I don't think anyone in their right mind (meaning, not morgotha or zombiekaaner) would suggest that Negan is a "good guy."

But I love him as a character. And while I understand those who want him to die horribly and soon (God knows I was rooting very loudly for this for a long time in the books) I'm going to enjoy his stay on the show and hope it lasts a long time.

And... again, not saying he's a good guy... but Rick and friends did kill like thirty of his guys. The fact that Negan only killed two of Rick's group (only one of which was planned. Thanks, Daryl) shows immense restraint.

 

Negan knows quite a lot. He was the one who sent out those scouting groups like the one that encountered Sasha, Abe and Daryl. He gave them the go ahead to kill one person to intimidate the rest when they found others. He knew when it became apparent that the motorcycle party was wiped out that someone out there was resisting him, fighting back. Then when one of his outposts got hit, he knew that not only were they resisting but taking the offensive. How much information did he get from Dwight and who knows what other sources? It probably didn't take long to find out about Rick and eventually where he was operating out of. Tonight he told Rick he'd come knocking on his door and Rick would let him in. I don't remember him asking Rick what the address was. In his mind he thinks he's the emperor of this new world order and he was only putting down a slave rebellion not necessarily seeking justice for his slain men.

 

I hate making serious posts here, but shit.... I just finished watching. The brutality of what he did to Abe and Glenn was just a small nugget of what I found so disturbing.

Beyond the obvious disturbing act of beating 2 people to death to the point where their heads were mush, was the even more disturbing aspect of how he mocked his victims and mocked those mourning their loved ones.

Even more disturbing than that, is how he set up various ways for them to hit a new rock bottom. Ultimatums, tactics to break their spirits, excessive force- just to make a point. Hopelessness and despair doesn't even begin to describe the place he put them in. I do not believe that there is a Hell, in terms of a religious sense However I do believe in hell when it comes to a certain state of mind. Rick's group was in hell and they all experienced an unparalleled level of evil. Because that moment will torment them in some capacity until the day they die.

Let's be honest, most of us would not be able to endure what they did if we were in that situation. We're all too soft. lol. Come to think of it, I think it was even too much for them. They were all beyond broken. That's what made watching all of that so disturbing and chilling for me.

On that note. Great show!

And.... FARTS!

 

I think JDM does a good job of playing the character. He really "sells" the sadistic glee the character gets out of tormenting people. When Negan gets taken out, I hope it is Maggie not Rick that takes him down. I would even prefer Rosita or Sasha rather than Rick since they were all closer to the "Lucilled" ones.

 

Ricks people killed his people to try and not be their bitch like hilltop. It's not like they said "hey lets kill folks for fun". Negan didn't kill the whole group because the more "employees" he has, the better. It has nothing to do with being a "good guy"

 

Negan is in no way a good guy, he was probably a high school bully who became a loser in life and had a nowhere job and his life sucked, at his job he got pushed around by people he perceived were weaker than him physically, probably the kind of people he used to bully but there was nothing he could do about it because society had rules then. Now that it's a New World Order, he sees it as survival of the fittest with him being the fittest. He is now king ding-a-ling in this world so he can live out all his psychotic fantasies now.

 

I think, people can be drawn to a character and be fully aware, that it is a bad person. I myself openly confess, that I really like Hannibal Lecter (in books, movies and tv show) and I'm fully aware, that he is just evil and crazy. But I really can appreciate a well written bad guy, because there are not that many of them out there. Negan is a complex character from what I did catch from the comics and I like him to be around to cause trouble and make for an intersting story. Plus JDM is a very talented actor. David Morrissey is too - and that's the reason, I liked the Gov around too - the characters are evil and disturbing, but the actors did/do such great jobs in bringing them alive.
I would say, that I can't believe, people would actually go down the 'Negan is deep down a good guy, he is just misunderstood' route, but they did that with The Governour, with my favorite villain Hannibal Lecter and even with someone just plain evil like Voldemort. So yeah, people are probably defending Negan too ... compared to Voldemort, they may even be right, after all, he wanted to destroy the whole muggle world, while Negan was content with two deaths :Grin: (sarcasm warning, just to be safe)

 

I would prefer Daryl since he is at fault for Glenn's death. Sasha and Maggie can mourn and over time accept a loss no matter how close they were, but guilt is NOT something that can go away with simple time to heal.

 

I agree with you. The problem is people that confuse charisma with goodness. I think the guy is interesting -despite how crazy I think he is- but I wouldn't trust him for a second to be good.

Also, it doesn't hurt that he's good looking, that also works a lot in favor of the "appeal".

 

No, I don't think, that a guy like Negan was ever good. It may not have been so obvious in 'normal' times, but I would think, that Negan was at least a bully at school. And maybe showed some violent behavior before the ZA.

 

come on, he did say he's sorry

 

To become a person like the Governor or Negan, there would have had to be some issues in advance. There are lots of psychopathic tendencies on both parts, and that's not something that just pops up overnight. It might have made it's way to the surface and emerged outward after the fact, but a person like that would have likely fantasized about such scenarios long before the opportunity ever arose.

