The Walking Dead has had a long list of characters over its lengthy run thus far. But while the adults get a lot of attention, the kids have been central to some of the most compelling storylines. The kids are either old enough to recall the world pre-apocalypse or born into this world and don't know anything but a life that requires a constant literal fight for survival against enemies, mortals, and otherwise.
From the first moments, Sophia showed her face with Carol and Carl with Lori, to Judith's reign as the little girl who needed to continue Rick Grimes' legacy, here are how the 12 main kid characters from the show rank.
12 Sam Anderson
Sam was the personification of a bratty annoying little kid. And while viewers did not want to fault the little boy for his actions – he was, after all, just a kid dealing with apocalyptic circumstances.
The youngest son of Jessie, a resident of Alexandria dealing with a drunk and abusive husband and a love interest for Rick, he couldn't keep quiet while the crew tried to make it through a horde of walkers, leading to both his own death and that of his mother's.
11 Lizzie Samuels
The subject of one of the most heart-wrenching and emotional scenes of the series, it became apparent that Lizzie suffered from serious mental illness, potentially brought on by circumstance or perhaps existent prior to the current events.
After she tried to befriend and play with walkers as if they were her pets, killed her own sister thinking she was helping her, and proved a serious danger to baby Judith, Carol made the tough decision to take her out to the garden, tell her to "look at the flowers," and, well, fans know the rest.
10 Henry
Henry was a boy from the Kingdom whom King Ezekiel took under his wing and taught how to fight. He was a curious and determined child who wanted to be involved and be seen as a worthwhile member of the team.
But while he ended up taking over a lot of the storylines that went to Carl in the comics on which the series is based, he ended up being just as despised by viewers as Carl was. Fans of the show simply didn't like Henry and his typical defiant teenage ways, his insistence of sparking up a romance with Alpha's daughter Lydia despite the known risks, and his general annoying nature. In the end, he was killed by Alpha and the Whisperers, his reanimated head mounted on a stick along with others to send a message about boundaries.
9 Mika Samuels
She loved and idolized her big sister and she tried her best to cope with the circumstances. But in the end, Mika wasn't made for the new world. While she might have grown and trained to be a confident and brave fighter, she never got the chance.
Her sister Lizzie killed her, believing that making her into a walker would free her little sis and that she would still be "the same." The scene when Carol finds Mika's doll after her death, however, was enough to make viewers realize that she was, when it comes down to it, just an innocent child thrust into a terrible world.
8 Gracie
The daughter of a Savior, Gracie was adopted by Aaron following the group's takedown of the terrifying group and continues to live in Alexandria with him. There's not much to be known about Gracie at this time, which is the sole reason she ranks near the bottom.
Nonetheless, the character has been seen several times since season eight when she was five months old up to season 10 as a young child. For now, she doesn't have much going on. But if there's another time jump, she might become a more pivotal character going forward.
7 Summer (a.k.a. "Little Girl Walker")
Technically not a main character and only appearing in the pilot episode, Summer is worth including because she marked a pivotal point in the series. After Rick Grimes emerges from his coma and realizes that something strange is going on, he walks about the empty streets trying to find some semblance of life.
He finds a little girl walking around by herself, but only sees her from the back. When he calls out, she turns and he sees her sparkling blue yet dead eyes and half ripped apart, blood-stained face. It's a critical moment and the actor who played the role, Addy Miller, did a wonderful job in portraying so much with just a turn of the head and a menacing look.
6 Duane Jones
While Duane only appeared in the first season, he was a big part of the show's beginning. As Morgan's son, it was he who helped his father take Rick in, explain to him what was happening, and become his first friends among the remaining survivors.
Duane was deeply religious, asking his father to give blessings before they ate, despite the hopeless circumstances. It is discovered in the third season that Duane was bitten: he couldn't bring himself to shoot his reanimated mother and it was she who killed him.
5 Lydia
The only reason Lydia ranks high on the list is that she saved Daryl's life. And while she made some terrible decisions, like continuing a romance with Henry despite the trouble she knew it would cause with her mother (chalk it up to teenage hormones), she really was put in a bad situation.
Born to a mother who was abusive and by all intents and purposes a psychopath, Lydia did what she could to survive and struggled with being loyal to her mother while also despising her ways and wanting to be better. She did the best she could and we hold up hope that Lydia could become a truly positive character going forward now that Alpha is gone.
4 Sophia Pelletier
Poor Carol has been at the center of many kids' pivotal moments (and demises) on the series. So much so, in fact, that she began to hallucinate and see them all, rife with guilt and anger over losing so many surrogate children. But it was Sophia, her biological daughter, that hurt the most.
After disappearing during a walker attack, the group furiously searched for her until they came upon Hershel's farm. But then a reanimated Sophia emerged as a walker from his barn, stunning everyone in the group to silence as they watched Carol break down in tears at the realization that her daughter was gone. Sophia ranks high on the list of child characters only because her death scene was one of the most emotional, if not the most emotional, in the show's history.
3 Enid
While a high schooler prior to the apocalypse and of high school age when she was first introduced, Enid was technically a young adult by the end. But she had that vulnerability at the onset that made you want to reach out and hug the young girl who had recently lost her parents.
She quickly found a new purpose and became an essential member of the team, working in the infirmary, fighting off walkers, and helping care for the younger kids. She also had an adorable friendship and a potentially budding romance with Carl.
2 Carl Grimes
While Carl initially started out as the most annoying kid who always seemed to get in the way and cause problems, the character was slowly reinvented throughout the seasons as he grew older.
His death was one of the most surprising on the series since Carl plays a major role in the comics. While most people did not like Carl for the first several seasons, by the end, fans were upset when he was killed off because of how brave, courageous, and morally strong he had become. He had truly grown into a man.
1 Judith Grimes
Judith was initially a babe in arms, or, as Daryl would call her, Little Ass Kicker. Little did he know she would grow into just that, thanks to intense training by her adoptive mother Michonne.
Judith is not only a great fighter but also a clever, brave, strategic, rational, and insightful girl who is wise beyond her years. She is precocious, but not in a way that is irritating. She represents what a little girl who has grown up in the apocalypse might actually be like having never known what it's like to be a "regular" kid.
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