SPOILER ALERT: This article contains major plot spoilers for “The Walking Dead’s” latest season and episodes. Proceed with caution.

On Oct. 23, fans of “The Walking Dead” were left traumatized by the deaths of two characters at the hands of recently-introduced villain Negan.

Abraham Ford, the first character taken from the show, was introduced in the fourth season. Although he had some minor character development, his death was mostly overshadowed by the death of Glenn Rhee, who had been on the show since the first season. Glenn represented a minority group, which made his death even more upsetting to many of the fans. However, the writers planned to kill him off from the beginning since he died in the same manner in the comics.

As if the deaths of both of these characters were not enough for our already fragile hearts, the manner in which they were killed was beyond gruesome. They showed much more than what was needed. Quick bloody blows to the head were shown, but the more sickly image was Glenn’s eye popping out of his skull. The shot was long enough so as to be ingrained in our heads.

Now, while I knew someone was going to die, nothing prepared me for those deaths in particular. I do nevertheless understand that the image of Glenn’s eye coming out of its socket was such an iconic scene in the comics that they wanted to put it into the show. The producers wanted to give us a look into the pure evil that is Negan, and they definitely accomplished that. Seeing what the group is having to live through gives us an idea of the complete horror that is their lives now.

Watching the death of one of my favorite characters made me question whether I actually wanted to continue watching the show. In the end, I decided that for now I would.

At this point, I am far too connected to these characters to just detach myself. However, if they continue to kill characters off as they have done in the premiere of season seven, then I do not see the point in continuing. Now it seems the show’s producers could be riding on the fact that viewers are now so attached to the characters that they will not quit the show.

Fans whom I talked to said they were worried that the writers may take out almost the entire current cast but one and continue with that person. Fans who will continue watching are interested to see where it leads.

“Glenn was one of my favorite characters in the show, and he was there from the very beginning,” said USM student Madison Pike. “Lots of shows now are opting to kill off more characters in favor of realism and shock value. It’s not uncommon to hear jokes about shows like “Game of Thrones,” “Grey’s Anatomy” and “The Walking Dead” killing off your favorite characters. Although I don’t particularly enjoy the fictional deaths, I am excited to see what happens next. I especially want to see how Maggie moves on and continues to take care of herself and the baby.”

While most fans are still interested in seeing where the show takes us now, this will take some time to get over. If they plan on continuing to kill off characters for shock, many fans will probably leave the show. Hopefully they take it in another direction.

Either way, I am interested to see where they lead us now.