It's easy to forget that while Judith is among the youngest characters on AMC series The Walking Dead, she is also one of those who has been around the longest. She has gone from being in Lori's stomach to being a wailing baby, adorable toddler, and now precocious young girl and daughter to Rick and Michonne.
Sure, the character was originally played by a series of kids. But now, the adorable and talented Cailey Flemings plays her. And having grown up in the apocalypse, Judith is a pretty hardened, fierce, confident young girl who is still a typical kid at heart.
Thanks to her unique circumstances, Judith has learned a lot and has a lot to say.
"It Doesn't Matter If You're A Good Or Bad Person On The Inside. The Numbers Don’t Care"
In The Walking Dead's season nine, Negan was still locked in an underground cell, not permitted to have contact with anyone except for those who guarded him or brought him food and changed his bedpan. But there was one person who took pity on him and would sit with him for hours, chatting through a tiny window.
That person was Judith. She would often do her homework on the steps, reading him the questions and asking for help. When Negan, who used to be a gym teacher in the real world and thus was comfortable working with kids, tried to get her to help in other ways, she said she only wanted their communication to be limited to math homework. The reason? The quote above.
"Loving Someone Means Doing Whatever It Takes To Keep Them Safe"
In another season nine episode, Judith pleads with her adoptive mother Michonne to do something about the trouble her old friends might be in. Even at such a young age, Judith understands loyalty, love, and sacrifice.
It's her speech, in fact, that helps convince Michonne to get out of her self-absorbed funk and realize that the old friends she once had do mean something to her, with or without Rick there. And that she should take a trip to visit them.
"Airplane 'A' And Airplane 'B' Are 1,000 Miles Apart. If Airplane 'A' Is Flying East At 500 Miles Per Hour, And Airplane 'B' Is Flying West At 650 Miles Per Hour, How…"
This was one of the complex math questions Judith was reading to Negan while sitting on the steps outside of his underground jail cell. It was an interesting scene that showed that despite world circumstances, Judith was still expected to learn things kids would have learned in the real world.
In typical Negan fashion, however, he cleverly replied with the suggestion of booking a seat on airplane C because things are shaping up to be "one hell of a mid-air collision."
"You're My Mom. You Chose To Be. Because You Love Me And I Love You"
The heartstrings were officially pulled with this quote, which Judith spoke to Michonne. Biologically, Michonne wasn't Judith's mother. And technically, Rick likely wasn't her biological father either. It is implied that she was probably the result of Lori's intimate encounters with Shane during the time that Rick was in a coma and away from the group.
Nonetheless, Rick always viewed Judith as his own, and when he and Michonne became an item, Michonne was quick to take on motherly responsibilities for Judith just as she had grown an extremely close bond with Carl.
"When Did We Stop Loving Daryl? Aunt Maggie? Carol? The King?"
During Judith's big speech to Michonne, she said this line, proving that Daryl, Maggie, and Ezekiel were around enough in the time after Rick for Judith to remember them. And she even referred to Maggie as her aunt.
Despite living in such a terrifying world, Judith knew who her allies were and knew how important it was to never lose touch with old friends and the few people she can trust implicitly in the Walking Dead universe.
"You'll Be Safe Here, I Promise"
After kicking butt and saving Magna and her crew from walkers, Judith reassures her that they will be safe if they come with her group. Magna, like any other survivor in the apocalypse, is unsure about whether she can trust these strange people, though, even after they saved their lives.
Judith's sweet face, however, clearly trained fighting skills, and very presence with a group of otherwise menacing looking people makes Magna believe (sort of) that maybe these are good people worth trusting after all.
"I'm A Kid, A**hole"
After encouraging Negan who was trying to escape, Judith holds a gun to his head and tries to convince him to come back. Adding fuel to the fire, she reminds him that there isn't anything out there for him, as she warned him before he left. His Saviors have pretty much broken up and there's nothing left of his outposts.
When Negan replies using a curse word, Judith scolds him for using bad language. And she replies with this line, which makes her admonishment all the more hilarious.
"The Millions Of Walkers Followed The Brave Man Onto The Bridge And On The Other Side, All His Friends Were Waiting…"
This is the beginning of the story of The Brave Man, which Judith retells to her little brother R.J. The Brave Man in the tall tale is, of course, their father Rick. And it isn't a tale at all but a true story. Though at the time, Judith doesn't know that Rick really survived.
The story continues: "The brave man wouldn't let the walkers reach his friends and hurt them so he blew up the bridge and all the walkers fell into the water and he saved all his friends. The brave man died and went to heaven. But people like the brave man are never really gone anyway. He lives inside our hearts and makes us brave, too."
"Daito?"
Judith calls out this name on her walkie-talkie, hoping to get a response. It's later revealed that this is her code name for Michonne. It refers to a type of Japanese sword, which has a long blade much like the one Michonne used to carry around.
Judith is smart enough not to use Michonne's real name so as to keep her identity as well as location a secret should anyone be listening in on the channel. For the record, when Michonne responds, she calls Judith Shoto.
"I'm Starting To Forget Their Voices. I'm Not Trying To, But They Keep Fading Away"
It's such a sad line whereby Judith admits that as much as she loves her father Rick and her brother Carl, and as much as she is trying to hold on to memories of them, she's losing them quickly.
Remember, Judith was a very young child, no older than 6, when Rick and Carl were last around. As the years go by, memories from that age start to fade. And for Judith, without having any photos, videos, or other tangible around to keep her memories alive, they are starting to completely disappear.