people dont talk enough about how heartbreaking the marlon betrayal mustve been for clem too,,

this dude saves the life of her and her kid. takes them in has them patched up gives them their first hot meal in who knows how long. gives them a safe place to stay. possibly permanently. confides in her that hes trying to be a good leader but feels like and fears that hes failing. asks her to help him take care of the rest of the group. helps her get over her fear of dogs by asking her to trust him. and things go well. she feels safe. like this place could really finally be the home shes been looking for

but as soon as she finds out what happened to the twins. that marlon planned on giving up her and aj too. she immediately becomes a liability to him and he attempts to kill her for it. locks her in the basement to die by walker. then tries to turn the group against her so he can shoot her instead when the first method fails. and he nearly succeeds

then a majority of the group turn against clem the minute aj kills marlon. ignoring marlons mistakes but condemning aj for his. like clem wasnt betrayed by marlon in the exact same way he betrayed the twins. like she literally wasnt almost killed twice? and how long had he been considering giving her up? was it always some contingency he planned? did he truly want to keep them around and things only changed when he feared the raiders had returned? she'll never know

Top 5 Character Deaths That Made Me Side-Eye the Writers

There are a lot of character deaths in TWDG... obviously. It a series about the literal dead walkin’ around and eating people, so as you’re playing, one of your favorite characters is bound to meet such a fate. To give this series credit, it does have quite a few well-executed deaths that, while I hate them, they have a purpose in the story that works. 

The best example of this is Lee’s death-- we all hate that Lee dies, but it’s well-done. It serves its purpose, it acted as both a shock and a slow-burn for the player, and left us all an emotional mess. 

However, we’re not talking about the “good” deaths today. No, we’re talking about the character deaths that are poorly executed, cheap, lazy, and just plain dumb... they’re the deaths that make me side-eye the writing team and wonder what the fuck happened there. 

By the way, it was reeeeeeal fun narrowing it down to only five deaths, because it seems like for every great death, there’s at least two bad ones.

5. Mariana and her death that ruined ANF’s potential story

I’ve talked at length about Mariana’s death and how much I hate it. Like, I get it TWDG... you love your sudden deaths and you’re so edgy for killing off a child character because you’ve never done that before... but maybe consider things a little further before pulling the trigger?

Yeah, killing off Mariana the way they did got a reaction outta people when it happened, and we got the burial scene if you stayed with Clementine... but you didn’t consider the future of this storyline? You pretend you did by name dropping Mari when it’s convenient, but then throw it out the window when it comes to characters like David or Gabe.

Listen, I know that ANF is a mess and what’s the point in telling the mess that it’s a mess? Well, I’m still annoyed at the writers for wasting the biggest opportunity for this game’s story, something that could’ve saved it from being a mess.

And I get it, you gotta make a death quota, so instead of killing Mariana off... why not kill Kate off instead? Oh no? We don’t get the stupid love triangle that no one actually enjoys or is engaged in?

Instead of this dumb story about Javi falling in love with his sister-in-law but oh no David’s back.... we could’ve had a story about Javi losing Kate and being left to care for two children by himself. Mariana and Gabe are all he has left, and he going to do whatever he can to keep them safe all while the three of them are mourning Kate.

Then David comes back, and he immediately takes these kids away from Javi.

There is no stupid storyline with Kate, but an actual conflict between two brothers who were never on the same page and two kids caught in the middle.

Plus, Mariana herself as a character really could’ve brought something to the table. She could’ve brought out a lot in David’s character since she seems to be more like Javi.

Her death is just... annoying. It’s frustrating when you know they could’ve told a better story with her alive, something ANF desperately needed.

My side-eye is one of disappointment and annoyance.

4.Luke and his easily preventable drowning

Ugh.... where to even begin? 

Luke really just gets butchered as a character throughout the second half of S2, and the writers end up demolishing the set up they placed at the beginning of the season for a Luke vs Kenny thing. 

Why? Well, Luke vs Kenny was the initial ending they were gonna go with, but because this season went through all kinds of bullshit, they scrapped that and replaced Luke with Jane... and it’s so dumb.

Hell, it kind of ruins a lot. Not only did it ruin Luke, a character that many players loved, but it forces the new character of Jane, who we only get two episodes to get to know, so they can fade Luke out. 

But that’s not all. 

His death is so... ugh. It’s stupid, okay? Stupid and easily preventable, but noooo... we gotta kill Luke off for reasons because all we know is that S1 killed off a lot of characters and we’re gonna do that again but worse because we failed to understand what made those deaths impactful in the first place. 

Lots of character death and despair = good game. 

Yep, uh-huh. Okay. 

So we all know that Luke’s leg is hurt, yeah? Great, so you’d think that the group that has an injured man and a new born baby would be extra cautious and go around the frozen lake. Yeah, Arvo says that it’s safe but let’s not take any chances. 

But no. We gotta go across like a group of dingdongs and whattya know-- the ice begins to crack beneath Luke’s feet. Now, even here, we coulda got him outta there safely... if Bonnie wasn’t a dingus. 

Think about it. If we shot the walkers who were coming towards Luke with all their weight, he could’ve slowly scooted away, even if he’s already fallen through. BUT NO. Bonnie either guilts Clementine into going towards him, adding more weight to the already fragile ice as Luke tells her to stop, or Bonnie will go over there herself... and she’s a full grown woman soooo her weight breaks the ice. 

Good job, you dipsticks. 

When you have to make your characters into morons in order to move the plot along and kill off characters....maybe do some rethinking, yeah? 

 3. Mitch and his shock-value death

This death is so dumb... so incredibly, dumb. Even now, I can’t help but give full side-eye to the writers every time one of them tries to justify this death. 

I’m sorry, but this death didn’t have the impact you wanted it to have. And because there’s always someone who says, “Mitch didn’t die for shock value, you just can’t tell the difference between a good and bad death” lemme tell you a thing. 

What was the point of killing of Mitch? Well, according to those who worked on TFS, it was to show that Lilly and the delta are serious. This is when shit gets real, and when Lilly is established as a bad bitch who will do whatever it takes to get what she wants. We should be scared of her now. 

Except no. 

This scene doesn’t tell me that Lilly is a bad bitch. It tells me that she has good reflexes, and going off her reaction after killing Mitch.... I’m not fucking scared of this dumbass. If anything, this scene says more about Mitch than it does Lilly. It says that Mitch is also a dumbass for running at her like he did. 

Y’know what would’ve been more impactful? If Mitch didn’t immediately get stabbed in the throat, but instead, actually got her on the ground and struggled with Lilly. Then, Lilly gets the upper hand and when you think she’s about to send Mitch to the cart, she fucking murders him in front of everyone to prove a point. 

There’s no remorse, it’s slow enough for Lilly to actually process what’s happening and show that she does know what she’s doing. That would scare me. That would show me that these people aren’t fucking around and they’re willing to kill some of them if that means getting the rest for their army. 

You still get your shock value death but it actually does something other than kill a character off. 

I’m really supposed to believe this is the same Lilly who can order to have Louis’ tongue cut off? 

But it doesn’t end there. No, no... there’s another part to Mitch’s death that annoys me, and it’s how insistent everyone was that his death is going to have a greater impact on the second half of the story. It had a purpose within the story, we did it for a reason.

...I mean, it has an impact on Willy and his arc for the second half. 

But that’s it. 

Oh... oh, what’s that? Oh, you were referring to those throwaway lines about Tenn? “He was screwing up again, just like when he got Mitch killed.”

OOOOOH.... I see, that’s what Mitch’s death was really amounting to... some lines dealing with whether or not AJ shot Tenn. Well, I guess I was wrong. Mitch’s death wasn’t just shock value. It really had a big purpose. In fact, Mitch’s death has the biggest impact on the series. Fuck Marlon and Brody’s deaths, and Lilly and James, and hell, fuck Tenn’s death, too. They’re meaningless compared to Mitch’s death. You did it, guys. You really did it. 

....Okay, I’m done. I’m just... salty, I fully admit. 

Being serious again, Mitch’s death is probably the worst in TFS as far as unpreventable deaths go and the real reason I side-eye the writers is because they tried to tell us it was going to have this huge impact in the future and it just... didn’t. 

2. Nick and his offscreen death.

I’m sorry, but what the fuck happened here? Why- what are you- how the hell did this happen??

I’m actually baffled. 

Someone wrote this. 

They set up at the end of ep3 that Nick is shot.... then ep4 comes and we find him like this. I just... did someone on the writing staff not wanna do their job that day? Someone was working on the story and at the last minute forgot Nick was a character, so they were like “Eh, he’s not important anyway, and it adds to the shittiness of everything so we’ll pretend this was 100% intentional.” 

Nick was one of your more interesting characters and you really thought killing him off like this was the way to go, huh? 

Like, his first death is shitty, but in the very least it kind of makes sense. 

But this? 

This is horrible. If I wrote this, I’d be embarrassed. 

I just... I’m so tired of S2 right now. 

This is at #2 because it’s just lazy, bad writing. At least with Luke, Mitch, and Mariana, we got to see their deaths and they had some, even if just a little, impact on the story afterward. 

But Nick? 

Nothin’.

Even Luke, who is the closest person to Nick, name drops him maybe twice? It’s just.... nothing. 

And yeah, you can come at me with the “oh well not every death has to have meaning!” 

This is a story, okay? This is a story crafted with characters who have arcs by people who wanted it to be a success, and usually that means having satisfying conclusions.... or, intentionally unsatisfying if that acts as a natural conclusion to their story or is a reoccurring theme. 

Nick’s death is just the writers falling flat on their faces and hoping no one would notice. 

1. Sarah and both of her shitty deaths. 

Ugh. UGH.

Okay. 

I’m not even side-eyeing anymore-- I’m fully glaring.

I don’t have to tell you how shitty both of Sarah’s deaths are. We all played S2, we all know that no matter what you do, Sarah dies in ep4. You can try to save her, she lives a little bit longer, and then falls to her death... and both deaths have her being devoured alive by walkers. 

Now, this is enough to annoy me. First off, I guess my choices don’t really matter. Sure, you can justify this as one of those “sometimes you can’t save someone, no matter how hard you try” ...and fine. Sure, if they had bothered to execute that point well, then great. 

But I disagree that the writers had that in mind when they were killing Sarah off. 

In fact, I know what what going on in their brains-- “God, can’t wait to kill Sarah off! Give us any reason to do it! She’s so damn annoying!”

The writers have openly admitted that a lot of the team were just waiting to kill Sarah off, waiting for any reason, so when the major part of the community who take everything at surface level because why think? kept complaining about Sarah, they jumped on the opportunity to kill her off.... but the deaths are dumb.

Listen, this isn’t like when the writers planned on killing Lee off. You can plan a death and even be excited about it because you’re excited about the story and execution of it all. You can be excited to see the heartbreaking end of this character’s story that you crafted because you know you put everything you had into it.

These deaths were lazy and the product of a team who didn’t care about the character. Sarah dies and no one cares. 

Sure, you leave her to die the first time and Jane does her thing about how you can’t save everyone, she talks about Jaime, and then Luke exposes himself as the fake Luke by agreeing that leaving Sarah behind was probably the right thing. Like what?

Now as much as I hate that first one, the second one is even worse. 

For some reason, Sarah is standing in the corner while they’re trying to fight off the walkers instead of being inside with Rebecca... y’know, where she would be if this was logical. 

Then the deck breaks and Sarah falls, trapped under a pile of wood. Jane, despite being the one who sees Sarah as a liability, goes down there to try and help her after Clementine begs her to. 

But because the writers don’t know what they’re doing, Jane gets hit by a random piece of wood and can’t get Sarah out in time, leaving her to be eaten alive by walkers. 

Then AJ is born and no one cares about Sarah ever again. 

I just.... 

Could’ve had an interesting story arc with a character who just lost her father in such a gruesome way, a character that already deals with anxiety and other problems that you never bothered to explain other than “she isn’t like Clementine” and you could’ve had her grow. 

But I guess that would’ve taken effort.... and screen time away from Kenny, and god forbid we ever do that. 

---

Honorable Mentions

-Ava falling to her death in the most comedic way possible, made even more hilarious by David’s two seconds of mourning. -Omid.... because hope is dead. Do you get it? Hope? is dead? Because Omid means hope? Do you get it?? -Honestly you could put most of S2′s deaths on this list because oh my god. -Ben because I’m still a salty bitch.  -I also wanna add Louis and Violet’s deaths on the bridge mostly because they die, Clem is sad for two seconds, Tenn says sorry, and then no one cares. Yeah, yeah, they mourned off screen and I call that lazy bullshit. -Hell, throw Tenn’s death on here, too, for similar reasons-- no one but Louis/Violet and AJ seem to care. Even Clementine is like “whatever” after it happens. 

---

Y’know, picking this one seemed like a good idea at the time, but by now I’m just annoyed by all these dumb deaths. So, what are your thoughts? Are there any deaths that make you question the writers that didn’t end up on the list? Do you agree or disagree with my list? Lemme know, we can have a friendly discussion about it. 

Have any suggestions for future T5F’s? Feel free to send ‘em in! :D

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Next week’s T5F Top 5 Favorite Louis Moments

Dating Mitch (Female!Reader)

A/N: This is actually really long, but I go hard for Mitch because he is my MAN. I’m so sad telltale killed him off, he had so much potential as a character. If they kill Aasim, AJ, Clem, Louis, or Violet, I might just riot. 

You first met Mitch when he was with Ruby and Clementine at the Greenhouse.

You were also a kid that was taken to the Delta to fight their war, but you were quick to see through their scheme and you never fell into their bribery of warm clothes and hot showers. As soon as they assigned you on your first mission, you abandoned your group in a cluster of walkers and ran like hell into the forest, meeting the three kids your age burying a body.

Ruby and Clementine had to make Mitch shut his mouth when they were bringing you back to the boarding school. He didn’t like bringing in another stranger, especially after what happened to Marlon. You decided to not ask about who that was or what happened to him. You were just happy to finally be out of that place.

Everyone welcomed you in, especially after they were sure you weren’t a threat. You were unarmed, and just a little bit taller than Willy was. And you were all smiled despite not having any food in your system what’s so ever.

You became close to Willy, Tenn. and AJ immediately, they reminded you of your younger brother who died in the very beginning. Not only that, you’d always were good with kids even before the end of the world. Willy had told you Mitch would warm up to you eventually.

After dinner, everyone piled around Louis, the tall boy with a sweet coat and a deck of cards. You figured you’d join them and see what the commotion was about.

It turned out to be a game of truth or dare and after Aasim had to kiss a walker head, you chickened out and picked truth.

“Where were you from before you came here? Surely you weren’t all alone running through the woods.” He asked.

You told the group you were actually on your own for a while after your older sister died and that a group of people had taken you off of the side of the road one day and told you to fight for them or die. Everyone got silent before the little boy with a large face scar asked if there was a girl named Minnie or Sophie where you were from.

You asked how he knew Minnie and he looked down at his hands and they fiddled together. Violet began to tell you the story of how you were a victim of a group who took children to force them into becoming soldiers, and that they lost people of their own because of the Delta. All of a sudden, everyone began asking several questions at once, about Minnie, Sophie, and a woman named Christa.

“Guys, back up. Let Y/N breathe a bit.” Mitch piped up out of nowhere, and everyone apologized and sat back down.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know much about Minnie and I’ve never met a Sophie or Christa. I ran away as soon as I could, so I didn’t have time to met anyone else besides Lilly.” Just saying her name made your blood boil. She was the real monster behind it all. Clementine told you later on while you both were on watch that she and Lilly had history and that the Delta was planning an attack on the school, which was the whole reason behind their being at the greenhouse.

Two weeks later, they arrived at the gates. Cages connected to horses, a sight you found familiar to see that left a nasty taste in your mouth. When Lily stepped out and began speaking of Minerva, you watched as Tenn blew his cover. Mitch and Willy were right next to you, annoyed but sympathetic at the naive little boy.

“Let me take you to them,-” “Shut the fuck up Lily!” You said, drawing your gun and aiming it at her head. “You’re not taking anyone else, not again!”

Mitch ran to attack Lily later on, and you noticed she had her knife drawn. You got in between her and Mitch and felt the blade pierce your skin. “Fuck, no. Not you too!” Mitch cried, but another member of the Delta came up from behind him and you lost your line of vision as you blacked out.

You woke up in a cell, one you’ve seen before. With Louis/Violet (depending on who Clem saved)

You made sure Violet knew Clem didn’t have time to save both of you, and you convinced her that Clem is dying knowing she let them take her. Violet felt better after being reassured by you.

When Louis kept yelling at Lily, you knew he was going to get punished. And you’d be damned if you were going to let that happen. Minerva unlocked your cell and put a gun to your head as Lily made way to Louis, a towel and knife in hand. “Maybe this will finally shut you up?”

