The Walking Dead season 8 episode 9 'Honour' debunks heartbreaking baby Judith theory

*Major spoilers for the latest episode of the Walking Dead follow*

The latest episode of The Walking Dead, while making good on its promise to kill off one of the series' longest-standing characters, debunked a fan theory for good measure.

Fans had predicted that an earlier season 8 moment foreshadowed what was sure to be the AMC show's most disturbing moment yet - the death of baby Judith.

The theory went that, Rick - having discovered a baby girl in the Saviours compound that he stormed with Daryl - wound up raising her as his own with the six-year-old girl in the premiere's 'flashforward' scenes this new young girl (named Gracie) and not Judith.

Backing up the theory was the premiere episode's cryptic scenes showing close-ups of a devastated Rick's bloodshot eyes. We knew All Out War was building to something that will clearly find Rick more tested than he has ever been - an event so cataclysmic that he seems to consider finding another way to sort out his troubles with Negan than to wage battle...

That certainly happened in the show's latest episode, titled 'Honour,' following the death of his son, Carl (Chandler Riggs). who succumbed to a walker bite he suffered in the eighth season's sixth episode.

In Carl's final outing, we learn that these 'flashforward' scenes are, in fact, his dreams of a perfect future where violence no longer reigns. In these dreams, Carl's baby sister Judith is alive and well, as is Rick, Michonne, Jerry, Siddiq, Eugene and - as revealed in the episode's closing moments - Negan.

“My mercy prevails over my wrath,” Rick can be heard saying as the episode begins - can Carl's final attempts to stop his dad from mercilessly killing people in the name of war work? it certainly seems like it may just have.

The Walking Dead season 8 continues on AMC every Sunday with the UK premiere arriving the next evening on FOX. The episode will also be shown on NOWTV.

You can read our verdict on Carl's final ever episode here.

Are you a longtime fan of Lost? Or looking for a new series to start? Subscribe to two of our writers' new podcast 'The LOST Boys' following their journey watching from the very beginning - one for the first time, the other for the eighth.

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