While all of the action and drama that happens directly onscreen in The Walking Dead is often enough to sate fans’ appetites, sometimes we just need Easter eggs and fan theories to give us things to think about in the meantime. And this one is a doozy. You know how Enid has just been a sullen teenager ever since we first met her in Season 5? Well what if she isn’t “just” an Alexandrian, but a clandestine spy for the Wolves? Yes, seriously.
There was a notion in the back of my mind that someone within Alexandria’s walls would be in cahoots with the Wolves (or some other outside threat), but I admit that I didn’t immediately suspect Enid, who just seemed to be thrown in there to give Carl something to swoon over. But thanks to a lengthy hypothesis over at Forbes, my suspicions have been swayed to Enid’s side, and I actually find her interesting now.
Let’s think about it. For one, the episode title, “JSS,” was in reference to Enid and the abbreviation that she was quite fond of, and it was part of the message that she left Carl with. Plus, the entire cold open was about her dealing with her parents’ death, and we got to watch her survive by chomping on a turtle. So if there isn’t some ulterior motive to show audiences that Enid is actually more important that we’ve been led to believe, then what was the point of showing us anything substantial about her past and/or tying her to the episode name?
It also seems like we missed quite a few things on her journey to Alexandria’s front gate, which she seemed oddly hesitant to approach. Is that because she knows that there will be terrible things happening to the residents at some point, thanks to the Wolves’ actions? Sure, she might just be nervous about seeing people again after possibly being alone for a while, but not THAT nervous. She should have been drooling for safety at that point, unless of course she was already with a group before that.
What about all that time that Enid spends outside the walls? It’s certainly possible she’s just trying to get some time to herself, but there are more than enough places within the barely-populated Alexandria that she could hangout uninterrupted. It’s more likely that she’s going out there to either talk to other Wolves members, or she’s leaving clues for them somehow. Aaron was bothered by the fact that the murderous savages had his own photographs with them, but I’m thinking they were already knowledgeable about the community’s security and safeguards beforehand. And it can be argued that because Carl followed her that one day and didn’t catch her doing anything terrible that she’s just innocently wandering around out there, but that was just one time among what we assume is many exterior trips.
In Episode 2, when Enid is talking to Carl about how impossible it is to keep Alexandria safe due to its large size, she starts a sentence with “That’s how we…” and then lets the thought drift away. Was she about to slip up and say something like, “That’s how we know this place is an easy target,” or “That’s how we roll when we, the Wolves, are picking out which places to ransack and kill everyone.” If she was just going to say something non-Wolves related to Carl, there’s no damn reason the line should have been written to just fade away.
More possible proof? Let’s talk about how completely non-bothered she seems by the fact that her home is being torn apart, and that she feels no reason to try and save anyone. She also doesn’t react much when Carl and the one Wolves member get into a little tussle. Of course, Carl is there with his big gun to be her savior, but she isn’t even particularly interested in sticking with him at first – probably because she knows she’ll be safe among the killers – and she later leaves him and Alexandria behind by the end of the episode. Why would she want to do that unless she was assured there is some kind of safe passage out there with other Wolves members? There are probably more of them out there, plus the ones that Morgan freed. And if she was actually romantically attracted to Carl (or Ron, for that matter), then why would she leave it all behind?
Is it just a coincidence that the Wolves ended up attacking just when the majority of the aggressive characters like Rick, Abraham and Michonne were off leading the walker herd away? Isn’t it more likely that the Wolves were told that the community would be left unguarded and planned their attack accordingly? Sure, Morgan made it back (although he won’t kill any of them) and Carol was there (killing everything), but Enid didn’t know that Carol is a straight solider. This one could indeed be chalked up to dramatic coincidence, especially since the Wolves don’t seem like the most plan-loving group, but it still fits the theory. And they did set up that trap in the big rigs, so at least some of them think ahead.
It’s also worth noting that Enid writes “JSS” everywhere, and the Wolves’ signature is just a single “W.” Maybe she fits in well with them because she doesn’t like to write entire words out. Plus, there’s that comic book she had that Carl was reading last season called Wolf Fight. That seemed like an on-the-nose reference to the Wolves threat, but this theory gives it a little more weight.
As with all theories, there are plenty of opposing angles to make about almost all of these points. Maybe Scott Gimple and Robert Kirkman just wanted to take the piss out of fans by making us think that the intro told some greater truth about Enid than one that just says she’s an average teenager who doesn’t fit in. Everything can be explained by chance and circumstance without any further notions being taken away from it, but we choose not to think that way. Because if all of this is for naught, and Enid isn’t actually a part of the Wolves, then she’s one of the most useless characters this show has ever delivered.
Find out if Enid will be back or not when The Walking Dead airs Sunday nights on AMC. And let us know what you think.
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