Alden

Alden, also referred to as Al, is a main character and a survivor of the outbreak in AMC's The Walking Dead. He was a worker for the Saviors before defecting to the Militia following the attack on the Hilltop. Following the defeat of the Saviors, Alden chooses to remain at the Hilltop to help build up the community. He serves as a blacksmith and the Head of Construction of the Hilltop Colony.

Overview
Unlike most of his fellow Saviors who tend to have a rough and often volatile nature, Alden is level-headed and tends to avoid violence and bloodbaths if he can help it, shown when he immediately surrendered to the Militia and talked his fellow men into doing the same instead of starting more bloodshed. In the makeshift prison at Hilltop, he deliberately bumped Jared and told him to not cause any more trouble after already risking their lives twice with escape attempts. Alden appeared to take up a leadership role with the Savior prisoners, attempting to negotiate with Maggie on their behalf. In return, Maggie appeared to treat Alden as the leader of the prisoners and showed him a level of respect that many of the others didn't receive.

As he spends more time as a prisoner of the Militia, Alden becomes more and more disillusioned with the Saviors. After Simon shows no care for the prisoners, Alden cuts all ties with the Saviors and states that the Saviors aren't his people anymore when sent to bury the dead Saviors. Alden's disillusionment goes so far that he chooses to stay at the Hilltop willingly rather than return to the Saviors when given the chance despite knowing that the Saviors' lack of care towards the prisoners means that he no longer has any strategic value to the Militia.

Location Unknown
Nothing is known about Alden's life prior to or as the outbreak began besides the fact that he had at least one brother. He appears to have an engineering or construction background as Alden was employed by the Saviors to determine what it would take to turn an abandoned bar into an outpost and to figure out a way to reinforce their defenses at the Satellite Outpost.

Post-Apocalypse
At an unknown point, Alden's brother was murdered. Alden took revenge on the killers, but it didn't make him feel better as he expected.

Alden eventually joined the Saviors as a worker. At some point, he was sent to check out an abandoned dive bar located between the Sanctuary and the Hilltop to determine what it would take to turn it into a Savior outpost. Alden apparently determined that it was impossible to turn the bar into an outpost as it was left abandoned by the Saviors.

Some time after the Satellite Outpost was ambushed by Rick and the Alexandrians, Alden was among the Saviors dispatched to the outpost to erect a fence surrounding the satellite station, to keep out zombies and any future invaders.

Killed Victims
This list shows the victims Alden has killed:
 * 1 unnamed Hilltop resident/refugee (Zombified)
 * At least 1 unnamed survivor
 * Numerous counts of zombies

Relationships
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Enid
Alden and Enid have a romantic relationship, and when she came to check on Henry during his first day blacksmithing, Enid and him kiss. He was noticeably worried about her when he couldn't find her in the crowd at the fair, and is saddened by her death.

Maggie Rhee
Maggie and Alden have a neutral relationship. Initially Maggie hated Alden, due to him being member of the Saviors. However, Maggie also treated Alden with more respect than the other Savior prisoners and treated him with a degree of kindness that meant a great deal to him.
 * "You know, I... I can build things, I can make some of that stuff real, for this place, for these people. It's what I want to do with my life. And, no joke, you, uh... You gave me that life, so..."
 * —Alden to Maggie, explaining why he wants to stay at Hilltop.[src]

In "Do Not Send Us Astray", when Saviors assaulted the Hilltop, Maggie changed her opinion on Alden, because he assisted in protecting the community, instead of running away. Afterwards, Maggie set Alden and the other prisoners free and allowed them to join the community though she refused to trust them completely as members of the Militia.

Alden has shown his loyalty to Hilltop after suggesting to Maggie about helping construct thing from the book "A Key to the Future" to help build up the community, using his skills for something good in a place he feels more at home than ever before. Maggie, now fully trusting Alden, agrees to allow him to stay and help.

Rick Grimes
During the events of All Out War, Rick is skeptical about Alden and does not trust him. A year and a half later, Alden has become the main voice of the Saviors, relaying their concerns to Rick and updating him on the progress of the bridge. He has enough confidence in his relationship with Rick that when Rick stated that they would protect the Saviors while they worked, he asked "they work for you and you protect them. What does that sound like to you?", calling him out on the fact that he was taking a Savior mentality about the situation.
 * "I'll talk to Rick about making everyone feel safer."
 * —Alden telling the Saviors he'll talk to Rick about giving them guns.[src]

Carol Peletier
Alden and Carol have a good relationship. In “The Obliged”, Carol trusts Alden to take the Saviors back to the Sanctuary. When Jed and the other rouge saviors start their coup. Jed, tells Carol that he was faster than his friend Alden and took his gun. This makes Carol concerned about Alden's wellbeing. Six years later In "Evolution", Carol when takes Henry to Hilltop to learn the trade of blacksmith, Alden promises Carol that they would take care of him.

