The long-standing Walking Dead franchise has been one of the most well-rounded displays of the zombie subgenre of horror. The show itself began in 2010 and has spanned an impressive 11 seasons. The show has since reinvigorated audiences with beloved spin-offs like The Ones Who Live, Daryl Dixon, and Dead City. The original show definitely had its ups and downs as audiences grew to love characters and storylines as well as mourning the loss of familiar faces. That being said, The Walking Dead is not immune to making some mistakes.
When building a world like the one in TWD, getting every little detail set straight is a tall order. There is just a lot to consider and take into account when a show goes on for this long. Well, some glaringly bothersome plot holes have managed to slip through the show’s cracks and have bothered us since. From the rules and regulations of infection to defying science and reason as a whole, here are 10 Walking Dead plot holes you might be scratching your head about too. Stream The Walking Dead on Netflix.
10Walker Variants
When the conversation of plot holes in The Walking Dead come up, there is no avoiding the question of Walker variants. Walker consciousness was not a topic of conversation throughout the majority of the show. Walkers were always just mindless, flesh-hungry creatures that roamed the Earth. However, there are multiple instances in the main show that indicate the introduction of walker variants.
In the first season of the show, Rick’s first standoff with a walker was with a dead little girl that Rick tries to avoid killing. However, the walker girl picks up an old stuffed animal before walking towards Rick again. Another instance occurs in the show’s last season, where Aaron comes across zombie variants on his way to Oceanside.
Do the Walkers Have Recognition, or Not?
The instance with Rick and the little zombie girl can just be tossed to the side with the excuse that it was done entirely for symbolic purposes. Rick escapes the hospital to find the full breakdown of humanity and civilization at his feet. The image of a loss of innocence created by the scene is just as effective as any other use of symbolism throughout the show.
However, with that, the question of the ability of walkers to think and recognize the things around them was a seed that was planted in fans’ heads from that moment on. The show itself decided to take the entire full length of the show to go back and address the idea of zombie variants that could now be seen further explored in TWD spinoffs.
9Zombie Guts Immunity Inconsistencies
One of the most pivotal weapons the Walking Dead survivors utilize throughout all the show’s seasons is camouflage, specifically by covering themselves with zombie guts to mask their scents. Right off the bat, this concept has helped our group get through hoards and retrieve supplies without detection. However, as many times this tactic has proven useful, there have been changes to what works and what doesn’t as the series went on.
Are the Zombies Adapting to the Camouflage?
At the beginning of the season, the consensus is that every aspect of your living body needs to be covered in order to mask your scent. However, in the later seasons, you will notice that many of the characters leave a lot of their bodies exposed, even in a herd of walkers. This kind of plot hole is not the most jarring question we have regarding the rules of this apocalypse. However, we can not help but recognize how things changed.
8Zombie Decay
One of the best visual symbols throughout The Walking Dead is the slow decay of the show’s title screen. This has always been thought to represent not only the decay of the walkers throughout the years, but the breakdown of people’s morals and humanity. Well, the question remains surrounding how there are still so many walkers out there. Although walkers eat, herd, and move around to survive, their bodies continue to decay because, after all, they are still dead. By those standards, how are there still so many walkers standing and walking?
Inconsistencies with the Levels of Decay
It is known that directors and producers of the show have intentionally shown walkers increasing decay to show audiences how long the apocalypse has been upon the group of survivors. However, doesn’t that mean the walker population should be decreasing by now?
We understand that more surviving communities could fall and create a new set of fresh zombies. But, untouched herds and random walkers in the middle of nowhere should eventually succumb to the decay of their physical bodies. This plot hole does not work for the sake of the show’s longevity, but it exists nonetheless.
7Walker-Sense
This one is fairly simple. How exactly do walkers sense living people? From the “guts disguise” tactic, it seems to be their sense of smell. From that same standpoint of our group having to also walk like the undead, there is a sight component to this. There is also idea of them being drawn to noise thrown in there. But, with the idea of zombie decay a rampant question in this show, their five senses should be heavily muffled if not completely depleted due to bodily decay.
A Sixth Sense?
With this plot hole, we now have to ask, do walkers have a sixth sense? An extra “Walker-Sense” that defies the rules of science altogether? Walker decay ignores this obvious roadblock in the walker’s survival instincts. By the rate of decay, walkers should not really be able to hear, smell, or see anything at all, let alone new prey. All of this sort of circles back to the variant plot hole as well. Are the walkers simply evolving, or is there a hidden walker sixth sense?
6The Whisperers
In the realm of a walker’s senses, The Whisperers have apparently found their own loophole for this. The Whisperers are a villainous group of survivors who have survived by wearing walker masks and blending in with small groups, and even leading herds by staying completely silent.
