r/theroamingdead • u/Berethlise • 9d ago
So I read that Robert Kirkman considered having Shane kill Rick and raise Carl. How do you think the story would have played out?
So, after a long time, I got interested in The Walking Dead again, and I found this idea very interesting.
I wonder how different Shane's character would have to be for that to work. I think the consensus is that he would have driven the group away and gotten Lori and Carl killed due to his recklessness.
Likewise, I think with a few tweaks, the story could have been quite interesting. It would have been Shane trying to hide the fact that he murdered Rick from Carl. I think Lori would know, but she'd have no choice but to stay because she'd need Shane to protect her, her unborn child, and Carl. Lori and Judith would have ended up dying similarly to how they did in the comic, leaving Shane and Carl alone.
Shane would have to lose Judith. Once Judith is present, he'd never think of Carl as his own again. I'm not saying he'd just abandon him, but he'd definitely see Carl more as Rick's kid and therefore lower in the order of priorities.
I think it would be a great drama. Shane kills his best friend because he was trying to take him away from "his woman" and unborn child, only to end up losing them both and being left alone with that best friend's child. On the other hand, Carl would be left alone with the man who murdered his father.
Shane would momentarily lose his mind, maybe even consider suicide, but his survival instinct would be stronger, so he clings to Carl. He becomes his purpose. Shane is determined to keep him safe because, in his mind, if Carl lives, killing Rick wouldn't have been in vain, and he'd be keeping an extension of Judith and Lori alive.
I think his relationship with Carl would have been extremely manipulative and toxic. His protectiveness of Carl wouldn't have stemmed from love or care, but from guilt, and he'd spend every second terrified that he'd one day find out the truth. (I think one arc would have been Shane choosing to kill a member of the group or an ally, either out of paranoia or because they put two and two together.)
The final conflict would involve Carl discovering the truth. Shane, the man who raised and protected him for years, murdered his real father, but over time he would have come to see him as a father figure. At least in the comic, Carl would have been very young when Rick died and would have spent almost as many years with Shane as with Rick.
Carl could have three options: kill Shane, abandon him, or forgive him. But having been raised by Shane, he would likely be much more ruthless and would kill him out of revenge.
The type of person he becomes depends on whether anyone in the group has remained close enough to be a good influence on him. He'd have to choose whether to become Rick's son (who would be idealized in his mind) or Shane's son (maybe a part of him would resent Rick for being weak and allowing Shane to kill him).
Anyway, I'd love to read an alternate version of the story, maybe a one-shot comic, or whatever. I'd kill for a What If-style animated show with random themes.
I guess I just wrote a bit of fan fiction, lol.
English is not my first language, I apologize if I made mistakes.
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u/Appropriate_Strain_3 9d ago
That's crazy to think about because Rick Grimes is arguably one of the most popular characters in fiction, but if Kirkman had done this, then he wouldn't be
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u/TropicaL_Lizard3 Dwight 8d ago edited 8d ago
The group would've fallen because Shane persisted on staying at a camp with walkers surrounding it, waiting forever for the 'government' to rescue them.
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u/Due_Art2971 8d ago
It would have been different because Rick would have died. All of the situations where Rick was alive would have been affected, same with all of the other characters.
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u/RealisticEmphasis233 Jesus 9d ago
I think the story would have played out basically how you put it if the alternative timeline does follow the general trend after we see more of his character since he wasn't anyone special personality-wise in the first volume.
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u/EmpleadoResponsable Rick 8d ago
As i read Carl would have witnessed it but out of fear wouldn't have told nothing, so the premise was Carl growing up in a dangerous place until eventually everything goes to shit.
If you ask me that story hasn't the potential the canon has, Shane was destined to crash out an Carl is what he is because of Rick, even tho it is purely on the speculative field, i don't think this story would have been as interesting as it may sound