title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: The drastically increasing popularity of the group also saw an increase in violent behaviour from its members. In the year preceding its recognition by the Tokyo government, a member of the cult – Terayuki Majima – had accidentally drowned during a ritual; his body was cremated, with the remaining bones ground up and scattered over a nearby lake. Majima's friend – a fellow member of the group – was murdered by members acting under Asahara's orders, after he became disillusioned and tried to leave.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: Three months after recognition, six Aum Shinrikyo members were involved in the murder of a lawyer, Tsutsumi Sakamoto, who had been working on a class-action lawsuit against the cult, as well as his wife and 1-year-old son. Asahara had previously advanced the concept of "'poa"': a doctrine which stated that not only were people with bad karma doomed to an eternity in hell (unless they were 'rebirthed' through intervention by 'enlightened people'), but that it was acceptable to kill those at risk of bad karma to save them from hell.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: Asahara had experienced delusions of grandeur as early as 1985 – while meditating, he claims that the god Shiva had been revealed to him, and had appointed him 'Abiraketsu no Mikoto' ('The god of light who leads the armies of the gods'), who was to build the Kingdom of Shambhala, a utopian society made up of those who had developed 'psychic powers'.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: In 1990, Asahara announced that the group would run 25 candidates in the election that year to the Japanese Diet, under the banner of . Despite showing confidence in their ability to gain seats in the diet, the party received only 1,783 votes; the failure to achieve power legitimately, blamed by Asahara on an external conspiracy propagated by "Freemasons and Jews", caused him to order the cult to produce botulinum and phosgene in order to overthrow the Japanese government. As members became disillusioned with the group (following contact with the outside world made during the election campaign) and defected, an attitude among the remaining members that 'the unenlightened' did not deserve salvation became accepted.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: Attempts to stockpile botulinum toxin proved unsuccessful. Seiichi Endo – one of the members tasked with acquiring botulinum toxin – collected soil samples from the Ishikari River, and attempted to produce the toxin using three capacity fermenters. In total, around 50 batches of of a crude broth were producedhowever, the cult did not attempt to purify the broth (which mostly would have consisted of bacterial cultivation media; one member even fell into one of the fermenters and nearly drowned, but otherwise suffered no ill effects).


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: Despite mouse bioassays run by Tomomasu Nakagawa (another cult member assisting Endo) returning no toxic effects, in April 1990 the crude broth was loaded into three trucks equipped with custom spray devices, which was to be sprayed at two US naval bases, Narita airport, the Diet building, the Imperial Palace, and the headquarters of a rival religious group.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: Simultaneously, Asahara announced that the coming apocalyptic war could not save people outside of the cult, and that members should attend a three-day seminar in Ishigakijima in order to seek shelter. The spraying attacks failed to cause any ill effects among the population but 1270 people attended the seminar, many of them becoming devout monks.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: With the intention of building a compound incorporating facilities such as a phosgene plant (as well as facilities to manufacture VX and chlorine gas), Aum Shinrikyo used 14 dummy companies to purchase acres of land in Namino (now part of Aso city), and began construction. However, public attitudes towards the cult had become very negative due to suspicions around the cult's illegal activities. These attitudes were exacerbated once it was revealed to the surrounding community that the group had acted illegally. A police investigation in October resulted in the arrests of several Aum members, causing Asahara to fear a police raid – he hence ordered the destruction of all biological and chemical weapon stockpiles, and for the cult to focus on legitimate, non-violent strategies only.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: After the destruction of the illegal weapon stockpiles, the cult relied on 'mainstream' methods to attract other members – this included frequent television appearances by Asahara, as well as the setting up of the 'Aum Shinrikyo broadcasting' radio station in Russia in April 1992. However, starting in late 1992, Asahara's mental health deteriorated further – his suicidal feelings intensified, he began to complain of hallucinations and paranoia, and he withdrew from public appearances (except on Aum Shinrikyo Broadcasting), claiming society was preventing him from fulfilling his destiny as Christ. The concurrent replacement of the previously predominantly female group of top advisers with a more aggressive male group led to the gradual restarting of the violent campaign to seize power. At some point in 1992, Asahara published "Declaring Myself the Christ", in which he identified with the "Lamb of God".


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: He outlined a doomsday prophecy, which included a Third World War, and described a final conflict culminating in a nuclear Armageddon, borrowing the term from the Book of Revelation . His purported mission was to take upon himself the sins of the world, and he claimed he could transfer to his followers spiritual power and take away their sins.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: Asahara claimed to be able to see dark conspiracies everywhere promulgated by Jews, Freemasons, the Dutch, the British Royal Family, and rival Japanese religions.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: The president of the Okamura ironworks, an industrial plant facing debt troubles, was a member of the cult who consulted with Asahara about a takeover strategy. In September 1992, Asahara was made president of the ironworks, resulting in 90% of staff being dismissed or leaving due to the 'Aum-ification' of the plant. These workers were replaced with other members of the group. Over the course of 1993, the cult smuggled AK-74 rifles and 5.45x39mm bullets, and began to prototype rifles based on the AK-74 design.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: Under the oversight of Endo, the biological weapons division of the cult resumedthis time pursuing not only botulinum toxin, but also anthrax, using improved drum fermenters at their Kameido facility.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: Again, the group did not attempt to purify the resulting product, which resembled a foul-smelling brown slurry. Further failed attacks on individuals were attempted in 1993 and 1994 using botulinum – first using a homemade sprayer mounted to a car, and then by mixing with juice – but neither had any effects. Five days before the sarin attack on the Tokyo subways, botulinum was dispersed in a failed attack on Kasumigaseki station – a dissident member had replaced the active compound with water, but the cult had failed to acquire an active strain of "C. botulinum".


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: Similarly, the Aum anthrax program was a failure – despite having access to a sympathiser outside of the group who could acquire anthrax spores, the strain received by the group was a Sterne vaccine strain incapable of causing harm. It was unclear why, despite having this knowledge, the group executed two attacks in 1993 using this vaccine strain – once from the roof of the headquarters building in Kameido, and once from a truck with a custom spraying device, aimed at the Diet building, Imperial Palace, and Tokyo Tower. Both attacks caused no effects other than a foul smell, reported by passers-by.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: In the summer of 1993, Endo attempted a different strategy – by desiccating the slurry, the "B. anthracis" spores could be spread as a powder, rather than through spraying – this was achieved with a crude hot air dryer. Nakagawa has claimed that an attempt was made to spread this powder through the centre of Tokyo, but this, also, had no effects. The total failure of the biological weapons program had, by mid-1993, convinced Asahara to focus on the chemical weapons division under Masami Tsuchiya. While Endo would be promoted within the cult to 'health minister' in 1994 – reflecting his seniority – no further attacks using biological weapons were attempted.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: Tsuchiya had established a small laboratory in their Kamikuishiki complex in November 1992. After initial research (done at Tsukuba University, where he had previously studied chemistry), he suggested to Hideo Muraia senior Aum advisor who had tasked him with researching chemical weapons in November 1992, out of fear that the cult would soon be attacked with themthat the most cost-effective substance to synthesize would be sarin.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: He was subsequently ordered to produce a small amountwithin a month, the necessary equipment had been ordered and installed, and of sarin had been produced via synthetic procedures derived from the five-step DHMP process as originally described by IG Farben in 1938, and as used by the Allies after World War II.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: After this small quantity had been produced, Murai ordered Tsuchiya to produce about when Tsuchiya protested, noting that this level of scaling was not feasible in a research laboratory, a chemical plant was ordered to be built alongside the biological production facility in the Fujigamine district of Kamikuishiki, to be labeled Satyan-7 ('Truth'). The specialized equipment and substantial chemicals needed to run the facility were purchased using shell companies under Hasegawa Chemical, a chemical company already owned by Aum. At the same time, in September 1993, Asahara and 24 other cult members traveled from Tokyo to Perth, Australia, bringing generators, tools, protective equipment (including gas masks and respirators), and chemicals to make sarin.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: After repurchasing chemicals confiscated by customs, the group chartered aircraft from Perth to Banjawarn Station, where they searched for uranium deposits to make nuclear weapons and may have tested the efficacy of the synthesized sarin on animals. They remained in Australia for eight days and attempted to return in October of the same year, but were denied visasBanjawarn Station would be sold a year later.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: The Satyan-7 facility was declared ready for occupancy by September 1993 with the capacity to produce about of sarin, being equipped with capacity mixing flasks within protective hoods, and eventually employing 100 Aum members; the UN would later estimate the value of the building and its contents at $30 million.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: Despite the safety features and often state-of-the-art equipment and practices, the operation of the facility was very unsafe – one analyst would later describe the cult as having a "high degree of book learning, but virtually nothing in the way of technical skill."


