A ton of you may be scratching your head when it comes to Lee Everett, but some of you will know who he is right off the bat. He was Clementine's father figure in the first season of the Telltale Game's Walking Dead video game franchise.
This 37 year old protagonist was a former History Professor at the University of Georgia... prior to all hell breaking loose. He wasn't exactly a professor before he crashed into the zombie apocalypse though, he was introduced to the gaming world via the back of a squad car in cuffs after being convicted for murdering a state senator who slept with his wife. Yeah... he didn't exactly start off in the brightest situation before the distracted police officer ended up crashing the squad car while trying to avoid a... walker (aka a zombie).
The zombie slaying ex-professor was born and raised in Macon, Georgia which in real life had a population of 153,095 back in 2018... so he grew up in an area that's a bit on the small side, but nothing wrong with that. His family resided in Macon, and ran a family business, but the murder of the senator... put a wedge in their relationship.
His backstory could have had a movie short in itself, wouldn't you say? So that was where his life was prior to the Apocalypse, but... my experience with this protagonist revealed that he was a really great guy who seemed to have snapped when it came to his wife's infidelity. He got my attention in this franchise... once his relation with (fellow legend) Clementine, began to sprout.
His impact on her was life changing, and I don't think she would've lasted as long if he weren't in her life for that brief period of time. The time line was longer than our play through of course... but it was still relatively short, nevertheless... their relationship was life changing for both Lee, Clementine (who we named our daughter after... IRL), and anyone else who survived the season. Decisions are in your hands... so things can go either way, but for the most part (during my play through)... rough decisions didn't throw his character off the cliff.
His guidance and the bond he made with Clementine... extended her life... making her a savior to many others and I don't want to spoil the story so i'll leave it at that. I loved their dynamic! Perhaps his experience as a teacher helped him provide more guidance to Clem, but... you have to have something in you to be a teacher in the first place.
When it came to the walkers and untrustworthy people, Lee pulled no punches... unless he had to. Not only did he do this strategic tango via the decisions we made in order to protect himself, but also it was to ensure the safety of Clementine.
I wish he would've lived on (as so many others hoped), but... he no longer had to live in that world and his memory lived on as he was honored throughout the franchise from start to finish.
He made you feel like everything was going to be just fine, even if zombies were all over the place. I appreciate Telltale Games for that because they could've did a weird push forward without mentioning him ever again... but it would've left this weird emotional void robbing the players and our audiences of the emotional connection the characters could've had by carrying on his memory. Since tale's are what Telltale specializes in telling... they made Lee and the overall franchise a memorable well rounded experience.
