The Walking Dead is well-known for forcing its main protagonist, Rick Grimes, and the rest of his fellow zombie apocalypse survivors through harrowing situation after harrowing situation, with most characters getting killed off almost as quickly as they are introduced. In the latest issue of The Walking Dead Deluxe, it’s revealed that the only reason Rick didn’t bite the bullet right from the start was for one fairly obvious, but still fundamentally important reason.

Introduced as The Walking Dead’s main protagonist in the very first issue of the series, Rick Grimes went from a small town cop to big time leader of a ragtag group of survivors that included his son, Carl Grimes, wife, Lori, best friend, Shane, expert scavenger, Glenn, and dozens upon dozen of other characters that played important roles in The Walking Dead’s sprawling zombie narrative.

Never shying away from killing a character if the story demands it, series creator Robert Kirkman has murdered, maimed, and zombie munched more heroes and villains than fans can easily count, with the writer admitting in The Walking Dead Deluxe #112 that Rick only survived as long as he did thanks to thick “plot armor.”

The Walking Dead’s Rick Grimes Survived Deadly Situations Thanks to His Character’s Plot Armor

The Walking Dead Deluxe #112 – 2025 (Robert Kirkman, Charlie Adlard, and Dave McCaig)

An obvious reason for Rick to constantly avoid death, Kirkman, in this issue’s “Cutting Room Floor” bonus content, reveals how the backfiring of Rick’s surprise attempt at killing Negan is “a nice example of plot armor,” despite Negan’s Saviors having Rick dead to rights. Explaining how, “In real life, Negan being the type of guy he is… Rick would be dead. Killed immediately,” Kirkman elaborates that he, “…did a reasonably good job of setting Negan up as a crazy person who seems to like Rick and enjoys messing with him, so I can buy that he’d want him kept alive.”

Using this issue’s main conflict for context, after Rick foolishly tries to murder Negan, Negan, instead of outright killing Rick for his disobedience, shows Rick he was one step ahead of him by revealing his hidden cache of Saviors — a chilling way to keep Rick in check. But as Kirkman further notes, “…Heath, Holly and Phillip? Why didn’t they kill them? Maybe I WAS going soft in the later issues…” implying that Rick’s plot armor might have helped save these characters from a gruesome fate — an interesting wrinkle in Rick’s main protagonist role that, unfortunately, only works half the time.

So for those who have always wondered why Rick made it out of seemingly fatal situations that would have normally gotten any other Walking Dead character killed, the answer, as told by series creator Robert Kirkman, is quite simple: Rick was the book’s main protagonist and as such, had layers upon layers of plot armor that protected him throughout this zombie-tinged story. And although Rick Grimes eventually did perish in the penultimate issue of The Walking Dead, it was never in the cards for him to die any sooner, resulting in a truly worthy hero’s journey that captivated fans for years.

The Walking Dead Deluxe #112 is available from Image Comics.

The Walking Dead Constantly Kills Characters, Rick Grimes Included Even With His Plot Armor

Only a Few Characters Survived Until the Walking Dead’s Finale

Shot and killed by Sebastian Milton in The Walking Dead #192 after Rick helped strip Pamela Milton’s leadership role within the Commonwealth, it isn’t until the following issue that Carl finds an undead Rick and is forced to kill his father for good. As Kirkman alludes, Rick’s death could have happened at any point for any reason — his violent interactions with Negan or even The Governor being prime examples of Rick’s plot armor in action — ensuring that despite Rick still losing a hand and being forever mentally and physically scarred, he was always going to live to fight another day.