Walking Dead Is Settling the Score: How Smart Are Its Zombies Anyway?

In The Walking Dead, the majority of threats are actually humans, not zombies. This claim isn't so controversial, as it's humans who can plan and betray and use advanced tools, not zombies - not by a long shot. But one question that has stood out to fans is just how smart zombies actually are. Finally, readers have an answer, as both co-creator Robert Kirkman and various bits of comic media have revealed their true intelligence.

While responding to a fan letter in The Walking Dead Deluxe #103, Kirkman answered the question about whether walkers would simply wander into the water or not, lacking the intelligence to know better. What he revealed is pretty interesting, admitting that most zombies would definitely fall for this trick and walk straight into the water and die.

While this case seems open-and-shut, Kirkman went on to admit that while he's not a fan of evolving or smart zombies, there is an intelligence variation in his walkers. He goes on to state that most of the zombies would walk in to the water, but not all of them. Some of them would simply be more intelligent or more driven and wouldn't fall for it:

While I do not subscribe to the idea of smart or evolving zombies, I would say that there can be some zombies that are more intelligent, or rather, more driven than others. So, some might, some might not.

Robert Kirkman Officially Answers Just How Smart The Walking Dead's Zombies Are

The Walking Dead Deluxe #103 by Robert Kirkman, Charlie Adlard, Dave McCaig, and Rus Wooton

The Walking Dead has had some fantastic villains, including characters like Negan and the Governor. Unlike the zombies, these human characters have brutal intelligence that they can use to try and kill Rick. Both Negan and the Governor were difficult enemies due to their ability to plan ahead and try to trick Rick or force him into a trap. This intelligence is par for the course for all the human villains in The Walking Dead, but while the human villains are without a doubt the most dangerous, they aren't the main threat, which has always been the zombies. But just how intelligent The Walking Dead's walkers are has always been up for debate.

For example, if a human stood on a boat and made enough noise, one has to question if the walkers would simply walk into the water to try and get the human. The water would cause the walkers to rapidly decay and eventually disintegrate. Or, if someone made a wall of spikes and simply stood on the other side, the question would be if the walkers would mindlessly walk into the spikes attempting to get past the wall. Avid fans have long been asking these questions, and thankfully, Kirkman has finally responded with the definitive answer about the zombies' intelligence levels.

While Kirkman isn't a fan of "smart" zombies, zombies have varying degrees of intelligence across all The Walking Dead media. The TV show introduced different versions of walkers, with two of them also appearing in the comics. In the comics, roamers are the most common kind of zombie, those who simply roam around looking for food. But on TV, roamers have a specific kind of low-level intelligence. Instead of roaming around for food, they specifically look for people, places, or objects from their life that they recognize. For example, if Negan ever became a zombie, he would undoubtedly roam around looking for his baseball bat Lucille.

In The Walking Dead Some Zombies Are Simply Smarter Than Others

Kirkman Calls Them "Driven" Zombies

The other most common type of zombie is known as the lurker. These zombies, as the name implies, lurk and wait for prey to come to them. Part of this impulse could be because their bodies have deteriorated too much for them to continue walking around. It could also be because they are simply smarter and know that, as slow as they are, it's easier to take prey by surprise instead of trying to hunt them down. The idea of walker intelligence was further explored in The Secret Diary of a Walker by Dan Auty and Stuart Barr, a story published in The Walking Dead: The Official Magazine.

Each issue follows a different walker and presents a fascinating insight into how they work. While The Secret Diary of a Walker is mostly played for comedy, it does take place in the comic book universe, giving readers one of the only looks into how walkers potentially function on the inside. These stories reveal that not only do the walkers feel physical pain, but they can remember past elements of their life, such as loved ones or what their jobs used to be. But they don't seem quite aware of exactly what's happened to them, with many walkers having the repeated thought of how they must have fallen asleep.

The Surprising Intelligence of Walkers in The Walking Dead Always Made Them Unpredictable

Even If They Can't Evolve Their Smarts

While it's true that the majority of walkers are simple animals only moving around on instinct, it can't be denied that there is something more to them. Kirkman, the TV show, and supplemental material have all shown that there are walkers who have flickers of intelligence. None of them are smart enough to match a human, but across all The Walking Dead media, fans have seen versions of walkers who can climb walls, avoid traps, use rudimentary tools, and even have coherent thoughts. While zombies are usually depicted as completely brainless, The Walking Dead's walkers have a little bit more going on.