Carl Grimes

## Before 2010

Carl was born in 2002 and grew up in King County, where he experienced an average childhood raised by his father, Rick Grimes (a sheriff deputy) alongside his mother Lori (a housewife). The three lived together as a typical family in a single-story house in King County, Georgia. He also befriended his father's closest friend, Shane Walsh. When Carl was 3 years old, Rick took him on a walk to Ross' farm, where Carl became grateful for the safety and happiness his father provided him.

When Carl was in the third grade, he had a best friend whom was allergic to dairy products and thus brought in soy-based meals for lunchtime; one day Carl tasted his friend's milk and almost vomited (which became a humorous memory for him). As he grew, he developed a keen interest in playing video games and reading comic books.

Over time however, his parents' marriage became increasingly strained due to their marital issues and Carl was often in the presence of his parents quarrels, where one day, Carl witnessed Lori questioning if Rick truly cared about his family, an incident which affected Carl to a degree.

## 2010

#### "Days Gone Bye"

In a camp outside the city, a group of survivors, among them Carl, Lori and Shane, receive Rick's transmission. However, Carl doesn't recognize Rick's voice over the garbled transmission. Amy runs to the CB, but can't get a reply. By the time Shane takes over the CB controls and introduces himself, Rick has left the emergency broadcast channel.

Lori voices that she's been saying for a week that they should put signs up on the highway warning people away from the city, and volunteers to go on her own, but Dale and Shane argue that venturing out is too risky. Lori walks off and Shane goes after her, telling Carl that everything is fine. Inside her tent, Shane tells Lori that she needs to keep it together for Carl, who has lost so much already. Lori agrees and they kiss passionately, before Carl interrupts them, not seeing them kissing. Lori promises him she's not going anywhere and tells her son to go finish his chores, prompting him to run off smiling.

#### "Guts"

In the camp, Carl is playing with cars in the dirt when Lori tells him to stay where Dale can see him as she goes into the forest to pick up mushrooms.

Shane is teaching Carl how to tie knots. Suddenly, the radio crackles and squeaks, and T-Dog's garbled transmission comes through, explaining that they're trapped in the department store, surrounded by hundreds of walkers. Carl follows his mother and Shane, running closer as Dale responds to the transmission but only radio silence follows. He stays quiet, letting the grown ups talk, but looks worried. He then watches his mother follow after Amy to comfort her. Shane walks over to him and ruffles his hair.

#### "Tell It to the Frogs"

Carl is first seen with his mother and is fussing as she gives him a haircut. Shane bonds with Carl and tells him in playful manner: "*You think this is bad, wait till you start shaving. That stings. That day comes, you'll be wishing for one of your mama's haircuts. I'll tell you what: you just get through this with some manly dignity and tomorrow I'll teach you something special. I will teach you to catch frogs.*" Carl laughs. As Carl and the rest of the group hear the roaring alarm of a car that Glenn Rhee is driving towards the camp from Atlanta, they all approach it with caution. Morales, another member of the group on the Atlanta run, is reunited with his family, while Carl begins to cry under the realization that he'll never see his father again, and Lori comforts him. As it happens, Rick was rescued in Atlanta by the group; when he exits the van, Carl sees him and runs toward him in tears. Rick picks him up, embracing him.

Later that night, Carl is seen around the campfire with everybody else as Rick shares his story. The next day, Carl is heard screaming out for his parents shortly after encountering a walker eating a deer in the woods. Shortly after, Carl nods in understanding after being told that his father needs to go back for Merle Dixon, whom Rick left handcuffed on a rooftop. Later that day, Lori tries to comfort Carl, and she tells him that Rick will be fine, despite her being worried herself about him, to which Carl responds: "*Think about it, Mom. Everything that's happened to him so far-- nothing's killed him yet.*" Toward the end of the episode, Carl is seen playing with Shane as Shane teaches him how to catch frogs. Shortly after, Lori tells Carl to stay away from Shane and tells Carl that it does not matter what Shane says, for Shane told her that Rick had died.

#### "Vatos"

Carl is seen around the survivors' camp talking some of the other camp members. He asks Amy and Andrea if they could teach him to fish, after having been impressed by the amount they were able to catch. He later joins the group to learn why Jim is digging holes. Lori tells Jim that he is scaring Carl and Sophia. Jim brings up an uncomfortable topic to Carl, as he asks him about Rick. At the end of the same day, he joins the group for dinner around the camp-fire. The walkers suddenly attack the camp and kill many of the survivors. Carl survives the attack, and Rick then returns to camp with the bag of guns. Carl embraces his father, crying.

