Hello, Nonnie! First of all I would like to apologize for not answering this sooner! I didn’t get a notification for this so I had no idea that you sent this in .-.
But listen skdjbfkdj I first started watching TWD shortly before season 4 came on and I marathoned seasons 1-3 at the recommendation of my best friend. My first impressions of the show, was well, okay, this is a good show, but I don’t really have a character that I connect with enough to obsess over. Don’t get me wrong, a lot of the characters were great, just none of them were THE character if you get what I mean.
Then it got to season 3. Philip Blake caught my interest because he was mysterious. You could always tell there was something lurking just beneath the surface and that’s what pulls you in. It’s what makes him so interesting in my opinion. That’s not exactly what makes him adorable persay, but it does start to pull you in and it makes you curious about him and then he does stuff like this:
or this:
And you’re seriously just trapped after this. No going back XD
The Psychology of the Governor- So many people seem to assume that the Governor was a jerk from the start, when he wasn’t, and I will never portray his character as such. When I write a character, I never base my opinions on a character solely on their actions, but the reasons behind why they do the things that they do. The Governor is a villain, so I already expect him to do bad things, so the fact that he does bad things is boring. Why he does those bad things? Far more interesting. At least to me personally. That’s why I like digging into a villain’s psychology... and so I hope that this helps you guys understand him a little better, too.
The Governor’s childhood- For part of this character analysis, I will be using the novel written on Philip’s/Brian’s backstory, The Rise of the Governor, since they didn’t really go into his background much in the show. In the book, The Governor’s name is actually Brian Blake (but the show condensed everything) and Brian was the eldest of three siblings. He was also described as a sickly book nerd... or the “runt” of the liter. He was highly intelligent and even went to college! But his home life wasn’t all that it was cracked up to be. His father, Ed Blake, was a violent drunk that frequently yelled and screamed and beat on his children... however, his younger brother, Philip, would always stand between him and his father and protect Brian from the beatings that they would receive and this is a fact that Brian also mentioned in the show:
Brian: “I remember the first smoke I ever had. Me and my brother huddled in the garage puffing on one of my dad's Lucky Strikes. He must have smelled the smoke, because he came barging in looking to beat up on us. But my brother got between us. Said he stole them. Wasn't true. It was me. But that was my brother. Hero. He got two black eyes and a broken rib for that. And I got beat anyway.” (S4E07)
(Since this post got a little long, the rest will be beneath the cut.)
I won’t go into Brian’s entire childhood history, but suffice it to say that, even though he was the older brother, he came to see Philip as his hero. He wanted to be just like him. He was everything he wanted to be and more. His brother was popular in school, had lots of friends, helped people, did ‘manly’ things like hunting, etc. etc. etc. Brian was the exact opposite. He was weak and could not take care of himself in hardly any setting. Philip honestly came to see Brian as a burden and he resented him for it... because Brian was the bigger brother and Brian should be the one that he could look up to, and not the other way around.
The Apocalypse- When everything went down, Philip (along with Bobby and Nick, two of Philip’s friends) found Brian hiding in their parent’s basement. Philip became the leader of their small group. They traveled from Waynesboro, where they originally lived, to Wiltshire Estates (where they lost Bobby), and then onto Atlanta, Georgia. Brian initially couldn’t kill a zombie. He just couldn’t bring himself to kill something that used to be a human being and he even broke down crying at the thought of it a few times, which would always piss his brother off. He would either push Brian out of the way, or kick him, and beat on him and try to drill it into his head that he NEEDED to be the bigger monster in order to survive.
Still, Brian didn’t mind the beatings so much. He actually tried to impress his brother a few times and do impossible (for Brian) things, just to prove to his hero that he could do what he needed him to do and be who he wanted him to be.
He still failed. Penny died. They were running away from crossfire and Penny was shot through the stomach and she bled to death in his arms. Later in the show he says:
Milton: “What would your daughter think about what you are?”
