Negan’s weapon of choice, a baseball bat named Lucille, has become an iconic staple in The Walking Dead comics. Whenever Lucille appears on a comic book page, fans know something horrible is about to happen, and it will translate over to the show.
Jeffrey Dean Morgan recently spoke to Entertainment Weekly about his character Negan’s connection to the baseball bat. It might sound odd, comic book Negan talks lovingly about Lucille as if it was a person. In the comic, Negan’seven admitted to rubbing his manhood on the baseball bat because he loves “her” that much.
“It’s how he walks differently with her, he holds her, and it’s a part of him,” Negan told EW . “He uses her to emphasize certain points, not just ‘I’m going to kill you.’ There’s a thing that he has with Lucille, and it’s as close to love as maybe Negan will ever have. He loves Lucille. She’s a character of her own. I mean, she really is, and I love the way he talks about her and he feels about her and how he treats her. But yeah, the first time I held her I knew — this is it.”
What makes his obsession with the baseball bat a little less weird is the reason Negan named the weapon Lucille. The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman recently confirmed in the comics Negan was married to a woman named Lucille before the apocalypse. Negan also watched his wife turn into a walker while the zombie apocalypse was in full swing.
Still, the way Negan talks to Lucille is an intentional source of discomfort for the reader/viewer. Negan is a frightening man with too much power. In fact, one could argue Negan is an extreme version of Rick or what Shane would’ve turned into had he survived.
What do you think about the Negan-Lucille dynamic? Let us know in the comments section below. The Walking Dead Season 7 premieres Oct. 23 on AMC.