#### "Wildfire"

Just after the walker attack, Carl can be seen resting. Carl is still sad that his father left and asks him if they are safe now that they are together, to which Rick responds: "*I won't leave again. I promise you that. Not for anything. Now give me a chance to discuss some things with your mom, okay?*" Carl later joins the group in their plan to leave the camp and head for the CDC. He says goodbye to the Morales' family, and they all leave the camp. He is later seen with the others as they arrive at the CDC.

#### "TS-19"

Carl is welcomed into the CDC by the only remaining scientist, Dr. Edwin Jenner, along with the rest of the group. He takes a blood test shortly before he is seen with the others laughing and enjoying a fine meal. The others entreat Carl to taste the wine, and he cringes in disgust after taking a sip. He later plays checkers with Sophia and then heads to bed. Toward the end of the episode, Jenner informs them that the building's energy has run out and that the building will explode. Carl is seen crying, as he does not want to die. When Dr. Jenner lets the group free, Carl flees with the others to Dale's RV and watches as the CDC burns in flames. They then head toward Fort Benning.

#### "What Lies Ahead"

Carl is first seen in the car with Lori, Rick, Sophia, and Carol. Lori touches on some of their past and explains to Carl that when he was a baby, he and his parents took a trip to the Grand Canyon. They playfully joke and laugh when they tell him that he threw up a lot. Carl expresses how he would like to go see the Grand Canyon one day. Carl is later seen gathering supplies with his fellow survivors. When a herd of walkers approach, they hide underneath the cars. Carl appears very frightened, but Rick, who is just a few feet away, attempts to calm him down. Sophia is then chased by a duo of walkers and gets lost.

Later, after the herd passes by, Carl finds a Gerber bag of tools, which he is ordered by Shane to give to Dale. Carl and the others then go out to look for Sophia. When they reach a church, they decide to split. Daryl Dixon leads the group back to the interstate, and Rick and Shane continue to look for Sophia. Carl asks his father to let him help with the search, and Rick complies. Later, Carl, Shane, and Rick see a buck in the woods. Shane is about to shoot it, but Rick stops him and the two watch Carl approach it slowly. However, the peace is abruptly interrupted by a loud gunshot. Both Carl and the buck fall to the ground as the bullet passes through the buck, hitting Carl in the stomach. He is then seen lying on the ground unconscious. Rick rushes to his son.

#### "Bloodletting"

During a flashback, Carl is seen leaving his school. As he approaches his mother, he is told that his father has been shot and is in critical condition at the hospital. He begins to cry and hugs his mother as Shane looks on. Back in the present, Otis, the man who accidentally shoots Carl, tells Rick that the farmhouse in which he has been staying is nearby and that the owner, Hershel, is able to help Carl. Rick then hurries Carl toward Hershel Greene's farm. After a lengthy run, Rick arrives at the farm with Carl in his arms and hurries inside the house. Rick places Carl on the bed, and Hershel checks his pulse, telling Rick that he is alive. Carl is unconscious due to trauma and blood loss. Unfortunately, Carl awakens while Hershel is performing surgery because of the pain. He screams in agony and Rick tells Hershel to stop since he's killing him, but eventually Carl passes out from the pain.

Rick then gives blood to Carl as they are of the same blood type. Hershel confronts Rick about Carl's condition: "*He's out of danger for the moment, but I need to remove the remaining fragments. I need to go deeper to get the others. There's more. His belly's distended, his pressure's dropping, which means there's internal bleeding. A fragment must have nicked one of the blood vessels. I have to open him up, find the bleeder and stitch it. And he can't move while I'm in there. I mean, at all. If he reacts the same as before, I'll sever an artery and he'll be dead in minutes. To even try this, I have to put him under. But if I do, he won't be able to breath on his own. Same bad results.*" Later, Shane and Otis head towards a former FEMA evacuation center which used to be a high school for medical supplies to operate on Carl.

