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[broughtwhiskey]

User Name/Nick: Crystal
User DW: nerdangel
AIM/IM: kyotoshowgirl
E-mail: octoberrain08.gmail
Other Characters: n/a

content warning: homicide, child abuse/death, sexual assault, suicidality, & general zombie-related warnings of mentions of violence/gore
Character Name: The Governor/Philip Blake (also known as Brian Heriot)
Series: The Walking Dead (TV Series)
Age: mid-to-late 40s
From When?: 4x08 'Too Far Gone' After being stabbed in the chest by Michonne and shot in the head by Lilly, whoops.

Inmate/Warden:

Inmate.

Philip is one of those people who happens to have usually decent to actually very good intentions, but goes about it in all the wrong ways. For example, although he has the capacity to be protective, he takes it to the point that the "us vs. them" situation becomes an ultimatum. Even prior to the loss of his daughter, there was a certain shade of ruthlessness and brutality to him in which there were hardly any lines he wouldn't cross to assure the safety of his group. After Penny's death, whatever lines were there disappeared entirely. He views society as having completely collapsed and, more or less, follows Darwinism by excising what he views as the weak from himself and from his group.

But he is not entirely successful as he still has those good intentions somewhere deep down beyond the brutality. There is still a glimmer of reluctance in doing what he feels is necessary and the only choice. A large amount of his madness, in the end, comes from his sometimes refusal, sometimes inability to see other options as well as his difficulties in reconciling who he thought he was with the person he's become in this hardened world. Ideally, a warden would be able to help Philip seek other alternatives and to make those reconciliations.

More or less, the warden is going to have to tell Philip to look at his life and look at his choices. And maybe tell him this is the nicest his eyepatch has ever looked.

Item: n/a

Abilities/Powers:

As a baseline human being, Philip is not all that extraordinary. But he is very good at killing zombies which means he's good with knives and various types of guns, but also other survivalist skills. You probably still don't want to be on his zombie survival team though. It might not bode well for you.

Personality:

"In this life now, you kill or you die. Or you die and you kill."

When it comes to the man known as the Governor, there is a constant duality within his personality. At times, this duality complements itself nicely. At other times, Philip is fighting a war inside himself that he cannot possibly win. The duality has always been there, but circumstances and events that happened after the outbreak exacerbate this struggle within himself and bring it to play out in a way that usually is destructive towards both himself and towards others.

Not much is known about Philip prior to the outbreak as Philip is a very private man and does not often share much about himself, even with those he is closest to. What can be gleaned from the little pieces of information that he's shared, however, is that prior to the outbreak, Philip was far more of a follower than a leader. This is something likely rooted in his childhood. Philip's father was an incredibly abusive man and would often beat Philip and his brother for any and all disobedience. But Philip learned more than just a respect for strength and power from his upbringing. He watched his brother repeatedly try to stand up against their father and only to receive an even more severe punishment. He internalized that quickly to mean two things: (1) heroism never pays and (2) keep your head down and your mouth shut. This carried over ultimately into his adulthood as he was very clearly at a dead-end job taking orders from a twenty-something that he despised, but would never quit or walk away from because it's what he's supposed to do in order to provide for his family.

This is also part of the reason why Philip is so ill-suited and ill-prepared to take on a leadership role after the outbreak. Philip is easily seduced by power because of how much of his life he has spent powerless. Once power is placed in his hands, he abuses it almost immediately. He believes that a strong leader is a good leader. And a strong leader is someone who does what they find to be necessary without hesitation and to be extremely territorial when it comes to protecting what is "theirs." What this translates into for Philip is a willingness to do whatever it takes to ensure the survival of his own group no matter how harsh, how cruel, or how wrong it is. For example, he leads groups to murder and steal from smaller, weaker groups that have whatever it is his group needs on runs. Initially, this group is defined for Philip as his family unit until it eventually expands to the people of Woodbury, only to shrink once more down to his family upon the loss of his zombified daughter, Penny.

But this "us vs. them" mentality manifests most strongly in his conflict with Rick's group. Although it is due to Merle's impulsivity and aggression that Rick's group ever attacked Woodbury, Philip is able to manipulate the truth to himself and to the people of Woodbury that Rick's group are dangerous and a threat to the community. He also finds justification in his thirst for revenge for what Michonne did in killing the zombified Penny. To the bitter end, Philip refuses to see himself as the aggressor and views any attempts at peace made by Andrea or Rick's group to be lies that will ultimately ruin everything he and the others have worked so hard for.

