Lori Grimes

Origin

Lori was a senior at High School in Cynthiana when she first met Rick Grimes. After being invited to a New Year’s party by Rick’s younger brother, Jeff, she learned he was in the process of attending college for police administration. There was a definite attraction between the two, but Lori was to go off to college also. Although they were apart they kept in touch. Soon after college, Lori returned to Cynthiana where her relationship with Rick grew stronger and they soon married. The soon had a son, whom they named Carl.

Creation

Written by Robert Kirkman and originally drawn by Tony Moore. Charlie Adlard would pick up artist duties with the sixth issue.

Character Evolution

Lori is a character that maintains a fairly steady demeanor and identity throughout the series. She does waiver, however, in her opinion of Rick. She begins the series feeling that she and Rick are the most compatible couple on the planet. As the series progresses she finds that the stress of survival takes its toll on the two of them to where they get really nasty and impatient with each other. They still love each other, but they have a harder time expressing it as days go by.

Major Story Arcs

The Outbreak

Shortly before the zombie apocalypse, Rick gets shot and is hospitalized. He lapses into a coma. As the zombie threat becomes widespread, Lori is unsure of what to do with her husband still unconscious. Rick’s partner and best friend Shane convinces her to take Carl to Atlanta to stay with family. Rick, they figure, is probably a lost cause.

The stresses of travel and her guilt lead Lori to open up to Shane. The two become close and eventually have sex. Lori feels guilty and can never seem to shake her feelings for Rick. Upon reaching Atlanta they find that there is no safe harbor for them, as the city is completely overrun by zombies. The trio soon runs into a little group outside the city limits and settles into a new life.

Outside Atlanta

Lori and Carl quickly make friends with a woman named Carol and her daughter Sophia while Shane starts to act like a leader with the group. One of the members, Glenn, frequently forages in Atlanta for supplies. He surprisingly returns one day having rescued a man. Lori is elated to find that the man is her husband Rick. Shane seems less than elated.

With zombies spotted within and without the camp, Rick decides to head back to Atlanta to get more guns for the group. Lori hates the idea of losing Rick again but lets him go for the good of the camp. Lori paces the camp and Shane tries to comfort her. She immediately shirks him and explains that the night they spent together was obviously a mistake. Rick does return and he and Shane run a little clinic to help people learn to shoot. Rick teaches Carl and allows him to carry a gun. Lori is livid and has to be reminded that they don’t live in the same world that they used to. She allows Carl to keep the gun with the strictest of guidelines. This move proves lifesaving when a pack of zombies attack the camp. Lori gets confronted and tries to pull her gun but drops it. Without skipping a beat, Carl pulls his gun and saves his mom.

The attack causes Rick to question Shane’s decision to stay so close to Atlanta. Lori agrees with Rick that the group should probably find another place to live until help can arrive. Shane becomes belligerent and attacks Rick. Lori immediately lashes out and cat-claws Shane’s face. He leaves and Rick follows. Lori doesn’t learn until later that Carl also follows and kills Shane for trying to forcibly take Lori from Rick. Having learned the truth, Lori spits on Shane’s grave.

With Rick now in charge, Lori helps pack into Dale‘s RV in hopes of finding a more fitting place to wait out the zombie infestation. On the road, the group comes across Tyreese and his daughter, along with her boyfriend. Lori is leery of allowing strangers to join but she is brushed off by Rick. Tyreese does prove to be a big help.

Wiltshire Estates

One night as the group settles in to a campsite, Lori takes Rick to the side and tells him that she is pregnant. They tell the group and have to admit that they aren’t sure how it will all work out without a doctor. Rick and Lori, however, are optimistic. Things start to look up when they soon find an abandoned, gated community. The group decide to clean out one house for the evening and then check out the rest of the place the next day. As they fall asleep, Lori and Rick marvel that they actually get to sleep in a bed.