#### "Save the Last One"

Carl is still unconscious and is losing too much blood due to internal bleeding. Rick is unable to donate anymore blood to him since his blood levels are critically low as well. Later Rick is talking to Lori, telling her Carl is going to be okay and that he's in this world now, to which Lori responds: "*Maybe he shouldn't be. Maybe this is how it's supposed to be. Why do we want Carl to live in this world? To have this life? So he can see more people torn apart in front of him? So that he can be hungry and scared for however long he has before he... - so he can run and run and run and run and then even if he survives, he ends up... he ends up just another animal who doesn't know anything except survival? If he... if he dies tonight, it ends for him. Tell me why it would be better another way.*" Carl does wake up briefly in pain, to which his parents quickly rush to his side. Carl tells Lori, "*You should have seen it. The deer. It was so pretty, Mom. It was so close. I... I've never been...*" shortly before his eyes glaze over and goes limp. He has a horrifying seizure and his parents are forced to watch him convulse on the bed.

Hershel informs Rick and Lori that if Shane and Otis do not arrive in time with the needed medical supplies, they have to make a choice on whether to allow Hershel to perform the surgery knowing the risks of what could happen to Carl. Rick and Lori tell him to go ahead with the surgery. Before Hershel makes an incision, however, Shane makes it back to the farm with the supplies, but sadly without Otis. Later that night, Rick and Lori are waiting outside for the news whether Carl has survived or not, and it turns out that he has indeed survived. Rick thanks Hershel, as Lori goes to Carl relieved and crying.

#### "Cherokee Rose"

The rest of the group finds out that the surgery was successful and they sigh in relief. Carl wakes up for the first time and his parents are instantly at his side calming him down from everything he's processing. He asks Rick if they found Sophia yet. Rick lies and tells Carl that she's fine. Carl is told the truth later by Lori since at the time, they didn't want Carl to worry and wanted him to recover. Later, he and Rick talk for a bit and Rick takes his badge off his hat, and gives Carl the hat to wear.

#### "Chupacabra"

In a flashback, Carl is seen on the highway with Lori, Shane, Carol, her husband Ed, and Sophia. Carl, Lori, and Shane have just evacuated their town and met the Peletiers, and are stuck in a traffic jam. Carl asks Sophia and her mother for food, but Ed shuns his wife for wanting to give out food to strangers. Carol consents but still sneaks food for Carl. Lori and Shane, meanwhile, are off watching the military bomb Atlanta. Sophia tells Carl that she likes his dad (as she thinks that Shane is his father), but Carl responds with "*Shane's not my dad.... My dad is dead.*" Carl is seen later in the present day still lying in bed sleeping and recovering from being shot by Otis.

#### "Secrets"

Carl is finally seen walking after recovering from being shot. He is feeding the chickens with his mother at the beginning of the episode. He states that the mother of the chicks was probably eaten, stating "*Everything's food for something else.*" Carl is seen in the back when the group are talking about gun training. Shane approaches him and Carl wants to learn too. He asks if Shane can teach him how to shoot a gun and Shane tells him that that's up to his parents. Before Carl leaves, however, he is caught with a gun on him and Shane informs Carl's parents about it immediately. His mother is furious, but his father says that he does need to know how to handle a gun, for his own protection. Carl then apologizes to his mother, telling her he wants to help look for Sophia and defend the camp. He goes on and says he can't do that without a gun. He goes to shooting practice, along with Rick, Shane, Andrea, and T-Dog. He continues to care about and wants to help with the search for Sophia.

#### "Pretty Much Dead Already"

Carl tells Shane that he doesn't want to give up on the search despite Shane's arguments and wanting to move on: *"I know you think Sophia's dead and that we should stop looking for her. But that's... that's bullshit. We're going to stay here until we find her."* Shane decides to support Carl until the end of the episode, where the group of survivors shoots all of the walkers that were in the barn. Carl is saddened to see that Sophia was in fact a walker and clutches to Lori for comfort, weeping uncontrollably, as Rick shoots Sophia.

#### "Nebraska"

Carl talks to Lori, his mother, about Sophia, stating that he wanted to be the one to find her alive, but thinks that Rick did the right thing in shooting Sophia. He states that he would have done the same thing had he been in his father's place. Lori appears shocked that he would say such a thing, and is worried that he's getting too cold. Carl attends Sophia, Annette Greene, and Shawn's funeral with Lori and Rick.

#### "Triggerfinger"

After Lori is brought back to Hershel's farm by Shane, Shane reveals to everyone, including Carl, that Lori is pregnant. Carl is furious that his mother didn't tell him she was pregnant. He later asks questions about the baby and his mother informs everyone that they never had "the talk." He turns to Dale, expecting him to fill him in, but Dale says that that job is for his father.

