Tara Chambler (portrayed by Alanna Masterson) is a major supporting character in AMC's survival-horror series The Walking Dead. When she was first introduced in Season 4, she was initially an enemy of Rick Grimes' group, having been misled by The Governor into attacking the prison where Rick's people had made their home. After the Governor's attack resulted in the deaths of her entire group, Tara sought to make amends and helped the displaced Glenn Rhee reunite with his scattered friends. After Rick's people reassembled, Tara was welcomed into the group and would remain one of Rick's most reliable allies.
After Rick's disappearance following the war with the Saviors, Tara would relocate to the Hilltop Colony, eventually becoming its leader. Her tenure as leader would be short, however, as she would become a victim of the Whisperers during the Kingdom trade fair massacre.
Overview[]
When first introduced, Tara appears to be hard and mistrusting of others, though this is soon revealed to be a façade. In reality, she is an honest and fairly upbeat woman, even in the face of such dire circumstances. She cared deeply for her sister Lilly and niece Meghan, and although she would lose them following the Governor's assault on the prison, she did not allow herself to give into despair.
Tara showed profound guilt over her involvement with the Governor's attack on the prison, despite having no influence over the event, and was willing to do whatever it took to help Glenn Rhee reunite with his scattered friends in order to make up for it. Her emotional maturity grows significantly as she later joins Rick's group, helping them overcome all sorts of challenges prior to their arrival at the Alexandria Safe-Zone.
During the conflict with the Saviors, however, Tara is shown to become more cold and vengeful, wanting to kill all of the Saviors in order to avenge her girlfriend Denise as well as various others who die over the course of the conflict. She was particularly set on killing Dwight, who was responsible for killing Denise, but as Dwight later aided the Militia in bringing down Negan, she came to see the parallels between him and herself, remembering how she had helped the Governor attack the prison. This allowed her to let go of her hatred and abandon her vendetta against the Saviors.
Following the six-year time jump in Season 9, Tara becomes the leader of the Hilltop after the murder of Jesus by the Whisperers. As a leader, she seems to be stern and pragmatic, but still kind, understanding, honest, and willing to listen to others. When Alden and Luke went missing, she wasn't willing to put an entire group of her people at risk to find them, by going out to face an unknown threat, preferring to return to Hilltop to get more information before acting. Though she appears certain in her decisions, she openly admits to Yumiko Okumura that she doesn't know if she knows what she's doing, inviting her to talk to her if she ever disagrees with one of her decisions, and is also quick to forgive Yumiko and her group for going against her orders to search for Luke, understanding their fear for the safety of their friend.
History[]
Early life[]
Little is known about Tara's life before the apocalypse. She had grown up in Atlanta along with her sister Lilly and aspired to become a police officer, enrolling at the Atlanta police academy. One time while on a camping trip, she admitted to being a lesbian to a friend of hers, but her friend didn't share her sexuality as she had thought.
Tara's police training was incomplete by the time of the zombie outbreak. Her family picked her up from the academy and together they holed up inside their apartment complex, remaining there for over a year. During that time, Tara hadn't yet learned how to properly kill a walker or that all humans reanimate regardless of being bitten or not.
Season 4[]
Over a year into the apocalypse, Tara and her family were still living in their shared apartment, surviving off the non-perishables stored in David's work truck. One day, however, they were visited by a lone stranger wearing an eye-patch. The stranger introduced himself as "Brian Heriot", though his real name was Philip Blake, the so-called Governor of the small town of Woodbury. The Chamblers allowed Brian to stay in their building until he was fit enough to take care of himself, but over time they grew to depend on him as he taught them how to properly destroy walkers and also acquired oxygen tanks for the terminally-ill David. Brian then saved Tara's life when David died and reanimated as a walker; when David attacked Tara, Brian was the one who put him down.
