Who Is Judith’s Biological Father?

Of all of the characters to outlive the whole thing of “The Strolling Useless,” Judith Grimes is probably the most shocking. Conceived someday in season 1, fetus-Judith’s hope of survival all through season 2 depends totally on her mom Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies) not dying from sheer clumsiness. There are many shut calls: at one level pregnant Lori steals a automotive with out telling anybody, forgets to concentrate to the street whereas driving, and finally ends up flipping the automotive over in the course of the evening, with walkers close by heading in the direction of the noise. Some individuals simply aren’t meant to dwell in such tough occasions. 

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Fortunately for Judith, Lori one way or the other lives lengthy sufficient to provide delivery to her amidst a walker ambush on the jail in season 3. Child Judith is then carried from place to put for the subsequent 5 seasons by numerous individuals, together with a toddler psychopath who practically suffocates her to demise in season 4. Though the people around baby Judith keep dropping like flies, she stays sturdy by all of it. Then in season 9, after a shock time leap, Judith is sufficiently old to be a correct character with strains and a character. Performed by Cailey Fleming, 10-year-old Judith has all of the toughness and braveness that her father Rick was recognized for. 

There’s only one drawback: is Rick Judith’s father? Or may Judith’s actual father be that dastardly Shane Walsh (Jon Bernthal), who had a fling with Lori for a number of weeks earlier than she discovered she was pregnant? Mathematically it looks like Shane’s the extra probably father or mother, however followers can actually make the case for Rick…

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The case for Shane being Judith’s father is easy: Rick spent several weeks at the hospital in a coma. Throughout these weeks the apocalypse occurred, and sooner or later Lori and Shane began hooking up. The precise timeline is deliberately left fuzzy by the present, however the scenes we do get of Lori and Shane within the early episodes indicate that they have been having unprotected intercourse regularly. 

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After Rick and Lori reunite, they’ve intercourse a minimum of as soon as earlier than Lori finds out she’s pregnant, however they shortly begin having marital troubles as Rick finds out all the things that is occurred. To place it merely: there have been many extra alternatives for Shane to impregnate Lori than for Rick, though it’s technically potential that it was Rick who did the deed. 

As a result of DNA checks are onerous to seek out within the apocalypse, each Lori and Rick appear content material to simply assume Rick’s the daddy and not likely dwell on it. Shane, nevertheless, absolutely believes the child is his, and his possessiveness in the direction of Lori and her unborn little one is an enormous a part of what turns him more and more vindictive and unstable all through “The Strolling Useless” season 2. If Rick hadn’t killed him in “Better Angels,” it is clear that Shane would’ve saved considering of the child as his personal, and would’ve saved feuding with Rick due to this. 

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After the time leap, followers had been observing Judith carefully for any indicators of Shane-esque conduct. All she wanted to do was rub the back of her head and the jig could be up, however as a substitute she act extra like the way you’d count on the daughter of Rick Grimes to behave. Bodily, she does not appear to share many similarities with both father. (Truthfully, she does not even look very like Lori both.) Evidently in relation to the query of Judith’s organic father, the reply is totally as much as followers to resolve. 

A notable piece of proof within the “Shane’s the daddy” camp, and one I assume followers put an excessive amount of inventory in, is a season 7 scene the place Rick straight up says, “I do know Judith is not mine. I do know it. I really like her, she’s my daughter however she is not mine. I needed to settle for that.”

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Some followers take this as affirmation of Judith’s parenthood, however others interpret it as Rick merely explaining his decision-making course of. He “accepts” that Judith is Shane’s organic daughter in order that he does not should fixed surprise what the reality is. If he can settle for the worst-case situation and nonetheless love Judith, then he is aware of his relationship together with her might be high-quality it doesn’t matter what. This ties into the argument Rick’s making to Michonne all through the scene: that they (the Alexandrians at warfare with Negan) want to simply accept the worst potential final result of a scenario from the beginning, in order that it will not nag at them and cloud their judgment going ahead.

However even when you do take Rick’s phrases at face worth right here, the takeaway for Judith remains to be the identical. In all of the ways in which rely, she’s Rick’s daughter. He is the one who raised her (for those first few years at least), and it is his and Michonne’s values she grew up studying. Even when Judith obtained her DNA examined and located conclusive proof that she wasn’t Rick’s daughter, hopefully she’d know to not pay it any thoughts. 

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