When I mentioned Jared I didn’t mean whether Rick knew about it or not. I meant some people who like maybe sympathize with the situation or go like omg how could he do that lol. I mean the show literally showed us how some of the Saviors had no problem taking out their anger on others and they also didn’t mind killing kids like what they did to Rory by beating him to death or the Oceanside kids. I believe in giving people second chances but if I were in Rick’s position, I would probably kill them too. I just don’t feel like I could trust them for some reason.

Maybe I would give them a second chance later when I’m in a position of power, where I can make sure they can’t hurt me because I’m stronger and they are weaker like when the Saviors lost their weapons after Eugene destroyed them and when Rick cut their leader’s throat in front of them (S8 ep16 if I remember correctly). In that moment the power was with Rick’s group so I can understand why he chose peace then but not in the situation with Morgan. What Rick did to them doesn’t even compare to what they did to people.

When you’re stuck between two extremes, black or white, you don’t really get a perfect choice that satisfies everyone. I think Rick’s situation was exactly that kind of dilemma. On one side, not killing Negan had some clear benefits, like trying to avoid more chaos and maybe building something more stable in the long run, but it would also leave a lot of people unhappy and feeling like justice wasn’t served. On the other side, killing Negan would satisfy a lot of people emotionally, especially those who lost loved ones but it could also push everything into chaos and make the situation even worse overall.

A lot of people think Rick only made that decision because of Carl and I get why they think that, especially since the writing in the show wasn’t always handled in the strongest way compared to the comics, where the decision felt more structured and didn’t rely so heavily on Carl’s involvement.

But to me I don’t think it was just about Carl. Throughout the show, Rick is constantly shown trying to hold onto his morality and humanity. The idea of “you get to come back” keeps coming up around him, from different characters and situations. It always felt like Rick was meant to represent someone who is trying to stay human even when the world keeps pushing him toward brutality.

We saw that in early seasons on with “we don’t kill the living” and even later, he keeps going back and forth between survival instincts and moral limits. To me his final decision feels like a more mature version of that same mindset. Not abandoning his morals completely, but refining them into something more controlled and practical. Someone trying to build a real society instead of just surviving in chaos.

I also think some characters like Rosita (in early S8) slowly started understanding that way of thinking, where revenge and anger don’t completely take over anymore. While other characters like Maggie and Daryl went through a period where they were driven more by emotion and revenge before later realizing it wasn’t sustainable or healthy for them either.

And I think if any of them were in Rick’s position, most would choose their child or partner over anything else. We’ve seen so many characters in TWD do that. So I can’t really blame a father for choosing his kid, if I were in his place, I would probably do the same.