Here we go again. Another week, another Walking Dead theory about these dang wolves. When the AMC series finally reveals who has been lurking on the outskirts of Alexandria (hopefully in the season finale), it better be big. In the meantime, they give me no choice but to speculate that the Wolves on The Walking Dead could be "The Whisperers" from the comics. They are another, rather insignificant group from the Walking Dead comic books. However, their behavior is not too far off from this pack of dogs and the television show could be their ticket to stardom. After Terminus and Grady Memorial Hospital, two antagonistic locations on the show that do not occur on the page, the series has taken a swing back to its source material at the Alexandria Safe-Zone. Most of the characters and locations are familiar to fans, so it seems likely that whatever the "wolves" turn out to be, we've seen them before.
Last Sunday, Aaron and Daryl discovered a Walker who had been tied to a tree and marked with a "W" on her forehead in some sort of sacrificial ritual. Unlike the other marked Walkers that we've seen roaming around, this one had an aesthetic... something to it. Why do I think this girl was left by The Whisperers? Here's my evidence.
In the comics, the Whisperers are a group of survivors who have gone primitive in their own special way. This is definitely a theme that the show has been playing with this season. The Whisperers are known to whisper in the woods (like The Others on Lost), kill living humans, take hostages, and most importantly, wear Walker skin on their bodies as camouflage.
Stay with me on this. While straight-up skin suits are a little more elaborate, we've already seen this technique used by many characters on this show. Most recently, Carol covered her poncho with guts at Terminus. So I think that if the show was going to introduce The Whisperers, they would have to do this in a slightly different way. The obsession with cutting and Walker flesh is enough to draw a parallel, in my opinion.
Another key thing to know about the Whisperers is that they try to co-exist with the zombies instead of hunting them. In the comics, they learn this from a young female Whisperer named Lydia. She also has a bit of a fling with Carl — doesn't that sound familiar? It seems likely that a group that does not harm Walkers would honor the transformation into one if they consider themselves to be equal.
We've seen this theme on The Walking Dead in this half of the season as well. Daryl adamantly insisted that he's not like Them. Rick shared a moment with one from the other side of Alexandria's wall. Most recently, Sasha's attack from the watch tower was strategically juxtaposed with Rick and Pete's street grapple. Was this a clue? Are the Wolves borrowing this from the Whisperers? Are they some kind of post-apocalyptic hippie commune? That would be different.
Fun fact: in the comics, Paul Monroe calls them "the talking dead." Are we going to see Chris Hardwick cameo on The Walking Dead proper? I would die, no pun intended.
Finally, do I even have to mention the obvious? Both "Wolves" and "Whisperers" have the same initial, and it's one we've been seeing an awful lot around these parts...
Images: Gene Page/AMC; Giphy; kee-yaw-nah/Tumblr
