Rick Grimes

"You still don't get it. None of you do! We know what needs to be done and we do it. We're the ones who live. You, you just sit and plan and hesitate. You pretend like you know when you don't. You wish things weren't what they are. Well you want to live? You want this place to stay standing? Your way of doing things is done. Things don't get better because you want them to. Starting right now, we have to live in the real world. We have to control who lives here. (...) Me? Me? You-- you mean me? Your way is gonna destroy this place. It's gonna get people killed. It's already gotten people killed. I'm not gonna stand by and let it happen. If you don't fight, you die."

- Rick to Deanna Monroe and the Alexandria residents.

Rick Grimes is the main protagonist and a survivor of the outbreak in AMC's The Walking Dead. He is a former police officer of the King County sheriff's deputy who was shot in the line of duty and fell into a coma only to wake up and find himself in the middle of an undead apocalypse. He travels to Atlanta, Georgia searching for his family, Lori, his wife, and Carl, his son, who have traveled to Atlanta with his best friend, Shane Walsh, in search of a safe-haven.

Appearance
Rick is a fairly tall Caucasian man with a slim figure, and although his age is unspecified, he appears to be around his mid to late 30's. He has dark brown wavy hair, and through the first three seasons keeps facial stubble and eventually a small beard. His apparel and clothing changes throughout the seasons, but is most notably identified with his beige and brown police uniform, along with his brown US Cavalry/Sheriff's hat (which is later given to his son, Carl). He also keeps his brown police holster, which carries his favorite side-arm, his classic Colt Python .357 Magnum.

Personality
Rick is typically calm, smart, a good friend and father, but will often stubbornly cling to his personal strong moral code, which has resulted in numerous bad calls and extra stress within the group. Rick's greatest fault, perhaps, is his uncanny ability to place responsibility on himself and set for himself goals that are impossible to reach. This has, on various occasions, put Rick at ends with both Lori and Shane, and often weighs heavily on his mind. Despite his faults, his combat skill and general care for all members of the group have led him to be looked up to, and allowed him to take the leadership role within the group.

He is shown to be incredibly protective of his group and their well-being, having engaged numerous threats, even other living people to keep them safe. His moral compass is challenged in many ways and he, in an attempt to prevent more death and loss, begins to shut everybody else out. Despite this, Rick was able to use his leadership skills and combat abilities to keep the group alive for many months following the destruction of the farm, and lead the group in taking the prison; using seemingly desperate survival tactics they had come to learn on the road all winter.

After the death of Lori, Rick becomes very emotionally unstable, and it is not until just before the group learns of the Woodbury threat that Rick comes back to his senses, although evidently Rick has become a ruthless, uncompromising leader of survivors, contrasting his high moral code and values in the previous seasons. Following Andrea's death, Rick seems to have regained much of his old self. During the time-skip, Rick relinquished his leadership position in order to focus more on raising Carl. As the fourth season goes on, Rick's leadership starts becoming a request from many of the other group members, most notably Daryl. After The Governor attacks the prison, Rick becomes distraught and remorseful of the loss of the prison and the, what he believes to be, death of Judith. He becomes more protective of Carl and gets into a few arguments with him. After Rick meets up with Michonne, he loosens his grip on Carl a bit and allows himself some time to rest, albeit only temporarily.

As he, Carl, and Michonne evacuate the house and come across a poster pointing to Terminus, he decides to take the chance and see the apparent sanctuary. Rick has a realization of who he is, as he is found by the Claimers, who had caused him to get out of the house. He ultimately comes to terms with brutality, which he thinks he has put away for good, when he ends up biting out Joe's jugular and stabs Dan to death. After that night, he explains how he knows of his two different personality traits and how he has settled his mind knowing that by turning to brutality, he has kept his son safe and he has kept his friends alive.

After arriving at Terminus, Rick has accepted his leadership position for which the group respect him. He holds no conflict in his mind anymore and does not doubt his decisions; and from his teachings by Hershel whom he came to view as a mentor (as well a father figure towards him), Rick now understands that he can still retain his humanity by protecting his friends and has personally stated that he views his group as his family. His darker side is shown through his brutality and he does not hesitate to kill someone whom he views as a threat, fearing they will come back and kill his family (releted to what happend to Lori when Rick didn´t kill Andrew). Also, during Season 5, Rick has grown massive trust issues towards any strangers that he and his group come across, even if they seem timid and harmless; he had a long and hard time trusting Gabriel Stokes and Aaron, even threatening to kill them once or twice if they did anything that would harm his family and friends. His trust issues were so strong that he even suspected Aaron's apple sauce to be poisoned before Judith can eat it, and an offended Aaron pointed out, while Aaron himself was tied up, that killing Rick's daughter in front of him would only lead to Aaron getting killed by Rick. Aaron tried telling Rick that his trust issues are really exaggerated, but Rick remained stubborn and forced Aaron to eat the apple sauce to prove that it's safe for Judith to eat. In the end, Aaron and Gabriel (for the most part) proved to not be threats.

