| This article is about the Comic Series character. You may be looking for her TV Series counterpart. |
| “ | It’s never-ever going to be okay, never ever-ever-ever-ever.
―Penny Blake repeating this sentence to her uncle, Brian Blake.[src]
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” |
Penny Blake is a character first encountered in Issue 29 of Image Comics' The Walking Dead and is a main character in the novel series and the daughter of Philip and Sarah, the niece of Brian and Nina Blake and the grandchild of Ed and Rose Blake.
Pre-Apocalypse
Rural, Georgia
Penny lived with her mother and father before the outbreak, where she presumably attended school. A few years prior to the outbreak, her mother Sarah Blake was killed in a car accident leaving Penny and Philip in a temporary state of shock.
Post-Apocalypse
Wiltshire Estates
Soon after the outbreak occurred, Penny was taken care of by her father, Philip, as well as her uncle Brian and Philip's friends, Bobby and Nick. Her mother was already dead at this point. She accompanies the group from Waynesboro to the Wiltshire Estates. During this time she starts becoming more and more withdrawn due to the things she has seen and the pressures endured by those who are watching over her. For a short time during their brief period of perceived security in the gated community, she comes out of her shell and is able to act as a normal kid. This is shattered when they are eventually forced to leave after Bobby dies and they flee from the zombies.
Atlanta
From the Wiltshire Estates, the group travels to Atlanta where they eventually meet up with April Chalmers, her father, David, and her sister, Tara. While staying with them in their apartment, Penny becomes very attached to April and seemingly begins to look to her as a mother figure. This also helps her to be able to reemerge from her shell. This again is shattered when they are eventually kicked out of the apartment and forced to once again flee. However she is slightly cheered when they take refuge in Tom Thumb's Tiny Toy Shoppe and she is able to choose her pick of any of the toys that were there.
On The Road
After breaking away from Atlanta, the group happens upon a remote villa about 50 miles outside of Woodbury. The group decides to stay there and try to make a life for themselves. Penny seems to be doing well at this point. She has food, safety, her father and uncles, and her toys (which she is determined to fix). But, once again, this is taken from her when the house is attacked by marauders and Brian is forced to flee with her while the other men stabilize the situation. Unfortunately, Penny takes a shotgun blast during the attack and does not survive.
Afterwards, she rises from the dead. Her father, despite the protests of Brian and Nick, is unable to destroy her. Instead he puts her on a leash, spends time with her, and eventually takes her with them when they decide to leave.
Woodbury, Georgia
When the group reaches Woodbury, Philip ties her to a tree outside of town, but, eventually smuggles her into their apartment and keeps her locked up in the laundry room. As Philip's sanity continues to erode, he finds human remains that he feeds to her, much to the horror of Brian and Nick.
After the death of Philip, Brian takes responsibility for her and for months continues to feed her the severed limbs of his victims, including Rick's hand. She remains leashed to the wall to prevent her from biting him, but, she is eventually released, after Brian removes her teeth with a pair of pliers. After the removal of her teeth, Philip kisses her on the lips, but vomits due to the taste. When Michonne arrives to take her revenge she finds Philip feeding her, she locks her and tortures her uncle, when Michonne leaves, Penny get free and is seen by the Governor's men and he orders them to leave her. After the prison assault ends and the remaining people of Woodbury return her uncle's killer Lilly Caul finds her and puts Penny out of her misery.
Death
Killed By
- Unnamed Tattooed Bandit
While Penny and Brian were hiding in the forest behind a tree, a bandit shot through the tree with a shotgun, which hit Penny through the stomach, killing her.
- Lilly Caul (Zombified)
After returning from the prison, Lilly puts down the zombified victims of the Governor, among them Penny.
Relationships
Philip Blake
Penny loved her father very much, but, at least since the outbreak, she had been mostly dependent on her uncle. Regardless, she still yearned for the love of her father, and was deeply concerned that he was mad at her, because he didn't talk to her very much. After her death, Philip completely lost his sanity as he proceeded to keep her on a leash and spend long hours in her company; eventually feeding human remains to her that he happens across.
Brian Blake
Prior to her infection, Penny is very dependent on her uncle Brian. While the other men are the ones who take care of the physical labor and any trouble with zombies, Brian is usually the one who takes care of Penny by keeping her safe and babysitting her. They even come up with a secret code, the word "Away" to let her know when she needs to cover her ears and eyes. After her infection and Brian's takeover of Woodbury, she is kept on a leash in his apartments where he feeds her the bodies of his victims. Brian takes great care of Penny, showing her affection as if she is alive and reprimands her when she gets angry, although he feels bad when doing so. It also seems that during this time he developed a disturbing sexual attraction to her as evidenced when he pulled her teeth out with pliers and deeply kissed her. There was no evidence shown of any abuse prior to her death.
Nick Parsons
Nick and Penny had an uncle-niece relationship. Penny referred to Nick as 'uncle Nick' at several occasions. The two of them played together several times. After the death of Penny, Nick felt sad, both for himself, but, mostly for Philip. He wanted to put down the reanimated girl, but, this thought was scrapped by Philip.
Sarah Blake
Penny and Sarah seemed to have a close relationship.
Appearances
Novel Series
- "Rise of the Governor"
- "The Road to Woodbury" (Zombified)
- "The Fall of the Governor" (Zombified)
Comic Series
Volume 5: The Best Defense
- Issue 29 (Zombified)
Volume 6: This Sorrowful Life
Volume 8: Made To Suffer
- Issue 43 (Flashback, Zombified)
Trivia
- Her name and faith is revealed in the novel, The Walking Dead: Rise of the Governor.