Brian eventually decided to leave the apartment complex, but Tara and Lilly had grown to accept him as part of their family, deciding to leave with him. They would eventually meet up with another group of survivors led by Caesar Martinez, who was once the Governor's right-hand man. Brian would discretely kill Martinez and his successor Pete Dolgen, assuming leadership of the group himself. Determined to protect Lilly and the others as well as take his revenge on Rick Grimes' group, Brian rallied his band of survivors together to attack the West Georgia Correctional Facility. Tara would follow Brian into battle while Lilly stayed behind to take care of her daughter Meghan.
Prior to attacking the prison, Brian had found Michonne Hawthorne and Hershel Greene outside the prison boundaries and took them as hostages. Rolling up to the prison fence with two hostages, several armed troops and even a tank, Brian demanded that Rick and his people vacate the prison so that his people could move in. Rick tried to reason with him, but Brian wouldn't listen and executed Hershel in response, resulting in battle erupting.
After witnessing Brian behead Hershel, Tara realized that she was on the wrong side of the conflict. She turned to run, trying to convince her new girlfriend Alisha to join her, but Alisha stayed behind to provide cover fire while Tara fled. A bomb then went off nearby and the two were separated. As the battle raged, Tara hunkered down near one of the fences, watching as all of her group were killed, even witnessing the arrival of Lilly holding the dead body of Meghan in her arms and killing Brian after he had been mortally wounded by Michonne. Tara even saw the demise of her sister who, after killing Brian, allowed the incoming horde of walkers to devour her.
After the battle, the prison was left in ruins and its former occupants had scattered in all directions. One of the prison residents - Glenn Rhee - spotted Tara in a near-catatonic state and convinced her to follow him. Back on her feet and on the move once more, Tara apologized profusely to Glenn for what had happened, stating that she hadn't seen "Brian" for who he was until after he had killed Hershel. While not yet willing to forgive Tara for fighting with the Governor, Glenn told her that he needed her help in order to find his wife Maggie and the rest of their friends. Along the way, the two ran afoul of a group of walkers and Glenn was almost killed due to his exhaustion. Tara was able to finish off the walkers and saved Glenn's life before she noticed that they were being watched by three strangers, who would soon introduce themselves as Abraham, Rosita and Eugene.
Abraham and his companions were headed for Washington D.C. on an apparent mission that could save the world from the undead plague, and after witnessing Tara and Glenn deal with a swarm of walkers, attempted to enlist them. However, Glenn was adamant that he find his wife, but Abraham attempted to force he and Tara to join him. The decision was soon taken out of Abraham's hands after Eugene damaged their Jeep while trying to shoot a walker. Unable to repair the Jeep, Abraham and his posse had no choice but to walk and accompanied Glenn and Tara.
The group eventually came to a dark tunnel that had partially collapsed. Glenn was determined to go through it, believing that it would be faster than going around and he would not have to lose any time in his search for Maggie. Tara agreed to go with him while Abraham's group took a road that went around the tunnel, hoping to find a new vehicle. Inside the tunnel, Glenn and Tara had minimal light and there were countless walkers inside. Many were buried by the prior cave-in, but a large number of mobile zombies were waiting on the other side of the heap of debris. Glenn and Tara found themselves cornered, but were miraculously saved at the last moment by none other than Maggie, Sasha and Bob whom had encountered Abraham, Eugene and Rosita at the other end of the tunnel.
With Glenn happily reunited with his wife, the group followed a series of signs leading to a survivors' colony called Terminus. The group arrived safe and sound, but the idyllic sanctuary promised by the signs was not all that it seemed. The residents of Terminus took all of the group's supplies and then had them locked up in a steel boxcar, intending to keep the group as food. A short time after their imprisonment, Tara and co. were reunited with Rick, Carl, Daryl and Michonne after they too had followed the signs to Terminus and they were all locked up together.
Season 5[]
Trapped within Terminus and about to be slaughtered as food for a group of cannibals, the situation seemed hopeless for Tara and the other prisoners. However, an opportunity for escape arose when Terminus was attacked by Carol Peletier, a member of Rick's group who had been cast out prior to the Governor's assault on the prison. Using fireworks as a lure for a horde of zombies, Carol created a breach in Terminus' fences when she fired on a gas tank, causing a heavy explosion. With the Terminus forces distracted, Rick and the others were able to take advantage of the chaos and escape, reuniting with Carol, Tyreese Williams and Rick's infant daughter Judith.
