The Walking Dead is going into its tenth season this year, and this incredibly long-running and beloved show has had such a long run and has been such a fan favorite for a lot of different reasons. TWD is a show unlike any other. Its storylines are riveting, its twists are shocking, and of course it's characters are so lovable or hateable that it's hard not to get invested in everything the show has to offer.
And one of the ways in which the series has managed to distinguish itself from your average TV show is in its sheer volume of incredibly dynamic, dimensional, and badass female characters. TWD is an extraordinary show in that it has so many crazy tough women fighting the good fight and oftentimes leading the charge, and although they're all badass they're still all completely different people. So here are TWD's most badass female characters, ranked.
Judith Grimes
Judith Grimes may be tiny and young, but she's even more badass than young Carl was. Although no one should ever assume that a character on TWD will survive, it seems like a safe bet that Judith will make it all the way to adulthood, and it looks like she'll probably be the scariest and coolest parts of Michonne, Rick, and Carl combined.
It's tough to make a little kid into an appealing character on a post-apocalyptic horror show, but Judith has managed to be adorable, endearing, but still downright terrifying. And they may be friends right now, but even Negan won't want to mess with Judith once she's fully grown.
Enid
Just survive somehow. That was Enid's mantra for a very long time, and it got her pretty far. She managed to outlive her parents and stay alive completely on her own, and although she seemed to lose herself for quite a while there she eventually regained everything that was good about the Enid from the old world and held on to everything that she needed to from Enid in the new world.
And of course, just as we would expect, even though Enid died alongside many of her friends she went down swinging and didn't give up on hope even when the situation was completely hopeless.
Tara Chambler
Like everyone else in the world of The Walking Dead, Tara Chambler managed to survive in a world that is hostile to everything that is still living. And Tara was undoubtedly one tough cookie, but what really distinguished Tara as an exceptionally badass chick was her constant willingness to help absolutely anyone.
Although she barely knew Glenn and they had every reason to be enemies, she immediately became a ride or die for him when he asked for her help finding Maggie. And when she became a part of the Alexandria community she stepped up and volunteered for the dangerous jobs that most people wouldn't want, and saved members of the community many times.
Andrea
Andrea is a character on TWD who gets a pretty unfair negative rap. But she is one seriously tough lady who, while she certainly had her flaws, was not anyone that you'd want to mess with.
Andrea didn't seem to have a great natural sense for who was a good person or who was a bad one, but she always did genuinely try to do the right thing (or what she thought was the right thing). Once the apocalypse hit she transformed herself into the kind of fighter and leader that she needed to be in order to survive, and when it came time to decide whether or not to do the right thing or the safe thing she almost always did the right thing.
Rosita Espinosa
Rosita Espinosa credits a lot of her capability in the world of walkers to the assistance and training that Abraham Ford provided for her, but she really deserves the accolades for what an amazing warrior she is.
She wasn't a soldier until the world actually ended, but once she had to adjust to this new reality she became the kind of badass that even someone like Abraham would view as his equal. And she has never shown a hint of concern about herself if the mission required her to put herself in the line of fire, and if she had to die so that other good people could live then she had no problem with that.
Maggie Greene
Like most people who found themselves still living in a world overrun by the dead, Maggie Greene initially had no idea what she was getting into when she had to fight for her own survival against the hordes of walkers and other people who were fighting tooth and nail for their own survival.
She was already the toughest member of the Greene family when the group first met them, but she has evolved into someone who is not only an incredible fighter, she's someone who is strong enough and smart enough that the people around her are ready and willing to follow her lead.
Sasha Williams
Before Sasha Williams made her entrance on The Walking Dead, she and her brother Tyreese were among a group of 25 people who were just trying to stay alive. And by the time she meets up with Rick and the rest of the group, there are only five people left.
That alone should demonstrate how hard it is to actually harm her, but as she grew she also honed many of her skills and distinguished herself as one of the best gunslingers in the entire (already totally badass) group. Most people who tried to kill her are the ones who wound up dead, and she's so savage that literally, the only person that could kill her was her.
Alpha
It's a real bummer that Alpha has to be so high on this list because she is just such a terrible person, but my god is she also really, really badass. She rules her group with an iron fist and she has come up with strategies for survival that most people wouldn't think of (and even if they could think of it, they wouldn't dare do it).
The Walking Dead has been home to many very scary villains over the years, but she legitimately seems like the scariest yet. I mean seriously if you had to choose between a man with an eye patch, some dude with a barbed wire bat, or a woman who was literally wearing a dead person's face on her face, which seems like the most intimidating?
Michonne
When it comes to TWD characters, it's hard to think of anyone who is more amazing than Michonne. This crazy lady with a sword managed to survive all on her own for god knows how long, and although she did legitimately go insane for a while there she never lost track of who she truly was inside.
Michonne isn't just an incredible warrior, she is a powerful force for good in a world that seems to be completely consumed by senseless evil. Michonne and her sword are one of the deadliest duos on television, and it'd be a shock to meet any characters who can ever best her.
Carol Peletier
If you had told anyone at the start of The Walking Dead that Carol would arguably the most badass and terrifying character in the history of the show, no one would have believed it. And yet here we are.
Watching Carol constantly lose her children has been one of the most heartbreaking recurring themes of her character, but we can't lie, one of the most thrilling aspects of this upcoming season is the very fact that Carol will be out for Alpha's blood. Alpha may be the top dog in her own world, but she has more than met her match with Carol, and boy does she have a storm coming her way now.