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: When the facility developed leaks, buckets were used to contain spills; several technicians inhaled fumes on repeated occasions, developing 'symptoms ranging from nosebleeds to convulsions', and toxic chemicals leaked from the site and into the soil. Citizens lodged complaints about foul smells several times, with the cult claiming that the US Army had assaulted the complex with poison gas. An accident at the plant in November 1994 would eventually force the suspension of the production of chemical agents.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: By December, Tsuchiya had accumulated in total about of sarinfrom this, two separate assassination attempts were made on Daisaku Ikeda, leader of Soka Gakkai (a rival Japanese religious movement), in mid-1994. The first attack involved a truck with a spraying system, as previously used – the spraying system malfunctioned, spraying sarin into the truck itself, and mildly poisoning the operators. The second attack utilized a truck modified to include an evaporation system based on heating sarin over a gas stove fire; despite prior warnings from cult member Kazuyoshi Takizawa, the truck caught fire during the dissemination, severely poisoning the driver Tomomitsu Niimi and causing both Niimi and Murai – the operators – to flee. Niimi received an injection of atropine and pralidoxime iodine, saving his life.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: Despite the failure of the attack, the members of Aum were convinced of sarin's efficacy, prompting Asahara to appoint Takizawa in charge of operations of Satyan-7; Tsuchiya was assigned to several other projects and would go on to manufacture several psychoactives – LSD, PCP, methamphetamine, mescaline, and phenobarbital to be used in the cult activities and brainwashing; he would also manufacture small amounts of phosgene, VX, soman, cyclosarin, and gunpowder. These compounds would be used in several attacks and assassination attempts:


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: In June 1994, Asahara ordered the cult to assassinate the judges involved in deciding a commercial land dispute involving the cult, due to his belief that they would not deliver a favourable judgement. About a week later, on 27 June, of sarin was loaded onto a truck equipped with a fan, heater, and pumpsix members, pre-administered with sarin antidotes and wearing improvised gas masks, began the propagation of sarin at around 10:40pm, spraying for around 10–20 minutes.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: Due to it being a warm evening, many residents had left their windows open while they sleptthe first emergency call was made at 11:09pm. Within an hour, a mass disaster caused by an unknown toxic gas had been declared. Fifty-eight people were hospitalised, of whom seven people died in the immediate aftermath, and an eighth 14 years later, and an additional 253 people sought medical care at outpatient clinics.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: Investigations after the Matsumoto attack were generally inconclusive, with the primary suspect being Yoshiyuki Kōno, whose wife had been left comatose by the attack. Blame would not be clearly attributed to Aum Shinrikyo until after the subway attack, despite tipoffs – in September 1994, two anonymous letters were sent to major media outlets in Japan – the first asserting that the group were responsible for the attack, and the second claiming that Matsumoto was an open-air 'experiment of sorts', noting that the results would have been much worse if sarin had been released indoors, such as in 'a crowded subway'.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: Following an accident at Satyan-7 the next month (and complaints from the surrounding communities), a police investigation revealed methylphosphonic acid and isopropyl methylphosphonic acid – the former being a degradation product of sarin, and the latter being a definitive signature of both sarin production and of failures in production. However, there was no law at the time prohibiting the production of the nerve agents. This evidence was left unacted on, but was leaked to the Yomiuri Shimbun in January 1995, alerting Asahara and the cult, and causing Nakagawa and Endo to begin the process of destroying and/or hiding all nerve agents and biological weapons, which lasted until the end of February.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: Fingerprint evidence for an Aum member linked to an earlier kidnapping, in addition to the sarin-contaminated soil samples, caused the police to set a raid date for 22 March. Asahara was made aware of the impending raid by two cult members inside the Self-Defense Forces, and ordered an attack on Tokyo subway lines close to the Metropolitan Police Department on the morning of the 20th March – possibly as a desperate attack to initiate the apocalypse.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: To aid in this, Tsuchiya was ordered by Endo to produce sarin again on 18 March – due to a lack of normal precursors as a result of the chemical destruction process, the sarin produced was of a lower quality and caused the normally colourless sarin to appear brown. of the chemical was manufactured and stored in a large container, from which it was decanted into plastic bags. Later forensic analysis found that the sarin utilised in the attack was roughly half as pure as that used in the Matsumoto attack.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: On Monday, 20 March 1995, five members of Aum Shinrikyo launched a chemical attack on the Tokyo subway (on lines that are part of the present-day Tokyo Metro), one of the world's busiest commuter transport systems, at the peak of the morning rush hour. The chemical agent used, liquid sarin, was contained in plastic bags which each team then wrapped in newspaper. Each perpetrator carried two packets totaling approximately of sarin, except Yasuo Hayashi, who carried three bags totalling approximately of sarin. Aum originally planned to spread the sarin as an aerosol but did not follow through with it. Sarin has an LD of , corresponding to for a human; however, dispersal issues dramatically reduced its effectiveness.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: Carrying their packets of sarin and umbrellas with sharpened tips, the perpetrators boarded their appointed trains. At prearranged stations, the sarin packets were dropped and punctured several times with the sharpened tip of the umbrella. Each perpetrator then got off the train and exited the station to meet his accomplice with a car. Leaving the punctured packets on the floor allowed the sarin to leak out into the train car and stations. This sarin affected passengers, subway workers, and those who came into contact with them. Sarin is the most volatile of the nerve agents, which means that it can quickly and easily evaporate from a liquid into a vapor and spread into the environment. People can be exposed to the vapor even if they do not come in contact with the liquid form of sarin. Because it evaporates so quickly, sarin presents an immediate but short-lived threat.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: The team of Ikuo Hayashi and Tomomitsu Niimi were assigned to drop and puncture two sarin packets on the Chiyoda Line. Hayashi was the perpetrator and Niimi was his getaway driver. On the way to Sendagi Station, Niimi purchased newspapers to wrap the sarin packets in—the Japan Communist Party's "Akahata" and the Sōka Gakkai's "Seikyo Shimbun".


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: Hayashi eventually chose to use "Akahata". Wearing a surgical mask commonly worn by the Japanese during cold and flu season, Hayashi boarded the first car of southwest-bound 07:48 Chiyoda Line train number A725K. As the train approached Shin-Ochanomizu Station, the central business district in Chiyoda, he punctured one of his two bags of sarin, leaving the other untouched, and exited the train at Shin-Ochanomizu.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: The train proceeded down the line with the punctured bag of sarin leaking until 4 stops later at Kasumigaseki Station. There, the bags were removed and eventually disposed of by station attendants, of whom two died. The train continued on to the next station where it was completely stopped, evacuated and cleaned.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: Two men, Ken'ichi Hirose and Koichi Kitamura, were assigned to release two sarin packets on the westbound Marunouchi Line destined for Ogikubo Station. The pair left Aum headquarters in Shibuya at 6:00 am and drove to Yotsuya Station. There Hirose boarded a westbound Marunouchi Line train, then changed to a northbound JR East Saikyō Line train at Shinjuku Station and got off at Ikebukuro Station. He then bought a sports tabloid to wrap the sarin packets in and boarded the second car of Marunouchi Line train A777.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: As he was about to release the sarin, Hirose believed the loud noises caused by the newspaper-wrapped packets had caught the attention of a schoolgirl. To avoid further suspicion, he got off the train at either Myogadani or Korakuen Station and moved to the third car instead of the second.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: As the train approached Ochanomizu Station, Hirose dropped the newspapers to the floor, repeated an Aum mantra and punctured both sarin packets with so much force that he bent the tip of his sharpened umbrella. Both packets were successfully broken, and all of sarin was released onto the floor of the train. Hirose then departed the train at Ochanomizu and left via Kitamura's car waiting outside the station. Hirose's clumsy release of the sarin resulted in him accidentally poisoning himself, but he was able to administer an antidote stored in Kitamura's car.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: At Nakano-sakaue Station, 19 stops later, two severely injured passengers were carried out of the train car, while station attendant Sumio Nishimura removed the sarin packets (one of these two passengers was the only fatality from this attack). The train continued with sarin still on the floor of the third car. Five stops later, at 8:38 am, the train reached Ogikubo Station, the end of the Marunouchi Line, all while passengers continued to board the train. The train continued eastbound until it was finally taken out of service at Shin-Kōenji Station two stops later. The entire ordeal resulted in one passenger's death with 358 being seriously injured.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: Masato Yokoyama and his driver Kiyotaka Tonozaki were assigned to release sarin on the Ikebukuro-bound Marunouchi Line. On the way to Shinjuku Station, Tonozaki stopped to allow Yokoyama to buy a copy of "Nihon Keizai Shimbun", to wrap the two sarin packets. When they arrived at the station, Yokoyama put on a wig and fake glasses and boarded the fifth car of the Ikebukuro-bound 07:39 Marunouchi Line train number B801. As the train approached Yotsuya Station, Yokoyama began poking at the sarin packets. When the train reached the next station, he fled the scene with Tonozaki, leaving the sarin packets on the train car. The packets were not fully punctured. During his drop, Yokoyama left one packet fully intact, while the other packet was only punctured once (and with a small hole), resulting in the sarin being released relatively slowly.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: The train reached the end of the line, Ikebukuro, at 8:30 am where it would head back in the opposite direction. Before it departed the train was evacuated and searched, but the searchers failed to discover the sarin packets. The train departed Ikebukuro Station at 8:32 am as the Shinjuku-bound A801. Passengers soon became ill and alerted station attendants of the sarin-soaked newspapers at Kōrakuen Station. One station later, at Hongō-sanchōme, staff removed the sarin packets and mopped the floor, but the train continued on to Shinjuku. After arriving at 9:09 am, the train once again began to make its way back to Ikebukuro as the B901. The train was finally put out of service at Kokkai-gijidō-mae Station in Chiyoda at 9:27 am, one hour and forty minutes after Yokoyama punctured the sarin packet. The attack resulted in no fatalities, but over 200 people were left in serious condition.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: Toru Toyoda and his driver Katsuya Takahashi were assigned to release sarin on the northeast-bound Hibiya Line.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: The pair, with Takahashi driving, left Aum headquarters in Shibuya at 6:30 am. After purchasing a copy of "Hochi Shimbun" and wrapping his two sarin packets, Toyoda arrived at Naka-Meguro Station where he boarded the first car of northeast-bound 07:59 Hibiya Line train number B711T. Sitting close to the door, he set the sarin packets on the floor. When the train arrived at the next station, Ebisu, Toyoda punctured both packets and got off the train. He was on the train for a total of two minutes, by far the quickest sarin drop out of the five attacks that day.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: Two stops later, at Roppongi Station, passengers in the train's first car began to feel the effects of the sarin and began to open the windows. By Kamiyacho Station, the next stop, the passengers in the car had begun panicking. The first car was evacuated and several passengers were immediately taken to a hospital. Still, with the first car empty, the train continued down the line for one more stop until it was completely evacuated at Kasumigaseki Station. This attack killed one person and seriously injured 532 others.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: Yasuo Hayashi and Shigeo Sugimoto were the team assigned to drop sarin on the southwest-bound Hibiya Line departing Kita-Senju Station for Naka-Meguro Station. Unlike the rest of the attackers, Hayashi carried three sarin packets onto the train instead of two. Prior to the attack, Hayashi asked to carry a flawed leftover packet in addition to the two others in an apparent bid to allay suspicions and prove his loyalty to the group.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: After Sugimoto escorted him to Ueno Station, Hayashi boarded the third car of southwest-bound 07:43 Hibiya Line train number A720S and dropped his sarin packets to the floor. Two stops later, at Akihabara Station, he punctured two of the three packets, left the train, and arrived back at Aum headquarters with Sugimoto by 8:30 am. Hayashi made the most punctures of any of the perpetrators. By the next stop, passengers in the third car began to feel the effects of the sarin. Noticing the large, liquid-soaked package on the floor and assuming it was the culprit, one passenger kicked the sarin packets out of the train and onto Kodenmachō Station's subway platform. Four people in the station died as a result.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: A puddle of sarin remained on the floor of the passenger car as the train continued to the next station. At 8:10 am, after the train pulled out of Hatchōbori Station, a passenger in the third car pressed the emergency stop button. The train was in a tunnel at the time, and was forced to proceed to Tsukiji Station, where passengers stumbled out and collapsed on the station's platform and the train was taken out of service.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: The attack was originally believed to be an explosion and was thus labeled as such in media reports. Eventually, station attendants realized that the attack was not an explosion, but rather a chemical attack. At 8:35 am, the Hibiya Line was completely shut down and all commuters were evacuated. Between the five stations affected in this attack, 8 people died and 275 were seriously injured.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: Ten men were responsible for carrying out the attacks: five released the sarin, while the other five served as getaway drivers.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: Naoko Kikuchi, who was involved in producing the sarin gas, was arrested after a tipoff in June 2012.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: Prior to joining Aum, Hayashi was a senior medical doctor with "an active 'front-line' track record" at the Ministry of Science and Technology. The son of a doctor, Hayashi graduated from Keio University. He was a heart and artery specialist at Keio Hospital, which he left to become head of Circulatory Medicine at the National Sanatorium Hospital in Tokai, Ibaraki (north of Tokyo).


