Is Someone About to Lose an Arm or a Leg on 'The Walking Dead?'

(WARNING: Spoilers for The Walking Dead Season 7 below)

If you haven't been paying attention, Season 7 of The Walking Dead has been dropping subtle hints that someone is about to lose an arm or a leg. We saw in the Season 7 premiere that Rick Grimes was almost forced to hack off his son's arm with a hatchet. Luckily, Rick and Carl didn't have to suffer through such an ordeal but that doesn't mean one of them won't lose a limb.

Is someone about to lose a leg, or an arm?

There have been rumors of Rick losing his arm floating around since Season 3, mainly because Rick's comic book counterpart in #TheWalkingDead gets his arm cut off by the Governor. Considering all the subtle hints suggesting we will witness another amputation, is it still possible that Rick may be losing his arm in Season 7?

The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman has stated that Rick Grimes will never lose his arm on the television series. Even so, there's still potential for another character to lose an arm or leg sometime during this season. While Season 7 started off toying with the idea of Carl losing an arm to Negan, the latest episode appeared to drop the final hints towards how one of our beloved characters will lose an arm or a leg.

Ezekiel and Simon hint at Negan's penchant for amputating people's limbs.

In Episode 9 "Rock In The Road," we learned that Ezekiel's people once went to war with Negan and it didn't turn out very well. According to Ezekiel, those who survived the battle against Negan returned home missing a limb. Ezekiel doesn't say it himself but it's assumed that Negan allowed some of Ezekiel's people to escape with their lives, in return for a limb as tribute. Negan's right-hand man, Simon, reaffirmed this notion later on in the episode.

Shortly after Negan discovered that Daryl had escaped, he sent Simon to Alexandria to search for him. Simon didn't find Daryl in Alexandria because he was hiding out in the Kingdom. Simon did however leave Rick with some very interesting parting words. He mentioned to Rick that he should keep his hatchet close by because he's going to need it if Daryl shows up in Alexandria.

"Keep that hatchet handy. You're gonna need it if he (Daryl) shows up with you people, and it won't turn out the way it did for your boy."

Simon made it clear that the freebie Negan gave to Rick by not forcing him to cut off his son's arm was a one-time thing — next time Rick's group won't be so lucky. If Daryl is seen in Alexandria, it's more than likely that the penalty for disobeying Negan's rules is going to be an amputation of some sort.

Will Negan take someone's arm/leg in compensation for Daryl escaping?

It's unclear which resident of Alexandria will lose a leg or arm but all the signs seem to be teasing a forced amputation. Just when we though Negan couldn't get any more twisted, he now has a penchant for cutting off people's legs and arms. Or, in an even more Negan-centric twist, he may force a member of Rick's group to perform the amputation themselves. Whatever the case, it's highly likely that someone in Rick's group is going to lose a limb before Season 7 of The Walking Dead comes to a close.