Ron Anderson

"That's bullshit! Your dad's just gonna get more people killed, 'cause that's what he does, that's who he is. Your dad's a killer."

- Ron to Carl Grimes

Ron Anderson is a minor antagonist introduced in Season 5 of AMC's The Walking Dead. He is introduced as a teenager living in Alexandria with his father, Pete Anderson, and younger brother.

He is portrayed by Austin Abrams.

Personality
Ron is initially introduced as an intelligent and polite young man living life in the Alexandria Safe-Zone with his family. He starts out as being friendly and welcoming toward Carl and accepts him as a friend. Although it is never shown, Ron is physically scarred from the abuse received from his violent father, Pete, as shown when his mother asks him to lift his right arm up above his head, a task Ron clearly cannot do. Ron does not seem to be emotionally damaged, as opposed to his younger brother, Sam.

Following the execution of his father at the hands of Rick, Ron takes a dramatic turn for the worst. He becomes angered, traumatized, and vengeful for his father's death and develops an apparent hatred for Rick and Carl (whom Ron accuses of stealing his girlfriend, Enid). He views Rick as a dangerous murderer and is disgusted by the fact that his mother chooses to remain Rick's friend, completely ignoring the fact Ron's own father was also dangerous and a killer. Ron is shown to become furious at any sign of disrespect toward his father, such as when Jessie mentions that Pete was dangerous and when Carl refers to Pete as an 'asshole'. This is evidence that Ron did indeed love his father despite the abuse recieved from him.

Ron is also shown to be rather cunning. He intentionally seeks out Rick's advise regarding gun training, claiming that he wants to protect himself and his family; although, Ron's true intentions involve murdering Carl. Following a massive invasion of walkers into the Safe-Zone, Ron attempts to fulfill his goal of killing Carl by locking Carl in his garage and attacking him, but Carl manages to stop Ron and unarms him. As a result, Ron appears to have given up his murderous intentions and goes along with Rick's plan of escaping. However, once his brother and mother are killed by the walkers, Ron completely snaps, blaming Rick for their deaths and attempting to kill Rick once and for all. Before Ron is able to pull the trigger, Michonne stabs him through the chest with her sword, causing him to then be devoured by walkers. However he manages to pull the trigger before he dies and ends up shooting Carl in the eye.

Story
Hours after his father is killed by Rick, Ron storms out of his house in anger. He stumbles across Enid and Carl sitting on a rooftop holding hands and looks on jealously.

Ron is upset about his father's death by Rick. He watches from a bush as Deanna tells Rick to bury Pete's corpse out in the woods. Ron follows Rick and newcomer Morgan Jones into the woods. He is later seen running from walkers, tripping on a rock along the way. As he is almost about to fall to his death, unaware of the cliff edge, Rick tackles him as the walkers chasing him fall to their death, saving his life. Rick asks him why he is so far from Alexandria, and he tells him that he wanted to know where his father was buried. Rick gives Ron some advice on how to survive, but he shrugs it off. He later watches as Rick and Morgan bury Pete's corpse in the woods, and returns to Alexandria.

Jessie calls Ron to cut his hair, an excuse to talk about what happened, but Ron doesn't want to comply. When Jessie says that Pete was a dangerous man, Ron snaps that Rick is dangerous. He storms off, later seen being comforted by Enid. During the attack, he tries to escape a Wolf, getting saved by Carl. Due to his relationship with Carl strained by Rick's killing of his father, he refuses his help and goes to his house. He arrives just in time to witness his mother stabbing a Wolf woman to death with a pair of scissors.

Ron is first seen listening to Rick's speech about the herd. He looks at Carl and grips his knife. Later he plays with his knife, leading Carl to ask him if he's okay. "Why wouldn't I be?" he blurts. Carl tells him that Enid left, and asks for his help in looking for her. Ron refuses, saying she might be dead, and that he's not helping him.

"This isn't for me," he says. "It's for Enid. Your friend." "My girlfriend," Ron corrects him.

He then says that it's a stupid and dangerous thing to do, leading Carl to storm off. Ron says he won't let Carl go and tries to stop him, but Carl pushes him away and the two brawl. Carl gets the upper hand and leaves him on the ground. Ron exclaims that he'll tell Rick, and that people will go out looking for him and will end up dying.

"You saved my life and now I'm saving yours," he finishes.

Later, he approaches Rick on the catwalk by the gate, seeing a herd for the very first time. He tells Rick what happened to Enid, and how Carl wanted to go after her. Rick thanks, and before he can go, Ron admits that what Rick said to him back at the quarry, about him not knowing how to defend himself, is true, and asks him to teach him how to use a gun. Ron begins to take gun lessons with Carl and Rick, continuously watching Carl during the lesson when the former tries to advise him. Later, Ron distracts Olivia and sneaks into the armory and steals ammunition for the handgun that Rick gave him. Ron is seen following Carl down the street, his hand on the gun behind his back.

Ron first appears when he, Carl, Michonne and Gabriel come across Rick and Deanna as they all flee from the massive herd that have entered Alexandria through the destroyed part of the community's wall. They are then cornered by another group of walkers from the heard ahead of the road they are running on. Jessie then appears, shoots at the walkers and lets them into their house.

Ron goes into the garage so Carl follows to check on him. Ron says that everyone is dead but Carl reassures they'll make it. Ron then locks the door and draws his gun, intent on killing Carl. Carl is able to knock the gun out of Ron's hand and the two engage in a short fight. Ron grabs a shovel and almost hits Carl with it, but instead hits one of the windows, attracting the walkers outside towards it. He is able to push Ron off of him, just in time as the walkers reach outside the window he was pinned on.

Eventually, Rick and Jessie are able to open the garage's door just as the walkers come in. Carl then follows Ron and holds him at gunpoint and tells him to give him his gun before telling him that his dad, referring to Pete, was an asshole.

He is later seen trying to hold the makeshift defenses they made around the house, just as the herd begins to break in through the front door and windows. He and the others retreat upstairs where Rick and Michonne kill and carry two walkers and decide to use their blood and organs to mask their scent to blend in with the herd below to escape.

Ron then has to cover himself with walker guts to try and get through the herd with everyone. They all then leave and stand at the front of Jessie's front porch, where he, Rick, Michonne, Jessie, Gabriel, Carl and Sam look on as the streets of Alexandria are now overrun by the herd. They all hold hands together and make their way through the herd undetected, as Sam calls for Jessie multiple times.

Ron alongside Rick, Michonne, Jessie, Gabriel, Carl and Sam are holding each hands together while slowly making through the herd when Rick changes his mind that they are not going to the armory instead heading towards their vehicles to lure the walkers back to the quarry. As night falls, they continue journeying for their cars only to be stopped by Sam who begins to cry and causes attention. When Sam gets devoured by the walkers, Jessie suffers a mental breakdown and screams for her son before getting devoured herself. As she is taken down by walkers, she is seen still holding Carl's hand and won't let go. Rick, who has no other choice chops her arm off in order for Carl to break free. It causes Ron to furiously aim his gun on Rick, blaming him for his family's demise. He is then stopped by Michonne who stabs him through his chest from the back with her katana. In a shocking state of mind, he shoots the gun in reflex which hits Carl's right eye, effectively blinding him.