We all learned from the show that the Whisperers are a group to be reckoned with. They function with ruthless violence and a sort of unhinged hierarchy system that has them under the command of an Alpha and a Beta. However, the biggest question remains: how are they able to survive this way?
How Do They Stay Unharmed?
The “guts” camouflage tactic that the main group of survivors uses forces them to mask their scent and even their appearance to walk with the dead. However, the Whisperers can just wear the masks, stay quiet, and walk like the dead to live. They do not account for the sense of smell the walkers are so keen to have when encountering the main group.
5The Deadly Bite
It is established within the show that every person, living or dead, is infected by the zombie virus. Therefore, the threat of simply dying and not just getting bit makes things all the more dangerous and risky for the entire group of survivors. They are all bound to turn, no matter how they die. But, it’s obvious that getting bitten accelerates death. So, do walker bites have different levels of potency?
How Long Does it Take?
An inconsistency with the deadly bite is how long it takes for someone to turn. In the later seasons of the show, the more important a character is, the longer it seems to take for them to succumb to the bite’s poison and turn. The poison/bacteria in a walker that carries the virus could potentially be more deadly, depending on how old the walker is and how much of the virus is festering in the walker. Well, it turns out that this is just another one of those unanswered plot holes that we have to turn a blind eye to.
4Michonne’s Walker Pets
The awesome image of Michonne and her walker pets continues to be one of the most iconic images in The Walking Dead‘s history. Before Michonne paired up with Andrea in the show’s second season, she had been traveling alone with just her katana to keep her company. Oh, wait. She DID have company! Michonne was accompanied by two walker pets who had been attached to her by long leashes with their jaws and arms severed from their bodies.
Even Michonne Brings Up the Unanswered Question
We understand the purpose of these walkers. They are there to disguise Michonne, make her look like she is walking among them. However, nothing else hides her from walkers. In fact, these pets don’t really shield her in any other way than by making her look like a force to be reckoned with to the living. Even Michonne was confused by why this worked. Michonne letting go of this part of her character was pivotal. However, we are left scratching our heads at how this helped her survive.
3An Infinite Supply of Gas
There are many aspects of long-term survival to consider in a zombie apocalypse. With food, water, weapons, shelter, and clothes out of the way, it is time to consider transportation. The Walking Dead, once our group is established at a central location whether it be Alexandria, the prison, and even Hershel’s farm, seem to forget the realities of gas.
Isn’t the Gas Unusable?
Over the course of years, scavenging for gas and replacing vehicles has become a danger. After so much time has passed, the gas reserves our survivors have access to are most likely depleted or the gas has become unusable.
Are we complaining just as long as something is keeping Rick’s group going and on the move? No. However, this insinuation that there is some infinite gas supply they are pulling from keeps us scratching our heads.
2Walker Blood Poison
All fans of The Walking Dead know how deadly a walker bite can be. However, what about walker blood? The idea of tainted/infected blood being utilized as a weapon was used multiple times. In the instance where Rick and his group are going up against the remainder of Terminus’s population, including their leader Garreth, Bob reveals that he had been bitten when taken by the enemy group.
Inconsistencies with its Effects
However, he reveals this information after they have already started eating his flesh. He referred to it as “tainted meat.” The Terminus group does not live long enough after this for audiences to see if they could pass from consuming the meat. In another instance, Negan smears zombie guts all over Lucielle with the insinuation that a hit by Lucielle would have the same effects as a walker bite itself.
Walker blood/guts acting as poison does not make sense in this world. How many times have our favorite characters gone up against hoards of walkers with blood and guts spraying all over the place? What happens if the blood from the walkers gets in their eyes, mouths, and open cuts or wounds? This idea that walker blood entering the system of a living person should have knocked out a good amount of main characters in the first few seasons, if you ask us.
1Do Walkers Get Full?
Nothing smells and tastes better than a fresh corpse! Points if it’s still thrashing and screaming, right? Well, this is the mindset of the true main characters of The Walking Dead, the dead themselves. But, do they ever get enough or is their hunger insatiable? When a living person or animal falls victim to a hoard, it is safe to assume that there should be nothing left of the body.
If Walkers Don’t Get Full, How Are There More Walkers?
Well, oddly enough, some people emerge again having turned after dying. There is also the iconic moment in the prison where Lori’s walker body was never discovered. The fandom is divided on whether or not the walkers ate her, bones and all, or if she turned and simply walked out and was never found.
The walkers never seem to lose their one basic instinct to kill and eat. However, why do bodies ever make out of a hungry hoard? We have been asking ourselves if the walkers just get full and stop eating on a dead body for the entirety of this show, and we are still wondering what the rules are here.
