♥ Lets Talk Caryl ♥

What Is The Caryl Ship You Ask?
Caryl Is The Romantic Interest Of Carol and Daryl’s Relationship On TWD.

If you think that they like/love/deserve each other than you’re in the right place. I have shipped Carol Peletier & Daryl Dixon since season 1, Yeah I knew they were destined to be from the start on it all. Did You?

Daryl/Carol, commonly known as Caryl, is one of the most popular ships in The Walking Dead television series. Their relationship is very deep and complex some fans especially those shipping either Carol Or Daryl with other characters see them as having a mother/son, father/daughter, or brother/sister relationship even thou the actors are only 3 years apart in age. Both Norman and Melissa have stated they are not either of the three pairings and a lot of the fans see them as emotional best friends who understand each other well since they have similar backgrounds.

The bond that these two characters share is deeper and more passionate than any other ship we have seen and neither of them shares those same feelings with the others in the group. They started out in the same place with abuse and never feeling good enough and since they met the duo and way they work and speak without saying a word they complement one another and bring out the best in each other and is one of the biggest reasons why even those who aren’t even in the fandom think they are together or are perfect for one another. They have always been referred to as “Daryl and Carol” or “Caryl” even AMC promotes with them together to get fans pumped about their reunion or episode together. Their relationship has never been ideal but there is something to be said about these to even though the times when they don’t see each other everything between them seems almost natural when they are back together and when something goes wrong, they always seek out to one another for comfort, understanding, and love.

Carol’s little girl Sophia was missing for the first half of the second season, only to be located in Hershel’s barn, turned probably the day she was chased from the highway. As Carol runs toward her crying, it’s Daryl who holds her back “Don’t look,” he tells her as he tries to shield her from the slaughter and heartache. It’s one of the first hints that they are beginning to love and care for one another and that Daryl cares more about the group than he showed. Daryl stays with Carol all the way up to the funeral, which Carol doesn’t go to, saying that “Sophia died a long time ago.” The end of the world has been hard on everyone in the group, but Carol is engulfed with sadness and grief having lost Sophia so soon. When her grief subsides, she realizes that Daryl has been drifting away from the group himself since Sophia was found. In the process Daryl is rude to her, even blaming her for the loss of her daughter, while she pushed away her feelings, telling him to “go on” thinking he would hit her like Ed used too. It’s the first real moment between the two, that they both realized just how damaged they both are and with Carol so used to the abuse she didn’t bother to say anything back even with it clearly bothering her, to which Daryl saw and that bothered him that he made her feel that way again.

Once walkers overrun the farm and the group is scattered in all directions. Daryl heard Carol screaming for help and, goes back to save her but not without making the statement “I ain’t got all day.” After regrouping with the others on the highway, Rick later reveals everyone is infected. Though they all wondered about Rick being their leader, Carol and Daryl both stay in the group even with Carol saying that she is a burden and Daryl is his henchman and, despite the fact Carol wants to be led by a “man of honor,” which Daryl assures her that Rick has honor. Being on the road seemed to make them closer over the months, that night after they took the prison yard, Carol takes Daryl food as he stood guard on top of the prison bus. As Carol complains of pain from the kickback of the rifle Daryl began to rub her shoulder the jokingly turning down her offer to get romantic and “fool around” per Carol’s request. Their bond is yet again the focus point after Carol goes missing and is presumed dead after an attack by former inmate Andrew that takes the lives of Lori and T-Dog. When Daryl later finds her knife stuck in a walker’s neck, it leads him to a cell where he assumes that she has died and turned. After sitting in the hallway, sulking and stabbing his knife into the floor, he prepares for the worst of finding her as a walker, only to find her weak and exhausted. He then proceeds to carry her back to the safety of her cell, this was definitely the first of many heartfelt reunions to come between the special pair.

