The Walking Dead fan favorite, Glenn Rhee, would be ashamed of the person his son has become by the end of the comic series. After sixteen years, Robert Kirkman's The Walking Dead came to an end this month after the writer shockingly revealed issue #193 to be the final chapter in the story. Following the death of Rick Grimes, The Walking Dead ends with a glimpse into the future, where Carl is a grown man with a family of his own and the Alexandria safe zone has grown so large that many people have forgotten what zombies even look like.
Unfortunately, Glenn is no longer around to see this dream manifest into a reality. Both the comic book and the Steven Yeun TV incarnations of Glenn die messily at the hands of Negan, who decides to use Glenn's skull for a spot of baseball practice. Never the strongest or smartest of Rick's survivors, Glenn was characterized by loyalty, kindness and courage, always willing to put his own life on the line for the sake of others. Despite being a pizza delivery worker before the outbreak, both Rick and The Walking Dead's readers recognized Glenn's rare qualities and took him to their hearts, with the character's eventual death arguably the most upsetting and tragic moment in the entire series.
During the course of The Walking Dead, Glenn meets Maggie Greene and has a son named Hershel. The Walking Dead's final chapter shows Hershel as a young man and his fate is one of the finale's biggest twists - Hershel hosts a travelling zombie side show within the safe zone. With most survivors now largely unaware of the undead threat, zombies have become a sought-after commodity and Hershel charges a fee for people to view his caravan full of walkers. In the final chapter, one such walker escapes his cage and has to be put down by the ever-badass Carl Grimes, but instead of thanking Carl for averting a potentially disastrous outcome, Hershel brings legal action against him for destruction of property.
This sequence of actions breaks a number of core values that Glenn held dear. For starters, Hershel is putting his fellow survivors at unnecessary risk by intentionally bringing the undead into the safe zone for his own profit. Such acts were considered taboo in the main series, and similar exploits were carried out by The Walking Dead's villains. Additionally, it's evident Hershel isn't keeping a close enough eye on his zombie attractions, otherwise they wouldn't have escaped, thereby demonstrating a complete lack of care for others' safety.
Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, Hershel seems quite happy to sell out his friends. After hearing that his stray zombie was found by Carl, Hershel's initial reaction is one of relief, since the creature was discovered by a friend. This proves that the pair do share some kind of bond from when Hershel was an infant, however, relief quickly turns to anger when Hershel finds out Carl destroyed his pet and Glenn's son wants his friend either put in jail or sent out on a dangerous mission to find a replacement for the sideshow.
There's no doubt whatsoever that Glenn would balk at the idea of these options and the fact his son has grown into the exact opposite of everything Glenn stood for would be a huge source of personal shame for the veteran character. With that said, eliciting disgust from readers is Hershel's primary purpose in The Walking Dead's final chapter, and Kirkman has written the character so as to demonstrate how far the community has evolved since Rick's death. It was previously unthinkable that anyone in their right mind could be so selfishly ignorant of danger, but the fact that even the son of Glenn Rhee could become complacent proves just how far the world of The Walking Dead has come.
The Walking Dead season 10 is expected to premiere in October 2019 on AMC.