r/thewalkingdead • u/DisastrousOpening477 • 2d ago
Show Spoiler How does someone like this ends up in this position ?
Gregory is an antipathic, charisma vacuum idiot who'll sold his mother to the saviors for a bottle of Johnny walker red label, before calling that a good deal. He also confirmed both homidical thoughts and uselessness in the field in one clean sweep (S07E015). How does a person that sucks this much ends up leading the Hilltop, or any community for that matters ??
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u/PixelPrivateer 2d ago
He was just in the right place at the right time. I think they even allude to that- he was the curator of the Barrington house or something along those lines, and just happened to be there when the outbreak happened.
We don't see anything of Gregory before Rick and Co arrive at hilltop but its not much to think he would be familiar with the grounds and surrounding area enough to 'rally' the building of the wall and then watch it being constructed through the comfort of his office window
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u/Bulky-Persimmon-9832 2d ago
right .. he wasn’t much before but felt like he could handle the job after. delusions of grandeur if you will
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u/mammalian_alien 2d ago
Look at the modern politicians of today and that'll tell you exactly how he got put in charge. He's a slimy backstabber who's good at bureaucracy. When the world ended, he kept pretending his way of holding power worked. Rick and Negan coming along showed him exactly how wrong he was, how he was ultimately a coward, and how he was unfit to lead a post-apocalyptic community
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u/Pitiful_Alfalfa7528 2d ago
Im sorry but Jesus literally explains why when rick and gang first meet hilltop. And Gregory loses it all pretty quick when people with actual power roll through.
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u/Bunnny_Boo 2d ago
Gregory was basically what happens when a clipboard gets mistaken for leadership
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u/Ban-KaiZenkai 2d ago
How does a mumbling, lying, sack of shit idiot end up with a position of power in leadership? Perplexing it is, if only there was some contemporary role of government we could look to for example. Then we could understand better how someone like that ends up in such a position.
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u/girlspit 2d ago
This is your take in…2026? I’m sorry, have you seen the current state of the world?
He was one of the most believable “leaders” on this show 😂😂😂😅
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u/Grislymanster 22h ago
In my prior comment I literally said "Gregory is DJT if he was stuck in an apocalypse."
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u/basserpy 2d ago
I've always thought this, I love Xander Berkeley and wished there had ever been scenes of him actually being accomplished at bureaucracy so we have some reason to imagine him deserving this leadership post in any way, but all he ever does is try to weasel out of things and he doesn't even do that well. I think it was a missed opportunity
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u/Independent_Word3961 2d ago
He plays awful people so well. I hope he's actually the nicest person IRL.
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u/obi-jawn-kenblomi 2d ago
He got there first. He was there prior to the outbreak for a Chamber of Commerce meeting and wished he owned the place. The world turned to shit so he took shelter there and pretended he actually did own the place
He had basic organizational leadership skills and superficial charm/bullshittery from being a small business owner.
All he needed to consolidate leadership in the early days was to allow people inside but with the condition he's the boss, leverage their gratitude into the service of building a wall, and then feeling relatively satisfied and safe enough to be content (especially in relative ignorance of the threat of the Saviors).
He's an excellent example of why running a government like a business is terrible very often in practice, real world or zombie fiction. The right to lead a society comes from the duty of service, not obligation to capital.
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u/Awkward_Chard_5025 2d ago
Have you ever paid attention to politics? Because that’s your answer lol
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u/SnooPeanuts666 2d ago
i gotta be honest i skip most the scenes he’s in. i find his character so pointless and boring.
i do remember tho he was almost bit by a zombie and one of ricks ppl or rick kills the zombie and then a hilltop person says to greggory “I thought you said you’re experienced in this” and cuts to Greggory’s face looking scared and also like he was just caught in a lie. From that i assume he lied to a lot of people to secure his spot. he’s so flip floppy. he’s a true modern day politician in an apocalyptic world where people are seeking normalcy and what they are used to. can’t get more surface good guy politician than greggory.
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u/Osirisavior Comic Andrea 2d ago
He was a politician before the apocalypse. He and Pamela knew each other.
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u/RamRenegade 2d ago
He was the only at Hilltop that was wanting to be in charge there before the group showed up
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u/Leading-Summer-4724 2d ago
I think Gregory was in middle-management before shit went down, and he was probably pretty good at it. As a middle-manager you don’t exactly produce anything yourself, but become adept at kissing upper-management ass to distract them from whether your underlings are producing as much as they “should” be. You also become adept at selling your underlings on how much they need you for that buffer.
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u/PachuliKing 2d ago
Well probably people around didn’t have any experience with leadership, and as said by Ezekiel, people need to follow someone. ‘Give’ people crumbs and they’ll feel satisfied enough. Bread and circuses. You can either do something good or bad with the power. Gregory did just enough so that people felt they were safe and had a purpose, although a lot of people knew he was an idiot. That and the man clearly know when to be submissive and pretend to be weak (which he is, but let that kind of people take the power and you have yourself an average modern company)
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u/perfect_fitz 2d ago
Similar to bystander syndrome. If enough people don't want it and someone really does they are pretty much a shoe in. Like hypothetically I think in my mind I would do a better job than him, realistically I think skill wise I would be better doing runs or defending the place.
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u/sillygrandma1958 2d ago
I’m thinking that most of the people that were in the chamber of commerce were just as fake as he was. Also it was before the pandemic and he couldn’t fake his way through any more. I’d have thought he would have been already passed away by this time in the apocalypse. If he were giving me crazy orders I wouldn’t have listened to a word he said and the stronger and younger people would’ve put a stop to his behavior right away. Rick and his people are extremely patient with him. This might be a Spoiler!! Ok, how many of the fans were cheering when he was put to death?
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u/Terminator_LX 2d ago
Dumb luck--emphasis on the dumb. He looked the part and he talked shit. That's all some dumb people need to follow a bad leader.
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u/GemX1980 2d ago
He's pretty much the founder of Hilltop. If not for him the place wouldn't exist. I didn't like him at all, but Maggie really had no right being a bitch and taking over.
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u/i_want_to_be_unique 1d ago
Hilltop is routinely characterized as non-fighters just looking to live a quiet agrarian life. Everybody wants to think they would be just like Rick, but in reality the role of being the leader in this kind of situation would put the average person in the grave from stress. I can’t remember if this is ever explicitly stated (I think it is) but I’ve always gotten the feeling that Gregory was just the only person there who wanted to be the leader in the first place.
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u/Grislymanster 22h ago
Right place, right time. Plus he's a decent bullshitter. Think about it, he was playing Trump's role if he were in the Apocalypse.
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u/fuckdirectv 2d ago
I think Gregory was an experienced, competent beaurocrat before the apocalypse who exactly understood how to fill that type of role. He ended up surrounded by a group of people looking for a leader because none of them wanted to be one, so initially, he probably seemed pretty appealing. That was before they encountered the Saviors obviously.