Daryl Dixon

Daryl comes back from a hunt to learn Merle was left handcuffed on an Atlanta rooftop. He goes back for him with Rick but finds only his brother's hand, cut off to get free. At Hershel's farm, he's the one most devoted to finding Sophia, Carol's daughter. He tumbles down a ravine, gets grazed by a bullet when Andrea mistakes him for a walker, and gives Carol a Cherokee rose to keep her hope alive. That's where their friendship begins.

Daryl finds Merle in Woodbury working for the Governor, who forces the brothers to fight in an arena. They escape together, and Daryl brings Merle to the prison even though the group doesn't trust him. Merle ends up killed by the Governor, and Daryl has to put him down after he comes back as a walker.

At the prison, Daryl becomes Rick's right hand. When the prison falls, he's left alone with Beth Greene, and the two slowly grow close. Beth is taken by a car with a cross on the back window. Adrift, Daryl falls in with a gang of marauders until he runs into Rick, Carl and Michonne on the way to Terminus.

Daryl and Carol learn that Beth is being held at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta. The hostage swap goes wrong: Beth is killed in front of everyone, and Daryl shoots Officer Dawn on the spot. In Alexandria he becomes a recruiter alongside Aaron. On a run, Dwight steals his motorcycle and crossbow, and later turns the weapon on the group.

In the S7 premiere, Daryl punches Negan, who answers by killing Glenn. Daryl is taken to the Sanctuary and spends weeks locked in a dark cell, hearing the same song on repeat. He manages to escape and throws himself into the war against the Saviors.

After the war, Daryl clashes with Rick over how to treat the Saviors. When Rick is gone, he pulls away from everyone and spends years living in the woods with a dog. He comes back to face the Whisperers, protects young Lydia and fights beside Carol, even when she risks everything to get revenge on Alpha.

In the final season he reunites with Leah, the woman he lived with in the woods, now one of the Reapers, and ends up killing her to save Maggie. He joins the Commonwealth army and helps bring down Pamela Milton's government. In the end he says goodbye to Carol and hits the road alone on his motorcycle.

Daryl turns up on the coast of France with no idea how to get back to the States. He meets Isabelle, a nun, and Laurent, a boy a religious group believes is a kind of messiah. Reluctantly, he agrees to escort them to the Nest, a community at Mont-Saint-Michel, while dodging the Pouvoir des Vivants, Genet's group, and her enforcer Codron.

In Normandy, with a boat waiting, Daryl hesitates when he sees Laurent followed him. Meanwhile, in Maine, Carol finds his motorcycle and figures out where he went. She talks pilot Ash into crossing the Atlantic. Daryl decides to stay at the Nest and grows close to Isabelle. In the war with Genet, Isabelle dies protecting Laurent and Carol kills Genet. Daryl and Carol leave France together.

Daryl and Carol are shipwrecked on the coast of Spain. Carol is hurt, and the two end up in Solaz del Mar, a community ruled by Fede. Every year, young women there are handed over to El Alcázar in exchange for protection. Daryl helps rescue Justina and the others and destroys El Alcázar. Just when the way home finally looks clear, Fede's mother sets him free, he attacks Daryl and their boat is destroyed. From a distance, Codron watches it all.

Daryl doesn't exist in Robert Kirkman's comics. He was created for the show with Norman Reedus in mind, after Reedus auditioned for Merle. He got so popular that fans spread the slogan "If Daryl dies, we riot."