‘Shiptober: Will ‘The Walking Dead’ pair up Daryl, Carol in season 6?

It’s incredible the amount of pairings that exist for a guy like Daryl Dixon on “The Walking Dead.” We’ve seen him linked up with everyone from Beth to Aaron to Carol to even Rick, and we think that much of this stems from how he is such an enigmatic when it comes to this character’s romantic life. There were rumors (which have since been more or less denied) that the character was gay, just as there are also still rumors about whether or not the character could be a virgin. We still don’t know, and we think that the show likes it that way.

Still, examining Daryl’s love life is a field day for TV writers, and for this edition of our CarterMatt ‘Shiptober series we’re going to focus on the most-popular ‘ship of them all: Daryl and Carol. The couple that kicks butt together has the happiest life together, right? We like to think so. Take a look below for what we see in terms of credible reasons to pair these two up, and also reasons to keep them apart.

The argument for a Daryl / Carol romance – If there are two people more suited for each other in this world besides Carol and Daryl, we’d love to know who they are. They’ve both in some ways become broken people who take to zombie-killing as a way to help handle their pain. Both have lost loved ones and have at times turned off their humanity; they understand how each other feels, and have an almost-unspoken language that they can go to when things get tough. They have also both suffered abuse in their lives and have found ways to over come it on their own as well as together, making their connection deeper then most couples.

One of the questions we often like to ask ourselves when it comes to “Walking Dead” romances is whether or not we could see the two together if the zombies ever went away, and in this case, they could continue to make it work. Carol could make him some cookies, and then the two could go off into the wild riding away on his motorcycle. Their connection goes beyond circumstance and into personal history.

The argument for no romance – The biggest one may just be that Norman Reedus has never seemed all that interested in pairing up the character with anyone. He enjoys the mystery of it all, and there is a certain degree of fun that comes with that. If Daryl ever started to become involved with someone, would there be anywhere near as much discussion about it? One other question is simply whether or not he is wired for that sort of connection. He grew up learning how to be a lone wolf, and while he has learned to care for others (the zombie apocalypse has probably helped him more than most people), he may just not ever be ready for a deeper commitment.