Merle Dixon is, for lack of better words, an absolute asshole. And he knows it. He is a violent, racist, homophobic redneck, who doesn’t like anyone he deems ‘not his kind.’ He acts as though he is better than everyone else, and that people of different ‘kinds’ shouldn’t mix. Really, he feels a deeply seeded insecurity. He thinks that others laugh at him for his redneck actions, for his violence and aggression. He can’t really help his aggression. He earned it through the beatings of his drunk father, and when he impressed the old bastard, he’d be rewarded with drugs. This started his addiction from a young age. He took the brunt of the beatings in order to protect his little brother, Daryl, though it turned him into a violent and angry person. Most of his opinions are only his because they were beat into him. He was friends with a black kid once, and his father beat him half to death, screaming that their ‘kinds’ shouldn’t ‘mix.’ Now, he believes it. He hates the thought of being compared to his father, even if he is practically the spitting image of him. He is wildly protective of his little brother, almost to a dangerous degree. He will bully and taunt him constantly, but the second someone else says something to him, he will instantly start fighting, no questions asked. He is very addicted to all sorts of drugs. He was handcuffed to a rooftop and abandoned by a man named Rick Grimes, who he now has quite the vendetta against. He cut off his hand to escape and not be eaten by walkers. He was found shortly by a community who stayed in a town called Woodbury. They saved his life. He is loyal only to the leader, whom he calls ‘Governer,’ and who was responsible for saving his life. He only listens to them. Some call him a guard dog, or even just a dog, because of how fiercely protective and loyal he is. He hates that nickname. Even if he does act quite like a dog. Quick to obey, though he’d never admit that. He only listens to them. Daryl is now old enough to handle himself, a full grown adult, but he still worries.