#### "Judge, Jury, Executioner"

Carl speaks with Shane about Randall, who had been brought back to the farm after his former group members abandoned him, but Shane tells him that Randall's fate is the adult's business. He later sneaks into the barn where Randall is being held prisoner, but Shane discovers him and tells him to stay away from Randall. They bicker back and forth until eventually Carl backs down and nods in understanding. Carl is seen at Sophia's grave, mourning, shortly before insulting Carol for believing that Sophia is in a better place, stating that Heaven does not exist and that she is an idiot for believing in it.

Rick later tells him that he must keep his act together and to consider the fact that Carol has just lost her daughter. He states that if she wants to believe that she's in a better place for comfort, he should not insult her for thinking that. Rick goes on his lecture, saying *"Don't talk. Think."* Carl later steals a gun from Daryl's motorcycle and goes to the woods. He finds a walker trapped in the mud and decides to taunt it. He stares at it for a while and then begins to throw rocks at the walker, intimidating it. Carl then steps onto the mud and holds up the gun, ready to shoot it. He takes too long, however, and one of the walker's legs breaks free. Carl falls back, terrified, and loses the gun in the mud. The walker manages to grabs onto Carl's feet, trying to pull him closer so he can eat him. After a struggle, Carl manages to get loose and he runs back to the house, where he is forbidden to speak of Randall's fate.

Later, he sneaks to Randall's execution and tells his father to kill him while he is watching. Shane takes him away and Rick spares Randall. Later, Dale is attacked by a walker that mortally wounds him. Carl arrives to the scene and sees that the walker that attacked Dale is the same one that he taunted in the swamp. Horrified and feeling guilty, he goes to cry in Lori's lap as Daryl kills Dale out of mercy.

#### "Better Angels"

At the beginning of the episode, Carl is seen crying at Dale's funeral. He then goes to Shane, telling him that he stole Daryl's gun, and the walker that killed Dale was the same one he found in the swamp stuck in the mud that got one foot lose and lunged at Carl he got scared and did not shoot the walker and that Dale's death was his fault. He asks Shane not to say anything to his parents. Shane, however, tells Rick what happened to Carl. Rick finds Carl in the barn. They have a father and son talk, as Rick tells him: *"No more kid stuff. I wish you could have the childhood I had, but that's not going to happen. People are gonna die. I'm gonna die. Mom. There's no way you can ever be ready for it. I try to be, but I can't. The best we can do now is avoid it as long we can. Keep one step ahead. I wish I had something better to say, something more profound. My father was good like that. But I'm tired, son. Please, take it."* Rick then hands the gun back to Carl and he accepts it.

When Shane informs everyone that Randall has escaped, Carl is instructed by his mother to stay in the house while Rick, Shane, Glenn, and Daryl go looking for him. Eventually, Carl sneaks out of the house and walks onto the field where Rick is standing over Shane's dead body. Carl is frightened and points his gun in the direction of Rick as an undead Shane rises, unbeknownst to Rick. Rick asks Carl to calm down, thinking he's going to shoot him. Carl instead shoots undead Shane in the head. Carl goes towards the body of Shane, but Rick warns him to stay back. At the end of the episode, a horde of walkers are seen reacting to the sound of the shot and begin approaching the farm.

#### "Beside the Dying Fire"

After shooting a reanimated Shane, the gunshot rings through the woods, and a herd of walkers is seen advancing towards the farm. These zombies followed a helicopter that was flying away from Atlanta and have walked in the same direction since. They heard the gunshot noise that Carl made and they walked towards it. As Carl and Rick walk back to the farm, they see the herd of walkers. Rick ushers Carl ahead and they start running towards the farm but get cut of from walkers so run to the barn instead. Back at the farm, Lori realizes that Carl is missing. As chaos ensues, Carl goes into the barn with Rick. They both start spreading gas onto the hay, and then Rick gives Carl a lighter and tells him to drop it when he says. Rick lets the walkers in, telling Carl to drop it when he is half way up the ladder, setting the barn on fire and killing more than a dozen walkers.

As the pair run, they find Hershel making a final stand in front of his house, shooting walkers. Rick convinces him to leave. After being saved, they go on the road just as the sun rises. Carl asks where his mom is. Rick says that they have to keep moving, and Carl begs him not to give up. Rick continues to try and persuade Carl to move on. Carl is then seen getting very angry. Just then, cars arrive with the rest of the surviving group members, including Lori. Rick's car runs out of gas and he later confesses to the group that every one turns. Later that night, he is seen crying into Lori's shoulder as Rick talks to the group, revealing how Shane was killed.