Of all of the characters to outlive the whole thing of “The Strolling Useless,” Judith Grimes is essentially 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 automobile with out telling anybody, forgets to concentrate to the highway whereas driving, and finally ends up flipping the automobile over in the midst of the night time, with walkers close by heading in direction of the noise. Some folks simply aren’t meant to reside in such tough instances.
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Fortunately for Judith, Lori someway 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 following 5 seasons by varied folks, together with a baby psychopath who practically suffocates her to demise in season 4. Though the folks round child Judith maintain dropping like flies, she stays robust via all of it. Then in season 9, after a shock time bounce, 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 identified for.
There’s only one drawback: is Rick Judith’s father? Or might Judith’s actual father be that dastardly Shane Walsh (Jon Bernthal), who had a fling with Lori for just a few weeks earlier than she found out she was pregnant? Mathematically it looks like Shane’s the extra doubtless dad or mum, however followers can definitely make the case for Rick…
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Realistically, Judith’s father might be Shane
The case for Shane being Judith’s father is straightforward: Rick spent a number of weeks on 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 not less than as soon as earlier than Lori finds out she’s pregnant, however they rapidly 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 doable that it was Rick who did the deed.
As a result of DNA exams are laborious 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, totally believes the newborn is his, and his possessiveness in direction of Lori and her unborn youngster is a giant 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 “Higher Angels,” it is clear that Shane would’ve stored considering of the newborn as his personal, and would’ve stored feuding with Rick due to this.
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After the time bounce, followers had been observing Judith carefully for any indicators of Shane-esque habits. All she wanted to do was rub the again of her head and the jig could be up, however as a substitute she act extra like the way you’d anticipate the daughter of Rick Grimes to behave. Bodily, she does not appear to share many similarities with both father. (Actually, she does not even look very like Lori both.) Plainly on the subject of the query of Judith’s organic father, the reply is totally as much as followers to determine.
However who does Rick suppose the daddy is?
A notable piece of proof within the “Shane’s the daddy” camp, and one I suppose 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 need to 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 along with her shall be advantageous 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 doable consequence of a scenario from the beginning, in order that it will not nag at them and cloud their judgment going ahead.
However even in the event 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 depend, she’s Rick’s daughter. He is the one who raised her (for these first few years not less than), and it is his and Michonne’s values she grew up studying. Even when Judith received 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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