Brian: “She'd be afraid of me. But if I had been like this from the start, she'd be alive today.” (3x16)
“If I had been like this from the start.” You see how he is blaming himself for her death? How he believes that if he was the bigger monster from the start, like his brother literally beat into him, that be believes that she would still be alive? This is what it’s all about. Not just Penny, though. Shortly after he lost her, he lost his brother, too, who at this point was starting to lose his own sanity. The stresses of leadership had gotten to him enough that Nick decided to kill him... and Brian of course defended his hero and told Nick that he believed that, if given the chance, he could fix himself... but Nick didn’t listen and shot Philip... and then Brian wrestled the gun out of Nick’s arms and shot Nick. Philip also bled out and died in Brian’s arms just as Penny did.
This is when they arrived at Woodbury. Before Brian was the leader of the small town. This is where it gets tricky, though.
Woodbury was, at the time, ran by Gene Gavin, who was a ruthless National Guardsman that held the town by force. Brian had gone into a dissociative state after his brother died... wondering how he would make it without him or if he even wanted to... and then one day Gene Gavin held a town meeting and when there was a disagreement, someone tried to leave and Gavin shot the man. Brian kept asking himself what his brother would do over and over again, and as if something else controlled his body, Brian stood up and walked up onto the stage and unloaded his gun into Gavin and encouraged the rest of the town to take their town back from the National Guardsmen.
And so they did. Martinez was one of the first people on his side and when he asked Brian what his name was? Brian didn’t say Brian. No. Brian told Martinez that he was Philip Blake. Brian essentially develops a dissociative fugue, and took on the personality of his brother... which eventually morphs into the monster known as the Governor.
In General Psychology- So... Brian has always been weak. Always. He couldn’t survive, so he took on a personality that could survive. Something that was far more ruthless and monsterous. Brian tried to do right for a while, but he was thrust into the position of being a leader before he was ready. He was still mourning his brother and Penny and all he had to go on when it came to being the leader is what his brother beat into him. Be the bigger monster in order to survive. So he did try that. He even tried to desensitize himself by putting head in fish tanks and forcing himself to look at them... and to remind him that he was still alive and if he wasn’t careful, he would end up exactly like those guys. Dead.
Brian has a dual personality. Himself and that of his brother. He’s constantly waging a battle for dominance inside of his head... but the Governor eventually gets strong enough to overtake him.
Weakness is the trigger that brings this monster out. Because it was his own weakness that got everyone killed.
Why do people develop multiple personalities?
Dissociative identity disorder, previously called multiple personality disorder, is usually a reaction to trauma as a way to help a person avoid bad memories.
The definition:
Dissociative identity disorder is characterized by the presence of two or more distinct personality identities. Each may have a unique name, personal history, and characteristics.
This is Brian/Philip/The Governor and this describes him perfectly.
You can see the monster triggered by weakness when he kills Marinez, like a switch being flipped in his head, please pay attention to his eyes. You can tell he’s slipping into a dissociative state here:
Brian’s immediate reaction to Martinez admitting to no being able to defend the camp is “oh my god, you’re going to get my family killed. You can’t do what it takes in order to survive and I DON’T WANT IT. I don’t want to share the crown. I don’t want the crown at all, damn it.”
But the question is... why didn’t he want it? Brian didn’t want it because, when he killed all of his own people at the end of season 3... Brian came back out. It shocked him to see what he did... what he became... he knew he was a monster and he was afraid of what he was capable of... so he separated himself from everyone... because he knew that if he had a reason to care, he would have a reason to fight and that meant the monster would come back out... and he didn’t want that monster to surface again.
Except it did, after Martinez triggered the monster/the Governor to come out again by admitting that he was too weak to defend the camp... and then he tried to squash the monster down again.
The problem was... he was starting to realize that he was the only one that was there that could lead--- he shouldn’t lead, but he was the only one that was capable of it and he didn’t like it.
Brian: “We need to leave. It isn't safe here anymore.”
Lily: “What are you talking about? We can't just run off. I'm the only nurse in camp. Tara's got Alicia. What about Megan?”
