Daryl Dixon

## Before 2010

Daryl grew up in the mountains of Northern Georgia alongside his older brother Merle, under the roof of their neglectful redneck parents, their father, an abusive alcoholic alongside their chain-smoker mother. Merle was the only inspirational figure he had during his youth and thus inherited his backward views on society, however, due to his older brother's service in juvenile detentions, he became frequently absent from Daryl's life and thus he was reluctantly forced to fend for himself, upon where he developed a hard-boiled survivalist mindset.

At a young age, the brothers lost their mother in a house fire which had been caused by a cigarette while she was asleep or presumably drunk. Some point after this event Daryl found himself lost in the woods for nine days during where he was forced to consume wild berries and utilize poison oak as a substitute for toilet paper. Eventually, he managed to find his way back home. Upon arrival however, he discovered that his father had not noticed his absence and thus Daryl simply walked through the back door and made himself a sandwich.

Over the course of several years, the brothers were mentally and physically abused by their father, which eventually caused Merle to abandon the family and join the military, subsequently leaving Daryl in the process which resulted in severe scars located on his back, this abuse however was unknown to Merle. Following their father's death, Daryl moved out from his birth home and eventually reconnected with Merle and thus simply followed his brother's lead upon where they entered into a drifter lifestyle, where the pair utilized their survival instincts, upon where Daryl grew into a proficient hunter and tracker, hunting for food and dealing in contraband.

At one point, the pair resided in Merle's drug supplier's house where the trio watched TV and by noon had become intoxicated, a discussion turned violent where the dealer punched his older brother, where Daryl retaliated by savagely beating the man. However, the dealer then threatened to shoot Daryl, a large argument ensued, which ended with the dealer punching Daryl in the gut, causing him to vomit. Merle and the dealer laughed the incident off. Following this near-death experience, Daryl came to view himself as an unimportant individual who held no value or Purpose in life.

## 2010

"Tell It to the Frogs"
After Merle Dixon was abandoned on a rooftop in Atlanta during a supply run, Daryl is mentioned by Morales, who notes that he may be the only one who'll be upset at Merle being left behind. He is mentioned again as being away hunting by Dale Horvath, who also mentions that he will become volatile. When a walker appears nearby the camp eating the corpse of a deer, Daryl appears out of the woods, complaining that he was on the trail of the deer that he had shot with his crossbow. He finds it partially eaten by a walker, surrounded by the rest of his group. After Dale decapitates the walker, the head continues to growl only to be permanently silenced by a bolt from Daryl's crossbow.

At the camp, Daryl arrives calling for his brother, but he is informed by Rick Grimes and the others that Merle was insane and a threat back in the city, so he was handcuffed to a roof and left behind. This prompts Daryl to snap. He tries to attack Rick, but Shane restrained him as T-Dog reassures Daryl that Merle is okay, as he had locked the roof door shut before fleeing the city. Daryl then demands the location of the building so he can go there and rescue his brother. Rick offers to go with him. T-Dog and Glenn Rhee also offer to go. Daryl is later seen telling the others to hurry up, so they can rescue Merle quickly. The four men get in a truck and depart.

Daryl and the others arrive at Atlanta. Rick says that he also came back to retrieve the bag of guns that he dropped when he first came into the overrun city. Daryl silently kills all the walkers in the way with his crossbow, and when they reach the rooftop of the department store, they find that the only thing remaining is the handcuffs, a hacksaw, and Merle's hand. Daryl, shocked and angered at what he sees, breaks down and starts crying.

#### "Vatos"

Daryl, after seeing what he saw, points his crossbow at T-Dog, blaming him for his brother's disappearance, but gives in after Rick holds a gun to his head. Daryl wraps Merle's hand in a cloth and puts it in Glenn's backpack. They begin to follow the blood trail left by Merle. The trail leads them into a room with two dead walkers where all but Daryl are astonished that Merle was able to kill both with just one hand. In the same room they find an iron steak weight covered in burnt skin which Merle used to cauterize his stump. Later they find a window with a hole in it, possibly meaning Merle has escaped. When Daryl decides to go search for Merle on the streets, T-Dog reminds him that they need to get the bag of guns first. Glenn makes a plan to get the guns: Daryl must accompany Glenn to the store's alley, while Rick and T-Dog wait in an alley two blocks away.