I really get tired of the people who try to compare Rick to these kinds of people and say that he's just as bad. Rick doesn't sit around bashing skulls in over and over and over again, laughing the whole time, just because he wants half of everything the other group has. Rick never turned a gun on his own people and mowed them down in a fit of rage. Has Rick come completely unhinged on some occasions? Absolutely, but there's no comparison to be made there. Rick kills people when there is a threat to his group, or when he has no other choice.

 

I don't think it's completely fair to compare Negan to the Governor

The difference...
Well for one thing the Governor's henchmen didn't obey orders purely out of sheer terror of the consequences.
Although granted, the Governor could be pretty bad-ass too when he wanted, he stood up for himself no problem, too.
Generally however he only set an example of those who disobeyed him direct, he did have that eye-for-an-eye attitude...

We know before the ZA the governor was married to a wife, and they had a daughter.
He probably lived the proverbial middle-class suburbanite life, with a median-income college-degree type of a job, 8 hrs/day 5-6 days a week, paid vacation, the two cars in the driveway, and the whole kit and kaboodle in that classic bullshit cookie cutter life... Still a nice life by most standards, I think the governor had that. I also think the governor likely had a decent childhood with good parents and was basically a good kid in school and made good grades and yadda-yadda-bullshit.
Then along came a whole new order, and when you look at how the military started out in the ZA quarantining and mass-murdering large swaths of the population... At some point he did turn evil, and overall he wasn't a terribly nice guy, but he could play the part to a point.

I don't think Negan was anything like that at all, more like an ex-con, I also like the bully angle discussed earlier, something along those lines...

It could be, however...
That had the governor survived, he might be a lot like Negan is today, I'll give that.

 

There's where it all goes wrong for the Governor. He had an abusive father that beat him and his brother and were constantly told "you can't win at everything". Now mix that in with the death of a wife and a zombie apocalypse and you have the makings of a madman on your hands.

 

That is exactly where I am.

There is no comparison between Rick and Negan's people.

They take from others because they don't want to work for anything when they can kill for it.

 

Negan seems more former military, even a head coach (don't laugh and no pun intended...just realized that) as he seems more of a strategist with the way he lured and had Rick's group scrambling around in the RV from point to point along with how he is a "my way or the highway to death" instructionist. Maybe even former drug kingpin.

Negan is either a maniacal General Patton, a pyschopathic Phil Jackson, or an apocalyptic Walter White...

That's my guess but ex con is selling the guy way short.

 

I fully agree. Rick is a basically nice guy, that had bad stuff happen to him over and over again. He tries to stay decent on most occasions and he tries to do the right thing for his people (it does not always work out, but I think, you can plan much ahead during the ZA). He never showed any sign of sadism or that he liked killing people. Negan on the other hand is a complete psychopath, he likes the killing and the torture and he hasn't shown a shed of empathy - he is not even moved by a child or a pregnant woman, that is clearly in pain and I'm pretty sure that most people (even some bad ones) would have had problems, putting Carl and Maggie through the ordeal, Negan gave them.

 

Negan is a psychopath by the book.
I actually don't really understand why the showrunners say that he isn't.
We don't know what is coming next and what background he has, yet from all we have seen so far he acts exactly like a psychopath.
I don't believe that he really felt sorry for having hurt Carl or Olivia's feelings. The moment he apologized to Olivia he continued to belittle her by
suggesting to "screw" her which shows that he has no respect whatsoever for women. Granted, so far he allowed Olivia to have slapped him. But probably only because women are no threat to him in his opinion. They seem to a have a certain place in this world, which obviously is the bed...

Men, on the other hand, are a threat to him in multiple ways. He punished the boyfriend of one his wives instead of his wife. It seems that he really believes that women, sooner or later, fall for him due to his "greatness".
His sick sense of humour and seemingly charming behaviour doesn't work on most men, so women are only there to be... "screwed".. No real threat (because he is so irresistable).

He wants to break Carl, so he can't be a pri** all the time since he learnt that Carl is "bad ass" and hates him for having murdered his friends.
Threatening only won't work with him, he thinks, so has to be seemingly benelovent at times in order to manipulate the teenager.
A carrot and a stick is an important part of brainwashing people. Plus, it contributes to the total unpredictability Negan works with.

Generally, psychopaths are charming, witty, intelligent and know exactly how to intimidate others and to find out their weakness.
A "nomal" sadist and bully would not be so perfect in manipulating people.

Negan's addiction to be worshipped is another sign of his psychopathy. Psychopaths tend to not tolerate any kind of criticism or objection. They will make you pay for it, one way or the other, no matter the costs.

In case his character will be shown as a ormal guy who went through a lot and simply changed, it won't be believable. Change or not, you can't enjoy the misery of others so tremendously as a sane person.

 

Yeah, I don't get people that compare Rick to Negan. Comic Negan works better, despite JDM's performance. This season in general hasn't worked as well as the writers think. Only 2 episodes that completely worked were the last 2 and maybe swear