A look Into Larry
You know a lot of people ask who is your favorite TWD character. Now a lot of people might say Kenny, Lee, Clem, or hobro/bromid combo. When I answer though a much stranger answer comes out in the form of Larry. Then I ussually get that WTF face, and the traditional "Why?" People mostly guess it's because what he says is at times hilarious and while that's true that's not the only reason, so here I am going to do an analysis of Larry.
A First Look
When you're first introduced to Larry it's in the Macon drug store where he proceeds to scream at everybody, and then proceeds to think Duck is bitten and wants to toss him out. A great first impression right? Well my first reaction to him was "Who is this asshole, man he is an absolute prick!" It was only till later on that when I started watching more people play the game that I started to understand more.
Now from the looks of it seems to be anywhere from 2-5 days into the apocalypse by the time Kenny and Lee reach Macon, so the zombie apocalypse is fairly new. So while the zombies are new survivors still know the threat they pose.
Now with that let's go back to the drugstore. What can be implied by the dialogue given to us? Well one thing seems pretty clear that Lilly gave the order to not open the drugstore doors for anyone. As well from future dialogue of Larry's we can assume they've already someone who was bitten turn.
So now the pharmacy group sees a couple of people outside and despite the prior rules Carley goes out and saves them (Which isn't a bad thing of course). Now from the looks of things under pressure and tense situations Larry seems to get a clouded judgement and tries to pick the best options for his daughter and himself, which is a reasonable thing to do. So now this new group is here and zombies are at the front door, so Larry is a bit tense, but Lilly seems to do most of the talking at first, that is until Larry sees Duck.
Now from his dialogue it seems to imply Larry has seen someone turn before, so now he sees someone else that's covered in zombie blood and muck, and looks like they could be bitten. Now the situation turns even more tense for Larry as now there is a potential threat in the drugstore with him.
Note: While I don't personally agree with Larry's decisions, I can understand them.
So Larry's solution kill the kid, and be done with it, of course he does smack talk saying things like "You can watch your father's face get pounded in before eating your mommy." To Duck. Now I mean it may be harsh, but when you are under stress you tend to say some crazy things, so then Lee either sides or goes against Larry and then Larry get's a heart-attack.
So now you all may be asking "Okay so you told us the events we already know just a little differently so where does this get us regarding Larry?" Well good readers that is a fine question. From these events one can conclude Larry has an anger management problem. This is evident in the way he acts naturally whether he had these problems before the apocalypse is unknown, but it's a possibility. Secondly you can conclude under high tension situations Larry seems to cloud his better judgement, and tends to make rash actions. Finally it seems he has two major priorities at this point Lilly and himself, which is very reasonable, a father worries about his daughter and himself.
Okay onwards
The Larry Punch
Note: Once again here comes some situations where I may not agree with, but I can understand where he comes from.
So here comes the infamous scene Larry makes the rash action of punching Lee to try and kill him. Now it's this point in the game most people say "You are dead to me old man!" and usually is followed by "First chance I get I'm going to kill you!"
At first when this happened I thought those same exact thoughts. I was like I got this guy medicine and saved his life and this is how he repays, and while this is true this may not be what Larry was thinking.
Larry knows that Lee is a killer and honestly trusting a killer is hard, or any sort of criminal is hard, because you still don't know if they are like that. As well even though Lee got him pills this may be a nice guy act in Larry's eyes until Lee does something big, like Thomas in the comics. Of course we know Lee would never be a cold-blooded murderer, but Larry doesn't.
Another thing I see people say is that how could Larry do this after I saved him. In Larry's mind he may have been thinking "I wouldn't need to be saved if you all didn't show up in the first place." So he may have the mindset going that if Lee and co. didn't show up he wouldn't need to get pills to start with, which in turn wouldn't have started the pharmacies alarms. As well I think we are mostly angered by this action because he does this to us, the player character so it makes us more angry as such.
So in short once again we see Larry with a clouded vision, and doing rash decisions in a tense situation where he thinks of someone as a threat to his daughter and himself. As well I think Larry did show care for Clem when he threatened Lee not to hurt Clem or his daughter, and this may be because he has a daughter so he has a soft-spot there.
