The Walking Dead: Read Carl’s letters to Rick and Negan
Rick finally read the letter that Carl wrote for him and Michonne delivered the note he left for Negan on the latest episode of The Walking Dead.
The second half of The Walking Dead’s eighth season has been all about Rick and Negan and how they are going to end their war. The season 8 finale promises there will be an end to this all-out war that has spread across seasons and cost many characters their lives. Will there be peace at the end? Hardly. Prepare for more bloodshed and more characters to be killed off as we figure out what type of world they want to live in.
Carl wanted there to be peace between Rick and Negan. He believed in this so much that he spent his final moments alive trying to convince his father that there could be peace between him and Negan. After Rick slaughtered the escaped Saviors in episode 14 with the help of Morgan, he defied Carl’s wishes on his death-bed. He had a chance to extend the olive branch and be the bigger man. After tossing an axe at a guy’s throat, all shot at peace was lost.
Rick put off reading the letter that Carl left for him in the days that followed his death. At the urging of Michonne, Rick finally began the healing process when he opened the letter and read it as he sat outside his bedroom by himself.
Next: What happened last week on TWD?
You may want to grab some tissues because this was one of those moments that tugs on your heartstrings.
Below you can read the entire letter Carl wrote for his dad, Rick, courtesy of the Hollywood Reporter.
"I remember my eighth birthday at the KCC, with that giant cake and Aunt Evie showing up on leave, surprising all of us. I remember mom. I remember Codger. I remember school and going to the movies and Friday night pizza and cartoons and grandma and grandpa and church, the summer barbecues, and the kiddie pool you got me. I could’ve used that at the prison.You told me about the walks we would take when I was 3. You holding my hand around the neighborhood, all the way to Ross’ farm. I didn’t know that I remembered them, but I do, because I see the sun and the corn and that cow that walked up to the fence and looked me in the eye. You told me about all that stuff, but it isn’t just that stuff. It’s how I felt. Holding your hand, I felt happy and special. I felt safe.I thought growing up was about getting a job and maybe a family — being an adult. But growing up is about making yourself and the people you love safe. As safe as you can, because things happen. They happened before. You were shot before things went bad. It kind of felt like things went bad because you were shot. I want to make you feel safe, dad. I want you to feel like I felt when you held my hand. Just to feel that way for five minutes … I’d give anything to make you feel that way now.I wanted to kill Negan. I wish I did. Maybe it would have been done. I don’t think it’s done now. You went out there again, but I don’t think they surrendered. I don’t think they will surrender. There are workers in there, dad. They’re just regular people: old people, young people, families. You don’t want them to die, dad. We’re so close to starting everything over, and we have friends now. It’s that bigger world you used to talk about: the Kingdom, the Hilltop. There’s got to be more places, more people out there — a chance for everything to change and keep changing. Everyone giving everyone the opportunity to have a life. A real life.If they won’t end it, you have to. You have to give them a way out. You have to find peace with Negan. You have to find a way forward somehow. We don’t have to forget what happened, but you can make it so it doesn’t happen again, and nobody has to live this way. That every life is worth something. Start everything over. Show everyone they can be safe again without killing, that it can feel safe again, that it can go back to being birthdays, schools, jobs and even Friday night pizza somehow — and walks with a dad and a 3-year-old, holding hands. Make that come back, dad. And go on those walks with Judith. She’ll remember them.I love you.– Carl"
The letter was even more powerful during the episode because the viewer was hearing it in Carl’s voice. This was the opening scene of the episode and all we saw of Rick. I can’t even imagine being in a position to have to write such a letter, but I think that about covered all of it. Reliving some of his fondest memories with his dad, mom, grandparents and his hopes and dreams he has for his dad and younger sister, Judith was enough to make the strongest person break down in tears.
Conversely, the letter Carl wrote for Negan was much more succinct. Carl didn’t get to deliver the note to Negan himself, but Michonne read it to Negan through a walkie-talkie at the end to provide a nice bookend to the episode. It began with Carl hoping for peace and ending with Negan saying there can’t be peace and it ends with all of them dead.
"Negan,This is Carl. I was helping someone. I got bit. Didn’t even have to be doing what we were doing. I was just helping someone, and now I’m gone. You might be gone. Maybe my dad made your people give you up and he killed you, but I don’t think so. I think you’re still around. I think you’re working on a way out. Maybe you got out. Maybe you think we’re a lost cause and you just want to kill all of us. I think you think you have to be who you are. I just wonder if this is what you wanted. I wanted to ask you. I wish I could have. Maybe you’ll beat us. If you do, there will just be someone else to fight. The way out is working together. It’s forgiveness. It’s believing that it doesn’t have to be a fight anymore — because it doesn’t. I hope my dad offers you peace. I hope you take it. I hope everything can change. It did for me. Start over. You still can.– Carl"
I really admire Carl’s vision for a better future. I thought he would be the future for the world as the fearless leader he was at a young age. Unfortunately, what made him special is what got him killed. He won’t be around to see the future, but his words can be the impetus to a bright future.
Next: TWD season 8 finale trailer
The Walking Dead season 8 finale airs Sunday on AMC at 9 p.m. ET.