I think Jesus probably knew Lydia was a female. We could tell she was by the way she was drawn, and she also spoke after her friend Joshua was killed, so Jesus would have heard her voice. But I highly doubt this is how we reunite with Michonne's storyline.

 

Yeah, you're most likely right. But seriously though; it baffles the crap out of me about this female villain. Because Kirkman hinted at a female villain in the near future; and said she had already been introduced.

I really don't think it's Magna anymore. Andrea would never go rogue; Rosita is a halfwit, Yumiko and Connie seem to translucent and unsubstantial of characters to be of any importance. I mean, I guess if things got really ugly for Maggie at the Hilltop she could turn bad, but I don't know; being the sweet farmer's daughter and God-fearing woman.

Who's that leave? Paula? Olivia? Annie the ASZ horse trainer from #127? Sophia? Sherry? Amber? Sophia? Trailer-trash Bully's Mother? I mean, who the hell could it be?

OH! I know! I just figured it out! It's Anna, the floozy from ASZ. She's going to catch wind of Carl's free love promiscuity at the Hilltop, hearing about his regular picnics and dinner dates with Sophia, his valiance and gallantry in defending her honor, and the sultry, hushed-tone, sweet-nothing-filled backroom conversations he has with Lydia; and she's going to lose it. Snapping completely and waging war the entire Grimes Regime and it's dynasty. Vowing not to rest until everything built and accomplished in the Grimes name is obliterated and erased from the Earth. LOL

 

It could be Girl-Your-Age-Should-Be-in-School Guy's wife. Putting up with him every day could turn anyone evil. Although he had an oddly pleasing shaped head.

My original thought was Yumiko, that maybe she's hiding something, but now I'm wondering if the new villain emerges from the hilltop storyline. Maybe something none of us would expect like Brianna. A tale of betrayal. She's seems to be Maggie's friend but she wasn't happy when people from ASZ came to live at Hilltop. She told Maggie something like "so, what, now my son has to share food with these people?". Perhaps she is secretly very unhappy with the way Maggie is handling things, and when this civil unrest boils over, she leads it. And she has access to baby Hershel. "You want to see hershal alive again, Maggie, I suggest you do exactly as I say". . I don't think any of that is going to happen, but it could be something equally out of left field as that.

Or perhaps a character we have completely forgotten about. Like Tara, that Jesus encountered on the run. She was pretty bad ass. Maybe she overthrows Dwight.

Or it could be Mandy, who Eduardo wanted to date. Maybe she's sick of Eduardo's enuendos and takes it out on everybody.

 

Man these next few covers look amazing!!! That has to be the Whisperers leader that is with Dante is #138. I guess that is some magical belt buckle he has on to hypnotize people into joining his quest for whatever he wants to do. And #139!!! I never thought we would ever see a boat in the walking dead which I feel like it has to be to good to be true in all honesty. I just don't feel like Michonne will be in any issues until at least #139 sadly.

 

It is my Ex!!! Oh dear god no!

 

@Z-Man @HondaS2kXD @Neuropyramidal @and138 @BatmansHooker @Jag

I was just thinking; do you guys think the fact that the Whisperer's belt buckle on the #138 cover is in the shape of a lemniscate(infinity symbol) has any kind of special or important meaning? As in, something that possibly defines them or explain something about them.

Maybe it has something to do with the weird cult-like, religious teachings that it appears are being instilled and ingrained in the Whisperer's? For example; it seems the leader has drafted some sort of doctrine or manifesto concerning the new world and the way of it. He speaks on the fact that the old way is gone, and we are now guests in this world. All that's left is for us to live, and the zombies to...not. He preaches that we all need to live together, or not at all; and that we all will eventually learn that one eternal truth, or perish. He also suggests that in interest of this new ecosystem, and in order to keep the delicate balance, that along with cohabitating we must protect the dead, and in turn they will protect us.