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: In 1990, he resigned his job and left his family to join Aum in the monastic order Sangha, where he became one of Asahara's favorites and was appointed the group's Minister of Healing, as which he was responsible for administering a variety of "treatments" to Aum members, including sodium pentothal and electric shocks to those whose loyalty was suspect. These treatments resulted in several deaths.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: Hayashi later reported to the Japanese police investigators about the sarin attacks and Aum activities post-Tokyo subway attack; his cooperation with the authorities resulted in numerous arrests and convictions, and he was given a life sentence instead of death penalty. Tomomitsu Niimi, who was his getaway driver, was sentenced to death due to his involvement in other crimes perpetrated by Aum members. He was executed at the Osaka Detention House on 6 July 2018 with six others of those principally involved.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: Hirose was 30 years old at the time of the attacks. Holder of a postgraduate degree in physics from Waseda University, Hirose became an important member of the group's Chemical Brigade in their Ministry of Science and Technology. He was also involved in the group's Automatic Light Weapon Development scheme.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: Hirose teamed with getaway driver Kōichi Kitamura. After releasing the sarin, Hirose showed symptoms of sarin poisoning. He was able to inject himself with the antidote (atropine sulphate) and was rushed to the Aum-affiliated Shinrikyo Hospital in Nakano for treatment. Medical personnel at the hospital had not been given prior notice of the attack and were consequently clueless regarding what treatment Hirose needed. When Kitamura realized that he had driven Hirose to the hospital in vain, he instead drove to Aum's headquarters in Shibuya where Ikuo Hayashi gave Hirose first aid.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: Hirose was later sentenced to death for his role in the attack. His appeal against his death sentence was rejected by the Tokyo High Court on 28 July 2003 and the sentence was upheld by the Supreme Court of Japan on 6 November 2009. Hirose was executed at the Tokyo Detention House on 26 July 2018, along with five other cult members.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: Toyoda was 27 at the time of the attack. He studied Applied Physics at University of Tokyo's Science Department and graduated with honors. He also held a master's degree, and was about to begin doctoral studies when he joined Aum, where he belonged to the Chemical Brigade in their Ministry of Science and Technology.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: Toyoda was sentenced to death. The appeal against his death sentence was rejected by the Tokyo High Court on July 28, 2003, and was upheld by the Supreme Court on November 6, 2009. Toyoda was executed at the Tokyo Detention House on 26 July 2018.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: Katsuya Takahashi was Toru Toyoda's getaway driver. Takahashi was arrested in June 2012. In 2015, Takahashi was convicted for his role in the attack and was sentenced to life in prison. His appeal was rejected by the Tokyo High Court in September 2016.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: Yokoyama was 31 at the time of the attack. He was a graduate in Applied Physics from Tokai University's Engineering Department. He worked for an electronics firm in Gunma Prefecture for three years after graduation before leaving to join Aum, where he became Undersecretary at the group's Ministry of Science and Technology. He was also involved in their Automatic Light Weapons Manufacturing scheme. Yokoyama was sentenced to death in 1999. His appeals were rejected, and he was executed at the Nagoya Detention House on 26 July 2018.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: Kiyotaka Tonozaki, a high school graduate who joined the group in 1987, was a member of the group's Ministry of Construction, and served as Yokoyama's getaway driver. Tonozaki was sentenced to life imprisonment.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: Yasuo Hayashi was 37 years old at the time of the attacks, and was the oldest person at the group's Ministry of Science and Technology. He studied Artificial Intelligence at Kogakuin University; after graduation he traveled to India where he studied yoga. He then became an Aum member, taking vows in 1988 and rising to the number three position in the group's Ministry of Science and Technology.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: Asahara had at one time suspected Hayashi of being a spy. The extra packet of sarin he carried was part of "ritual character test" set up by Asahara to prove his allegiance, according to the prosecution.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: Hayashi fled after the attacks. He was arrested 21 months later, one thousand miles from Tokyo on Ishigaki Island. He was later sentenced to death. His appeal was rejected by the Tokyo High Court in 2008. Hayashi was executed at the Sendai Detention House on 26 July 2018.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: Hayashi's getaway driver was Shigeo Sugimoto, whose lawyers argued he played only a minor role in the attack, but the argument was rejected and he was sentenced to life in prison.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: is a Japanese convicted domestic terrorist and member of the doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo. In 1995, he served as getaway driver for one of the perpetrators of the Tokyo subway sarin attack, Kenichi Hirose. He was 27 years old when the attack was committed. He is currently serving a life sentence for the attack and other offenses.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: Kitamura is a native of Aichi Prefecture and joined Aum Shinrikyo in the late 1980s after reading a book written by leader Shoko Asahara.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: During the Tokyo subway sarin attack he drove Kenichi Hirose to the Tokyo Metro Marunouchi Line where Hirose boarded a train and punctured two bags of liquid sarin, causing the death of one person. The attack killed 13 people and injured more than 5,300. Kitamura also aided cult fugitive Takeshi Matsumoto in hiding from justice between the months of March and April 1995 for the crime of kidnapping.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: He was a fugitive until November 1996 when he was arrested in Tokorozawa, Saitama. In his first trial in May 1997 he admitted to the crimes and reportedly renounced the cult although he maintained the belief that Asahara had superpowers and his lawyer said that he still was under the spell of the cult.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: He was sentenced to life imprisonment in November 1999, with the presiding judge chastising him for playing an "indispensable role" in the attack. The judge also highlighted his self-righteous motive for his crimes and pronounced the sentencing saying that:


