Who will survive? That's the question fans of AMC's The Walking Dead have been asking for six years. Who are the true monsters? Is it the unscrupulous humans in a lawless society or the brainless and ravenous walkers? Blood and gore aside, TWD keeps viewers at the edge of their seats by remaining unpredictable, with main characters often meeting grizzly fates. And while the series' characters — and even the show itself — won't live forever, some fans have offered them immortality via their tattoos.
Everyone in the series may be trying to save his or her own skin, but these fans volunteered their own flesh to celebrate the zombie thriller series. Check out these Walking Dead tattoos that are really works of art.
Image via aontattoo/Instagram
Rick Grimes
Imagine waking up from a coma, only to learn that a zombie outbreak has decimated much of the population. That's what happened to Rick Grimes in The Walking Dead's pilot episode*.* Persevering against all odds, Rick was reunited with his wife and son, then emerged as the leader of a group of survivors. Typically levelheaded, strong, and decisive, Rick takes his responsibility as a protector seriously — and, presumably, so does the person with this striking tattoo.
'Fight the Dead...'
In the promotional posters for TWD's season three, the words "Fight the Dead, Fear the Living" appeared as a new tagline, suggesting that the truly scary elements introduced in the season would be of the human variety. Sure enough, we soon met The Governor. This tattoo pays homage to the famous phrase, while also incorporating a biohazard symbol (perhaps a reference to Rick's "We're all infected" revelation after the group's visit to the CDC), plus a reference to Daryl Dixon's arrows.
Daryl the Dashing
Though Rick Grimes is the series' protagonist, it's the brooding, motorcycle-riding, crossbow-wielding Daryl Dixon who makes female viewers' hearts flutter. He may seem a bit rough around the edges at first, but Daryl's heart is pure gold. As the series has progressed, he's shown tremendous emotional growth, letting down his guard a bit in order to follow Carol's advice and allow himself to be loved. This cartoon-y Daryl tattoo deserves all the heart eye emojis.
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Lucille
In season six, Negan introduced his weapon of choice, a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire, with the words, "This is Lucille, and she is awesome." The murderous leader of the Saviors uses his bat to terrorize zombies and humans alike. In the season finale, he famously chose someone to die as punishment by chanting, "Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe," while pointing Lucille at a different person with every word. Perhaps this tat captures the brutality some humans succumb to when social norms fall by the wayside.
Teddy Bear Walker
The first zombie to appear on The Walking Dead was Summer, a little blonde girl in floral PJs, a robe, and bunny slippers, who walked along a row of deserted cars parked along a road, picked up a teddy bear, then spotted Rick Grimes and sneered at him, ready to pounce on her next meal. Adult walkers may be gross, but there's something about undead children that's beyond creepy and eerie, all of which is captured in this tat.
'Just Survive Somehow'
In the first episode of season six, TWD fans watched, bewildered, as Enid wrote the letters "JSS" on a dirty car window. In the following episode, the teen continued writing "JSS" everywhere, finally revealing the acronym's meaning in a farewell letter to Carl: "Just Survive Somehow." This tattoo pays tribute to Enid's motto, one which can inspire us to muster the strength to carry on when faced with adversity — even in a world without zombies!
Deer-Eating Walker
Think all zombies are equally revolting? Nope! Throughout the course of six years, The Walking Dead has exposed viewers to some rather gnarly-looking walkers, but a few of them were particularly hideous and haunting. A young Carl came across the walker pictured in this tat in episode 3 of season 1. The ravenous zombie was devouring a deer, his hands and mouth covered in blood, when he started walking toward a petrified Carl and was slain by one of Daryl's arrows. The deer-eating zombie, however, is still one of the most iconic walkers in the series' history.
Glenn & Maggie
Who would've thought that romance could blossom in a world overrun by zombies? Despite the circumstances, Glenn and Maggie enjoyed a near-idyllic romance. Even when meeting his horrific fate at the hands of Negan in season seven, Glenn mustered the strength to make one final amorous gesture, telling his wife he'd find her in the afterlife. This tat touches upon the hope, affection, and tenderness that these lovebirds clung to during the worst of times.
