Carol Peletier

## Before 2010

Carol lives in the outskirts of Atlanta, where she eventually met a man named Ed Peletier. He was initially charming enough for her to date and eventually marry. However, his true abusive nature would be revealed throughout the course of their marriage. She was a housewife, and she fiercely looked after their daughter, Sophia, by nurturing and providing her with comfort while Ed consistently neglected her. Throughout their marriage, Carol and her daughter were victims of verbal and physical abuse. Because of her restrained independence, she remained hesitant to inform any outsiders of the situation.

Despite the abuse, Carol chose to stay married because she used to think that her idea of happiness was not being alone. An intoxicated Ed would hit her often, where several times would end with her shoulder dislocated. She learned how to heal it via the internet, due to being too embarrassed of having to return to the hospital, only to make the excuse that she had fallen down the stairs. One day, Carol decided to cut off all of her hair because when she tried to run away from Ed, he would grab her hair and slam her head against the wall. She once took Sophia to a shelter in Atlanta in an attempt to get away from Ed, but after a day and a half, they went back to him. After they went back, Ed beat them both severely.

## 2010

"Tell It to the Frogs"
Carol, together with Sophia and Ed, is first seen watching Rick and the others coming out from the truck from their mission at Atlanta. At night, when the survivors are resting around dimly lit campfires, Ed attempts to make his fire bigger, stating that it's cold. Shane asks him to put it out, stating that the light and smoke may attract any walkers lurking around. Ed finally gives in and orders Carol to dim the fire to embers. The next morning, Carol is cleaning Rick Grimes' clothes for him, stating that was the best she could do, especially without a real washing machine, and Rick thanks her.

Later, Carol is doing laundry at the quarry with Andrea, Amy, and Jacqui, joking about what they missed. When Andrea says that she missed her vibrator, Carol looks at her husband, then back at the women, and whispers "Me, too," prompting laughter to explode from the women. The laughter draws Ed over, who orders them to stop and do the laundry. Andrea, fed up with Ed's attitude, says that if Ed doesn't like the way laundry's done, he could do it himself, tossing his clothes at him. Ed throws it back at Andrea roughly, starting up an argument. Ed demands for Carol to come with him. Jacqui then makes a remark to Ed, proving that she and everyone else knew how Ed abused her in private. Carol is then submissive to Ed, but Andrea tells Carol that she didn't have to go. Carol then begins to resist, to which Ed responds with a slap to her face, drawing blood from her lip. Andrea and Jacqui, both upset, push Ed away as Amy holds Carol in her arms. Shane, who was observing the situation from a distance, is enraged with what he has just witnessed. He approaches Ed and beats him senseless, threatening him to not ever lay a violent hand on his wife or daughter or that next time, he wouldn't stop hitting. Carol is upset from the beating and tended to her husband, weeping and apologizing.

"Vatos"
Carol is seen sewing some clothes while Andrea and Amy return from fishing. She is then present for the confrontation with Jim, standing with Sophia and Carl, with her arms around them. She remains shy and hesitant to speak when Jim resorts to openly expressing how Shane shouldn't have interfered with her and Ed's personal issues, stating that it was their marriage and thus their own business to sort out with each other. Carol and Sophia later give Ed some water in the family tent, and Carol invites Ed to come outside with everyone. He rejects her invitation and tries to force his daughter to stay and keep him company. Carol, visibly concerned about Sophia and managing to finally stand her ground, saying "Ed, she wants to join in," and brings the girl outside. Carol eats fish at night with the rest of the survivors and is intrigued by the conversation about Dale Horvath's watch. Moments later, when zombies descend upon their camp, she grabs Sophia, shields her, and flees to the RV with some of the other survivors as the zombies invade the camp, killing Ed, Amy, and several others.

"Wildfire"
The next morning, Carol takes care of Sophia while the men dispose of the zombie corpses, and tries her best to reassure her about their current situation. As Daryl Dixon goes through each zombie with a pickaxe, she stops him when he gets to her dead husband. She proceeds to stab her husband multiple times, initially in a hesitant but then furious manner, venting out the anger that she had kept inside of her for many years. She later attended the funeral for her husband, Amy, and the other fallen survivors. While the others figured out what to do next, she took care of a bitten Jim in the RV and noticed his deteriorating physical health. Before departing the base camp, Morales and Miranda broke the news that they were not going with them, but instead to Birmingham to find their extended family. She shares a goodbye hug with Miranda and Morales before they leave. Carol, Sophia, and the remaining survivors reach the Center for Disease Control and were about to flee as zombies begun to approach their location, but the doors suddenly opened, drowning all of them in light.

"TS-19"
The group is admitted into the CDC by Edwin Jenner after going through a blood test to ensure none of them were infected. Carol is introduced to the luxuries the facility has to offer, including hot water and real beds. She is able to live in a comfortable room with Sophia and notes the wonderful feeling of sleeping in a real bed for the first time in months. She enjoys dinner and wine with everyone and learns about TS-19 and Dr. Jenner's work, and the fall of the CDC's infrastructure. After Dr. Jenner revealed the purpose of the countdown timer and locked the control room's door, she was hysterical and pleaded with Edwin to let them go, explaining how inhumane it was for him to be keeping them locked inside there, and that Sophia deserved a better death than this. As the survivors finally get Edwin to open the door for their escape, they all reach the lobby to find the doors permanently locked and the windows bulletproof. Just as all hope is diminished, she approaches Rick and takes a grenade out of her purse, telling him that she found it in his uniform the day he arrived at camp, and she washed the clothes. Rick uses the grenade to break the glass, successfully escaping the CDC. She reaches the RV just in time and she drives off with the group away from the complex as the ruins burn in flames.