Brian: “Look, things are about to go very wrong here. It's happened to me before. I can't put you and Megan through that. Can't lose you again.” (4x07)
“Can’t lose you again.” This whole conversation is about him and Penny and how everything circled back to that moment that he lost her (because he couldn’t lose Meghan a second time if he hadn’t lost her the first time). HE was what was about to go very wrong there. It had happened to him before... he was referring to the monster resurfacing again when he tried so hard to put it away in the box and forget about it... but it was bubbling to the surface once again and there was nothing he could do except try to run from himself... and as you know, he wasn’t capable of escaping it.
So like I said before jsbkjbg the Governor is many things, but a sociopath isn’t one of them. He is very misunderstood. He is an abuse survivor and yes, he has done a lot of terrible things, but he is a product of nurture, not nature.
[PHILIP KING] {SAM HEUGHAN} is a [37] year old [CISMALE]. [HE] used to be a [SECRET SERVICE AGENT] before The End. [HE] was [LOYAL] but [IMPULSIVE], and when [HE] thought the world was ending, [HE STEPPED ASIDE AND ALLOWED THE PRESIDENT TO BE MURDERED DESPITE SPECIFIC ORDERS TO PROTECT HIM]. Oops. Now [PHILIP] belongs to the [FOLLOWERS].
HI IT’S CACEE AGAIN and it’s gonna be for two more posts and i’m so sorry that i can’t control myself. again, i love you, you can always talk to me, and yes, i do still cry every time i watch meet the robinsons.
THIS IS PHILIP. HIS FACE IS SAM HEUGHAN’S FACE BECAUSE THAT MAN IS BEAUTIFUL.
philip was born in berry, virginia, but when he was two he moved with his mother to london, england after his parents’ divorce, and was raised there until she passed away when he was thirteen due to breast cancer; he moved back to berry with his father, so if he still has a little bit of a british accent, that’s why.
he misses his mom every day. she was a lovely, exuberant woman. she’s the one who taught him how to be kind and patient and open-minded. that doesn’t mean he doesn’t also take after his father, though.
his father was a tall, silent man, a man of the law -- a detective with the BPD -- and you wouldn’t know it by looking at him, but he loved philip very much, and that’s something philip cannot dispute. he was a good father to him, through and through, let him do the things he wanted to do. so philip practiced martial arts since he was a teenager, his father taught him how to shoot a gun, and all those other fun things.
he has a half-sister who is seven years younger than him and whom he grew very close to when he moved back in with his father and his now-stepmother. his stepmother was always kind to him, as well, and he regarded both of them as his family. his home life was never a problem -- he was always a happy, middle-class citizen, even if sometimes he did become subdued and sad for little to no reason.
so he’s quiet, but happy and witty when he trusts you and knows you enough. he can also be charming af, especially when he turns up the british accent.
eventually he graduated from college with a criminal justice degree and a psychology minor, eventually finding his way into the FBI after a couple of years in the same police force as his father.
from there, he was recruited into the secret service when he was 35, so it’s only been about two years with them. he’s a very loyal man, so even if he didn’t agree with the president he was tasked with protecting, that’s what he would do.
but then The End happened, and his sister called him crying, stating that both their parents had killed themselves and left behind nothing but a letter for the both of them and their cat, felix -- crushed, philip had no idea what to do with the information, but this is when the reality of the situation started to really set in: the world was going to end, and nothing really mattered anymore.
so when, after being assigned to the president’s personal security detail, a group of assailants decided to turn on the president and attempt to assassinate him, philip decided it wasn’t worth protecting a man he didn’t believe in. besides; they’d all be dead in a couple of days, anyway, so instead of giving his life to protect the president, just like he’d sworn he would, he stepped aside, along with two others who’d been assigned to his detail, and allowed the rest to battle it out between themselves. philip walked away without looking back -- he never saw whose bullets, exactly, killed the president.
he traveled to berry to spend his last days with his sister and -- well, felix the cat. neither of them expected to wake up the morning after the supposed asteroid, alive, breathing, functioning; and not only having to live with the consequences of their actions, but the fact that their parents died in vain.
