This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

In the immediate aftermath of the most recent episode of "The Walking Dead," it was distressing that one of the major characters appeared to have been killed. A few days later, it's distressing that the character may have survived.

(If you don't want to know what happened, stop reading now. Although, c'mon, it's been days since the episode aired, so it's hardly a spoiler.)

Things have not been going well for Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and Co. on "TWD" (Sundays, 10 p.m. AMC). As they were leading an army of zombies away, their settlement was attacked by murderous humans — and the noise from the attack led the zombies directly toward their homes.

In the chaos, Glenn (Steven Yeun) and Nicholas (Michael Traynor) were trapped on top of a Dumpster, surrounded by hundreds of ravenous undead. Losing hope, Nicholas shot himself in the head — and as he fell, he took Glenn with him.

The last image we saw was a screaming Glenn surrounded by zombies, who were ripping the intestines out of … someone.

It was tough to take. Glenn is one of the few remaining original characters; Yeun has been on the show since it premiered in 2010.

More than that, Glenn has been a ray of light in an otherwise unremittingly dark show: a note of (relative) optimism; a former pizza delivery boy-turned-hero; a shy youngster who became a man and found love and marriage with Maggie (Lauren Cohan).

The knee-jerk reaction was "You kill Glenn, I'm not going to watch your show anymore."

But "The Walking Dead" has killed off … just about everybody. No one is safe. And while some argue that Glenn's pretty much meaningless death beside a Dumpster betrays the series, it just reaffirms the premise that anybody can die at any time.

Or not? Theories arose immediately that Glenn didn't really die. And there are a lot of reasons to believe the theories are correct.

(If I had to bet, I'd go with Glenn being alive.)

Does that mean some characters can't be killed? That would kill the suspense and fundamentally change the show.

And that would be unworthy of "The Walking Dead." It would be what amounts to a cheap writing trick. It would violate the trust of viewers, who would never again be able to watch the show the same way, always wondering if dead is dead or another deception.

There have been comparisons to Bobby returning from the dead on "Dallas" by turning an entire season of that show into a dream.

There have been comparisons to the apparent death of Jon Snow on "Game of Thrones" — which (nonspoiler alert) many believe is temporary. Because "GOT" has shown us that magic in that universe can revive a corpse.

They're both unfair comparisons. "The Walking Dead" isn't a prime-time soap; there's no magic.

It shouldn't be acting like either. It shouldn't be violating the trust of its viewers.

Once trust is gone, it's pretty much impossible to get back.

Scott D. Pierce covers television for The Salt Lake Tribune . Email him at spierce@sltrib.com; follow him on Twitter @ScottDPierce.