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: After the verdict was read, his lawyer said that Kitamura was still under Asahara's spell which made him a victim of the cult as well. He also said that the court had dismissed this point adding that he would discuss with him whether to appeal to the higher courts.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: In January 2002, the Tokyo High Court upheld his sentence, which he called "too harsh" given his role in the attack. The court refuted his argument and highlighted his lack of remorse as motive for upholding the sentence.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: Following the attack, Japanese police raided Aum Shinrikyo facilities and arrested members. The cult's headquarters in Tokyo was raided by police on May 16, 1995. Due to fears that armed cult members might resist the raid, the 1st Airborne Brigade of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force was stationed nearby to provide support if needed.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: On the day of the attack, ambulances transported 688 patients and nearly 5,000 people reached hospitals by other means. In total, 278 hospitals saw 5,510 patients – 17 of whom were deemed critical, 37 severe, and 984 moderately ill with vision problems. Most of those reporting to hospitals were the "worried well", who had to be distinguished from those who were ill. The categorization was that a moderate casualty just had miosis (excessive constriction of the pupil), a severe casualty was short of breath or had muscular twitching or gastrointestinal problems as well as miosis, and a severe or critical casualty required intensive care unit care.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: Witnesses have said that subway entrances resembled battlefields. Several of those affected by sarin went to work in spite of their symptoms, not realizing that they had been exposed to sarin. Most of the victims sought medical treatment as the symptoms worsened and as they learned of the actual circumstances of the attacks via news broadcasts.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: By mid-afternoon, the mildly affected victims had recovered from vision problems and were released from hospital. Most of the remaining patients were well enough to go home the following day, and within a week only a few critical patients remained in hospital. The death toll on the day of the attack was eight, with four more dying subsequently. Hospitals only became aware that sarin was involved after about two hours, and then started administering 2-PAM and atropine.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: Several of those affected were exposed to sarin only by helping those who had been directly exposed. Among these were passengers on other trains, subway workers and health care workers.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: A 2008 law enacted by the Japanese government authorized payments of damages to victims of the gas attack, because the attack was directed at the government of Japan. As of December 2009, 5,259 people have applied for benefits under the law. Of those, 47 out of 70 have been certified as disabled and 1,077 of 1,163 applications for serious injuries or illnesses have been certified.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: Surveys of the victims in 1998 and 2001 showed that many were still suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. In one survey 20% of 837 respondents complained that they felt insecure when on a train, while 10% answered that they tried to avoid any nerve-attack related news. Over 60% reported chronic eyestrain and said their vision had worsened.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: Until 2008, 12 fatalities resulting from the attack had been officially acknowledged. However, in 2008 a survey of victims was conducted by the prefectural police department for the purpose of allocating compensation. This survey determined that a man who had died the day after the attack had also been killed by sarin inhalation, thereby increasing the officially recognised death toll to 13. On 10 March 2020 another victim, who had been bedridden for 25 years since the attack, died. 56-year-old Sachiko Asakawa's cause of death was determined to be hypoxic encephalopathy caused by sarin poisoning, making her the attack's 14th fatality.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: Emergency services, including police, fire and ambulance services, were criticised for their handling of the attack and the injured, as were the media (some of whom, though present at subway entrances and filming the injured, hesitated when asked to transport victims to the hospital) and the Subway Authority, which failed to halt several of the trains despite reports of passenger injury. Health services including hospitals and health staff were also criticised; one hospital refused to admit a victim for almost an hour, and many hospitals turned victims away. Other prefectures near Tokyo like Kanagawa, Chiba and Saitama sent emergency services to Tokyo to support the rescue operation, and other hospitals in the region, including in Yokohama, Kawasaki and Urayasu received casualties. The cause of the incident was not immediately understood, and many hospitals received information on diagnosis and treatment only because a professor at Shinshu University's school of medicine happened to see reports on television. Dr. Nobuo Yanagisawa had experience with treating sarin poisoning after the Matsumoto incident; he recognized the symptoms, had information on diagnosis and treatment collected, and led a team who sent the information to hospitals throughout Tokyo via fax.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: St. Luke's International Hospital in Tsukiji was one of very few hospitals in Tokyo at that time to have the entire building wired and piped for conversion into a "field hospital" in the event of a major disaster. This proved to be a very fortunate coincidence as the hospital was able to take in most of the 600+ victims at Tsukiji Station, resulting in no fatalities at that station.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: As there was a severe shortage of antidotes in Tokyo, sarin antidote stored in rural hospitals as an antidote for herbicide/insecticide poisoning was delivered to nearby Shinkansen stations, where it was collected by a Ministry of Health official on a train bound for Tokyo. An Osaka company that manufactured 2-PAM rushed emergency supplies to Tokyo unsolicited on hearing the news.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: Aum had carefully cultivated the friendship of Japanese scholars of religion. After the sarin gas attack, some of them, including Shimada Hiromi, a professor at Tokyo's Japan Women's University, suggested Aum may be innocent. Shimada later apologized, claiming he had been deceived by Aum, but his and others' statements damaged the public image of scholars of religion in general in Japan. Shimada later had to resign from his academic position.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: In May 1995, Aum contacted an American group known as AWARE (Association of World Academics for Religious Education), founded by American scholar James R. Lewis, claiming that the human rights of its members were being violated. Lewis recruited human rights lawyer Barry Fisher, scholar of religion J. Gordon Melton, and chemical expert Thomas Banigan. They flew to Japan, with their travel expenses paid by Aum, and announced that they will investigate and report through press conferences at the end of their trip.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: In the press conferences, Fisher and Lewis announced that Aum could not have produced the sarin with which the attacks had been committed. They had determined this, Lewis said, with their technical expert, based on photos and documents provided by the group.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: In fact, the Japanese police had already discovered at Aum's main compound back in March a sophisticated chemical weapons laboratory that was capable of producing thousands of kilograms a year of the poison. Later investigation showed that Aum not only created the sarin used in the subway attacks, but had committed previous chemical and biological weapons attacks, including a previous attack with sarin that killed eight people and injured 144.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: British scholar of Japanese religions Ian Reader, in a detailed account of the incident, reported that Melton "had few doubts by the end of his visit to Japan of Aum’s complicity" and eventually "concluded that Aum had in fact been involved in the attack and other crimes" In fact, the "Washington Post" account of the final press conference mentioned Lewis and Fisher but not Melton. A Christian anti-cult Web site called Apologetic Index quoted the "Washington Post" article and implied that Melton had spoken in the press conference. Melton was, however, not mentioned in the original "Washington Post" article.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: Lewis, on the other hand, maintained his opinion that Aum had been framed, and wrote that having the trip funded by Aum had been arranged "so that financial considerations would not be attached to our final report".


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: Reader concluded that, "The visit was well-intentioned, and the participants were genuinely concerned about possible violations of civil rights in the wake of the extensive police investigations and detentions of followers." However, it was ill-fated and detrimental to the reputation of those involved. While distinguishing between Lewis' and Melton's attitudes, Reader observed that Melton was criticized as well by both Japanese media and some fellow scholars. Using stronger words, Canadian scholar Stephen A. Kent chastised both Lewis and Melton for having put the reputation of the whole category of scholars of new religious movements at risk.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: Popular contemporary novelist Haruki Murakami wrote "Underground: The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche" (1997). He was critical of the Japanese media for focusing on the sensational profiles of the attackers and ignoring the lives of the victimized average citizens. The book contains extensive interviews with the survivors in order to tell their stories. Murakami later added a second part to the


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: The sarin attack was the most serious attack upon Japan since World War II. Shortly after the attack, Aum lost its status as a religious organization, and many of its assets were seized. The Diet (Japanese parliament) rejected a request from government officials to outlaw the group. The National Public Safety Commission received increased funding to monitor the group. In 1999, the Diet gave the commission "board" powers to monitor and curtail the activities of groups that have been involved in "indiscriminate mass murder" and whose leaders are "holding strong sway over their members", a bill custom-tailored to Aum Shinrikyo.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: Asahara was sentenced to death by hanging on 27 February 2004, but lawyers immediately appealed the ruling. The Tokyo High Court postponed its decision on the appeal until results were obtained from a court-ordered psychiatric evaluation, which was issued to determine whether Asahara was fit to stand trial. In February 2006, the court ruled that Asahara was indeed fit to stand trial, and on 27 March 2006, rejected the appeal against his death sentence. Japan's Supreme Court upheld this decision on 15 September 2006. Two re-trial appeals were declined by the appellate court. In June 2012, Asahara's execution was postponed due to the further arrests of the two remaining Aum Shinrikyo members wanted in connection with the attack. Japan does not announce dates of executions, which are by hanging, in advance of them being carried out. On 6 July 2018, the Ministry of Justice announced that Asahara had been executed that morning with six others of those principally involved.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: On 27 November 2004, all the Aum trials concluded, excluding Asahara's, as the death sentence of Seiichi Endo was upheld by Japan's Supreme Court. As a result, among a total of 189 members indicted, 13 were sentenced to death, five were sentenced to life in prison, 80 were given prison sentences of various lengths, 87 received suspended sentences, two were fined, and one was found not guilty.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: In May and June 2012, the last two of the fugitives wanted in connection with the attack were arrested in the Tokyo and Kanagawa area. Of them, Katsuya Takahashi was taken into custody by police near a comic book cafe in Tokyo.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: Asahara and twelve other Aum cultists were finally executed by hanging in July, 2018, after all appeals were exhausted.


title: Tokyo subway sarin attack

text: The group reportedly still has about 2,100 members, and continues to recruit new members under the name "Aleph" as well as other names. Though the group has renounced its violent past, it still continues to follow Asahara's spiritual teachings. Members operate several businesses, though boycotts of known Aleph-related businesses, in addition to searches, confiscations of possible evidence and picketing by protest groups, have resulted in closures.


title: Sinéad Cusack

text: Sinéad Moira Cusack ( ) is an Irish actress. Her first acting roles were at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin, before moving to London in 1969 to join the Royal Shakespeare Company. She has won the Critics' Circle and "Evening Standard" Awards for her performance in Sebastian Barry's "Our Lady of Sligo".


title: Sinéad Cusack

text: Cusack has received two Tony Award nominations: once for Best Leading Actress in "Much Ado About Nothing" (1985), and again for Best Featured Actress in "Rock 'n' Roll" (2008). She has also received five Olivier Award nominations for "As You Like" (1981), "The Maid's Tragedy" (also 1981), "The Taming of the Shrew" (1983), "Our Lady of Sligo" (1998) and "Rock 'n' Roll" (2007). In 2020, she was listed at number 25 on "The Irish Times" list of Ireland's greatest film actors.


title: Sinéad Cusack

text: Cusack was born Jane Moira Cusack in Dalkey, County Dublin, the daughter of actress Maureen Cusack (born Mary Margaret Kiely) and actor Cyril Cusack. She is the sister of actresses Sorcha Cusack, Niamh Cusack, and half-sister to Catherine Cusack. Her father was born in South Africa, to an Irish father and an English mother, and had worked with Micheál Mac Liammóir at Dublin's Gate Theatre.


title: Sinéad Cusack

text: Her first acting roles were at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin. In 1975, she moved to London and joined the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) starring in Dion Boucicault's "London Assurance" in the West End. Cusack's work with the RSC continued with an award-winning performance as Celia in "As You Like It" which included the Clarence Derwent Award and her first Olivier Award nomination. She secured a second Olivier Award nomination for her performance in "The Maid's Tragedy" by Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher in 1981, followed two years later with a third Olivier Award nomination as Kate in "The Taming of the Shrew".


title: Sinéad Cusack

text: She made her Broadway debut in 1984 performing in repertory with the Royal Shakespeare Company. Starring opposite Derek Jacobi, she played Roxane in Anthony Burgess' translation of Edmond Rostand's "Cyrano de Bergerac" and Beatrice in William Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing," directed by Terry Hands. "Much Ado" was first produced at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1982–83, then moved to London's Barbican Theatre for the 1983–1984 season where it was joined by "Cyrano", before both plays transferred to New York's Gershwin Theatre from October 1984 to January 1985, for which Cusack received a Tony Award nomination for her performance as Beatrice, and costar Derek Jacobi won the award for his Benedick. The production of "Cyrano de Bergerac" was later filmed in 1985.


title: Sinéad Cusack

text: During this period, Cusack and her husband, Jeremy Irons, appeared in a "Shakespeare Winter's Eve", a major fundraiser for the Riverside Shakespeare Company in New York, along with other members of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Following the Broadway run, the plays toured the US, making stops in Washington DC and Los Angeles. Cusack's connection with the Royal Shakespeare Company continued with a series of leading roles include Portia in "The Merchant of Venice" opposite David Suchet, Lady Macbeth opposite Jonathan Pryce in "Macbeth" and Cleopatra in "Antony and Cleopatra" in Stratford-upon-Avon and at London's Haymarket Theatre in the West End.


title: Sinéad Cusack

text: In 1990, Cusack, in the role of Masha, joined two of her sisters, Niamh (as Irina) and Sorcha (as Olga), and her father, Cyril Cusack (as Chebutykin) for a well-received production of Anton Chekhov's tragi-comedy "The Three Sisters" in a new version by Frank McGuinness, directed by Adrian Noble at the Gate Theatre, Dublin before transferring to the Royal Court Theatre in London. The production also featured Niamh's husband Finbar Lynch as Solenyi and Lesley Manville as Natasha. The production won the three real-life sisters the Irish Life Award in 1992.


