Lydia (The Walking Dead)

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Lydia
The Walking Dead character
Lydia, as she appears in the comic book series (left) and as portrayed by Cassady McClincy in the television series (right).
First appearance	Comic: "Issue #133" (2014) Television: "Adaptation" (2019)
Last appearance	Comic: "Issue #193" (2019)
Created by	Robert Kirkman
Adapted by	Angela Kang (The Walking Dead)
Portrayed by	Cassady McClincy
In-universe information
Occupation	Student Comic: Messenger for the Commonwealth
Family	Alpha (mother) Television: Frank (father)
Spouse	Comic: Conner
Significant others	Comic: Carl Grimes Television: Henry

Lydia is a fictional character from the comic book series The Walking Dead and the television series of the same name, where she is portrayed by Cassady McClincy.

Appearances[]

Comic book series[]

Lydia is one of the Whisperers to follow Paul "Jesus" Monroe, Darius and two other guards.^{[volume & issue needed]} She is captured by Jesus.^{[volume & issue needed]} She is put in a cell next to Carl's.^{[volume & issue needed]} She tries to get information about the Hilltop community by talking to Carl,^{[volume & issue needed]} and later starts a sexual relationship with him.^{[volume & issue needed]} After the war against his group, Lydia goes to the ranks of Rick's group and survives to the end of the story. Carl's lingering feelings for Sophia finally ends their relationship,^[1] although they remain close friends.^[2]

Television series[]

Lydia is a survivor who, along with her parents, "Alpha" and Frank, survived the initial stages of the zombie apocalypse. After 23 days of the initial outbreak, Lydia and her parents remained in a moldy basement with a group of survivors. After Frank dies, Alpha raises Lydia with cruelty, treating her more like her servant than her child, to the point of making Lydia call her "Alpha" instead of "momma". After being captured by Daryl Dixon and Michonne, and kept as a prisoner in a cell at the Hilltop, Lydia begins to form a bond with Henry. Lydia and Henry fall in love and begin a relationship, with her ultimately rejecting the Whisperers in favor of the other communities who agree to grant Lydia asylum. Lydia rejects the Whisperers completely and is disowned by her mother. However, her relationship with Henry is cut short when Alpha brutally murders him and several other residents of Hilltop.

Season 9[]

In the mid-season premiere, "Adaptation", as Daryl, Michonne, and the others return to the Hilltop, they spot six walkers following them and lure the group into a confrontation on a covered bridge. Three of the "walkers" turn out to be humans in disguise. Daryl and Michonne kill two while the third—Lydia—surrenders and is taken prisoner back to the Hilltop. Lydia is locked up and questioned by Daryl. After Daryl leaves, Lydia introduces herself to Henry and the two start to get to know each other; Daryl overhears this conversation. In the episode "Omega", Lydia describes her backstory to Henry while both are in the community prison, unaware Daryl is listening in.

As Lydia explains, Henry starts to become more compassionate towards Lydia. Daryl continues to talk to her as well, trying to scope out the size of her group as Lydia claims that they may be coming to save her. He finds her arm covered in marks, which she says came from her mother. Daryl, who had been similarly beaten as a child, displays sympathy for Lydia's abuse, but she remains uncooperative. Lydia's story is told in flashbacks that date to the months after the walker outbreak. Henry decides to let Lydia out of her cell for a while and discreetly shows her what the Hilltop has to offer. While Lydia has an opportunity to take a hammer and strike Henry with it to escape, the cries of a baby cause her to panic, and she begs to be returned to her cell. She asks Henry to stay with her through the night. When morning comes, Daryl returns and Lydia states that she doesn't think her mother will be coming. Lydia then tells them that she had lied about her history. Lydia mentions where her mother and her people may be camped, but notes that they frequently move about.

In the episode "Bounty", Lydia's mother, Alpha, arrives at Hilltop with some of the Whisperers and demands the release of Lydia. Inside the Hilltop, Daryl discovers that Henry and Lydia have escaped. Enid and Addy are able to track down Henry and Lydia to an abandoned house near the Hilltop, where Henry has provided Lydia a new set of clothes. Lydia opts to return to Hilltop of her own accord and is returned to Alpha in exchange for the return of Alden and Luke, two Hilltop residents being held prisoner by the Whisperers. Reunited, Lydia apologizes to her mother. Alpha slaps her across the face, ordering her to address her as "Alpha" like everyone else does.