Episode 1 Checklist
So here is what we learned about Larry in short from episode one.
-He has anger problems and tends to get frustrated easily
-He's mostly looking out for Himself and Lilly
-Under high pressure situations Larry's judgement gets clouded, and he tend to not think straight and make rash decisions.
- Larry perceives Lee as a threat and hates him the most because of it.
Come All The New Faces
So now come episode 2 and we get some new faces in the way of Mark and later The Walking Liability..... I mean Ben. So Lee either cut's off the band teacher's leg or Mark shoots Travis and they come back to camp. So from the sound of the early conversations with the group it can be concluded that food supplies are getting massively small, so here come Lee, Kenny, and Mark with Ben and friend/teacher. Of course Larry's going to pissed at this They barely have any food left as and now there's another new person to share the dwindling food with, so they want to throw the two out. Of course as I said before I don't agree with him I just understand where he's coming from.
From what everyone says when you're handing out food, it seems Larry's anger reached about everyone except Clem and Duck. Now with Duck even though at first Larry was an ass to him by now it seems he leaves his anger away from the children,which is good of course. Though in a way who can blame him as the apocalypse goes on everyone in the groups seems to be getting darker and more edgy, in Larry's case it just turned his naturally angry attitude into an edgy angry attitude.
As well, I was surprised at how many people thought Larry did nothing for the group, but if you actually look he seems to do a lot. He may not do watch, but he seems to have done most of the work on the wall, in fact that is what he proceeds to do after Ben and co arrives. Why? As I said before He seems to care a lot for his daughter as any parent should, and will protect her through any means, so of course if this wall is built it will make hsi daughter safer.
So in short again it seems the developers are pressing Larry as caring for his daughter and having anger problems
Welcome To The St. John Dairy
So now the groups at the dairy and for once Larry seems to be acting somewhat nice, not this could be because he's trying to make good impressions, or maybe because it reminds of him of better times, and he feels safe so he can finally relax and well be happy. Even later we actually see him hitting on Brenda something that most fans would never think possible.
The way he acts to Lee is still with anger though mostly because I think most can conclude he hates Lee's guts and the ground he walks on, and then the plot continues until he dies. Once again though in the meat locker where the situation is tense he loses his better judgement, and his sight is clouded so he keeps working himself up until he dies.
Ironically a lot of let's players who say he's dead first chance they get don't usually kill Larry. I did my first play through, and do I regret it, no, and I still kill him despite him being my favorite character, because I know that he is most likely dead (But that's a topic for another time.)
In Conclusion
So if you read the entire thing thumbs up to you, if not and you just flipped to the bottom to see a conclusion then okay.
so some bullets
-Larry has high anger problems.
-Larry seems to go off on everyone in the group except the children(In episode 2)
-Larry shows a lot of care for his daughter and himself.
-He despises Lee because he knows he's a killer.
-He seems to do the most work on the wall.
-When a situation gets tense Larry's best judgement gets clouded and he makes rash decisions.
-In the light of a human looking place, he can be happy.
-He hasn't lost all emotions love included.
-Larry overall seems to be the strongest character in the group(physical strength wise)
So that's it that's my look into Larry though some may still ask "What makes him your favorite character though?" and it's true while I delved into Larry I never really explained what made him my favorite. So here's a few short reasons why.
As I said before even though I don't agree with Larry's decisions sometimes I can always understand why he does them which is a plus. As well as a villain(Which I believe was telltale's intention for him within the group) I felt he was a pretty good one. I felt he added something to the group the they lost with his death. A lot of his quotes are really funny. His VA Terrence McGovern is really cool and did a great job with Larry. Just overall I felt Larry was a very well designed character.
Thank you all for reading the entire thing if you did. I hope you enjoyed a look into Larry, and maybe got a different perspective of him.
A First Look
When you're first introduced to Larry it's in the Macon drug store where he proceeds to scream at everybody, and then proceeds to think Duck is bitten and wants to toss him out. A great first impression right? Well my first reaction to him was "Who is this asshole, man he is an absolute prick!" It was only till later on that when I started watching more people play the game that I started to understand more.
