| abstract | - Rick was a sheriff's deputy before the outbreak alongside Shane, but was shot and ended up in a coma. He awoke in the hospital weeks after the outbreak began, and quickly learned of the walkers. He headed to Atlanta looking for his family, and found them in a camp outside the city, where he became the leader of the survivors.
* An Axe to Grind: Rick uses one to chop up a dead body as part of a plan to sneak past the walkers and escape Atlanta. He later buries it in the skull of a walker.
* Anti-Hero: Type III / Good Is Not Nice in the season 2 finale.
* Badass: When you've survived all the crap he's gone through, you count. Rick's only rival in handling a gun is Shane.
* Badass Boast: Rick gets one during this exchange with Merle in the second episode:
* Because You Were Nice to Me: One of the reasons why he went to rescue Glenn.
* Berserk Button: Threatening his family, stopping him reaching his family, trying to steal his family, suggesting he cannot protect his family etc.
* Beware the Nice Ones: Rick is likely one of the nicest characters in the show, but hitting one of his berserk buttons will end you.
* Chronic Hero Syndrome: Averted. Rick was declared leader by popular vote the second he showed up at the camp site, despite not really asking for it. He has spent almost every second since questioning whether the decisions he's making from his position are the right ones or not, not to mention the rest of the group asking the same questions.
* Cool Hat: Counts as his Iconic Item as well, until he gives it to Carl.
* Cowboy Cop:
* He is willing to attack and kill Merle when the latter endangered his mission to find his family.
* Proved in "Nebraska", where he kills two men who drew guns on him.
* Determinator
* Fair Cop
* The Fettered: He's extremely unwilling to allow loss of human life, especially when compared to Shane.
* Firing One-Handed: Rick likes to do this, specifically when picking off walkers.
* A Friend in Need: Rick's reasoning to go rescue Glenn, since Glenn could have easily left Rick to die in the tank but instead risked his life to rescue him.
* Give Me a Sign: In "What Lies Ahead", Rick Grimes expresses his doubts about his leadership in a church, asking a wooden figure of Jesus for "a nudge... anything... to let me know I'm going in the right direction." Possibly subverted since in the next scene his son gets shot.
* The Gunslinger: Type D, Quick Draw.
* The Hero: Easily the most unambiguously heroic character in the cast. Begins getting deconstructed in the latter half of season two.
* Hero Stole My Bike: Rick pulls one of these on a zombie. Of course, it's not like she had any legs to pedal it with.
* Honor Before Reason: He will not break any of Hershel's rules in order to keep the group from getting kicked off the farm, and is even willing to help him capture walkers to put in the barn, even though he knows how dangerous that is.
* The Idealist
* Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Rick often displays this. The show deconstructs and reconstructs this trope though. Rick is still one of the most idealistic and merciful members of the cast, but he's still being changed by his experiences and is becoming more ruthless.
* The Leader: Type II.
* Manly Tears: After waking up from his coma, and coming into his house only to find out that his family is gone, and after he kills Shane.
* Papa Wolf
* Perma Stubble
* Revolvers Are Just Better
* The Sheriff
* Shoot the Dog: After poking holes in Shane's story about Randall escaping(who was already dead thanks to Shane) which led all the men in a wild goose chase and lured Rick in open field to kill him, Rick stabs him in the heart, killing him.
* Slept Through the Apocalypse: He was in a coma in hospital after being shot. Partly justified by Shane blocking his room's door with a trolley to prevent walkers entering, and someone in such a position having a small chance of surviving dehydration.
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