| This article is about the Season 4 character. You may be looking for the Woodbury resident, the Alexandria resident from the comics, the other TV Series character, the Fisherman, the cabin survivor, the Video Game character, or the voice actor. |
| “ | We need each other now more than ever. The only way we can get through this, through any of this, is together.
―Pete to his camp[src]
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” |
Pete Dolgen is a survivor of the outbreak in AMC's The Walking Dead. He is the younger brother of Mitch and is also a member of Caesar Martinez's camp.
Personality
Although he only appeared in one episode, Pete was shown to be an unselfish, determined and caring person who was a strong survivor and very fair minded. He was shown to have a somewhat good relationship with his older brother, Mitch, though the two appeared to have many conflicts and appeared to be a respected member of Martinez's camp.
Following the death of Martinez, Pete showed his potential as a leader for a short time, though appeared to find the task a challenge as he revealed to the Governor. In contrast to his brother Mitch however, Pete was not a hardened survivor and preferred to do the right thing than make the hard call as seen when he refused to rob a camp at his brothers urging and instead stated they should take them in, despite the fact there was no room available at their camp. After discovering the camp had been raided, Pete was more concerned that the people were all dead than the supply load being taken and was visibly shocked when Mitch mercilessly killed an injured survivor, showing Pete did not see murder as a necessity. Ultimately, Pete's decisons to do the right things and spare the camp led to his violent death at the hands of the Governor who killed him to establish his position of leader.
Pre-Apocalypse
Fort Benning
Pete mentioned he was in the Army and was stationed at Fort Benning when the outbreak happened. He tried to maintain his position for some time but ultimately abandoned his post and joined up with his brother.
Post-Apocalypse
Season 4
"Dead Weight"
Pete Dolgen was part of Caesar Martinez's group of survivors and together with Mitch, his brother, is one of Martinez' trusted allies. He first appeared when Martinez finds Philip Blake and Meghan Chambler in a pit. After Martinez helped them out and offered them to join, Mitch argues that they are only a burden, to which angrily Pete replies they got a kid.
When Martinez, Philip, Pete and Mitch are on a supply run, they come across three dead bodies, each found together with texts written on card boards, "Liar", "Rapist", and "Murderer", the first two decapitated while the third one shot himself in the head. They find a cabin which they enter. Inside, Pete is attacked by a walker but Philip puts it down before it causes any harm. When Pete activates his flashlights, he spots two zombified heads belonging to the two bodies they came across earlier and is clearly scared. Later, the four of them are drinking beer while talking about their past. Pete was a soldier stationed at Fort Benning, where he was one of the longest to remain there. Mitch replies that Pete is too loyal to bounce.
After Philip secretly kills Martinez, Pete declares himself temporary leader of the group until a vote can take place. On a supply run with Philip and Mitch, Pete tells how difficult it is to lead a group, something to which Philip agrees to. When the three of them come across a small camp with survivors, Mitch mentions they should raid them, something that Pete strongly disagrees to, as he wants to either bring them into their own camp or find their own supplies. Later, Philip walks away from them, back to the camp and it turns out everyone is killed and all the supplies are gone. Mitch becomes angry, saying they would have died anyways, but now the supplies are with someone else. An old man who is critically hurt is killed by Mitch, much to the dismay of Pete. Back at their own camp, Philip visits Pete under the guise of wanting to talk about Mitch's behavior. However, Philip stabs Pete in the back and strangles him to death. Later, Philip tells Mitch he killed Pete because he would have done the right things at the costs of his own people. Philip also says that he agreed to raid the camp and does not care about Mitch killing the old man. After Philip dumps Pete's dead body in a nearby lake, it later turns out he reanimated underwater with his leg chained to a weight on the bottom, providing Philip a similar view as the heads in the fish tanks in Woodbury.
Death
Killed By
The Governor, believing Pete to be weak and unworthy of the leader role goes to Pete and tricks him into letting him enter his RV, to talk about Mitch's behavior. When Pete turns to face him, The Governor stabs him in the back and then brutally chokes him to death without remorse. After this, The Governor takes his body to a lake and dumps him into it to hide that he was murdered. Later, The Governor returns to the lake and finds a submerged yet un-dead Pete snapping up at him chained down.
Killed Victims
This list shows the victims Pete has killed:
- Numerous counts of zombies
Relationships
Mitch Dolgen
Pete is the younger of the two brothers and often got teased by Mitch. He was also often resented by his brother due to his compassion for other survivors outside of the camp and his refusal to rob a camp and take the supplies. Just before he was attacked by Phillip, Pete implied that he has had to get Mitch out of trouble in the past. Mitch shows much discontent when he learns Phillip murdered Pete, though he quickly gets over it, makes no attempt whatsoever to avenge him and becomes loyal to the Governor completely.
Caesar Martinez
Though they didn't converse much, Pete seemed to respect Martinez as leader. Pete showed discomfort upon revealing to the group that his corpse was found in the walker pit.
The Governor
While the two hardly spoke to each other, they seemed to have a steady relationship. During a supply run, their group locates a cabin in the woods. When inside, Pete is attacked by walker, where Phillip then pulls it off of him and kills it, thereby saving him. Pete also asked him how his life was prior to the outbreak. After Pete assumed leadership of the camp, the two seemed to establish a budding friendship. When they stumble upon a camp, they leave it without being noticed under Pete's command. After a nearly fruitless hunt, they return to the camp and find it raided. Phillip tries to leave that night, due to being stressed from Pete's decision, but ultimately returns.
The next day, Phillip knocks on his trailer and claims they need to talk. As Pete invites him and turns away, Phillip swiftly stabs him and brutally chokes him to death showing no remorse. After revealing to Mitch that he murdered Pete, he confirms it was due to the fact they spared the camp from the day before.
Tara Chambler
| “ | You can't just take over!
―Tara to Pete[src]
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” |
Tara doesn't say much about Pete, though it can be assumed she was grateful to him and his fellow survivors for saving her family. When Pete announces that he will take over as the leader of the camp, Tara expresses dismay over him taking leadership of the camp, and says that he can't take over. This results in Mitch silencing her and starting a fight with Tara, but Lilly managed to step in. Before returning to her business, Tara glares angrily at Pete until Mitch shouts for her to move in her face.
Appearances
TV Series
Season 4
Trivia
- The casting call name used for this character was Patrick.
- The casting call described Pete as "fair minded".
- He mentions being stationed at Fort Benning, which is where Rick Grimes' group were initially headed from Atlanta.
- He became the embodiment of the episode title in two ways. First, he was dead weight in Philip's eye because of him always doing the right thing even at the cost of his own people. Second, when he reanimated under water, he was chained to the bottom, making him literally dead weight.
- In "Made to Suffer", Philip told Andrea that he kept zombified heads in jars in order to prepare for the horrors of war. His going back to view a now undead Pete chained to the bottom of a lake mirrors this theme and expands on it as well as Philip's speech about heroism being for fools. Pete essentially becomes a "road not taken" that Philip can look at and regain his resolve.