15 of The Walking Dead’s most vile villains ranked
2. The Governor
Who is he: You remember him from his days of cutting Hershel’s throat, in front of his daughters no less. However, the Governor (or Philip Blake) has always been a villain in the apocalypse. Even when he had the chance to reform his image and build a family again, he still seamlessly crept back into his villainous role and lied to convince Tara and her former group to fight Rick’s group at the prison. Since he was a born-again villain and a bad guy even in the face of an opportunity to become a hero, that puts him at the front of our list almost automatically. Seeing as he’s the same man who open-fired and killed all his remaining legion of Woodbury fighters (all because he lost a battle against Rick), the Governor’s actions are unpredictable. But, his devotion to villainy is loyal and predictable.
Worst act of villainy: While we still think manipulating Andrea was one of the most heinous betrayals in Walking Dead television history — because we’ll still never get over the fact that Andrea was killed off the show well before her time (she still had so many arcs left to live for) — there are arguably a lot more noteworthy moments of villainy in the Governor’s on-screen history. Instead, the highlight in his lengthy villainy resume was when he killed Hershel in front of Rick’s group at the prison. Not only did he implement a lot of innocent and good people in his weird grudge against Rick, but he also killed Maggie and Beth’s father in front of them.
Weakness: One of the most painful moments, is probably the time Michonne killed his walker daughter, who he had chained up and hidden in his house. Clearly, he didn’t take it very well because he went on another homicidal sprint after the loss of his undead daughter.
Redeeming qualities: Despite his weird obsession with walkers, inspired by his obsession to reverse the virus’ effects on his undead daughter, the Governor did study walkers pretty closely. Sure, there were the weird entertainment-based cage fights between walkers at Woodbury. However, he at least attempted to learn more about walkers.
First appearance: “Walk With Me” (season 3, episode 3)
Last appearance: “What Happened and What’s Going On” (season 5, episode 9, as seen in Tyreese’s hallucinations)
Death: A dual effort between Lilly and Michonne finally took down the Governor. Michonne stabbed him through his chest as he was attempting to strangle Rick. Then, Lilly shot the Governor in the head.