Henry
Henry and Alden have a generally positive relationship. During the events of All Out War, when Henry sneaks into Maggie's pen of Saviors to find who killed his brother, Alden attempts to talk him down from killing anyone, telling him that it won't make him feel better. After the six year time jump, the two seem to get along. Alden is teaching Henry in blacksmithing and has showed him things like how to make a spearhead. Though Henry becomes visibly jealous of Alden when he discovers the latter is in a relationship with Enid.

Siddiq
Alden and Siddiq have a neutral relationship. In "Do Not Send Us Astray" Alden saves Siddiq from certain death at the hands of a walker.

Earl Sutton
Alden and Earl have a positive working relationship, as Earl has taken Alden on as his apprentice. In "Bounty," its mentioned that Earl and his wife Tammy Rose have become like parents to Alden and Enid. As a result, Earl takes Alden's disappearance hard.

Jared
Alden and Jared have presumably a poor relationship. When Jared tried to free himself from his binds at the Hilltop Colony, Alden bumped into him and stated that he does not want that Jared to get all the other Saviors, including Alden himself in trouble, after risking their safety one time before.
 * "You already screwed up once. I'm not gonna let you get us all killed."
 * —Alden to Jared.[src]

Jed
Before the end of the war, Jed and Alden presumably had a friendly relationship. However, after the events of All Out War, Jed no longer sees Alden as a Savior or any sort of friend, punching him when Alden tried to quiet the tension between the Saviors and the other communities while working on the bridge, telling him to “shovel that horseshit to whoever killed Justin”, and shaking his head at him when the situation was over.

Beatrice
Although Alden and Beatrice never directly conversed on screen, Alden appears to be one of the few former Saviors that Beatrice along with the other members of Oceanside trust. This is evidenced when she catches him after being punched by Jed and then stands by him as tension builds and a fight almost breaks out before Rick stops it.

Luke
In a short time, Alden and Luke became friends very quickly. Bonding over their love of music and jokingly talk about making a two-man band performing at the festival.

Lydia
Alden and Lydia have a poor relationship. He blames her for the death of Enid and feels like Lydia is still one of them. When spotting a few walkers in a field as the Kingdom makes their way to Hilltop, Alden takes the chance to show hostility towards Lydia and make it clear he still views her as a Whisperer before being told off by Daryl.
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Appearances
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Season 8

 * "The Damned"
 * "Monsters"
 * "The King, the Widow, and Rick"
 * "How It's Gotta Be"
 * "Dead or Alive Or"
 * "Do Not Send Us Astray"
 * "Still Gotta Mean Something"
 * "Wrath"

Season 9

 * "A New Beginning"
 * "The Bridge"
 * "Warning Signs"
 * "Stradivarius"
 * "Evolution"
 * "Adaptation"
 * "Bounty"
 * "Chokepoint"
 * "The Calm Before"
 * "The Storm"

Season 10

 * "Lines We Cross"
 * "Silence the Whisperers
 * "What It Always Is"
 * "The World Before"
 * "Stalker"
 * "Morning Star"
 * "Walk With Us"
 * "The Tower"
 * "A Certain Doom"
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Trivia

 * The casting call for this character used the name Dillon.
 * Alden is described as "a sexy, blue-collar twenty-something whose survival skills include sarcasm."
 * Alden's name was never revealed until dialogue in "How It's Gotta Be", while subtitles revealed his name in "The King, the Widow, and Rick".
 * Additionally, the actor revealed that he wasn't allowed to reveal his character's name and confirmed that "Dillon", the casting call name that was listed on IMDB, wasn't his character's name.[2]
 * Alden is the second member of the Saviors to defect to the Militia, the first being Dwight. At least 12 unnamed Savior prisoners followed Alden's lead.
 * As of "Stalker", Alden is one of only five named former Saviors confirmed to be alive, the others being Negan, Eugene, Quan, and Gracie.
 * Following Siddiq's death in "Open Your Eyes", Alden is the only series regular from Season 8 still alive.