SO COME PLOT WITH HIM HAH!!!!!!!! esp if there’s a berry native and stuff he’s lookin for friends and whatnot and i’m gonna send a wanted connection form to the main soon looking for his 30 y/o sister but if any of you are interested in taking that up lmk!!!
Just a couple of thoughts about the Governor. There is a reason why he prefers to be called “The Governor”, rather than his true name, “Philip”, even though he expresses dislike for it.
The first thing that you guys gotta understand is that Philip has a split personality and the alternate is his brother, Brian. His alter personality is what eventually grows out of control and morphs into what you know as “the Governor”.
Philip was a weak book nerd who couldn’t take care of himself after the zombie apocalypse took place. So he depended upon his brother in order to make it through the apocalypse.
Philip has a “trigger” that brings “the Governor” out, and that trigger is weakness. It is a trigger because he believes that it was his own weakness that got everyone (his wife, daughter, brother, his friends) he cared about killed. He believes that someone like his brother could better protect people. So, weakness triggers the monster to come out. This is what happened when he killed Martinez on top of the RV. He admitted weakness, saying that he couldn’t defend the camp, so the monster came out and got him.
After Philip killed his own people, he realized that he had gone too far and tried to separate himself from EVERYONE. If he had no one to defend or to care about then the monster would remain dormant. He was afraid of the monster inside of himself.
He pushed Meghan and Lily away at first because he was afraid that if he cared again, that the monster would resurface after he fought so hard to suppress it. And as you can see, he eventually accepts that he is the only one who can protect those that he cares for and he eventually embraces the monster yet again.
When Meghan dies, he realizes that “being the biggest monster in order to survive” doesn’t work.... which is why he unleashed his wrath on the prison afterwards. He was more angry at himself than anyone and that’s the point he became a bit suicidal... so everything kind of went in that final battle.
At the end of the day, Philip saw himself as “weak”, too, and this new personality that he built up around himself, even though it was his brother, he saw it as a new stronger version of himself... not the weakling that couldn’t protect the people that he cared for. Thus, 'the Governor', became the preferred identify. And later on, an identity that he did not want to be associated with. The information for this is through interviews and the Novel, “Rise of the Governor.”
Duty above all, that is the Auclaire family motto we wear it on our shields, we wave it on our banners it is carved into the arch of the door that leads to the council chambers and throne room.
Duty above all.
To tell you my tale I must tell the tale of a legacy not entirely my own and this story is more the maiden of the dawns then it ever would be mine.
I am a prince, I have always been a prince but I was regarded as the spare heir to the kingdom of île d'argent (silver isles). a small costal land near the kingdom of the dawn.
My story begins with the birth and christening of a fair princess whose joyous celebration was cut short by wicked fae,and the tragedies that would follow soon after.
The kingdom of Ulstead was once our closest allies and there was talks of a marriage between the heir of île d'argent and the fair princess of Ulstead the destiny my brothers. With the princess hidden away following her curse to eternal slumber my family along with neighboring realms allied themselves as one in hopes of ensuring the wicked curse fail to pass and maleficent be stopped. As the saying goes no good deed goes unpunished.
On one of many trips to visits Ulstead and provide comfort to the good king and queen my brother and mothers chariot was attacked, destroyed and their bodies never found whispers of wicked fae magic spread near and far….
All at once I was no longer the spare heir a thing id come to realize I’d miss dearly, I was now high crown Prince Philip and my days were shifted from reading in the libraries for amusement to studying war strategies and how to gain allies and win favor among the crowns of the realm.
I know my role in the tale of the dawn, I know my duty I know I must find her when the wicked spell comes to pass and save her. I only hope the gods allow me that right as her true love and not the stand in actor of the story.
