Villain ideas for Season 2
 

Here's my template. Feel free to cook up your own!

Dr. George Matheson

A child prodigy, George Matheson earned his first PhD in neurobiology before he turned twenty-one. He continued to excel in other scientific fields, most notably virology, before an advanced IQ test he undertook in 2009 displayed his intellect at approximately 198.

During the initial walker outbreak, Dr. Matheson was one of the top ten consultants employed by the CDC to coordinate the search for a possible vaccine, and failing that, a carefully engineered contagion that would wipe out the walker population entirely. But as government collapsed, Matheson quietly slipped out of Washington DC, establishing his own base of operations at St. Neville, a vast hospital complex.

Matheson has an obsession with the subject of death, long before the dead started walking the Earth, and unlike the rest of humanity, who see the walkers as the heralds of Mankind's extinction, Matheson believes they are a "failed prototype" for a new stage in human evolution, a theory he seeks to prove by "rehabilitating" every walker he can get his hands on.

When first encountered by the PC, Matheson has transformed St. Neville into a veritable fortress with the help of a ragtag group of former medical staff and military personnel he scraped together over the years following the walker epidemic. Matheson has been conducting complex neurological experiments on various walkers he's captured from the surrounding countryside, and the PC's group soon discovers, much to their shock, that Matheson has accomplished the impossible: He has restored several dozen walkers to a state of semi-cognizance. Most of these walkers now act as makeshift guards and menial workers in different sections of St. Neville. Matheson's prime subject was Helena Matheson, his daughter, who was bitten during the first days of the zombie apocalypse.

The PC eventually learns that Matheson has no real love for his daughter; he is, in fact, a high-functioning sociopath, and his inability to make sense of human emotions, ironically, allowed Matheson to keep a cool head while the rest of the world went mad. Matheson is aware of his mental condition and acknowledges it outright, stating that lacking a traditional human conscience has become a genuine advantage thanks to "the recent turn of events". Matheson also believes he couldn't have made his breakthroughs if he had been impeded by a pre-apocalypse set of ethics. His surviving colleagues have secretly compared his work to the actions of Josef Mengele and Unit 731, although they are too much in awe of Matheson's genius to challenge him publicly.

In stark contrast to the Governor and Negan, who alternate between brute force and primal laws to keep their "followers" in check, Matheson is a pure intellectual who sees himself as a kind of pioneer. For the first time in history, Mankind has been given concrete evidence of existence after death, and Matheson is mystified that no one else seems to be trying to exploit "this miraculous opportunity". He is the last, best hope for the world...and he is also a complete monster.

RECOMMENDED VOICE ACTOR/CHARACTER MODEL:
Robert Englund

Kind of sounds like Challus Mercer from Dead Space.

Honestly, although the villain sounds really cool and would set the video game apart from the comics with it's own new dynamic villain, I don't really want an overarching villain for all of season two. I liked how in season one we didn't have a Philip Blake, err The Governor, or a Negan-esque villain. If we had villains in season one they really only tended to last one episode, if we had a long lasting villain where I spend most of the game just trying to kill the bastard, I'd imagine I would get very boring very fast. Similar to The Governor in the comics, I just wanted that fucker to die. Lasting like three volumes before his eventual death, I just wanted the group to move past it so I can see some new fresh content that isn't just "omg this guy is really evil, I want him dead. Also this prison is super cool, right guise?" This Negan conflict is getting very dull as well.

Maybe he'd work as a two episode villain, maybe like episodes two and three.

A Negan-like villain would be cool.

Yes, with a few important differences. There's no way to deny Mercer was anything other than a flat-out lunatic. The player has absolutely no qualms about blowing him away when the opportunity presents itself.

But unlike Mercer, Matheson doesn't hold the monsters of the game up on a golden pedestal. The fact that he's actually delivered on some of his promises to cure (or at least pacify) the walker plague, instead of merely being a pompous butcher, would also make any choices about how to deal with him difficult on the player's part.

But I do agree a character like him would probably work best as a central villain for two episodes at most, perhaps as the climactic "bad guy" at the end of season 2.

Well first he sounds like a cool villain. But..

First. when you said he collected military and medical personnel over the years, wont work, time frame needs to stay in tune with TWD comic. If we skipped forward all the way to where the comic is it wouldnt leave much room to be creative, for the game must follow the rules of the comic and cant lead ahead of the comic.

Second. making the walkers semi cognitive is stupid, especially if he makes them guards and what not. That is not TWD.

Also I will agree with the guy above me, I dont want a villain for the whole game, honestly i would be happy with no villain for season two, then maybe a rehashed version of this guy for season 3. all in all... good idea

After playing Lab of the Dead, i can definitely picture walkers regaining some form of intelligence. Though if the game follows the comic to the letter, Kirkman has said they will never get smarter.

I could certainly see this being the main focus for a good portion for the game, but i don't think it should be the only focus. I think the main point of the first season was that there were no villains. It was about surviving against everything all at once. This is also why i think a lot of people enjoyed episode 2 the most, since it deviated somewhat and went to a more Hollywood-style with bad guys and an ultimate climactic battle and etc(not saying that was a bad thing, though).

Isn't Neville the name of the guy in "I am legend" and Matheson the guy who wrote the book?

300 lb guy who has a strong Russian accent and a long beard. Totally.

I want someone like Negan, highly unpredictable. :o

I want multiple antagonists in season 2, just like in season 1.

-The St. John's, Save-lot bandits, as well as Campman were all memorable.

In my point of view, each episode in season 1 had a antagonist. Campman made minor appearances in all episodes until the finale (if you count seeing his car drive by in the very beginning)

Episode 1 - Larry - Lee almost died because of him
Episode 2 - St. Johns - Killed Mark and served his legs for dinner
Episode 3 - Save-lots Bandits - They take what they want and kill anyone who screws with them
Episode 4 - Crawford - Killed the young, the old and the sick, including Molly's sister
Episode 5 - Campman - Kidnapped Clementine

Yep. I like this better than having one antagonist for the entire season.

Same, it feels more organic this way.

Agreed mostly excepting episode one. You only go against Larry two times in the episode(once if you choose to take his side in the argument) and you actually spend most of the episode helping him.

I think the first episode is introducing the characters to the new apocalyptic world, rather than having a primary opposition. From Lee realizing his family is gone to seeing Irene take her own life, it's the characters coming to terms with what is happening.

My idea for season 2's main villain...

Zombies, Zombies, Zombies, and more Zombies!

TWD is always about one problem after another. Lack of food ammo/group disagreements/shelter/new plans/outsiders. Even when there is a villain once he's gone, new problem.So one villian cant be main focus.

I think at least one episode in Season 2 should feature a Governor-style villain. Same basic setup; runs a town, appears reasonable but turns out to be ruthless, you get the drill. Only to incorporate the “tailored experience” into the game, and to avoid players never trusting anyone again after the St. Johns, your choices affect whether he opposes and tries to kill you, or becomes an ally against some higher threat. That way, depending on how you react to this game's gray morality, you can try to act righteous and make a new enemy, or cut a deal with the devil for a serious cost (he agrees to help you if you kill a member of your main group he doesn't like).

Telltale is probably better than I am at coming up with characters that don't sound lame than I am, but for laughs, here's my idea:

Victor Delmont. A former navy officer who was recovering at a military hospital inside Beaufort during the outbreak, and now runs a small walled-off commune there. (Beaufort is an actual town about 40 miles northeast of Savannah). His people, mostly military, but some civilians, refer to him as The Captain. He is missing one leg (some wartime injury), and has a prosthetic in its place. The establishment he runs, which is referred to as New Beaufort by those living there, put up with Save-Lots-esque bandit groups which killed a lot of their people in the first few months... until The Captain went to war with them, killed them all, and put their reanimated heads on posts surrounding the community wall. He's willing to take in survivors, but after losing pretty much his entire family, he won't hesitate to kill anybody if he suspects trouble.

Sound reasonable, or am I out of my mind?

Yeah, we may come across a few psychopaths, but I expect group conflict and overall survival to be more of a focus than an overarching villain. Though I suppose anyone trying to survive could end up being an antagonist.