To Philip, a strong leader is also someone who has complete submission from others. He views this absolute control as another means of protecting the group not from the outside, but from themselves. He lies and manipulates them to do his bidding in an effort to maintain control of the strong and to shield the weak from the horrors of the world outside Woodbury's walls. Dissent and questions of his authority are met with a gentle hand at first, but his patience is exceedingly limited and he will immediately snap to harsher punishment ranging anywhere from torture to outright killing without so much as a second thought.

Philip is actually a highly effective leader as he is able to provide for people and generally keep them safe. But this is not something that can continue long-term due to not only the fact such dictatorial leadership is never sustainable, but his dawning realization of the darkness inside him as he teeters on the fine line between sociopathy and misguidance.

The important thing to remember about Philip is that the charismatic and generally kind persona he presents to the group is not entirely false or without basis. Prior to the outbreak, while he may have fallen in line rather than taking charge, Philip was not inherently a bad person who did a number of bad things. And although his methods in the present are obviously highly, highly suspect, his intentions still remain the same: he still wants to provide for and protect his family. As Philip lies to the people about what really happens on runs and behind closed doors, he also lies to himself. He justifies the heinous things he does through "us vs. them" arguments; that a threat must be eliminated no matter what it is to protect what they have. He convinces himself that he is steeling himself for the outside world by staring at the zombie heads in the fish tanks he keeps secret from everyone else. And most of all, Philip maintains a fantasy world by holding onto Penny, taking care of her almost as he would if she were still alive while believing that there is a chance she can come back from this; and thus, quickly falling apart at the seams when Michonne finally puts her down.

But it is only after losing everything that Philip finally recognizes the man he is becoming and decides that this isn't who he wants to be. With no family, no followers left, and nothing left to fight for, Philip had set off on his own with the intent of meeting his end. This desire to die is so strong that he initially rejects any and all attempts by the Chambler family to bond with him. He begins to help the family first as an exchange for allowing him to stay in the apartment building, but over the weeks that they stick together it comes from the place in his heart where he legitimately cares about them. When he has to kill a zombified David, he realizes how comfortable and how attached he's become to the family. So, Philip also tries to walk away from them as he has any other responsibility he once had, to stop himself from heading back where he was before, but by then it's too late. Meghan looks to him as a father figure, Lilly is beginning to have feelings for him, and Tara respects and trusts him. He allows himself to be convinced that things can be different and that the past can stay where it is.

But in the end, Philip's darker nature cannot be erased or forgotten. Although at this point he consciously does not want leadership, he seizes upon power the moment an opportunity presents itself. He uses the same excuses of weak leadership putting his family in danger and immediately begins lying to the group about the necessity of eliminating the nebulous threat of Rick's group. He tries to convince himself that he can handle things differently and peacefully. But the moment a peaceful resolution is presented, he rejects it and he places the blame in Rick's hands rather than taking responsibility for his own actions. Because at the end of the day, Philip's good intentions and knowledge of right and wrong are not enough to deter him from embracing the violent, cruel brutality that lies in his heart; but that's one truth about himself he can't accept.

Barge Reactions:

Philip is going to be largely apathetic about the Barge as a whole to begin with. He is going to be reeling from the loss of his second family. Likewise, he's not going to see much of a point when it comes to the Barge and/or the concept of redemption as he is largely under the belief that things can never go back the way they were/that he can find any sort of peace. But as he settles in more, he may very well come out of his shell a little bit better or, at the very least, just get used to it. Either way, most of the Barge is not going to be much of a big deal to him. The technology will not dazzle him. The floods and ports are likely to be minor annoyances or more of the same. He's just a little dead inside right now.

As far as the dichotomy of warden vs. inmate is concerned, he's not going to argue about his status. Although he believes the choices he made were the only ones he could make, he recognizes that they're not the categorically good and tend to lean more on the side of evil. At the same time, Philip doesn't care about warden vs. inmate, he cares about strong vs. weak. He will be far more responsive to individuals that are confident and competent. Those that have a tendency to bluff their way through may get a small modicum of respect/willingness to interact with him, but those that cannot even have the common decency to disguise their insecurity will be expendable to him.

Beyond that, Philip is not going to be the most tolerant when to comes to supernatural beings, particularly any of those that identify as undead. He may have more respect for those that put down the supernatural, but again that depends on the aforementioned strong vs. weak dichotomy.