title: Sinéad Cusack

text: One of her best known stage roles was "Our Lady of Sligo" by Sebastian Barry in 1998, in which she played the principal role of Mai O'Hara in performances in Ireland, on Broadway and at the National Theatre. For this she won the 1998 "Evening Standard" Theatre Awards for Best Actress, the 1998 Critics' Circle Theatre Award for Best Actress and her fourth Olivier Award nomination for Best Actress. In 2006/7 she starred with Rufus Sewell in Tom Stoppard's "Rock 'n' Roll" at the Royal Court Theatre in London which transferred to the West End and Broadway, winning Cusack her fifth Olivier Award nomination and her second Tony Award nomination.


title: Sinéad Cusack

text: In 2015, Cusack returned to Ireland's Abbey Theatre, where she began her theatre career. She appeared in the world première of Mark O'Rowe's play "Our Few And Evil Days", acting opposite long-time collaborator Ciarán Hinds. She won the Irish Times Theatre Award for Best Actress.


title: Sinéad Cusack

text: Cusack starred with Peter Sellers in the film "Hoffman" (1970). She guest starred in an episode of "The Persuaders!" (1971), a TV series starring Tony Curtis and Roger Moore, as Jenny Lindley, a wealthy heiress who suspects that a man claiming to be her dead brother is in fact an impostor. The Persuaders!, 1971. Episode 3, Season 1. "Take Seven". An extensive list of her works is available at filmreference.com. In 1975 she made three appearances in the TV series "Quiller" as the character 'Roz'.


title: Sinéad Cusack

text: Cusack and her husband Jeremy Irons appeared together in the film "Waterland" (1992), in a television adaptation of Christopher Hampton's "Tales from Hollywood" (also 1992), and again in Bernardo Bertolucci's "Stealing Beauty" (1996). Further film work includes starring roles in the films "V for Vendetta" (2005) and "Eastern Promises" (2007), a thriller directed by David Cronenberg. Her performance in "The Tiger's Tail" (also 2007) won her a first IFTA Award nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. She won the IFTA Award for her performance in "The Sea" (2013), adapted from the novel by John Banville. Cusack was nominated once more for an IFTA Award for her performance in John Boorman's drama film "Queen and Country" (2014), which premièred at the Cannes Film Festival.


title: Sinéad Cusack

text: Further starring roles include lead roles in "Oliver's Travels" (1995), "Have Your Cake And Eat It" (1997) for which she won the RTS Award for Best Actress and Frank McGuinness's "The Hen House" (1989) for BBC Television. She starred in the title role of George du Maurier's "Trilby" (1976), in an adaptation for the BBC's "Play of the Month", with Alan Badel as Svengali. She also starred in the BBC mini-series "North and South" (2004, from the novel by Elizabeth Gaskell) as Mrs. Thornton. Cusack starred in the BBC sitcom "Home Again" (2006) and appeared in the TV series "Camelot" (2011), which ran for one season. Cusack had featured roles in the mini-series "The Deep" (2014) and the series "Marcella" (2016), an eight-episode murder mystery.


title: Sinéad Cusack

text: Along with other actresses, including Paola Dionisotti, Fiona Shaw, Juliet Stevenson and Harriet Walter, Cusack contributed to a book by Carol Rutter called "Clamorous Voices: Shakespeare's Women Today" (1994). The book analysed modern acting interpretations of female Shakespearean roles.


title: Sinéad Cusack

text: Cusack married British actor Jeremy Irons in 1978, and they have two sons, Samuel James and Maximilian Paul.


title: Sinéad Cusack

text: Prior to marrying Irons, Cusack gave birth to a son in 1967 and placed the boy for adoption. In 2007, a journalist for the Irish "Sunday Independent", Daniel McConnell, revealed that Cusack was the mother of left-wing general election candidate and now member of Irish parliament Richard Boyd Barrett. The two have since been reunited. Cusack campaigned for Boyd Barrett when he stood unsuccessfully in Ireland's 2007 general election as the People Before Profit Alliance's candidate for Dún Laoghaire constituency. She also joined him in the count centre as he awaited the outcome of the 2011 general election, at which he was elected to Dáil Éireann. In May 2013, Boyd Barrett revealed that theatre director Vincent Dowling was his biological father.


title: Sinéad Cusack

text: She had a long relationship with playwright Tom Stoppard but made it clear that she wanted to remain married to Irons and close to her two sons. After her reunion with Boyd Barrett she also wanted to spend time with him in Dublin rather than with Stoppard in France where they shared a house.


title: Sinéad Cusack

text: Cusack is a patron of the Burma Campaign UK, the London-based group campaigning for human rights and democracy in Burma.


title: Sinéad Cusack

text: In 1998, Cusack was named, along with her husband, in a list of the biggest private financial donors to the British Labour Party. In August 2010, Cusack signed the "Irish artists' pledge to boycott Israel" initiated by the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign.


title: Negan

text: Negan, later revealed as Negan Smith in the television series, is a fictional character in the comic book series "The Walking Dead" and in the television series of the same name. He was the leader of the Saviors, a group of survivors in the Sanctuary that oppresses other survivor communities and forces them to pay tribute to him. In the comics, the character's appearance is based on Henry Rollins, as confirmed by Charlie Adlard. Jeffrey Dean Morgan portrays Negan in the television series, having first appeared in the sixth-season finale.


title: Negan

text: After Rick Grimes and his fellow survivors agree to begin a trading relationship with the Hilltop Colony, they are ambushed by the Saviors and forced to obey Negan's orders to give the Saviors half of their supplies, as the other communities do. Initially obedient, Rick and the others secretly conspire with other communities in the Washington, D.C. area to prepare for war against the Saviors. After his defeat at the hands of the allied communities led by Rick, he is incarcerated for years until Carol recruits him as a reluctant ally against the Whisperers. After Negan kills the Whisperers' leaders Alpha and later Beta, the other survivors reluctantly accept him as an official member of their community.


title: Negan

text: Morgan has received critical acclaim for his portrayal of Negan in the television series, earning the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Guest Performer in a Drama Series, MTV Movie Award for Best Villain, and Saturn Award for Best Guest Starring Role on Television. When offered the role of Negan, Morgan immediately accepted, as he was already a fan of the comic book series.


title: Negan

text: Negan was chosen by Katsuhiro Harada and Michael Murray as a guest character for the fighting game "Tekken 7", as they are fans of the television show and the character and thought he be a "perfect fit" for the video game series.


title: Negan

text: Robert Kirkman conceptualized the character after scrapping the idea of Rick Grimes being forced to protect his son, Carl Grimes, by killing fellow survivor Glenn Rhee.


title: Negan

text: Jeffrey Dean Morgan was cast as Negan in 2015. He made his television debut in the sixth-season finale.


title: Negan

text: Prior to the outbreak, Negan lived in Reston, Virginia and was the coach of a local high school, keeping his players in line through intimidation and bullying. He is happily married to his wife, Lucille, but nonetheless has a mistress on the side who doesn't know he is married. During an argument, Lucille collapses and he rushes her to the hospital, where she is diagnosed with cancer. As his wife is tended to, Negan tells his mistress the truth, and she immediately leaves him. When the zombie apocalypse starts, the hospital workers tell Negan they are being forced to abandon the hospital and he should leave with them, but he refuses to leave Lucille's side. Lucille dies when the power goes out, short-circuiting her life-support machine; moments later, she reanimates as a zombie. He flees the hospital and finds a boy being trapped by zombies, and helps to dispatch them with a fire extinguisher. In return, Negan asks the boy to kill Lucille for him.


title: Negan

text: At some point after the outbreak, Negan is found by a group led by a man named Dwight. He slowly takes control over this group from Dwight, renaming them the Saviors and ruling them with an iron fist. He also takes a baseball bat from another survivor and wraps it in barbed wire and names it after his late wife Lucille. Negan, along with his team (which includes at least 50 others), makes a deal with the Hilltop Colony: the Saviors would use the weaponry the other group was lacking to cull all zombies wandering near the Hilltop's premises; in return, the Saviors would obtain half of Hilltop's supplies, such as livestock and crops. Negan punishes even the smallest infraction (real or perceived) with brutal violence; for example, he orders the death of Hilltop's leader, Gregory, because he feels Gregory is not sufficiently loyal.


title: Negan

text: Later, Negan, along with 50 other Saviors, sneaks up on Rick Grimes' group and subdues Rick by surprise. They line up all of the survivors from the van (Rick, Carl, Glenn, Maggie, Sophia, Michonne, and Heath), telling them that Negan wants revenge for the Saviors who were killed. Without Rick's consent, Negan imposes a binding deal: everything that belongs to the Alexandria Safe-Zone now belongs to the Saviors. Negan also introduces his weapon of choice; Lucille, a baseball bat covered in barbed wire.


title: Negan

text: After a long talk about the new world order and whom he should beat to death using Lucille, he finally chooses Glenn as his victim in a random game of "eeny meeny miny moe". Glenn's attempts to talk Negan out of executing him are ignored as Negan slams Lucille down hard on Glenn's head, smashing his skull. Negan laughs as Glenn attempts to get to his feet, the former remarking that "he's taking it like a champ" before swinging Lucille at Glenn, dislocating his jaw, and finally beating Glenn to death.


title: Negan

text: Negan tells the group that the Saviors will be back in one week to collect half of everything they have, threatening more deaths should they refuse. Rick vows to avenge Glenn by killing Negan, amusing the latter, who beats Rick with his bare hands in response before he and the other Saviors leave the survivors to mourn over Glenn's body.


title: Negan

text: Negan and the Saviors later arrive at the Alexandria Safe-Zone for their first offering. Negan and the Saviors begin killing the roamers in the surrounding area and scavenge each of the houses for supplies. Negan and his men depart from the Safe-Zone with supplies, but, unbeknownst to them, Carl is hiding in the truck with an assault rifle. Once the Saviors get back to their base, Negan is amazed to see that Dwight is still alive. A Savior finds Carl, and Carl uses the rifle to kill six Saviors. They surround Carl, and he demands to speak with Negan. When Negan arrives, Carl fires at them until he loses control of his gun. Dwight is about to kill Carl when Negan stops Dwight and says, "Is that any way to treat our new guest?"


