Carol Peletier

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Character
Name: Carol Peletier
Occupation: Housewife, Prison Council Member, Caregiver in Alexandria
Relationships: Ed Peletier (husband), Sophia Peletier (daughter), Lizzie Samuels (adopted daughter), Mika Samuels (adopted daughter), Henry (adopted son)
Fandom: The Walking Dead
Other: Played by Melissa McBride in the TV show
"illustration of a head and shoulders portrait of Carol surrounded by cherokee roses on a soft green background"
Carol Peletier by breathe-gentle (2015)
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Carol Peletier is a fictional character from the comic book series The Walking Dead and is portrayed by Melissa McBride in the AMC television series of the same name. She is a popular, fan favorite character on the horror-drama series.

No character on The Walking Dead has experienced a more interesting transformation than Carol Peletier [1]

Canon

TV show

At the beginning of the series Carol is married to Ed Peletier, they have one child, Sophia Peletier. It becomes apparent that Ed is abusive towards Carol. Ed is killed by walkers in latter half of Season 1. In Season 2, Episode 1 Sophia goes missing, a great deal of the first half of the season is dedicated to members of group searching for her, especially Daryl Dixon. At mid-season it is revealed that Sophia was bit, turned into a walker and was being held within Herschel Greene's barn, Rick Grimes puts Sophia down. During Season 3 it is assumed that Carol is dead when walkers are intentionally set loose within the prison. Daryl later finds Carol, weak and dehydrated, hiding within a cell. Carol becomes the guardian of Lizzie and Mika Samuels when their father dies. A deadly illness is discovered and Carol kills the first two carriers, Karen and David, in hopes of stopping its spread throughout the prison. After Rick discovers Carol's action he banishes her from the prison. After the prison falls Carol is reunited with Lizze, Mika, Tyreese and baby Judith, they travel together in the latter half of Season 4. Carol is forced to kill Lizzie after she killed her sister and threatened to kill Judith. At the beginning of Season 5 Carol saves the group from Terminus. She rejoins the main group and eventually make their way to the Alexandria Safe Zone. Alexandria is attacked when by the Wolves, when the majority of the residents are away, Carol is able to get to armory, stopping the attack. At the end of Season 6, beginning of Season 7 Carol leaves the group and seeks refuge at The Kingdom.

Carol's tragic decision in "The Grove" became a meme

Fandom

Pairings

Statistics

Common Tropes in Fanworks

  • Domestic Abuse: due to her canon background, Carol is often portrayed trying to move on from an abusive past.
  • No Zombie Apocalypse AU: Modern setting, her husband Ed is usually (but not always) out of the picture - either dead, in prison, or Carol divorced him.
  • Sophia: Sophia lives
  • High School AU or College AU: Where Carol knows her follow survivors before the Zombie Apocalypse

Challenges

Other

  • A lot of Carol fans refer to her as The Queen (especially after season 5 episode 2 when Gareth called her "The Queen Bitch")
  • Carol was a member of the Atlanta Five

Controversies

  • Banishment: Some fans felt Carol should not have acted on her own when she killed Karen and David, and that her banishment was justified. However, others pointed out that male characters had done far worse in the name of protecting the survivors and still been welcome as part of the group. This lead some fans to draw the conclusion that there was a double standard when it came to male and female characters.[3]
  • Lizzie kill: Carol's killing of mentally ill Lizzie was seen as very disturbing to some,[4] and they pointed out that Carol had some culpability in Mika's death because she taught the girls how to use knifes.[5] However fans did point out that Lizzie had issues before her time with Carol, and there is no therapy and no rehabilitation in the Zombie Apocalypse.[6]
  • Tobin: Some fans expressed anger and disappointment when the show paired Carol with Tobin, instead of fan favorite Daryl Dixon.[7][8][9]
  • Ageism: There have been accusations of ageism within the fandom, because of the tendency for some fans to put Carol in a maternal role with male characters only a few years her junior, especially Daryl Dixon.[10][11]

Example Fanworks

Carol being touched by her unseen daughter Sophia, part of a fan art collection, This bitter earth, by artist Morphine Pudding

Fanfic

Fanart

Fan Vids

Meta

Cosplay

Archives and Communities

Links and Resources

References

  1. ^ How Carol Evolved From Outcast To Unkillable Badass In ‘The Walking Dead’ Season 5
  2. ^ The Walking Dead A03 Statistics
  3. ^ The Price Of Protecting Rick’s Group
  4. ^ The 10 Biggest Walking Dead Controversies of All Time
  5. ^ Disheartening Fandom
  6. ^ The Walking Dead’: Did Carol Finally Go Too Far?
  7. ^ I’m not sympathetic to Tobin. At All
  8. ^ Soo Carol and Tobin
  9. ^ Carol x Tobin
  10. ^ Saying ageist things about Carol is not only hateful and disrespectful
  11. ^ I’m usually not one to get deep with a character/actor
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