Daniel Salazar
Daniel Salazar is a fictional character in the television series Fear the Walking Dead, portrayed by Panamanian actor Rubén Blades. The character was created by Robert Kirkman, showrunner Dave Erickson and screenwriter Marco Ramirez.
Character biography
Daniel is a highly intelligent, caring, cautious and formidable man who is a strong, determined survivor. Daniel's past as a secret agent of the Salvadoran Junta and CIA has revealed him to be a highly trained killer, having directly killed 100 people himself. His training and survival skills have shaped him into a formidable combatant. He is highly adept with firearms and hands to hand combat. Daniel is also shown to be a skilled torturer with extensive knowledge of interrogation techniques and is willing, albeit reluctantly, to use this skill when he feel it is necessary to survive. Daniel however does not appear to be pleased with the past atrocities he has committed or was forced to commit, and regrets being the monster that he was forced to become. Despite his murderous past, Daniel has demonstrated that he cares about his family more than anything else and is a loving husband and father who vowed to give his daughter the best life possible in the United States. He hid from her the truth of his past life, and dealt with the trauma privately with his wife's support. Daniel was shown to be devastated by the loss of his beloved wife, the anchor that kept him stable. He subsequently came unhinged for a time and nearly killed himself. Daniel is extremely cautious around those that he does not trust, and appears to be highly skilled at identifying a potential threat from body language and social cues.Season 1
While a riot rages outside, a mob sets fire to the store adjoining the barbershop, forcing the Salazars and Manawas to flee. The group reaches Travis' truck and escapes, but not before Griselda is injured by a collapsing scaffold. Unable to reach a hospital, the group drives to Madison's house. Nick leads Madison and Alicia to the Trans' house next door, where they take a shotgun. Travis arrives and is attacked by Mr. Dawson, who is shot and killed by Daniel. All three families decide to stay the night and evacuate in the morning. Nurse Liza tends to Griselda's injured foot but notes that Griselda will die if not treated by a doctor. Ofelia tells Daniel they should flee with Travis, but Daniel insists his family can survive alone and will join his cousin later. The next morning, as the Clarks and Manawas start driving away, the National Guard arrives and quarantines the block. While Travis says, "It's going to get better," Daniel laments that it’s, "too late," as he watches a guardsman mark the neighboring house. Days after the National Guard quarantines the neighborhood into a Safe Zone, residents try to live normally. Tensions build under the military rule. Ofelia kisses Adams, who was unable to get Griselda's medicine. She sneaks outside the fence to investigate and finds evidence that the guardsmen killed civilians, even the uninfected. Daniel warns Madison of his El Salvador experience, when the sick were taken under the guise of receiving hospitalization but instead killed. Soldiers take Griselda and Nick to a hospital, but Nick's family protests his departure. Liza agrees to go to assist the medical team, despite not wanting to leave her son. Travis retreats to the roof and sees the signal from the Dead Zone. Seconds later, he sees and hears gunfire, followed by darkness. Madison discovers Daniel detaining Adams in the Trans' basement. Travis learns that Daniel tortured Adams into revealing what "Cobalt" means: in the morning, all civilians will be killed, and the guardsmen will evacuate the city. Griselda dies of septic shock at the hospital; Liza shoots her brain to prevent reanimation. Daniel visits a nearby sports arena to verify Adams' story that it was sealed with 2,000 now-zombified civilians inside. The group drives to the National Guard's headquarters to rescue Liza, Griselda, and Nick. Adams agrees to be their guide when let go by Travis. The group infiltrates the base after Daniel distracts the guards by leading a horde of walkers from the arena. Travis, Madison, Daniel, and Ofelia go inside, while Alicia and Chris stay behind. Meanwhile, the walkers breach the perimeter defenses and swarm the base. Travis' group reach the holding cells and set the detainees free before reuniting with Nick, Liza, and Strand. They try to escape through the medical ward, where they discover Dr. Exner has euthanized all of the patients. Dr. Exner tells them of an escape route before presumably committing suicide. Before they can escape, the group encounters Adams, who shoots Ofelia in the arm. Enraged, Travis brutally beats Adams and leaves him for dead. Strand leads the group to his oceanside mansion.Season 2