Before Lily could lay a finger on Louis, you jumped on her back and clawed at her neck. Minnie shot your leg and Lily pushed you off, touching her neck to feel the blood from your nails. She stomped you out until you could barely move before she left. All you cared about was Louis not getting his punishment.

When Clem and the rest of Ericson came through, the first person you heard was Mitch calling your name. Louis jumped up and ran to the cell door, telling him where you were. After the door got broken open, Mitch ran to you and took you into his lap.

“What the hell did they do to you?” He asked, feeling over your cheeks. “I’m fine. They were gonna cut out his tongue. They’ve done it before.” You thought your ribs were broken since it was getting more difficult to breathe and talk. Not to mention, your stab wound has reopened and you were losing blood fast.

Mitch took off his coat and draped it over your shoulders, which helped with the bleeding once you pressed the material closer to your body. He lifted you up and took you out of the boat along with everyone else. You all waited for Clementine to return.

You weren’t sure when you fell asleep, but you woke up in a bed back at Ericsons. Mitch was on the ground next to you, ringing out a towel in a bowl of red water.

“Mitch?” “Oh, thank god. You gave me a scare back there.”

He was taking care of you since Ruby was taking care of everyone else that got injured on the mission.

He blamed himself for you getting hurt and taken. If he hadn’t run up to Lily or fought off that soldier sooner, he could have done something to help you. He began to ramble about how sorry he was until you sat yourself up and grabbed his hand.

“I stood in between you and her because I didn’t want to see another person I cared about die. I chose to go in your place because I didn’t want it to happen to you, Mitch. I’ve seen it all once already and I didn’t want you to go through it like I did.” You spoke in the softest tone Mitch has ever heard, not even his mother spoke to him with such kindness when he was a child.

Without even realizing, Mitch leaned in and pressed his lips against yours. When he noticed what he was doing he was about to pull away, but you put your hand on the back of his head to keep him close. 

His body pressed up against yours and by accident, he put a bit of pressure on your wounds and made you wince in pain.

He sits up quickly and backs away a bit, flustered and ashamed at the same time. You giggle and tell him it was alright and that he can come back, which he does. You two end up sitting next to each other for the rest of the day, just chatting about things you’ve never gotten to before. 

Mitch would also leave you on bed rest until Ruby cleared you to walk, and even then he’d stand by you just in case you lost your balance. 

While on bedrest, Mitch would fetch you everything you could have possibly needed. Felt hungry? He’d grab you a bowl of whatever Omar was whipping up. Got thirsty? Mitch would go all the way to the stream to get you a glass of fresh water. His eagerness to help you made it clear to everyone in the camp that Mitch had a soft spot for the newcomer. 

Even when you were completely healed, Mitch would volunteer to go with you on runs. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Louis or Aasim to bring you back safe, he just felt better if he was there just in case something went wrong. 

One night you had a nightmare and couldn’t go back to sleep. You laid in your room, staring at the ceiling with shaky breaths. Every time you heard a noise you jumped, thinking it was going to be the last thing you heard before a walker or bullet got to you. You stood up, not being able to take it anymore, and walked out of the room. You thought if you looked outside you would see there was nothing to worry about and that you would feel better. What you didn’t know was that Mitch was on the lookout shift that night. 

He spotted you immediately and almost drew his weapon until he saw it was you, eyes red and skin paler than ever. “Y/N, are you feeling alright? You should be asleep.” 

Once you started saying what was on your mind, Mitch listened to your worries intently and gave you reassurance. He told you that whatever challenges you face from now on, he’ll be right there with you. Before you knew it, Willy was there to take the next shift.

Mitch didn’t like the idea of you being alone when you were feeling like this, so he offered you his bedroom and said he’d sleep on the floor.

“That’s ridiculous, it’s your bed and it’s big enough for the both of us.” When you guys fell asleep you were as far as possible from each other but at some point, you guys were intertwined in each other’s arms and legs. 

Not only was it his attitude towards you, but it was also his attitudes towards others that made everyone in the camp think that you were good for Mitch. He had a short temper as it was, but you were the only one that managed to calm him down and make him listen to the voice of reason. 

Finally, you keep Mitch from being too hard on himself when he thinks something is his fault when it either wasn’t, unavoidable or an accident. He trusted you to tell him the truth and in turn, he believed most of what you said or at least took it into consideration. Everyone appreciated the impact you were on their troubled youth. 

~blake

New Positives

Louis' P.O.V. It wasn't a good sight when I found my girlfriend stagger inside of the room, supporting herself on a nearby wall and groaning slightly. I saw A.J.'s head poke out of the door as he came to her side to support Clementine. I stood from where I was and offered to help, but A.J. shook his head and insisted he had her. He assisted her onto the mattress and she took care of matters from there, resting  her head to the side and gazing at me through half-lidded eyes. For a moment, no words were exchanged. She looked at me and I looked at her. I smiled to show that things were going to be okay. I knew they would be since we both made it out alive. A little worse for wear, but still alive. She returned the smile and shut her eyes, gritting her teeth as the pain came back. A.J. came to her side and rested his head on her shoulder, looking up at her in worry. I'd been waiting in her room for an hour as Ruby tended to her wounds. It took awhile before she returned, having so many injuries and Clementine's was among the worst experienced at the Delta's boat. Not only did I see her fight with Minnie and her struggle with Violet, but I heard she went hand-to-hand with Lily after we escaped. I wanted nothing more than to wait for her, comforting Clem the first thing after she was left to rest. I tried to make light of the situation. "Strong little dude, huh?" "He's as strong as they come." Clementine played along, ruffling A.J.'s hair. He smiled but said nothing as his mouth formed back into a frown. It was clear he wasn't in the mood. Even my smile dropped as I looked Clem up and down. "How are you holding up? You looked real hurt." "Lily's gotten a lot stronger over the years." Her eyelids drooped. "She had me pinned against the wall. I was fighting for my life by the time that happened." "I was really worried you wouldn't come back. It seemed impossible to me, saving them and managing to escape. Especially since you were still there when the explosion went off." I couldn't even manage a light tone. The whole memory was just devastating. "I'm... really glad you're okay." "I don't know if Violet is. They were starting to brainwash her and I think she's still in love with Minnie...I don't even know if she got out okay. She won't talk to me." "Don't beat yourself up. She hasn't said a word to me, either." I clasped my hands together and stared at my boots. "That whole situation was fucked from the start. At least we got them back. And we stopped them from taking anymore kids." Clem didn't say anything. A.J. held her hand and she gripped it back. I watched them smile at each other, not exchanging any words and instead speaking through their eyes. I did the same thing with her before we left after our little 'date' - telling each other we'd make it through okay. "What about you?" Her golden eyes looked up at me, now filled with the concern I had for her. "I know you didn't want to kill that girl...It sounded like you shot by accident. You seemed a little shaken."

