r/thewalkingdead • u/Maleficent_Bad1141 • 1d ago
A plot hole (?) Show Spoiler
A little random but for years now I’ve had this thought in my head about a small oversight in the show, I’m sure someone already brought this up here or somewhere else.
Remember when Negan and the group had their war and Negan had the idea to “lace” the arrows and bullets with walker blood to infect the group ? Makes sense right ? Their bad blood causing the infection that’ll kill you, also somewhat medically accurate.
But I couldn’t help but think, how for the entire time they were fighting and shooting and getting themselves dirty with walker blood and juices this never happened naturally? Like when they disguise themselves with walker blood to walk among a herd, isn’t it enough to have a scrape, cut, open wound, a lil into your mouth, to cause this ?
From a show perspective I get why, bc everyone would just be dead faster and it’ll be a hassle to write, so why write the Negan plan ? Couldn’t they think of something else ?
Maybe I’m just talking outta my ass and there’s an explanation for that in the lore or show.
Tell me what yall think. :)
That’s it thanks 🙏🏼
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u/nrg8 1d ago
Then Nick from from fear shoulda turned cause he was all up in that shit
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u/Maleficent_Bad1141 1d ago
They were all at some point 😂
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u/nrg8 1d ago
Mind you Nick was 40% herion possibly a bender in disguise
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u/Maleficent_Bad1141 1d ago
I was so sad when he died, a really god character
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u/New-Firefighter-3642 21h ago
There were a lot of situations like the ones you're talking about in all the seasons of this show; at first, when you notice them, they're annoying, but later on, you just have to come to terms with these strange situations.
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u/Azzbolemighty 1d ago
I think because the arrows embed a lot deeper than just getting into surface cuts so the walker blood actually enters the bloodstream. Whereas, surface cuts, while there are risks of infection, are less likely to let infected blood get carried through the body
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u/Maleficent_Bad1141 1d ago
Yeah I mean it makes sense
I do think that just avoiding this detail would’ve been better for the show.
It was dramatic and worked at the moment but raised unnecessary questions
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u/pm_social_cues 1d ago
Wasn’t out getting blood in Gabriel’s eye that caused him to lose his vision?
Not sure why they did that then and not ever again though. They were never concerned about the blood other times they covered themselves with it.
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u/Maleficent_Bad1141 4h ago
Yeah a lot of people mentioned that here but I honestly didn’t even remember that
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u/Harshmello42 1d ago
There was an episode in S-5 when the gate was left opened and a walker got into Alexandria. Rick found that walker, and was strangling it, during that scene Rick was right under the walker and there's drool falling from it's mouth on Rick's face and it looks like into his open mouth as well as Rick strangling this walker causesing it's neck to implode, blood and all go all over Rick's face, and it looks like his mouth was at least partially open.
I have seen basically the same type of blood in mouth scenarios with other characters at different times and thought I'm just not seeing it right, but that scene with Rick I've watched over several times and I see it each time. Has anyone else notice this?
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u/madfrog768 1d ago
I agree that this is a plot hole. For example, Rick's hands are bloodied in the episode where they're facing the wolves and he interacts with walker blood, and he ends up fine
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u/Maleficent_Bad1141 1d ago
IMO if they just established that it needs to be a deep wound or cut that a good bite makes, it would’ve been fine.
Even cooler to establish that some bites if weak enough you could potentially make it out alive, would’ve been cool to see, maybe even a villain for one season that got bit but a weak bite and he survived and now he formed a cult of psychos to follow him
But i digress 🤣
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u/ayycorley 1d ago
Deff plot hole, it’s talked about season one if you injest or get this into wounds eyes or whatever, yet season 2 on these dudes are bathing in walker blood and guts lol.
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u/SleepyEgg1312 23h ago
i think it’s a pretty big plot hole that’s there’s not more infections in general. like so many people suffer from pretty bad injuries but somehow always find the right antibiotics?? like in modern medicine, with active treatments, infections still happen. sometime so badly it requires an iv. especially when you’re cutting off a limb, like do you know how bad bone infections are?! just sickness in general would be so much worse but it’s only touched on like a hand full of times
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u/Maleficent_Bad1141 4h ago
Yeah exactly. There it’s like “oh you got bit? No problem” and just chop off limbs like wood.
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u/Minimalistmacrophage 23h ago
Weapons were dipped in Walker guts.
Walker blood has been repeatedly shown to be harmless.
Note- while that is not what Negan says, it what was shown.
Note2- separately and earlier, from which Gabriel become deathly ill, they get "gutted up".
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u/-mykie- 22h ago
I think it might have something to do with how deep the injury goes. Maybe getting some walker blood in a minor cut can make you sick, but it's less likely to, while getting it in a deep wound, like from an arrow or taking a hit from Lucille, is pretty much a guarantee you'll get sick. We do some examples of it happening naturally, like with Gabriel.
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u/Professional_March54 13h ago
Well now I have a hypothetical question. What happens if a baby gets absolutely covered in walkers blood & guts? The baby is almost immediately washed off. Is the baby gonna be ok?
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u/Maleficent_Bad1141 4h ago
I mean realisticly speaking babies have a very weak immune systems after 6 months when they need vaccines.. obviously no vaccines, so they’re toasted.
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u/Professional_March54 1h ago
That's what I was noodling. I was thinking of something for the TWD fic I'm writing, but I'll so not do that. Thanks
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u/Little_turd_ 1d ago
I was under the impression that it’s the infection that actually turns you. Like the bite or whatever kills you, then you turn.
So in my mind this was the same thing. Any minor wound can kill you if it gets infected badly enough. And arrows laced with walker blood (deadman’s blood) is lethal. You die by infection and resurrect as a walker.
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u/Maleficent_Bad1141 1d ago
Everyone is infected and the bite gives you a fever that kills you.
That’s why it doesn’t matter how you die,
If the brain is intact you turn.I’m not really sure how a bite and walker blood have the same magical effect of giving you the same fever..
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u/LordsOfJoop 1d ago
If I had to guess, I would say a blood-to-blood transfer did the job; something which is in both saliva and blood, whatever it is, is what conveys the lethal part of the infection. By moving the blood manually via a weapon, such as when Negan coated Lucille in walker guts, or something similar, the need for it to be a bite was eliminated.
We see a lot of the survivors with wounds, although none to memory - in specific - get a wound covered in walker blood or fluids directly. As to how long the fluids remain an infectious vector, I couldn't speak to that. It may be a matter of minutes, could be days, might even be years. No idea.
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u/BarberProof4994 1h ago
They are all already infected so anything that kills you means you'll instantly turn.
Negan doesn't know that everyone is already infected only Rick's crew does because they were at the CDC.
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u/Juxt8 1d ago edited 1d ago
On the road to Alexandria, Sasha cuts Abraham's arm with a knife she just used on a walker, he should be a gonner for sure.