TWD: Daryl Dixon Tackles a Worn Out Trope That Should Be Retired

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon is the next show to give into the popular badass and child trope, even if the cliché has run its course.

There's something people love about a mean grown man opening his heart to a young child. Film, television shows and video games have taken advantage of this infatuation countless times, and it's almost always welcomed. The next show to get on this bandwagon is The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, even if it feels like viewers have seen this show before.

In the premiere episode, "L'âme Perdue," Daryl is asked by a French nun named Isabelle to escort a young child named Laurent whose prophesied to be the next messiah to restore the world. Like Daryl, most viewers are probably thinking this is a bit of reach. But Laurent supposedly has these "gifts" because of odd circumstances of his birth, meaning he was literally born to save humanity. The kid's a bit strange and socially awkward, but he's taken a liking to Daryl as his first male figure in his life since the death of his preacher. Daryl being himself, doesn't care a bit about this kid and his so-called prophecy. But coincidental circumstances bring them together, setting them on a journey Daryl isn't too keen on taking. If the story sounds familiar, that's because it's been done to death with a trope known as the Badass and Child duo.

What Is the Badass and Child Duo Trope?

The trope at large in Daryl Dixon finds a cynical, apathetic man who is a loner (Daryl), looking after a young, curious child with supernatural or special qualities (Laurent). In almost all of these situations, the loner is an unwilling participant in the mission to protect the child and initially does so for selfish reasons. In this case, Daryl accepts the mission to help Laurent reach The Nest because, in exchange, he'll be taken to a dock where he'll be able to go home.

There are many different names for this trope, depending on how these pairings are depicted in media. It's most known as the "grumpy man protects innocent child," "big men, small children," "lone wolf and cub" or "gruff man protects child with superpowers." Although it's most often a man in these scenarios, a gender-neutral term for the trope is the Badass and Child Duo.

There's nothing inherently wrong with this trope, despite how overused it is. It's a meaningful pairing that softens the shell of a hardened adult by matching them with a younger counterpart, who becomes desensitized to violence because of their lone wolf's guidance. When developing this unlikely dynamic, there's fascinating commentary on trauma (more often on the adult's part), while examining loss of innocence through the child. The trope has almost always been well-received in every form of media, which is why so many shows, movies and video games rely on it as a sort of "safety net" in storytelling.

Where Viewers Have Seen the Badass and Child Duo Before

The Badass and Child Duo are rich in abundance in media. One of the most popular that set the trope in motion is Sandor "The Hound" Clegane and Arya Stark in both A Song of Ice and Fire book series and its television adaptation Game of Thrones. The Hound has a reputation for being violent, angry and is bullied for his obedient behavior, hence his nickname. His gruff exterior hides the trauma he endured by his older brother, who shoved his face in fire when he was a child, creating a fear of fire. After the War of the Five Kings sets in motion, he makes it his personal duty to look after the Stark daughters, especially an abandoned Arya on the road. Under his wing, Arya becomes more accustomed to the violent world and as her guardian, the Hound embraces kindness.

Other pairings who exhibit this trope are Logan's titular character and his daughter Laura, The Mandalorian's titular character and Grogu, and even Daryl himself with Judith Grimes in the flagship Walking Dead series. Additionally, Telltale's The Walking Dead video game series perfected the cliché with Lee and Clementine.

Most controversial though, Daryl and Laurent are a mirror image to The Last of Us' Joel and Ellie, especially when it comes to their undeniably similar storylines. Daryl Dixon has been under a hot fire due to the comparisons, considering The Last of Us did the "reluctant man travels across the country to help a child save humanity" in 2013, a decade before both the HBO adaptation and Daryl Dixon aired.

Daryl Dixon Has to be Groundbreaking to Justify This Trope

Truthfully, what Daryl Dixon is trying to accomplish is nothing special. It's enduring, to say the least, but every year it feels like the Badass and the Child Duo are reincarnated to play with viewers' hearts. Daryl Dixon will surely succeed -- the titular character already has a strong fanbase that approves of the development he's received from his relationships with children. But the fact of the matter is -- "L'âme Perdue" hasn't done anything groundbreaking so far. It's nearly verbatim The Last of Us' story, mixed in with religious imagery and themes. If Daryl Dixon wants to prove itself as an apocalyptic show that's more than just a Last of Us ripoff, then it has to establish new grounds with the trope. Thankfully, there are still five more episodes of the first season to go. The series has plentiful time to validate the use of the trope.

But it might be time for media to steer away from the Badass and Child Duo in general. At times, it perpetuates harmful assumptions that don't deserve another shot at redemption. The idea that men, in their overly-masculine rough and tough exterior, can miraculously take care of children is still somehow an uplifting narrative that people love. Of course, there is the beauty in the cliché that these men overcome toxic masculinity to become unconventional father figures, but where are the women in this scenario? Is there a lacking number of badass women with innocent children because they're expected to be mothers already? Maybe that was the real story Daryl Dixon should've told. Isabelle is right there and maybe the narrative should shift in her favor to finally tell a different version of this trope.

New episodes of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon air every Sunday at 9:00 PM ET on AMC, and early on Thursdays on AMC+.