Alden was a supporting character in the survival-horror TV series The Walking Dead. Introduced in Season 8 as a member of the Saviors, he was far less violent and more level-headed than most other members of his group. Following the war between the Saviors and the Militia, Alden moved to the Hilltop Colony and was happy to assist in the community's growth however he could. By the time of Rick Grimes' disappearance, he had fully embraced his former enemies' way of living and had become a trusted and beloved member of the Coalition.
History[]
Nothing is known about Alden's pre-apocalypse life, except that he and his older brother were raised by their father, who was a poor parent. He was 20 years old around the time of the outbreak and would likely have been in college. Alden's brother was murdered by another survivor at some point following the initial outbreak, and while Alden would take revenge against his brother's killer, he took no joy or comfort from it. At some point following his brother's death, Alden was recruited into the Saviors as a worker.
Season 8[]
During the conflict between the Saviors and the Militia, Alden was working at a satellite operating station that the Saviors were using as an outpost. The station was attacked by the Militia and most of the fighters were killed. The workers and a few surviving combatants attempted to flee, but the Militia forces stopped them. Alden stepped forward and surrendered on behalf of his group, and after some debate, it was decided that the Saviors would be taken back to Hilltop Colony as prisoners of war.
During the trek back to Hilltop, some of the Saviors - against Alden's advice - attempted to escape. They would be recaptured before getting very far. When they arrived at Hilltop, the prisoners were initially tied up outside the settlement walls, but some pleading to Maggie Rhee from both Aaron and Jesus led to the construction of a holding pen within the settlement's courtyard. After the captives were moved into the pen, Alden continued to speak on behalf of the prisoners, though his words were not always heeded.
Later into the war, Simon led a Savior attack against Hilltop in which the attackers used weapons soaked in walker blood. During the attack, no attempt was made by Simon's group to rescue the imprisoned Saviors, one of whom were injured during the attack. Following the attack, it was clear to Alden and most of the prisoners that the Saviors didn't care about them. Later on, a young boy named Henry opened the pen in search of the Savior who had murdered his brother Benjamin, threatening to shoot all of the prisoners if his brother's killer didn't step forward and confess. It was at that point, however, that a prisoner wounded during Simon's attack turned into a walker and attacked one of the other prisoners. Jared, Benjamin's killer, then knocked out Henry and made his escape while the pen door was left open, taking several other prisoners with him. Alden was among those who remained, deciding that the Saviors and Negan weren't worth fighting for.
A few days later, the war would end with the Saviors being defeated. Having cooperated with the Militia the entire time since his capture, Alden was granted leniency and allowed to move into Hilltop, soon integrating into the community.
Season 9[]
Six years following Rick Grimes' apparent death, Alden continued to live at Hilltop studying blacksmithing under Earl Sutton. He had also entered into a romantic relationship with Enid. Although the communities had become distant from each other since the loss of Rick, work was being undertaken to bring them back together again, with the Kingdom due to host a trade fair and the community leaders were to sign a charter to ensure cooperation among them.
However, the Coalition would face a new threat in the form of the Whisperers, a violent group of survivors that had adopted a more primitive way of living in the post-apocalyptic world. Fundamentally opposed to what the Coalition stood for, the Whisperers began encroaching upon the communities and even infiltrated the Kingdom during the trade fair, capturing and murdering several patrons before planting their decapitated heads on spikes at a border they had established between their territories. Not long after the trade fair massacre, the Kingdom would collapse due to the failure of its plumbing and electrical grid, forcing its residents to relocate to Hilltop.
Season 10[]
Although the Coalition abided by the Whisperers' terms and borders, this didn't stop the Whisperers from surreptitiously carrying out acts of sabotage against Alexandria as they moved the borders to seize more land, contaminated Alexandria's water supply and even sent a spy to infiltrate the community and disrupt it from within. The conflict would escalate to the point where Alpha led a direct attack against Hilltop, laying siege with an army of walkers and torching the settlement by bombarding it with sap and flaming arrows.
Alden was among the Hilltop residents to survive the Whisperers' attack. When he escaped, he was accompanied by Aaron and Mary, a former Whisperer. He had also managed to rescue Adam, a baby that had been abandoned by the Whisperers and rescued and adopted by Earl and his wife Tammy. Tammy had been killed during the trade fair massacre and Earl would die as a result of the attack on Hilltop, leaving Alden to care for Adam himself. Alden was distrustful of Mary, who was the sister of Adam's biological mother, but she would soon sacrifice her life in order to protect him, Adam and Aaron when Beta came looking for them.
After Alpha was killed by Negan, Beta delved further into insanity and amassed an army of zombies to take his revenge on the Coalition survivors. After having left Adam with their friends, Alden and Aaron returned to Alexandria, which had been evacuated. There, they saw Beta and his undead horde filling the streets and observed from a safe distance as they moved on towards the abandoned hospital where the rest of the survivors had fallen back to.
During the final battle of the Whisperer conflict, Alden joined Daryl Dixon, Carol Peletier and Luke Abrams in escorting a wagon carrying several speakers away from the hospital. The music pumping from the speakers lured the zombie horde away, but the Whisperers attacked and destroyed the sound system, thus allowing the Whisperers to lead the horde back to the hospital. Fortunately, Beta would be killed not long afterwards, bringing the war to an end.
At the climax of the war, Maggie Rhee and her son Hershel had returned after being gone for several years. She informed her old friends that she had met another community during her travels, but this community had been destroyed by a group known as the Reapers. With Hilltop destroyed and Alexandria left in shambles, the community had very little food left and was facing starvation. Maggie asked for volunteers for a mission to go to Meridian, the Wardens' old settlement now under Reaper occupation, to obtain enough food to feed the community.
Season 11[]
Alden was among the Coalition survivors to join Maggie in her mission to obtain food for Alexandria. During the journey to Meridian, the team was forced to travel through an abandoned subway system, but the tunnels were infested with walkers. At one point, the group took shelter inside a train car, but left one of their own - Gage - behind. When Gage caught up to the rest of the group, they refused to open the door for him as there was a horde of walkers behind him and they didn't have the ammunition to deal with so many. Gage then killed himself so he wouldn't have to suffer the pain of being torn apart by the undead. Not long after his death and being partially eaten, Gage reanimated. Alden was ashamed by how his comrades had abandoned Gage, calling them out for being unable to look at him following his reanimation.
After Daryl met up with the group by arriving from the other end of the train, the group then had additional ammunition and a grenade with which to eliminate the walker presence. After killing off the horde, the group continued onward and made it out of the subway, arriving on a road to Meridian. It was then, however, that the group was attacked by the Reapers and forced to scatter. Alden fled with Maggie, Negan and Gabriel into the woods where they were confronted by some of the Reapers as well as more walkers. The four were able to survive, but Gabriel was seperated from the party and Alden was stabbed and wounded by a Reaper.
After emerging from the woods, Maggie, Negan and Alden took refuge in an abandoned church. The situation was becoming increasingly dire, but Alden told Maggie that she had to continue with the mission as there were so many lives at stake back home. Due to his injury, Alden was unable to continue the mission and stayed behind in the church while Maggie and Negan left.
Death[]
In the episode "No Other Way", Maggie returned to the church where she had left Alden. When she opened the door, she was attacked by a zombified Reaper, but quickly dispatched it. She called out for Alden, but was heartbroken to find Alden had also turned as he crawled out from between the rows of pews. Looking at Alden's undead form, Maggie noticed a slice mark through his neck, indicating that the Reaper had gotten him. She then tearfully knelt down and thrust a knife into Alden's head, putting him down for good.