“The Walking Dead.” A hit apocalyptic TV series from AMC. It aired from October 31st, 2010, up until November 20th 2022. Through all 11 seasons, there are very few characters that stick around. One of those characters is known as Carol Peletier.
In my own opinion, Carol is one of the most interesting characters in the entire series franchise. There are moments that make you want to hate her. There are moments that make you want to love her. And there are moments when you don’t even know what to feel.
Carol is definitely a round character in this series. She sticks around for the majority of the show, only leaving for short periods of time on her own. When we originally meet Carol, she is very timid because of her abusive husband. She tries to do everything she can to not anger him. That is until her husband is killed and she begins to break out of her shell. She realizes that she is on her own with her daughter now, and she needs to try and make things work. Her daughter, Sofia, eventually gets killed as well, and Carol has a hard time coping with this.
After her daughter’s death, Carol starts to spiral. Throughout the series she goes through these “mental breakdown” episodes. Ever so often she will start to lose her mind and doesn’t know how to stop it. She becomes murderous and is looking for vengeance from the people who have harmed her and the people she loves. I feel that once Sofia was gone, Carol tried to do everything to fill that void. She had taken in children without parents as her own throughout the entire show, always acting as a motherly figure. Every child she had taken in had died in some way, and this happened on four different occasions. It’s weird how the show keeps making her go through that pain over and over again, and yet she is still an incredibly strong character.
No matter the situation Carol is always looking out for someone else. But like I said, she has moments where she can be really selfish and isn’t thinking straight. Usually these rash decisions she makes in these kinds of headspaces don’t turn out well. She’s started to kill “enemies” no matter what it takes. She was out for revenge.
Knowing all of this, I still think her character is incredibly diverse. She can be very assertive and aggressive, but she also has moments where all she wants is peace and quiet. She even tries to run off on her own for a while to stop herself from being violent.
Carol’s character development is so interesting to me. The way she interacts with the other characters makes me believe that she is the most interesting personality in the entire show. She loves these people, but ends up only hurting them by trying to get revenge on their enemies. She has been the cause for many enemy attacks while she was trying to do the right thing. That is why I think her character is so interesting. She always has the right intentions, but they never play out like how she plans them to.
Personally, there are moments where I’ve hated Carol in this series. She caused so much unneeded trouble and got people hurt. On the other hand though, there are times where I have loved her as a character. I love the fact that her character has come so far from a timid abuse victim to an independent and strong personality. Even through all they have experienced in this series, Carol never gives up. Even when everybody seems to hate her and she feels like she doesn’t fit in. She is still pushing through everything that is thrown her way.