Why were there no remains left in the "Killer Within" episode of The Walking Dead?

Question

In one of the episodes of The Walking Dead, "Killer Within"

Lori was eaten by a Zombie. Why wasn't there anything left of her body when Rick goes back to the room in "Say The Word"? Even her clothes were devoured?

Answer 1

What we know:

• Lori died during childbirth.
• Carl claims to have killed Walker-Lori, but it was done off-screen if it ever happened.
• Rick went to recover the body but only found a walker that looked like it had very recently fed.

So, what happened to the body? Has it really been totally consumed, or is Lori a walker now?

No official answer has ever been given, but there was a deleted scene fueling the Walker-Lori theory.

The final version showed Rick talking to what appears to be a vision of Lori. The full version pulls back to show Lori as a walker.

But Walker-Lori appears to be wearing the white dress Live-Lori wears in the vision (it's cropped out of frame, but the straps are slightly visible), and neither Lori can be seen in the wide shot. Lori was not wearing the dress when she died and the white dress is likely just symbolic.

So is Lori really a walker out there somewhere? The other possibility is that she's not a walker at all. She's survived the c-section and is living/hiding somewhere. This would explain the lack of remains or clothes.

Both the Walker-Lori and Survivor-Lori theories are extremely unlikely, but without a body or remains of any sort, we have no conclusive evidence of Lori's fate.

Answer 2

In the episode "Killer Within," Lori died during childbirth and Carl "killed" her.

I have not seen compelling evidence that Carl did not kill Lori after the birth. The look on his face as he is walking away after the gunshot tells the story. It seems that all the subsequent scenes are due to the madness that initiates Rick's further hallucinations via the phone-calls and such.

After watching his mother die while giving birth via C-section, a distraught Carl shoots her per her request to prevent reanimation.

Carl did what needed to be done and that fits with his character arc; after this he becomes more resolved. He was not fully raised in the pre-zombie world and wants to be responsible and respected for being wise beyond his age in this new reality. Carl is cold and his moral code is being formulated in a world not conducive to being a child or having a childhood. He is stepping up and the toll that takes on him shows.

As for Lori: completely dead, I see no ambiguity here.

The OP's question makes no sense. There is never a shot of the room Lori died in showing no corpse or clothing in the episode "Killer Within." Even the next episode does not provide compelling evidence of this. It doesn't make much sense.

EDIT: Since the OP's question has changed, I feel I should update this. The fact her clothes are not there is non-evidence. It's possible (but unlikely) that Carl missed her brain, or didn't shoot her at all. I think it's more likely the clothes were in another part of the cell or she was dragged away (less likely as it would have left a trail). The most probable ideas here are that the clothes are there, just not shown or the bloated zombie did eat them (seems unlikely as clothes are not flesh). This leaves the "clothes are there, just not shown" as most likely. When the producer says "he sees the stain of his wife and really nothing else," he seems to be talking about her as person. Why would he mention off-screen clothing when he didn't mention the knife right next to the stain? It's wasn't hyperbole, just an economy of words to drive home the devastation done to Rick. "He sees the stain, a bunk, a knife, some clothes, but little else," is not as conducive to the point he's making.

Answer 3

Here is my theory. Rewatch the episode and you will see that there is a blood trail leading out of the room with no obvious reason why. I think Rick dragged her body out already to be buried. He did not interact with the baby at all until he was done with the phone calls etc. I think he moved her body, and then broke down mentally and couldn't accept the grief of losing his wife. Part of him for that short time resented the baby and he saw the fat zombie and it looked pregnant, so him stabbing at its stomach was his anger at the baby for taking his wife away. It may be a bit screwed up but Rick was clearly not in his right mind after this.

Answer 4

It was actually confirmed that the zombie did in fact eat Lori after birth, and that is why when rick walked in and saw him he had figured it out and started stabbing at the zombies stomach again and again trying find pieces of Lori