Hershel Greene
Rick's most trusted adviser, Hershel, served as the show's moral compass. He not only gave Rick's group sanctuary at his farm (well, until walkers forced them all to flee), but he tended to the sick and injured at the prison where the group subsequently settled. While others tried to justify betraying their values and beliefs by musing about how the world had changed, Hershel derived strength from his virtuousness. This tat celebrates the righteous character.
Carl Grimes
Adolescence is difficult enough without grappling with legions of hungry zombies and power-hungry humans that are often scarier than their undead counterparts. Carl Grimes has had to grow up fast. Sometimes, the hardened teen seems downtrodden and even cold, while in other instances, like when he eats his beloved pudding, his childlike innocence shines through. His story is one of constant change and adaptation — who can't relate to that?
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Shane Walsh
Rash, conniving, and calculating, Shane turned into quite the antagonist in season two of The Walking Dead. After he betrayed Rick one too many times, Rick plunged a knife into Shane's chest and killed him. But when Shane reanimated as a zombie — without being bitten or scratched by a walker! — we all knew a major plot twist was coming. It was also symbolic of the "virus," the propensity toward evil, with which we're all "infected."
Just Look at the Flowers...
Once 11-yeatr-old Lizzie stabbed and killed her little sister Mika to prove she could come back to life, Carol realized that the budding psychopath posed a safety risk to the entire group, so she made a tough decision. Taking Lizzie to the garden, Carol asked her to "look at the flowers" and, holding back her own tears, she put a bullet through the young girl's head. The line "Just look at the flowers" is now as memorable as Friends' "We were on a break!" or Seinfeld's "Yada yada yada."
Daryl Dixon
If there's one guy we'd want by our side in the event of a zombie outbreak, it would be Daryl Dixon. He can track animals and hunt, he can kill a walker from miles away with his crossbow, he can weave in and out of tight spaces with his motorcycle, and he's sensitive and caring beneath his surly exterior. When he comforted a despondent Carol by gifting her a Cherokee rose, saying he believed it had bloomed for her daughter, Sophia, we all swooned. Who wouldn't want to stare at a tattoo of Daryl all day?
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Sheriff Grimes
He may not wear his star-shaped King's County Sheriff badge and his uniform, but Rick Grimes is still trying to maintain some semblance of law and order among the humans who survived the zombie outbreak. This tattoo captures Rick's efforts to protect and serve by depicting him in the police officer uniform he wore throughout season 1.
Hershel's Farm
Throughout season two of TWD, it seemed like the survivors might just be able to build their own little functional society at the Greene Family Farm in rural Georgia, where they had access to food and water, and where walker sightings were a rare occurrence. The peace and quite didn't last long, but the farm was the first place that felt like home after the zombie apocalypse. Even for viewers, Hershel's farm holds some sentimental value.
'Don't Open...'
This upper leg tattoo is a thoughtful collage of the series' most recognizable symbols, weapons, and artifacts. Two dead-bolted doors spray painted with the words "Don't Open, Dead Inside" (which were the words Rick saw spray-painted on the hospital cafeteria doors when he awoke from his coma) serve as the backdrop, while Rick Grimes's gun, Daryl Dixon's crossbow, Hershel Greene's family pocket watch, and a white Cherokee rose all hover along the forefront, as intertwined as the lives of the characters they represent. It's the ultimate superfan montage!
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Undead Deputy Basset
In the first episode of The Walking Dead, Rick headed over to the King's County Sherrif's office to shower and stock up on weapons. As he was leaving, he came face-to-face with his former colleague Deputy Leon Bassett, who had been turned into a zombie, and unloaded a bullet into his head. This tat captures the scene with near-photographic precision and shows that the person flaunting it has an encyclopedic knowledge of the show.