Maybe that's where the significance of the infinity symbol comes into play; life and death living and working together. Coexisting in the interest survival and preservation. It's a never ending, unbroken circle; limitless, truly eternal and infinite. Because this community of "people" can never die, never perish, never be eliminated. Because when one Whisperer "dies" they just transistion to another state of existence, as a walker, and continue to "live" and be a functioning, productive part of the populace.

Think about it; because of their "beliefs", they probably view "death"(as we perceive it), as transcendence or a blessing. Because no one ever truly dies, their loved ones expire from this life, and then evolve or transcend into their next state of being; and continue on as a valued member of the community; except now they have a different purpose. A state that is much more eternal than their previous state. Which was weak, vulnerable, and finite. They may even view "death" as a reward; something they all strive for and look forward to--the transcendence to their eternal form.

Lizzie Samuels would have loved these guys!

 

These look amazing!
Can't wait to see what's up with that boat!

 

I wonder how long The Whisperers will stick around for.

 

Agreed. Back in issue #132, when the whisperers were fighting Dante, they seemed totally unafraid of death and were taunting him as he was mowing them down. One of them said, "You'll soon be dead yourself. Then you'll see." So that fits in with the philosophy you describe. Maybe the whisperers believe they'll somehow still hold on to something of themselves and just transition to another form when they die.

Also, I'm quoting you from that discussion:

This whisperer looks female to me, when I look at her eyes.

 

Yeah, his belt buckle was an Ouroboros, a serpent or snake eating itself. It symbolizes rebirth and cyclicivity. It was also a symbol of Hermeticism, which was prominent in the Protestant Reformation movement. This is perhaps the whisperers 'reformation'.

 

Wait, where did they say that the new female bad guy was already an introduced character? The way I see it, if it is a whisperer then it is a new character. Otherwise, it is probably Michonne, but she would not be a part of the whisperers.

 

He actually said there was a 'big chance' that the female villain was already introduced, and he only made those comments in response to an interviewers questions about a possible female villain in the future, so he may just be trolling us, and it could be someone completely new. Or it could be something that will happen far in the future. But if it is someone new, then maybe its Lydia, or another whisperer, or some female that stands up against Maggie at Hilltop.

 

http://www.polygon.com/2014/10/9/6953533/the-walking-dead-new-york-comic-con-2014

 

He is totally trolling. I think it would be cool to see April and Tara come in, but I also like how Kirkman understands that not everything has to be connected to keep it all real. I think I can say with confidence that Michonne is not the leader of the whisperers, and if the next baddy has been introduced, something happened to them to really upset them where they are not with Rick. So my guess, assuming Kirkman could be telling the truth, is that Michonne got upset at the group and is now an enemy, but not like we have seen before. I would like it more if it was all new characters though.

 

Yeah, I think the chances of Michonne being the leader of the whisperers is very low. Microwave Gary Busey type low. And I don't even think she will be our female villain. She may cause some irritation for Rick, but not as an actual 'villain'. I'm guessing its somebody different.

 

It is always possible that they knew which direction they would be going with the story for quite a while out. It remains a possibility that they could have made a point to draw one of the walkers in the past with this future storyline in mind. By that logic, we could have already seen the female leader of this group long before we knew what a Whisperer was. That is one of the joys of this arc for me; We could have seen members of this group in a crowd years ago and never known it. It will be quite a ride with this group though, that is sure.

 

See, I knew you would have something insightful to add to that. So, I think we're on the right track with the Whisperer Philosophy. That belt buckle is an extremely informative detail; probably more so than Kirkman intended.

 

You know, they did that about two months ago with issue #136. The cover depicts a troop of Whisperers taking cover in the nerby treeline while doing what appears to be a reconnoiter on the Hilltop.

When the initially released the cover, the title was "136: Watching the Neighbors" but was promptly changed to "136: Found".

This has been happening a lot lately; I wonder if Kirkman is just indecisive, or the Skybound employee in charge of the website articles is screwing up?

Here's the original #136 cover-



And here's the changed one--

@Neuropyramidal @HondaS2kXD @legendx66 @and138 @BatmansHooker