Now from the looks of it seems to be anywhere from 2-5 days into the apocalypse by the time Kenny and Lee reach Macon, so the zombie apocalypse is fairly new. So while the zombies are new survivors still know the threat they pose.
Now with that let's go back to the drugstore. What can be implied by the dialogue given to us? Well one thing seems pretty clear that Lilly gave the order to not open the drugstore doors for anyone. As well from future dialogue of Larry's we can assume they've already someone who was bitten turn.
So now the pharmacy group sees a couple of people outside and despite the prior rules Carley goes out and saves them (Which isn't a bad thing of course). Now from the looks of things under pressure and tense situations Larry seems to get a clouded judgement and tries to pick the best options for his daughter and himself, which is a reasonable thing to do. So now this new group is here and zombies are at the front door, so Larry is a bit tense, but Lilly seems to do most of the talking at first, that is until Larry sees Duck.
Now from his dialogue it seems to imply Larry has seen someone turn before, so now he sees someone else that's covered in zombie blood and muck, and looks like they could be bitten. Now the situation turns even more tense for Larry as now there is a potential threat in the drugstore with him.
Note: While I don't personally agree with Larry's decisions, I can understand them.
So Larry's solution kill the kid, and be done with it, of course he does smack talk saying things like "You can watch your father's face get pounded in before eating your mommy." To Duck. Now I mean it may be harsh, but when you are under stress you tend to say some crazy things, so then Lee either sides or goes against Larry and then Larry get's a heart-attack.
So now you all may be asking "Okay so you told us the events we already know just a little differently so where does this get us regarding Larry?" Well good readers that is a fine question. From these events one can conclude Larry has an anger management problem. This is evident in the way he acts naturally whether he had these problems before the apocalypse is unknown, but it's a possibility. Secondly you can conclude under high tension situations Larry seems to cloud his better judgement, and tends to make rash actions. Finally it seems he has two major priorities at this point Lilly and himself, which is very reasonable, a father worries about his daughter and himself.
Okay onwards
The Larry Punch
Note: Once again here comes some situations where I may not agree with, but I can understand where he comes from.
So here comes the infamous scene Larry makes the rash action of punching Lee to try and kill him. Now it's this point in the game most people say "You are dead to me old man!" and usually is followed by "First chance I get I'm going to kill you!"
At first when this happened I thought those same exact thoughts. I was like I got this guy medicine and saved his life and this is how he repays, and while this is true this may not be what Larry was thinking.
Larry knows that Lee is a killer and honestly trusting a killer is hard, or any sort of criminal is hard, because you still don't know if they are like that. As well even though Lee got him pills this may be a nice guy act in Larry's eyes until Lee does something big, like Thomas in the comics. Of course we know Lee would never be a cold-blooded murderer, but Larry doesn't.
Another thing I see people say is that how could Larry do this after I saved him. In Larry's mind he may have been thinking "I wouldn't need to be saved if you all didn't show up in the first place." So he may have the mindset going that if Lee and co. didn't show up he wouldn't need to get pills to start with, which in turn wouldn't have started the pharmacies alarms. As well I think we are mostly angered by this action because he does this to us, the player character so it makes us more angry as such.
So in short once again we see Larry with a clouded vision, and doing rash decisions in a tense situation where he thinks of someone as a threat to his daughter and himself. As well I think Larry did show care for Clem when he threatened Lee not to hurt Clem or his daughter, and this may be because he has a daughter so he has a soft-spot there.
Episode 1 Checklist
So here is what we learned about Larry in short from episode one.
-He has anger problems and tends to get frustrated easily
-He's mostly looking out for Himself and Lilly
-Under high pressure situations Larry's judgement gets clouded, and he tend to not think straight and make rash decisions.
- Larry perceives Lee as a threat and hates him the most because of it.
Come All The New Faces
So now come episode 2 and we get some new faces in the way of Mark and later The Walking Liability..... I mean Ben. So Lee either cut's off the band teacher's leg or Mark shoots Travis and they come back to camp. So from the sound of the early conversations with the group it can be concluded that food supplies are getting massively small, so here come Lee, Kenny, and Mark with Ben and friend/teacher. Of course Larry's going to pissed at this They barely have any food left as and now there's another new person to share the dwindling food with, so they want to throw the two out. Of course as I said before I don't agree with him I just understand where he's coming from.