Following the escape from Terminus, Tara revealed to Rick and his people how she had been involved with the Governor's attack on the prison. Rick and the others understood her situation and forgave her, welcoming her into the group. After arriving at Father Gabriel's church, the survivors made plans on how to proceed further. Abraham was adamant about completing his mission to take Eugene to Washington, though Daryl suggested looking for Beth Greene, who had been kidnapped on his watch. That night, following a supply run to a nearby town, Bob went missing. He would appear on the church's doorstep again some hours later, his leg carved off, telling the others that Gareth and the survivors from Terminus had mutilated him. Not only that, but Bob had been bitten by a zombie during the supply run and was doomed to die.
When Gareth and his group arrived at the church in the hopes of killing off Rick's people, Rick and the others were prepared for them and ambushed them. After the cannibals were killed, the survivors split off into two groups: Rick led the majority of the survivors to Atlanta to look for Carol and Daryl, who had disappeared in the night. Abraham would take Eugene, Rosita, Glenn, Maggie and Tara with him on his journey to Washington.
On the road to Washington, Tara would try to connect with Eugene, though Eugene admitted to having doubts about his usefulness to the group. Along the way, the group's bus broke down and Eugene admitted to Tara that he had sabotaged the vehicle himself out of fear of being left behind. The team would later obtain a fire engine from a small town, but that would also break down just as they neared another town that was completely overrun with walkers. The group began arguing over whether to risk going through the town or finding another route, but Eugene then spoke up and admitted that he had lied about being a scientist and didn't know how to stop the undead plague. This revelation sent Abraham into a frenzy and he beat Eugene to the ground.
A while later, Abraham would come to his senses and his team would head back, no longer having a reason to go on to Washington. They headed to Atlanta to rendezvous with Rick's group who were trying to save Beth. Sadly, the whole ordeal ended in tragedy as Beth had been killed. Joined by Noah, the group made their way to Noah's hometown, but found that the area had been ransacked with walkers picking over the remains. The group suffered another loss when Tyreese was bitten by a walker and soon died from infection.
With no supplies and their vehicles broken down, the group were forced to walk down miles of desolate road without a clear goal in sight. Exhausted and starving, the group took shelter in an isolated barn when a storm kicked up. The storm was fierce and walkers had gathered outside, threatening to tear through the barn and kill the occupants. Fortunately, the walkers were killed or incapacitated by several trees that were either uprooted by the winds or struck down by lightning. When the survivors emerged from the barn in the morning, they found they were being watched.
Aaron, a man from a community called Alexandria, offered Rick and his people the opportunity to join them. The Alexandrians had survived the apocalypse in complete safety up to that point, but as conditions outside of the community's walls had deteriorated they had come to need the expertise of those who have survived on the outside. After some deliberation, Rick and the others accepted Aaron's offer and were later welcomed into Alexandria, offering their skills to help the town endure and grow.
Season 6[]
After some time and tribulations, Tara and the other members of Rick's group began to adjust to life in Alexandria. Tara even became close to Denise Cloyd, an Alexandria resident who replaced Pete Anderson as the town's doctor. She and Denise would work closely together in Alexandria while Rick organized a plan to lure a colossal horde of zombies away from the town, but this plan would unravel as a group of marauders called the Wolves attacked the safe-zone, creating enough noise to keep the walkers on course towards the settlement despite the efforts of Rick and his team.
Tara and Denise would survive the Wolves' attack, tending to those who were wounded. When a tower near the settlement wall collapsed, walkers poured into the safe-zone, forcing everyone to retreat indoors. With the undead flooding the streets, the situation seemed hopeless. However, Rick, Daryl and Michonne would defy the odds and go about killing as many walkers as they could. Inspired by the bravery of these few outsiders, the people of Alexandria would take to the streets and work together to exterminate the zombie horde with whatever tools and weapons they had. After a long night, Alexandria was finally cleared of walkers with no further loss of life to its residents.