When Daryl having deserted the group to be with his brother Merle he decides to return, realizing that it’s the only place he feels as thou he ever really belonged and loved. After the first attack by The Governor, our group takes in the remaining Woodbury survivors and as a result, their community is beginning to thrive. Carol becomes a big part of the community by becoming part of the council, while Daryl becomes a popular member amongst the others from Woodbury (mostly the women) while trying to maintain his rough and aggressive side. After four seasons Daryl has finally come out from the shadow of his older brother Merle and transformed into the person he was always meant to be, while Carol’s transformation from meek housewife to a badass warrior after smashing in the skull of Ed, helps the group survive and make a life for one another. She also began to teach the children about knives and survival without Rick’s knowledge. Through everything that happens and everything they go through Carol maintains her love for Daryl, calling him cute names like “Pookie” and telling him “Just So You Know I Liked You First” through their love stays the same their conversations tend to be about the same things of concerns for their community, the number of walkers outside the walls, and the flu. She is always there to protect those within the family that she kills the first two who become infected with the disease and burning their bodies to try to keep it from spreading. While Rick strongly disagrees with her decisions he banished her and, his only concern after banishing her is how he plans to tell Daryl that he left Carol out on her own and he didn’t want her to return, but that was cut short when The Governor attacked for the last time killing Hershel and destroying their home leaving them out on the road yet again.

After being separated again with Carol being banished and the fall of the prison they have reunited once again after Carol’s “badass” solo takedown of Terminus, revealing that she had watched the prison fall from afar after being banished. Then traveled with Tyreese and Judith while Rick and Carl’s reunion with Judith is sweet, it’s the wonderful huge hug between Daryl and Carol that really grabs the hearts of viewers around the world. Once Carol’s back, it’s Daryl who brings up the topic that they have a chance to start over, and a chance to belong somewhere or to someone again. While Carol is trying to leave feeling not welcome, Daryl follows her and stops here the two take off without telling the others when Daryl believes that he saw who took Beth pass in a car while stopping Carol from leaving. Following the car back into Atlanta, the city that once was where both of them lived before the world went to shit, their conversations keep going back to Daryl’s mentions of starting over again TOGETHER. Carol agrees with Daryl about how they have both been changed by the world of which surrounds them, which makes the thought of starting over again easier especially with him by her side.

As they look for Beth in downtown Atlanta, Carol reflects about a time she’d left Ed and gone to a woman’s shelter with her Sophia, only to go home after a day and a half, getting beaten and abused again. Believing she a burden, in the beginning, it wasn’t until the prison that she admits to becoming the woman she imagined she could be, before saying she also got “burned away.” Daryl looks her straight in the eyes and tells her “We ain’t ashes” Daryl replied, still appearing faithful until their rescue of Beth goes tragically wrong. Also in the episode Consumed they manage to spot an ambulance with the crosses on the back that they saw from the office building. It is smashed into a guardrail on a bridge with a big drop below. They sift through the belongings for clues for Beth but get overrun by walkers. In a no-win situation, they lock themselves inside the vehicle, but the vehicle is stuck and there are more walkers approaching. They soon realize that the only way out is down. They buckle their seat belts, thinking that they probably wouldn’t survive the drop, they rock the vehicle to push it off the bridge. Just as the vehicle is about fall from the bridge and crash down to the ground they take each other’s hands. Facing death, they do it together holding hands. It’s a heartbreaking and emotional moment but also one that tells the story of their relationship in that one gesture. They can face anything as long as they are facing it together. They survive the drastic fall with Carol inured and Daryl having to support her for the most part. They continue looking for Beth and how to get her back from Grady Memorial.

That’s were they meet Noah and Carol gets hit by a car that belongs to the hospital crew. Now Daryl is more ready than ever to just barge in and kill them all. Once everything that happens in Atlanta is over he once again tries to push everyone away from himself going into a downward spiral blaming himself, it’s Carol who once again forces him to “Let Himself Feel It.” By the time the group makes it to Alexandria, Carol suddenly plays to be a meek housewife, blending into their world behind the walls while secretly plotting with Rick. These two characters whose paths would otherwise have never crossed have become each other’s lifeline and their reason to survive. Without one another, Daryl might have long ago became a loner, and Carol might have become overwhelmed with sorrow maybe even becoming her comic character and committing suicide to walkers.