The plan gets underway, and Glenn is able to retrieve the guns, but another survivor, Miguel, runs into Daryl from the back of the alley, to which Daryl rationally asks him about his brother and begins to beat him with his crossbow. Miguel screams, alerting Rick, T-Dog, and two other survivors: Jorge and Felipe. Jorge and Felipe arrive first and beat up Daryl, until they spot Glenn with the bag of guns. They tackle Glenn, who drops the guns, and Rick's hat, which gives Daryl enough time to aim his crossbow and fire an arrow into Felipe's behind. A car arrives at the scene. Jorge and Felipe grab Glenn and get into the car, leaving Miguel behind. When Rick and T-Dog arrive, they see Daryl closing a gate to prevent the walkers from crowding the alley. Daryl throws Miguel against the wall, in which Rick restrains him.

Later, while they are trying to get information about Glenn's whereabouts, Daryl threatens Miguel and shows him Merle's hand, bluffing and threatening that it was an enemy of his. They head to the "Vatos"' hangout, where Rick tries to negotiate into giving Miguel to them and getting Glenn back, but their leader, Guillermo, also wants the bag of guns. They return to the building and Daryl, T-Dog, and Rick decide to go back and threaten the Vatos. They return and then enter the Vatos' hideout threatening bloodshed, but an elderly woman enters the room and they find out that the gang are actually nurses taking care of elderly people. After solving the problem, that was just a misunderstanding, Rick gives the gang half of the guns inside the bag. Daryl, Rick, T-Dog and Glenn are returning, Daryl comments how he was against giving away half of the guns. On the way back, they notice that the truck they used to get to Atlanta was stolen, they assume that Merle stole the truck to go back to the camp and get revenge.

Daryl and his crew return to the camp on foot, and notice that walkers had infiltrated the camp, where they were attacking the survivors, killing/infecting quite a few of them. Despite the high number of casualties, Daryl, and the rest, are able to kill all of the invading walkers, thanks to the weapons inside the bag of guns.

"Wildfire"
The next morning, Daryl helps in the cleanup of the walker carcasses and the bodies of the fallen campers. He and Morales drag the body of a man towards the bonfire but Glenn stops them, demanding that the dead be buried properly. Daryl hesitates but eventually agrees, he ultimately curses everyone, saying that they deserved what they got after leaving Merle behind. As Daryl impales each corpse with a pickaxe to prevent reanimation, Carol stops him as he is about to hit Ed Peletier, saying that she should impale her husband's head. When the survivors find out that Jim has been bitten, the group unites to discuss what to do with him, Daryl immediately grabs the pickaxe to take Jim out, but is stopped by Rick, who points his gun do Daryl's head, prompting him to drop the pickaxe and walk away.

After the funeral of the fallen camp survivors, the group decides to move to the Center for Disease Control in hopes of finding a cure and saving Jim's life. They part ways with Morales' family, who decided to go look for their relatives, and Daryl heads with the group to the CDC. Along the way, the RV breaks down, so Shane and T-Dog scout out the gas station ahead for parts, while a dying Jim is perched against a tree as everyone says their goodbye to him. Daryl glares at Jim and after a moment gives him a nod, before turning back to his car. As the night comes, Daryl and the survivors reach the CDC complex to find it locked, walkers start to close in on the group, but Rick refuses to leave as he says that the security camera is moving. Shane finally convinces Rick to get out of there, but right when everybody is leaving, the doors open at the last minute.

"TS-19"
Daryl and the rest of the group are admitted into the CDC by Edwin Jenner after going through a blood test to ensure none of them are infected. He is introduced to the luxuries the facility has to offer, including hot water and real beds. He enjoys dinner and wine with everyone and learns about Test Subject 19 and Dr. Jenner's work, and the fall of the CDC's infrastructure. After Dr. Jenner reveals the purpose of the countdown timer and shuts the control room's door, Daryl is enraged and tries break through the metal door with an axe. While Rick tries to convince Dr. Jenner to let them leave the building and try their chances on the road, Daryl loses his temper and tries to cut the scientist's head with the axe, but is restrained by Rick and the others. As the survivors finally get Dr. Jenner to open the door for their escape, they all reach the lobby to find the doors permanently locked and the windows bulletproof. However, Daryl and the others are able to escape to their caravan after Rick's grenade explodes a window pane. During the escape he spectacularly decapitates a walker with an axe. After everyone gets in their vehicles, the CDC explodes; Daryl drives off in his pick-up truck following the rest of the caravan, getting away from the complex as the ruins burn.