Some time after Alexandria's walls were repaired, the community would face a new threat in the form of the Saviors, a ruthless group of extortionists who subjugated other survivors and forced them to provide them with resources under the threat of death. When Rick met with the leadership of the Hilltop Colony, a community under the heel of the Saviors, he offered to eliminate the hostile group in exchange for food and medical supplies. Tara would join a team chosen by Rick to attack a satellite station used as an outpost by the Saviors. Sneaking in under cover of darkness, Rick's team killed every Savior within the facility as they slept.
Following the attack on the Saviors' satellite outpost, Tara would join Heath on a two-week scavenger run. While Tara was away, Denise would be killed and Alexandria would be forced into servitude by the Saviors.
Season 7[]
In the two weeks since leaving Alexandria, Tara and Heath hadn't found anything worthwhile to bring back. While investigating a barricaded bridge, she and Heath were attacked by a group of walkers that had been buried under a pile of sand. In the ensuing struggle, Tara fell off the bridge and was carried downstream towards a beach. She would later regain consciousness after being saved by a woman called Cyndie. She discretely began following the stranger to a village inhabited solely by women.
After arriving at Oceanside, Tara was shot at by the women living there. She was taken captive and questioned by Natania, the village leader. Tara lied about her background and asked to be released, but Natania refused to let her go, deciding that Tara would have to live as a resident at Oceanside indefinitely in order to maintain the community's secrecy. While Tara dined with Natania and her family, they told her about how a hostile group had murdered all of the men in their community. Realizing that Natania was referring to the Saviors, Tara confessed that her group had killed the Saviors at the satellite outpost and suggested that her group and Oceanside join forces. Natania agreed to send a guide with Tara to find Heath and meet with her community.
The next day, Tara left the settlement with Kathy and Beatrice into the woods, but soon realized that they were going to kill her. When a walker appeared, she volunteered to kill it and seized her opportunity to flee. As Beatrice caught up and held her at gunpoint, Tara pleaded that she had to get back to her friends, but Beatrice told her it wastoo late, and assured her people were dead because the satellite station was only an outpost. She explained that her group tried to fight the Saviors too but lost, and the Saviors killed every man and boy over ten as punishment.
When Cyndie helped Tara escape into the woods, she made her swear to keep their settlement a secret and Tara agreed. Cyndie gave her a backpack with supplies and offered to take her to where she last saw Heath. They eventually arrived at the bridge and Cyndie refused to leave until Tara safely crossed. She made her way across the bridge as Cyndie shot down walkers from the top of a car. Tara looked for Heath and found his broken glasses and some tire tracks in the dirt. She picked up a badge that said "PPP" and put it in her pocket. She then traveled towards Alexandria over the next following days, and on the way, she camped out in a gift shop, eating the food that Cyndie gave her.
Sometime later, Tara arrived back at Alexandria and was met by a broken Eugene. She was then informed of the recent events. Tara sat in the infirmary, despondent over the news of Denise's death as well as the deaths of Glenn and Abraham. Determined to seek revenge on the Saviors, Rosita asked Tara if she had any leads on guns or ammo. Tara kept her word to Cyndie and told Rosita that she didn't find anything during her scouting mission.
When the Saviors' leader Negan paid a visit to Alexandria, he murdered Spencer Monroe when Spencer tried to persuade him to kill Rick. After the residents witnessed this horrific act, Rosita attempted to shoot Negan, only to miss him and hit his treasured baseball bat, Lucille. In response, Negan ordered his lieutenant Arat to kill someone and Arat shot Olivia. When Negan demanded to know where the bullet had come from, seeing as the Saviors had confiscated all of Alexandria's ammunition, Tara stepped up and confessed. However, Eugene interjected and admitted truthfully that he had made the bullet himself. As such, Negan had Eugene taken away to the Sanctuary.
