We barely got to know Otis, the big-hearted, big-boned farmhand who led Rick and his family back to Hershel's farm after accidentally putting a bullet in Carl's gut back in season two. He died shortly thereafter when Shane shot him in the leg and left him to be devoured by zombies. But despite being onscreen for just a few fleeting minutes, Otis was kind of a big deal.
For one, his brutal death served to illustrate just what a psychotic, mercenary SOB Shane had become in his quest to keep playing house with Lori and Carl. (And it also left no doubt that a deadly confrontation with Rick was coming down the pike.) But more importantly, Otis was key to one of the most devastating and infuriating plotlines in the entire history of The Walking Dead: the endless, fruitless, and ultimately tragic hunt for poor little Sophia Peletier. As writer Robert Kirkman explained, it was Otis who was responsible for wrangling walkers into the Greene family's barn. In other words, if he'd lived, he would've brought the search for Sophia to an abrupt and immediate close with the news that she was already dead (or, you know, undead). So, however you feel about the season-long saga of Sophia and its horrifying conclusion, you can thank Otis for being the linchpin of the whole sordid affair.
