Michonne is a fan favorite character from The Walking Dead graphic novels, and on the AMC TV series (played by Danai Gurira). Her storyline varies by medium, but there’s one thing that is clear: Michonne ain’t nothing to mess with! Michonne first appeared in The Walking Dead Issue 19, and has an origin story spinoff entitled, The Michonne Special. She first appeared walking down a road not far from the prison, with her two chained up zombies in tow (her dead boyfriend and his dead friend). She discovered that having the zombies with her and covering herself in their blood camouflaged her from walker attacks. She spotted Otis, one of Rick’s people, attempting to get back to the prison and ended up saving him from a hoard of zombies. This lead her to the rest of the group. They didn’t trust her at first, and they even made her hand over her katana, but eventually she proved herself to be a worthy friend and warrior.
Michonne mostly kept to herself but she did have some well-known romantic dalliances with Tyreese, Morgan, and Ezekiel. She endured many battles with Rick’s crew, but the biggest were with the Governor (she gouged his eye out), Negan and the Saviors, and the Whisperers.
Michonne and Rick never get together in the graphic novels, unlike the TV show, but they grow very close. Michonne becomes one of Rick’s biggest support systems and becomes a mother figure to Carl.
On the TV show, the Whisper War is just beginning, but in the graphic novel they managed to defeat the Whisperers. Following the aftermath of that war, Michonne travels with Rick and company to the Commonwealth, a community in Ohio, after they make contact with a woman named Stephanie (this is the woman who could be potentially trying to contact them on the TV show, for those who watch last season’s finale).
It is in this community where Michonne is reunited with her daughter, Elodie. The backstory here is that Michonne had two daughters, Elodie and Colette, before the zombie apocalypse, but gave up custody to her ex-husband after their divorce. Said ex-husband took the girls to safety when the outbreak started but eventually, he died, leaving Elodie and Colette alone, but Colette eventually perished.
Elodie was a teenager by the time she and Michonne reunited which was a bittersweet reunion. They were happy to see each other again, but sad about all the awful things they had to do for survival. However, they had a complicated relationship. Elodie had conflicting feelings because on one hand, she felt abandoned by Michonne, but on the other, it was good to see her in such a turbulent world. Michonne is understanding and tries to give her daughter the comfort and space that she needed, and their relationship eventually repaired itself.
So far, Michonne is still alive and ticking in the graphic novel, but you never know where this may go. She is also alive on the TV show, and her story on screen parallels that of Andrea’s in the graphic novel in some ways, but there’s no telling where her storyline will go. Danai Gurira has already stated that she plans to leave the show so death could be in the TV character’s future.
We don’t know what’s going to happen in the graphic novels or even on the TV show, but it’s going to be a sad day when she’s gone. Given the nature of the world she lives in, death is probably inevitable at some point. Are you ready?
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