Hershel Greene

About Hershel
Hershel Greene is one of the main protagonists and a survivor of the outbreak in AMC's The Walking Dead. He is a farm owner who lived in rural Georgia for many years with his family. Hershel is the father of Maggie and Beth Greene. He married twice, his first wife being Josephine Greene and his second wife being Annette Greene, who brought along her son from a previous marriage. In Seasons 3 and 4, Hershel became the adviser of Rick.
 * Hershel was one of the members of Rick's group who still believes in God and the Afterlife.
 * ​In many ways, Hershel had replaced Dale as the moral compass of the group. This was foreshadowed both by their interaction with each other and with other survivors:
 * Dale's conversation with Hershel in "Judge, Jury, Executioner" consisted of him appealing to Hershel for support regarding the fate of a prisoner. Hershel turned a blind eye at the time, which is ironic, as Hershel would later plead a case for Rick to spare Tyreese and his group's lives in "The Suicide King".
 * Dale had a very paternal relationship with Glenn, who actively sought his approval. Hershel would later become a very real father after Glenn became involved with his daughter Maggie.
 * Rick revealed in his eulogy at Dale's funeral that he would often look to him for approval regarding difficult moral dilemmas. He would later tell Hershel of his plan to turn Michonne over to The Governor in hopes of a truce and, when asked by Hershel why he was telling him and not the others, Rick answered that he was hoping Hershel could talk him out of it.
 * Dale in the Comic Series lost his leg and had to use crutches and later a peg-leg Andrea built for him, with Dale dying much earlier in the TV Series, Hershel has lost his leg, survived and been forced to use crutches and by Season 4, Hershel obtained a prosthetic leg which is more advanced than Dale's Comic Series peg leg that permitted him to wear a full pair of boots again.
 * On the Talking Dead episode discussing "Too Far Gone", in which Hershel is killed and Scott Wilson guest stars, a strong parallel is made between the characters of Dale and Hershel, who are confirmed to have been moral centers for the group, and that this had a strong impact on fan reactions to their deaths.
 * Scott Wilson, who portrays Hershel, revealed that there is a portrait of his mother as a young girl hanging in the farm house.[1]
 * Hershel was initially scripted to be killed by Randall in the episode "Better Angels" during Randall's escape. However, the producers decided to allow the character to live so that they could explore the dramatic potential of losing his farm in "Beside the Dying Fire" and Season 3.[2]
 * In the Comic Series, Hershel had a much larger family. It consisted of his deceased wife, three sons (two living), and four daughters. In the TV Series, the Greene family only consists of two daughters (Maggie and Beth), and a dead stepson and spouse.
 * In the TV Series, Hershel admitted that he had a "rough" relationship with his father that resulted in his absence from the side of his father's deathbed, which he mentions that he does not regret. However, in the Comic Series, Hershel appears to have had a positive relationship with his father. It was his father's dying wish for Hershel to take care of the farm.
 * Hershel's incident with a walker mirrors that of Allen in the Comic Series. Both men had their legs bitten and amputated with a hatchet by Rick.
 * Hershel is the sixth main character to die in the TV Series.
 * Hershel is one of the many amputees in The Walking Dead. For other victims, see Amputated Victims.
 * Hershel managed to have his lower leg amputated by Rick to prevent an infection.
 * He was decapitated by Philip Blake.
 * Hershel is currently the only person in the TV Series to survive the infection, due to having his leg amputated so the infection can be contained from the blood.
 * He is also one of the only three in the history of The Walking Dead to survive a bite via amputation, Dale from the Comic Series and Pete's cousin from the Telltale Video Game series have also survived this way.
 * Hershel's death in the TV Series is similar to Tyreese's death in the Comic Series. Both were decapitated by The Governor with Michonne's sword in front of the prison after Rick refused to surrender the prison to the Governor and his group. In addition, both reanimated before being put down by Michonne.
 * He is the fifth person in the TV series to be killed in a similar way to how their comic counterpart, the first four being Amy, Shane, Jim and Axel. Both versions were killed by the Governor during a prison attack. Hershel in the Comic Series died by being shot in the head by The Governor during the assault. Hershel in the TV Series was decapitated by The Governor before the actual firefight began.

Personality
Hershel is the quintessential stubborn farmer. He believes strongly in what he considers to be right and was known to be uncompromising in defense of his morals. He also cares deeply for his family and protecting them (particularly his daughters Maggie and Beth) is one of the few times he would go against even his own moral code and do what needed to be done. As of Seasons 3 and 4, Hershel is shown to be a skilled diplomat, often talking down the other survivors from taking disastrous actions or talking them into taking the right ones, though these talks did not work with everyone.

Before Apocolyps
Hershel's family originated from Ireland. As a young child, he was given a pocket watch by his father, whose own father had passed to him. He had kept the watch until he pawned it to pay for his drinking habit. His wife bought it back and waited until he sobered up to give it back. He then gave it to Glenn.

He had grown up on the farm which had been in his family for 160 years, but moved out when he was fifteen because of a bad relationship with his father (partly due to his father's alcoholism).

He never let go of the grudge he held against him and avoided any form of contact, resulting in him not being present at his father's deathbed. It is a matter which, to this day, he doesn't regret.

In his later years, he became a veterinarian because of his love for animals. Around this time however, he also had begun to descend into alcoholism much like his father. He was frequently forced by his wife Josephine to sleep on the downstairs couch when he returned drunk from the local bar.

He was fortunately able to give alcohol up once their daughter Maggie was born. When Maggie was 6 years old, Beth was born and Hershel had hired Otis as his ranch foreman. Otis and his wife Patricia become close friends to the family.

Hershel's wife died of unknown causes when Maggie was young. When Maggie was 6 years old, he married another woman named Annette, who had a newborn son, named Shawn from her previous marriage.

Initially, he had faced hostility from Maggie for marrying Annette, however much to his pleasure he found her gradually warming up to his new wife.

As the outbreak started, Annette and Shawn were bitten by their undead fellow townspeople, and soon died and turned. Hershel, not believing their deaths and thinking they were merely under a disease of some kind (as the television/radio broadcasts seemed to imply) had Otis put them in the barn for holding until what seemed like an epidemic to him would blow over. He barricaded his remaining family and friends within the farm and had Otis continue to wrangle the townspeople that came onto the premises and put them in the barn.

Who Has He Killed?

 * Sean (Caused)
 * Caleb Subramanian (Zombified)
 * Noris' Son  (Zombified)
 * Crying Mom (Zombified)
 * A few unnamed prison newcomers (Before Reanimation / Zombified)
 * Numerous counts of zombies.

Quotes
"You step outside, you risk your life. You take a drink of water, you risk your life. And nowadays you breathe, and you risk your life. Every moment now...you don't have a choice. The only thing you can choose is what you're risking it for. Now, I can make these people feel better and hang on a little bit longer. I can save lives. And that's reason enough to risk mine."