After Negan had left Alexandria, Tara accompanied Rick, Michonne and Daryl to the Hilltop where they met with its leader Gregory, hoping to convince him and his people to join them in resisting the Saviors. When Gregory refused to ally with them, they then traveled to another community known as the Kingdom. Once more, Rick asked for help in fighting the Saviors, but King Ezekiel was hesitant to commit his people to the fight. However, as Rick's group left the Kingdom, they traveled down a deserted highway where they discovered several explosives planted along the road. Taking care to dismantle the Saviors' trap, they were able to salvage most of the explosives, using what remained to blow up most of an advancing walker herd.
After returning to Alexandria, Rick's group were informed by Aaron that Gabriel had disappeared, taking much food and weaponry with him and leaving behind a note for Rick. Rick and his party set off to find Gabriel, their search bringing them to a junkyard where they found themselves being held at gunpoint by a group of survivors known as the Scavengers. Tara listened as Rick tried to make a deal with Jadis, the leader of the junkyard group. When she refused, Tara and the group were attacked but gained the upper hand until Gabriel defused the situation by taking a Scavenger hostage. She then watched through a tube as Rick was forced to fight a walker covered in metal armour and steel spikes. He later came back to the group, injured but smiling, and told them a deal had been made.
While Rick had managed to secure an alliance with the Scavengers, Alexandria still needed guns if they were to stand a chance against the Saviors. After much inner conflict, Tara ultimately decided to tell Rick about Oceanside and later led a group there in order to acquire the community's guns. After sneaking into Natania's hut and holding her at gunpoint, Tara explained the situation to the Oceansiders, urging them to help fight the Saviors. Natania refused and distracted Tara, giving Cyndie enough time to grab a hidden gun. Tara turned her gun towards Cyndie, and was tackled by Natania. As Cyndie held her at gunpoint, Tara revealed that her own gun was never loaded. Natania asked for Cyndie's gun and she reluctantly complied.
As the other Oceansiders were taken captive outside by Rick and his group, Natania appeared holding Tara at gunpoint. Cyndie told her people that Rick's group wanted to fight the Saviors. When Michonne warned Rick that walkers were approaching, Cyndie knocked Natania out, saving Tara's life again. The Alexandrians and the Oceansiders organized a combined defense that allowed them to efficiently kill off the walkers.
When the group left with the guns later, Cyndie informed Tara that Natania had forbidden her community to fight the Saviors. She thanked Tara for what her group was doing and wished them luck. When the group returned to Alexandria late at night, Rosita opened the gate for them. She told them they had a visitor. Rosita led Rick's group to the Alexandria prison cell where Dwight sat behind bars.
Tara furiously reprimanded Dwight for murdering Denise. He replied that she was not his intended target. In response, Daryl slammed Dwight against a wall and held him at knifepoint. Tara told Daryl to kill him, but Dwight told Daryl that he served Negan for Sherry's sake and Sherry had saved Daryl, but she was gone now. Daryl reluctantly released Dwight, believing his story. When Dwight left to head back to the Sanctuary, Tara and Daryl exchanged glances.
The next day, Tara and the Alexandrians were left shocked as Eugene arrived with the Saviors and told the group to surrender. When a reanimated Sasha attacked Negan and Carl used the distraction to start shooting at the Scavengers and the Saviors, Tara joined the fight and helped Rosita after she was shot. After the Saviors and the Scavengers escaped, Tara sat by Rosita's side as she recovered in the infirmary.
Season 8[]
As war with the Saviors broke out, Tara took part in the Militia's plan to trap the Saviors within the Sanctuary by leading a herd of walkers up to the enemy's compound. The plan was successful and after the undead had surrounded the Sanctuary, Tara left to join a mission to attack the repopulated Savior satellite outpost. During the attack, Tara and Jesus entered the building and found a Savior named Dean hiding in a closet. He claimed to be a worker from the Sanctuary forced from his family. Jesus decided to show mercy and let him live, but Tara was furious, desiring to kill all the Saviors out of revenge for Denise.