The next day the group is excited to check out the surrounding houses as they anticipate a new life. Lori is put on a search team and begins heading towards a house to look for canned goods. Before the group can get a single house searched a member of the other team is bitten in the face. Shots are fired and a horde of zombies emerge due to the noise. Lori helps lead people back to the RV while Rick runs back to round up the others. Once everyone is in the RV, Lori helps to console the children of the fallen group member as they leave the community behind.

Hershel’s Farm

The group renews its efforts to find a place to live. On a hunting stop, Lori hangs back while Rick takes Carl and Tyreese to get some meat. A bit later Tyreese returns alone and informs the group that Carl has been hurt and taken to a local farm owned by Hershel Greene. Carl had been mistaken for a zombie and shot by a man named Otis. He had led Rick to the farm so that Hershel could fix Carl up. Dale rushes the RV to the farm and Lori rushes into Rick’s arms upon arrival. Lori stays by Carl’s side as he recovers. It’s a while before he wakes, but when he does he seems very happy.

Life becomes more relaxed with Carl out of the woods. Lori finds time to wander around the farm as a way to relax. One day she is approached by Dale who confronts her about her possible fling with Shane. Dale doesn’t care what happened, just so long as Lori keeps the truth to herself. Dale doesn’t want Rick to lose it, as he’s the only thing keeping the group together. Lori only listens and seems to seriously consider Dale’s advice.

As the weeks progress, Lori’s pregnancy does as well. Morning sickness and mood swings surface. Things come to a boil when Lori learns that Hershel has grown weary of the group and plans on kicking them out. She loses her cool and says some very hurtful things to Hershel who turns to hit her. Rick intervenes and Hershel pulls a gun on him. He has to be stopped by Otis before he pulls the trigger. Seeing there is no negotiating, Rick moves the group off the farm.

Back on the road, the group goes through some meager times as they try to find yet another place to call home. Food runs out and things look grim until the group finds a prison.

The Prison

The prison is overrun with zombies but Rick thinks the perks of an enclosure of this magnitude is worth fighting for. He sends the girls with Dale to walk the perimeter of the jail while he goes to clear out the prison yard with some select zombie killers. As the ladies walk around, Lori admits that she isn’t so sure about the jail. She’s learned from past experience not to get too attached to places. Rick does clear out the prison yard and the group camps out for the night.

The next day Lori gets caught heaving from her morning sickness. Rick promises to find her some food that she can actually throw up and the two enjoy a little joviality. Rick not only finds food in the jail cafeteria, but he also finds four inmates that are more than willing to share the prison with the group. Lori is immediately leery of the men, especially upon learning that the one named Dexter is in jail for murder. Unconcerned, Rick takes a tour of the prison with Dexter while Lori and group settles in to cells. Lori hears that Rick wants to invite Hershel’s family and immediately expresses her concern about inviting him to the prison. He was crazy the last she saw him. Rick brings Hershel’s family anyway. Lori then expresses her concern about living with hardened criminals. Rick again allays her fears.

Later, Lori has an awkward exchange with Carol. Lori complains that she feels more pregnant than their make-shift calendar says she should be. Carol very innocently wonders if Lori started counting her days too late. Knowing that she hadn’t been with Rick any earlier, Lori fumbles an explanation and basically sends Carol away.

Playing Judge and Jury

Rick once again leaves the group to take care of some business and Lori begins to resent him for his dutiful errands. Things go very wrong while Rick is gone, and getting walked in on in the shower by Axel is only the least of Lori’s worries. Not only does Tyreese get left for dead when he goes too deep into the gym (filled with zombies) but two of Hershel’s daughters are beheaded in the prison’s barbershop. Lori leads a group to “arrest” Dexter, the only man that they think could be responsible for so heinous a crime. Dexter pleas innocent but still gets locked up until the group can figure out what to do with him.