"That was the first time I killed somebody." I felt sick as the words left my tongue. "It wasn't intentional, but I had a weapon. I didn't want Minnie to kill you. I...I couldn't live with that if it happened. I saw her stab you and...shit, I didn't know what I was going to do." "You let fear take control of you," A.J. told me. My eyes widened. All I could do was nod slightly in agreement. "Yeah...I did." "I let anger get to me. I didn't breathe. I didn't let it pass." He continued, drawing his eyes up to Clem slowly. "I shot Lily, but I did more than I needed to...I was just so mad after she hurt our friends. James looked like he didn't want to be my friend anymore." "We'll talk about that later, A.J." I could tell how tense she was just by the sound of her voice. "What matters is we're back together. Things are different and we may have done things that we didn't need to do, but the important thing is we got out okay." I wanted to say more. Express my disbelief in Minnie, come to terms with the fact that she has been brainwashed. And killed Sophie. Marlon shed blood on our own people, but he wasn't the only one anymore. Hearing them want to make Clem one of their soldiers...it made my blood boil. I still can't get over everything that happened in those cells. I even remembered what A.J. did when I was pinned to the ground. "Thanks for what you did back there." I nodded to him. "You, uh, didn't have to eat someone's ear off for my sake. But I'm glad to know you have my back." "I couldn't let them hurt my friend. And I know you have mine, too." He smiled. I thought more of what else to say, rubbing the back of my neck as I recollected everything again. There was so much to think about. So much that happened. I wanted to think of it as a nice rescue mission for everyone from the beginning, but deep down I knew how horrifying it was actually going to be. "Clem?" I started, my hands shaking a little. "How did it feel when you first killed someone?" Her eyes widened. She started, "Louis-" "-I know, I know. It's really personal and shitty to talk about, but-" I felt my voice fail and took a moment to swallow, shutting my eyes tightly. "I-I need to know it's going to be okay..." I couldn't see the look on her face, but I didn't exactly want to. As much as her little nods of encouragement helped me before, this was something I emotionally needed to sort out. I listened as she took in a long breath, holding it for a few seconds until she let it out. By that moment I regretted asking but she answered before I could stop her. "The first time I remember killing someone was when I was taken." I noticed she was looking away from me when I glanced up. "He had a gun aimed at Lee. I was out of his sight. I didn't have a choice. It was intentional, but only because I was protecting someone I cared about." "What happened?" A.J. asked. She shook her head. "He and Lee got into a struggle and all I heard was choking. It was either I shoot him or the person I cared about would be killed. It wasn't easy to do. I was scared. I had just taken someone's life, but it was the life of a man who kidnapped a child knowing who he was taking her away from." Her voice hardened. "It changed me, but it taught me that protecting those you love is worth taking that chance." I felt cold. I wanted to imagine myself in her situation - aiming a gun at a person who was hurting someone I loved. Someone...choking Clementine. Or pinning her against a wall. Or...trying to shove a knife through her chest while holding her onto the ground. Like Minnie did. And I sat there and shouted threats instead of taking the shot. I was scared and I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't want to hurt anybody. But if that woman hadn't have come, then...Clementine might have died. Because I was too weak to do what she does so easily. My silence opted A.J. to have his two cents. He sounded hopeful with his words, taking in the story better than I did. "You were really brave, Clem. I would've shot him, too." "That's not the point I'm trying to make. What I mean to tell you, Louis, is that no one's expecting you to move on from this. No one thinks that you'll walk out of there feeling like your usual self after this. It's different when you're being attacked, but I know how it feels killing someone who didn't pose as a threat just yet." We both looked up at the same time, locking our eyes together. I expected her golden ones to be full of assurance and hope, but instead they were as clouded as mine was with feelings of guilt. She added to her words slowly. "But if you hadn't killed her, I might've died. That blade was getting closer to my heart. Dorian was going to let others know we were there. Accident or not, you taking that shot saved us and let you and the others escape. I understand it's not something you're going to be proud of, but if anything, I want to thank you for protecting me." I clenched my teeth. I was so close to crying. I couldn't do this in front of A.J. Not now. Not ever. It took a lot of strength not to get up and hug Clem and sob in her shoulder. I held myself down and spoke through my teeth. "I didn't want to lose you, Clementine. Just thinking about it fucks me up so bad. How could I deal with that for the rest of my life? Just killing that woman it...it screwed me up so bad. I'm not strong enough for that." "I know you aren't, Louis...I wasn't, either. Not...for a long time." I looked up from my hands and noticed her frown. Her tone went soft. Even A.J. noticed her change. I cleared my throat and leaned forward, trying not to let myself go again. She was more important to me right now. It was easy to tell that there was something on her mind. "Is there something you want to talk about?" She bit her lip and looked in every direction but mine. She hung her head low to ruffle A.J.'s hair again but stopped when he looked unfazed. She wasn't fooling him. She wasn't fooling either of us. We both waited as she sighed, bringing her hands into her lap and finally looking up from the ground. "I'm just remembering the last time I felt like you did." She shut her eyes. "All of the people I didn't want to lose, lost because of...me. All the people who have protected and helped me, and in return, they all died." "Clem?" My eyes focused on her, my tone lowered out of concern and in disbelief. "Do you have survivor's guilt?" I had my answer the moment she took her eyes off of me. A.J. and I looked at each other. We had the same look plastered on both of our faces. She crossed her arms and we both turned back to her. There was a guilty look about her eyes. "How could I not? So many people have died because of me." She clenched her jaw. "Everywhere I go, there becomes less people. Until the only one left is me. Everyone around me dies, but I don't. I think I'm a jinx." "That's not--" "Violet was telling me, back in that cell, how ever since I've gotten here, people have just died. And they keep dying. Marlon, Brody, Mitch...I'm the problem for fighting back. Minnie told me that when she was trying to kill me." She looked away mournfully. "Why shouldn't I believe them?" "None of that is your fault, Clementine!" I exclaimed. "Marlon gave away our own people behind our backs and lied about it. And that happened before you were ever here. And he would've kept doing it if you hadn't come along. Those raiders would've taken all of us eventually, and if you hadn't come and led us against them, then we'd be brainwashed, murdering soldiers by now." "Even you believed I was the cause of everything." Her words stabbed into my heart. "You wanted me gone. Because I learned what Marlon did, he and Brody died. And because I made you guys fight, Mitch died. You were right to want me gone...more people were bound to die soon." "Clem, don't talk like that." I got up and stood over her. "I  know what I believed was wrong. You weren't the cause of anything. You just got caught up in Marlon's bullshit and, and the raiders were a threat ever since he negotiated with them." I put my hands on my hips in distress. I can feel myself getting worked up. I was fuming just hearing her saying these things. "-I don't want you to take responsibility for shit. The only people you killed were the ones who tried to take us. And you even saved Aasim's life! You aren't a jinx of anything." I didn't realize how hot I was until I felt her hand touch mine, her skin unusually cold. I stopped in the midst of my ranting to turn to her. She looked concerned. But for what? I was defending her name against all the bullshit everyone's been pinning against her. Accusations even I was guilty of. But I knew they were wrong now. I wanted to emphasize that. "No, Louis, this has been going on long before I even came here." I lifted an eyebrow. She noticed my interest and scooted over to pat the spot beside her. I took the invitation very slowly, setting myself on the mattress and looking over at her wearily. A.J. was silent. I held my breath as I watched Clem close her eyes again. She didn't say anything nor opened them for a solid minute. "It wasn't just Lee who died because of me." She confessed. "I've lost...others, at my own sake. And everyone I've been around has died, too. Sometimes, I don't even have to do anything to cause it. It just...happens. Whenever I come across groups, they always seem to be doing fine and have survived with their people for so long. But the moment they let me join them, things turn for the worse." "That...that can't have any correlation to you." I commented apprehensively. "Just because-" "-Not finished." She held up a finger. "After Lee, I was left with two guardians. One of them died because I left my gun on a counter in a bathroom. It was taken by a girl who was wanted my things and ended up shooting my guardian by mistake. If I hadn't have left that gun there and brought it with me, that wouldn't have happened." "But you didn't-" She stopped me again. By now I realized I had to keep my arguments to myself until her story was done. I shut my mouth again and refrained the urge to roll my eyes in frustration. She continued on as A.J. scooted closer, holding onto her side, fascinated with the story. "I was fending for myself after I was separated from my other guardian. I was...bitten by this dog I found in a camp. I thought it was friendly until I found food, then it attacked me. I tried to find help before I'd bleed out to death. I was saved by these two men, but when they saw the bite, they thought it was a walker who had gotten me." She rolled up her sleeve of one arm and showed it to me. I just now noticed the large scar. I winced and wondered how I hadn't seen it sooner. "They brought me back to their people. One of them was a doctor. He couldn't tell it was a dog bite and didn't want to take any chances. So they left me out in a shed in case I'd turn. I needed medical help or things weren't going to end well. I had to sneak in and steal their supplies...I sewed it by myself." "Oof." A.J. cringed. "Didn't that hurt?" "It did. Hurt like hell, actually." She gripped her arm and I made a face similar to A.J.'s. "It was tense with them, but they decided to take me in. When I was with that group, I thought I found a stable home with people I could rely on. But it was far from that. While they were gone some day, a man came to the cabin asking where his people were. I didn't like him. And I learned his 'people' were the ones I was staying with. We had to flee otherwise he would come back, and we eventually found a lodg-" She froze. Her eyes went wide and she abruptly shut them again, clutching at both of her sides. I leaned forward and held onto her arm, trying to get a better look at her. She didn't say another word. "What's wrong?" I asked. "I...I found Kenny." My heart stopped when I saw a tear leave her eye. "He...he was good friends with Lee and looked after me. Helped me protect A.J. Anyway...when we had to defend the lodge from walkers, another group found us. And it had that same man from the cabin. That man turned out to be the leader of a community who used his aggression to keep people in line. I helped take him and his people down, but on the way, many people died." I wanted to react to everything she just told me, but I couldn't. She continued right away with the story, giving me no time to breathe, really. "A.J. and I came into contact with another community called the New Frontier. They were made up of survivors, but they weren't kind, either. They took A.J. from me when he was just a baby, and I had to leave them. Apparently after their people started dying, they began to raid other communities. They were doing...awful things. I teamed up with Javier to take them down, and even though we did, so many people died in the process...like with that other community." "All of those people I was with, so many died. Either because of me or I came along. A little of Javi's family survived, but other than that, not many people did. Just because of me, two communities were wiped out along with several innocent people. Anyone I come across either turns or gets killed. It's never any different." "That's not true," A.J. piped in, hugging her arm. "You still have me." She rested her hand over his and smiled, nodding slowly. "Yeah. I do." I looked around on the floor as I held in a breath, still taking in the story. "But-But all of that was bullshit! Didn't it piss you off that these communities were already shit BEFORE you came along? It's better that they're gone, isn't it?" "I think so. But there were others that sided with them. Because they were being protected or were manipulated into thinking their ways were right. There are very little communities that rely on kindness and family to run things. That's why I didn't want to cause you guys any harm." Her hand inched towards mine, entwining our fingers as she looked up into my eyes. "That's why, when you and the others wanted us gone, I didn't fight back. I knew it was for the best. More of you would die if I was around for any longer. But I didn't want to see you guys becoming into these people. I knew I was bad luck, but I had to stop you from turning into of them." The breath left my throat as her words sunk into my heart. "-I didn't want to see you in their hands, Louis. You've shown me that humanity and kindness still exists. I only believed people thrived on being hard and supporting themselves is what would make it in the apocalypse, but you taught me that life is still worth enjoying, even when it seems to be meaningless." "Clem..." I was too weak to manage any other words. "I had to adapt to killing. It's how I've survived. It's not something I'm proud of, but the sacrifice is worth defending people you love. I just hope you can realize that someday." Her thumb rubbed against mine. I was so numb I barely felt it. "You're going to be okay. We all are. I understand if it's going to haunt you for awhile, but at some point you'll move on from this. I promise, Louis." A tear rolled down my cheek. I shut my eyes when they began to sting, clenching my teeth as a few more escaped. My grip must've weakened because I felt her squeeze my hand. I smiled feeling that and slowly opened them again, blinking away the moistness until she wasn't blurry anymore. This was all I could do in this situation - smile and hold her back. I was usually the one trying to make others feel better, yet Clem had just done the same for me. And she's probably right - this isn't going to last forever. She's been through more shit than I have since this all started. I didn't believe it until now, but what I did helped get everyone back and prevent the worst from happening. I "There's just one thing I have to know," I told her sincerely, watching her heartfelt expression turn into a serious one. "If you're such bad luck, then how come I've never been happier until you came into my life?" She swatted me away. "Louis-" I reached for her hands, shaking my head. "No, I'm not joking. I'm...I'm serious, Clem." She stopped fighting. "You can't be a jinx if you've made someone's life a million times better. And believe me, you have." She looked away, biting her lip slightly. "Are you sure?" "I'm positive that lying to my girlfriend would end with some serious repercussions." I sat back and grinned coyly, rolling my eyes to the side. "Yes, I'm sure you've made my life a lot better, Clementine." "I don't think you're a jinx either, Clem." A.J. added, squeezing her arm tightly. "You've made my life really good, too!" She grinned at us both before I felt her hand climb around my shoulder and squeeze me closer to her, her other hand wrapped around A.J. My arm rested over her frame and I took a moment to gently graze my cheek over hers, feeling the dampness of two tears that had managed to slip from her eyes. I could hear her speaking under her breath, the words barely above a whisper. "I'm so lucky to have both of you guys."

