Gaunter O'Kyle

### Occupation

High school student *(Pre-apocalypse)*Former scholar of The People *(Post-apocalypse)*

Former leader of the True Teller Clan *(Post-apocalypse)*

### Family

Gerald O'Kyle - father *(deceased)*Martha O'Kyle - mother *(zombified)*

Arthur O'Kyle - brother *(alive)*

'Killer' - boyfriend *(deceased)*

### First Appearance

'A Long Road Ahead' *(silhouette)*
 'Along A Lonely Road' *(physical)*

### Cause of Death

Impaled through the chest by Harry Edwards *(alive)*Burned on a pyre *(before reanimation)*

### Series Lifespan

'Along A Lonely Road' -- 'The White Wolf'

"*I wonder why you still don't understand. I truly do. That entire time, did you not listen to me? **See** but not **observe**? Sometimes there is no way out of something like this. [...] Do not be afraid. Embrace your pain...**its time for you to do what's necessary**,*"
—O'Kyle to Edwards during their climactic fight[src]

**Gaunter O'Kyle**, also known by the pseudonyms **The Teller** and **The Wolf**, is a main character and later an antagonist, as well as a survivor of the outbreak in *The Walking Dead by EDStudios.* A warrior who has made an impact on the events of the apocalypse few can ever understand, O'Kyle was responsible for making Edwards into the man he is today.

After discovering his father's suicide, O'Kyle was exposed to the truth of the apocalypse and joined his brother in the People Tribe. However, tired of the People's pacifist ways, O'Kyle left the tribe and set out to prove his father's prophecy true. Seeking out someone who could act out and therefore fulfil the prophecy, O'Kyle eventually discovered Edwards in Bennington National Park, saving him from certain death and teaching him new survival skills. O'Kyle left him to explore the New World and built himself a tribal army, preparing to one day face off against his student. In the process, Edwards realized that O'Kyle was the orchestrator of some of the key moments in his life, including the destruction of Hopeville, the death of Jess Black and the fall of Greencole.

O'Kyle serves as the primary antagonist of *Season 19* and ultimately the "big bad" of the series up until that point. His actions against the group have lingered with them to date, and his legacy is still being felt throughout the post-apocalyptic world.

## Overview

### Personality

Gaunter O'Kyle is a manipulative, cunning, ruthless and single-minded individual. He is a master manipulator and responsible for a multitude of events that resulted in Edwards becoming the man that he has become. O'Kyle is shown to care little for the wellbeing of those around him and is fully devoted to his own mission.

O'Kyle is shown to be very philosophical, speaking in a pedantic manner and talking and explaining the history and meaning of the Old and New Worlds. He displays an extensive knowledge of human nature and is able to analyse people with intrusive accuracy; this is displayed when he uses a walker body-double to convince Edwards he had committed suicide, knowing that Edwards respected him enough to not remove the hood that covered the walker's face and expose the ruse.

In his very own origin story, O'Kyle is shown to quickly adapt to the New World around him, showing a brutal streak after just a few days. He makes an effort to close himself off to people to severe his "emotional weaknesses". He develops a firm belief in the ways of warfare, going against the pacifist ways of his own father and his tribe, the People. In this way, O'Kyle is shown to be somewhat of a hypocrite, as his core motivation for his future actions are to prove his father was "not a crazy, obsessive and depressed" man, and yet his own ideals go against the very morals his father championed.

During his training of Edwards in Bennington National Park, O'Kyle displays a remarkable knowledge of herbs, healing balms and natural medication, treating Edwards' wounds - sustained in a wolf attack - with plants found in the park. He also mixes a concoction of herbs to render Edwards unconscious and slip away.

When O'Kyle returns as The Wolf, his true motives are made clear: a relentless determination to prove his father's doomsday theories true, and manipulating anyone to drive these theories on course, including Edwards, James Cottingham and Hector Granger, the latter of which - a deeply impressionable schizophrenic - he convinced was a prophet and leading to the formation of the Frontiersmen. O'Kyle was convinced that Edwards would build a force to combat the tribe-assimilating Cult, and eventually prove his father's prophecies true.

