comic book super villain I mean he is literally a comic book villain . To be honest , I think his character is believable . He breaks people and plays with them psychologically . He then amasses a great amount of followers , where all of them are afraid to do something . 1 person does something , everyone else gets in the way because of that fear . You need everyone or at least most of the people on your side in order to fight back . I feel you answer your own question within your question everyone in TWD has lost all their family , friends and lifestyle and are probably suffering from PTSD and a range of other mental illnesses they are unstable and unpredictable af I think it ' s important to realize consider , that just because a character does not take the action which makes the most logical sense to you as a viewer , it does not mean they are not making a believable actiondecision .