In the episode "Guardians", as Alpha leads her group back to camp, she questions Lydia about her time at the Hilltop, but Lydia claims that she has little information of interest. Henry eventually catches up with Lydia and the Whisperers, but is found and captured by Beta, Alpha's second-in-command. Henry reveals that he came alone to rescue Lydia. Alpha decides that Henry is coming with them. On their way back to camp, Alpha asks Lydia why she didn't mention Henry. Lydia explains that he wasn't worth mentioning, but Alpha reminds her that he just risked his life to save her, so she must be lying. The Whisperers soon arrive back at their camp. At night, Beta takes Henry to Alpha. Unmasked, Alpha drops her knife and makes Lydia pick it up, commanding her to kill Henry with it so that she can prove what side she's on; Lydia picks up the knife and begins to cry. Her mother warns her not to be weak and that Beta will kill them both if she doesn't kill Henry. Suddenly, a small horde of walkers show up and begin eating the unmasked Whisperers, creating mass confusion. Alpha and the others quickly put on their masks so that they can try to lure the herd away. Moments later, Daryl and Connie arrive disguised as Whisperers to free and rescue Henry; they prepare to retreat. Daryl grabs Henry, who grabs Lydia, and together the four escape.

In the episode "Scars", Daryl, Connie, Henry and Lydia take shelter at Alexandria. That evening, Daryl, Connie, Henry and Lydia depart for the Kingdom.

In the episode "The Calm Before", after the fair at the Kingdom begins, Alpha sneaks into the fair by posing as an Alexandria resident. That night, as most of the fairgoers gather to watch a movie, Lydia is saving a seat for Henry when Alpha quietly sits next to her and gestures for her to stay quiet. Outside the theater, Alpha tries to convince Lydia to leave the Kingdom with her, but Lydia rejects her. Alpha tells her she is not strong and is no longer part of her group, and departs. Later, Daryl's group finds a line of ten decapitated heads on pikes, one of which is Henry's. Sometime later, Daryl and Lydia return to the border. Lydia leaves the necklace Henry made for her on the ground by the pike that once held Henry's head.

In the season finale "The Storm", Ezekiel makes the decision to abandon the Kingdom, assembling a large caravan of the remaining survivors to seek out better shelter at the Hilltop. Lydia wanders into the forest and finds a walker half-buried in the snow. She takes off her glove while crying and offers her hand to the walker to commit suicide, but stops when Carol appears and follows her back to the group. Using the cover of the storm, the Kingdom's group passes the pikes into Alpha's territory, finding only frozen walkers along the way, and arrive at a river that has been frozen over. Carol goes looking for Lydia, who has disappeared. She eventually catches up to Lydia, who believes that she is to blame for their situation and feels she can't stay with them. Since she cannot go back to her mother, Lydia asks Carol to kill her, but Carol refuses Lydia's request and tells her that she is not weak.

Development and reception[]

Lydia is portrayed by Cassady McClincy on The Walking Dead television series, beginning with the ninth season.^[3] She makes her first appearance in the episode "Adaptation".^[4]

Erik Kain of Forbes reviewed the episode "Chokepoint" and asserted that Lydia's relationship with Henry appeared "to have popped out of nowhere and blossomed much too quickly... it would have been more believable if their relationship had more time to grow and develop before Alpha came and took Lydia back".^[5]

Aaron Neuwirth of We Live Entertainment reviewed the episode "The Storm", stating, "Cassady McClincy has done a lot with a character who could have come off as the worst throughout these past few episodes that have heavily relied on her".^[6]

Alex McLevy of The A.V. Club noted that "Alpha’s daughter has been a surprisingly strong presence...and it has everything to do with Cassady McClincy’s performance. She has consistently located the raw-wound heart of the character, making even those groan-inducing moments of teenage romance between Henry and herself maintain a degree of appeal that would otherwise curdle into cloying nonsense".^[7]

References[]