OOC: Just thinking about the Governor and Rick from TWD. I remember a few years back when Rick started behaving similarly to the Governor (ex: Rick saying "We'll kill them all". When he was debating taking over Alexandria, a place that didn't belong to them, by force. Something the Governor did to Rick's people and the prison and before the Governor did so, he said, "kill them all."), the fandom cried about it, "Don't compare Rick to the Governor he's not like him at all." But that was exactly the point of the Governor as a character. The Governor was like Rick's dark side. Two sides of the same coin. Even Robert Kirkman said so;
"I always kind of looked at it like Rick and the Governor were two sides of the same coin, and if Rick had gone down a certain path he could have ended up exactly like that guy." -Robert Kirkman
The Governor was someone Rick could have turned into, and he began doing it. Rick even admitted in Alexandria that they shouldn't trust him and his people. Rick knew he made instinctual decisions to survive, because had learned over the course of his journey that you can't trust anyone, and that you always have to have your guard up, you sometimes have to be the bigger monster to survive.
I think people needs to get comfortable with the idea that heroes can make bad choices... and villains can make good choices. No one is good 100% of the time, just like no one is bad 100% of the time.
And plus, everything is a matter of perspective. Sure, we root and care for Rick and his people and it means that we'll side with them more times than not. However, imagine for a moment that we followed the Governor's storyline, rather than Rick's and his people. Imagine the episode where Rick's people broke into Woodbury and started shooting up the place going into rescue Glenn and Maggie. How does Rick and his people look like to the average everyday citizens of Woodbury who had no clue what was going on with the Governor? Do you not think that Rick would have looked like the villain here? If this was Woodbury's first encounter with him?
I know it was to save Glenn and Maggie. But I'm talking strictly about perspective here.
I think one thing that a lot of people gets wrong about the Governor is that it's usually their first instinct to call him a sociopath. I don't completely agree with this notion honestly, but there are other things about him that are, psychologically speaking, not quite right. It's a bit more complicated than that and so I feel like calling him a sociopath waters him down a little bit. A side note: I am not condoning or excusing any of his actions in the series, I am just explaining a bit why he is the way that he is. I'll explain a bit more beneath the cut:
He does speak well, he is good at manipulating people to get what he wants but this isn't a trait that he was naturally born with. It was a trait that his brother was born with, however. It's honestly a little sad that his brother only gets one measly mention in TWD show and it was during a story that he told in season 4:
"I remember the first smoke I ever had. Me and my brother huddled in the garage puffing on one of my dad's Lucky Strikes. He must have smelled the smoke, because he came barging in looking to beat up on us. But my brother got between us. Said he stole them. Wasn't true. It was me. But that was my brother. Hero. He got two black eyes and a broken rib for that. And I got beat anyway."~Brian/Philip (Dead Weight 4x07)
In context, his brother in the book, The Rise of the Governor, his brother was always described as the heroic brother, who he always looked up to. He had a lot of friends and was very popular at school. and Brian aka Philip, always wanted to be just like him. And a side note, his dad was always abusive to his children.
I could get into specifics but I wanted to give an idea of the environment that he grew up in. He probably carried around a lot of trauma with him and wasn't mentally well before the apocalypse took place... especially after becoming a single father, who had to take on another job, after his wife passed away.
It's also insinuated he had a sister as well, who he lost during the apocalypse. He also lost 2 of his best friends (I could get into specifics but that's not really what this post is about), and eventually his beloved heroic brother and his daughter Penny. But the point is he lost a lot of people... and he felt helpless and he wasn't like his heroic brother. He couldn't protect the people that he loved and cared for... and he blamed himself on all of it.
So basically after losing all of these people, he went into a bit of a psychosis and took on his brother's personality. A lot of people would call this a dual personality or multiple personality and this all circles back to losing Penny. It was the final straw that broke him. Believing if he could be more like his brother, that Penny would still be alive and that he could protect her. He wasn't always like the madman we saw in season 3.
What you're really seeing is a nice guy turning into a monster, because who he used to be was too weak to protect the people that he cared about and he willingly took on the mantle of "Governor", because he believed that becoming like his heroic brother he could then protect people by doing whatever was necessary to survive.... and yes he knows he turned into a monster.
