. (WD: Survival Instinct)
A newcomer to the group, Rick Grimes, had an unpleasant altercation with Merle, which resulted in Rick stranding him on a rooftop in Atlanta, handcuffed to a pipe. Daryl flew into a rage when he learned of this, and told them that they needed to retrieve his brother. When they returned, they found no evidence of Merle, other than a blood-caked hacksaw and a severed hand. Daryl was crushed, and would go on for some time not knowing whether his brother was alive or dead. (WD: Tell It to the Frogs)
In short order, the group decided to leave the Atlanta environs. After a perilously brief stay at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention building, the group moved on to the more rural countryside. They found themselves the unwelcome guests of Hershel Greene, who owned a large horse farm.
The Search for Sophia[]
During this time, a member of their group named Sophia, who was the young daughter of Carol Peletier, went missing. Everyone assisted in conducting a thorough search for the child, but before long they all began to lose hope and give up. Daryl never did, however. Forging ahead on his own, he scoured the forests. He fought up against several zombies, or "walkers" as they had come to be known, and was injured when he fell upon one of his own crossbow bolts. Daryl patched himself up, but infection had spread into the wound, causing him to hallucinate. He began seeing images of his brother Merle, taunting him. As he struggled to get back to the farmhouse where the group was now living, he began cutting off the ears of every walker he had killed and kept them as trophies. He even fashioned a necklace for himself.
When he eventually made it back to the Greene farm, he was dirty, bleeding, and practically dead from exhaustion. A woman named Andrea mistook him for a walker and shot him in the head. Fortunately, the bullet only grazed him, and Daryl survived. He forgave Andrea for the mistake, acknowledging that she was only trying to protect the group.
It was quickly discovered that Sophia had died and since became a zombie. She was locked up with other walkers in a barn on the Greene estate. None of the Greene family or staff knew what Sophia looked like to identify her earlier. When this was discovered, Rick Grimes had to put her down. Naturally, Carol Peletier was devastated. If there was any good to come from such tragedy, it was that it brought Daryl and Carol closer together. She quite possibly became his very first friend in this post-apocalyptic world. (WD: Pretty Much Dead Already)
The Prison[]
The group's time at the farm was very brief after the death of Sophia. One of their number, Dale Horvath, was eviscerated by a walker and Dale volunteered to put him down. Though a mercy killing, this was quite likely the first time Daryl ever took the life of a human.
In short order, dozens of walkers made it onto the farm and the barn erupted in flames. The group had no choice but to flee. They traveled throughout the encroaching winter and finally took up sanctuary at the West Georgia Correctional Facility. As the group surveyed the seemingly abandoned prison, they each took up rooms. Daryl insisted on sleeping in a guard tower, refusing to be "put into a cage".
Daryl continued to work, fortifying the prison, and fighting off walkers at the fence line. During this time, Rick's estranged wife, Lori Grimes, gave birth to a baby girl, though the experience cost her her life. Daryl had suggested that they name the baby "Little Ass-Kicker", but Rick and his son, Carl, settled on naming her Judith.
Woodbury[]
Not far away from the prison was an idylic isolated community called Woodbury. It was run by a man named Philip Blake, whom everyone else took to calling the Governor. Blake had a singularly unique approach to protecting the people under his charge, and was not above killing anyone whom he felt composed a threat - which ended up being nearly everyone. It wasn't long before members of the Woodbury community found themselves at odds with people from the prison.
Daryl Dixon was captured by the Governor's forces and made a startling discovery. One of the Woodbury residents was his own brother, Merle, who was now outfitted with a prosthetic hand. Their reunion was bittersweet however as Merle had recently fallen out of favor with the Governor for his failure to kill a member of Rick's group named Michonne. He decided to amuse himself by making Merle and Daryl fight together in an arena-style cage match againt captured walkers.
Rick Grimes and an entourage of his own armed group raided Woodbury to rescue Daryl. Several Woodbury residents were killed at this time, but the Dixon brothers managed to escape. Merle accompanied Daryl back to the prison. Daryl pleaded his case to Rick to give Merle sanctuary. Rick didn't care for this, but felt that he owed it to Daryl to give his brother the benefit of the doubt.
Sometime later, Merle was out on his own and came upon the Governor. The Governor murdered Merle and he turned into a walker. Daryl eventually tracked him down and was tearfully forced to put his brother down once and for all. (WD: This Sorrowful Life)
Notes & Trivia[]
- Not to be confused with real-world Australian economic and investment writer Daryl Dixon.
- The character of Daryl Dixon was created by director Gwyneth Horder-Payton and writers Charles H. Eglee and Jack LoGiudice based upon concepts developed by Frank Darabont and Robert Kirkman.
- Daryl Dixon is exclusive to the continuity of The Walking Dead television series and did not originally have a counterpart in The Walking Dead comic book title by Image Comics. However, series creator Robert Kirkman has stated that due to the popularity of the character on the television series, he intends on introducing him into the comics as well.
- An April Fool's joke surfaced in 2014 that claimed Daryl would be featured in Issue 129 and even had a cover to back this up. However, the cover was really just an altered version of Dwight from Issue 98 and the real 129 cover just featured Rick Grimes' arm and cane along with several zombies.
- Actor Norman Reedus, was voted one of three breakout TV stars to watch in 2011 by Entertainment Weekly readers' choice, owing largely to his performance in season two of The Walking Dead. [2]
- Norman Reedus' other film and television roles include playing a character named Jeremy in 1997's Mimic, a vampire familiar named Scud in 2002's Blade II and Josh Rollins in 2009's Messengers 2: The Scarecrow. His TV credits, outside of The Walking Dead, include two episodes of Charmed where he played a character named Nate Parks and the "Cigarette Burns" episode of Masters of Horror where he played a movie theater projectionist named Kirby Sweetman.
Trivia[]
- Preferred weapon: Crossbow
- Is not above eating squirrels for sustenance.
- Began wearing the severed ears of walkers he has destroyed following his harrowing incident in a ravine while searching for the lost Sophia.
- His attitude towards people of other ethnicities is unclear, though he does not appear to harbor the same racist tendencies as his older brother, Merle.