Shane's Character in The Walking Dead Foreshadowed the Loss of Humanity

Say what you will about Shane's character in The Walking Dead, but he was the most important character in the entire series. His runtime was very short, but he revealed what Rick's group was going to become later. Shane went from a chill dude to a crazy and murderous bastard when his best friend, Rick Grimes, suddenly came back from the dead. He had become part of Rick's family, dating his wife, Lori, and becoming a father figure to his son, Carl. Once Rick returned, Shane realized he was going to lose the people that had become his family.

Shane experienced a very slow downfall from the first to the second season, revealing a very dark side to his character. He did make a lot of bad choices when he lost his family, lashing out and getting pissed off, but he was willing to do make very rash decisions to keep everyone safe.

These actions were definitely pretty damn evil, but he did two good things for Rick and his people.

1. Shane was willing to murder a man named Owen, to save Carl's life.

Carl had gotten shot by Otis by accident, while he was hunting a deer. Carl was taken to a farm, owned by a man named Hershel, and his family. Carl was getting treated there, but they unfortunately needed particular equipment to save his life. Shane and Otis traveled to an abandoned hospital to get this equipment, but things instantly go wrong when a large horde of the dead is chasing them.

Shane injures his leg, and realizing that they most likely won't make it, Shane makes the shocking decision to injure Otis, leaving him behind to distract the horde. Shane makes it to the farm, and is able to save Carl's life.

Yes, this was a damn evil thing to do, leaving a man to get eaten alive, but this brutal sacrifice led to Carl's chance at survival.

2. Shane opened Hershel and his families' eyes to their new harsh world, including Rick.

Hershel and his family had the habit of collecting zombies, to take to the barn and keep them in there, sort of like they were looking after them. Shane gets pissed when he first hears about this, and he decides to open up the barn, cleaning up all of the zombies inside. Once we get the shocking twist of Carol's dead daughter inside, Rick steps up, permanently putting her to rest.

This huge moment proved that Rick had the guts to survive in this brutal world, and even Hershel learned the hard way that these 'sick people' are just dead, and can no longer be saved.

Yes, this scene was cruel on so many levels, but he did three good things in this scene. Rick proved himself to the group, Hershel and his family learned about their new terrible world the hard way, and Carol got a messed-up closure about the fate of her missing daughter.

After these two big events, Shane goes insane, and Rick is forced to kill him.

Shane had become the future of what Rick's people were going to become. Literally 90% of the group was forced to do awful actions like Shane did, willing to murder anyone to look after their own people. They all became Shane in a way, in order to keep themselves safe.

Of course, while the group did evil things, Shane was way too unstable to leave alive. His actions were 'good' for the most part, but his reasons for wanting to kill Rick later was insane, all because he felt like he had lost his chance at having a family. Shane was never meant for their new world, but everyone else in Rick's group, were willing to do what Shane did, and were somehow able to stay sane (for the most part).

His character downfall was foreshadowing what was going to happen to Rick's group, and that is why Shane's character is the most important one in the entire series.

Thank you for reading!

Emy Quinn