The Governor (The Walking Dead TV Series)

Note: This article is specifically about the Governor from the TV Show. If you were looking for the comic version of the character, click here

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Evil-doer

Full Name

Philip Blake

Alias

The Governor

Brian Heriot
One-Eye
One-Eye Bri'

Origin

The Walking Dead

Occupation

Middle Management Employee (Pre-Apocalypse)

Governor of Woodbury (formerly)
Leader of Martinez's Camp (after Pete Dolgen's death)

Powers / Skills

High intelligence
Cunning
Hand-to-hand combat
Marksmanship
Leadership
Manipulation
Charisma
Brute strength
Durability
Endurance
Stealth
Strong teeth
Intimidation
Wall building
Survival skills
Control over the Woodbury residents and Martinez's group

Hobby

Killing walkers.

Caring for his daughter.
Maintaining his dual personality.
Playing golf.
Killing people and taking their supplies.
Disturbing Rick and his group.

Goals

Kill Rick Grimes and Michonne.
Kill any intruders on his territory (both failed).
Destroy the prison (succeeded).
Kill all of the prison's inhabitants.
Expand Woodbury and his own rule (both failed).
Kill Merle Dixon.
Kill Andrea and Milton.
Kill Martinez and Pete and take over their camp (all succeeded).
Protect Meghan and Lilly.
Take over the prison for his own community (both failed).

Crimes

Mass murder
Abuse of power
Sexual assault
Mutilation
Kidnapping
Torture
Stalking
Conspiracy
Hostage taking
Treason
Usurpation
Slavery
Assault and battery
Grand larceny
Incrimination
Terrorism
Incitement
Coercion
Trespassing
Unlawful imprisonment
Reckless endangerment
Destruction of property
Disturbing the peace

Type of Villain

Vengeful Tyrant

“	In this life now, you kill or you die. Or you die and you kill!	„
	~ The Governor's most famous quote.

Phillip Blake, better known as The Governor and later called Brian Heriot, is one of the main antagonists of AMC's The Walking Dead. He is based on his comic and novel counterpart, although the TV version of the character is more sympathetic. He is the arch-enemy of Rick Grimes.

He was portrayed by David Morrissey.

Biography[]

Past[]

In Season 3, he is introduced as the governor of the Woodbury committee, whose wife was killed in a car accident and whose daughter, Penny, was bitten by a walker and turned into one herself. He cannot bear to let her die, however, so he keeps her chained up with a mouth guard to prevent her from hurting anyone.

Season 3[]

In his debut episode, "Walk With Me," he introduced Andrea and Michonne to Woodbury. While taking care of Lt. Welles, an officer in the Georgia national guard, the Governor discovers that Welles' men have a camp not far from Woodbury. When he and his men find them, the Governor tells them that they have Welles before they gun the soldiers all down and take their supplies. After that, the Governor returns to Woodbury and tells the people that the men were killed by walkers when they got there. That night, the Governor goes to his room of aquarium tanks, and among them is the decapitated head of Lt. Welles.

In the episode, "Made To Suffer," while Rick and his group rescue Glenn and Maggie, Michonne heads to the Governor's apartment, where she finds the aquarium tanks and a zombified Penny. She also sees that the Governor and Andrea have become lovers. Before she can kill Penny, the Governor appears and begs her to spare the girl. Michonne kills her anyway, however, and the Governor screams in agony. This leads to a brutal fight between the Governor and Michonne, ending with her stabbing him in the right eye with a glass shard, blinding him. He now wears an eye-patch to cover the wound. Penny's death destroys whatever humanity was left in the Governor, and he is consumed by an obsession with destroying Michonne, Rick and the prison group. His actions lead to an assault on the prison and the deaths of Axel and Merle Dixon.

In “Welcome to the Tombs,” the Governor has Milton Mamet tied up to a pipe in the shacks and beats him up; he blames Mamet for the death of his men, since he burned up the walkers they had captured. When Milton asks about Andrea, he takes Milton to Andrea's torture room, and orders him to kill her in order to get out of this situation alive. Milton tries to attack the Governor instead, but he defends himself and stabs Milton in the gut multiple times. He decides to leave Milton locked up with Andrea, since he will reanimate and kill her.

Later, he and the Woodbury Army head to Rick's group at the prison so they can kill them once and for all. They arrive there exploding the guard towers, shooting all the barricades and running down the courtyard gate, but the prison seems to be empty. Later, they are attacked by flash grenades and walkers, everyone starts panicking and the Governor tries to calm them down. As they are running outside, Glenn and Maggie start shooting at them from the catwalk, telling them to leave the prison. The Governor wants to stay and fight, but his army abandons him, prompting him and his men to get in a car and go after them.