Path to Redemption:

"She'd be afraid of me. But if I had been like this from the start, she'd be alive today."
Philip is an inmate that is going to require a decent amount of work to get anywhere near graduation. First and foremost, he is going to have to have some respect for his warden for there to be even close to a successful relationship. This is something that can be developed over time or something that is already there to begin with, but if Philip views his warden as weak? There are large chances for disastrous results because unless circumstances are just right, he will not bond with a warden he looks down upon. Even in the cases in which he does bond well with his warden, however, Philip may not be entirely cooperative. In essence, his warden is going to have to take a firm, but gentle hand with him to get what needs doing done.

It's also really important that his warden understand that making him into a categorically good guy is not going to happen. The goal here is to be less awful or better than he is, not necessarily seeking a complete 180. There are some tendencies and aspects of his mindset/personality that are never going to fully dissipate with him, but a warden can adjust all the same with a little time and a lot of patience.

That being said, a warden's first task with him is going to be just simply motivating him. Upon arrival to the Barge, Philip is a strange amalgamation of very angry and dead inside. He's angry about the losses he's experienced in the recent past, but he's also given up in their wake as well. A warden cannot, however, simply point out that he might have the opportunity to correct his mistakes. (Although that is definitely a good starting point!) A warden is going to have to really instill Philip with a sense of hope again. This may come in the form of helping to create bonds with other people on the Barge or continuing to mention the families that he's lost.

Whichever route a warden chooses to take, they need to be careful in terms of how much weight/pressure they put on Philip in terms of responsibility. While Philip is not one to sit on his laurels in the face of poor leadership when those he cares about are going to suffer for it, he also does not want responsibility. Convincing him to make those bonds/trying to remind him of his families is going to be an uphill battle met with plenty of resistance because of the enormous amount of guilt he carries over his failures in keeping people safe. This is definitely another avenue that a warden can explore with him in terms of trying to help him move past his issues.

But his warden is going to have a very careful balancing act ahead of them the further along they get Philip to get himself attached to people. In combination with giving Philip hope/real connections again, a warden is going to have to strive in pointing out alternative paths to Philip. As it stands, he sees violence/death as inevitable (but unfortunate) realities. He fails to see coexistence despite conflict as a potential option and has a very strong sense of in-group vs. out-group. It's going to take some work to help him deconstruct those very clear and definitive boundaries first beforehand. Afterward, they are definitely going to want to tackle his Darwinian mindset and show him ways in which things can be done/chosen differently.

Deal: n/a

History: Wikia

Sample Journal Entry: 1 2
Sample RP:

Since his arrival, Philip has not been the most sociable. He spends a bulk of his time in his cabin and he avoids the network as much as possible. Or rather, more accurately, he watches the network without saying anything. While he has no desire to get to know anyone else on board, finding the Barge to be an entirely flawed and pointless social experiment of sorts, he does recognize the utility of the network. Provided one can filter through all the philosophical and personal ramblings, of course. Philip opts to learn only what is necessary for survival, nothing more and nothing less.

But there are times when he comes out of his cabin that aren't merely forced necessity. Even he is somewhat prone to restlessness and needs a slight change of scenery even if only for a few minutes or sometimes longer. Of the places Philip likes to go, the deck is probably what he'd choose to label as his favorite. Most people pass him by without comment. There are few that may try to stop and talk to him, but his responses are curt enough that they understand after a while he's not interested in their company and especially not their conversation. Some look wounded, others annoyed, and some just shrug their shoulders; it doesn't make a lick of difference to Philip which it is so long as the end result is the same and he's left alone.

There's also the view, he supposes.

He imagines some look at it and see themselves as a tiny piece of something whole, both insignificant and meaningful at the same time. There are also probably some that look at it with fear. There's nothing like it that they can compare it to and they feel infinitely lost, disconnected from everything they once knew to be reality. Philip doesn't feel much of anything in particular looking at it. It's a void, quiet and empty. Oblivion. It's what he wants, but he knows he can't get here. The people around here try to convince him, try to convince themselves that the struggles here aren't necessarily over, just different in a grandiose way. Somehow, they're more noble. But he doesn't see it that way. It's just more of the same fight. It's just life. And he should have neither of those things.

So maybe he does feel a little something, some longing for what won't be given to him.

Special Notes: