Post by Daryl Dixon on Feb 6, 2016 5:41:30 GMT
Merle Dixon
This is Merle Dixon, Daryl Dixon's 'big brother', and the person Daryl looked up to for the longest of time. Both boys had a difficult time growing up with a neglectful mother, and a father who physically abused them. For most of his life Daryl had no body there for him except for his older brother who helped guide him along when he was younger and tried to raise him into his idea of what a man was. Though Merle was frequently absent in Daryl's life due to always being in trouble with the law, and eventually moving out because he wasn't able to take their father anymore, which directed all of their dad's abuse onto Daryl.
Some of the many things Merle taught Daryl was how to track and hunt. He also passed down combat skills to him from the short time that Merle spent in the military. Before the apocalypse Daryl claims he was a no body, tagging along with Merle and doing whatever his older brother said they were doing for that day. Although Merle hasn't always been the most positive influence in his life, he more than likely can be credited for Daryl's survival skills that made him able to cope, and be self sufficient in the apocalypse.
Merle himself is a seemingly stereotypical southern redneck. Merle is extremely ill-tempered, racist, misogynistic, violent, volatile, and quick to express his beliefs. Though his behavior is more than likely a product of the environment both him and his little brother were exposed to. Daryl was a lot like this too in many ways, and was described as a redneck asshole with an even bigger asshole for a brother. As time went on though and Daryl accepted their group as family to him his personality eventually adapted to be more civilized where as Merle's personality adaption wasn't as smooth, although became better as he settled more into the group.
I honestly believe though, that somewhere deep down Merle has a big heart, as proven by his love for his little brother. I also think there is more depth to his character and emotions than he leads everyone to believe. Despite the many negative things about Merle, there are also positives about him. He can be a caring man, even though he has a funny way of showing it as depicted with the relationship he has with Daryl. Merle has military background, and also shows signs of intelligence as he stated his favorite book was the bible and has many of his favorite versus memorized. During his stay in Woodbury he read many books, and even claimed the library was one of the only things he missed about Woodbury.
I'm hoping someone will choose to play Merle, not only to be the brother of my character, but to play the depth in his personality that I know exists. Merle is a flawed man and has done a lot of bad things in his life, but has never truly been evil. His love for his brother is what drove him to keep fighting in a world of despair. I also believe he somewhat redeemed himself by how he ambushed the governor, and because of that gave the entire group a fighting chance when they were back at the prison. I feel like so much plotting could be done between Daryl and Merle, and many threads could happen both pre and post apocalypse. I'd love it if someone could give his character the chance, and the credit that he deserves!