When he reveals his true identity to Edwards, O'Kyle proves that he has devolved into a brutal and sadistic man, ordering Edwards to either kill AAFB residents with associations with the Frontiersmen or execute his adopted son, AJ, having already forced Edwards to reveal to AJ that he could be his father. When O'Kyle's plan begins to devolve out of control, he finally exposes his more unsure self, willing to kill anyone in his way as long as his plans stay on course. Once Edwards has fully got the advantage over him, O'Kyle is willing to throw away all of his plans to secure victory; this combination of desperation and unhinged relentlessness ultimately leads him to a fight to the death with his former student, sure that he is superior over Edwards. When Edwards wins their fight - coincidentally impaling him on a tree truck - O'Kyle refuses to apologise for his past actions but appears to offer Edwards genuine advice, as well as the location of a cache containing a few weeks worth of supplies as well as his old sword, providing himself at least a small hint of redemption. However, in the process O'Kyle ultimately won, having transformed Edwards - however temporarily - into what he had always wanted him to be.

## Pre-Apocalypse

O'Kyle was the son of Gerald and Martha O'Kyle, members of a cult obsessed with the end of civilization; one day, Gaunter returned home from school to find his father in the basement having written a prophecy and gouged his eyes out with his thumbs. Two weeks later, two days before the global outbreak, Gaunter watched as his father hanged himself.

## Death

### Killed by:

* Himself *(indirectly caused)*
* Harry Edwards

After trying to kill AJ, O'Kyle was eventually confronted by his old student, Edwards, and the two fought on the grounds of AAFB. After a long, painful battle, Edwards proved victorious over his mentor by running his own sword through O'Kyle's chest and pinning him to a tree stump. Refusing to apologise with his dying words, O'Kyle gifted Edwards once more his People's Medallion before passing, his legacy on the New World cemented.

## Killed Victims

* Jess Black *(caused, alive)*
* Bradshaw
* 4 unnamed members of Carter's Bandits
* 1 unnamed member of the True Teller Clan *(alive)*
* Numerous counts of zombies and unnamed people

## Relationships

### Harry Edwards

> *"Are you not even gonna say hi...to your own mentor?"*
>
>

> **- Gaunter O'Kyle reveals his identity to Edwards**
>
>

Although O'Kyle admired Edwards' tenacity and his development of the skills he taught him, O'Kyle ultimately viewed Edwards as a tool to be used for his own plans and is shown to care little about him. Nonetheless, he appears to have an underlying respect for Edwards and believes he is an integral part of his father's prophecy.

## Quotes

* *"The Trinity of Four: the one from the West, the one from the South, the one from the Unknown, and the one from the East..."*

## Trivia

* Gaunter O'Kyle is considered by the EDStudios writing team to be the overall main antagonist of the series up until his death.
* O'Kyle reveals that he was involved in and/or caused several significant events throughout the series, all so that Edwards would eventually become the figure from his father's prophecy.
	+ He confesses he poisoned Jess so that Edwards would be forced to raise her child and give Edwards a future stake to torture him with.
	+ He is exposed to have been responsible for the bombing of Hopeville, which led to the fall of the community.
	+ O'Kyle is partially responsible for James's twist into becoming a vengeful antagonist, as well as for the survival of Leyton Jones after the events of *Season 8*.
	+ He brought together several groups of Greencole's foes to form the Ravagers in order to weaken Greencole enough for his own clan to attack and destroy it.
	+ It is revealed that O'Kyle manipulated the mentally ill Hector Granger into becoming Ajax, causing the massacre and downfall of his own people and eventually leading to the rise of the Frontiersmen.
* Although his first physical appearance is in *Season 2*, O'Kyle appears in the background in several episodes of *Season 1*.
	+ EDStudios confirmed that O'Kyle is the figure Edwards sees in the trees while checking out the train.
* O'Kyle comes third for most episodes between one appearance and another, beaten only by Sarah Terringham and Gregory.
* Different characters pronounce his name differently. His name is pronounced by himself, Edwards, AJ and several others as *(Gawn-ter)* and others as *(Gaunt-aar)*.
* O'Kyle is one of five characters to know martial arts, the others being Edwards, Drew Stanton, Kyle Granger and Harvey Morgan