When the Militia got distracted by gunfire coming from outside, Dean took Jesus hostage, revealing his deception. Before he could shoot Tara, Jesus swiftly disarmed him with his skills in martial arts. Regardless, he refused to kill Dean, instead choosing to tie him up, much to Tara's disgust. When they heard over the radio that the Saviors planned to retreat, Jesus led the rest of the fighters to the back exit of the compound, intercepting around a dozen fleeing Saviors. Heavily outnumbered and outgunned, they surrendered without a fight, but Tara angrily declared that even if Maggie listened to Jesus' reasoning, Rick would listen to hers.
While on the road to the Hilltop, Tara's group and their prisoners were attacked by walkers. In the confusion, some of the captive Saviors attempted to escape, but were ultimately caught. Morgan wanted to kill the Saviors, Jared in particular, which Tara agreed with, but Jesus remained firm in his decision to keep them prisoner. When the group arrived at Hilltop, the captives were tied up along the outer wall until a detention cell could be set up for them.
Upon returning to Alexandria, Tara told Daryl that she understood why he spared Dwight and felt that he made the right choice as Dwight was the only reason they had gotten so far. However, she was determined to kill Dwight once the fighting was over. Daryl suggested that they would kill him together and that they wouldn't have to wait for the war to be over. While on their way to the Sanctuary, they crashed into a Savior vehicle. They then encountered Michonne and Rosita, who revealed that they were both heading to the Sanctuary as well and the group joined forces.
As the group discussed their plan, with Morgan having joined them, Rosita expressed doubts about the plan, concerned about the workers inside the building and the plan going awry. Tara confronted her about her apparent change in attitude, and recounted how she had waited before telling Rick about Oceanside and their weapon cache, showing regret at the fact that she had not informed him earlier, which could have helped better their situation.
When Rosita left, Tara and Daryl continued their plan and Michonne insisted on seeing it through. They drove the truck to the edge of the Sanctuary's perimeter as Morgan kept watch. Several Saviors perched at the window were fired upon by Tara, Morgan and the lookouts as Daryl crashed the truck into the Sanctuary, breaching the walls and allowing the zombie herd to pour in. Tara and Daryl retreated as the walkers began making their way inside.
Having returned to Alexandria, Tara helped Rosita unload some boxes. As she suggested that they take the air horn to direct the herd, Rosita, with a smile on her face, put the heavy boxes on her arms. That night, Tara was part of the convoy that escaped Alexandria while the residents hid in the sewers. After killing all the Saviors in a trap with the help of Dwight, they returned to Alexandria and hid in the sewers with the rest of the residents where they would discover shortly after that Carl had been bitten by a walker and was suffering from infection.
Tara remained in the sewers with the other Alexandrians as the Saviors' grenades continued to blow apart Alexandria above them. She listened as Dwight explained that the Saviors would soon run out of ammo and insisted they stay put until the siege was over. After the explosions subsided and the remaining Saviors left, Tara said goodbye to Carl and she and the others prepared to head to the Hilltop for refuge.
While en route to Hilltop, the refugees travelled through the woods. During this time, a walker attacked Tara and as she moved in to kill it, she instead grabbed it and pushed it towards Dwight, hoping that it would kill him. Dwight was able to kill the zombie without suffering injury while Tara excused herself by stating that it had "slipped away from her". Becoming increasingly aggravated by Dwight's continued survival, Tara asked Daryl and Rosita why they hadn't killed him yet, who told her that Dwight was still a useful asset to them.
After discussing what route to take to Hilltop, the group attempted to make their way through a swamp. Once more, Tara let her desire for revenge get the better of her, redirecting zombies towards Dwight. When that failed, she threw a knife at him, but missed. She then pulled a gun and shot at him several times. The sound of the shots drew the attention of a Savior patrol and Tara and Dwight hid in some bushes. As the patrol got closer, Dwight broke cover and explained to the Saviors that he survived the ambush near Alexandria, leading them away from the swamp. Tara was surprised by this and found Rosita, having followed the pair. She asked why she didn't attempt to stop her, with Rosita explaining that she would have also pursued him to no end.
