Lydia

Lydia Pierce is a main character and a former antagonist, as well as a survivor of the outbreak in AMC's The Walking Dead. She was a member of the Whisperers and is the daughter of the group's leader, "Alpha". During an attack against the survivors, Lydia is captured and taken hostage at the Hilltop Colony to be interrogated for information about her group's motives.
Eventually, Lydia forms a friendship with Henry and Alina Pierce, a parental bond with Daryl Dixon and forms a sister bond with Mariana Walsh and Alina. She is returned to her mother in a trade, but is rescued shortly after. Following her rescue and reformation, Lydia is exiled by her mother during the fair at the Kingdom and relocates to the Alexandria Safe-Zone under Daryl and Ana's protection and guidance.
Months after the fair massacre, Lydia tries to live a normal life but becomes the target of paranoia and bullying by members of the Coalition due to being a former Whisperer. She eventually runs away from the community after being tricked by Carol and used as proof of Alpha's lies. While away, Lydia rethinks her actions and saves Daryl over her own mother, finally choosing to be with the communities despite their flaws.
== Overview ==
Lydia is a cunning and hardened, yet deeply traumatized young woman, suffering from years of physical and psychological abuse inflicted on her by her mother, Alpha. While initially being fully devoted to the Whisperer way, and only acting as a scared little girl, her time at the Hilltop reawakened memories of her childhood. While she initially believed her father was abusive and her mother caring, these memories were the product of years of gaslighting from Alpha. The truth was quite the opposite, as Lydia finally realized during her brief captivity. Lydia also believed her mother's physical abuse was done out of love and was necessary to strengthen her. Her time with Henry and Alina made her resent the Whisperer lifestyle, and she expressed a desire to stay at the Hilltop. Nonetheless, Lydia selflessly chose to go back to her mother and the Whisperers in order to save Alden and Luke, that were being kept hostage by Alpha. When Henry and Alina came after her and was captured, Lydia punched Henry in anger, though this was most likely an act. Later, she is unable to kill Henry and Alina when her mother commands her to, and chooses to run away with Henry and Alina when Daryl, Ana, Bash, and Connie come to rescue Henry and Alina.
When Alpha kills Henry and 10 other fair attendees, Lydia becomes depressed and even suicidal, and is shown to feel tremendous guilt over the event, particularly as her close friend boyfriend died. Once Carol refuses to kill her and encourages her to live, Lydia regains some of her old self back, and even participates in a snowball fight at Alexandria.
Once away from her mother, Lydia displayed a greatly caring and gentle personality, though she was unwilling to suffer abuse or be used as a pawn by those around her. While initially appearing to be something of a coward, surrendering without a fight in her first encounter to Daryl and the others, she has displayed a great deal of courage and determination over time, bravely risking her own life to defend the Hilltop even though she knew her mother wanted her back. However, this can work against her in some situations such as when she fought back against her bullies with kindness and only succeeded in enraging them more in the attempt.
Unlike most survivors of the zombie apocalypse, Lydia does not like violence and killing, a trait she shared with Henry. To this extent, Henry promised and Alina said she'd try before going into a fight that they wouldn't kill anyone, but Lydia forgave them when they were forced to in self-defense, recognizing the necessity of it despite her hatred for all of the killing. Notably, when Lydia did begin training in combat, she chose to utilize Alina's old staff as a weapon rather than the more lethal spears, knives or bows of the Coalition. Along with potentially being an act of sentimentality since the staff belonged to her best friend turned into adoptive sister, utilizing the staff gave Lydia the ability to non-lethally take out a human opponent and avoid killing if faced with such a situation while still being a lethally effective weapon against walkers and humans if need be.
Lydia grew a very strong bond with Alina as she sees her as a sister, since she herself was an only child. She took Alina's last name as a gesture that they're sisters till the end.
== Pre-Apocalypse ==
=== Mid-Atlantic, United States ===
Lydia grew up in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States where she was raised by her abusive mother Alpha alongside her loving father Frank who would sing "Lydia the Tattooed Lady" whenever she was scared whilst she affectionately rubbed his father's tattoo of her name to comfort her. She was also affectionately nicknamed "bug" by her parents.
At the age of 3, Lydia found herself trapped within a closet tangled up in dry-cleaning plastic after Alpha had previously turned her back on her. Lydia began to suffocate as her mother sadistically watched until she collapsed. Alpha removed the plastic from her face and asked if Lydia was okay, only to hit her daughter hard so she would never do it again.
== Post-Apocalypse ==
=== Baltimore, Maryland ===
Lydia, along with her parents, Alpha and Frank, survived the initial stages of the outbreak together. After 23 days of the initial outbreak, she remained in a moldy basement with a group of survivors. Lydia used to be naïve regarding the status of the world and always spent time with her dad due to her mother's abusive nature.
After 43 days, the undead began to overrun the outside of the building. A fellow survivor, Matias, started to have a panic attack and wanted to leave the basement. Alpha, knowing noise could draw them in, smothered Matias to death, believing that he was too weak to survive this world and was a threat to her family. In order to spare Lydia from the horror, Frank distracted her with her lullaby. Later that night, unknown to the group about the virus infecting the living, a reanimated Matias began to attack the group. Alpha then attempted to lead her family to safety by escaping, but Frank tried to save their friends, which resulted in Alpha murdering him.
== Killed Victims ==
This list shows the victims Lydia has killed:
* Felix (Zombified, alongside Daryl and Dianne)
* Penny (Zombified, alongside Daryl and Dianne)
* Jesse (Before Reanimation, alongside Elijah and Marco)
* Hodges (Alongside Maggie and Elijah)
* Toby Carlson (Before Reanimation, alongside Maggie and Elijah)
* At least 1 unnamed shelter refugee (Caused)
* At least 14 unnamed Whisperers (12 Alongside Daryl, Carol, Jerry, Magna, Luke, Kelly, Marco, and Jules, 1 Caused alongside Coalition Archers, 1 Indirectly Caused)
* Several unnamed U.S. Military soldiers (Zombified)
* Some unnamed Coalition soldiers (Zombified)
* 2 unnamed Commonwealth soldiers (1 Zombified, 1 alongside Maggie and Elijah)
* 6 unnamed Riverbend residents (Zombified, alongside Maggie and Elijah)
* Numerous counts of zombies and possibly unnamed people
Category:Characters
Category:Main Characters
Category:Female Characters
Category:The Whisperers
Category:The Kingdom
Category:Alexandria Safe-Zone
Category:Hiltop Colony
Category:The Coalition
Category:Orphans
Category:Suicidal
Category:Reformed
Category:Teenagers
Category:Alive
Category:Antagonists
Category:Protagonists