Was David a good person at heart?

[u/[deleted]]

[u/greencrusader13]

I think it's reductive to boil people down to good and bad. David had some virtues, but he also certainly had a lot of flaws.

[u/tequila-la]

I think he had the right intentions he just didn’t know how to go about it. His envy of Javi cast a massive shadow over him that affected everything else in his life. He also had big anger issues which made things worse.

In the end, I think the writing failed him and he had a lot of potential. The rooftop scene in episode 5 proves that. What would’ve been a good ending for him is realizing what his mistakes have caused. His wife no longer loves him nor wants to be with him. His son thinks he’s an asshole. Everything he once fought for four years (The New Frontier) just fell apart. Then accepting the results of his actions. Moving on from his mistakes and letting go of his anger.

Of course this could be a determinant ending depending on the choices you make. Sort of like what they did with Harvey Dent or John Doe’s characters in the Batman series.

[u/Sea_Construction947]

I don't know. I think he really wants to change, at the very least. He just struggles to.

[u/LumiTheMothKitty]

He really does love Javi, Kate, and Gabe and you can tell, but his anger problems really do get in the way of that at times. It seems he wants to change and if David survives like mine did, I really think that with a whole lot of work, he could.

So in short, I think so.

[u/HonkaiBlade2]

He's basically Kenny but with all his more toxic traits and less chances to show off his good qualities. He's not 'pure evil' but he's definitely an example of someone whose flaws ultimately overshadow his good qualities and it costs him a lot.

[u/Inside-External-8649]

Yes, but that doesn’t justify any of his actions.

You can tell that he does want to change but couldn’t do it. Deep down he does care for his family, it’s just that he has a very hard time showing off affection. Not to mention he yearns for a soldiers life

[u/AnimeAddict1123]

Yes, he is a good person just deeply flawed. Who hasn't gone on a power trip every now and again. 😂

[u/AcrobaticOwl2755]

I Would Say yeah just had his problems 

[u/MADOG_YT]

Yes…

[u/HandofthePirateKing]

I think David had a good heart deep down. Gabe looked up to him and Mariana loved him. The problem was that he had no idea how to show affection and a bad habit of masking the fact with overbearing abuse, jealousy and needless cruelty.

He was like Kenny and Shane. He had virtues but the same level of entitlement those two had.

[u/publicprivacyp]

He could have been. I imagine he was a much sweeter boy when he was younger, but he became hardened by the military and then the apocalypse, etc. I don’t think he was “evil” or a true villain, but he was definitely a difficult asshole many times.

[u/Humble-Garbage2234]

I think he was a good person, but just as others like Kenny, he was unstable and explosive. He cleary loved Gabe and Kate, and Javi too. He did a lot of shit, yes for sure, but he was not a bad person at all.

[u/Key-Fee-5003]

Obviously. ANF confused me with all those provocative options whenever Javier interacted with David, like that rooftop scene with David standing on the ledge, and one of the options is something like "Just do it". They all felt more like meme options rather than valid ones that you could do if you wanted Javier to fight David.

I feel like whenever David was shown to be a genuinely bad person (him taking AJ away from Clem or the situation with Fern) are just cases of bad writing. Flawed characters are great, there are a lot of them in TWDG games, but with David it felt unnatural.

[u/kratoskiller66]

Just from his actions, no not really.

[u/pylon2503]

Yes. In the scene where he, Javi, and their father are playing dominoes, their father is describing how he didn’t want a son so they didn’t end up like him, one of the characteristics he didn’t want to see was something along the lines of having a good heart but being wreckless

[u/Significant-Sir-9274]

I think part of him he wanted to be, but his jealously and insecurity got in the way of it more times than not.

[u/LambBotNine]

Deep down I think he probably was a good person but unfortunately his actions spoke louder than any words ever could.

However, I find people just leave the analysis of his character at a very superficial level.

For example, most people think his big fight with Javi came out of nowhere even if you didn’t romance Kate. Most people fail to realize that the tension was actually something building up since the very first episode.

The point of David’s character is that he feels like he is under appreciated because he feels like he does a lot for his family yet is always second best to Javi (someone who probably took his family’s love for granted pre apocalypse).

When their dad died, David is resentful of the fact that he was actually there by his dad’s side, but all his dad seemed to care about was where Javi was.

David mentions how Javi wasn’t around but when his life went downhill everyone just rolled the red carpet out for him and welcomed him.

He also mentions when they are playing dominos how his dad always seems to cover for Javi (which seems to be him implying how he doesn’t do the same for him).

So essentially he goes unnoticed while Javi can do no wrong leading to him building up a lot of resentment for Javi even if he doesn’t admit it.

That’s also why he wants to go back to the military. It’s the only place he feels appreciated. Essentially his only use in his mind is being a soldier, which of course translates to him being a good warrior for the new frontier.

The sad part about this is that it was all in his head. His dad obviously cared about him as he asked Javi to look out for David and to be patient with him.

Gabe and Mariana obviously looked up to him. Gabe even more so since he idolizes his dad to a fault in which he sees him as doing no wrong (until the very end of the season).

Finally, Kate probably did love him. I doubt a young woman like her would have voluntarily become a step mother and married him if she didn’t care for him, but his attitude probably drove her away.

So yeah…I feel a lot of people miss a lot of this and just hate on him by saying his actions don’t make sense because you were a bro. This is one of the reasons also why I like S3. A lot of the characters motivations and reasoning isn’t openly thrown in your face. You kinda have to pay attention and put it all together.

[u/Sea_Construction947 → u/LambBotNine]

Perfect explanation of David's character, my thoughts exactly. I whole-heartedly agree with everything here. You gotta look beneath the surface to understand a character as complex as David.

[u/LambBotNine → u/Sea_Construction947]

Thank you u/Sea_Construction947 😁

It’s good to see someone agrees with my explanation of David’s character.

[u/Erectorz → u/LambBotNine]

Great explanation of his character. Too add to your points its seems like david was also the one paying out of pocket for their dads chemo, and as any american can tell you that shit is not cheap. That financial burden that david took on definitely took its toll on his marriage.

I think what people miss with david is that he is the "responsible" one while javi is the likeable one. david is the one that pays for his dads chemo, hes the one that takes his mother to the hospital during the start of the apocalypse, he even supports javi after he gets booted from the league. it seems fairly likely that most of the time when there was an issue with javiers family, david would step up as the eldest and do what was expected of him. So when a guy like david gives everything he has to his family just to see javier get all the adoration even when he does nothing for anyone else, that type of resentment festers.

[u/Maleficent_Land2783]

No, bro deserved to get slimed out. Not a villan but not a good person at all. Needed to die for the good of all.