Carl Grimes is one of the original characters from The Walking Dead, and he certainly saw his fair share of blood, gore, and violence throughout his life. While there were a few happy moments for him, the character really went through a tough time.

Fans got to see him grow from a scared young boy into an incredibly brave young man through his journey on the show, and there is no denying his story arc is one of the best on the show. He’s prepared to fight for what he believes in and doesn’t fear anyone, which allowed him to be such a great character. No matter how many trials or tribulations he had to deal with, Carl always came out on the other side with a positive attitude ready to go again. Here are his ten bravest moments from The Walking Dead series.

Solo Adventure

We will kickstart the list with a fantastic moment of bravery from Carl as he tried to singlehandedly take down Negan and the Saviours. Deciding he wanted to solve the situation by himself, he hops onto a truck heading for The Saviours camp and does his best to wipe as many people out as possible.

While he obviously isn’t able to actually kill many people all alone, it certainly shows how brave, albeit a little foolish, he is as a person. The moment actually wins him the respect of Negan who is impressed by the guts that Carl shows int trying to take him down.

Looking After Rick

While Rick is the adult and the father in their relationship, there are many moments throughout the show when Carl is the one who has to look after his father. Showing his bravery and the fact he can step up and become an adult, he is always there for his dad, no matter what.

In season four that is never clearer in the episode “After.” With Rick beaten and bruised, unable to move or wake due to his injuries, Carl is forced to protect them both against nearby walkers, securing an abandoned house as a sanctuary for them. It’s a moment where he really steps up for his father and proves how much he has learnt.

Poncho Walking

Once again, the groups ‘safe’ spot ends up being invaded by walkers when they’re in Alexandria, and it leads to some major moments in The Walking Dead’s history. While there is one big moment involving Carl (that we will get too), the way the escape the situation itself shows his bravery straight away.

They cover themselves in ponchos that are drenched in guts and blood in order to not have their scent picked up b the walkers, as they then are forced to literally walk amongst the horde. It’s a crazy visual that certain members of the group he’s in aren’t brave enough to overcome.

Got My Shoe

Throughout his lifetime, Carl obviously encounters many walkers and different scary situations. However, this particular moment from the fourth season shows true bravery as he is caught alone with a savage walker who is hell-bent on taking a chunk out of him.

Unable to open the window fully to escape, Carl has to work his way around him and out of the bedroom without being caught. It’s a tense moment but he manages, writing “Walker inside. Got my shoe, didn’t get me” on the door as a warning to others, and a reminder to himself about how close this encounter was.

“Just Do It”

The opening episode of season seven provided another massively brave moment from Carl Grimes, as he looked set to lose an arm. Negan was out to teach his father, Rick, a lesson about who was in control, and in order to do that he demanded that he got an axe and chopped Carl’s arm off.

It’s an incredibly intense scene as Rick begs and pleads to have his own arm chopped off, with the emotion rising as the rest of the group have guns to their heads. In the end, Carl tells his father to “just do it,” showing amazing bravery and calmness. Even though it doesn’t end up happening, Carl was ready to accept his fate for the safety of others.

Shots Fired

Carl shows his bravery once again in the season seven finale of The Walking Dead when he ends up being the first person to fire a shot in the standoff between them and the other groups when steps up to shoot The Saviours. While this was an inevitable situation, few expected Carl to be the person to fire the first bullet.

He knew how dangerous starting the all-out war would be, yet he made the decision to do so anyway, stepping up as a leader and firmly proving how far he had come since the start of the show. Even though he was surrounded by people who were fighting alongside him, the gravity of the situation still made it intense.

Killing Walker Shane

One of Carl’s bravest moments comes very early on in the show, straight after Rick makes the decision to kill his friend, Shane. Carl sees the entire situation go down, but doesn’t really know the reasoning behind it, and viewers are left to think he is going to kill his own father.

However, when Shane turns and becomes a walker, heading straight for Rick, he ends up shooting him in the head. It’s a brave move for such a young boy, killing someone who was like family to him, and at such a young age it was always going to have an emotional impact.

Losing An Eye

Who can forget this iconic moment from The Walking Dead? Most people presumed the moment a stray bullet flew towards his face that Carl’s time had come, in what was one of the most shocking scenes ever. Of course, we later learned that, thankfully, that wasn’t the case.

However, Carl did lose his eye because of the situation, leading to a very brave moment where he has to have the situation sorted. Of course, he then has to learn how to live life without the eye, which doesn’t get enough credit as it deserves.

Lori’s Death

The scene that really highlighted the fact that Carl was the bravest character on the show was during the death scene of his mother, Lori. The scene was a very emotional one as it was both a birth scene and a death scene wrapped up into one as young Carl had to be an adult here and really stay strong for her.

As if seeing his own mother die in front of his eyes wasn’t tough enough, Carl then really showed his bravery when he put a bullet in her brain to ensure she didn’t turn. He insisted on doing it as she was his mom, but that didn’t make it an easy situation and it was certainly a very brave thing for him to do.

His Death

Carl’s death still remains one of The Walking Dead’s most emotional moments, as he was a character that fans had attached to and didn’t expect to go. After being bitten, Carl knew his time was up, and the infection quickly began to work its way through his body.

After his experience, Carl knew what needed to be done in order to not become a walker. However, instead of putting his father through emotional hell by being the person to shoot him, Carl was brave enough to be the one to pull the trigger.