The name change for a major character in The Walking Dead after season 9 makes way more sense after their appearance in The Ones Who Live.
Jadis was initially the leader of the Scavengers, a group of people living in a landfill that Rick recruits in the war against the Saviors. Following the death of her people, she becomes part of the group, going by the name Anne. In her time there, she forms a romantic relationship with Gabriel Stokes, which is broken off once she becomes a full member of the CRM’s forces. However, while she switches her name back to Jadis, her name holds even greater importance because of what the franchise reveals her full name is.
“Jadis Stokes” Means Way More After The Ones Who Live Episode 5’s Flashbacks
Her Last Name Reveals A Secret She’s Been Hiding For Years
Following her departure from The Walking Dead, Jadis makes her first reappearance in World Beyond season 2, episode 6. In the episode, she approaches Huck, who addresses her as “Warrant Officer Stokes.” This line confirms that Jadis took Gabriel’s name after leaving the core survivors, signaling her past connection to the priest. However, even by the end of World Beyond, it’s still not explained why she took up his last name despite seemingly having left Virginia for good at the end of The Walking Dead season 9.
The Ones Who Live episode 5 answers the question of Jadis’ last name, revealing her and Gabriel have been secretly meeting once a year for the last three years. Her decision to keep meeting him in secret, even at the cost of her position at the CRM, reveals how much she truly cared about him despite her new allegiances. It explains why she never told her group about Alexandria, for fear Gabriel would be harmed if the community were destroyed. In addition, it reveals her last name is a connection to her past life – which she never fully left behind.
Jadis’ Name Change Gave Away The Ones Who Live Episode 5’s Ending
Her Last Moments Reveal Who She Really Is
While flashbacks between Jadis and Gabriel are interspersed throughout The Ones Who Live episode 5, the main story focuses on Jadis hunting Rick and Michonne in the present day. Eventually, she is backed into a corner by the pair, soon bitten on the neck by a zombie, making her death a certainty. However, before she dies, she tells Rick and Michonne the location of her dossier on Alexandria, betraying the CRM in her final moments. It’s a turn that makes it evident she was never fully evil, even if she separated Rick from his family.
Jadis’ name change was foreshadowing her end, as it made it clear she still had emotional connections to Alexandria through Gabriel. Even though she threatened to destroy the community if Rick and Michonne escaped, she ultimately realized how wrong her decision had been in the last moments of her life. Yet she had always held an emotional resonance with Gabriel, something that complicated her feelings of what she wanted versus what she was afraid to lose. Ultimately, she decided to let go of her fear of losing the CRM and help the person she truly cared about this whole time.
The Ones Who Live Is Making World Beyond Way More Important To TWD’s Timeline
The Spinoffs Compliment Each Other’s Stories
The completion of Jadis’ character arc is made stronger thanks to her appearance in World Beyond, which further established her high position and loyalty to the CRM. Alongside her appearance in the spinoff, World Beyond also established the CRM’s communities across the US, also revealing their involvement in destroying Omaha and the Campus Colony. This extra context from the spinoff later added to The Ones Who Live‘s ending, where Rick and Michonne prevent the CRM from destroying Portland next.
Because of both Jadis’ name change and how Rick and Michonne stopped the CRM, it’s clear World Beyond is a key part of The Walking Dead‘s timeline. Since the series had such direct connections with The Ones Who Live, it’s possible elements from the series will be brought into the larger scope of the franchise in the future. This could include Silas’ role after Jadis took him under her wing, as well as learning what core characters like Hope and Iris are doing in Portland now that the city has been saved once more.
Given how important Jadis’ name ended up being, her ending in The Ones Who Live delivered a fitting conclusion to her character arc. It also may have opened the door for The Walking Dead‘s wider world to get explored in the future, possibly offering more closure to the storylines originally featured in World Beyond. Although Jadis died in a CRM uniform, her final actions revealed where her heart truly was the whole time, even if she couldn’t see it herself.