title: Negan

text: Instead of taking immediate action against Carl, Negan shows interest in getting to know him. He goes as far as to lead him through the Saviors' facilities, revealing that he is the leader of a cult-like domain of selfless followers who bow to his every word and command. Many followers in his ranks are living on a point system in order to sustain their lives, though many give in to his graces in exchange for a better lifestyle, most notably the women in his "harem", whom he considers his "wives".


title: Negan

text: Negan reveals that he would like to get to know Carl a little better, but he gets distracted by Carl's bandaged face. He orders Carl to remove the bandages. Carl allows him to see it only after being threatened; he removes the bandages to reveal that he is missing an eye after having been shot in the face. Negan, in a state of disbelief and awe, jokingly mocks the disfigurement and goes as far as to ask Carl if he can touch the part of his skull showing through Carl's exposed eye-socket, which causes Carl to break finally and cry. In a rare moment of compassion, Negan apologizes, seeing that he has finally found a weakness in the child he finds so dangerous.


title: Negan

text: In a ritualistic fashion, complete with call-and-response chanting, with the followers answering to Negan's words, Negan demonstrates that he punishes whoever displeases him by searing their faces with a hot iron. Tied to the end of a pole, the tool is held over a fire before being handed to Negan, who presses it against the victim's face as punishment for their offense. In this case, it is the face of Amber's former lover Mark, who is left disfigured in the same manner as Dwight, with a portion of his face permanently scarred and an eyeball exposed. After the ritual, Negan dismisses his congregation before turning to Carl, who hands back "Lucille", and Negan leads him away, contemplating what to do with him.


title: Negan

text: Negan runs into Rick while the latter was on his way to find Carl. Negan tells Rick how eager he is to show him "what he has done to his son". Rick, in a fit of rage, then attacks Negan before Negan reveals that Carl is fine, and Negan clarifies that he is eager to show Rick "that he has done nothing to his son."


title: Negan

text: Several days later, Negan arrives at the Alexandria Safe-Zone a few days ahead of schedule; he's informed that the community is "practically" out of supplies, and Rick went out looking for more. Negan decides that he will stay in Alexandria until Rick returns from the supply run. Negan is later approached by Spencer Monroe who tells Negan that Rick is not a suitable leader for the community and asks that once Negan assassinates Rick, he be given control over the Safe-Zone. He responds by telling Spencer that Rick may hate him, but, he has guts, unlike Spencer, who acted like a coward. Negan then slashes Spencer's stomach, killing him almost instantly.


title: Negan

text: Rick later returns with supplies. Negan initially demands all of it but then decides to take nothing, as repayment for having killed Spencer. Rick insists that they take their share, and Negan has no objections. As the Saviors are driving back to the foundry, Negan notices Rick and a few others are following them. An instant later, the driver is shot and killed. Confused and angry, Negan takes Lucille and sees Rick pointing a gun at his head. Suddenly, a gunshot is heard, and Rick's gun is destroyed as well as those of the others who came out with him. Negan remarks on how stupid Rick and the others are to use bullets on the roamers instead of saving them for "the much more dangerous thinkers" (i.e., the living). Negan reveals that before every pickup, he has a back-up team armed with guns surround the Safe-Zone and guard the area while he and the other Saviors go in and salvage for supplies. With a crazed smile on his face, Negan leans into Rick and says that he and the Safe-Zone residents are "fucking fucked."


title: Negan

text: Negan smiles and says that in a stand-off situation, snipers tend to give away their position after several shots. He clarifies that Rick's "sniper bitch", Andrea, is "as good as dead," provoking Rick to strike him. As Negan holds him off, Carl shoots off a portion of Lucille, causing the Saviors to open fire at the Safe-Zone walls. Negan orders them to stop, and issues an ultimatum: "Give me the boy, or I'll bash in all four skulls of the people out here!" Negan admits that he liked Carl at first and that he never had a child of his own; if he did, he would have wanted him to be like Carl. Rick says that if Carl dies, their agreement is over, but, Negan states that it already "is" over. He orders his men to line up Rick, Heath, Nicholas, and Holly, then begins to decide which one to kill first. He notices a figure falling from the bell tower and smugly repeats that he knew Rick's sniper was good as dead, not realizing that it's not Andrea, but Connor.


title: Negan

text: Negan taunts Rick about Andrea's supposed demise, and Nicholas interrupts him, pleading for his life. Negan berates Nicholas for doing this and accuses him of being a coward. He asks Rick, Heath, or Holly to ask him to kill Nicholas and says if they do so, he will spare them. However, Heath tells him, no, and so Negan begins to pick which one of them he will kill.


title: Negan

text: Negan is interrupted when Paul "Jesus" Monroe grabs a Savior by the foot and uses him as a human shield. Negan tells his men to stand down, and when he does this, Jesus leaps out of a trench and kicks the nearest Savior in the face. Jesus orders Rick and the others into a trench and proceeds to fight his way towards Negan. When Jesus reaches Negan, he manages to disarm him and hold him hostage. Jesus stalls the Saviors until Ezekiel and his men arrive. Negan breaks free from Jesus and runs to a truck, where he retreats back to the Sanctuary with his men. Negan is later seen back at the Sanctuary, where he gives the Saviors a speech about their being the dominant force in the world, and the need to remind people of that. Negan then states they are going to war.


title: Negan

text: Several days later, Rick's army arrives at the Saviors' base and demands that Negan come out. Rick offers him a chance to surrender and spare the women and children in his community. Negan refuses Rick's offer, and reveals that Gregory has defected to the Saviors, meaning that Hilltop is now under Negan's control. He calls Dwight, ordering him to bring the men from the outposts back to help drive off Rick's army. Dwight agrees but due to the commotion, Negan doesn't notice the former's hesitation to act immediately. As more men rush outside, Negan orders them to start shooting the army before all their snipers are killed. He suddenly notices that all their snipers are taking cover and is initially confused as to why Rick's militia are shooting not the snipers, but the windows. He then notices the large herd of zombies that are rapidly approaching the Sanctuary walls. Suddenly, Holly drives through the fence, destroying a portion of it and letting the herd inside. Negan frantically orders his men back inside the foundry but notices that Holly is still alive. He sees a zombie about to kill her and dispatches it. As she looks up, Negan smiles and says that she wasn't "going to get off THAT fucking easy." As the walkers converge on the courtyard area, the Saviors retreat inside the foundry to develop a new strategy.


title: Negan

text: Negan delivers an analogy to a group of Saviors about how you can destroy a man "by fucking his vagina", meaning that the best way to destroy a man's heart is by destroying the woman he loves; Negan clearly believes this to be Holly. She corrects him by saying he's got the wrong woman; Rick loves Andrea, and she was in love with Abraham, the man Dwight killed. Negan refuses to listen, insisting that she is the one who killed Connor "and a terrible liar." He then orders her taken away and goes off to clear his head. Later, Negan is seen outside with more Saviors trying to clear the courtyard of all the zombies, swearing that if any of them die he will "fuck them up." Eventually, too many roamers pour in the fence and Negan's group retreat inside once more. Negan realizes that if the herd keeps them stuck inside for more than one day, they will all be dead, and he orders squads outside every two hours to clean up the infestation by any means necessary. He goes to interrogate Holly, but catches David in the middle of trying to rape her. Negan demands that he get away from her and grabs him by the collar. He angrily reminds David one of the Savior's main rules: "We don't rape". As punishment for breaking this rule, Negan proceeds to stab David in the neck and apologizes to Holly, telling her that "they [The Saviors] aren't monsters."


title: Negan

text: Negan gets word of one of his outposts being overrun by Rick's army and sends more men to fortify the remaining ones. This, in turn, leads to Ezekiel's army being eradicated in a failed attack. Negan also finds a way to eliminate all of the zombies that had flooded into the Sanctuary's courtyard, for he is later seen heading towards Alexandria. When he arrives at the Safe-Zone, he throws a grenade over the wall, demolishing one of the houses and getting Rick's attention. He threatens that 'there's more where that came from' and insists that he's here to parlay. To support his claim, he has a blindfolded Holly brought out of his truck and offers to release her back to Rick. Rick agrees to talk only when Holly is safely back inside, and Negan agrees. This is later shown to be a ploy: it is revealed that Negan had Holly killed and she later reanimated. As the Alexandrians are distracted by this revelation, Negan orders his men to surround Alexandria and throws another grenade over the wall. Suddenly, gunfire erupts from behind several buildings. Surprised by this, Negan orders his men behind one of the trucks. He asks for one more grenade to use as cover and tells his men "the last boat is leaving... you'd better fucking be on it." He manages to escape, and they can make a fast exit. When a Savior makes an offhand comment about retreating, Negan retorts that this wasn't a retreat. Pointing towards the smoke coming from Alexandria, he comments that this means they've "just fucking won."


title: Negan

text: After successfully bombarding Alexandria, Negan leads his men back to Sanctuary. He sees a herd of roamers attacking several people from Alexandria. He orders his men to kill the roamers and wonders aloud why they are out here beyond the wall. Nevertheless, he orders Eugene Porter and the others to be taken back with them. Later, Negan finds out that Eugene was making ammunition for Rick's army and goes to see him. Flanked by Dwight and Carson, Negan orders Eugene to begin producing ammo for the Saviors. When the latter refuses, Negan hands Carson Lucille, and tells Eugene what will happen if he refuses to cooperate; smiling, he says that he could disfigure Eugene's face or castrate him. Eugene still refuses to betray Rick, and Negan leaves Eugene "with his thoughts and his dick... while he still has it." Early the following day, Negan reveals to the Saviors that he has come up with a plan that will help them win the war. He has assembled a group of roamers inside the courtyard to demonstrate his idea, exclaiming "they are the lynchpin of our plans going forward." Reminding them about the fever that comes from getting bit or from any other injury caused by a roamer, Negan approaches one with Lucille. After apologizing to Lucille, Negan begins to rub it all over the roamer, covering the bat with guts and the bacteria that causes the fever. Holding up 'the new and improved Lucille,' Negan says that even the slightest touch from Lucille will now essentially be a death sentence. He orders the Saviors to do the same to their weapons. Arriving at the Hilltop later that day, Negan and his men hide in the forest just outside the Hilltop. He then issues the order: "We attack at sundown."