That night, Lori tries to comfort Carol concerning the loss of Tyreese. Carol takes the words of kindness too far and attempts to make out with Lori. Lori does her best to keep her distance and Carol apologizes. Rick soon returns and takes the blame for the girls’ deaths. Lori rebukes her husband and finally learns that he had gone back to dig up Shane to shoot him.

It’s not long before Lori learns that she was wrong about Dexter. Another inmate named Thomas (a “tax evader”) tries to kill Andrea. She escapes and Rick beats the stuffing out of him. Lori is shocked when Rick declares that Thomas must die. This drives a wedge in their relationship because Lori can’t justify killing a man that isn’t a zombie. Rick can’t justify letting a psychopath loose to kill people that are trying their best to survive. The two do have a frank conversation about it and see that their lives are truly different from months prior. Lori reluctantly agrees that Rick is right.

Upon being let out, Dexter stages a coup with another inmate. The two find guns and attempt to kick the group out of the prison. They leave a door open in an uncleared portion of the prison, however, and zombies pour out before Rick’s group is ousted. While joining forces with Dexter, Rick shoots him in the fracas. This effectually ends the coup. The coup really shakes Lori, as she doesn’t know who can be trusted in this world anymore.

Losing Rick

As Lori and Rick walk around one day, they find Carol in her cell with slit wrists. Lori rushes to Carol’s aid while Rick confronts Tyreese about the recent break-up. The two men fight and Rick eventually passes out. As he is out, Lori witnesses the group elect a committee of leaders to help take some of the burden off of Rick. Rick eventually awakens the group tries to live as normally as possible.

Later, Carol gets weird again. She apologizes profusely to Lori for the suicide attempt and gets really clingy, stating that she loves Rick and Lori. Lori begins to distance herself from Carol. She then has to tell Carl to stay behind while some of the men try to figure out how to get gas from the outside for a newly found generator. Lori later learns that it was a good thing keeping Carl back; Rick and Glenn see a helicopter go down and go after it with Michonne. Carol tries to keep Lori company but can’t help but express herself again, this time saying she wants to marry both Lori and Rick and make a big family. Lori severs ties with Carol for a while. And, not knowing where her husband is, Lori begins to resent him even more, especially since Carl is beginning to think his dad is invincible.

Rick ends up being gone quite a while. Tyreese goes out to find them and bungles the return in a way that the prison gates aren’t able to be closed. Zombies again roam the prison yard while Lori and the others simply wait inside the prison. Rick finally returns a good while later and fights his way through to the cell block with Glenn, Michonne, and some people ( Alice and Martinez) from a nearby town called Woodbury. Despite her feelings of annoyance and abandonment, Lori is glad to have Rick back and she is upset by the fact that Rick no longer has a right hand.

Preparing for a Baby

Alice from Woodbury is a nurse and does a checkup of Lori. The baby seems to be fine and Alice begins cleaning out the infirmary in anticipation of delivering the child. Rick, however, is unable to stay for long when he discovers that Martinez has gone missing. Rick never felt that the people of Woodbury were worth trusting – their leader had chopped off his hand. He takes Dale’s RV and finds Martinez running back to tell people where the prison is. While Rick is gone, Hershel asks Lori if she is worried. She’s not. She is beginning to buy into the idea that Rick will just always be alright. Sure enough, Rick returns. He explains to Lori that he just killed Martinez to protect his family. Lori agrees that Rick may have had the right idea. Rick then warns the rest of the group about the people of Woodbury and a man called the Governor who is very interested in finding the prison. Lori and the group begin preparations for an attack.

With Rick back, he and Lori also begin preparing for the reality of adding to their family. Rick wonders what he can do to gather the particulars for baby care. Lori, on the other hand, wonders if she should tell Rick about her affair with Shane. She keeps it to herself for a while but then finally comes out with it. She tells Rick that she needs to tell him about Shane and he completely shuts her down. She listens as he states that he knows that something must have happened or else Shane wouldn’t have tried to kill him. Regardless, Rick doesn’t want to hear the truth. He just wants to cherish the only things that are truly is left in the world. Lori obeys and doesn’t tell Rick anything.