The group evacuates to the Abigail as the military bombs Los Angeles, in an attempt to contain the outbreak. Out at sea, the group comes across another boat full of survivors, but Strand refuses to pick them up. Strand informs the group they are heading to San Diego.The group docks on a nearby island to escape pursuit of the unknown ship. They soon have to leave because George poisoned his entire family as part of a suicide pact, and the group are forced to leave the remains of George's family behind on the island. Suddenly, a sudden bandit attack put everyone's lives in danger, Daniel and the group were taken by surprise and tied up, where they were at the mercy of a rude boy named Reed, who showed no scruples when it came to acting and even I get to hurt Ofelia for fun. Looking for a way to turn the situation in his favor, he attempted to break free of his bonds, while Madison distracted the tyrant woman who was keeping an eye on them. Daniel, like the rest of his companions, finally met the leader of the group; Connor, who not only decided to take Travis and Alicia with him but also informed everyone that they would be stripped of the ship and abandoned on the shore. Fortunately, the intervention of Strand's partner - Luis Flores - started a shootout that ended most of the pirates and created a distraction, which Daniel took advantage of to disarm Reed and get him to be mortally wounded. Daniel treats the wound that Reed sustained from the crowbar. Reed tells Daniel that his brother, Connor, has a dozen men and five boats and will come looking for him. Daniel leaves Reed tied up in a chair. Daniel agrees to let Chris stand outside Reed's door, explaining to Ofelia that its better than leaving Chris alone to think dark thoughts. Daniel tells Madison that they can use Reed’s relationship to Connor as leverage over Connor, Daniel listens into Luis and Strand's plan on how to get across the border and advises Madison to let Nick and Chris help fight Connor's group, urging her to stop treating them like children. Madison ignores his advice. When Reed turns after death. Daniel stabs Reed and pins him to a wall, leaving him alive. Daniel places a hood over Reed's head, devising a plan to use the undead Reed. "Take the gun, Daniel," says a voice, but the room is empty. He snaps out of his daze when Ofelia arrives, and together they escort Reed out of the room to deliver to the pirates to save Alicia and Travis. When they manage to reach the mansion of Thomas Abigail, in Valle de Guadalupe, Baja California, Daniel discovers that Celia keeps the dead relatives of the complex in the basement.
Throughout the season, Daniel displays increasing signs of mental illness following the death of his wife as noted by several characters including Ofelia and Celia. This leads to Daniel being haunted by hallucinations of his dead wife and the memories of the violent actions that he has taken in the past. Everything culminates in Daniel setting fire to the mansion in order to destroy the zombies held in the basement and what he feels to be an unholy place. Daniel hallucinates the zombies as all of the people that he has ever killed and Griselda emerges from the group to tell her husband that she's waiting for him. At peace, Daniel is apparently killed when the fire he set engulfs the mansion, making no move to escape.
Season 3
Daniel returns in the third episode "TEOTWAWKI" after his disappearance in the previous season's mid-season finale "Shiva". He visits Strand in his cell, and asks about Ofelia's whereabouts, Strand lies about knowing where she is, however, Daniel sees through his lies and walks off.It's revealed in "100" that Daniel survived the fire at the mansion and was taken in by a man named Efraim and a woman named Lola. Dante Esquivel quickly deduces Daniel's past as a member of Sombra Negra and takes Daniel on as an enforcer. Daniel remains interested in where Ofelia is and finds himself caught in the middle of a dispute between Dante and Lola. Ultimately, unable to bring himself to kill Lola, Daniel kills Dante and his men and saves Lola instead.
Strand and Daniel subsequently return to the hotel where Strand had been exiled from and where Strand claims to have last seen Ofelia. The two find the hotel overrun with zombies and no sign of any survivors. Strand eventually admits that he had lied as Ofelia disappeared from the hotel before Strand had left and Daniel abandons Strand. He then returns to the Gonzales Dam where Daniel works as the head of security.
Needing water for the Broke Jaw Ranch, Madison travels to the dam where she is shocked to be reunited with Daniel whom she had believed to be dead. Due to Madison and Walker having Ofelia safely back at the ranch, Daniel reaches an agreement with them for the water that they need and they promise to bring Ofelia to reunite with him. However, the ranch is overrun due to Troy Otto's efforts and Ofelia is bitten in the process. Madison takes the dying Ofelia to a bazar where Daniel will meet up with them, but Ofelia dies, having finally understood the man that her father was and wishing to have had the chance to get to know him better. A devastated Daniel arrives just moments too late and he can only prevent his daughter from reanimating. Despite his grief, Daniel agrees to take Madison and the others back to the dam as he knows that the bazar is too dangerous for them to stay at.
Unknown to the others, Strand makes a deal with the leader of the Proctors, a motorcycle gang that runs the bazar. Strand reveals the dam's location to the gang and they launch an invasion with Strand's help. Daniel realizes the truth and confronts Strand who shoots Daniel in the face, leaving him unconscious but alive. Having never even tried to kill a living person before, Strand is horrified by his actions and attempts to help the Clark family escape. Daniel is hidden by Lola who launches a suicide attack before being killed herself. Regaining consciousness, Daniel fights his way back to the top of the dam where he joins Nick as the young man destroys the dam with himself, Daniel and the Proctors apparently still on it.
Subsequently, Daniel is once again believed to be dead with Nick having somehow survived and reunited with his family, but with Madison's group being left with no sign of Daniel after the dam's destruction.