title: Negan

text: Several hours later, Negan and his troops arrive at the Hilltop gates, demanding to see Rick. Kal is atop the wall and threatens them by saying they won't survive what's behind the walls. Negan tells him to bring Rick, but Kal says, "you're talking to me." Insulted, Negan has one of his men shoot Kal off the wall. Once again, Negan demands Rick to show himself. After no response from him, Negan orders his men to move in. The Saviors pour into the Hilltop and begin to kill off the residents. As gunfire continues to erupt towards them, Negan and Dwight are separated from the other Saviors. Negan is unaware that Dwight is loading an arrow to kill him when he spots Rick away from the other survivors. He tells Dwight to shoot Rick. Dwight reluctantly does so, hitting Rick in the side. After this, Negan declares that "without him, they're nothing. Game fucking over."


title: Negan

text: After Rick is hit with the arrow, Negan and Dwight retreat to the rest of The Savior horde, hoping to devise a plan of attack against the remaining survivors at Hilltop. By now, the Saviors have re-grouped, and Negan orders them to get ready for their attack on the Hilltop mansion. When they begin their attack, they are immediately surrounded by Rick's forces, so Negan orders them to retreat and head back to The Savior camps on the hillside. Negan assumes that Rick is dead and that the war is essentially over, reasoning that Rick's forces have neither the manpower to counterattack nor the will to keep fighting without their leader. Negan says that he will be their Savior again, as long as they let him urinate on Rick's dead body.


title: Negan

text: Negan arrives at Hilltop's gates and offers to accept their surrender, asking to send out whoever is now in charge - and is stunned when Rick emerges to greet him. Negan asks Rick to surrender, to "let things go back the way they were", but Rick refuses. Rick goes on to say that they should pool their resources and people together, and in the current situation, the only ones who are “winning” are the undead. Negan takes this all in, and Rick says that they can take their supplies, but they must give the survivors something in return; make supplies of their own to give or trade for others via a barter system. Negan realizes that he has only inflicted suffering upon the communities that he has “saved”, and apologizes. Rick then slashes Negan's throat with a knife. Negan tackles Rick and begins beating him, Negan gets the better of him and breaks Rick's leg. Laughing, Negan passes out from blood loss. He wakes up inside one of the rooms in the Hilltop and sees Rick standing over him. Rick reveals that he's going to keep Negan alive so he can see the survivors’ new civilization flourish without him. Rick also tells Negan that he will spend the rest of his life in jail.


title: Negan

text: Two years after the war, Carl goes to the basement of an unknown house and talks to a figure in the shadows. He then says to Carl that he enjoys their talks, which help him keep track of the time and days passed. Carl says he is leaving, but before he leaves, the figure asks him if, after all this time, all the things they have shared and the talks they have had, Carl still wants to kill him. He turns around and faces the person behind bars, simply saying: "Yes, Negan. You know I do." Negan asks how he was supposed to know that Carl wanted to kill him and tells him not to insult his intelligence. Negan says that he thought the two of them were friends to which Carl walks away, making Negan retreat into the corner of his cell.


title: Negan

text: Negan asks if Rick is taking Carl to the Hilltop, slightly shocking Rick. Negan says that he and Carl are friends and that Rick could not break that bond. Negan tells Rick that he is just getting things ready for him and that he will not be in his cell forever. Rick says that he knows Negan will die behind bars, to which Negan says that he won't and that deep down, Rick knows he should have killed Negan.


title: Negan

text: Magna and her group later come down to see who was in the jail. When they walk down the stairs to where Negan is being held, Negan grabs the bars to his cell and asks if they are here to rescue him, saying that "they're animals." This shocks Magna and her group. Negan begs to be released and claims Rick is a monster who locked him up and tortured him for speaking out against him. However, Magna does not believe him, having seen actual victims of torture. Negan admits he was lying but had to give it a try. Magna and her companions leave the cell.


title: Negan

text: Some time later, Negan is bathing and having his hair cut by Olivia outside his cell door. After finishing, Negan walks back to his cell at gunpoint from Andrea, who calls him a "fucking monster". Olivia then proceeds to lock the door, and they both leave Negan alone. However, it turns out Olivia didn't lock Negan's cell properly as the door swings open, which Negan notices. However, Negan decides not to escape and remains in his cell with the door open until Rick comes downstairs, then taunts him about the numerous ways he could have destroyed Alexandria without anyone realizing, but claimed to stay as sign of good faith and an offering to amend their trust. As Rick locks up the cage and leaves, Negan taunts him again by stating the only reason he is alive is so Rick can prove to himself that he is still a good person, and that he wants everyone else to believe he is the only one who can fix the world.


title: Negan

text: After a tumultuous community meeting about Rick's proposed plan regarding the Whisperers, Rick goes to Negan's cell and asks for his help. He fills him in on everything that has happened since they have come into conflict with this new group. Negan advises Rick to keep his group happy, even if that means lying to them, touting his expertise as leader of the Saviors, some of whom disliked him. Rick leaves, and Negan grins. When Negan hears the chants and cheers of Rick's name at a later town meeting, Negan smiles and says, "atta boy."


title: Negan

text: While in his cell, Negan is approached by Brandon Rose, a young Hilltop resident who bears a grudge against Rick, Carl, Sophia, and the Whisperers; Rick killed his father as an act of self-defense, Carl beat him up after he had attacked Sophia who beat him up, and Alpha beheaded his mother. He proposes to help Negan escape, and Negan says he will think about it. Later on, Rick and Michonne discover Negan's empty cell. After his escape, Negan and Brandon enter Whisperer terrain. Here Brandon tells Negan that he wants Negan to pit Rick and the Whisperers against one another. In response, Negan stabs Brandon in the chest and enters the Whisperer zone alone. Shortly afterward, Negan is ambushed by a group of Whisperers led by Beta and is taken, prisoner. They bring him to Alpha. Negan introduces himself and declares his love for Alpha. Negan starts to live with the Whisperers, though without Beta's trust. During a night at camp, Negan sees two Whisperers trying to rape a woman. He stops them but is knocked down by Beta for interfering. Alpha explains that they allow for things like this to happen for women to prove their strength, causing Negan to become angry with her. Later that night, Negan and Alpha have a face to face conversation where Negan reveals how dead inside this world has made him and that he knows Alpha is just pretending to have no emotions, causing Alpha to break down. Alpha says that maybe Negan does belong with the Whisperers after all. Negan then slits Alpha's throat and decapitates her, saying "wait until Rick gets a look at you...".


title: Negan

text: A week after disappearing, Negan turns up with Alpha's severed head and shows it to Rick and Andrea, who are very hesitant to believe and trust him. Negan reassures them that he only wants trust. He says Rick's way of thinking is inspiring and tries to convince them that his time in prison has rehabilitated him. He says he could have taken several chances and attacked Rick, but he didn't. He wants to fight with him, not against him. Rick finally agrees to let Negan out of the cell, but not in a community. He will live in an outpost, alone, with only enough food and weaponry to keep him surviving. He is not allowed these freedoms yet, though. He is going to be monitored for a long time and will fight on the front lines against the Whisperers. He will earn his freedom after the war, unless he slips up, in which case he will be immediately killed. They eventually win the war and he later admits he was wrong about his decisions and leaves to fend for himself. He is confronted by Maggie, who wants revenge for Glenn's murder, but decides not to kill him after seeing him in a depressed state. (Issue 174)


title: Negan

text: In the Letter Hacks for Issue 182, Kirkman confirmed that Negan will not return to the series. When asked if Negan would receive another barbed-wire baseball bat, Kirkman answered, "If we see Negan again - and we won't - I'd be really surprised if he had a bat with him. It feels like he put that behind him in his last appearance."


title: Negan

text: In the final issue, set 20 years later, it is revealed that Negan is still alive. He avoids all contact with the other survivors, living on food parcels left by Carl and maintaining a state of mourning for his wife Lucille.


title: Negan

text: In season 8, Negan vaguely states that he helped young people improve upon their weaknesses and molded them into stronger individuals. In the season 10 episode "Here's Negan", he is portrayed as having been a high school gym teacher. Negan later met a woman named Lucille and the pair fell in love and married. Over time, however, Negan began cheating on her. She found out about the affair and he begged her forgiveness, which she granted. Around this time, Negan was fired from his job because he assaulted a man whose kids went to the school he taught at because the man had insulted his wife. In the onset of the outbreak, Negan ventured out into the walker-filled wilderness to find medicine for Lucille's pancreatic cancer, but when he returned, he found that she had died and become a walker. He cannot bring himself to put his wife down; this act of weakness would continue to haunt him and thus Negan strived to become a much stronger person.


title: Negan

text: Sometime after the outbreak, Negan established himself as the tyrannical dictator of a community of survivors called the "Saviors". He wields a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire that he calls "Lucille," after his deceased wife. Negan quickly gathered a large following and established outposts in various locations around the Washington, D.C. area. Within the structure of the Saviors, Negan has a right-hand man named Simon as well as several lieutenants, including Wade, Bud, Gavin, Arat and Dwight. At some point, Negan and the Saviors encountered the Hilltop Colony and extorted its leader Gregory into giving them half their supplies on a regular basis; failure to do so would result in the Saviors killing members of their community. To set an example, his goons used a baseball bat to beat a 16-year-old resident named Rory to death, after which Gregory submitted to Negan's demands. Negan and his men also made contact with the community known as the Kingdom and made a similar agreement with their leader King Ezekiel. At some point, Dwight fled the Saviors with his wife Sherry, sister-in-law Tina, and a truck full of supplies that they refer to as Patty. Negan subsequently sent out a large group, led by Wade, to retrieve them and the stolen supplies.


title: Negan

text: The Saviors become the main antagonists during the second half of season 6 and with their mysterious leader known as Negan being mentioned several times prior to his appearance in the season finale. His name is first heard in "No Way Out" when a group of bikers, led by a man named Bud, accost Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus), Abraham Ford (Michael Cudlitz), and Sasha Williams (Sonequa Martin-Green), and attempt to steal their weapons, but Daryl kills them with a rocket launcher.


