Why Rick Never Met His Brother in Post-Apocalyptic Walking Dead?
Rebuilding society was greatly aided by protagonist Rick Grimes of the well-known comic series, "The Walking Dead," who battled valiantly to protect his loved ones during the catastrophic zombie apocalypse. One person he could not physically guard, though, was his brother Jeffrey Grimes. But why didn't Rick and Jeffrey cross paths in "The Walking Dead's post-apocalyptic world"? Jeffrey's sad destiny—who passed early on a trip overseas from the undead plague—defines the solution.
Tragic End of Jeffrey Grimes during the Zombie Pandemic
While Rick battled to survive in the United States, his younger brother Jeffrey was in Barcelona, Spain. When word of Rick's gunshot wound and coma got to Jeffrey, he fervuously tried to get home. But quarantine rules put in place in response to the epidemic stopped his leaving. "The Walking Dead: The Alien," a one-shot comic, follows Jeffrey's encounters during the first phases of the zombie apocalypse.
In "The Walking Dead: The Alien," Jeffrey allies himself with Claudia, another survivor. Claudia volunteers to assist Jeffrey in getting from Spain to the United States. They set off on a boat, but Jeffrey shields Claudia from the dead captain, so getting bitten. Jeffrey's path ends with this sad event since early stages of the apocalypse proved to be too much for him.
Jeffrey could have survived this encounter, but the sheer distance between him and Rick combined with the breakdown of travel systems and communication resulting from the epidemic made their reunion a quite unlikely occurrence. Given the realistic approach of "The Walking Dead," Jeffrey's path back from Barcelona to Atlanta and later search for Rick would have been an impossible chore, thus their reunion is a far-fetched concept.
The Unreasonableness of Rick and Jeffrey's Reunion
Jeffrey had apparently survived his contact with the undead, but his final metamorphosis into a zombie stopped him from telling Claudia vital information about Rick's location. Rick thus stayed uninformed of his brother's death. "The Walking Dead" has shown a merciless and unforgiving world where characters must overcome great obstacles and loss repeatedly over its run.
Though it was a hopeful situation, Rick and Jeffrey's possible reunion was eventually unworkable. Jeffrey's passing in "The Walking Dead: The Alien" serves as a moving reminder of the terrible reality of the zombie apocalypse, in which the relentless undead forces can cut even the closest of ties.