TWDG: The Final Season | Character Discussion | 1/2

Part 1 | Part 2

“Everyone’s counting on me to step up. Be the leader they need me to be... I really want to be that for them.”  

So.... let’s talk about Marlon. 

I mean, let’s really talk about him. Ever since I started this blog, some common questions I get revolve around Marlon- “How do you feel about Marlon?” “Do you think he deserved a redemption arc?” “Why do you think he was sent to Ericson?” “In your opinion, is Marlon a bad person?” and many others. 

Some ask with expectations that I’ll express a distaste or hatred for him, while others ask with a more sympathetic approach. If you know me, if you’ve been here for a while, then you know that I do indeed like Marlon as a character, and today I want to talk about him from my perspective while playing this game. 

And with that comes a seemingly unnecessary disclaimer, but one I feel I need to add in order to make it abundantly clear: I will be discussing MY thoughts, experiences, and feelings about Marlon within TFS and give my take on his character. Because we’re not the same person, you may have a different opinion or perspective on his character, you may disagree with something I say, and that’s perfectly okay. You’re entitled to your opinion as I am mine, and I do encourage you to join in on the discussion and express your thoughts about Marlon, but I also want to let you know that you can do that without attacking me or anyone else. 

Really, this is pretty much me looking at Marlon’s role and arc within TFS, discussing points of his character that I find interesting, exploring the why’s and how’s of his actions, maybe coming up with a couple theories as to why he was sent to Ericson, and basically giving a lot of personal opinions of him. It’s a discussion meant in good fun, that’s all I’m saying. 

Before we dive right in, I do want to thank @pi-creates​ for providing me with most of the screenshots used in this. I appreciate the help! If you haven’t already, go check out Pi’s blog for some of the best screenshots and model swaps in the TWDG community! Thank you, thank you!

[First and foremost, y’all are sleeping on Ray Chase’s performance as Marlon and it really shows]

“Looks like I was announced as Marlon, the central focus in this first episode of The Walking Dead Season 4 coming in a few weeks. I've been playing this series since the beginning, and it was a real honor to be a part of the canon. I hope you enjoy!“ - Ray Chase’s Twitter account | July 26, 2018

I want to start this off with praising Marlon’s voice actor, Ray Chase, for doing such a perfect job of bringing Marlon’s character to life. Every emotion and infliction feels genuine, and there’s isn’t a single moment where I don’t “see” Marlon, y’know? I mean that in the sense that every line delivered is believable and doesn’t break my immersion with, “Oof, they really used that take?” 

I know we throw praise upon Melissa, Tayla, Sterling, and Gideon [and for good reason, they’re all fantastic, too!] but even with them there are a couple of lines that I notice have a lack of flow or sound just a bit off. I’ve played TFS how many times? And not once have I had that issue with Ray Chase as Marlon, so bravo to this man. Credit where credit is due, his performance is damn near flawless.

Especially in the confrontation scene at the end of Done Running. I’ll get into that scene as a whole later, but just looking at the performance and the intense, impactful emotion brought to that scene, just..... *chef kiss*

Thank you, Ray Chase. 

[What’s up with your haircut, Marlon?]

“Uh, I look cool... I say, I look cool.”

Lemme talk a little bit about Marlon’s design- I think he looks great. 

I love the little details in the Ericson varsity jacket he wears... including the fact that it looks just a tad bit too snug on him. Like, either the boy doesn’t have another jacket or he’s grown so attached to this one that he’s not willing to admit that he’s outgrown it a bit. 

I’ve had a lot of people point out that it’s nice to see a teenage character in these games with actual acne since most media pretends that acne just doesn’t exist, and I agree. We all know that if this were more realistic, then everyone would have terrible, greasy, dirty skin but... y’know. 

And y’know what? I like the mullet! It’s unique! And I choose to believe it’s a representation of Marlon’s past with bad decisions he’s too stubborn to admit were bad decisions... I mean, he’s had it since he was a kid and hadn’t grown it out or cut it off [to our knowledge, I suppose] sooo... there’s that. 

Or maybe he does actually think it looks badass. Either way. 

Hell, my biggest complaint about Marlon’s design is that I wish they kept more to this concept art attire:

Because Marlon looks super good in this concept art. I love the headband with the mullet and his clothes actually look more comfortable... but like, it’s fine. He still looks great in the game, his little jacket’s cool, bringing back the mullet...its fine. I’m just sayin’. He looks great. 

[Marlon’s introduction in TFS]

“It's our little kingdom. I just do what I can to keep the peace. Wasn't always like this, though. There used to be a lot of us, but...you know how it goes.”

Let’s talk about how Marlon’s introduced. 

We get our first look at him after Clementine and AJ crash their car during the walker attack. A bunch of arrows come flying, hitting walkers attempting to get ahold of them, and as Clementine glances over she sees a figure pulling AJ out of the car. And even though you can tell it’s Marlon, this closer shot from Pi-

-100% confirms that it’s him. Not that you had any doubt, but still.