Upon returning to the swamp, Daryl furiously berated Tara for allowing Dwight to leave and risking him giving away their group to the Saviors. Having seen Dwight's efforts to sway the Saviors away from their location, Tara was convinced that Dwight had indeed changed for the better. Daryl remained unconvinced, but decided to forego continuing the conversation any longer, leading the Alexandrians through the now-clear waters. Tara and the Alexandrians eventually arrived at the Hilltop gates, bearing the news of the town's downfall and the loss of Carl.
When the Saviors showed up at the gates of Hilltop to attack, Tara and the Militia members prepared themselves to defend the community. During the battle, Simon spotted Tara and ordered Dwight to hunt her down. Daryl saw Simon and Dwight sneaking up on Tara and shouted a warning, but was too late as Dwight shot Tara in the arm with an arrow. She was removed from battle as the Militia managed to drive the Saviors out.
The next day, as Hilltop cleaned up in the aftermath of battle, Tara and Daryl discussed Dwight shooting her. She reminded Daryl that she was with the Governor when they first met and Daryl referenced his brother Merle, saying that he would have joined the Saviors if he were still around. That night when all the wounded in battle mysteriously turned into walkers and chaos erupted inside Barrington House, Tara sat on a bed surrounded by Enid, Rosita, and others. When Rick, Daryl, and others entered the room, Tara questioned how this happened. Daryl told her that the Saviors did something to their weapons and that everyone they wounded all turned. Tara took this to mean that she would suffer the same fate as the others, but by morning she still hadn't fallen sick, realizing that Dwight had hit her with a clean arrow. She reasoned that Dwight shot her to save her life and probably couldn't break away to warn them about the coming attack, and thus she let go of her vendetta against him.
Tara was present during the final battle of the war, witnessing how the Saviors' weapons backfired on them thanks to Eugene sabotaging their ammunition. To Tara's surprise and delight, her misgivings about the captured Saviors were put to rest when Alden and the other captives who had remained following Simon's attack showed up along with fighters from Oceanside to reinforce the Militia. With the Saviors overwhelmed and Negan badly wounded, the Militia had won the war.
Season 9[]
Following the war against the Saviors, Tara had permanently moved to the Hilltop where she acted as an advisor to Maggie for a time. Six years after the apparent death of Rick, however, Jesus would become the leader of the Hilltop after Maggie had left to meet up with another group of survivors. For a while, Tara would act as Jesus' advisor, though frequently had to lead in his stead as he continually blew off his responsibilities. Unfortunately, Jesus would be killed while joining Daryl and Aaron in looking for Eugene, who had gone missing. Jesus would be murdered by members of a vicious group of survivors called the Whisperers, who wore zombie skins in order to walk amongst them. With Jesus and Maggie gone, Tara became the de facto leader of Hilltop.
While attending a trade fair at the Kingdom, which was intended to reunite the communities, Tara joined the other community leaders in signing a charter for the new Coalition. Not long after the signing ceremony, however, she would be abducted by the Whisperers and held in a stable along with several others. While Tara and the other captives fought back against the aggressors, Alpha would arrive with reinforcements, leading to the slaughter of most of the group with only Siddiq being left alive as a witness. The ten victims of the massacre would be decapitated and their heads planted on pikes which Alpha would use to mark the border between the Whisperers' and Coalition's territories.
The next day, Daryl, Michonne, Carol and Yumiko were released from the Whisperers' camp after being captured the night before. They found Siddiq not far from the newly-established border. The group were shocked and heartbroken to witness the reanimated heads of ten of their friends and family members planted upon the hill as a grim marker. After putting down the zombified heads, the group returned to the Kingdom and Siddiq told everyone what had happened, remarking how the victims of the massacre had all fought valiantly for one another until the very end and that they should be remembered as heroes.