The Whisperers

The Whisperers are a mysterious group of hostile survivors who disguise themselves with the skin of the undead in order to blend in with them and not get noticed. They are first introduced in the episode Who Are You Now? of AMC's The Walking Dead. They served as the secondary antagonistic group for the first half of Season 9 and the primary antagonistic group for the second half of Season 9 and the majority of Season 10.
After the destruction of the primary group, at least one small group of Whisperers is known to have survived, taking up residence in the ruins of the Hilltop and being led by Keith, claiming that they are simply trying to survive and mean no more harm. After Maggie Rhee and her group relocate to the Hilltop, Keith and his Whisperers are nowhere to be found, leaving the status of the Whisperers unknown.
== Overview ==
The Whisperers are a group of unknown size who have adopted the ideology that humanity is to return to its most animalistic roots, living in the wild and following a societal hierarchy similar to that of wolves, with an "Alpha" as their one true pack leader. As such, The Whisperers are also fiercely territorial and will kill anyone who treads into any land they see as their own. Through a process of skinning killed walkers and possibly other dead bodies and curing the 'leather' in order to prevent contamination, Whisperers craft and don full-head masks that allow them to blend into herds and guide them like sheep for strategic or defensive benefits.
== Pre-Apocalypse ==
Nothing is known about the lives of the Whisperers prior to or as the outbreak began, or when and where their group was first formed. Some members, like Dee and her daughter, and Mary and Frances knew each other prior.
== Post-Apocalypse ==
The Whisperers were first formed within three years of the apocalypse by a woman named Hera, who learned that wearing the skin of walkers and acting like them allowed one to be safe among the dead. Hera and her people managed to keep their façade by whispering to each other so that the dead don't notice. Speaking in whispering, gruff voices mimics the moans of the dead, keeping them camouflaged. Three years after the Global Outbreak, Hera rescued a woman named Dee and her young daughter, Lydia.
Either banished or voluntarily, Dee and Lydia left and encountered the former country musician known as Half Moon at Second Lives, a rehabilitation center where he once attended. After bonding, Dee recruited him to join her. Not wanting to be reminded of his celebrity as well as leave his dead friend behind, Dee gave him his friend's face and named him "Beta", and her "Alpha". Upon returning to the camp, Dee assumed control after killing Hera with the assistance of Beta. Alpha then let her turn and used her face as her mask.
Picking up new survivors along the way, she instructed them to use this practice, and all of the group members were forced to shed their previous identities and names, becoming nothing but hardened and primitive survivors. They survived off the land, moving from place to place. By herding walkers, the group was eventually able to culminate a large horde numbering in the thousands to be used as a potential weapon against communities that they perceived as territorial threats. They eventually began a religious crusades against survivor communities as they saw them as shrines to a "long-dead world".