As they reach the army, they stop the convoy and the Governor orders them to go back to the prison immediately. Martinez and Allen agree with him, but the rest of the army refuse to attack the prison again, since they are scared and want to return to the safety of Woodbury. Enraged, the Governor opens fire on his own people. Allen tries to stop him, but The Governor tricks Allen into standing down, and then kills him. Martinez and Shumpert watch, horrified, as The Governor massacres the entire population of Woodbury. He gets back in his car with Martinez and Shumpert and they drive off away.

Season 4[]

The Governor did not appear in the first few episodes of the season, but he was mentioned by Michonne, Daryl, and Tyreese. During the first half of season 4, he appears in the very end of "Internment", secretly watching over the prison from a distance.

In "Live Bait", the Governor camps at the site where he massacred the National Guard soldiers with his remaining two men, Martinez and Shumpert. However, they grow wary of him and abandon him during the night. He then returns to Woodbury, destroys the barricades and burns it to the ground in a fit of insanity, destroying it permanently and allowing walkers to overrun it. After surviving for seven months on his own, he comes across a building with several messages and names written on them, one of which is Brian Heriot. After arriving in a town, The Governor sees a young girl peering at him from a window and enters the house, finding a family who at first warily hold him at gunpoint, but then welcome him into their home.

During his time there, he befriends them and helps them recover oxygen tanks for their father, David, a terminally ill cancer patient. He begins to develop close bonds with the family, especially the girl, Meghan. He then kills a zombified David, who expires after using up the oxygen.

Eventually, Philip makes the decision to leave, but the family comes with him. The group rests on the side of the road, in a semi-truck, where the Governor and Lilly share a passionate kiss. On the road, they are pursued by walkers, and Lilly and Tara are separated from The Governor and Meghan. The Governor carries Meghan to flee but falls into a pit, similar to the "Screamer pits" of Woodbury. The Governor manages to kill all of the walkers in the pit, and is discovered by Martinez.

In "Dead Weight", after Martinez takes him and Megan out of the pit, he allows the Governor and Tara and Lilly Chambler to join his group as long as they do not question his leadership. After settling in with the group, the Governor plays some golf with a drunk Martinez. Martinez offers Phillip to run the camp as a partnership which enrages him. The Governor then hits Martinez with a golf club and drags him to a walker pit, slowly dropping him into the walkers resulting with Martinez's being eaten alive. The Governor later stabs and kills Pete by strangling him to death, before dragging his body out to the lake and weighing it down. The Governor then threatens Mitch into letting him become the leader and to say that Pete died on a supply run. The Governor is last seen near the prison, he spies on Rick and Carl, and then he spots Hershel and Michonne and trains his gun on Michonne from a distance.

In "Too Far Gone", The Governor kidnaps Michonne and Hershel and later gathers up the people at the camp and convinces them to help take the prison for their own. The Governor leaves Lilly and Meghan at the camp to keep them safe. In the hostages RV, The Governor tells Hershel that they can't live together as he wouldn't get along with Rick and Michonne. The Governor's group part to the Prison and they start by blowing up a tower with the tank- He calls Rick to talk and tells him that their people must leave the prison or they would die. Despite Rick trying to convince that they could live together, The Governor says they can't. Refusing to leave, Rick instead brings out a memorable speech that Hershel once told him that everyone is not too far gone, and that everyone can live in peace together.

The Governor appears to have listened to Rick's speech, but - after looking towards him on the other side - he calls Rick a liar and strikes Hershel with the sword, partly decapitating him and leaving both Rick's group as well as his own equally shocked; Hershel's daughters Maggie and Beth reacting horrifying. Angry, Rick shoots The Governor in the arm, prompting both sides to commence open firing against each other; during which Rick gets shot also. Upon retreating, the Governor notices Hershel attempting to crawl away and catches him before slashing his head off, killing Hershel. Seconds later, Lilly arrives with a dead Meghan, who was bitten by a walker. The Governor remains silent and shoots the little girl to prevent reanimation. He then orders his army to bring the fence down and kill the prison group.

As the Governor advances behind the tank, he takes cover behind a bus and is tackled by Rick. The two engage in a fist fight and The Governor gains the upper hand. As he is about to kill Rick by choking him, Michonne sneaks behind him and stabs him in the chest, wounding him and saving Rick. Before leaving with Rick, Michonne approaches towards the wounded Governor; but rather than killing him, she instead leaves him to die from his wounds. Soon afterwards, as the dying Governor is surrounded by countless walker, Lilly approaches him and silently shoots him in the head - killing him and avenging all the deaths he had committed: including Axel, Merle, Milton, Andrea, and Hershel.

