we don't know if he killed anyone or if they just saw the size of his force and agreed to what he wanted. I did notice though, when the kid was telling Morgan about how his dad died, and that several others died on a run, I was wondering if it might come out later that instead of walkers, it was a Negan thing. Also, they are dealing with Negan's men, not Negan himself like Rick is. And even Hilltop brings the supplies to them, as we saw when the group returned to Hilltop when Rick was there and tried to kill Gregory. They'd been at the satellite site delivering stuff. I guess whatever makes the people the most productive is the important thing. In the Kingdom's case it's being oblivious. In Rick's case, he's not an easy sell so he got personalized attention.

 

I would imagine that when the saviors approach a group they want to know who the leader is and since Ezekiel has his throne, he's able to keep people away from him, he has his own set of guards who keeps him from interacting with the rest of the kingdom unless he wants to, so in his situation. Plus they make the trade away from the others. I can imagine that it would be easier for his people not to know as opposed to the Hilltop and ASZ

 

I think Ezekiel explained he doesn't want to blow the fantasy up so keeping Negan and all that comes with him under wraps.
In the scene where the Saviour beats up the fellow from the Kingdom ( I don't know his name) the one in the Crusades get up, the Savior says "next week is produce week so produce" or something inane like that. Then the charming feral fellow jumps into the truck and they threaten to bring Negan I think or take the guy to get the bat. I have to re-watch but I recall that. Maybe Negan delegates too esp. If the people are rollovers like this lot and can't or don't want to fight.

 

the Hilltop had never seen Negan, just his men, and even alluded to maybe he wasn't a real person, and the comment to the Crusader, Richard i believe, was along the lines if you are short you know what happens, and he'd be the first, another reason i'm thinking that the guys that they mentioned died by walkers, were really by the Saviors.

 

Are you sure hilltop never saw negan? I thought they all watched a 16 year old kid beaten with a bat by Negan.

Don't forget the Kingdom was setup 1 year ago. It's possible a lot of the people who knew died, and a lot of the people who are in the kingdom now arrived after negan first showed up to the kingdom.

 

The kid ( Ben, right??) also told Morgan that Ezekiel kept the Saviors and their deal with them a secret because the people would want to fight, and Ezekiel knows they would lose, and if even if they didn't many of them would die. Not knowing Ezekiel from the comics, I thought this spoke to what kind of leader he is, he actually cares about his people and is not just using them.

I also wondered how this played into Ezekiel's interest in Carol and Morgan, how he brought up the fact that both them had taken on Saviors and won. I need to rewatch this episode - I usually watch the encore presentation but I fell asleep.

 

My guess is that they met Negan when they were away from the Kingdom on a trip. The kid tells the story of how his dad died when 8 men were killed on a trip. They probably encountered Negan somewhere on the road, and tried to fight back. A few were probably killed in combat, and a few were probably Lucilled afterward. I think before too much longer though, that's all going to come to a head and Ezekiel is going to have to fill everyone else in the Kingdom in on the secret, but I don't think we'll be seeing that anytime real soon.

Eventually Alexandria, Hilltop, and the Kingdom will probably be teaming up to take on the Saviors together. Individually they might not be strong enough, but together they are.

 

I have always been curious about how vague the Hilltop folks were about Negan. As [MENTION=18092]Spidey[/MENTION] points out they were the first people to speak about the bat and this young boy being killed so surely the kill had to be in front of them? Yet none of them seemed to know who Negan was ( Carol knew the guy Rick shot was Primo but that was never a debrief she shared with Rick before "running away take #1". Jesus never mentioned him as if he had seen him or the sheer scale of his army). Yet as we all know now Rick n crew disastrously offered to become mercenaries in all of one episode with Gregory.

As [MENTION=72581]Camilleyun[/MENTION] says the in conversation Ben/ Morgan it sounds like Richard and the other folks may in favour of fighting. I just wanted to jump up then and shout NOOOOO! I cannot even imagine if Carol and Morgan knew what had happened to their friends or the King for that matter, how their view of handling saviours might change. Though hey I loved the scene when Morgan automatically reached for his gun and was baffled that he did. Or maybe as [MENTION=7562]zombiemom[/MENTION] says the King is protecting Ben from the truth. Interesting.

I am just keen about the war now. How can these groups strengthen themselves to take Negan on? They don't seem anywhere close. His feral guy beating up on Richard wasn't too bright so I am hoping Eugene brings some smart idea to the table. I was about to say BRAINS but nah it is still too soon.

 

I thought the Hilltop said they had the kid beaten to death right in front of them but they did not mention Lucille that I remember at all so I doubt that Negan was ever there?

Also when they meet the Saviors in the road and Daryl RPGs them into thin air they said that they usually just pop one of them right off the bat to get things started(pun not really intended but.....)but they did not kill one of them before Daryl killed them first.

I will wager that Negan uses his men as much as he can and lets them teach other groups the "Way" unless it is an unusual circumstance which our group clearly was.
They are ALL Negan after all.
And Negan can't personally monitor each remote outpost all the time.

I think we are going to see just how Negan spends his days next week when they try to break Daryl and we also will learn more about Dwight and his wife who seems to be warning someone in the preview about Negan too. My guess is she is warning Daryl? as she feels bad about what she and Dwight did to him when he tried to help them earlier before Dwights face was ironed.

I also have to wonder if Negan has ever met the Kitty?
I would think he might want to keep some distance there?
Zeek also seems to not take the Kitty with him outside the Kingdom or at least not that we have seen yet.
I would think Shiva might think Lucille is a grooming toy for her!

Lots of interesting questions for sure!

 

I also imagine that just like the little pukes who are Negans slaves ( like our group now) and have to keep producing for him that his tough guys are also expected to scout and bring in new groups to Negan to terrorize and maybe with the same results for failure to perform.
So I think they might do this on their own and if Negan is required to get them in line there will be hell to pay by everyone including his own goons.

 

Oh I would pay double my season ticket to see Negan take on Shiva unchained, with Lucille. Then let's see who is a bunch of p***ies.

 

the 16 year old was beaten but by Saviors, not Negan, there was something said that would lead you to believe that they didn't know if Negan was real or not, all they had ever seen was about 20 of his men. ofc, they could have had a scout go into the Kingdom and check things out and then leave to report on it and never told the regular people who he was.

 

but he took his kitty with him on the booty call to Carol's new digs, maybe he wants them to get to know each other?

 

Nice Kitty!

 

Negan is not a secret to the Kingdom. What is secret to them is sending pigs to them on a regular basis. I think they know the Saviours exist and that they demand food (produce, to be specific). So, they think Ezekiel has agreed to give produce to the Saviours in exchange of peace. And most likely, this is the agreement that they can accept.