title: Negan

text: In the season finale, "Last Day on Earth", while driving the ailing Maggie Greene (Lauren Cohan) to the Hilltop, Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) and his group run into multiple roadblocks set by the Saviors, which eventually causes Rick's group to travel by foot. While walking through the woods, the group is ambushed by a large contingent of the Saviors led by Negan's right-hand man Simon (Steven Ogg), who take Rick and his group's weapons and make them get on their knees.


title: Negan

text: Dwight also brings out Daryl, Glenn Rhee (Steven Yeun), Michonne (Danai Gurira), and Rosita Espinosa (Christian Serratos), and makes them get on their knees, as well. Negan then comes out of their RV and tells Rick that he must give him all of his possessions, and that Rick and everyone else at Alexandria work for Negan now; he "owns" them. Because Rick's group killed a lot of Saviors, Negan tells Rick's group they have to be punished, and he is going to beat one of them to death with "Lucille", a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire. Negan chooses the victim in a game of "Eeny, meeny, miny, moe", which he recites while pointing Lucille at each member of the group, before landing on an unseen individual, saying, "you are it." Negan warns the group not to say anything or to move, and he begins to beat the unseen individual to death, as everyone else in the group screams.


title: Negan

text: Negan's chosen victim is Abraham, whom he bludgeons to death with Lucille. Enraged, Daryl rushes Negan and punches him in the face, only to be stopped by three Saviors. As a reprisal for Daryl's attack, Negan beats Glenn to death in front of Maggie, Glenn's wife. Negan then presents Rick with an ultimatum: pledge total loyalty, or the rest of the group will die. When Rick remains defiant, Negan threatens to kill Rick's son Carl (Chandler Riggs) and the rest of the group unless Rick cuts the boy's arm off. After some hesitation, Rick raises the axe; Negan stops him, satisfied that he has broken the elder Grimes' spirit. Negan then allows the surviving members of the group to depart with the warning that the Saviors will return in a week to collect their supplies. As insurance against further retaliation, Negan takes Daryl with him.


title: Negan

text: Negan is shown to rule the Sanctuary (the main Savior stronghold) through fear and rewarding his personal army of enforcers (who identify themselves as "Negan" in a show of loyalty). He keeps Daryl locked in a cell and hopes to break his spirit and mold him into one of his Saviors, but Daryl refuses to submit. Negan and his men arrive at Alexandria earlier than expected. He forces Rick to give him a tour and hold Lucille. Both Rick and Father Gabriel (Seth Gilliam) lie to Negan that Maggie is dead in order to protect her from Negan.


title: Negan

text: Negan later talks Carl out of shooting a Savior, and decides to take all of Alexandria's guns. When two guns go missing from the inventory, Negan threatens to kill Olivia (Ann Mahoney) unless they are found. This is later resolved when Rick finds them as well as a hunting rifle which was not in the armory. Impressed, Negan states that "this is something to build a relationship on" before telling him to find them something interesting for next time. Before leaving, Negan takes back Lucille and tells Rick that "I just slid my dick down your throat and you thanked me for it".


title: Negan

text: Negan meets his men returning with supplies from the Hilltop. They are attacked by Carl, who kills two of the Saviors and demands Negan come forward. Negan is nonchalant about the imminent danger to him, but develops a respect for Carl. He later sits Carl down and states that he wants to get to know him better, so he should uncover his eye. When Carl begrudgingly does so, Negan pokes fun at the boy's missing eye, but when he sees Carl become visibly upset, he shows genuine remorse and apologizes. He grows to genuinely like Carl, and later brings him to watch as he burns Mark (Griffin Freeman), a Savior who has displeased him, with a hot iron to teach everyone a lesson about "following the rules". He then decides to bring Carl back to Alexandria, where they wait for Rick.


title: Negan

text: Negan is approached in Alexandria by Spencer Monroe (Austin Nichols), who attempts to bond with him over whiskey and a game of pool. The two seem to hit it off, until Spencer tells Negan about how dangerous Rick is and that he should be in charge for both of their sakes. Negan states that while Rick hates him, he respects that Rick was brave enough to threaten him and swallow his pride to protect others. Disappointed that Spencer "has no guts" for going to him while Rick is gone, Negan eviscerates Spencer with a knife while jokingly stating that "he did have guts after all." This provokes Rosita, Spencer's girlfriend, to draw a gun and shoot at Negan, though she misses and instead hits Lucille. Enraged, Negan threatens to have Rosita's face mutilated unless she tells him where she got the bullet. When she refuses, Negan tells his lieutenant Arat (Elizabeth Ludlow) to kill someone, and she kills Olivia. Rick, having just arrived, sees this and demands to know what happened. Negan calmly replies that he has tried to be reasonable as he returned Carl unharmed and killed Spencer for Rick. When Eugene Porter (Josh McDermitt) confesses to making the bullet, Negan takes him prisoner and tells Rick that he is "way in the hole" for this incident no matter how many supplies they gather, before departing. After this, Rick finally knows he has to stop Negan, and hereby attempts to convince other communities to put an end to Negan's reign of terror by forming an alliance to defeat their common enemy.


title: Negan

text: Negan reappears in "Hostiles and Calamities" where he greets Eugene entering the Sanctuary. After determining that Eugene is indeed highly intelligent, Negan allows him to get comfortable within the Sanctuary and even sends him two of his "wives" to provide him with company. When Negan discovers that Sherry (Christine Evangelista), one of his concubines, is gone, he suspects her of freeing Daryl and has his minion Dwight (Austin Amelio) - Sherry's husband - beaten and thrown in a cell. When he is convinced that Dwight was not involved and is still loyal, he sends him after Sherry, only to learn that she supposedly was killed by walkers. When he finds evidence of Dr. Carson aiding in Daryl's escape (secretly planted by Dwight), Negan throws him in the fire-pit before apologizing to Dwight for doubting him, and offering condolences for his loss.


title: Negan

text: Negan visits a captive Sasha (who came to the Sanctuary to kill him) and discovers one of his Saviors, David (Martinez), attempting to rape her. Negan states that rape is against their rules and that he will not tolerate such behavior. David apologizes, but Negan rams a knife through his throat, stating he does not "accept his apology". He then apologizes to Sasha and gets her a new T-shirt to replace the one David ripped before complimenting her on her brazen attack. After confirming Rick didn't sanction it, Negan states that she would make a welcome addition to the Saviors, despite his actions against her. He then leaves her with a knife and a choice: kill herself or kill David once he reanimates to show him she is willing to work with him. He later returns to find, to his delight, that she has killed David. He takes the knife back and informs her that she is on the right path before stating he knows Rick is conspiring against him as he has a spy in his midst.


title: Negan

text: Negan leads a convoy of Saviors to Alexandria with Simon, Dwight, Eugene and Sasha in tow with plans to bring Rick back under his control. He reveals the Scavengers (a group of survivors Rick paid to help them) are actually working for him as they hold Rick at gunpoint. Negan brings a coffin forward and reveals Sasha is inside, stating they can have her back alive and he will let most of them live if they meet his demands, which include all their weapons, Daryl returned to him and for Rick to pick someone to be killed by Lucille. He opens the coffin to find Sasha has died and reanimated as a walker. After fending her off, the situation devolves into a gunfight. Negan manages to capture Rick and Carl, and prepares to kill Carl. Unfortunately for Negan, the Saviors are ambushed by King Ezekiel (Khary Payton) and forces from the Kingdom, as well as by Maggie leading a group from Hilltop. Caught off guard by Rick's reinforcements and rapidly losing men, Negan orders a retreat. Once back at the Sanctuary, he questions Eugene as to how Sasha died in the coffin (suspecting foul play on his part) before declaring to the assembled Saviors that they are going to war.


title: Negan

text: Negan appears in the season premiere, "Mercy," when Rick leads an army of assembled survivors outside the Sanctuary. More amused than worried, Negan refuses to march his people out to fight Rick just to prove "that my dick is bigger than yours". Rick offers Negan's lieutenants and the Saviors inside the chance to surrender, but states that Negan still has to die. Negan attempts to divide them by bringing out Hilltop Governor Gregory (Xander Berkeley) to order the residents to retreat, but this tactic fails. They open fire, decimating the Sanctuary walls, but Negan and his people take cover. They are then surprised by a massive herd of walkers led by Daryl before the gates are blown open and the herd funnels inside. Negan is trapped in a trailer with Gabriel.


title: Negan

text: "The Big Scary U" opens in the Sanctuary prior to Rick's attack with Negan meeting with his chief lieutenants. When Simon suggests they wipe out one of the communities entirely, Negan becomes incensed, stating that people are critical to what they are building. He instead wants to capture and publicly execute Rick, Maggie and Ezekiel to cow their people into submission. The episode then returns to Negan and Gabriel in the trailer, discussing their views on survival. When Gabriel tries to get Negan to confess his sins, he is evasive until he finally admits his greatest regret was his treatment of his first wife prior to the outbreak, stating she died of cancer and he could not bring himself to put her down. The two manage to escape by "gutting up" and Negan is able reassert control of the spiraling situation in the Sanctuary.


title: Negan

text: Negan returns to Alexandria to counterattack when he is met by Carl (who, unbeknownst to Negan, is dying from a walker bite) who attempts to dissuade him from attacking and even offers to be killed to spare the rest. He asks Negan if this is what he wanted or who he wanted to be, and his words seem to strike a chord. Negan attacks Alexandria anyway, however, and confronts Rick. After a brutal hand-to-hand fight, he throws Rick through a window. Rick retreats into the sewers with Michonne and the rest of the Alexandrians.


title: Negan

text: Negan meets with Simon to handle the matter of the Scavengers. Simon assumes he wants them exterminated, but Negan instead wants him to give them the standard warning and kill only one. Rick later contacts him via walkie-talkie, and informs him that Carl is dead and that his last wish was for them to make peace, something Rick sees as impossible. Genuinely saddened by the news, Negan offers Rick his condolences before asking him to surrender, to no avail. Negan begins preparing the Saviors for an attack on Hilltop to end the war.