Hershel Greene (The Walking Dead)

Owner of a farm and a doctor.

Background
As a young child Hershel had a strained relationship with his father. At the age of fifteen, he left his father's farm. Because of his strained relationship, Hershel avoided all contact with his father. As a result, he was not present during his father's final moments on his deathbed. This would be a decision that Hershel would never regret to the day he died.Years later, Hershel became a veterinarian. He would also marry a woman named Josephine and have a child with her named Maggie.

He soon found that he was descending into the same descending into the same alcoholism that he had blamed his father before. This caused a drift in the relationship between his wife and him. It would be he reason Hershel spent many nights on the couch. Josephine would later die of unknown causes and Hershel would remarry again. He married a woman named Annette and took on her son as his step-son. During their marriage, they had a child named Beth. Sometime before he met Rick Grimes, Hershel's wife and step-son were killed by walkers and became infected as well. Hershel, believing they were just sick, placed them inside his barn until a cure was made. With Otis' help he also gathered the other infected townsmen and placed them into his barn.

Season 2
Hershel gets an unexpected visitor when Otis brings back a boy who he had accidentally shot during his hunting trip. Rick Grimes, the boy's father, asks Hershel to perform surgery to save his son. With supplies Otis had found from a local high school, Hershel is able to save Carl Grimes' life. With Rick's son in stable condition, Hershel allows Rick and his companions to stay on his farm while his son recovers. Soon, Rick asks Hershel to let his group stay on the farm indefinitely. Hershel is adamant against this request, but changes his mind when Rick tells him that his wife is pregnant. For a short period of time, there is peace.However, tensions flare up once more when Shane, a member of Rick's group, discovers that there is walkers in Hershel's barn.

Shane leads members to Rick's group to the barn and opens the doors, forcing his people to shoot the walkers. Hershel is devastated by their actions and leaves the farm to drink in a bar downtown. Rick follows him and convinces him that he is still needed. After a conflict with another group, they head back to a farm. Days later, a feud between Rick and Shane erupts, ending in Rick killing Shane. The sound of gun fire from their fight draws a herd of walkers to Hershel's farm. In the resulting chaos, Hershel's farm is burned down and several of his family members are killed.Hershel, along with his daughters Maggie and Beth, are forced to leave the farm with Rick's group. Once they are out of harm's way, Rick declares himself as the leader of the entire group.

Season 3
In the third season, Hershel continues to ravel with Rick's group after his farm is burned down. After spending the winter months going from house to house, Hershel settles down with the group at a prison. Before living in the prison, Rick's group must clear the prison of walkers and Hershel is one of the members who goes in with Rick to clear the walkers. While in the prison, Hershel's leg is bitten by one of the walkers. To save his life, Rick amputates Hershel's leg to stop the infection. Afterward, Hershel remains in the prison to advise Rick and others as they deal with the Governor.

Season 4
Months after the group had dealt with the Governor's attack, the prison is home to Rick's group and the Woodbury residents who have taken sheltered after learning that the Governor had slaughtered his soldiers. The prison is in relative peace until a virus begins spreading throughout the prison. The virus kills some of the survivors and turns them into walkers. Tyreese, Michonne, Bob and Daryl leave the prison to get supplies to help the victums. Meanwhile, Hershel attends to the sick. With his elderberry tea, he is able to lower the fever of many of the residents and save them from death.

When Daryl and the others come back with the medicine, Hershel is credited with keeping the residents alive. Later, while Hershel is out of the prison with Michonne, Hershel is caught off guard and is taken hostage by the Governor. The Governor takes Hershel to the front of the prison and demands that Rick's group leave the prison. When Rick does not surrender the prison, the Governor kills Hershel with Michonne's sword.

Personality and Traits
Hershel is a very stubborn man who is uncompromising in his moral fiber. He cares deeply for his daughters and would do anything to protect them. He is also very religious Christian. Even though the world was falling apart, he believed that it was part of God's plan. He continued to have this belief even when his farm was destroyed and several of his family members were killed by walkers.

Differences from the Source Material

 * Hershel's religious zeal is toned down in the TV series.
 * Hershel is killed at the prison battle, but he is killed by the Governor himself instead of by a Woodbury resident.