What’s interesting, though, is that while snooping around for some insight about Marlon from the writers/devs, wandering around reddit, replaying the game myself, and even glancing over the all-knowing wiki that’s never wrong ever, it seems agreed upon that Marlon wasn’t alone, despite no one else being specifically mentioned to have helped Clementine and AJ. 

Which makes sense that that’d be the case, but I did come across a handful of people who are pretty adamant that he was alone, which is an interesting take, though I disagree.

I’m pretty sure most people do, too. I mean, Marlon says, “It's good we found you when we did. It wasn't easy getting you two out of that wreck, and walkers were on the way.” So I don’t even think that was the writers’ intention of it being solely Marlon who saved them.

What’s funny is I came across a post Instagram [I know, the most legitimate source for info and thoughtful opinions] that was surprisingly trying to redeem/defend Marlon rather than chastise him by claiming he’s a hero who saved Clementine and AJ by himself. 

The thing is, they’re both unconscious after the wreck, so unless Marlon has super-human speed to grab AJ, zip around the car to grab Clementine, and then uses super-human strength to carry both of them AND their belongings all while killing any threatening walkers coming after them with his bow... I’m gonna have to press [X] Doubt. 

Besides, I like the idea of it being vague. I like to think that was the intention. “Who was Marlon with? A hunting party! You fill in the blanks!” That sort of deal.

With everything that we know about Marlon and the safe-zone, it does lead to questions about why he and whoever felt they had to go outside it to see what was happening. Marlon points out in his conversation with Clementine that they “had to work fast. I don't know what would've happened if we hadn't seen the smoke...” And later Violet mentions an explosion, so I think it’s safe to say that they heard the explosion and followed the smoke to the location. 

If you don’t know about the raiders and the twins [like it’s your first time playing] then you probably assume that Marlon and his group were being kind in rescuing them, which I don’t doubt but it does make you wonder about things from Marlon’s perspective, y’know?

This is one of those “shhh, don’t think, just go with it” moments. If I had to give a reason, I’d say that the group he was with didn’t think twice about checking it out and even if Marlon did protest, he didn’t have much choice but to follow. Then, seeing that it’s Clementine and AJ, I believe he genuinely wanted to save them. 

“All alone with the kid? Not a pleasant thought. I've seen some rough scenes. But that one would've been up there.”

We get our second and more official introduction to Marlon after Clementine escapes her dorm and confronts Tenn... and it’s pretty fucking good. I mean, everything from him being hidden in the shadows with his bow drawn, to the clear concern yet sternness in his voice as he assures Clementine they’re not going to hurt her and to put the knife down, to his sympathetic apology for scaring her is just an A+. 

One thing this season does exceptionally well is introducing its characters. Marlon has such a confident yet chill way about him when you first meet that it’s actually disheartening to think that in two hours he’s gonna be pulling a gun and MURDER....

Sigh. 

Let’s not jump that far ahead yet. I’m not ready. 

What I find appealing about this next part is Clementine’s reaction to seeing the inside of Ericson for the first time and how taken aback she seems by it. I also love how easy and comfortable it is to talk with Marlon as they’re walking through the yard even though we just met him. 

I enjoy that you can tell he’s trying to get a better idea of who she is without pressuring or overwhelming her and doing his best not to offend. And even when Clementine questions if he doesn’t think she can handle herself, he’s decent about apologizing and explaining that’s not what he meant. But he’s also not afraid to be upfront about AJ’s behavior since they brought him here, either.

He does come off as annoyed when talking about AJ being a handful. We don’t know how long Clementine’s been passed out or how long they had to deal with AJ after he woke up, so who knows how much of a little terror AJ was before they either dumped him with Louis or Louis decided to take him to the music room to chill... where he then bit Ruby. 

Anyway, the first impression I got of Marlon is that he’s genuinely friendly, trying to help Clementine and AJ even if AJ’s been a nuisance, and he’s confident in the system he has in place for them. He is rather forward and proud about being the school’s leader when first telling Clementine. 

Having played through the whole season several times and knowing how Done Running ends, it’s interesting to look at Clementine’s first conversation with Marlon with that all knowing perspective- knowing what he did to the twins, knowing that Brody’s involved and that Marlon’s going to eventually kill her, going to try and frame Clementine for the murder, knowing that he was planning on giving Clementine and AJ away...

I can definitely look at this conversation with a more skeptical lens and say he’s more so trying to sell the idea that he has everything under control in this kingdom for kids and he’s a proper leader with a system in place despite being so young with no adults around. But hey, that’s the natural progression- Ericson is a perfectly chill safe haven and the Ericson crew get along swell... except no, the cracks slowly begin to surface as the episode goes on until all hell breaks loose with Marlon at the center. 

[Rosie is best girl]

“You said dogs brought back bad memories. I'm sorry, I didn't realize you were so scared of them. But I swear, Rosie's not as frightening as she seems...See? She's harmless. She just needs to get to know you, is all. Here. I'll show you. Do you trust me? “

I’ll be completely honest- the thing that initially sold me on trusting Marlon the first time I ever played this episode was his relationship with Rosie. 

If you know me, then you know that I love dogs. I have a pup named Piglet that I adore, I’ve grown up with dogs my whole life, and I have a huge appreciation and soft spot for animals.  I’m one of those people that can’t stand others who are mean or cruel to harmless animals. It’s different if you’re hunting for food or if an animal attacks you and you’re defending yourself... but I’ve known people who have gone out of their way to hurt animals. I’m out in a country area with a lot of dangerous roads for wandering animals, and the amount of people I’ve driven with who’ll swerve to hit a squirrel, a cat, a dog because they enjoy it is too many. After those incidents, I cut those people out of my life.  If you don’t have that love and appreciation in your heart, then I want nothing to do with you. 

So when I saw that Rosie, while the school’s dog, is more portrayed to be Marlon’s dog above everyone else, I remember thinking to myself, “Okay, I trust him. He clearly loves this dog, wouldn’t mistreat her, and that’s a step in the right direction.”  

While I wasn’t skeptical of him and his intentions before, it really was that natural relationship he held with Rosie that kind of sealed the deal for me- “I like Marlon! He’s probably going to die because he’s the leader and they never last but when it does happen, I’m gonna be super upset about it.” 

And well, to be fair... I was super upset when he died, just more so than I originally planned because there was also that element of betrayal mixed into the pain, y’know? 

Speaking of trust and Rosie- My second favorite Marlon scene is the office scene. But let’s talk about the Rosie bit specifically. After Tenn leaves and Rosie comes in, she scares Clementine and brings back those traumatic memories of when Sam attacked her. 

Marlon comes in and cools the situation, and I love the way he talks to Clementine in this moment. 

I love that he doesn’t immediately turn to Clementine like, “What’d you do?” but recognizes that she’s afraid of Rosie due to her previous experience, one that he remembers her mentioning. He also knows how well trained Rosie is to recognize scents and people, which explains why she’s behaving that way- she doesn’t know Clementine. 

I feel like I’m using this word a lot, but Marlon’s approach to helping Clementine with her fear of dogs feels so genuine. He holds his hand out and waits for her to accept, and if she does, he walks Clementine through what to do, beginning Clementine’s bond with Rosie. 

“Get down on her level. Let her get your scent. It's okay. She's not gonna hurt you.”

It’s incredibly sweet and humanizing to see Marlon like this. 

The best part about this scene, though, is that you can reject Marlon’s offer and he won’t be upset. 

“No problem. I'm not gonna pressure you.”

And he doesn’t. He doesn’t get annoyed, he doesn’t press, no questions asked, and he doesn’t say anything to make Clementine feel bad for her decision. He respects that she isn’t ready to get close with Rosie.

The reason I love this is because how many times have we made decisions in this game, big and small, and had the other characters get annoyed or try to guilt us? “Oh, you don’t want to bond with the dog? Rosie’s the best, everyone loves dogs! What’s wrong with you?” None of that here. That’s something I appreciate about Marlon in this moment. 

It shows that when he wants to, he can listen and understand those around him... something he clearly struggles with when it comes to certain members of Ericson.

I’ll swing back around and talk about that entire scene in a bit, but one last thing about Rosie... can I just say how heart breaking it is to hear her whine at Marlon’s funeral? Solidifying that she was definitely Marlon’s dog more than anyone else’s? And the way Rosie lays on his grave several times in episode 2? 

Oof. 

[Ericson’s perception of Marlon prior to the final confrontation and after]

“...when the world went to shit, he bailed. All the other adults did. Left us behind to fend for ourselves...  Now it's just us kids left.”

I want to touch on how the Ericson crew seem to view Marlon as a leader before and after the final confrontation.