Relying on his former police skills and survival tactics, Rick has become a battle-hardened survivor who will protect his family without question: in many ways, Rick has become like Shane, ready to kill without a moments hesitation and not trusting anyone except for his group, and knowing that in this world that it is now, there are very few good people left and if you don't fight for your survival against people who are bad, then you die. In addition to him acting like Shane, Rick also obtains a few similarities to other primary antagonists that he has killed (or other members of his group have killed) in the past, particularly The Governor, Joe, and Gareth. However, unlike Shane, The Governor, Joe, and Gareth, Rick retains some of his humanity and honour for the sake of his family and friends, and looks to his friends (particularly Michonne, Glenn, Maggie, Carol, and even Carl) for guidance and making sure that he doesn't completely lose his sanity.

Trivia

 * His signature weapon is the Colt Python, which has been seen in most of the TV Series episodes.
 * Rick's story (waking from a coma to the aftermath of a zombie apocalypse) is very similar to that of Jim from Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later.
 * Rick is one of the three remaining living characters that made an appearance in the very first episode of the series, the others being Carl and Morgan.
 * Rick currently has the most episode appearances in the series, with the second being his son.
 * Rick is either the same age, or fairly older than his Comic Series counterpart. Being somewhere in his mid to late 30's, while in the Comic Series, he is 31.
 * In the Comics, Rick was the one who originally went to Woodbury, along with Michonne and Glenn. Rick lost his right hand in the process. In the TV Series, Michonne and Andrea were the first ones to reach Woodbury, and Rick still has both of his hands.
 * In the Comics, Rick's signature weapons were a hatchet he took from a farm and a Heckler & Koch Mark 23, while in the TV series it's his Colt Python and his Gator Machete.

Comic Series
"Our war with The Saviors has ended. The Hilltop, Alexandria and The Kingdom, The Sanctuary... These are all just places. Whatever differences we had before, we must put those behind us as we move forward. The fighting is over... Now it is time for what comes next. We stand here united together as one people... and it is my wish for us to remain that way. There will always be "us against them"... but we need to never forget we are "us" and the dead are "them". We have our adversary. We don't need to make another from each other. If we work together, we can accomplish so much. We can remake the world we remember... and we can make it better."

- Rick's speech to the Hilltop, Alexandria, Kingdom and Saviors.

Rick Grimes is the main protagonist of Image Comics' The Walking Dead who was first encountered in Issue 1, and one of the last remaining Atlanta survivors. The Comic Series is meant to follow his life for the approximate 300 issue run. Rick is the husband of Lori Grimes and father of Carl Grimes.

Trivia

 * Harrison Memorial Hospital was the name of the hospital that Rick Grimes stayed at during his coma, and this is an actual hospital located in Cynthiana, Kentucky.
 * Rick has appeared in every issue, except Issue 30, Issue 43 (which wasn't a regular issue, but a flashback issue), and Issue 105.
 * Rick, along with Andrea, Michonne, Abraham Ford, Brian Blake, and Negan have killed the most named characters either as a zombie or as a living person.
 * Robert Kirkman has said that early on, he was willing to kill Rick in Issue 6, instead of Shane and show how it would affect Carl, having a dead father with Shane being with Lori, etc.
 * Robert Kirkman has expressed annoyance that Rick lost his hand so early on and has said it has caused great difficulty in writing for the character in the issues that followed.
 * Rick is one of the four known surviving members of the original Atlanta group, the others being Andrea, Carl, and Sophia.
 * It is revealed in the script book that Rick is 29 years old at the onset of the apocalypse, by Volume 18, it's been nearly 2 years since the outbreak started, making Rick's current age 31.
 * Rick is one of the playable characters in The Walking Dead Board Game.
 * Rick shares many similarities to Lee Everett. For example:
 * Both (Determinant) lose one of their hands to an amputation.
 * Both come to be seen as the leader of their relevant groups.
 * Rick was willing to go to great extents to protect his son, Carl. Similarly, Lee, who thought of Clementine as his own daughter, was willing to go to great extents in order to protect her.
 * Both admit to having committed regrettable acts.
 * Both have been forced to kill numerous people in order to survive.
 * Both consider family to be important.
 * Both (Determinant) of their latest romantic interests are sharp shooters.
 * Both have had wives that cheated on them.
 * Both were unconscious at some point during the early stages of the apocalypse.