Despite his death the Governor's actions had numerous consequences for the both groups. Lily, unable to continue living without Meghan, commits suicide by allowing herself to be devoured. Lily and Alisha's deaths sent Tara into shock and she nearly followed Lily's example until Glenn convinced her to live leading to their meeting with Abraham's group. The rest of Rick's group were scattered through the countryside and began following the tracks to Terminus where they were mostly reunited only to be pitted against Gareth's cannibals but Beth was kidnapped by the Grady Memorial Hospital officers. The rest of the prison occupants were killed either at the prison or being devoured in the countryside with one group fleeing in a bus only for one passenger to die of injuries and reanimate killing the others, and the rest of Martinez's group shared the same fate.

Season 5[]

When dying of a walker bite Tyreese hallucinates the Governor who torments him for his recent choices and refusal to abandon his humanity. He also mocks him for choosing to forgive Carol after killing Karen, belittles him for contemplating accepting his death and claims he showed Tyreese how the world truly works. Shortly before he dies of his wounds, Tyreese stands up to the "Governor" and denounces his claims since he too fell victim to the world which reassures Tyreese that he wasn't wrong for abandoning humanity.

Personality[]

The Governor is charming and charismatic, but also murderous, violent, sociopathic, power-hungry, completely sadistic, completely fearless, stoic, impassive, cunning, manipulative, cruel, megalomaniacal, psychopathic and horrifically ruthless. He sees himself as the community's only hope for survival, and is thus willing to imprison, abuse and/or kill anyone he sees as a threat to his authority; for him, torture and mass murder are a means to an end. One example of this is when he and his men massacre a group of National Guardsmen and take their supplies. Later, the Governor kidnaps Michonne and Hershel, attempting to lure out the inhabitants of the prison; ignoring Rick's pleas for coexistence, the Governor decapitates a bound Hershel. The prisoners open fire, and the Governor orders his men to kill everyone inside of the prison.

In Season 3, the Governor put on a façade of congeniality and was initially introduced as being a kind, generous person dedicated to keeping his community safe. In reality, however, he is gradually revealed to be a volatile, depraved, and unpredictable psychopath, very capable of cold-blooded murder and is also a smooth talker, being easily able to talk his way out of situations using his "charm". He was also highly manipulative, and thought nothing of using others and coercing them into doing his bidding. The Governor was also completely obsessed with protecting the people he cared about and he attempts to accomplish this by taking charge of the group, and doing what was necessary for their survival, which mainly included killing anyone who was a potential threat to them without hesitation.

He also had dark secrets, such as keeping his zombified daughter in a closet and having fish tanks filled with walker and human heads. He claimed that he kept the tanks full of heads to harden himself to the harsh realities of life outside the idyllic walls of Woodbury. Despite this, the Governor did not care if his victims came back as walkers and overall took pleasure in removing anyone whom he perceived as being a threat to him and his group. Despite his psychopathic nature, he truly loved his daughter Penny and protected her strongly during the apocalypse and was utterly devastated by her death to an extent so great that he refused to put her zombified corpse down and was even more devastated when she was put down by Michonne Hawthorne.

Throughout Season 3, he gradually became a much more cold-hearted and barbaric person and his darker personality was fully exacerbated following Michonne's killing of his zombified daughter, thus triggering severe homicidal desires within him. From then on, he lost most of his sanity and only desired to be on a warpath, seeking retaliation on Michonne and Rick Grimes' entire group and setting out to slaughter them all. The Governor's desire to destroy Rick's group was so strong that he slaughtered almost every member of the Woodbury army when they refused to aid him in his quest.

In Season 4, after being abandoned and wandering alone for months following the fall of Woodbury, the Governor adopted a "makeshift family" that he found whilst wandering and retains much of his old self. However, he lied to them, keeping his past and his violent nature a secret, while convincing himself that he is doing this to protect them (which is true). According to his actor, David Morrissey, the Governor was genuinely conflicted inside about protecting those he cares about with violence and barbarism, and was constantly fighting himself in a "Jekyll-and-Hyde" manner. This internal conflict makes him almost a tragic character; however, this battle with himself ultimately proved to be fruitless, as he quickly returned to his old actions to protect his new family and new group by killing Martinez and later Pete Dolgen to re-establish his position as a leader and attempting to take the prison from Rick's group by holding Hershel Greene and Michonne hostage, eventually brutally killing Hershel and almost succeeding to kill Rick. He dies a disgraced, cold-blooded, remorseless, and sadistic mass murderer, and is put down by one of the very people he swore to protect, yet failed to.

He suffers a suicidal, apathetic depression after his daughter Penny is killed and he guns down his own people after a failed prison assault.

Appearances[]