When looking at and discussing a character, it’s important to not just focus solely on them. You can gather a lot about a character based on how others respond and perceive them.

Not everyone expresses something towards Marlon within Done Running. Y’know, like Omar or Ruby, for example. Though we do get a bit more from them after Marlon’s death, their perception of him is different now that they’ve learned what he’s done and witnessed his murder.

So we don’t know how Ruby, Omar, Willy or Mitch viewed his leadership prior to those events, y’know? It’s safe to assume that they’re fine following him as a leader since they’re background characters at this point and make no objections to his leadership at any time before the confrontation. But, after learning the truth, they turned against him. 

Then things get complicated when Marlon’s murder traumatizes them. 

What a mess.

But for this section, there are two characters I want to get into specifics about. They’re worth talking about because they further Marlon’s character, but they’re not the most important, y’know? Characters like Louis, Tenn, and Brody will get their own sections. 

The one I find most interesting among side characters is Aasim. Right off the bat, you get a feel for what his relationship is like with Marlon:

Marlon: “How'd it go out there?”

Aasim: “How do you think it went?”

Brody: “Be nice, Aasim.”

Aasim: “The safe zone's nearly dry. I could barely find enough for tonight. We're gonna have to scout out further if we want food for the winter.”

Marlon: “We'll talk about it later.”

Aasim: “Bullshit, we should talk about this right now-”

Marlon: “I said later, damn it!”

So... they’re not exactly besties. The game makes a clear point that Aasim is more vocal in his disagreements and concerns towards Marlon than the others. They even reiterate it when you talk with him later:

“He keeps pulling back the safe zone. We have fewer and fewer places to hunt. Which means we're gonna have fewer and fewer things to eat.”

No one else opposes Marlon like he does, not counting Brody in the basement since that’s a whole other thing and Brody will get an entire segment to herself later.

It’s pretty clear that this isn’t the first time they’ve had this conversation, but because Marlon’s in a place of power, Aasim doesn’t have much choice but to go along with it. Because no one else is speaking up, he doesn’t have anyone to back him up, and you can tell he goes with it reluctantly. He also voices annoyances when it comes to how Marlon treats Louis if you go hunting.

Knowing this, you can infer that Marlon doesn’t want to hear what Aasim has to say, and he doesn’t appreciate someone questioning his leadership. When Aasim steps in Marlon’s path and says, “Bullshit, we should talk about this right now-” what does Marlon do?

He shoves his shoulder into Aasim’s as he pushes past, and in a louder, commanding tone, replies, “I said later, damn it!” which leads to Aasim glaring after him... but he doesn’t pursue. Marlon has a hard time with someone like Aasim and his response is to shut him down rather than stop, listen to his concerns, and address them.

That’s something Marlon struggles with as a leader- control and listening. Control over his temper and anger, listening and addressing the concerns of the people he swears to protect.

The reason I bring this up is because Aasim is our first indication that the image Marlon was giving off previously isn’t as spotless as he wants us to believe. Aasim plants a seed of doubt, y’know? He gives an argument that the player can get behind.

“Yeah, why not extend the safe zone? If food is really as bad as you say it is, then what other choice is there? Just be extra cautious so no one gets hurt,” which can then lead to thinking, “Why is Marlon so insistent about the safe zone? Is he hiding something?”

Once that seed is there, it grows.

Now as for how Aasim’s view of Marlon changes during and after the confrontation, you can see that he’s one of the few that wants to hear Clementine’s side to things, and he steps forward after Louis/Violet intervenes.

Then after Marlon dies, Aasim is... well, he’s rather neutral? And I say that meaning he’s more in a middle ground between Louis and Violet, who are on extreme opposite ends. Aasim isn’t okay with Marlon’s death, nor is he okay with AJ killing him, but he can see that kicking Clementine and AJ out isn’t the best solution. Hence why he voted for them to stay.

You can see he’s still angry at Marlon for what he did during the funeral scene, but the game doesn’t care to show more beyond that. Which, in my opinion, was a missed opportunity on their part.  

And because I’m me, I also want to add that this perfectly sets up the idea of Aasim taking over once Marlon died and the writers shot themselves in the foot for wasting him like that. Good job.

Now let’s talk about Violet. People love when I do that.

Marlon and Violet don’t interact too much prior to the confrontation. The most we see them together is during the card game, and they’re chill. Violet makes fun of his hair, he says he looks cool, they’re decent to each other, it’s all good. They’re on friendly terms. 

Which I do find it interesting that she seems like she’s chill with Marlon, but she has such a hard time with Brody. Granted, that’s because she was supposed to go with them but asked Brody to cover her, and then when the twins died, she felt guilty. But you’d think that she’d also have some issues with Marlon, given that he was also there and, like Brody, unable to save them.

You could argue that because Violet and Brody were friends before it had a stronger effect, whereas she and Marlon weren’t ever that close, so it didn’t strike as bad, y’know? 

Though this does kind of get explained later if you choose to stick with Violet through ep4. Well, sort of? A little? She tells you:

Violet: “...I remember how Marlon described it, what we were gonna turn Ericson into. It's not the way any of us pictured it.”

Clementine: “How did you picture it?”

Violet: “I guess I couldn't. I just listened to what Marlon said. How it would be a home, a real one. But I couldn't really wrap my head around it.”

And when she talks about people who cared about her that she pushed away, she does list Marlon as one of those people, which is super interesting given all the loathing she’s done towards him after the truth came out.

It could be that in the past, she saw Marlon as the leader and why would he lie? He’s the one who stepped up, promised that they’d made Ericson into something special, into a brand new home... what reason does she have to distrust him?

So when she finds out the truth... well, that betrayal completely shatters everything she has for Marlon, going as far as for her to believe that AJ was justified in what he did and shit talking Marlon in front of his mourning best friend. 

So her reaction to Marlon after this makes sense, but what does this tell us about Marlon himself?

Again, depending on how you view him, you can look at this idea of Marlon being kind to Violet and them being on friendly terms after what happened to the twins a few different ways- Marlon was manipulating Violet solely for his sake, or Marlon felt guilty that something he did hurt her this bad and tried to make Violet feel better, or both.

I think it was both. After the twins died, we all know the amount of guilt Marlon carried with him, so having to be confronted with the fallout of that in the form of someone like Violet... he had to be careful. I don’t doubt that he cared about Violet or that he tried to reach out to her, but he also had to protect himself for the sake of maintaining his leadership and control of Ericson. So, of course, he had to lie to her which manipulated her feelings about him and the situation. 

I believe Violet recognized it, too. When she says they should’ve asked more questions about what happened, I think that’s her being more pissed with herself for trusting Marlon and not questioning him further, for taking his word for it. 

I’ve come across theories suggesting that Marlon actually manipulated Violet into placing blame onto Brody rather than him, which is why she is on friendly terms with him but not so much Brody. And that’s a valid interpretation. There isn’t any solid evidence of this within the game to suggest either way, but I can definitely see how someone would come to that conclusion. Especially after the confrontation.

Now let’s touch on Violet if you appeal to her, because Marlon does something that makes me go “Hmmmm...”

Clementine, when she appeals to Violet, say, “Violet you have to believe me.”

To which, Marlon immediately steps in and says, “You don't. You met her, like, two days ago!”

He doesn’t even give her a chance to speak. 

With Louis, he’s so overly confident that he has him completely wrapped around his finger that he doesn’t feel the need to say anything. He feels he has control over Louis. But with Violet, he feels his control might not be as strong, so he needs to remind her that she just met Clementine, whereas she’s known him for years- something he uses against the whole group.

And when Clementine tries to talk to her, Marlon takes a low blow and it’s super shitty.

“Don't let her get in your head. Hey, what would Minnie want you to do? She was my friend, too. So was Brody.”

He’s desperate to crawl out of the grave this situation has put him in that he’s willing to go this low, doing everything he can to make sure Violet doubts Clementine... and y’know, whose to say this is the first time Marlon is using Minnie to manipulate her? And when it doesn’t work, he gets frustrated like “Violet being difficult. Why am I not surprised?” which could suggest that it hasn’t always worked. 

It goes back to what I was saying- Marlon tried to get close to Violet and she never let him. She was difficult to be around after the twins died due to her grief and Marlon struggled with that. 

When he finally comes clean, this is where the real shift happens with him and Violet. You can see the hatred burning on her face every time the camera pans over to her now that she’s felt betrayed by him and his actions. 

Right before Marlon dies, if you choose to say nothing, Violet will step forward and start saying that he doesn’t get to stay, but gets cut off when AJ shoots him. 