Judith

It becomes obvious a short time later that it is time for Lori to deliver her baby. Rick and Hershel take her to the infirmary and Alice begins prepping. Alice notes that it could get dark soon and that the generator should be started immediately and Rick makes to work on it before Lori grabs him and demands that he not leave her side. Billy and Dale instead go for gas to start the generator and Lori begins pushing. It’s not long before a healthy baby girl emerges. The baby has little time to enjoy an innocent moment when the world she’s been born into is thrust upon her; Billy and Andrea barge into the infirmary with Dale. Dale had been bitten outside the fence and their only course of action was to cut off his leg. Rick takes it upon himself to do it. Once done, Lori names the baby Judith.

Lori takes some weeks to adjust to life with the baby. She notes that Judith is certainly a more well-behaved baby than Carl was. Lori begins talking to Carol again and they do their best to resume their friendship. This is short-lived, however, after an odd conversation where Carol ensures that Lori would make sure nothing happened to Sophia if something were to happen to Carol. Lori assures Carol that Sophia would be taken care of. Carol then goes and gets purposefully eaten by the zombie being kept in the prison yard for study.

Woodbury

The group tries to get things back to normal after Carol’s funeral. Lori continues watching the kids, taking Sophia under wing, as she promised. It’s not long before the prison is attacked. The Governor locates the prison and launches an all-out assault on the facilities. Lori is inside when the attack starts and Rick runs in and tells her to take the kids and some supplies to a lower level bathroom to hide. She does so. She later emerges to learn that the group is still intact and that Woodbury has momentarily retreated. She also learns that Rick has been shot. She spends her days in the infirmary watching Rick’s progress. Dale soon approaches her and informs her that he and Andrea are leaving. He invites Lori and her family along. Lori refuses and Dale ends up taking Sophia off Lori’s hands. Rick eventually wakes and looks to be in the clear, as long as his wound doesn’t get infected.

A short time later, Lori learns that Tyreese had been captured and brought before the prison as a barter: Tyreese’s life for the prison. She also learns that Rick had done nothing and had watched as Tyreese had been beheaded. She is appalled at her husband and pushes him away.

Woodbury soon returns and launches an all-out assault on the prison. The Governor uses a tank to drive through the fences. Rick runs to prep Lori for an escape and finds her at the mercy of Alice, who is pointing a gun at Lori’s head. It’s a ruse, however, and Lori gets packed up and the family attempts to leave the prison to strike out on their own. They get to the grounds and make a run for it but Lori is shot in the back by a girl named Lilly. Lori lands on top of baby Judith and both tragically die. Rick has no choice but to continue on with Carl. It could be assumed that Lori never reanimated since there were hordes of zombies descending upon the prison to eat her during the Woodbury attack.

After Death

Feeling guilty for his wife’s death, Rick has nightmares that involve his wife as a zombie attacking him. He willingly succumbs to her appetites and allows himself to be eaten by her. Lori manifests herself to Rick in another way; via telephone. Rick begins hearing her voice in an unplugged telephone. He first believes that he is hearing a woman from a nearby town and later realizes that he’s hearing his own wife. He carries the phone around so that he can escape reality and talk to his wife when things get tough. He eventually gives up on the practice, leaving his wife’s memory to rest in peace.

Other Media

Television

Lori Grimes is played by Sarah Wayne Callies in AMC´s “The Walking Dead,” this version of Lori is very close to the comic book character. She has to leave her husband when Shane assures to her that he died. Then she finds that her husband is alive and Shane had lied to her, so she tries to rebuild their relationship, breaking Shane´s heart in the process. She does her best to keep her family together despite the fact that Shane may be the father of her baby. She eventually alienates her husband and son upon learning Rick kills Shane. They begin to reconcile, but then she dies giving birth to Judith in the prison. Carl has to shoot her to keep her from turning.