The Walking Dead: 4 Times Other Groups Have Tried To Recruit Daryl Dixon

'Rendition', The fourth episode of The Walking Dead's eleventh and final season, provided a dramatic twist in our heroes' conflict with The Reapers, with the reveal that Leah, Daryl's love interest first introduced in a season 10 bonus episode, is a member of the antagonistic group. Daryl is captured, but after playing down his connection to Maggie, a good word from Leah, and undergoing a 'Baptism by fire' ritual, Daryl endears himself to Pope, the leader of the group. His actions lead Pope to accept Daryl as the newest member of the Reapers.

This is not the first time Daryl has found himself poached by another group. Here's four times other groups have tried to recruit Daryl Dixon.

1. Woodbury

Upon encountering his old campmate Andrea, Merle Dixon has one thought in mind: The possibility of reuniting with his younger brother, Daryl. As the right-hand man of Woodbury's leader, The Governor, Merle believes that if he can find Daryl and bring him to Woodbury, he and Daryl can both serve The Governor, and enjoy the more comfortable life that the walled community offers. Unfortunately, at this point, Merle is unaware that The Governor is secretly unhinged.

When Daryl does make it into Woodbury, as part of a rescue party for the captured Maggie and Glenn, The Governor brands Merle a traitor, and forces the Dixon brothers into a fight to the death in the middle of town. Fortunately, the pair are rescued by Rick and co. Though Daryl briefly leaves with Merle, believing the Prison group will not accept his brother, they return in time to aid the group in their first battle against The Governor. Daryl's pull towards his new found family is too strong to ignore.

2. The Claimers

After bonding with Beth while on the road together in season four, Daryl is devastated when she is kidnapped. He tracks the car that took her for miles, but is eventually forced to accept that she is gone. Soon after, he encounters The Claimers. The Claimers live by one rule: whoever 'claims' something first, food, a sleeping spot, etc, owns it. Any challenge to a claim is met with violence. After impressing their leader, Joe, Daryl reluctantly joins the group, mostly to avoid travelling alone.

When Daryl joins, The Claimers are tracking someone who killed one of their members. Unbeknownst to Daryl, they are tracking Rick Grimes. After catching up to Rick, Daryl turns on The Claimers, helping fight them off before they can hurt Michonne or Carl. He then accompies Rick, Carl, and Michonne as they head to Terminus.

3. The Saviors

After murdering Glenn and Abraham at the beginning of season seven, Negan deals a further blow to the group by choosing to take Daryl with him back to The Sanctuary. Once there, Daryl is locked in a cell and subjected to various dorms of torture, including eating dog food sandwiches, listening to annoying music for hours on end, and being forced to lookat pictures of Glenn's destroyed skull. Eventually, it is revealed that the torture is something of an initiation ritual, intended to break his spirit.

If Daryl agrees to join The Saviors and become 'Negan', the torture will stop, and he will be treated to the comfortable life enjoyed by Negan's top enforcers. Daryl of course refuses, and is returned to his cell for a second round of torture. He escapes The Sanctuary at the first opportunity, finding a temporary home at The Kingdom, and later Hilltop. Much to his dismay, Rick later installs Daryl as temporary leader at the Sanctuary after Negan's defeat.

4. The Reapers

When Daryl forced encountered The Reapers with Maggie in season ten's bonus episodes, he probably never expected that former flame Leah would be among them. Indeed, seeing Leah with the group threw Daryl off, allowing him to be captured. After convincing Leah that he had little to do with Maggie and the others, Leah arranges for Daryl to have a meeting with the Reapers' leader, Pope, believing Daryl could be a good fit for the group.

When Daryl believes this meeting is about to take place, the building he and Leah are in suddenly catches fire. Daryl rescues Leah before escaping himself, and immediately finds himself faced by a gathering of Reapers, including Pope, who declares Daryl ‘forged in fire’, and welcomes him into the group. He is also pleased that Daryl made the effort to rescue Leah first, following a creed among the group to never turn your back on your partner.

Of course, we all know that Daryl’s time with as a Reaper is unlikely to last long. When a choice needs to be made, Daryl Dixon has always chosen his apocalypse family. The question is not what Daryl will do.. we all know the answer to that. But what will his choice cost him?