All in all, Violet is a big case against Marlon and a showcase of how far his manipulation as gone within Ericson.

[Marlon’s office and foreshadowing of motivations]

“Whenever someone goes outside the safe zone, bad shit happens. People die or disappear. I just... I could really use the help, Clementine. Taking care of these kids, it's not easy. I'm worried that if I don't figure something out, if...if I don't fix our food situation... I can't lose anyone else. We've already lost so much. Friends, siblings... I can't let another kid die. It could break us.”

Swinging back around, let’s talk about the rest of the scene in the office. 

First off- it’s implied that Marlon uses the office as a bedroom given the mattress on the floor and some of his personal belongs laying about. Like the photo he keeps of him and Louis. 

The bed isn’t for Rosie, we assume, since we later see her sleeping outside while chained up. This might be just because they wanted Rosie present for the confrontation scene but didn’t want her loose, so they put her outside when you’d think that she’d sleep inside with everyone else. 

Or, maybe she just prefers to be outside when the weather’s nice, or they keep her as a guard in case something were to happen, that way she can alarm them. 

Anyway, why does Marlon potentially sleep in his office rather than in a dorm? Or does he have a dorm that he’ll sleep in, but keeps the mattress there just in case? 

Well, a show of authority, for one. Even if he does keep a dorm room, it’s likely that he made the office his own as a way to be like “The headmaster is gone, this is my office now. I’m in charge.” 

Which makes sense. 

And when you think about what Louis tells us about Marlon having all these sleepless nights and tough calls, it’s not hard to imagine him spending late nights in his chair going over different plans and stressing over the food situation/safe zone, as well as letting the guilt of the twins weigh on him to the point were he’s too exhausted to even leave.

Moving on to the actual conversation between him and Clementine. He does show a vulnerable side to her, which I like. He can feel the pressure he’s under and sense the loss he’s suffered. But...like before, looking at this knowing what I know, it’s not hard to see certain things in a different light opposed to what you’d see as a new player.

What’s interesting, though, is while I do enjoy this conversation and the bits of insight it gives to Marlon’s character, there is this subtle, slightly off undertone of the whole scene after the Rosie bit. 

At this point, we’ve talked with Aasim and he’s planted the seed of doubt.

We’ve heard the story about the twins. Violet came and talked to us about it, we could visit their graves and learn that they died at this time last year. Anyone who has played any game or heard any story can pick up on that the twins are important. They’re not going to use these girls as some throw away lines. They’re going to come back one way or another. 

We’re literally living in their dorm. The dorm that Marlon put us in. They’re heavily connected to Tenn and Violet, two important characters I previously discussed. Then, Violet comes barging into our room and talks about them some more. 

It makes the gears turn, y’know? 

And with Marlon being very insistent that they stay in the safe zone, it’s not hard to question the story about the twins. I went through and skimmed a couple play throughs on youtube to this scene and a lot of them were theorizing that the twins weren’t actually dead or something wasn’t right, some cracks are starting to show. Why else bring it up? Marlon being the one to push the dangers of the safe zone and everything with Aasim... it’s not hard to pick up that he might be hiding something.  

The thing I find fascinating about people’s perception of Marlon is how they interpret his motivations when it comes to Clementine and AJ, and that can be tracked back to this scene. 

We all know that he’s planning on giving them to the raiders if they come back. It’s a hard fact. Brody warned us before she died, and dialogue during the basement scene backs it up. 

But the question I’m curious about is... when did this motivation begin? 

When did Marlon decide that he would give Clementine and AJ to the raiders if they ever came back? 

Because the text doesn’t tell us anything until Brody’s death, I feel like we all have a different moment where we believe that became Marlon’s secret motive, y’know? 

In all my digging, I’ve read posts about this idea, people giving their thoughts on when they think Marlon secretly turned on us, or if he was ever really on our side. 

One has people theorizing that Marlon saved Clementine and AJ with the intention of giving them away from the beginning. 

So he saw taking these two in and earning their trust as an opportunity to save everyone else at the school [the people he cares about] rather than have to sacrifice anyone else like they did with the twins. Clementine and AJ were just a means to an end if the raiders came back. 

Which is a rather sinister way to look at it and puts quite a negative spin on Marlon’s actions towards them - like how he’s willing to let them stay at the school not out of kindness but out of bad intentions, and every kind thing he ever did was to win over their trust so he could lure them out into the woods and do a trade if necessary. 

The line “Take this. I don't want you gettin' lost.” gets pointed at a lot due to how Marlon says it, the infliction of it, and it’s theorized that the hidden meaning behind it is “Take this, if you get lost then I can’t make the trade.”

Same thing with “Just remember to stay in the safe zone. We need you to come back home in one piece.”

Which isn’t a wrong interpretation of this. You can totally look at this conversation between Marlon and Clementine as Marlon subtly foreshadowing his turn, or betrayal, at the end of the episode.  

“...It's how we've kept ourselves from unwanted attention for so long. Well... For the most part, anyway.”

“I can't lose anyone else. We've already lost so much. Friends, siblings... I can't let another kid die. It could break us. Sorry. I'm just... There's a lot of pressure.” 

“What, did you think I was gonna throw you out?“

Then there are the middle ground people who believe Marlon didn’t save Clementine and AJ with that intention in mind, but it started to appear as an option to him either a bit before or during the office scene. Y’know, it came as a passing thought that ended up lingering until he acknowledged it as a solution to a potential problem. 

Again, pointing at the dialogue from before- him suggesting that he’ll do whatever it takes to keep his community alive... just like he did before. 

And while he gets along with Clementine and AJ [or as some would suggest, he appears to be friendly], they’re not his family. He isn’t close to them the same way he is the rest of the school. and if he has to give anyone away, it’s going to be them, whether he wants to or not. 

Marlon didn’t want to give Sophie and Minerva away, and he’s carried that with him up until this point. We see it manifest to a breaking point that lead to Brody’s death and, eventually, his own. 

Finally, there are the people who believe that the idea of giving Clementine and AJ away didn’t occur to him until after the incident with Abel. After Brody panicked and told him about getting robbed, then Clementine claiming they met a man with different colored eyes who wanted food, and the realization that the raiders could be back. 

This is where I personally stand when it comes to this idea. I believe that Marlon didn’t decide on this until he heard about Abel, and solidified it during the fight with Brody down in the basement. 

But what about the dialogue in this scene that potentially has double meanings? Well, I believe that’s the writers suggesting Marlon’s turn and motivations rather than Marlon himself, if that makes sense. Like I said before, you could take nearly everything Marlon says as some sort of foreshadowing or suggestion of what happened to the twins, what his true intentions are with Clementine and AJ, and what will happen to him at the end of the episode. 

That’s the thing- Marlon doesn’t ever go on a mustache-twirling monologue about how he knew he could use Clementine and AJ as trade if the raiders came back and that’s the real reason why he saved them, nor do we see him come up with the idea on the spot. 

Hell, Marlon never admits to the player that he was going to do that. The most he says is, “Shut your fucking mouth! I made the right call. I saved the lives of everyone in this fucking school! If they came back... I'd do it again!”  

Brody is the one who told us everything, and every time Clementine throws it back in his face, he tells her to shut up and threatens her with the gun. 

But from what I’ve tried to gather about what Marlon and Brody talk about in the basement before Clementine gets down there...

Marlon: “Why can't you just do what I ask you to do?”

Brody: “Because we caused all this, and now we have to deal with it!”

Marlon: “I am dealing with it!”

Brody: “By tradin' more of us away? That's not fixin' the problem, that's runnin' away from it!”

[I’ll come back to this full conversation later when I go over the basement scene by itself. It gets pretty dark.]

Which.... yeah. So, I’m not trying to say Brody was lying or anything just because Marlon never flat out admitted it to us the player, I’m just saying that we don’t know for sure when he made up his mind about this since the game never gives a clear suggestion for the sake of his dramatic turn from friend to antagonist. 

Did he have this idea from the start or did he come up with it during this conversation? 

We don’t know, but it’s interesting to look at the different views surrounding this question and how it applies to Marlon’s character. Because yeah, if you truly believe that Marlon had this intention from the start, it makes all of his actions in this episode pretty scummy. And again, that’s not wrong because there isn’t an answer here. 

I choose to believe that maybe the idea came as an unwanted thought in the beginning, but manifested into something real when he heard about Abel. He shared his plan with Brody, who didn’t want to go along with it. 

And y’know what... let’s finally get into the basement scene and Brody...

Continued in Part 2/2