But here's the thing. He does still have two sides to him... and it was his brother's personality that eventually became "the Governor", the monster and you see this split more in season 4 than you do in season 3 and I think the show did a pretty good job at show casing this. You see Brian (this would be his true self), who took care of Meghan and her family, and then you see the Governor show back up when he flips out and kills Martinez.
A lot of people seems to take this scene as the Governor killing Martinez because Martinez knew who the Governor really was and could ruin everything for him... but that's not it. Him screaming "I don't want it!" is proof of that. What does he not want? He doesn't want to "share the crown". He doesn't want the crown at all. Martinez messed up when he admitted to Brian that he didn't think that he had what it took to protect everyone in the camp. And remember... Brian/Philip became the Governor to PROTECT people, to keep from losing them... Brian did NOT want to become the Governor again... because he knew that he was a monster and that part of him scared him.
“When it’s just him, he has nothing to fight for. He doesn’t care about himself enough, but once he has other people that he needs to fight for and other people to protect and other people to love, then he will fight until the end.” ~David Morrissey
Essentially when he was on his own, he had no one to protect. The Governor was gone. He was able to revert back to being "Brian". When he met Meghan, Lily and Tara, he initially tried to push them away for this reason... but that didn't work. He became attached to them anyways. He was comfortable with Martinez being in charge, because he thought that Martinez could call the shots and they would all be okay. So when Martinez admitted that he couldn't protect his new family... well that brought the Governor back out and the Governor was the one to kill Martinez... not Brian.
"He sees weak leadership around him. They're not able to protect the people he loves so he's forced to take responsibility, he's got to step up, but he doesn't want to do it. He's forced to take it because of this man's weakness. He's putting a crown on his head that he doesn't want but nobody else but him is worthy of wearing it." ~ David Morrissey
So all-in-all, the point of this post is to say that what's up with him is far more complex than sociopathy.
I’ve spoken about the Governor having dual personalities before, and while they don’t specifically get into the psychology of the Governor in TWD, like it does in the books, there is one specific scene in the show where you can see the other personality being triggered.
In this clip, Brian is talking to Martinez on top of an RV and they’re playing golf, all seemed fine until Brian snapped and attempted to kill Martinez... but why did he snap? Brian was perfectly happy not being the leader as he knew what being around people meant. Like Carol, he had learned that being around people meant caring for them and caring for them meant that you would have to kill in order to survive. He had blamed his own weakness for losing everyone that he cared for, so he pushed himself to be the bigger monster in order to survive:
Milton: “What would your daughter think about what you are?”
Govey: “She'd be afraid of me. But if I had been like this from the start, she'd be alive today.” (03x16)
He honestly and truly believed this. It wasn’t until he snapped and started killing his own people that he realized how far that he had truly fallen. So he separated himself from everyone, because he knew there was an ugly monster hidden deep within him that would come out if there was even more people to protect... he tried to push away Lily and Meghan for this reason. They reminded him too much of his wife and daughter that had died and he knew that the monster would come back out in order to protect them.
But, by allowing Martinez to lead, that meant that the responsibility for protecting people wouldn’t fall onto his shoulders... which meant the monster wouldn’t be tempted to come back out. As long as Martinez thought that he would do whatever it took to keep people safe... then he wouldn’t need to do it.
Weakness is the Governor’s trigger. It was his fear of weakness that lead to the dual personality (the other one being his brother), because his brother had been able to protect him and his family before the apocalypse had occurred. The monster made him feel safe. Martinez admitting to weakness, by saying that he couldn’t keep the camp safe and that he was willing to share the crown is what makes the Governor freak out. The monster is triggered here and he starts screaming “I DON’T WANT IT! I DON’T WANT IT DAMN IT!” because he doesn’t want the crown. He doesn’t want the responsibility, because he knows that he will lose his family if he loses control again.
In this video below, you can see the Brian fighting back, internally, against the Governor. You can see it in his eyes. The vacant look that was there and if you pay closer attention, you can see him twitching. You can see the switch flipping in his head. Brian is gone. The Governor took back over.
