Glenn - Character Dissection
Glenn Rhee - CharacterInsight and breakdown
Writing Glenn wasn’t as hard as Rick, it was hard in a different way. Rick was very hard to keep in character. Glenn however needed a new arch.
I went to the obvious, his death, his family. Negan being alive was so controversial, Maggie had went through so much pain and the show really touched on that
I loved that Glenn was Kat’s first helper in the timejump things. I feel like I didn’t get to write enough Glenn and Kat in. Instead however I really wanted to enunciate his relationship with Rick and Daryl.
I had a lot to work with Glenn and he’s the heart and soul of our group so I didn’t want to do him dirty. I wanted his happy ending just as much as I wanted Daryl’s. Glenn truly did not get enough screen time for such an amazing character and I hope I gave him a bit more spotlight in this story.
I wanted to show that Glenn could be a leader. That he had the capability but in the end he only took the roll for his family while Rick was built for it.
One of the things that was prominent when writing Glenn was Negan. A question long been asked. What would he do? What would he say? A question the show would never be able to answer.this story could.
Glenn is the heart of the group, the soul that kept them good. When he died the heart of the group was essentially killed. They were never the same, a broken vase that they slowly had to put together again. They were still family but the wounds were deep. No matter how much talking or fight they did the gash would never heal.
Especially in Daryl. His guilt over Glenn was a deep trauma, being tortured Daryl felt he deserved it and expected the people he loved most to hate him for what he did. Now he had the chance to have Glenn tell him how much he loved him, how he would have done it too, how he didn't blame him. It was a testimony to who Glenn was as a person.
When the governor came around and hurt Glenn and Maggie. Glenn only cared about what he had done to his girlfriend.
When the man that left his wife a widow came waltzing into his town of course Glenn lashed out and acted on impulse. He hated him and it takes Glenn a lot to hate people. But this time it wasn’t about Maggie- well not entirely. He was hurt. Hurt so badly that he naively believed the town didn’t care about him.
Like I said, Negan living was controversial, how would Glenn feel knowing his murderer was alive?
Of course he hated him for what he did to Maggie. Maggie and Daryl already had to deal with being okay with Negan being alive for the sake of more important things. It was Glenn’s turn. And in true Glenn fashion, he learned to be the bigger person. To show kindness to a man he loathed.
He truly was the heart of the group and like most of these characters, he deserved better.