In episode 13 of season 6, the events that took place really changed Carol permanently. She has already been emotionally conflicted about all the people she’s killed to protect herself and to the ones she loves. But due to the similarity between her and the savior, Paula truly messed with her emotionally. When she was forced to kill Paula and the other saviors to protect herself, Maggie, and the baby it broke her. She is never the one that lets the emotional or physical pain keep her from doing what had to be done to survive. She killed all those saviors so that she and Maggie and the baby would be able to survive. After she locked the rest of the Saviors on the kill floor soaked in gasoline and threw down the lit cigarette it triggered something in her that she had never felt. When Daryl, Glenn, Rick and the others found her and Maggie Daryl immediately knew she was not ok just looking at her.

Daryl Realized That She Is Broken!

When he grabbed her by the shoulder and looked her deep into her eyes to bring her back and get her focused on him, he could see she was struggling with life at that very moment. Something that everybody else around them failed to see When he asks her if she’s ok and responds no he hugs her tightly and just held her until she calms down in his arms. When it comes to Carol he can see what the others can’t or don’t want to see. He sees how deeply she is affected and the agony and heartbreak on her face. He knew that Carol was in a very uncomfortable mental place because he always sees her, the real her. He sees her struggles and sorrow and her pain, and he loves her through all of it. The others in the group never see that in Carol they just see the woman who can adapt to any environment. They don’t see her, not really but Daryl always does and he knows exactly what she needs and when she needs him to support her, he is always there to give her exactly what she needs at that moment.

Carol & Daryl hadn’t seen each other since season 6 episode 13 and, it seemed like a very long wait for Daryl and Carol to be reunited in season 7 episode 10. After Carol left the group and went out on her own at the end of season 6, Richard revealed his plan to start a war between all three communities against the saviors and revealed that he was sending them straight to Carol’s door that was at the cottage just outside the kingdom’s gate Daryl, of course after threatening and beating Richard, he went to find her like he always does.

Seeing them reunited after such a long time and so much loss and heartache was one of the best moments of the season. The moment that revealed so much love and thoughtfulness in their reunion wasn’t the emotional hugs where they held each other so tightly not wanting to do nothing more than to stay like that forever. It was the caring moment inside the cottage when Daryl lied to her about Glenn and Abe, he couldn’t bring himself to see her break anymore. Carol had not been so emotionally unstable since way back in season 2 when she lost Sophia. Daryl always sees her at her most vulnerable and fragile state, she never shows anybody else that side of herself but then again she has never let anybody get as close to her as she let Daryl. Seeing just how broken she was he could see that she was clearly not ready to hear the news about Glenn and Abraham’s death. So even though he was carrying the weight of his all his guilt and his pain from being thrown in the cell and emotionally and mentally tortured by the saviors and his loss of losing fellow family members he decided not share that with her because he didn’t want to put that burden and heartbreak on her before she could handle it. Instead, with all of the internal strength that he could muster up out of his body that can only be found from the desire and need to spare someone you love pain, he decided to keep that all to himself and told her that everyone back home had made a deal with them just like the kingdom and that everybody was fine. That is nothing more than an act of love he wanted and needed her comfort and love and he wanted nothing more than to share his grief with her knowing she would understand but he kept it to himself rather than cause her any more pain. That is the very definition of self-sacrificing, genuine, unquestionable love from the once rough redneck and at that moment he knew that he had to go back to the hilltop and help fight Negan because he would do anything to protect Carol from anything that could hurt her more. With Carol knowing who Daryl is she probably knew he was lying to spare her feelings they have such a deep connection and love for one another that she would have known immediately that terrible had happened back home. She went along with his lie for herself and she let him make it easier for her because it’s what she needed to hear at that moment and what he had done to make peace with the current situation and push on to fight with the saviors.

Some non-shippers say that they don’t see the chemistry between Carol and Daryl and that the two of them wouldn’t be good for each other. What those people don’t see is that they already are a couple. Their relationship is different and they never have a relationship in a traditional sense, like Rick and Michonne’s or Maggie and Glenn’s. But what people fail to see is that these two survivors have an unbreakable connection and love that doesn’t necessarily need the physicality. Their connection may be different, but it’s unbreakable and stronger than anybody else’s on the show and it is so beautiful that nothing else can compare to how much they love each other.