The Walking Dead Easter Egg That Actually Says A Lot About Rick Grimes
The world of The Walking Dead is riddled with exactly what the title would have you believe, and yet Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) meets a staggering number of survivors over the course of his long journey. Some of them become friends and allies, helping Rick to press on, to manage the burden of leadership, or to remember what it is to be human. Not everyone he stumbles across is so kind, of course. After all, "survival of the fittest" pushes some people over the edge, turning them ruthless no matter who they were pre-apocalypse.
That's why Rick develops three questions to judge a person's character before deciding whether or not to interact with them further. First: "How many walkers have you killed?" Not everyone keeps an exact count, but it's a good way of getting an idea of how capable they are at defending themselves. Second: "How many people have you killed?" People are often more dangerous than walkers, and so the third question builds on the second: "Why?" It's easy to lie about this one, so finding out whether the given answer is truthful or not is useful for Rick in the long run.
Clara (Kerry Condon) is no exception to Rick's questions, though the circumstances of their meeting are more unique than most. And as Redditor Joeyisthebessst points out, their interaction is more significant than it may seem at first.
Spoilers for The Walking Dead coming up!
Clara and Eddie
At the beginning of The Walking Dead's divisive fourth season, Rick is out checking his hunting snares when he meets Clara. The woman is so skeletal that he initially thinks she's a walker. She proves otherwise by talking, and requests that Rick help her bring back a nearby dying boar to feed herself and her husband Eddie. Rick gives her a sandwich instead, but agrees to go speak with her husband to see whether or not the couple will be allowed to join the group — after checking Clara for weapons, of course. He dismisses her small knife as not particularly threatening.
Clara tells Rick of Eddie as they trek through the woods to her camp, of how good he was to her, the sacrifices he made, and the things they had to do to survive. By this point, Rick is all too familiar with such things, so when Clara asks him whether he thinks redemption is possible, all he can say is "I hope so." It's just a nicer way of saying "I don't know," but the fact is, Rick really doesn't know. Were someone to ask him his own three questions, the third would take a whole lot of explaining.
Regardless, Clara eventually leads Rick back to her small camp — little more than a tent and some scattered supplies. Things escalate quickly from there: Rick finds that Eddie is just a severed walker head, Clara tries to attack him with the knife, and he gets her at gunpoint. Rick was to be chop meat for Eddie, Clara admits, but she also admits she can't stand doing this anymore, and... guts herself, insisting Rick leave her to turn so she can be with her husband. Her final act is to request that Rick ask her the three questions he would've asked her and Eddie both.
How many walkers has she killed? "Eddie killed them all, until..."
How many people has she killed? "Just me. Just me..."
Why? "You don't get to come back from things."
Clara's wish is granted
A few episodes later, the Governor (David Morrissey) stages his invasion of the prison that's served as home base for Rick's party, a brutal and bloody affair that results in the heartbreaking death of Hershel (Scott Wilson). With a tank on his side, the Governor blows the prison wide open, no gates or walls able to withstand the onslaught. The cacophony attracts every walker in the immediate area, and soon both sides of the prison battle are dealing with the undead on top of everything else. What u/Joeyisthebessst noticed is that one of those walkers is none other than Clara, meaning Rick honored her wish to be with Eddie after all.
Obviously, the couple isn't together in the literal sense — Eddie is still just a walker head, and Clara is wandering the area. But in a world swathed in despair, it's nice to think Clara and Eddie's souls are finally at peace somewhere, thanks to Rick. After losing his own wife, Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies), to childbirth complications, it's easy to understand why he feels for Clara. He couldn't be there for his own wife's death and he long outlives her, so Clara's request that he allow her to turn is a no-brainer, even if it haunts him emotionally.
Rick and Lori's relationship was a complicated affair post-apocalypse, so "reuniting" Clara with Eddie is also a sort of reconciliation for him. In the series pilot, Rick is put into a coma pre-apocalypse, and wakes up after walkers have taken over. In the interim, however, Lori believes he's dead and strikes up a relationship with Shane (Jon Bernthal), Rick's best friend. She's willing to make amends with Rick, but he keeps a careful distance between them up until her death. Seeing the things Clara's willing to do for Eddie even after his death — disturbing though they may be — Rick vicariously gives love a second chance in letting her reanimate.