From what everyone says when you're handing out food, it seems Larry's anger reached about everyone except Clem and Duck. Now with Duck even though at first Larry was an ass to him by now it seems he leaves his anger away from the children,which is good of course. Though in a way who can blame him as the apocalypse goes on everyone in the groups seems to be getting darker and more edgy, in Larry's case it just turned his naturally angry attitude into an edgy angry attitude.
As well, I was surprised at how many people thought Larry did nothing for the group, but if you actually look he seems to do a lot. He may not do watch, but he seems to have done most of the work on the wall, in fact that is what he proceeds to do after Ben and co arrives. Why? As I said before He seems to care a lot for his daughter as any parent should, and will protect her through any means, so of course if this wall is built it will make hsi daughter safer.
So in short again it seems the developers are pressing Larry as caring for his daughter and having anger problems
Welcome To The St. John Dairy
So now the groups at the dairy and for once Larry seems to be acting somewhat nice, not this could be because he's trying to make good impressions, or maybe because it reminds of him of better times, and he feels safe so he can finally relax and well be happy. Even later we actually see him hitting on Brenda something that most fans would never think possible.
The way he acts to Lee is still with anger though mostly because I think most can conclude he hates Lee's guts and the ground he walks on, and then the plot continues until he dies. Once again though in the meat locker where the situation is tense he loses his better judgement, and his sight is clouded so he keeps working himself up until he dies.
Ironically a lot of let's players who say he's dead first chance they get don't usually kill Larry. I did my first play through, and do I regret it, no, and I still kill him despite him being my favorite character, because I know that he is most likely dead (But that's a topic for another time.)
In Conclusion
So if you read the entire thing thumbs up to you, if not and you just flipped to the bottom to see a conclusion then okay.
so some bullets
-Larry has high anger problems.
-Larry seems to go off on everyone in the group except the children(In episode 2)
-Larry shows a lot of care for his daughter and himself.
-He despises Lee because he knows he's a killer.
-He seems to do the most work on the wall.
-When a situation gets tense Larry's best judgement gets clouded and he makes rash decisions.
-In the light of a human looking place, he can be happy.
-He hasn't lost all emotions love included.
-Larry overall seems to be the strongest character in the group(physical strength wise)
So that's it that's my look into Larry though some may still ask "What makes him your favorite character though?" and it's true while I delved into Larry I never really explained what made him my favorite. So here's a few short reasons why.
As I said before even though I don't agree with Larry's decisions sometimes I can always understand why he does them which is a plus. As well as a villain(Which I believe was telltale's intention for him within the group) I felt he was a pretty good one. I felt he added something to the group the they lost with his death. A lot of his quotes are really funny. His VA Terrence McGovern is really cool and did a great job with Larry. Just overall I felt Larry was a very well designed character.
Thank you all for reading the entire thing if you did. I hope you enjoyed a look into Larry, and maybe got a different perspective of him.
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
Just like practically everyone, I didn't care for Larry at first until I saw the world from his point of view. It's easy to say "He's an asshole", drop a salt-lick on his head, and be done with it, but I believe that Larry is more complicated than that. He's not necessarily a good person to be around, but he's far from a bad/evil one.
Good post. I wouldn't mind looking at other characters too.
@Richwalk23 Thanks for the feedback
@TWD FTW To each there own, and I respect everyone's opinion. The analysis was just an attempt to show Larry from a different point of view.
You got me wrong, I wasnt criticising your analysis,it is really good, but I still hate him cuz of what he's done.
^ This. I understand your analysis but it doesn't change my opinion.
Still tried to save him because at the end of the day, he was still a human and it is possible he wouldn't have turned. I save everyone I can.
If I had the chance to abandon him though, it's highly likely I would have done.
All he cares about is Lily and himself so let them fend for themselves!
@TWD FTW Oh I didn't think you were criticizing my analysis, I was just saying I respect your opinion because everyone deserves to have one.
And how!