Why the unnamed Stranger was a better antagonist than Carver...
Now I'm not talking about who would win in a fight, what I mean to do is compare the two as villains within a narrative context and judge which one was overall better written.
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Carver from Season 2 wasn't much to look at, really he felt more like a pale imitation of the Governor - you're stereotypical zombie apocalypse antagonist, who was probably once a decent person but became a monster when the dead started walking, utterly ruthless and psychotic yet not without a flare of charisma that allows him to lead a band of survivors. He even gives Clementine the ''we're not so different, you and I'' speech, even if those purported similarities are hardly elaborated upon.
The Stranger from Season 1 on the other hand is strangely a much more fascinating antagonist, despite only ever appearing in one episode.
This is a man quite visibly tortured by the loss of his family to the walkers due to his own incompetence and bad luck. He is arguably quite similar to Lee, in that he also in his own self-deluded way tries to find a new start and redemption with protecting Clementine, although in his case he abducts her and is clearly quite insane. Apart from being Lee's dark shadow (like how they sat parallel to each other) he also attempts to act as his judge, jury and executioner for all the various choices Lee made throughout the 5 episodes we played him as. What I love about the stranger is how Telltale really made a unique kind of villain in the TWD universe.
This wasn't another battle hardened survivor like we see time and time again in the comics and TV series, the Stranger was very much an ordinary man who became a monster in his own way after the apocalypse. What scary about this is that the Stranger could have literally been anyone like us - he is a reflection of the human condition pressed under such adverse and tragic circumstances.
Really Telltale, you did such a fantastic job with the Stranger but then for Season 2 you resort to using a more default villain simply because he's so different from the Stranger, but Carver was not as compelling, he felt like another Governor or Negan. Such a shame, since they had a child protagonist from Season 2 which was already an unconventional but interesting choice, yet they fail to keep the villain as unconventional and interesting.
What do you guys think? Was the Stranger, despite his very brief time in the game, a far better written antagonist than Carver?
Comments
Stranger > Carver
Carver's character was a bit confusing to me. Like who would kidnap a group just to keep them as pets? I always thought that Carver thought Rebecca's baby was his and not Alvins.
Carver was a lot better in episode 1 and 2. He seemed more calm and collected, rather than just a psychopath. I would have loved watching them take that route, with a super intelligent villain. In episode 2, his arrival at the cabin legitimately scared me. I was hoping it would be more of that.
Stranger was better because he was predator and he was hunting clem.
It's a close one. Stranger was a really unexpected twist to the whole game and he done quite a lot with a little screentime. Carver was interesting as well, but didn't quite make the same impact as The Stranger in my opinion.
I agree about Carver being inferior to The Governor though. I've been really getting into the show a lot in the past few months and whilst the game does most things better, I think The Governor was a better leader and character than Carver. He had the backing and genuine respect from his people and was cunning and manipulative enough to keep the place going. I didn't find it believeable that he was defeated by Rick and thought the writers had to dumb him down to make it happen. I did however find Carver's death believeable as it was only a matter of time before someone in his own group got sick of his power game and took him out.
The dialogue was crazy. Depending on some choices, the stranger was screaming his head off at Lee. Other one he just raised his voice: "She was better off!!"
Carver had the potential to be better but failed to because of the poor writing in season two. He is set up perfectly before episode 3, then has a few badass lines but ultimately he falls victim to a distracting from a little girl and a highly potential character is killed off.
Stranger on the other hand was built up on suspense and mystery which made him more enthralling and captivating. He had a perfect motive for his revenge and the station wagon plot twist was a great reveal.
Stranger wins by UD.
Carver really should have lasted longer
Season 2 was Season 1 light. Weaker protagonist, weaker antagonist, weaker story. Carver should have been on the roof with the others while Clem's group made their escape. You assumed he died defending the store only to have him pop up at the end filled with insane rage for losing the store and his group.
I would have preferred that to Kenny beating him to death. That felt too much like shock value.
I was a feeble attempt to show how Kenny was going around the bend. It's a perfect example of why the Season 1 writers are superior story tellers to the season 2 crew.
Carver wasn't really intended to be the main antagonist of the season. Just someone to give perspective on how things should be done. The Stranger was a guy built up practically the entire S1. Make you feel guilty, ashamed, or pissed off as planned by TT. The way I see it, these two are meant for completely different purposes.
No he wasn't. There wasn't even a hint of him until you take the food which was mid way, and it was much later than he even begins to enter the story again. To say he was built up the entire season one is a huge overstatement.
Episode 2 had the group steal his food. That's pretty early in the season imo.
stranger is a much better antagoniz than carver. S2 sucked balls, I do not care how many people hate on me be s2 is the worst game ever. I would'nt go that far but it is pretty disappointing. Carver could have terrified me. It could have been so much better if carver just tortured Rebecca and when the baby was delivered he stabbed Rebecca and fatally damaged her. Carver instead turned into a boring,weak antagonized.
Which you didn't realize until the very end, and it was the one thing you did to him. To say he was built up the entire season is a bit of an overstatement.
I agree, Carver had potential in episode 2, but 3 he was just a generic shoutyman. The stranger had his faults as an antagonist, especially if you made the 'good guy' choices, but he was still better than what Carver turned out to be.
It's why I said "pratically". Why are you on my case over this lol?
Well the Stranger was really good because he judged you on the choices you make in the series. so his time feel really natural, his dialog fitting welling with the story plot. hopwever his commenting make you feel guilty on your past actions he didn't scare me as the player, and that's what villains are suppose to do.
Carver, oh yeah he scared me, he made my unconformable. however he didn't make a big impact. you choices don't make any difference. However the his character stick out to ep5 he would done a lot more things. however the wring was really bad in series 2. also the actor who plays Caver would have cost a lot of money for tell-tale wasn't he a A rank actor at one point in his career?
The Stranger was better for a couple of reasons. He's one of those villains that you feel sorry for since it was basically your fault that he ended up like that. He's also one of those villains where you perfectly understand his motivations for wanting Lee dead.
Been crabby lately. It doesn't really matter. Carry on!
Carver had the potential to be an amazing villain
Unfortunately, like most S2 characters, he died too soon.
Season 2 of The Walking Dead went down hill when the game started to cater to fan-service such as the return of Kenny and Craver - if I recall correctly, the Governor was really popular due to the T.V. series. That said, it was quite silly for Telltale games to make a second version of the Governor for their series just to ride on the popularity of an evil and instance dictator in a post-apocalypse setting. The first "wannabe" Governor actually worked well as he was only referenced in the previous season and had a twist - for those who do not recall, there was another Maybury-like place in season 1 of TT's TWD. However, most of the inhabitants in the town, including the wannabe Governor were dead by the time you get to the location.
As for Kenny's return, the reason why the game went downhill when he was reintroduced to the series is because he was added back into the games because fans wanted him back because they didn't see his death despite that he clearly dies off-screen; I remember when I was first playing season 1 when it was new and had my Lee stand by the fence while Kenny is screaming at the zombies. When I heard Kenny's last scream (implying that he was taken down by the zombies), I saw Lee's face look at the ground in sadness. Not only Kenny's return to TWD made that scene less powerful, it made the other characters in season 2 less important. Rather than getting more character development from the loner girl (who was a weaker imitation of the hoodie girl in season 1 of the game series) and the guy who gets stuck under the ice pond, we get PTSD Kenny - I read other ppl's comment on Steam that it didn't make sense for the other people in the group to gang up on him other than plot. It is funny that I can't remember most of the names in season 2 of the TWD (all I remember is Craver), but I can remember those in season 1 such as Lilly, Larry, and Kenny,