Since the characters are the most important aspect of “The Walking Dead,” it’s crucial to the show’s success to illustrate the way they develop and acclimate themselves in the apocalyptic world, and Morgan has had one of the most interesting character changes on the show.
Helping Rick
Morgan was introduced to viewers in the very first episode where he helped Rick Grimes understand the apocalyptic world and took care of him for a night. Back then, Morgan was struggling with the idea of having to shoot his reanimated wife, which seemed like an intriguing story.
However, after the first episode, we didn’t get to see Morgan until further into the show.
'Clear' Morgan
Fans rejoiced when Morgan reappeared in season 3 episode 12, “Clear,” but he was a changed character by this time. Unfortunately, he had lost his son, Duane, which turned him into a complete psycho. Morgan suddenly forgot who he was and lost his way in life, so he was trying to kill anything and anyone. He even tried killing Rick but failed.
Morgan was simply killing people to clear the world because he didn’t want anyone hurting him. He had booby traps set up to protect himself and was usually sneaking up on innocent people and murdering them. Obviously Morgan is a really great fighter, but he was going berserk.
Wanting to die
The cheese maker, Eastman, was a peaceful person Morgan ran into when he was alone in the woods, randomly killing people. He tried to kill Eastman, but he couldn’t. Eastman bested him and took him in as a hostage to teach him the value of life. Morgan refused to listen to what Eastman had to say and wanted to die because he didn’t want to live in the apocalyptic world anymore.
It was safe to say that he was too far.
Becoming peaceful
“All life is precious” is what Morgan eventually learned from Eastman. Being taught how to use a staff, He transformed into a peaceful person who did not even want to harm a fly. Changing his mentality, he set out to find Rick and eventually did. But, while Morgan had become harmless, Rick had become the complete opposite.
The former tried to teach the latter to change his killing ways, but it didn’t work.
From season 6, all the way to nearly the end of season 7, Morgan believed in the idea of surviving without having to kill anyone. He didn’t even want to hurt people who were trying to hurt him. Morgan’s peaceful ways really irritated the group, especially Carol at one point. Morgan, however, refused to change.
Crazy Morgan is back
What ultimately snapped Morgan out of his “all life is precious” belief was Benjamin’s death. Benjamin was a young member of the Kingdom community that Morgan developed a close relationship with. Sadly, the Saviors killed Benjamin, which finally made Morgan crack. He is currently back to his old ways, wanting to kill every single Savior one by one, which is exactly what the group needs.
Morgan’s character change has been like a roller-coaster ride. He has gone from peaceful to insane, back to peaceful, and then back to insane. One thing that’s remained consistent is his survival skills. He has always been a smart apocalypse survivor.
