When The Walking Dead first premiered in 2010, the show was grounded in its conflict between humans and zombies (known as "walkers"), centering on a man vs. nature narrative. Multiple seasons and spinoffs later, the conflicts have expanded at great length. The Ones Who Live pitted Rick Grimes and Michonne against the largest military in the world, the Civic Republic Military, and Dead City takes the fight out of the woods and into the big city. But one thing neither of those shows did was take its conflict into another country outside of America like Daryl Dixon.
After Daryl Dixon crashed in France in the first season of his series, he was involuntarily thrust into the country's ongoing war between its people. The perpetrator of this war is the Power of the Living, also known as "Pouvoir Du Vivant," led by its commander, Madame Marion Genet. Long story short, the organization's goal is to control the entirety of France and its people, but it may have actually had good intentions before it rotted into corruption. It's important to remember that there's a lot that Daryl Dixon has yet to reveal about the origins of the Power of the Living. For instance, the show hasn't talked about how Genet specifically came into power, nor when she began the experiments on walkers. The timeline of the conflict in France is put together with pieces of information sprinkled throughout the first season through conversations and speeches.
The Power of the Living Started Out as an Anti-Elite Initiative
There's no evidence of this in the show yet, but there's reason to believe that the Power of the Living was responsible for the assassinations of the last scientists at La Biomédicine DDMI. The laboratory and research center was referenced in the first season of The Walking Dead and featured in the post-credits scene of The Walking Dead: World Beyond. According to CDC scientist Dr. Edwin Jenner, the French were the last to work on a cure for the Wildfire Virus, until he lost contact with him.
Unbeknownst to Jenner, the Primrose team of scientists at La Biomédicine accidentally created the Wildfire Virus from an experiment. Because the Primrose team were in America by the time of the outbreak, French vigilantes killed La Biomédicine's Violet team, who were working on a cure but ended up creating a worse walker variant with enhanced strength and speed. Jumping forward several years later, Genet gives a speech to her supporters, blaming the old world's elite and powerful for the Wildfire virus:
They took everything, bringing pain and suffering down on those who could least bear it, profiting all the while. Finally, out of greed and hubris, they unleashed this plague on the world. They made us pay for being poor, vulnerable, meek. But remember what the Bible says about the meek. We're not meek anymore! The world is ours now. So today, our enemies will pay!
This is by no means an explicit confirmation that the man who murdered the Violet team scientist was a member of the Power of the Living. But it's a big coincidence that his motivation lines up with Genet, and his demeanor was very similar to a Guerrier, a soldier of the Power of the Living. If the theory is true, the Power of the Living's war on France began with a war against the scientists who created the apocalypse in the first place, and it has spiraled since then. At the very least, the vigilante was inspired by the Power of the Living's ideology.
To take control of the virus Genet claimed the elite used against the "meek," she began experiments to create a new variant that was stronger, but easily controlled by humans. Her intention was to create an army of walker soldiers because "their disease can also be our cure." The irony is laid on thick with the purpose of the experiments. The Power of the Living was built on principles that stand against elitist scientists that destroyed the world through a careless experiment. Now Genet's doing the same thing, and the outcome may end up the same.
The Power of the Living Promises to Restore Order in France
Over the years, the Power of the Living seized control over Paris and is currently spreading its influence outwards into the rest of France. Genet promises the remaining survivors that, under her leadership, she'll restore order that resembles the old world, but better. She's already declared that they're living in the 6th Republic of France. According to her, there won't be any aristocrats or self-important highbrows that will walk on the working class' backs. The people will take authority, but as Season 1 showed, that's far from reality. In fact, she's turned into the very person she appalls.
In her speech from Season 1, Episode 5, "Deux Amours," Genet praises ordinary survivors in France for their courage and resilience in the face of hardship, but it's the placement of her listeners that shows her own inner classism. The regular, everyday survivors wearing worn-out clothes and struggling for food and safety stand from a distance and are heavily monitored by armed Guerriers. The people whom she welcomes at arms-length are dressed in flashy jewelry and an exorbitant wardrobe for the apocalypse. Genet's ambition to create an equal society for France may have been real at one point in the past, but it's a facade now.
Further, the Power of the Living uses Guerriers and propaganda to administer fear in survivors. Guerriers actively patrol the streets for recruiters, typically young boys that can be trained from a young age. Survivors only look to them for safety if they're willing to tiptoe around them. Otherwise, trouble ensues.
A New Conflict Arises in 2022 Between the Union of Hope and the Power of the Living
France was in a state of violence long before Daryl Dixon showed up, but his arrival triggered a new phase of war. Daryl inadvertently made himself the Power of the Living's number one enemy, not once, not twice, but three times. The first time was before he even stepped on France's shores when he was captured in Maine to be experimented on. On the cargo ship heading for France, he unleashed all the potential test subjects and walkers that were essential to Genet's experiments.
The second time was purely a miscommunication, but he was wrongly blamed by two French survivors for killing Stéphane Codron's brother. The third act of defiance officially placed Daryl as the most hated American on Genet's list, and it was when he killed several Guerriers to defend the Abbey of Saint Bernadette. When Genet was informed of Laurent's fame among the Union of Hope, she declared war against the group.
Both Laurent and the Union of Hope threatened her power in France, and ordered the execution of Laurent. Her declaration set off a chain of events that put the Union of Hope's mission at stake multiple times, but it also showed Genet's true colors. Genet may see a loss of power coming in Daryl Dixon Season 2 if the Union of Hope becomes the supreme organization in France.
